PrintQ. Grace
I'm currently horse shopping, and have come across one or two horses who seem to be very underpriced. Would it be rude to go ahead and ask why the horse is priced how it is, or should I be more delicate?
A.
Dear Grace,
I would not consider that rude at all. Sometimes the sellers are very motivated and are in a situation where they must sell quickly. But often there may be an issue that the seller would not like to publicly disclose on a website advertisement, but will discuss with any potential clients to see if it is something they can live with. Many times there are very nice horses that have an issue that would turn some people off, while others will not care at all about it. In that case someone may get a great horse at a reasonable price.
Q. Joyce, Stonebrooke Farm, Ky.
Would you sell a horse to someone that wasn't, in your opinion, a good match?
Dear Joyce,
We try to avoid that as much as possible. I've told several people that something was not a good match, especially in situations where parents who aren't horse people are purchasing something for a child. I do have to consider my liability and am especially careful when it comes to children. I've seen people purchase horses that I would not have chosen for them, but if they are experienced horse people or their trainer thinks it’s a good match, then we let them decide for themselves. We try to provide as much information as we can up front about the horses and show the prospective buyers a variety of horses for sale so they can make an educated decision. All in all, if I think it's going to be a bad situation, I’d rather just not sell the horse to that particular person.
Q. Courtney
What kinds of things should and shouldn't you put on a sales videotape?
A.
Dear Courtney,
I think it’s great when we can get a videotape of a horse away from its home territory, to show how he or she is in a new situation. It’s especially nice to have videos from horse shows whenever possible. When we are doing a videotape of a horse on our website, we keep it fairly simple. A few minutes of trotting in each direction, cantering in each direction, doing their lead changes if they are at that point and jumping a course. We try not to get overly lengthy tapes--we just like to show the way they move and their jumping form, because beyond that a customer is going to need to try the horse to determine if it’s a good match. My feeling is that a videotape can only show the way a horse moves and jumps and give a general sense of how it goes.
Q. Chris
I have a 4-year-old Thoroughbred gelding off the track who I think would be suitable for the hunter ring. Is it an issue that he’s a Thoroughbred? I remember a time when the Thoroughbred was the horse to have in the hunter arena. Now, everything has a brand. Is there a decent market for a nice Thoroughbred?
