Fed up of selling my horse!

I have said on numerous occasions that i have appreciated the advice given and whilst it is not what i set out for when i wrote the post it has been mostly welcomed and taken on board. I also didn't set out to bash time wasters, in fact i never called any one a timewaster that wasnt the crux of the post. Just because i wish the perfect family would come along does not mean all the people before hand are timewasters.

Its probably hard for you and others to appreciate how a horse with her history can be a confidence giver but this is the advice i have taken from those who know her, her history and it has also been the feedback that has come from people who have viewed her.

I've agreed and known from the beginning that's shes not an easy sale, she wont be perfect for everyone. But one quirk which i have been upfront about from the beginning does not detract from the fact that she will be a safe confidence giver in other areas as mentioned. The perfect family may never hack alone and may just want her for Jimmy to take to pony club rallies/camps and hunting, who knows!

I will edit the advert as per advice and go from there, i'm not an overly sensitive person but i guess that's what 9 pages of hoo-hah does to a person!
 
looks like a lovely horse, and would be the kind to catch my eye in an ad as she has a great pop. I don't mind the way the ad is worded at all, it gives a good idea of a horse who can do a lot but needs a confident rider.

As an objective person reading it i'd have red flags at:
• if she's so flashy and great why has she only been hacking for a year? would scream injury to me.
• why is it being pointed out she's a nappy hacker if she's been hacking a year? it just sounds contradictory. It's hard to tell if it's a major issue or not from the ad.
• i'd play down her xc and just say she'd done it. Reading the ad i don't care if she's amazing over skinnies if i'm going to hit issues with water on every xc course, which is what i'm reading from this. The exposure bit just sounds really odd, she won't get time for exposure on new courses. And at 8 you'd want a horse to have overcome their issues. A good xc rider won't take a punt on a horse with a water issue and startbox hassle. If i was selling her,i'd just say she done xc, put a few results and locations up and put a few nice pics up. I wouldn't be selling her as a confidence giving xc horse, i'd just state the facts. Saying that, as a buyer i'd appreciate the honesty and would appreciate the heads up on the issue so I could try the horse xc to see if it's a manageable issue.
• the start box issue also sounds like you're downplaying it. You are probably so used to riding her you underplay the issue unconsciously, but any other sticky starter-box horses i've seen usually have a few spins or rears in them. They don't usually just safely plant and go with a kick. If the horse is nappy with you, then it will absolutely rip the p*ss with a new rider and is no way a confidence giver.

When i'm buying i'd always say 'tell me about the horse' and the first thing the person says (or doesn't say) is really revealing. People often miswrite ads, but automatically tell the truth when put under pressure!

It kind of sounds like she's a bit stuck between what she's for. she's doesn't sound like a competition horse with the start box issues and water, but at the same time she sounds tricky for a nervous rider. I'd do the same as you and overexplain in ads, but to sell her i'd cut down the ad to basics and just say what she's done and what kind of rider she'd suit.
 
Lammy said:
I think for this current market, she is overpriced - I could find something like her with her quirks for around the 3k mark. She might be more suitable to sell as a hunter or for a competitive teen/young rider who wants a fun riding club horse. I think with the napping, however minor, discredits her from being a confidence giver - personally I wouldn't expect a confidence giving type to do this on any occasion. I would also mention the previous medical issue but state that this no longer affects her.

I've read the whole thread and can't see that anyone has outright attacked you, some blunt posts but nothing worse than that - though I do see it would be hard to take people pointing out all the negative attributes of your horse. I hope you manage to get a nice home for her.
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Thats fine, general consensus is shes priced wrong, the price came from feedback i had from people who know the horse, unfortunately there is no black and white guide as to how to price a horse! I'll see how it goes and change the price accordingly.

The wife said:
OP, I am really sorry but i got bored reading your advert. It's about 4 paragraphs too long and is, to be brutally honest, boring.

I may be being callous here but as a potential buyer, I don't need to know her whole history and I also would not call her a confidence giver, given that she naps. I also don't want to be reading through lots of jumbled text to find out she is an excellent all-rounder, mannerly to hunt and can do a bit of everything - see I summed her up in a sentence then.

