Do wanted adverts work?

smiggy

smiggy

Well-Known Member
Joined
27 February 2008
Messages
765
Visit site
or do you just get lots of mad phone calls?
Have never done one but am looking for saintly pony for extremely nervous daughter and as I dont mind about age, thought I might inspire someone who wouldnt otherwise perhaps be selling?
Any one had any success with similar and where?
Thanks
 
I haven't personally had any success but, as I've just started looking for a sharer, I have been perusing a few wanted ads myself.

Personally I think there's no harm posting such an ad - it's unlikely you would get someone contacting you with a totally unsuitable pony as you would be able to tell straight off if it wasn't as saintly as you were looking for.

There may be people out there considering sharing/loaning but waiting for the right person and sort of needing a push. Your ad might well be just what they need. Good luck!
 
Sometimes they can work.
My advice would be... dont put your budget on!... if they ask you what the budget is... just ask what they are selling for... it's very easy once they know your budget, to up their price to the higher end of the budget!
I would also just put an email address on rather than phone number. When i put my phone number on one, i couldnt get some people off the phone... what they were offering were not to my requirements but they were trying to convince me the horse was what i was after! (and they always seemed to call when i really didnt have time to talk either!)
If they just email you, you can easily discount many quickly and just send a quick reply saying thanks for emailing me but i dont feel they are what i am after etc.

I've only ever placed them on free ad sites, so if they didnt work, i hadnt lost out. I would try stabletalk, horsehunter, thehorseexchange, freeads, preloved etc.
 
Worked for me, had my new boy 2 weeks now and he's been wonderful so far.

I had been horse hunting for a schoolmaster for months and was getting fed up with planning trips to the UK to only find that when I got to see the horse it wasn't as described or misbehaved when I specifically wanted something safe and sane and I just lost heart with trawling through the adverts looking at the same horses for sale.

I put a wanted ad up on a couple of more popular sites and had quite a few calls. I think you have to be quite specific on your ad (age, height, etc) and stick to it, as soon as someone says "I know she's a little bit older than your ad but ...." you need to end the call quickly as people love to talk you to death!

Have you thought about an agent? After a couple of failed trips to the UK I decided to use one. She was brilliant (PM for details if you like) and asked all those awkward questions I didn't want to ask. She also foiled a seller who was selling on (for ALOT of profit) a horse she had bought cheaply due to a sarcoid problem.
 
I don't see why it won't work, as you're not bothered about age, provided you can give a '5* home' as they say - maybe make a point of what you can offer in your advert, as people really do want a very nice home-from-home for their much loved but sadly outgrown pony. I think you need to emphasise must have impeccable stable manners and be suitable for a nervous child to handle and ride just to cut out a few of the loonies who will persue you.


We were very lucky with our companion pony - belonged to the neice of a friend but was outgrown, and he is as you describe, a pretty, saintly, good allrounder such that you could pop a 4 year old on, but is 20, and they didn't really want him to go unless it was somewhere they knew he'd be happy.
 
I put a wanted ad in local paper for a horse to loan. Put exactly what i was looking for and what i wanted to do. Got a phone call the next day. The original horse the bloke phoned me about probably wouldn't be suited to me but they showed me another horse they had. They been completly honest about her, all her good pointr? Her bad points, that she was galloped too fast on beach 6yrs ago causing her to break down on one foreleg. And they've told me exactly what she is/isn't suitable for, work wise. Going to re-view her tomorrow. So yes, i think they do work. Not everyone advertises horses they are selling/loaning but instead reply to wanted adverts?
 
I bought all of my "project" ponies through wanted ads. As others have said, not everyone advertises their horses - some just seem to be happy to sell if they see someone looking. Can get some good bargains this way ;)
 
Worked for me - I got a pony free to a good home and she was the best pony ever!!! I always give wanted ads a go, and when i was selling always looked through them!
 
Worked for me. I advertised for a loan/limited funds purchase in H&H. Had LOADs of replies. I had to sft through them and made a short list of ones to view. Only stipulation Son said was No mares and not a grey.
Guess what we got?
A grey mare.
And she was the most amazing horse. we had 7 fantastic years with her.
 
it worked for me! the previous owners of my pony replied to my wanted ad before they advertised him. i went to see him a few days later and that was that. i've had him over a year now. had one or two blips, mainly him testing me and me being a wimp, but i'd never part with him now, not for a squillion quid!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top