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How
To Not Sell Your Horse
- Horse
Joke -
by Annamaria Tadlock
www.UltimateHorseSite.com
This
is a guide to not selling your horse online, including excerpts
from real horse ads! Snippets
of images and text were taken from sale horse sites, to be used
for parody.
Photography
Take photos
of your horse when he is at leisure in the pasture. If he is dirty
and shaggy, that just goes to show us how natural your ownership
skills are.
Why would you go to
the effort to brush or bathe your horse to make him artificially
clean when you could be doing better things like breeding more
horses or dogs?
Take pictures
when he is not standing even, so potential buyers think he has
a special number of legs-- maybe 3, or if you can get a post or
object in the background, maybe 5 or more! Missing or extra legs
helps catch the eye of viewers.

-
Accentuate
his head. Make sure he is standing with his head
facing you so that his head appears three times larger than
his body. Alternate this with photos that show us just the
horse's butt; we all know this type of photo is flattering
for horses and people.
- Never provide a clear
conformation shot that shows what the horse actually looks like.
Temperament
-
It
is absolutely necessary to illustrate that your 3-yo grade
stud horse is safe by including photos of a small, unhelmeted
child clinging to its unsaddled back while loose in the pasture.
Extra points if there are loose horses and other potential
hazards in the background. Only someone unconfident of their
horse's perfect disposition would cringe at the thought of
this.
-
You
may also want to include photos of your horse in front of
crappy fencing, preferably barbed wire and falling down. Random
crap in the pasture is a plus too. This shows that your horse
is smart enough to never get injured on dangerous objects.
No one wants a horse stupid enough to get sliced up on barbed
wire!
Bloodlines
-
Tell
potential buyers about your horse's bloodlines:
"Her sire is a red/white paint stallion.
Her dam is a black grade."
If this person hadn't mentioned it, we might have thought
her dam was a chestnut grade and her sire was a palomino!
Thank God they made it so clear!
-
If
your horse resembles a rhinoceros, goat, or ostrich more than
an equine, make sure you list off the horse's breeding so
buyers will know for sure it really is a horse:
"Has Impressive, Obvious Conclusion, Zippo Pine Bar,
Conclusive lines!"
Registration
-
When
you say, "Can be registered, I just never did it",
this shows us that you're just so busy responsibly attending
to your horses that you couldn't possibly have take ten minutes
to do the paperwork!
-
Just
look online; Registered horses are everywhere! Why breed a
"normal" quarter horse when you can breed a cross
to a cross and create something really x-ing special?
"Mother was a POA/Morgan and sire was a Canadian
Horse."
-
For
example, this is an ad for an unregistered QH/Arab cross.
It was totally an excellent idea to breed her to a Morgan!
That's a total of two horses and three breeds in one sale,
all for the low price of $750! That's about .60 a pound!
"She has not
been riden in about two years... She always produces nice foals
that are easy to handle. She is available after her current foal
is weanded or she can be purchaed now as a 2-in-1 for a reduced
cost $750. 2008 foal is a sorrel colt, half-morgan. She can also
be bre back to a palamino Morgan stallion or a cremello overo
APHA if you would like. "
Height Measurements
-
Everyone
wants a horse that is 14.5 or 15.6.
-
Provide
educated guesses about your horse's future height. Nothing
says honest like posting your currently 2-year old 12-hand
horse and saying:
"She
will mature to be around 15.2 hands probably."
-
Measure
your horse someplace other than the withers (and don't provide
the wither measurement):
"She is already 15-2 at the hip"
Don't Geld
Before Selling
-
Obviously,
if your little stud is a well-behaved at two days old, he
will be for the rest of his life so there is no need to geld!
If he doesn't try to get to mares by this age, he will never
need special fencing or care. Seller of a $350 unregistered
yearling:
$100 additional fee if you want him gelded, but hes so
well mannered you probly dont want to!
-
Make
sure you tell us that your colt or stallion is so sweet that
he's able to be kept in a pen with mares and never breeds
them! Nothing sounds more normal and nonfictional than a mature
stallion with no sex drive, and nothing says trusting and
confident like a stallion owner who lets his stud run with
mares they don't want bred because they know he'd never
do something like that.
-
Stallions
are all dangerous, flesh-eating hunks of raging hormones that
attack and kill anything that comes in sight, so if your colt
allows you to lead it without a stud chain and whip, he's
got to be one in a million and kept as a stud because his
"calm tempered" genetics need to be passed on to
future generations!
Be
Very Selective - Or Not At All:
"Free to a Parelli Home"
"She'll go
to the first person to come see her."
Nothing says responsible horse owner like selling to the first
person to express interest, whether it be to buy for riding
or meat.
"Will
Trade for Cattle"
"May be willing to trade colt for a nice Tennessee Walker
saddle."
Don't
Feed Your Horse Enough
-
Horses
that have protruding bones not only show us that you are financially
conscientious (what real horse person would spend excess money
on feed?) but we can also evaluate the horse's internal as
well as external conformation.
Sell
Your Horse Because It's Useless
-
Them
thar bleedin' heart horse lovers is a bunch of sissys. Real
horse people beat their horses when they act up and sell'm
when they ain't no good no more. Show us you're a real horse
person by getting rid of the animals that no longer bring
you a profit. Because horses are just a part of business,
not much different than selling used vehicles or buying new
clothes when they are no longer in style. It's not like they
should be retired or cared for in their old age for all they've
done for you during their life.
20 YO
chestnut mare:
"She had been and is a great mare... she has a stud
colt by her side and is breed back to <stud name removed>
for an 09 foal. She is a sound breeder, color producer. I've
had her sice she was 4 and she no longer fits my program."
Your Horse's Potential
-
Tell
us everything your horse ever could be potentially good
at doing in the future. Does your horse have four legs and
a head? Then he might be the next triple crown winner! Or
perhaps he'll be a champion at jumping, dressage, barrels,
or breeding!
Your pony could even be a pony, as one person wrote:
"She will make a great pony prospect."
We would
have never figured that out on our own.
"He is really great at everything he does. He is
a fast learner with tons of potiential. His bloodlines are
all talented riding horses."
-
If
your horse has working or semi-functional genitalia make
sure you also list them as having "breeding potential"!
Has your 2 year old unregistered quarterloosarabian with
three working legs bred with the donkey next door when he
broke down the barbed wire fence resulting in an offspring
that survived birth? Be sure to list him as a "proven
breeder"!
Grammar
Nothing is more fun
for a potential buyer than trying to decipher cryptic horse
sale ads. The worse your spelling and grammar, the more potential
buyers will remember it -- what a smart marketing strategy!
These are some great
examples from actual ads posted online:
"I ahve 3
poines Paint Mare pony is 7 year old she is in foal. Broke to
ride. She is 39 inches Paint Stud pony 5 years old. broke to
ride.38 inches Pony colt he is 36 inches. Asking 350 each or
1000 for all."
"finnish
in your direction." Does the horse speak Finnish?
"he is a 5
yr. old that needs some one. owner just dont need him and wants
to have a good home.he is a good boy but aint been rode in while
and now has only 30 days back in the saddle. all paper work
. will load and do what you want."
She would best
suit an eprienced rider, only because she has alot of energy
that can be unvercing.
Need
some more tips or inspiration on how not to sell your horse?
It's easy; Go online and search for "Horses For Sale".
Great terrible examples can be found in many ads, but the best
tend to come from horses that are unregistered or priced at
less than $1,000. Spend a little time reading sale ads and you'll
come up with some great tips!
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