Ideas needed

[LoneRanger]

Hi,

Ok, so this post is not looking for sympathy but for practical ideas so it'd be great if you could help First the background...Last spring I bought a lovely show jumper from a friend of mine. Within the first few weeks I had him I took him to a couple of shows, did 4 classes and was well placed in 3 of them. I was also doing a bit of point to pointing at the time (not on him obviously!). Five weeks after getting my horse, I rode in a point to point but had a bit of a tumble (as did the horse I was on, I hasten to add). Unfortunately I suffered a serious head injury. Was in intensive care, neurological hospital (none of which I remember) and then rehab clinic. Have been generally recovering well, got use of limbs back but have been left with vision problems.

Four months after the accident I started riding my show jumper again (he is a saint) and have been schooling and hacking him since then. However I cannot jump him or even compete at dressage and it's really the competing that I have always loved. So I made the big decision to sell him and start the next chapter of my life (whatever that may be). So I put an honest and frank advert on Horse Quest three weeks ago and have not had a single phone call.

Where do I go from here? Where else is good to advertise? Does anyone have any bright ideas of good ways to sell him? Any ideas welcomed. Thanks.

 

[I_A_P]

Have you got a reference no. for him on HQ? Just thinking people can look at the ad and see what they think

 

[LoneRanger]

Hiya

I wasn't sure if that was allowed in the forum but hey ho! The advert number is 23931. Hope this info is allowed.

Thanks

 

[ttt]

Drop the whole advert and start again. I am sorry but after reading that first sentence I would be moving on to the next advert. Tell people about what he has done and leave the bit about not competing to the phone calls.

(Says the person who has only had 2 calls on the most fantastic 148cms JA priced to sell so I obviously don't do a wonderful job myself!)

 

[TGM]

Have looked at your advert and it seems a bit brief and doesn't really seem to 'sell' the horse!

It would be good to see more photos of him for a start. What is his flatwork like - you say you have been schooling him so do you think he might be able to do a reasonable dressage test? If so, state that and show a flatwork photo. There does seem to be more of a market for allrounders/eventers than pure showjumpers, so stress what other things he is good at. You mention that he is good to hack but perhaps put more emphasis on this. Is he quite straightforward to ride? You say he is a saint so perhaps he would be a good horse for a competent teenager to progress to, if so state this and perhaps consider putting him on the Pony Club classifieds. Has he ever done cross country - if he shows talent in this area then get someone to take him cross country schooling and get a video of him - particularly jumping ditches and into water. A video of him jumping and doing flatwork would also be a good idea if you can manage it.

 

[LoneRanger]

Hiya

Cheers for your input. When ad runs out I may try another one which includes your suggestions. He could do dressage easily enough but he's such a tremendous jumper it'd be a bit of a waste, I shouldn't really care about that though should I!

It's odd, I've had a really tough year and I thought that at least he would be easy to sell once I made the decision to do it but obviously not. Hey ho, will keep trying and hopefully it'll work out soon enough.

Thanks again.

 

[TGM]

hen He could do dressage easily enough but he's such a tremendous jumper it'd be a bit of a waste, I shouldn't really care about that though should I!

I'm not suggesting that he should do dressage instead of jumping, but if he can do both it increases his value and his appeal to a wider market!