omg I don't know what to do

[xspiralx]

I want to cry, curl up in a ball and forget about everything.

I'm leaving in 3 weeks and I still can't sell Paris. We've dropped the price right down to £4000, we've advertised her everywhere...H&H with a colour ad for 4 weeks, horse deals, pc website, etc.

Its not the price, nobody has said they think shes advertised for too much, I am totally honest about her on the phone, they even agree as much after they see her, they always think shes lovely and will sell so easily but I CAN'T and now I am so scared. Lowering the price hasn't helped at all, and as far as I can tell, its not the price that is the problem.

I just don't know what to do, I never thought it would be this hard. Short of crashing the price down about a grand and making a major loss on her, I'm pretty much out of options.

Somebody tried her yesterday and really liked her, and they were going to ring me back today and let me know but they haven't.

Oh my God.

Please don't come at me with "I told you so's"...that is the LAST thing I need right now

 

[marmite]

hun im so sorry this must be awful for you the only advice i could give is to drop price but like you say your making a loss.


I just hope it works out for you x x x x x x its awful when things like this happen

 

[Fiona_C]

Could you put her out on loan ?

 

[xspiralx]

I don't understand it and nobody else can seem to either. We put her in horse deals and the lady was shocked that we were putting her in as low as £4000 as she said "types like her normally get snapped up" - she expected the price to be about £1000 higher.

Paris is LOVELY, her flatwork would take a bit more work to get it polished for a dressage test but she's balanced, shes a great hack, her jumping couldn't be better - she's literally a point and jump over any sort/height of fence, and she's great xc. Not only that but shes lovely and easy to do.

 

[marmite]

Well babe if i had the money in a heart beat its hard enough for you because you love her so much thats always been so clear.

 

[xspiralx]

Well I may have to though I need the money really - I am NOT going to be coming back to riding for several years so it might be a case of loaning her til I can sell her....but then I still have less than 3 weeks to find her a good competition home where they'll actually do a good job with her rather than ruin her

 

[marmite]

Its a shame she is so far away i know loads of people crying out for good horses to buy or loan with possible purchase.

If its any help i can keep my ears to the ground?

 

[xspiralx]

thanks marmite....we'll definitely loan her out if we have to, no other options really..

 

[JAK]

Do you know why she is not selling & is there anything you can do about it?

If the answer is 'no', then dropping the price may be your only option, if several people have already been to try her, yet not followed it up!

 

[xspiralx]

All I have got is comments like "not really my type" and a fair few don't think her flatwork is good enough - though I stress over and over on the phone exactly what its like...

 

[fjudge]

Could you pm me details of the horse please, and maybe a couple of photos??

xxx

 

[Elise]

What about loaning her to an equestrian college with a good reputation?

 

[MillionDollar]

Im sorry you're having such a bad time, shes sounds fantastic, if i was looking for a horse she would tick all my boxes.

Yeh, Warwickshire College are always looking for good comp horses to loan. And she will be looked after really really well, and loved by lots of students. Also im 3 miles away and a student at the college so could keep an eye on her. But if its not an option i hope you find a good home for her, it must be so fustrating.

 

[JAK]

Simple logic would then suggest that she is not what they are expecting when they turn up, despite what you are telling them on the phone, which half of them don't really listen to anyway, as they have already formed a picture in their mind from the advert & are not easily swayed from this! LOL

Therefore, I would tentatively suggest that your advert may be flawed in some way & you are simply initially attracting the 'wrong' type of people?
It really is the simplest explaination, other than the horse being over-priced, or the fact that they don't like you for some reason!

Try & imagine yourself reading the advert (or get an honest friend to!), going to see the horse, meeting you.......is there anything that would disappoint or make you 'back off' for some reason?
You sound as though you are running out of time, so you will need to be brutally honest here!

 

[xspiralx]

the horses that are loaned by colleges - what's the standard of riding like? I don't mean to sound snobbish, but I've put a fair bit of work into her and as I DO have to sell at some point, I wouldn't want her standard to deteriorate.

Any other info on it? Like what do you have to do to get the people to take them, and is it easy to sell a horse FROM there if you so wanted?

 

[Fiona_C]

Now wasn't BB's looking for a s/j

 

[xspiralx]

http://www.horsedeals.co.uk/horsedetails.aspx?horseid=17235

this is her horsedeals ad.

