I'm selling my horse but I have no facilities other than hacking & a boggy field

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santander

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I'm selling a pony, but all I have at my immediate disposal for trying him out is a very boggy field and some nice roads to hack on.(All season we had him at another livery where there was plenty of facilites but I've moved him now)
I have no trailer. A couple of people have been to see him and each time I have hired a local indoor arena and a trailer to get him there so that they could try him out properly. Each time this has cost me £25 for the trailer and £12 for an hour in the arena. More if I run over because the viewer is late. I've done this twice now for people who didn't want the pony and I can't afford to do it much more!

What should I do? WHat's the protocol in this situation? A lady is coming tomorrow and she asked if I had cross country facilities anywhere near :eek::eek:

we do about half an hour away but I can't afford to pay for THAT if she doesn't want him :confused:

What should I do?
 
You could tell her yes, but you have to pay to use them! :D And if she buys the pony you will reimburse the fees perhaps?

Or advertise the pony as sold from the field. Like this you are likely to get a lower price but if you end up forking out a few hundred on trial facilites I guess it's the same.

Other alternative could be sales livery, or temp. livery at a yard with better facilities.
 
Its a really difficult one, and one reason why I didn't sell my pony last winter, but waited until Spring. What a shame that you didn't sell him while at the other yard. I don't think theres any other option other than going to the arena, apart from moving him to another yard while you sell him
(which may work out cheaper than renting the arena and trailer all the time).

Its fair for people to expect an arena. Bit much to expect xc jumps. The puchaser could hire the local xc course herself on a second visit if they liked him in an arena. Or do you have any xc videos of him.

Good luck.
 
Maybe explain to people that ring that you dont have facilities and ask them to come meet horse at your yard first and then if they are interested and think the horse may be what they want arrange to take horse top better facilities a few days later? Obviously only works if they dont live too far away from you.
 
I don't really think its necessary to xc a horse on the first visit, well it is if you have the facilities, but shouldn't be 'expected' if you don't.

Are there any outdoor school within hacking distance? I had to take mine to a local school when I sold him as we also only have a field, which he was not suitable for riding in due to being a bugger! :eek:

I did however sell a pony from our field, although it was summer so easier I guess. He had 12 acres to run in, and boy did he run :eek: then again, the little girl that was trying him wanted him for tetrathlon and couldn't stop smiling :)

ETA - if he's a good hack, I don't see any reason why you can't do that?
 
ok don' worry is your first thing..I felt i was in a similar situation but i managed to work around it. By doing this..

Let them come along and see the pony to start with mention the facilities are not ideal but youll work around that if they like the pony.. after all some people may be after something completley diffrent and you wont waste any more money and time hiring. If they like the look of him allow them time to get to know him a bit in the stable , let them tack him up talk about his good and bad points and be honest as if they are happy with everything he does and like the sound of him thats a good start !!

Offer them a hack out , If they still like him after that offer them the opportunity to come back and you ll hire facilities. They may be able to come back with there own trailer to ..This will get rid of a lot of time wasters and if they still like him after the hack and want to try him in the arena your in with a good chance of them buying him. This way they have already tried him on the road etc anyway which in my experience people would like to see anyway. i always offer someone the chance to come back for a hack a few days later anyway to show them the horse is safe . Your just doing it the other way round.

I know it seems a long winded way of doing it but it will work and wont cost you money for people that aren't that interested .. Good luck .
 
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Yeah I was happy when I was looking for horses to go and hack out/ride in field if that's all the facilities they had. I tried my horse first in the field, then as I was keen the owner took him to an arena so I could try him there, then I went back a third time and hacked him out.

Just explain to people when they ring up, that you have no facilities but they can come up and ride out anyway. most people want to hack the horse out at some point when they try him. If you have no luck tho I would wait til ur fields can be used.
 
Ok, so you just have a boggy field - so what?! if you are happy for it to be ridden in, let them do the initial 'trying out' in there and then maybe offer to take them for a hack. I think in some ways it shows a pony/horse is almost more reliable if you are happy for them to try him in the field and out on a hack.

IF they do want to do a bit more (ie jump) then you need to clarify this on the phone before they come. Do you have any friends/local yard who you could ask if you could borrow their field/school to pop a few fences up in but sort of arrange it so you didn't have to book it as such but say ring them just prior to coming?

Back in the day when I was looking for potential ponies/horses, people didn't HAVE nice arenas etc, you just had to make do with what was there. Granted it is easier to sell in the spring/summer if you do not have great facilities in the winter but it is not impossible.

As far as the xc woman is concerned, I would almost be tempted to say take a hike! Unless you are selling a pro-eventer type then I can't see why someone wants to pop it over some xc fences at a course near you - that to me just sounds like someone wanting a free ride! Maybe a consideration for a 2nd or 3rd viewing but for the first one? Hmm, people cannot expect that, it's just silly.
 
I have bought 3 ponies/horses that I have seen only trotted up the road. If they are true horse people they will see through all that and perhaps book to see him in a school.
To be honest I would rather see them out than in a school. The only horse we ever bought that we didn't see hack out doesn't do hacking but we were not bothered as that isn't why we bought him.
 
I must have been the easiest customer EVER! I was given an uneven field to ride in, then a short hack round the block! Although we didn't jump, I thought she was super and bought her. Proper potential buyers will see through your facilities to the horse underneath them, it doesn't matter what surface they're on.
 
9tails said:
I must have been the easiest customer EVER! I was given an uneven field to ride in, then a short hack round the block! Although we didn't jump, I thought she was super and bought her.
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Same here, I only tried my latest purchase in a field (although not muddy as it was summer) with no jumps and on a short hack. I suppose I was taking a risk not trying him over fences, but the sellers showed me plenty of pics of him competing. So far he has jumped everything I've asked him to.
 
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