Selling a non-competition horse abroad via an agent - help needed...

duckling

duckling

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I'll try and keep this short-ish, so here goes!! :D

Since Feb, I have been riding and schooling a 13yr old Welsh cob mare for her owner. Prior to this the mare was a broodmare - sold to the owner as a happy hacker but don't think she'd ever really been schooled and proved to be way too much for her to handle, so she was out of work, fat and had some real anxiety issues when I met her. It's taken a lot of work and patience, but over the summer she really started to come nice :) She'd hack out happily in company, work nicely in the school and started jumping - even went on a 3 day summer camp where she was amazing. :D Problem now comes when I don't have enough time to ride her going into Winter - I work v long hours and just cant do the horse during the week - and she has got so much energy, she needs the regular work.

Owner needs to sell her, and has had an offer from a guy in the Czech Republic who has offered the full asking price and deals via an agent here in Wales... Has anyone done this sort of sale before? He says he wants her as a broodmare and also to ride.

If it was me selling, there's no way I'd let her go (she's barely travelled in a trailer, let alone abroad...) but as the owner needs her gone and she's not the easiest mare to sell I'm not sure I have much option other than to step back. I'm so worried about her... Advice would be great :) Thanks in advance.
 
Wouldn't touch the proposed buyer with a barge pole.
There are scams involved with countries abroad - they are deliberately targeting sellers to secure bank details etc, and balance of an overpayment.

http://www.horsefinders.com/scams.php
http://www.2buyhorses.com/bb.htm

Lets face it, who buys a horse unseen - I wouldn't send a horse abroad ever.
Poor horse, she needs to price her right and sell her responsibly.
 
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Owner needs to sell her, and has had an offer from a guy in the Czech Republic who has offered the full asking price and deals via an agent here in Wales
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It will be a scam or a money laundering operation.

Steer well clear.

What is the name of the 'agent' this person uses???
 
This is obviously a scam so keep well clear.

The other thing as you say is that its a shame your friend would even consider selling her mare without meeting the new owners and vetting her new home.If she is difficult its even more important to find the right home I would have thought.
 
PM me his name, i live in Ceredigion, so should be able to tell you if he's known or not (& if i dont know him i know plenty of people that should).
Though have you thought if shes a Welsh mare there is no reason at all it isnt genuine, a friend of mine has just sold one fo her D foals to Germany & there are plenty of other Welsh studs overseas who do buy from the UK. I do also belive there are several Welsh studs in the Czech Republic & quite a few people have sold to them as well.
 
I agree with all the previous posts that this is likely a scam. However even if the buyer was genuine I could not send any of my horses to a new owner abroad who I had not met and who had not seen the horse, you just don't know what you are sending the poor animal to. If I really couldn't keep her anymore I would rather give her away to a genuine home here in the UK.
 
Thanks everyone, I've just text owner asking for his name so fingers x'd she gets back to me soon.

Navaho - that was one thing I did wonder, whether it was a genuine stud over there as she has got good bloodlines. If she were mine, knowing how she is she still wouldn't be going, but if it is a good genuine home it will make me feel a bit better :)

I have to get back to work now, lunch break over, but will be back on later with any updates. Thanks again.
 
I would agree with everyone els,e no offence to the mare but this doesn't sound real....however:


millimoo said:
Lets face it, who buys a horse unseen -
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Quite a lot of people do actually do this....there was a girl on my yard who shipped a 3yo over from the czech republic having only seen videos of him. She bought him to SJ and I think as she had limited funds it got her a "flashy" warmblood type for little money.
 
millimoo said:
Lets face it, who buys a horse unseen
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Me. I much prefer to buy from the UK/Ireland as the horses are much better quality and even including transport you can get a really good deal. I have only bought horses that somebody independant can check out for me though, so a friend or a friend of a friend (just to make sure the advertiser isn't scamming me, it works both ways you know!). Nobody has ever had an issue selling a horse to me.

It may not necessarily be a scam, but I've no experience with deal from Czech Rep. I'd certainly want to know a little bit more about the guy though.
 
Thanks La Fiaba for your side of things. I understand there must be some genuine purchasers - I was just curious as to why someone who had the money to buy and ship a horse from the UK wouldn't spend pennies on an easyjet flight to check it out first?

Owner hasn't got back to me with the name of the agent... Will keep you posted if I get one. She has said that mare needs to be gone by Christmas due to finances.

Here's a pic of the beast proving how nice she can be ;)
44812_658260935512_286103527_8609539_5669000_n.jpg
 
Update - yep, it was a scam (thank God!!) and the beast is not off to Europe. I feel very relieved at this!! :)

She is now advertised properly on some big horsey ad sites so hopefully that will give us a better chance of finding her a good place to go. Thanks for all your help :)
 
I would just like to say that not all foreign buyers are scammers! I've just sold a pony to Spain and the people were an absoloute pleasure to deal with, despite it looking dodgy at first due to all the strange badly written emails! lol.
 
natalia said:
I would just like to say that not all foreign buyers are scammers! I've just sold a pony to Spain and the people were an absoloute pleasure to deal with, despite it looking dodgy at first due to all the strange badly written emails! lol.
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I was just going to put something of similar lines..

Im IN Spain, and have 3 Appaloosa foals and a mare for sale, but im not a scammer, and would let them go to the UK, actually, I would prefer they went to the UK,

and as for travelling.... my daughters Appy travelled to the UK last week from here, and has only been in my trailer a couple of times, and I only drove him round the farm, and that was 2 years ago, well he loaded like a dream onto the lorry and travelled very well, and is now happily settled in the UK..

But you have been sensible, if you think they might be a scammer, then check them out.
 
In this case it was more the full asking price and the cash that raised alarm bells.

That said, though, I know many people who have bought horses from overseas, specifically Welsh ponies/cobs, and countless warmbloods in the Europe to North American direction, and various QHs/Appaloosas/Paints in the other direction. I rode a horse that got sold from Canada to the UK I suspect mostly because she was an unusual colour! Horses get sold over huge distances in North American fairly regularly, often without the owners seeing them in the flesh. Ironically, I'd say it works out MORE often than the average because people tend to be very, very certain it's the horse they want and rely on a great deal of objective professional advice.

I can see why people are reluctant to sell a horse - in a valid sale, of course - far away but selling them down the road is no guarantee, either. Like it or not, once the horse is sold there's not much you can do about it anyway - look how many people on here have sold horses to "forever homes" only to see them change hands again within a year.
 
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