Chris Dyson/Sovereign Horses Ponies

Ambers Echo

Ambers Echo

Still wittering on
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Other high profile FB pages are allowed to be discussed so I am not aware of any rues stopping me bringing up this page.....

I have zero skin in the game -I don't know Chris, any of his horses, or anyone who has bought one.

BUT I am puzzled by his FB page which has 47K followers. He apparently gets '100s of messages a day' for his horses and sells them all very easily. He can be super choosy about who his clients are as he has constant waiting lists etc etc

So my question is how?

Selling is a tricky game. His horses look fine but entirely ordinary - though a desirable type (mainly safe cobs). Is describing accurately and selling at reasonable cost really enough to generate that kind of devotion?

And how does a seller have 47K followers anyway? Sellers with good reputations and far more horses seem to have 10-12K followers. Who follows a selling page if they are not in the market for buying? (Well me, it seems, but I sort of am in the market..... ish).

Is he just a selling genius with a brilliant eye for a horse. Or is a lot of this marketing acumen ie he sells loads on the basis that everyone thinks he sells loads so he must be good - and it becomes self-fulfilling.

I keep thinking I need to buy one :p :p FOMO....!
 
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Ambers Echo said:
Other high profile FB pages are allowed to be discussed so I am not aware of any ryles stipping me bringing up this page.....

I have zero skin in the game -I don't know Chris, any of his horses, or anyone who has bought one.

BUT I am puzzled by his FB page which has 47K followers. He apparently gets '100s of messages a day' for his horses and sells them all very easily. He can be super choosy about who his clients are as he has constant waiting lists etc etc

So my question is how?

Selling is a tricky game. His horses look fine but entirely ordinary - though a desirable type (mainly safe cobs). Is describing accurately and selling at reasonable cost really enough to generate that kind of devotion?

And how does a seller have 47K followers anyway? Sellers with good reputations and far more horses seem to have 10-12K followers. Who follows a selling page if they are not in the market for buying? (Well me, it seems, but I sort of am in the market..... ish).

Is he just a selling genius with a brilliant eye for a horse. Or is a lot of this marketing acumen ie he sells loads on the basis that everyone thinks he sells loads so he must be good - and it becomes self-fulfilling.

I keep thinking I need to buy one :p :p FOMO....!
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It was started in 2016 so before other mediums became popular in social media and FB was easier to get bigger followings. Also the algorithms were not as influential. We had our eventing page and without any effort managed to get 20k followers. We just did what we fancied. There is no way now we would be able to get that sort of reach. It’s a bit the same with YouTube. Early adopters have some huge following but harder now without significant graft. This Esme being a good example along with Tara and her manky riding. Both are very dull but have huge sub numbers as early to adopt.
 
Oh that makes sense. If you have 47K followers no doubt it is easier to sell horses! Even if they are not super-special.
 
Ambers Echo said:
Other high profile FB pages are allowed to be discussed so I am not aware of any ryles stipping me bringing up this page.....

I have zero skin in the game -I don't know Chris, any of his horses, or anyone who has bought one.

BUT I am puzzled by his FB page which has 47K followers. He apparently gets '100s of messages a day' for his horses and sells them all very easily. He can be super choosy about who his clients are as he has constant waiting lists etc etc

So my question is how?

Selling is a tricky game. His horses look fine but entirely ordinary - though a desirable type (mainly safe cobs). Is describing accurately and selling at reasonable cost really enough to generate that kind of devotion?

And how does a seller have 47K followers anyway? Sellers with good reputations and far more horses seem to have 10-12K followers. Who follows a selling page if they are not in the market for buying? (Well me, it seems, but I sort of am in the market..... ish).

Is he just a selling genius with a brilliant eye for a horse. Or is a lot of this marketing acumen ie he sells loads on the basis that everyone thinks he sells loads so he must be good - and it becomes self-fulfilling.

I keep thinking I need to buy one :p :p FOMO....!
Click to expand...
I have spoken to him as he was highly recommended to me by a professional friend of mine, unfortunately he doesn't have anything suitable for what I'm looking for. But I suspect he is popular because he comes highly recommended and when looking on the dodgy dealers site he had nothing but glowing recommendations as he is one of very few honest dealers out there.
 