Shorten it and put the basics in. Yes the napping is important but I personally would not put it in an advert, I would word it perhaps, not 100% to hack on her own.

Remove the word 'Flashy', it is subjective. I am going to be mean now and it is only a personal view so don't take it the wrong way. I would not call her flashy in the slightest. She is pretty but flashy springs up mental images of Valegro, top class dressage horses and such and also will not be aiming her at your target market.

In summary, cut your advert by 75% put the necessary stuff in and word it better. There has been alot of advice on here about re-wording the advert and using better images and think more about your target audience - fun teenagers horse, amateurs dream etc. Get people on the phone and then you can explain about the napping and tell people she is your best friend, that you have owned her from a yearling etc etc.
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Feed back is appreciated, thank you - i'm going to sit and look at the advert shortly and make the suggested amendments
 
If I was buying this horse, with full disclosure of the history. I would either want the horse to be in full work and have demonstrated staying sound and doing well over the last six months, doing the level of work I wanted to do with the horse.

Or I would want a six month loan to get the horse fit, and test whether horse was able to do the work I wanted. But I would taking on all the costs for six months, for a horse with a nap, who is totally unfit, and cannot be properly tried, and may prove not able to stand up to the work I wanted. So I would be looking to pay £1500 at the end of the loan, and to have this confirmed in writing before I started.

Paying the fittening, schooling, competing and running costs, for getting a professional to bring into work and compete for six months would cost more than £4K.

To be honest, I think you should ideally bring the horse back into full work yourself, and compete her, and sell her with six months work behind her to assure her a good future, doing what she is capable off.

Or cut your losses and sell her to a long term hacking home, with their own land, for a small amount.
 
ester said:
errr, maybe you didn't name them but!?!?
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Some people are time wasters though like the girls asking if they could loan her for the summer until they go back to school or reading a for sale add and asking to loan. they are very different to the potentials; people who are calling asking suitable questions, having a chat and working out the horse is not suitable.
 
They might be time wasters from your point of view, but not from their own. 'No harm in asking, they can only say no' 'if you dont ask you dont get' .... I dont think many people set out to just waste time.
 
particularly if they saw the horse was available for loan before, says short loan possible on the advert, people might want enough time to get her fit and check she is physically capable for what they want her for before committing.
 
LeannePip said:
Feed back is appreciated, thank you - i'm going to sit and look at the advert shortly and make the suggested amendments
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My pleasure - FWIT. I agree she is over-priced at the moment, given that from what I understood in the advert that she is not in full work and not fit... However, if she were I would personally say she is worth every penny, just not at the moment. My best suggestion is that you at least get her up and going, even if just a months worth of work put in. It is a good time of year to be selling her 'type', especially in time for the summer.

I would put emphasis on the fact you are aiming for a teenagers RC/PC ride - most teenagers are likely to be more willing to cope with her little quirks, as opposed to say a mothers weekend ride. I know you said she is a confidence giver but I would especially remove this as well. I am sorry but she isn't with her napping, it also removes any shadow of doubt from mis-advertising. A confidence giver to me is one which my husband can ride. One which will cope with wobbling, that he can take out for a hack without any question marks being raised and that will happily carry a novice. This she is not. I think you are leaving yourself open to questions about this and to be honest, I don't think it adds any value as she doesn't look like a novice ride from your pictures. Yes I know she is jumping sweetly but she just doesn't look like 'the nervous and novice' type of horse, which one would expect from the words 'confidence giver'.

I would also put alot of emphasis on the all-rounder bit, especially that she is mannerly to hunt - this in itself, for me is important but as a buyer as it also means said horse is unlikely to be phased by warm-ups, pleasure rides and beach rides.

Lastly, would love to read your reviewed advert! So if you want any feedback on it please do drop me a line (i'm bored and procrastinating at work!!)

Good luck with her. She sounds just up my street :)
 
absolutely agree with removing the confidence giver part as well. You will get novice riders who might have visions of themselves getting out to jump xc eventually and they will just zoom in on the 'confidence giver' and get the wrong impression. AWhat might be a quick plant and kick situation for you, can easily escalate into a spinning, bunnyhopping issue with a nervous novice.

