“May horses bless you” is a saying widely prevalent and true to its core. Selling your horse might be an overwhelming decision after spending years in care, training, and nourishing your riding mate. But there is a point in time for horse breeders and owners when they think about selling their horses for the most value. If you’re willing to sell your horse, you’re at the right place to know the step-by-step guide to selling the horse.
Why Opt for Selling Your Horse?
Horse owners may sell their horses for beneficial purposes (as a source of income) or under some odd circumstances.
Various reasons to sell a horse can be:-
- Because of excessive financial load, you can no longer manage horse-keeping expenses.
- You’re no longer able to care and provide due to declining health.
- You no longer wish to ride a horse.
- The horse is not economically sound.
- Horse breeders rear young foals or ‘green horses’ to sell them for profit.
- Horses act as an entity for a business exchange.
Economics Behind Selling a Horse
Horse projects itself as an economic asset. It is necessary to do all the required research before stepping into the market and searching for a potential buyer for your horse.
Economics remains the most essential part of any business, and horse selling (or buying) is no exception.
It is a sustainable chain process between a buyer and a seller of the horse. A horse owner or breeder can sell their horse, and the buyer can use it for riding or breeding purposes.
The cost of different horse breeds may vary from $3000 up to $250,000 in the US market.
Whereas, feeding a horse is roughly $15-$17 per day. Apart from this, other managemental and grooming costs for horses can not be ignored. Horse owners also owe regular vet visits for their horses.
Now one can gather from this that buying and selling horses is a legitimate business and is a chain process.
Only, you need to be aware of various platforms and processes involved in getting you the best deal and best place for your horse. We have curated the best ways to list and sell your horse to a value package.
Multiple Ways to Sell a Horse Quickly
Horse owners can adapt various ways to sell their horses online and offline marketplace. You can choose from either of the mentioned ways to get started.
1) Conventional Trading of Horses
Conventional trading is a simple exchange of horses for money, with no involvement of a third party. This is the oldest method of horse selling and buying.
This kind of transaction is usually followed by an established barn or horse breeder who can be entrusted to interested buyers nearby.
The buyer visits the farm to choose a horse based on its performance and looks.
You can discuss your expected value for the horse with the buyer directly.
2) Community Listing
Horse owners and breeders can form communities at the country level or state level.
These communities share information about equestrian events. This community can help you advertise about selling a horse at almost no cost and get you legit customers.
A word is put among the members of the community, which travels fast enough to reach the buyer’s ears. This allows the seller to sell his horse without going through too much hustle and bustle of the market.
3) Auctions for Selling Horses
Horses are royal animals, and royalty comes at a cost. As discussed earlier, horses are not very ‘cheap’ to rear or grow by horse owners. And some horses, depending on their quality (breed), are very expensive by birth.
Their traits make them royal and to do them justice, Auctions are held.
Auctions are often held for expensive horses. Here a minimum bid is set, after which it’s a horse’s potential and the buyer’s intention that decide its price.
4) Listing the Horse Online
Online marketplaces have become very popular because of their efficiency in reaching customers. Almost everything you can imagine can be ordered online, and the horse is no exception.
A vast majority of horse owners use the online marketplace as a tool or platform to sell their horses. Many established websites like equine.com, ehorses.com, equinenow.com, and more have already built trust among horse sellers and buyers.
Our website, HorsesBuy.com, provides both sellers and buyers with deals on which they can shake hands on that too in the comfort of their own homes. Online listing also ensures a wider range of audiences with buying interests. But the convenience offered in the online listing is next to none.
How to Sell a Horse Online?
Since Horsesbuy.com has already established the fact that online listing is the best way out there; We have got the horse owners curious about “how to do it?”. To answer this, we have provided you with an easy guide for selling a horse online.
1) Snap presentable pictures of a horse
To post a presentable advertisement, horse owners must start by taking presentable pictures of their horses. Various pictures from different angles can be taken, amongst which one will act as a thumbnail or cover photo. Remember, photos grab most of the attention and therefore should be flawless; to attain this ‘too good to be true’ look of your horse, go for complete grooming and bathing your horse. The pictures posted for advertisement must be the true representative of the horse. This gives a good first impression to the buyer and helps in the selection and buying process.
2) Create a horse’s bio
A complete and truthful description of the horse should always be displayed. Key features like age, sex, breed, and type of horse can be grouped into which one can add the additional qualities or traits his horse gains.
The information in the advertisement must be accurate, or it will be considered perjury and misinformation. Every online platform considers checking the horse’s owner's information twice before displaying it.
The ad should also clarify whether the horse is a work-type horse or a riding type. All such information plays a crucial role in the selling-buying process.
3) Create videos of horses
Besides providing information, the horse sellers must also create and provide videos of their horses to potential buyers.
