Would you sell to a dealer?

No I would never sell any of mine to a dealer.

I produce and sell youngsters and they are destined to the private market and hopefully to long-term owners - I wouldn't want any of my horses going through auctions or dealers hands.....however I think this is highly unlikely as I hope I have done my job in producing them correctly AND have found the perfect owners for them. So far so good as they are all still in the homes I originally sold them to.
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As a dealer, we do not sell horses to just anyone. We find suitable homes and if they are as bad as you say yours is, they are brought on then sold as selling something like that wouldnt make a very good name for us.
At least a dealer will have experience of problem horses, where as if you sold cheap to a private seller they may not have the experience to sort them out and be sold on and on. Usually a dealer will pair the horse with the right home.
 
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No I would never sell any of mine to a dealer.

I produce and sell youngsters and they are destined to the private market and hopefully to long-term owners - I wouldn't want any of my horses going through auctions or dealers hands.....however I think this is highly unlikely as I hope I have done my job in producing them correctly AND have found the perfect owners for them. So far so good as they are all still in the homes I originally sold them to.
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But Tia - you are a dealer, so I guess it's lucky that people will sell horses to you
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I have another way of looking at it...

I BOUGHT from a dealer, and I like to think Murphy has a good life - so its not always doom and gloom for a horse thats sold to a dealer. Like every situation it has pros and cons - but to be honest people who go to dealers(like myself) sometimes have limited capital to buy a horse, or cant go ferrying round everywhere etc that doesnt mean they will compromise on care or love - its not like everyone thinks ie: Your horse goes to a dealer and is then purchased by evil knackerman or stupid child! xx
 
Well if youre selling a horse, you sell it for a reason and it will no longer be your property. Horses are a strange kind of purchase, a cross between a car for amount of "previous owners" and a pet like a dog for sentimental bonding reasons!!
My friend buys, brings on then sells, and has come to alot of grief because the previous owners have rung up to enquire how the horse is, and she has sold it on. Ive worked at dealers, and alot of this debate is just bad press. There are good dealers, and s**t awful private buyers.
OP, if you need to get rid of your mare then its up to you. Perhaps theres a rider at a loose end in your area who could do a good job for a month? Or look around for dealers to see if you could get a bit more perhaps, and feel comfortable selling your horse to them.
 
Doesn't matter what I am or do, I still want my horses going to the best possible homes and I would never ever consider selling any of mine to a dealer, LOL!! Mind you I am quite safe, as no dealer in their right mind would pay the money I ask for my horses.
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I keep all my youngsters for at least 1 year but generally 18 months before they go onto their new homes and I pick them up as babies, almost exclusively, from their breeders. I can't see any of my guys ending up in the hands of an unscrupulous dealer thankfully.

I buy well and I sell well.....and I sleep with a good conscience every night.
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You need to tell your friend to be more honest then.
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Of course people are going to be a bit upset if they sell to her and she immediately passes them onto a new home when they thought that she was their new home
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As said in my previous post, I buy youngsters, generally direct from the breeders and they stay with me until they are 3 or 4 years old and then they go off into the world. The people I buy from are well aware of who I am and what I do. LOL!! I get offered pretty decent FREE horses all the time.....but I'm only interested in youngsters.
 
TBH if I had too I would sell to a reputable dealer without a shadow of a doubt. It is a stress free way of selling your horse and you dont have to worry about any nasty comebacks.
 
Tia I am glad to hear you say that about your horses as it is nice to know I am not alone in worrying about a horse if it is sold on. Doesn't apply to me I know. But if I was to be in the business of bringing on horses then I would have strict guidelines for prospective owners and would use a good sense of judgement about who I would say yes to and who would get a refusal.
You come across as someone who really cares about their horses even though it sounds as though you run a horse associated business. It is so refreshing to hear that as there are sadly so many people out there who exploit horses and quite frankly don't give a s*** about them.
So glad to hear you are not one of those people
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Best of luck for the future and I hope you continue to be successful and have a good sense of judgement too.
ATB
Cazx
 
Oh
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. Thank you sooo much for your lovely comments.

I put as much time and education into my horses as I can to hopefully ensure that they never end up in the hands of disreputable people. It is true though that you never can be 100% sure about what will happen to them once they leave you.....but I do honestly think that if you place a large(ish) price tag on them, encourage them to be very well behaved and respectful horses who don't flinch at anything and are shown as much as you possibly can show them.....then they have a better chance of remaining in wonderful homes.

I do turn some people down when they come to look at my horses. I would never sell one of mine to, what I perceive, the wrong person. I ALWAYS deliver my horses to their new homes (often many hours drives away) so that IF, when I get there, I don't like the place....or feel I may have misjudged the buyers; then I wouldn't even get the horse out of the trailer. I never accept money until I have been to their property although I will hold a deposit on my horses so long as I have been to visit where they are going and have full confidence in the buyer. So far I have chosen well though and never had to do this and I just hope that this continues.

I appreciate your kind comments.
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i sold our first pony to a dealer. she took her to shows and worked on her before selling her. though i did tell the dealer any problems i had with her. i bought a horse privately and when i contacted the people who had owned her before for six years they thought they had sold her to a home for life not ever thinking that this person was only going to keep her 6 weeks then sell her on. i also sold a very special pony we had to a very good friend and the deal was that if she ever wanted to sell her i could buy her back. 3 months later she said she never "bonded" with the pony. i said no problem i will give you back your £3000 she said no way its worth £5000. she had not ridden it my daughter had been going to exercise it while the freind hacked it a handful of times. luckily she eventually sold it to a nice home but for £5000. and i lost a friend. so really YES i would sell to a reputable dealer as you never know where they might end up anyway despite trying to keep in touch.
 