A horse who likes jumping and will get round a course is not an automatic confidence giver. If it naps in any way, shape or form it's definitely not.
 
Sorry that you feel you have been bombarded.
I think the main issue with the add is the title - "Confidence Giver" I know you say she has given you confidence, but it sounds like she is a great horse for a confident rider, not a confidence giver. Saying she is a confidence giver implies that she will look after a nervous rider. What About "Fun Allrounder"
I like the dressage and most of the SJ section.
The XC sections is a bit dodgy. I am purely looking at your words not saying anything about the horse FYI. Starts with "Pip is great XC " then mentions a slight problem with water and leaving start box. Does that read great XC to you (if you didn't know the horse)? I would play down the XC in the ad as I don't think it sounds like an eventing home would be right for her.
Move the hunting bit further up the ad as this sounds great, but get rid of "on a few occasions", she has done it that's enough! Do you have a picture of her hunting?
If your mum has been out jumping and riding her and you feel she is fit then forget the hacking home for the past year. If she is no longer nappy to hack alone then I would change that whole bit. Maybe something like:
Pips only downside is she has previously been reluctant to hack alone. This has not been a problem for over a year and she is great in company, but for this reason she would not be suitable for a novice.

Change the pictures. By using the 4 in one method it means the individual pictures are all quite small. I would move XC pics nearer the end and add a confo shot.

Hope you find the right home for her as she looks like a lovely horse. Getting rid of the confidence giver part might also weed out some of the long phone calls. I sold a true confidence giver a couple of years ago and the sort of people who are looking for them do want to know every detail about how the horse might react in every situation.
 
I agree with the general consensus not to advertise her as a confidence giver. Even reformed nappers tend to start napping again in a new home particularly with a less than confident rider. If the new owner then happened to read posts about her on here I would think they probably would have a good case against you in court. :(. I hope you find a good home for her, perhaps someone who wants to hunt and do sponsored rides but agree that you probably need to drop the price. :)
 
Confidence giving is subjective and I don't doubt that you believe that she is a confidence giver but probably your idea of a confidence giver is not the same as that of most people who might read the advert.

Anyone with any knowledge of horses will presume that the reason she is not in full work and has been in a hacking home for the past year will be due to injury.

If she is fit and ready to go out competing it might be worth taking her out to a couple of competitions so you can have recent good results to show off to potential buyers.

I think you need to appeal to a more confident rider who wants to hunt or do sponsored rides, SJ and dressage but not that interested in competitive cross country or hacking alone. Don't mention the x country but show photos of SJ, dressage and if you have any of her out hunting. If you show lots of photos of her jumping x country fences then you will attract people who want to x country which it sounds like is not her strongest selling point. If she is a really good hunter have you seen if anyone at the hunt who has seen her out hunting might be interested in her?

Concentrate on her good points and then add that she prefers to hack out in company, which is not uncommon in adverts. Don't mention that she has been in the hacking home for a year if the reason she was in that situation due to you being too busy with your young horse rather than because she was not up to anything else or resting due to injury.
 
I have read the entire thread and it is almost like an exam of "reading between the lines!'
Where I live this horse is prob worth 1-1.5K MAX! with the medical history and the napping and that video on you tube of the mares behaviour....shows you have to really do your research when buying any horse !! buyer beware!
 
Having just read through a lot of your threads about this mare I think the advert is actually a bit misleading. It makes me sad because although on a more drastic scale similar happened to me and it broke my heart and did the horse no good either. The horse you have described in your advert is not the one in your threads- and given she's only hacked for a year I can't see how much has changed. I think being realistic about her price will go a long way to getting her sold.
 
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The post below is simply NOT the horse advertised. That is all, really and prtty much what all 15 comments of this thread are saying.




Around this time we had a very frank discussion about Pips future, my aim to be competitive at something and Pips aim to be a happy hacker come hunter were always going to bump heads, after thinking long an hard i decided i was always going to be trying to get a square peg in a round hole, as talented and as promising as she showed potential to be, it was never easy and some days she was on side and some days she didn't want to play ball and it was breaking my heart. We decided she would either go to my Farrier and his partner for hacking and pub rides and a bit of fun, or have an extended field holiday on the farm and i'd find something else more suited to the job. Next mistake - thinking i could ever give her up!

