[Mouse&Bay]

While I am sure it's not the case for any of the sellers here, in my experience, a seller who doesn't want to provide video on the grounds that it's "too much trouble" is selling a lame horse.

Yup. Unfortunately this has been my experience as well. I know require quick video before I spend *any* gas/time driving.

[WildBlue]

While I am sure it's not the case for any of the sellers here, in my experience, a seller who doesn't want to provide video on the grounds that it's "too much trouble" is selling a lame horse.

Or is et up with the krazee, and thinks he/she will have a better shot at selling to an, er, 'captive' audience since it's harder to politely run away once you're actually on the farm...

[NJRider]

I 100% agree how necessary a basic video is showing what horse is advertised as- three clean gaits, transitions with no editing. But I just spent about $1000 in travel expenses looking at what looked on video to be the PERFECT horse and my trainer agreed. However, horse had more holes than swiss cheese...bad! Then I found out they hired an outside super Pro to ride horse in video because they were that good a rider to cover up or hide these holes in training. I repeat...BAD! But I tried another horse in the area and ended up with the best horse ever. So ask who is riding the horse in the video and if it not the owner or trainer ask why?

Nothing is a substitute for trying the horse. I have a horse for sale with show and schooling videos, conformation, etc. Jumping through hoops to some extent when asked for very specific things...but at some point, if they are not making arrangements to look at horse, they are no longer considered Buyers.

[scubed]

...but at some point, if they are not making arrangements to look at horse, they are no longer considered Buyers.

But if you stick to this, you will miss selling to serious buyers. Of the last 10 horses I have bought, I only saw half in person before buying

[rhymeswithfizz]

So I am the tech challenged seller who has stepped up, got a new camera, had someone take the video, finally figured out imovie, went to the library to upload (I'm on dial-up) GOT THE G-DAMN VIDEOS ON YOUTUBE AND . . .

(sound of crickets).

They are not really that bad are they?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VUJG...ature=youtu.be

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUatS_oZS8k&feature=plcp

Legitimate horse, I guess people are all looking for olympic mounts?

I don't understand.

I got bored with the "xc schooling" video when still 2.5 min in there was still no actually jumping. Just cute horse trotting around. Cute, but boring, no reason to show that for two straight minutes. I would suggest reorganizing and putting the lovely jumps first to grab people's attention

[Either]

I agree - I see a lot of ads where the height of the animal isn't mentioned, the state where the animal is located, age, price, etc. I don't know why sellers don't think this is important. I know sometimes they just forget but I've seen ads on Facebook where people say "PM me for info" and nothing else- annoying.

As for price - I suspect anyone who doesn't put a price on their ad is already dishonest IMO. The pony is really only worth 12k unless your looking for something in the 30-40k price range. *not born yesterday*

[S1969]

What was my favorite one recently?? What's not to like about this video... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7sy...4&feature=plcp

I guess this is supposed to advertise a lesson program?? http://brewerequestriancenter.webs.c...andler-jumping

OMG the lesson program! WTF is up with the fire in the background? And a cow in the arena. "Bombproofing" lessons or is that just a typical day?

The first one wasn't as bad as I thought it would be - I've seen much worse! At least the horse jumped the jump in that one.

[dbolte]

I do my best to have video of horses I put up for sale that show all three gaits and them over fences if they are jumping, but a lot of the time when I'm riding there isn't anyone else home or they are busy with their own lives- I'm the only horsey person in the family, so convincing someone else that I need yet another video of my horse isn't always easy. Yes, it only takes someone with a video camera, but the trick is getting someone else out there! That being said, I try to accomodate buyer reqests for specific video clips. As far as uploading, well, let's just say that satellite internet isn't the most reliable thing in the world and we do have a limit on how much we can upload/download means that the videos have to be as short as possible to actually get them uploaded without killing our internet connection for several days or the connection dying in the middle of the upload and having to restart it.

[slp2]

I have bought and sold horses but am a confirmed adult ammie that does not have time to drive / fly around looking at a horse based on a photo alone. When I sold one of my horses I had a video of him schooling and competing because I thought it was important for me to let potential buyers know that he can actually DO what my ad claims he can do.

My "favorite" videos are the ones that claim a horse is under saddle, yet they show them free lunging in an indoor for 10 minutes. OK--you have the equipment to make a long "born free" video--so let's show the horse doing what your ad says it can do. If they are under saddle--put that on the tape! Otherwise it sends up huge red flags to me.