I follow his page.I'd never buy one of his horses in a million years as they are so much not my type but I like his style and have a friend who has bought one from him.
 
I am sure he is sound. I just didn't know how 1 seller can be so successful when so many others struggle - including good ones. But IHW post makes sense.
 
Ambers Echo said:
Oh that makes sense. If you have 47K followers no doubt it is easier to sell horses! Even if they are not super-special.
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If he is also selling the sweet spot with the most number of people looking then that will also be helpful. Let’s be honest the average all rounder will suit many people vs an advanced eventer. His page is nearly 10 years old so it will be a rolling accumulative thing as well.
 
I'm still on his page from when I was looking although the algorithms don't show me his posts these days. I rarely remember to unsubscribe from pages so I guess I make up numbers without being very active.
 
Yeah I follow him just because I was looking at a horse he was selling a while back and then forgot to unsubscribe, as I do with loads of pages.
He also has a big personality and does indulge in a little drama sometimes, which probably helps to maintain his engagement/followers' interests.
 
I don't know him or anyone who does but I have occasionally looked on his page more out of curiosity. It puts me off a bit when he and some posters on his page joke about rapping horses with bamboo canes etc. I like to think it is only an in joke with them and not a method he really uses. Bit of a naff thing to joke about on your page if you are wanting to promote a good reputation IMHO.🤷‍♀️
 
I follow his page as I was looking for a horse and the universal support he gets on dodgy dealer pages is unusual. He doesn't sell the type of horse I was interested in but it's a closed group so you have to join to browse.

I do wonder if some of the drama is whipped up as a form of self promotion and after following the page for a while I would say he doesn't sell that many unless there are a lot of horses coming and going which don't make the fb group. You do see some which get their price reduced if they haven't sold and others which are sold as trade sales where there is no warrantee. At the end of the day his commitment to return your money if the horse is unsuitable means a lot in the current climate where dodgy dealers seem to be multiplying.
 
I was thinking the exact same thing today! I follow his page. He sells horses which would be my sort should the time come when I’d like another.
I wonder what his main source of income is if not through sales….
His new yard looks amazing from the photos/videos I’ve seen 🤩
 
i follow his page as well, not quite sure why though. But he does come across as a decent chap, and if i was looking for that type hed be my first port of call.
 
I follow him, I was looking for a horse recently so that's why...but never approached him. He has a good reputation so actually he is one of the dealers I would go to if I was looking and he had something that looked suitable.
 
He probably paid for half his followers... that'll make pages appear far more popular than they really are, then others just follow suit because they assume it must be a great page to follow for some reason. Im always trying to build a following for my estate agency business on social media and is so hard (because no, I dont want to pay for fake followers)
 
He used to live near me several years ago and always seemed a good bloke. He is one of the few that doesnt seem to have masses of bad comments on dodgy dealer sites in response to the question 'has anyone had any dealing with.....insert name of choice'? Not sure how he manages to have that many followers though

Heads off to FB for a bit of a stalk.....
 
I've followed Chris since the beginning and I'm pretty sure that his followers are genuine. I think he was just in the right place at the right time. I remember being active in several FB chat groups and he would sometimes come in to wind everyone up over some nonsense and would then disappear. He was young then and quite immature but I'm sure plenty of people followed him just for a laugh. It's been very pleasant watching him grow into a success. I've never bought a horse from him but I definitely would should I ever win the lottery and can afford more than my current herd.
 
The irony of this thread being run with positive comments on it and then him coming out not in support of CDJ but definitely with a ‘so what’ attitude, definitely more supportive than unhappy, saying that a lot worse happens on less professional yards, that everyone has lost their temper at some point, or people can’t claim they’ve done worse with a lunge whip when a horse won’t load for two hours.

I’ve unfollowed, his willingness to accept that this is so common and not be clearly against it leaves me concerned for what methods he may employ. (I am keen to point out that this is a pondering question not a statement of fact that he does)
 
AShetlandBitMeOnce said:
The irony of this thread being run with positive comments on it and then him coming out not in support of CDJ but definitely with a ‘so what’ attitude, definitely more supportive than unhappy, saying that a lot worse happens on less professional yards, that everyone has lost their temper at some point, or people can’t claim they’ve done worse with a lunge whip when a horse won’t load for two hours.