Read more at http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/foru...-One-thing-after-another!#5gZEImom8reqhZRU.99
 
I can understand why you're feeling a bit attacked OP although I don't think people are intending to have a go at you.

For what it's worth I don't think you're being dishonest about the horse, nor do I think your situation is different from that of very many others who sell horses. Your bad luck is that you have a warts and all history of the horse plastered all over the Internet.

I do think that with her quirks, current fitness and history of health issues that she's a bit overpriced - I would have said 2.5k would be closer to the mark, but I know you've already acknowledged the comments about price. However if you got her back into full competition work and proved she is sound and not napping at all, then the price you're asking would be more achievable.

She's clearly a nice mare and I'm sure will be absolutely perfect for someone. Selling is very difficult and frustrating - even moreso if you're selling something which has quirks.
 
I suppose the risk with starting to compete her again is that the thread quoted by Jaffa is only a year or so old, and at that time the horse was nappy, lame, with ulcers and a severely stuck stifle. A year is not such a long time ago, and as she has only been hacking this past year, it may be that Pip would not fare well back in a competition environment.

If you are prepared to take that risk though, and it were successful, then the horse would increase in value, but it would need to be a fair amount of time (maybe 3 months?) before people (in general IMO) would feel confident in her to stay sound.

It may be that a short term loan over summer could suit your needs, especially as she is a great hunter, so you are not looking at grabbing the spring purchasers. Her best time to sell may well be autumn. Maybe, if you can't do the work yourself, if the teenager is competent and have the backing of the parents, maybe the teenager who called would not be such a bad prospect?

Or, as you now agree that her price may, currently at least, be too high, call the person back who offered £2750? If they already know all the facts and are prepared to pay, it sounds like a winner.
 
What exactly does she do when she naps?
Can you get a vet to back up that the major issues now seem to be resolved?
Shorten the advert, - Pip is 8 years old, has done ABC but not competitive enough XC for me, has had previous medical issues but vet can verify these have been resolved. Pip can nap - she does [insert whatever here] but this is now very infrequent - get a video if you can.
 
xspiralx said:
I can understand why you're feeling a bit attacked OP although I don't think people are intending to have a go at you.

For what it's worth I don't think you're being dishonest about the horse, nor do I think your situation is different from that of very many others who sell horses. Your bad luck is that you have a warts and all history of the horse plastered all over the Internet.

I do think that with her quirks, current fitness and history of health issues that she's a bit overpriced - I would have said 2.5k would be closer to the mark, but I know you've already acknowledged the comments about price. However if you got her back into full competition work and proved she is sound and not napping at all, then the price you're asking would be more achievable.

She's clearly a nice mare and I'm sure will be absolutely perfect for someone. Selling is very difficult and frustrating - even moreso if you're selling something which has quirks.
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Which is why I find it hard to see the person offering 2750 as a time waster or the teens who could have her over the summer get her fit, prove her soundness and you could then sell in the autumn to a hunting home
 
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I don't want to post much more on the matter, I've appreciated all the replies in how to re-word the advert and I will look at it shortly however I just haven't had a chance yet. Yes the advert on reading back may be slightly confusing however it is only due to the fact I was trying to be honest about the horse and where her downfalls are aswell as her good points. Writing advert for horses is not something I've ever done before and it seems it's an art.

I'm selling her as a fun horse for someone who wants to go out and do a bit of everything and who doesn't want the worry of being bucked bronc'd or galloped off with whilst doing it, not solely event as I'd like to do. I'd say in most areas she's a confidence giving horse because that's my experience of her and also the experience of those who have ridden her for me but I can see where the majority of you are coming from and will likely take this out of the advert.

Price wise, it is always said on here that a horse is worth what someone is willing to pay, if no one wants her at that price that's fine and I will re-asses based on feed back from viewers/ calls/ comments etc. Whilst the money would be welcomed it is not my main priority, all I have tried to do from the beginning is find her a good home.