For those that say they don't have the means to make a video--there are other ways to get videos done. Use a professional at a horse show. For instance, if I wanted to sell my horse and say that she is going novice with an amateur rider, what would be better than to include an actual competition video? This was done last year by RNS of me and my 5 year old on x-c. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3jfSQAGugs If I were looking for a horse that was advertised as a "event horse going novice"--this would be a pretty good way to display that. No fancy equipment was required for this--RNS sent me a link within a day when I ordered it. This is another way you can get good video footage if you don't have the equipment to do it yourself.

Lookmano hands: I think your ad might be more effective if you could get a video (or portion of one) of you and your horse in actual competition at Training level. But what you have is not a bad video, although I agree that I was waiting for the horse to jump (for what seemed like forever) so you could probably cut out a bit of the warm-up at the beginning. Unless you want to show a short clip of your horse doing dressage (in a ring) then follow it up with some jumping footage. But your horse is very cute!

[S1969]

My "favorite" videos are the ones that claim a horse is under saddle, yet they show them free lunging in an indoor for 10 minutes. OK--you have the equipment to make a long "born free" video--so let's show the horse doing what your ad says it can do. If they are under saddle--put that on the tape! Otherwise it sends up huge red flags to me.

Or the only "ridden" picture is someone sitting on the horse at the halt:

http://images.craigslist.org/3Kf3Lb3...a2488711ab.jpg

This mare is a textbook of education - rides english & western, jumps (x-rails to 2'). She's been extensively shown by 4-h kids and done many NYSSHA shows (always in the ribbons even in the big classes). Showmanship champion. Western pleasure (spur) broke initially when I got her - so she's got the job and the lope to excel there, or use her for pleasure riding, lesson kids -- she does it all !

Shown extensively but not a single photo of her with a child rider or at a show. Hmm.

[SnicklefritzG]

When I was shopping for a horse, you could tell who the serious sellers were because they have nice photos and video that showed the horse doing *exactly* what the sales ad said it could do.


With that said, I ran into more than a few sellers who said their horse was doing such-and-such but it was not obvious from the videos. One ad in particular stated that the horse was schooling 3' and had shown at that level. While I did find some show records reflecting that, the sales video didn't show the horse doing anything above 2'. I went to try the horse anyway since it was local and the trainer didn't jump anything above 2' either. Made me wonder if the horse had an injury or some sort that they weren't telling me so I passed.

[dogdays]

I agree a video is a must especially if you have to travel a very long distance with a not to eager husband in tow, but a video doesn't tell it all. I once traveled over 10 hours to look at a horse after seeing the video, liked what I saw, but was very specific about the height of the horse. Seller assured me horse was 16.1 and she was student of BNT, so she knew what she was taking about. I was looking for a 16 hand horse, so off we went. Long story short, horse was only 15.1. So now, my husband insist seller measure the horse on video, before we go and look. Some sellers are really huffy and refuse, some are nice about it. You live and learn.

[lmlacross]

For some time, I've wanted to start a business creating 3-5 minute HD sales videos for local sellers, perhaps with an internet/mail-in service as well. It wouldn't be particularly expensive as it doesn't take me all that long to put something of that length together that shows the horse well through various clips of flatting and schooling over jumps, provides relevant information in opening/concluding title slides, and is absent the obnoxious music so many include. I could burn to disk and publish online. It seems that there are many people who can't figure out how to do this, so I would think it would be a needed service. Unfortunately, I also wonder if those who don't see its importance and value would even be willing to pay for such a thing.

Asterix, I agree. If you can't get a brief video together of the horse working at home, you just don't want or need to sell that badly.

[EasternMkt]

Most modern cell phone cameras are good enough to put together a decent video. I did this for my BO for a horse she is giving away: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQvYl...ature=youtu.be

I filmed for 15 minutes on my iPhone and BO edited it down on whatever software came w/ her computer. Obviously this isn't a high tech production, but she wanted to give people a better idea of what to expect. She tried to include the basics: w/t/c, transitions, and a couple of jumps. It's not a perfect video, but hey, the horse is a freebie. When looking at a horse to buy, I'd expect at least this much.

[Isabeau Z Solace]

People can expect all they want. But the fact is that there is not, in the USA, enough $ to made in horse sales to support many large sales businesses that 'have their act together.'

