Horse for sale

If you look very closely it is not being used as a gag!! Said rider rides at high level in at least 3 disciplines and is very talented her buyers are mostly also knowledgeable in their own right and go back for more! God knows what you assume if you do have a grudge ? How can you judge a rider from a photo taken in a split second judgemental or what!
OK I'm intrigued, who is the rider and why are you so defensive of her?
 
Any-one who puts a photo up with a horse for sale has to be inviting a critique of the riding in the photo. Any potential buyers will look at the horse and the way it is going. They will then look at the tack and wonder why the horse is wearing that particular tack. Then they will look at the rider and decide whether the way the horse is going is because of, or in spite of the rider. That is what an ad has to be inviting potential buyers to do, unless you think that buyers only choose a horse on the basis of its colour!
 
Now this really does make me laugh!

I have no idea who this rider is or how many horses she sells, or to whom, so this is not referring to her as a 'dodgy dealer'. However there are many dodgy dealers who appear to sell plenty of horses to those who know no better than to think that a photo such as the one this thread is about shows a horse in 'an outline'.
I wouldn't expect to see a young green horse in anything other than a very natural relaxed outline, in a snaffle bit without a martingale. I would expect to see the rider on a young green horse sitting up straight with ear/shoulder/hip/ankle in alignment, as is the very basic position that any beginner rider should learn. The horse will never go in a correct outline if the rider never sits in the correct position.

To be fair to the rider I have say her stirrups are very short for ear shoulder hip heel in jumping position you don’t expect to see that in very short stirrups .
I don’t think it’s a nice picture .
It would not stop me viewing the horse if it was the type I was after I not really interested in how others ride a horse because they won’t be riding it .
Reschooling horses is fun although the bit would flag up to me a potential issue I live enough in the real world to be unphased by being shown a young horse in a martingale and a bit I don’t like .
 
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Any-one who puts a photo up with a horse for sale has to be inviting a critique of the riding in the photo. Any potential buyers will look at the horse and the way it is going. They will then look at the tack and wonder why the horse is wearing that particular tack. Then they will look at the rider and decide whether the way the horse is going is because of, or in spite of the rider. That is what an ad has to be inviting potential buyers to do, unless you think that buyers only choose a horse on the basis of its colour!

Well it sold within 4 days so maybe trying to be SO! judgemental from a photo isnt so clever. If only we were all so useless at what we do. You can say what you like about the photo however at the end of the day the photo wasnt taken to advertise the horse or to invite comments. It was on a FB page where the rider has her horses. So if you get a kick out of being so negative carry on I doubt she will miss you sending her any horses.
 
OK I'm intrigued, who is the rider and why are you so defensive of her?
I am defensive because I get fed up with the judgemental criticism that goes on when they do not even know the full facts Not like the criticism was invited !
 
Well it sold within 4 days so maybe trying to be SO! judgemental from a photo isnt so clever. If only we were all so useless at what we do. You can say what you like about the photo however at the end of the day the photo wasnt taken to advertise the horse or to invite comments. It was on a FB page where the rider has her horses. So if you get a kick out of being so negative carry on I doubt she will miss you sending her any horses.

I repeat - again - the picture was on a for sale post, with public setting, on FB. So if that is the case you can hardly object to it being shared.
 
Let’s just all hope that the horse has a great long term home and a happy life nothing else matters in the least ,then the picture done it’s job .
 
Whether the horse sold or not, quickly or not, is entirely irrelevant and is just as likely to be because of it's price/rideability/talent/suitability/colour/personality/kissable nose as anything else. What we are discussing is the quality and choice of photographs used in for sale advertisements, and what people in general consider to be "good" presentation of a horse's way of going. Some people would take a little more care to "stage" a photo perhaps? Have the horse going better, in simple tack, the rider sitting better and presenting the horse in a better, softer outline - I know that's how I like my for sale ads to be, because that's how I like my horses to go anyway. It's great that the girl got the horse sold quickly, but it's not a great example of how horses should be trained.
 
If you look very closely it is not being used as a gag!! Said rider rides at high level in at least 3 disciplines and is very talented her buyers are mostly also knowledgeable in their own right and go back for more! God knows what you assume if you do have a grudge ? How can you judge a rider from a photo taken in a split second judgemental or what!

If she is such a professional why isn't she using a snaffle then if that is all the horse needs for flatwork? Surely she would have a basic snaffle to be able to use.

It doesn't take much to change over a bit for when the jumping starts, or even get pictures on different days. That is what I would do, and the VERY successful semi-pro on my yard who produces horses does. It is all about first impressions.

Regardless of who the rider is, if you selling a horse, it doesn't take much to put a bit of effort into getting good pictures, may that be doing it on different days for different things. And that isn't a critique of the rider here, more a general statement. When people use crappy pictures (again not aimed at this rider), it gives the impression A)They don't really want to sell. B) They don't know what they are doing. And C) They can't be bothered. If the latter is the case what else have they not bothered with?

Yes you are right the bit is being used as a gag, but myself and many others also came to the same judgment that the gag wasn't being used as a gag. And as it is a buyers market you would think sellers would want the clearest pictures possible, not something people have to really investigate.
 
You do realise that the definition of being a professional isn't being able to ride every horse on the planet in a snaffle, right?

I do get that yes. But if the gag is only being used as a hanging cheek equivalent why not use a hanging cheek? I do understand that the horse may well need a gag for jumping. And for ease of transition then using the gag as a snaffle would suit in most cases.

All I am saying is that first impressions count for a lot. In anything not just this instance.
 
This is a discussion board, yes? Perhaps it was to promote discussion?

Yes discussion thats negative as it turns out . I think it is very unfair to comment on anybodies for sale adverts im afraid . As i said not many would be happy if their ad was pulled to bits on a public forum and surely its more positive to comment on the good ones . Thats not getting at you Clodagh however I find there are always those on here that just wait for the chance to run people down. luckily not much damage done as the horse sold quickly .
 
Whether the horse sold or not, quickly or not, is entirely irrelevant and is just as likely to be because of it's price/rideability/talent/suitability/colour/personality/kissable nose as anything else. What we are discussing is the quality and choice of photographs used in for sale advertisements, and what people in general consider to be "good" presentation of a horse's way of going. Some people would take a little more care to "stage" a photo perhaps? Have the horse going better, in simple tack, the rider sitting better and presenting the horse in a better, softer outline - I know that's how I like my for sale ads to be, because that's how I like my horses to go anyway. It's great that the girl got the horse sold quickly, but it's not a great example of how horses should be trained.

I dont disagree with you however , I think there may be crossed purposes here as it was put on face book as soon as it arrived as she does with a lot of horses with just the comment for sale with a very informal description .She sells a lot of horses to people who approach her about her horses on face book even before they are for sale. She ought to be getting praised for having sold it so quickly when the owner was desperate to get it sold. A lot would have held onto it longer to get some livery money in.
 
Isn't this just like commenting on goods in a shop? The pictures aren't posted on Facebook for fun, they are posted to sell both the horse and the trainer/dealer's own services. I honestly don't see much difference between commenting on Hope Valley's service in another thread running, and this one.

In addition, it may actually educate some forum users that the horses outline is considered very undesirable. And that might help other horses. And meanwhile, the original advert gets publicity, and nobody who knows what they are looking at would be put off viewing if it was the stamp of horse they wanted at the right price (as shown by the fact that it's sold already). Win win all round :)
 
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