I appreciate everything you are saying but she IS all those things. I can't BE anymore honest about her, and I make absolutely sure to stress to people that she is not a dressage horse, never will be, perfectly capable of doing an okay test with some more work but its not a strong point.

 

[MillionDollar]

All students are accessed before riding in lessons, no student is a beginner, they are not treated like riding school horses. Also if you don't want the horse to be jumped for example then it won't.

Lots of horses are sold to students, because they ride them and fall in love with them so very easy. Also you can allow students to compete your horse if you wish and there is a scheme where students can loan a horse where they look after the horse completely under supervision. Very easy to get horse in, all you have to do is contact them and tell them what the horse has done, etc.

 

[xspiralx]

thanks - do you have a website or email address?

 

[MillionDollar]

Oh she is lovely, really really nice, wish i could have another horse, but have 5 already, lol. Can't believe she hasn't sold, i would bite your hand off, especially as she has BSJA winnings AND is a confidence giver.

 

[xspiralx]

She is so lovely, I know I am bound to be biased, but honestly I've jumped her up to 4ft9, she'll jump anything you put in front of her for anyone and always get somebody out of trouble in striding etc, she's completely easy but has so much talent...

 

[MillionDollar]

Yeh website-

www.warkscol.ac.uk

email- try...
cmitchell@warkscol.ac.uk
(Clifford Mitchell) explain situation and ask for contact details, he's head of Equine.

Good luck, let me know how you get on.

 

[GTs]

The only descrepancy I can see is - you say lots of things that would interest a more confident rider (X-C, showjumping) but in the title you say good first horse.

 

[xspiralx]

Well she is both! She IS a good first horse, but she's got masses of talent.

However I can't advertise her as a competition horse because people complain that she is too old and hasn't done enough recently [I have no transport so cannot show]

 

[xspiralx]

thank you, I have emailed him

 

[Tia]

I'm really really sorry for you that you are having trouble selling Paris.

You won't like to hear what I have to say as you have heard it before; but I believe she is waaaay over-priced for an RC horse. RC horses generally are around the £2,500 - £3,500 price bracket and for that sort of money you can still get a very decent horse, often a lot younger than Paris.

If she is as lovely as you say then the only thing that can be putting people off her is the price. I advertised all of my 3 year old horses for just over 4,000 each and all of them sold within no time - I guess the pricing was right.

Pricing is everything. Sorry once again and I fully expect to have you getting peed off at this.....however pay heed and perhaps in 3 weeks you will be leaving for university unencumbered.

 

[mrdarcy]

She does look lovely and is actually the sort of thing I'm looking for myself but probably only for six months or so to get some experience at BSJA over the winter. The one thing that would put me off buying is her age... I know it's not old at all (I own an 18yo arab!) but we're coming up the end of the year which means she's rising thirteen so if someone were to buy her now, get their confidence going jumping for a year or so before moving onto a 2nd horse if they were then looking to sell her on she'd be rising 14/15 and an even harder prospect to market.

On the subject of loaning to colleges I had a mare that I loaned to the Yorkshire Riding Centre summer 2005 for their students. I didn't have time to ride that summer and wanted her kept fit before I sold her. She was very well looked after and not at all ruined... in fact being under the tutelage of Jane Bartle for five months was a positive benefit.

 

[xspiralx]

I appreciate what you are saying and yes maybe we will have to chuck the price down again, but she has so much quality and scope that she is a very serious competition horse - however nobody will buy her as such because they believe she is too old.

 

[Tia]

I always think that situations like this are really the crappiest things to happen. You love your horse, you feel she is fantastic and you want the best home for her........but now it probably feels like she is a bit of a noose around your neck. Very heartbreaking time and I'm sure your mind is spinning right now.

The only advice I can give is to seriously drop the price and hope that she appeals to a far larger audience and then you can have your pick of new owners. Fingers crossed that she finds that fantastic home soon.

 

[MillionDollar]

Thats ok no problem, i just hope it all works out for you.

As for the thing about her being too old, it really annoys me when people say horses are too old. Shes only 12, i have a 23 yo who is in hard work, she'd be lost without it. Why do people retire horses just because they hit 18. I know its probably harder to sell an older horse, but 12, thats no age.

I wish the girl i teach to ride was 2 years older because your mare would be perfect for her, lol.