I’ve unfollowed, his willingness to accept that this is so common and not be clearly against it leaves me concerned for what methods he may employ. (I am keen to point out that this is a pondering question not a statement of fact that he does)
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Having seen the video i dont think it was a loss of temper. I was shocked and had thought she was one of the good ones. Time will tell as i am sure there will be more come to light overtime
 
He has an odd selling style I think - A friend of mine trialled a horse of his and it all seemed a bit odd. He doesn't allow people to ride the horses at his yard, so you have to agree a trial period of what I think is seven days - within this time you have the horse vetted etc. You might not have correct tack so may not be able to trial very well and it can be quite tricky to refuse the horse once you have decided if it isn't for you. He seems to want you to have a reason, but because you only spent 5 mins with the horse at his yard before boxing up and not having a sit on, you could get the horse all the way home, have a sit on and decide immediatly that it's not for you - and that's a lot of wasted time for all involved. There was nothing particularly wrong with the horse my friend was trialling, she just didn't gel with him and he made it quite hard/made her feel really bad about returning the horse. Seemed really odd to me... and she paid the full amount up front, which I get as she's taking the horse home, but I would worry that I wouldn't get it all back.
 
SaddlePsych'D said:
What reason is given for not trialling at the yard?

That does sound strange!
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He just said he doesn't allow it - you just go and pick the horse up. My friend argued it as she is generally quite risk averse but was happy to do it his way due to all the brilliant reviews etc. Really odd!
 
I've followed the fb page for ages from when I was looking to buy a horse. At the time, you were able to go and view at the premises, but there were a list of rules, not particularly unreasonable, like only 2 people max allowed to ride the horse, cobs not to be jumped over fillers or some such thing. I didn't see anything suitable at the time so I'm not certain what would have been allowed if I'd been interested. There's been a lot of building work going on there and frequent time periods where no viewings allowed, but according to the fb page are OK now. When I was looking, I discounted a lot of horses I tried out for various reasons, some after travelling a 6 hour round trip to view. Having to bring the horse home to try out just increases the time, cost and inconvenience enormously.
 
I don't see a problem with this. If you go to a dealer's yard it is under their conditions, they control what you see, how the horse is dealt with etc. You have no idea if it is buted. You ride under their conditions and they can omit (carefully avoid) whatever they choose. They you get it home and, as we have seen from some posts on here, 3 days later and it is a dragon breathing lunatic that won't go down the lane and kicks the shit out of people in it's box.

I'm not sure that at a viewing at a dealer's yard you are going to know if you really like the horse, if you like it because it looks nice, you feel sorry for it or for any other reason. Just because you like a horse the first time you see it probably based on it's carefully written description which shows it as being perfect for you it doesn't mean that you are still going to like it after day 5.

Much better to have it home for a week, vet at your leisure with your own vet and ride it alone, in company and whatever else concerns you. Your instructor can ride it and give you a lesson. I think it takes long time as in months to gel with a new horse and it is up to the rider to be the one trying to get on with the horse.

New Forests Rock said:
Surely not another SWMNBN?
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sorry what does this mean?
 
nutjob said:
I've followed the fb page for ages from when I was looking to buy a horse. At the time, you were able to go and view at the premises, but there were a list of rules, not particularly unreasonable, like only 2 people max allowed to ride the horse, cobs not to be jumped over fillers or some such thing. I didn't see anything suitable at the time so I'm not certain what would have been allowed if I'd been interested. There's been a lot of building work going on there and frequent time periods where no viewings allowed, but according to the fb page are OK now. When I was looking, I discounted a lot of horses I tried out for various reasons, some after travelling a 6 hour round trip to view. Having to bring the horse home to try out just increases the time, cost and inconvenience enormously.
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If you have ever sold a horse or even loaned one out their are people who over estimated their riding skill, treat it as a day trip, and I would never allow the anyone who in not buying the horse to ride it, because I need to know they are competent and usually the friend or family member IME is out to prove how good they are a better rider or know more.
If you are selling as a business if someone screws up your horse, and its is surprising how many people to not ride with tact, you are have a horse that is wary every time someone new gets on it, and then there is a liability risk if someone injures themselves and they want to claim on your insurance.
I have only once let someone take one on trial, through a friend, and wouldn't take the risk again.
 
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