6 Tips on How to Maximize Your Horse Sale Ad

Selling a horse can be a tough job. Whether something in your life has forced the sale, or the horse just isn’t the one for you, horse sales can be difficult and are definitely not everyone’s forte.

For someone unfamiliar with the experience, putting together a sale ad for their horse can be a struggle, and sometimes the end result is not as effective as they would like.

This can lead to frustration. 

So, to simplify the process, I’ve compiled these 6 tips to help you create the best sale ad you can and (hopefully) sell your horse faster and get the price you want!

6 Tips on How to Maximize Your Horse Sale Ad

1. Determine a Price

You want to set your price correctly from the beginning.

Setting a price that’s too high will result in repeated price drops over a period of time to try and sell the horse.

Setting a price that’s too low will usually result in a quick sale, but not result in the best price received. 

If you are unfamiliar with the horse market, the best way to determine a fair price is to do your research and see what similar horses have sold for in your area.

It is important to be objective in this determination.

This can sometimes be difficult because a horse may mean a lot to you personally, but this does not necessarily increase the market value of the animal.

You then want to take into account the time of year for your location.

For example, if you live in an area with harsher winters, horses will typically sell lower in the late fall into early spring due to hay prices. 

Once you have determined the fair price for the horse, establish what the lowest offer you are willing to take is.

You want to price slightly higher than this number to allow for negotiations (we’ll discuss this more later on). 

2.Write the Best Ad

This is by far the most important tip. I see so many ads that look like this:

16 yr old

Paint

15hh

Great trail horse

I’m sorry, but unless you have some KILLER pictures (which we’ll get to!), I’m not even wasting my time asking all of the questions that I would need to ask to find out what I want to know about this horse prior to committing to an in-person showing.

When writing an ad you should be thinking about questions that you ask when looking for a horse, and you should be including the answers to them in your write-up.

If you don’t know what questions you should be asking, check out our 52 Questions to Ask When Buying a Horse.

In the long run, writing ads that lack vital information adds time and effort on the seller’s part.

Rather than being contacted by potential buyers who know they are interested in the horse, you are now being contacted by people asking all the questions you failed to answer in the ad, only for them to find out the horse does not fit their wants anyways.

At bare minimum an ad should include the following about your horse:

• Age 
• Breed
• Gender
• Height
• Price
• Strengths
• Any known vices
• Any known health/soundness issues

This may seem like a lot, but these are the core questions most potential buyers will want answered prior to coming to see the horse.

Your end result should be an ad that looks more like this:

16 yr old 15 hh Paint mare. Great one hand neck rein and an amazing trail horse. Will go over/under/through anything you point her at and isn’t afraid of anything. Has more go then whoa and feeds off of her rider. Because of this I would say she is best suited for an intermediate/advanced rider. Has done fun shows and some gaming in the past and did well. Only vice is she does not like to stand to be mounted. No health issues. Asking $2500

You now have an ad that a potential buyer can look at and, before ever contacting you, have a fairly good idea if the horse has the potential to be a good fit for them or not.  

3. Take Great Photos

Pictures are the first thing to catch a potential buyers eye.

So, if your photos are unappealing, chances are your ad is going to be scrolled past more times than its actually read. 

When setting up a photo shoot of your horse, some things to remember are:

• Always have someone handy to hold the horse and help position him 
• Make sure your backdrop is free of distractions
• Use a high quality camera, you don’t want your photos coming out pixelated and blurry

Your ad should include at least one full body conformation shot.

Other possible photos include specific conformation shots (legs, neck, etc.),  shots of the horse being shown if applicable, nice pasture shots, and/or photos of the horse being ridden. 

Always make sure that your photos are high quality and flattering for the horse. Never use “selfies” or poor quality photos in your sale ad.  

4. A Good Video Doesn’t Hurt

Videos are not necessary for a good sale ad but a good video can speak for itself.

A video gives people the opportunity to see a horse in action before actually coming to “see” him in person.

If you are going to make a video, some tips are:

• Have someone help you, leaning your phone up against a fence post does not result in a very professional looking video
• Use an editing software to remove the sound, if you really want to get fancy you can always add a nice song in the background
• People have short attention spans. You are better off taking multiple short videos of the horse doing different things and editing them together then ending up with a 10 minute long video of you riding in a circle

5. Choose Where You Post Wisely

Facebook quickly became a great place to get your sale ad seen quickly by a lot of people.

And then as quickly as it became great our friends at Facebook banned animal sales.

There are ways around these bans (don’t post prices, don’t post “for sale”, etc.), but Facebook is definitely not the best place to list an ad anymore.

Local classifieds can be effective as well as websites specifically for the sale of horses.

A couple of my favorites are EquineNow and HorseClicks. 

There are lots of different sites to choose from.

Do some research and choose the one that’s best for you!

6. Be a Good Negotiator 

Negotiation is just a part of the horse buying process.

Even if you list a horse as PRICE FIRM, you can always count on potential buyers negotiating.

As I said above, this is why I always recommend listing the horse slightly higher than you are willing to take. 

Prior to anyone coming to see your horse, you should know what the lowest price you are willing to sell him for is. Once you have decided on this price, STICK TO IT.

There is nothing wrong with telling a buyer no or negotiating with them on their offer.

Chances are if they are interested enough to be making an offer, they like the horse and want to take him home. 

If you follow these tips, your end result should be a great sale ad for your horse that is effective!

Have any other tips for maximizing horse sale ads? Leave them in the comments!