Sales Livery..worth the cost?

attheponies

attheponies

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We have made the sad decision to part with my daughter's gelding after 6 years. Because she is away I am thinking about sales livery but have never tried this before and wondered whether they are normally successful or whether I am likely to end up months later with both the horse and a huge bill! Anyone had any experience or can recommend someone in the Norfolk/Suffolk area?
 
I think it all depends on the value of the animal and how realistic the price is against the cost of the livery.
I know someone who had a horse they paid alot of money for, they sent it to a well known yard to sell, six months later it still hadn't sold. Now wether they wanted too much for it or the agent was just not marketing it enough I do not know.
Depending on your circumstance I would waite a couple of months, as unless its really saleable, the market really picks up at Easter and you will have a better chance of sellling it quickly.
If your daughters horse id well known locally PC,RC etc I would try advertising it locally theough the local Facebook RC horsey websites. You will get day trippers but you will have a bit of control. If you get a freelance groom to do the preperation/sale it cost about £15ph.
 
I have sold 2 horses through sales livery.

The first was a lovely hunter type but just too green for me. The lady he went too had him for 3 weeks and sold him in the fourth - we paid livery and she also took a 10% cut of the selling price. She sold him for more than we wanted so all parties were happy.

The second horse we sold was a quirky show cob and he went to a showing specialist. He was with her for around 2 mnths of schooling before ready for sale, which was very expensive livery wise, but again got a good price for him. She did show him and he got to Hoys Search for a Star, and is now in a long term showing home.

We were lucky as were selling in a good market and both horses were quality enough to command a good price. However I would be quite wary of doing it atm because of the time of year and economic climate.
 
If you use the right place then definetly worth the money I think, I bought my new horse just before Christmas, he'd been on sales livery with an eventer.
They and the owner had advertised him, I was sent his advert via an advert on Facebook though.
I have successfully sold through a yard doing sales livery on the Cambs/Essex border, very reasonably priced, if you want their details PM me.
 
I put a lovely Irish horse on sales livery sept 2011, I was told the place would sell him in few weeks cos he was an up and coming two star horse... Well after 5 months and 2800 in fees I brought him home, and put him on comp livery locally, he did well and his rider bought him. So I wasted money I could ill afford then he went local. I still am in touch with his new owner and he is doing well with a young rider in PC and YR classes.
I admit the market was poor at the time, but with hindsight would advert myself first, and pay someone to show him for anyone who tried him.
 
I put a horse on sales livery many years ago. I had tried to sell horse myself for a few months, hoping she would find a home before I went out of state for uni. She didn't. The choice was leaving the responsibility of taking care of and selling the horse with my parents, or.... My parents are not horsey, so we sent the mare to a sales livery barn. They found her a great home.

I don't think it's the most economical thing to do for the owner, as you're sinking money into board and the barn obviously takes a commission. But on the other hand, she sold the mare within a month or two, whereas I had her on the market for about six months with no luck. I am clearly rubbish at selling horses.
 
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Thanks everyone for your replies, he is a lovely 16.1 hh coloured WB but he is 14 so this will obviously keep his price lower. It is a very sad sale so I thought it might be easier to leave everything to a third party but I think I will have very little change after paying the estimated livery costs and percentage of sale. I think the suggestion to pay someone else to ride him for prospective buyers is probably best as I am worried about worried about mounting costs in a sales livery with no real incentive for an early sale.
 
I take horses on sales livery. I have a pretty large clientelle for riding horses so I always ask lots of questions about the horse prior to it arriving. If I believe I have a buyer then I will take the horse. I contact the potential buyer immediately and let them know what type of horse I have coming in. The horses here on sales livery generally are only here for a week or two while we ride them to make sure they are what their owners say they are. Sometimes the horse turns out to be a bit different to what they describe and I know it's not suitable for the first potential buyer so then I'll contact others who would be more suitable. I've never had to return a horse to its original owner, they've all sold from here and I think the longest we ever had a sales horse was a month but that was at the buyers request as they wanted us to put more training into it.

I think so long as you research your sales livery yard, maybe ask for references if you don't know them personally, then if they are genuinely what they say then they should be able to find a good match of buyer for your horse.
 
Sales livery works as long as people don't count every cost. You would be paying livery on the horse if it were still at home so it's best to look at it like this! It's always a difficult one to judge as some horses fly straight out the door and others hang. I find most need a 2/3 weeks work to set them up a bit, often they haven't been ridden by many people so need to be made a bit more universal before sale.
 
I sell all mine through sales livery. If you send them to a professional I find they have more contacts and usually sell them quicker and for a better price. I am in Essex and send mine to my trainer Tom Plaster, who is a pro showjumper. I would definitely recommend him! He has fantastic contacts, is a fantastic rider and his horses get the best care. PM me if you would like contact details
 
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