Often the best route with a difficult or green horse is a dealer.
We sold a horse last year to a dealer because after having seen other professional riders attempt to cope with him and struggle, we knew he would prove incredibly hard to sell privately.
They had a good website and we felt would understand his quirks.
Recently we found his new owner, who said when they bought him from the dealers' he had a skin condition, was bone thin and looked very miserable.
He now looks back to normal but we have had some sleepless nights with guilt feelings.
It appears they had found him problematic so had made him thin to see if he had less fire.
To discover a horse who had never gone hungry in his life was in that condition really upset me, and I now warn people about selling to them.(not on here, it's against T and C)
I would say perhaps do not follow your horse's whereabouts if you do, and sell only to someone recommended by a previous seller.
Or put the horse on a website for at least £850 and see what happens. If they offer five it must be worth more!
 
Thanks, there are some interesting points. I have a reaccurring back issue (not connected to riding) which is why I am unable to ride at the moment. For some reason my daughter has not bonded with this mare. Because she has been for sale since Dec & there has been 3 calls, 1 from Cornwall which is just too far. That is the issue, there is no interest in her despite all the ads. She just needs to get out & about more & this is not happening, of course it will change with the longer days, but if all I have had is 3 calls in 3mths do I hang on for another 3mths? I also know that selling private does not guarantee a good or permenant home because peoples circumstances change. As for keeping track she is reg with the QH society & microchipped therefore if people update these records I can always write to either of them & ask for my details to be passed on.
 
Personally no, I wouldn't, though it can be the right choice for some.

I just want to know where they end up. I had a difficult horse, so difficult to sell because he was awful for anybody other than me, and I had a horrible time selling him. I came close to selling to a dealer, but luckily my position wasn't forced there, and I found him a great home. I'd have felt awful not knowing where he ended up, as he'd been passed around from home to home before I got him.

Other horses - no because I wouldn't get their full value! and although you can never tell, I'd want to try the hardest I could to find homes for life or longterm [been successful so far!] in homes that really love and care for the horse.
 
Aww Tia you sound like my kind of ideal seller. Someone who places the horse's welfare and needs above anything else
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I like the idea that you personally take the horse(s) to their prospective owners and that if you feel you have made a mistake or don't like what you see you don't even unload.
All the preparation you do before with the youngsters is vital because with the right grounding beforehand they can settle better into their new homes and are more likely to stay with the new owners than be passed around.
When I bought my daughter's horse ( a 6 year old 14.3)I wanted one which was tall enough to be her horse until it dies. I wanted one which was younger ideally as I didn't know if I could face the heartbreak of getting a much older horse and the worst happening.
I know my lad is 15 but he is a young fifteen and has many more years of riding ahead in him I hope. When he is unable to be ridden he will retire with me. He is not owned by me but is on permanent loan but I would not want to hand him back to the owner unless I really couldn't cope or something happened to me.
I get very attached to animals, in particular horses. I love to see their little heads ( in some cases big lol) in the morning when I go to turn them out.
I suppose that is why if I ever had to be in a position of selling a horse I would have to reassure myself that the new owner would care for the horse as much as I had.
Tia if you lived in the UK you would make a killing selling horses over here as you train them so well and do research and checks into prospective owners that a lot of people cannot be bothered with, hence the reason that I see so many potentially good horses ruined being sold on websites and in magazines. I would imagine a lot of these horses were not like that originally. Even with just the basic levels of training and care a horse could progress far in the right hands. Sadly there are too many horse owners out there who know very little about horse care and training and sadly many of them don't seek the help they should be asking for either.
Forums like this are great imo as they offer people who may be shy in real life or don't like to put on people the chance to ask for FREE advice and also be put in touch with people who can help.
Magic I am sorry I didn't know about your back problem, I hope it is soon better x I injured my back 2 years ago just before Christmas ( it's fine now and never been better) but I was in agony. Had to crawl up the stairs to the loo etc and ended up going to the accident unit for treatment and some painkillers. I'm not a wuss at all and can cope with pain but I had pulled muscles and either bruised or rubbed the sciatic nerve as well and it was a weird sensation.
Luckily I only had the pain for a week as I was told I had to keep moving but without the painkillers it would have been impossible as I was actually crying ( which is not like me). So I have a slight idea how you may feel and I sincerely hope it gets better for you
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You said that the horse has been advertised since December. One reason it may not have sold is because as a friend told me horses generally go cheap in winter due to the increased costs of livery at that time, bedding, feed etc.
That may have been one reason. Another is where you had advertised her. Did you try that website someone recommended ? Also there is another one which is good called stable talk, here is the address.
http://www.stabletalk.co.uk/focus/index2.php

On the site you can advertise your horse ( think that is free not entirely sure) or if you wanted to have her schooled you could put a wanted advert in which is free. Tell people what area you are in and what you want exactly and then you either post an email address or phone number so that people can contact you. May be worth a try if you would like to try and improve her training before she goes.
Good luck
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Cazx
 
I wouldn't sell to a dealer - well, actually I *might* to a really decent one who I knew of well, and only if I had to (ie. I couldn't sell the horse or needed a quick sale etc.). I would never sell a horse at a sale for fear of the "meat man"!

I have always sold privately and am always VERY choosy about the homes! I go to check the home (even if its 3 hours away!) before agreeing to a sale. And then I always keep in touch by email with them (which they are happy with). I even kept in touch with a pony I once had for only 2 months about 5 years ago - I went to see it last month! I love to keep in touch and see how the horses turn out.
 
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