In a world where seeing is believing, these videos help in promoting the content to the eyes of potential buyers. It is suggested to make videos of race horses while running or jumping or performing stunts; It helps to represent the ability and potential of horses.
These videos can be emailed to targeted potential buyers to give them an idea of what they are to buy.
4) Making a move with the horse
More or less like test driving, Horses are first ridden before buying. To see an advertisement of a horse over the internet and deciding is okay, but to feel the reins clasped under your hands is something different. It is a must for a horse buyer to watch the horse practically before buying. He can either decide to ride the horse himself or let the owner (given that horses do not entertain new riders) ride, to which he should place a watchful eye.
Horse sellers should maintain their horses just well, for if a potential buyer arrives, He should be presentable and impressive.
5) Be ready to answer everything
Every action receives multiple reactions. It is essential to be prepared for answering queries coming from diverse viewers of your advertisement. Your wide audience will be curious to know about the reason behind the selling and pricing of your horse. You should prepare a careful response in advance, which is true, and showcase your strong selling proposition. Also, remember the wrong comments will decrease your authenticity and rating in the online marketplace.
6) Health certification of the horse
The horse is a quite sensitive being. Before buying the proposed horse, the buyer used to ensure the health status of the horse.
Horse owners should call a veterinarian over his place to perform a full inspection of the horse to get the health certificate for the horse. It is an essential step and can either be requested before listing or after a test ride to maintain transparency.
Health certifications can come in handy when one needs to cross-check the listings (breed, age, sex, etc) and to know the health status of the animal.
It is crucial because the listed horse may possess diseases that decline its health or the herd’s health or the health of the owner if the disease is zoonotic.
Therefore, a horse owner should contact a veterinarian to get his horse in check.
7) Come on a call before fixing a deal
A phone interview can help you get a better grasp of the buyer's perspective. Make sure the person on the other side has a keen knowledge of horse keeping or else has some trainer along with them for the same.
8) Allow free trials or discounts for a limited period
Offering free trials of a horse’s performance helps in building trust with the potential buyer. Buyers would contact you with no fear of losing their money. Else, you can frame a minimum value package of 60-90 days trial based on a contract. These offers will get you trustworthy leads and more options to consider before making the actual deal.
9) Ownership transfer and transportation
Once all the events and odds are weighed, and the buyer finally selects to buy a horse; An agreement is signed for the exchange of money. Just like adopting a child follows some paper trail, so does buying a horse.
The agreement is signed for mutual understanding, not needing centralized authority certification. Some states or countries have already set rules for selling and buying horses. So one should work accordingly.
The buyer can decide the mode of transport by which he wants to take the horse. Or the seller can facilitate the transport of the horse on his own terms.
10) Stay in contact with the owner
Developing a bond with your buyer is good for you and your horse. As building trust with an old customer can help you get feedbacks and ratings which can positively affect your next sales.
Legal Requirements for Selling Horses
Many states have a set of regulations for selling and buying horses that demand selling bills of horses. Before you actually enter the horse’s selling marketplace, you should know about fulfilling important legal requirements for selling horses.
- It is necessary to understand that selling horses like the sale of ‘Goods’ come under the UCC (uniform commercial code). Considering this law, every horse with a value equal to or greater than $500 is subject to a written bill of sale.
- The Bill of sale must include all the required sale details to which both owner and buyer have agreed and signed. The final copy of the bill of sale should be checked by a lawyer for legal aspects.
- You should be an authorized owner of the horse who has permission to sell a horse.
- You must have a recent medical/health report of the horse along with the previous medication (if done).
- Make sure you have the horse’s passport ready in case of international selling or transportation.
FAQs
Q1. What are the best ways to sell horses?
Ans. Online listings, newspaper listings, advertisements, and magazine listings are some of the best ways to sell your horse. HorsesBuy.com makes things easier for you by providing a platform to advertise your horse.
Q2. How much is one horse worth?
Ans. If we look at the average cost of a horse, it comes out to be around $3000. Particular horse variations depend on the breed, genetics, and performance.
Q3. Is selling horses profitable?
Ans. Much like any business, there is no guarantee of profits in horse selling. It solely depends on the wits of the seller to make a profit out of it. Although if we speak, there is not an enormous margin in selling horses. But this changes individually.
Q4. What is the best age to sell a horse?
Ans. Frankly speaking, there is no thumb rule of selling a horse according to age; but if we take horse sellers’ word into account, we gather that, a horse should be sold at 4 to 6 years and a maximum of up to 9 years (if speaking ideally). But there are restrictions.
Conclusion
In this article, we have curated the best information regarding selling your horses quickly without hustling. Reasons for selling a horse may vary from person to person depending on the situation or business model. To build an understanding of ‘how to use the online marketplace effectively for selling hoses?’ Steps to start with include conventional methods, community listings, and auctions, and proceed to the online marketplace. This website will act as a ‘one-stop shop’ for all the information you need regarding selling horses.