No Videos On Sale Horses?

[Ishi]

I know it is a huge cost to make and send out (by mail) DVDs but I thought many sellers were going to just putting them up on the internet. I've seen quite a few seller websites in the last few days that mentioned no videos but had lots of info and pictures of the sale horses. Is this a new trend to no longer offer videos to people on horses for sale?

[twofatponies]

There are a huge number of people in rural areas who don't have high speed internet, and posting a video is really a PIA. Not to mention if they are older and don't have younger people around they can ask, they may not know how to use a video camera.

Now if it's a more expensive horse I'd wonder why they couldn't figure something out, but if you're looking at a $1500 horse in remote Montana, I think video might be too much to ask.

[LexInVA]

It's hard to pull off good Internet videos of horses, especially in the days of YouTube, because the compression and size mangle the quality. The workflow for the current crop of camcorders is horrible so you might actually do well getting one of those little pocket video recorders that records to SD cards. You can just upload the videos to a file sharing service and then people can download them fairly quickly.

[Ishi]

The quality of videos online is what happened to us this summer. We stopped mailing out DVDs because it was becoming very expensive and I don't think there was a high ratio of people who got the videos vs actually buying a horse. So, then we went to YouTube and PhotoBucket. We had issues with quality all summer. We spent on average 6 hours making a 2 and a half minute video and when it looks like crap online (or worse, making a horse look odd or NQR because of the quality) it was frustrating!

Then I kept seeing these No Videos on websites and ads and got a little more excited. Selling (and buying) is so hard, I don't want to make anything more difficult for anyone, but I'd really liked the idea of getting away from sale videos when I started seeing more and more people weren't using them anymore.

How do buyers feel about no video if a seller has many high quality pictures and knows the horse they are selling well?

[horsetales]

Sometimes it is also difficult to get help to video, since it normally takes two people to video. I know it can be like pulling teeth to get SO to help me. This time of year it may also be difficult as many people cannot bathe when it turns colder as well as horses being fuzzy unless clipped - so pics are a better selling object.

[NoDQhere]

In this day and age DVDs are not that expensive to make. Video cameras have gotten fairly reasonable. I use under $100 software, edit and burn the DVD's on my computer. I figure the cost is under $2.50 to make and mail a DVD to a potential customer. Of course that doesn't count your time but after all if selling your horses is your business, making good quality DVDs is something you need to do.

I'm not that keen on the online videos as it is hard to have good quality. I have a few on You Tube, but most people email asking for the high quality DVD.

[kellyb]

How do buyers feel about no video if a seller has many high quality pictures and knows the horse they are selling well?

It depends.

I understand why sellers don't want to make videos. But...it really helps me narrow down my search. I can't tell you how many ads I've seen where I've loved the horse...great pics horse has good conformation, pretty...then you see the video and the horse moves like crap or looks like it's going to need more training than I want. So I can cross it off my list and save myself a 6 hour drive.

If the seller does not have/is not willing to make a video, I'm not willing to drive more than 2 hours to go see the horse (just based on my lack of success with this!). However if I see a video I like, heck I will fly to go see this thing if I feel I need to... ;)

[Jleegriffith]

I do think video is necessary especially in the current market. It seems people are not willing to drive anywhere based on pictures because we all know pictures can lie:lol: That being said I do find I spend an enormous amount of time making videos. The weather, the lighting, the jumps, get the horse clean, the tack clean, wear the good breeches..the list goes on and on and it take so much time. Then you have to download them and edit the videos and then upload them. I have a really nice hardrive videocamera and the videos look super on the camera but when you upload them they really don't look that good and the horse does not always look clear. Regardless, I have found people out of a 2hr driving range will not come if there is not video. The way of doing sales has changed and I suppose I have looked at enough horses that are duds because of people not telling the truth that video is necessary for me if I am going to drive a long distance also.

Videos can at least prove the horse can do what you say it does. If the video looks interesting I will go see the horse. I would think most people would be expecting the video so they can see that also.

[makeasplash]

I don't know why but most of the horses that I saw when I was trying horses back in the spring that didn't have videos, didn't end up being the ones that could truly do the job that I wanted. I feel like videos make the representation of the horse more honest and it was nice to know that I was driving four hours to go see a horse that I definitely knew I liked how it moved, jumped, and acted while being ridden. I personally love youtube as a resource to view videos and as a person of the technology generation, I realize that the videos are not going to be of the best quality, but most of mine have turned out well.

[hunt_jumpfl]

I am in the process of helping find a couple of horses and I have to say ... if you are going to advertise online a sale video of the horse is a requirement. If an owner/trainer doesn't have a video and isn't willing to provide one the horse gets crossed off my list no matter how well it has performed. I have a very good idea of what I'm looking for and rideability is at the top of the list. This is something that can't be seen in photos and my idea of rideability and the seller's idea of rideability may very well be two different things.

