Selling a ugly horse- can it be done?

dominobrown

dominobrown

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:confused:I seriously need to sell my horse now, but she has less than perfect conformation- back at the knee, and sickle hocks. Although she has a fantastic temperment she is a just backed 3 yr old. Is it sellable? or do I take to her an auction or giver her away. So far I have had a bit of interest but often people don't get back to me after they have seen pictures.
I want her to go to a good home but I want a pointer and she really isn't the horse for me, being an ID with nearly inch of bone!
What to do????
 
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder! No such thing as an ugly horse, surely! (well I've never seen one).
If she's the grey from the ID pics post, then definitely not ugly!
 
Some people are suckers for ugly horses providing they have wonderful characters and can be happy hackers (if they can't do much else due to poor confo) if the price is right and your not in a rush to sell you might find a lovely home.
 
What you consider ugly others may consider beautiful! Everybody looks for different things in a horse. There will be someone out there who will love her.
 
I have done too much showing- I am very critical! She has passed a vetting so its like she couldn't do days hunting or be riding club horse. Unfortuanlty I really havn't 'clicked' with her, I am TB person!
 
Stick a picture on!

Does she have a plain face and grumpy expression as well or is it just the conformational faults?

I bought this
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because it is utterly unflappable, very sweet to have about and it does this:

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and this

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The first thing my daughter's instructor said when she saw her was "That is NOT an object of great beauty!" but she has been a superb horse to own, ride and have as part of the family.

Her conformation? Basically Shire body on TB legs, but with Shire-sized feet and furry leggings. Pigeon toed, both hind feet tread on the same track, upside down neck that comes out of wrong hole, plain shoebox head (but with sweet expression), croup high and probably lots more that those who know her are too polite to say about her!

Nowadays I'm only interested in horses that have got superb temperaments, I've done my time with the manic, the stressy, the insecure, the downright bad and I'd rather have a nice person to have about who wants to have fun doing anything thrown at her but might not be a picture to look at than a beautiful but difficult horse.

So I'd say there's a market and if you're desperate and she's my sort of person I'll take her off your hands!
 
dominobrown said:
I have done too much showing- I am very critical! She has passed a vetting so its like she couldn't do days hunting or be riding club horse. Unfortuanlty I really havn't 'clicked' with her, I am TB person!
Click to expand...
Is she the horse you are catching on tomorrow db? Dont be so mean!!!!!!!
 
Will go and take some new pictures of her now as she had a bath so has lost some of the winter woolies :)
I think she has a nice head and eye, if you could just remove her legs and stick them back on again! lol. I personally think she is a 3 year old purebred ID, and if someone buys her and when she gets to 7 turns out to fine then they will have the last laugh! (she has got better since I got her)
 
We once bought one (15 months old) when I say we, my mum did, out of pitty as well, it was that ugly we felt sorry for it honestly, dodgy cripled feet, a face only its mother could love, turned out to be the best thing I ever bought, once we got his feet right, weight on, he grew from an ugly ducking into a fantastic bold hunting machine and was in the red ribbons at every show he went to.

I'm a sucker for an ugly oss, they usually turn out to be the best ones!
 
I expect when i turned up to try my horse.....the horse probably thought "no way......why do i have to get the ugly one whos legs are too long for her dumpy body" ;-)
 
Stick photos in the adverts so that anyone rining can have seen her confo first.

Also what about trying a humerous type add? Like fugly youngster with heart of gold , or ugly duckling with possible swan potential?

Lots and lots of people rate temperament over looks.
 
beauty is in the eye of the beholder and not everyone wants a horse to show etc... some are just happy enjoying the countryside. I know plenty of fuggly horses and their owners love them to pieces. My friend had a horse with THE WORST conformation ever - LITERALLY - legs all over the place, back skew-wif... the lot... by rights he shouldn't have been standing let alone moving but bloody hell could he move!!! he sadly had to be PTS at the respectable age of 24 because he broke his leg in the field...
 
All that is written about perfect conformation seems to be fairly recent critiques for evaluating horses. We' ve all seen pictures of hunters and racehorses taken in the 1920s and 30s that by modern standards have hideous conformation, but still did a fabulous job winning prizes for their owners and keeping them hunting for years. Even a lot of the top old Show jumpers back in the 60s and 70s were conformationally challenged, old or ill bred (to modern accepted standards) but nobody looked in depth at these shortcomings, just their performance and/or temperments.
I would say temperament and attitude is more important than conformation and breeding (linage). Fundementally a horse is an athlete, so variations on a theme (in terms of conformation) is probably fairly insignificant.
Look at Zara Phillips recently saying that she barely bothered about conformation as long as the horse did a good job (eventing)
And beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
 
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Just found the pics of her! And she looks gorgeous! How sweet is her face and im sure she would make a wonderfull horse for someone! She really isnt and ugly duckling, well I dont think so anywho :D Send her my way she is lovely :D haha
 
If you're giving her away, i'll have her and offer her a nice life long home. She looks a very honest mare, bless her!
 
I just bought a big gangly spotty ID/Cob with a pink spotty nose, big angular hip bones, feet like soup plates and a fine whispy tail, but I think he is beautiful.
I am sure someone will find your filly gorgeous too, however try to see past the faults you mention yourself because they are probably not hugely important, and some may minimise with time, and many people may not even notice them in the first place.

ID are often ugly when young, but grow into something magnificent in a few years time.
 
I think she has a sweet face, i will take her and give her a lovely home :-) What area do you live in? If you live any where near me i might be interested in her. x
 
I have just found the pics....shes lovely.....i dont think you will have too much trouble at all in selling her. She has the most beautiful, kind looking face.
 
I have seen the pics aswell, you couldnt have taken them at a worst time db, winter woolies and her age! She will be very nice she has so much making up to do behind, you are used to looking at tbs, I dont think she will come into her own until she is at least 6. A lot of horses that are big look bloody awful at that age. I sold a horse that I bred to a dressage women, as a yearing she was going to take him to Potters as he was so ugly, well he grew to 18.2 and was her horse of a lifetime. Give her time or let me have her!!!!! Swap you for a saddle. lol.
 
My friend bought a mostly Irish TB at just about 4 - great long neck like a stick with a humungous head glued to the end, didn't know where his feet were, couldn't jump to save his life and not alot going for him apart from a nice nature (although he did chew some quite valuable items!) but he grew up into a perfectly acceptable RC horse, pretty unflappable around a solid SJ course, nice to hack out and once his neck muscled up his head suddenly was just the right size!
 
some people like ugly ponies anyway. i once bought the most hideous mare you've ever seen. i cannot even explain how ugly she was - she had a punk spikey untameable mane, blue skewbald with piggy eyes, pink skin wiht black spots... she was so ugly the deadler i got her from called her that as her name!!! :-0!! I changed it to Treasure adn suddenly people liked her a lot more, and she turned out to be really sweet and i sold her without too much trouble (though you have to say things like 'loveable' or 'unusual' in the ad lol!!!)
 
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