Now a days there are hundreds of web sites to choose from when selling your horse.  From free horse classifieds, to picture ads, even ads with videos are widely used now.  Before you go ahead and advertise your horse here are a few tips in the art of marketing your horse.

Make sure you showcase your horse's best side, with a good conformation shot.

Price

This is the first step, and often this is where things first go wrong.  Lots of factors are to be considered when determining what your horse is worth.  Breeding, training, age, temperament, discipline… even color!  You can easily price yourself out of the market then later have to come back to PRICE REDUCED… sometimes making it sound questionable to a prospect buyer.  The key is to do a little research, find horses with similar breeding, age and training.  A horse with a calm temperament is worth a lot, but dollar value is only worth as much as it’s age, training and breeding, though you may be fussy about stay firm at your price or waiting for the perfect home. Why are you selling your horse is usually the first question someone will ask, is it too much horse for you, divorce, getting out of riding.  Remember a horse is only worth what some one is willing to pay for it.

Description

Entice your audience with phrases that only highlights your horses best attributes-  ‘Flashy Safe Schoolmaster’  is sure to get some interest. Outline your horses level of experience (training.) What it’s best at, and an example of any championships won. Sometimes less is more.  Often if I am just searching through horses I am more interested in a few key points than paragraphs about how much their great grand sire won.  Say less and then invite them to inquire for more… this is where you can do the real selling once they’ve expressed a real interest.

PHOTOS!

Photos maybe the most important selling feature of all when it comes to marketing your horse. We’ve all heard it before, first impressions are EVERYTHING.  So make sure you showcase your horse’s best side- no blurry shots,  no video footage stills.  It might take 100 shots but it’s worth it!  Make sure the rider is well turned out as well.  I find I will look at the rider almost as much as the horse when making my initial judgment.  If the riders position is all over the place I think less of the training, so make sure you but your best foot forward!!

Video

If you are planning on selling your horse do your self a big favor and do a video before you decide to market him.  This can be time consuming, to get it just right but is a major selling feature to get a buyer out to see your horse.  With the internet and the help of youtube it’s inevitable that someone is going to ask to see a video before they come out… so might as well be prepared.

Price. Description. Photo. Video.  Even if you choose to advertise with a free text ad make sure all this info is available at the touch of a button to a prospect buyer.  You have to act fast to make a sale.  Try to let the buyer ask most of the questions, make sure your horse is cleaned as well as your tack and you look presentable.  This will give you that edge to make the buyer confident to buy from you!

Good Luck!