[Ishi]

Thanks for the responses.

We do make videos and will continue you too. Instead of spending so much time making longer ones (3-5 minutes) we started making them shorter (2-2:30 minutes). That way we spend less time making them (it's really editing that takes time, shooting the footage is easy!) and a potential buyer can still get enough info on the horse to decide of they want to see him or her in person. I think this might be a good way to meet in the middle. I think the worst thing about buying or selling horses is wasting time, so if a video helps weed out people or horses I think it's worth it.

On average we were sending out 10 videos/horse/week before we went to online. It really added up, but I was so unhappy with the quality of the videos when they got uploaded online I just got frustrated with the whole thing. Maybe other sellers felt the same way, hence the no video thing I kept seeing on ads and websites.

[brummelhorsefarm]

Our farm buys and sells horses for a living. Videos are usually the first thing we get of a horse when they go up for sale. My daughter (thank goodness) is computer-literate and does our website, videos, and photos. Even if lots of other people recently stopped offering them, it will take a lot of convincing for me to stop using them as a sale technique. The clients we have come out are always very appreciative and say that they encouraged them to come out. For those who see a horse we have for sale and say "no" because of the video, well then that saved us time on an appointment that would not work out in the end. :yes: Overall, if you strive to represent the horse as close to they are in real life, videos are a great tool in selling your horse.

Amanda
Check out our videos here --> www.brummelhorsefarm.com (-:

[twofatponies]

As a buyer I certainly prefer to see even a bad quality video than no video - even if it's blurry you can see the basic movement and behavior of the horse. You can quickly determine general training level and gaits before taking more time to go visit the horse.

This is surely just shot with a DV camera, though edited by someone more experienced: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YS3UjkR6fis

Not blurry or chunky or hard to see at all.

Here's one with bad lighting and a very dirty lense, but you can still get the idea of the horse's movement and training level:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-GbJ3c3ovg

That is clearly shot by someone's friend and uploaded from a home computer. I'd consider it decent enough to give me the info I need, though clearly not fancy pro like the other one.

[Ambrey]

This will be the salvation of the horse selling industry. It's the most fabulous thing ever!

http://www.amazon.com/Flip-Video-Ultra-Camcorder-60-Minutes/dp/B000V1PXMI/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1226275081&sr=8-1

[joiedevie99]

I couldn't imagine selling one without a good video. I sold my baby green hunter in three weeks (left last weekend) with a nice video posted on youtube. We had tons of calls, and more importantly the three people who came to see her were all honestly interested and good fits for her. Anyone who wants to see the video feel free to pm me- taken with a $150 camera and edited with the software that came with my computer.

[Cindyg]

If I were driving across town, I'd go without a video. But I would not drive across the state or across the country to see a horse without a video. Even a bad quality video can give me some impression that he's healthy, not vicious, can be handled, etc.

[philosoraptor]

Part of the problem is that as soon as you post any video publicly online, expect the armchair trainers to come out of the woodwork. If there is anything out of place, people see only that and not the 99.9% of great stuff. For example, this week a great sales video made for a Percheron was posted to COTH. And instead of complimenting on 99% of it, there were complaints the handler used their hand ("unhygenic") instead of picking out feet with a pick to demo the horse's great hoofhandling beavior. It's a tough crowd to please.

And no matter how hard you try to include everything in a video, the reply will be "can you make another one showing ___". It's frustrating when you send a bunch of photos and the person replies "do you have more?". More of what? <confused> What are you looking for that aren't shown in the untacked conformation shots and the tacked riding shots? And I reply asking "what else would you like to see" and I get no reply. ???

And then you send more photos and sometimes even make a video.... and the seller turns out to be yet another window-shopper who vanishes. :lol:

[copper1]

I look at horses all over the country for people who are shopping and they NEED to see a video of some kind to see if it is worth making a long trip across the country ! Especially over fences-you can say your horse is an awesome jumper but a video proves he is. I find it very annoying to see online ads with no photo at all and tend to skip them!

[jumpingbrandy]

From a sellers point of view I do videos largely based on the sale price. I have a hard time justifying the time and effort and the trouble of finding a helper when it is one of my $3500 TB off the track. I have my sale horses listed online with photos and if I get a request from someone a significant distance away who seems interested after seeing the photos I will try to accomidate. I definately think anything over $10,000 should have a video but right now all my horses are priced at $5500 and below and I just don't think it is worth the money and time to make and send videos to all the tire kickers that want to see the pretty horse.

[FairWeather]

I think that it depends on the price of the horse. It's hard to make a horse truly "shine" in a video, especially a lower-end or green horse video. For those, I'm happy with the idea of (because I've never actually truly "shopped" for a horse) a video of a horse walking, trotting in hand, Cantering at liberty, Ridden at the walk, trot, canter and a line of jumps.
Easier said than done of course, but I think people go a little overboard with getting fancy and cutting videos up etc...