Medical wise and the last season I competed her she was well and fit (sept14-Jan15 I think) and the hacking was barely an issue by this point. In Feb 15 I didn't feel she was right as she was loosing weight so we had her scoped and stopped working her and treated the ulcers, the day she was due back for a re-scope she locked over night, likely due to the weight loss, lack of work and loss of muscle tone. Once she was unlocked that morning she didn't and hasnt locked since, prior to that she hadn't locked since the previous year. She was taken back to the vets a week later and scoped clear so we began working her again several weeks later we had the tendon issue, vets attended scanned twice, found nothing and said to bring back into work and she's been fine since. Just incase you wanted the time line. . .

Michen I hardly think this is akin to your situation, I have been upfront and honest regarding her issues from the start. One family have asked for a vetting which I am happy to oblige and coincidentally is being undertaken by my vets practise but not my vet and I have agreed to a full disclosure of her medical notes. I am not trying to hide anything! I don't have reason to believe she will fail a vetting and if she does it will not be because of anything I am aware of.

Perhaps we could leave this thread be now, I can't see that there is anything more that needs to or can be said.
 
ester said:
Which is why I find it hard to see the person offering 2750 as a time waster or the teens who could have her over the summer get her fit, prove her soundness and you could then sell in the autumn to a hunting home
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You've made your point. Maybe time to back off now?
 
Positive news about the vetting! I'd say if she sells from that after ten days of being advertised you've done pretty well really ;)
 
Great news that someone wants her, fingers crossed for the vetting. I also think you have done well with a sale so soon, glad someone has seen he good points.
 
ihatework said:
You've made your point. Maybe time to back off now?
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Never very good at that :p, also not good at being told what to do :p. Just nice to see people agreeing with me when I was so villified for being mean to the OP and not considering her emotional state when as far as I was concerned I was just giving fact/opinion.

Especially when someone keeps telling me they never called anyone a timewaster so I shouldn't use that term yet used the word in their first sentence :p.


Hope the vetting goes well OP :)
 
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😂😂

Good god Ester! Get over it I'm sorry if I've offended you, I didn't think I'd called anyone a time waster hence saying it, I didn't check my post back but luckily you proved me wrong. In fact as you kindly pointed out for me I differentiated between time wasters and potential homes so wasn't in fact calling everyone who didn't want the horse a time waster . . .

But any way, well done, you were right! And you hammered it home at any cost and scored some shots aswell, so a good day in the office for you then!

I here by honour you with my first UI, wear it as a badge of pride representative of your insensitivity, callous remarks and your sheer determination to get your point across.

You win (y) I'm done
 
This raises an interesting point raised by my OH the other day. I'm not selling my boy but if you read what I had posted about him he sounds blumming awful! No soundness issues, but other things. Hes actually a total superstar, the issues I've posted about have been caused when hes had saddles that dont fit or has been sore due to that. Other than that he has no medical issues touch wood! Hes also super easy now. I only post here when things are going wrong!

Hes completely suitable for a fat, middle aged disabled person, aka me. I have and do get on him when hes done nothing for weeks if not months on end and happily hack him out, when I shouldnt be riding any horse. Hes a saint! Going by my posts on here he sounds like a complete git!

I am incredibly easy to identify, I post under a user name that is his name and have regularly linked to my FB profile. The only way I could be more identifiable, is if I used my actual name to post under. I do that because I have nothing to hide and couldnt care less if anyone on here knows who I am in real life. I am exactly the same in real life as on here and totally happy to discuss what I've said online in real life.

And back to my original point, my OH is horrified that I post on a forum with enough detail that people can easily identify me, and can also "keep tabs" on me, when I have severed ties in real life. I completely dismissed him and said it wasnt and would never be an issue, but maybe he does have a point! God help me if my health gets the worst of me and I need to sell my boy. Hopefully it wont ever happen, but if it did there would be people who would miss out on a totally genuine superstar of a cob based on me gobbing off on here!
 
The same had occurred to me about Fergus, FC. Just as well I don't plan on selling him :eek3:
 
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