Many people who are selling are NOT professionals. OR they are not 'professionals' at the level that they are really making a living off of selling horses. There are lots of people with 1) enthusiasm to sell 2) need to sell.

There are lots of buyers who want 'cheaper' horses, but they somehow seem to feel that they are going to get good 'service' from sellers of those cheaper horses.

What the OP is really complaining about, is that they cannot afford to buy a horse that is being sold be a 'got their act together' seller. There are plenty of lovely horse sport breeding farms in the USA with lovely well bred, registered horses for sale. But they are not selling them at 'flea market' prices.

Too many buyers are shopping at horsey garage sale/flea market/etc and then complaining that these sellers do not treat them like they are shopping at a Porsche dealership.... If you want to get to get treated better, then shop at a higher end 'store' folks.

[Isabeau Z Solace]

People can expect all they want. But the fact is that there is not, in the USA, enough $ to made in horse sales to support many large sales businesses that 'have their act together.'

Many people who are selling are NOT professionals. OR they are not 'professionals' at the level that they are really making a living off of selling horses. There are lots of people with 1) enthusiasm to sell 2) need to sell.

There are lots of buyers who want 'cheaper' horses, but they somehow seem to feel that they are going to get good 'service' from sellers of those cheaper horses.

What the OP is really complaining about, is that they cannot afford to buy a horse that is being sold by a 'got their act together' seller. There are plenty of lovely horse sport breeding farms in the USA with lovely well bred, registered horses for sale. But they are not selling them at 'flea market' prices.

Too many buyers are shopping at horsey garage sale/flea market/etc and then complaining that these sellers do not treat them like they are shopping at a Porsche dealership.... If you want to get to get treated better, then shop at a higher end 'store' folks.

[WildBlue]

I disagree that wanting to see a few decent stills and some basic video is "Porsche" level service. It takes an hour* of the seller's time and, in turn, reduces the number of people emailing/calling/coming out to those who are more likely to buy. Now, if we're talking really extensive, professional footage under lots of different conditions, yes, that is a lot to ask--but that's not what the OP said.

Every single time I've dealt with a buyer for whom providing basic info and images was asking too much, it also turned out to be asking too much for the horse to be sound, clean, and ready to show a buyer.

*At least, it's taken ME about an hour, total, shooting and putting online. Really NBD.

[SnicklefritzG]

My trainer took a video of my at a dressage show using his iPhone. The result was quite nice considering it was just a phone and not a fancy camera. It took less than 5 minutes to do this and probably only a few minutes to load.

It's not hard. If sellers don't take the time to do this kind of simple video it makes me wonder if they are trying to hide something...most likely the fact that the ad really doesn't represent the horse properly.

[lmlacross]

There are lots of buyers who want 'cheaper' horses, but they somehow seem to feel that they are going to get good 'service' from sellers of those cheaper horses.

What the OP is really complaining about, is that they cannot afford to buy a horse that is being sold by a 'got their act together' seller. There are plenty of lovely horse sport breeding farms in the USA with lovely well bred, registered horses for sale. But they are not selling them at 'flea market' prices.

I disagree. A five minute video, shot in an hour, edited together in an hour with a piece of software that comes preloaded on most home computers or smartphones =/= an unrealistic expectation of Ritz Carlton service on a "flea market" budget.

[asterix]

What the OP is really complaining about, is that they cannot afford to buy a horse that is being sold by a 'got their act together' seller. There are plenty of lovely horse sport breeding farms in the USA with lovely well bred, registered horses for sale. But they are not selling them at 'flea market' prices.

Too many buyers are shopping at horsey garage sale/flea market/etc and then complaining that these sellers do not treat them like they are shopping at a Porsche dealership.... If you want to get to get treated better, then shop at a higher end 'store' folks.

Wow. Assume much? My budget is based on replacing the horse I sold, who was showing 2nd, schooling 3rd, first flight fox hunter, big, good looking, sound, sane, with impeccable manners. It is not a flea market budget. Not that it should matter.

I have been to breeders. I have been to one of the most well regarded young sport horse centers in the US (who did treat me very well, and had good video. Different problem there). I am not naive, and I am not an idiot. Expecting 30 seconds each of w-t-c is hardly demanding to be treated like royalty while dressed in rags.

Sadly, this reinforces my gloomy view of horse shopping. Gotta go, have an appointment with a professional who does everything right. They do exist, just outnumbered on the ground....