Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Selling Horses.................



Since the focus of my open house has been about selling horses, I figured now was a good time to address that aspect of the industry. There are so many things that can come into play when trying to sell horses. How those things are handled clearly reflects a person's sense of honor and integrity...........things the horse industry is not know for.

The old connotation of a horse trader may not be so old when money comes into the picture with some horse people. Lots of things can happen when the goal is to make that sale no matter what the cost. All's fair seems to be the standard with some in the horse industry. Ethics go out the window. Nothing is sacred and even friendships can be broken.

It's always been my practice when I am contacted by a person looking for a horse to try and match that person up with a horse that is right for them. If I don't own that horse, I try to put them in contact with someone who can provide them with a horse that suits their needs. I think it's more important to match up the right horse with the right buyer than to make a sale.

Whenever I hear that a friend of mine has been contacted by someone looking for a horse, I try to be supportive of my friend. Even if I might have what I think is just the right horse, I'm not the one that's been contacted. I believe that buyer is off limits to me and I leave the situation alone. I would never go behind my friend's back to try and pursue that sale.

In the long run I believe this sense of integrity will serve me best. I'd rather be known as a breeder that can be trusted than one that will do anything to make a sale. Unfortunately that's just not how it is for some in the horse industry.

A situation happened not long before my open house that just happened to expose one of the problems that can arise when a sale is involved. I heard that a friend of mine was acting as an agent for a buyer from back east.

The object of the search was a Marwan El Shaqab filly. From there it progressed to a filly of those bloodlines. I just happen to have a friend who has such a filly. She is by a nationally know son of Marwan. While I hadn't seen this filly, I knew from others that had that she was a nice individual. So when my agent friend told me what he was looking for I told him about this filly.

I also have a friend who has a very nice colt by the same stallion as the afore mentioned filly. As a matter of fact, I think this colt is beyond nice and into exceptional. The friend who owns the colt asked me if I'd told my friend about her colt. I explained I hadn't because they weren't looking for a colt.

However, within a couple of days, that changed. I learned my agent friend was going to look at fillies and a colt, as well, at a farm in Olympia. Then, and only then, I told my friend if his client was looking at colts too, they might want to consider this colt that belonged to my friend by the well known Marwan son. From an evaluation that had been made by one of the top halter boys in the country, I was sure this colt was an outstanding individual and worth the time to view.

When I spoke to the friend who owns the colt about the possibility of bringing my agent friend to come see her colt, I asked her to please not tell the stallion owner anything about the visit. Unfortunately, I've had enough dealings with this particular person I didn't think any good would come from her knowing someone was looking at this colt for a possible sale, particularly because the stallion owner has a colt of her own to sell. My friend agreed so I went ahead and set up an appointment.

It all sounds simple enough.........or so you would think?

To be continued.............

Part 2

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6 comments:

  1. Selling is always the hard part. I think you do a pretty good job at matching up horses with people.

    If anyone else, at the time, had asked I would have said no, but because you asked I made room (in my heart and barn) and took on Rosie. She fits in remarkably well here. You connected two people and got a horse a good home.

    I think you have a pretty good handle on it all. I do try to stay out of the whole politics that can happen.

    If I know someone is looking at a horse I want, I'll wait until I hear if the sale went through or not before inquiring about the horse. On the other hand, I do a first come first served kind of thing when selling. If someone wants to see about buying a horse from me, I won't let anyone else see the horse until after that person makes up their mind. I may loose a few sales, but that's not what's important to me.

    I'd rather conduct my sales in a manner that I would like to be treated and make a good match between the horse and buyer.

    I have a feeling that in your latest installment, you're efforts did not go over to well... I'll be back tomorrow to see how it went.

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  2. Ugghhhh!! I can TOTALLY relate...it's one reason why I don't breed/raise/show Snowshoe cats anymore...I couldn't STAND the politics and how people would trash other breeders just to get more sales for themselves...ACK!

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  3. Integrity is hard to find in the horse business...actually, looking at the chaos in the economy right now, it's integrity is hard to find in any business. :-(

    I hope you don't end up getting burned in this.

    Ann

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  4. I agree selling is the hardest part and you are never guaranteed that it will all work out, as hard as you try to match the horses and people up, I have had a few dissappointments when the buyers have resold the horses but I try not to dwell on it, it would make me crazy.

    I wholeheartedly agree on the ethics thing, if I dont think I have a horse that will suit someone I wont sell it (unlike Larry) and often have referred the buyers on to another friend's horses. That is the only way that you can build a reputation as an honest honorable dealer and that is more important to me.

    Sitting on the edge of my chair for the continuation of this one!.

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  5. We have a person that sells our horses for us. They also sell horses for a hired hand. The hired hand is inquiring about some of our horses, which I know they are going to sell. Is this ethical of the person who is advertising the horses for us?

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  6. LOC, you and Rosie are a good fit. Fit is important to me because with out it the horse can end up down the road in a bad situation. That's not anything I want for my horses.

    Equine Spirit, it is uncomfortable when breeders are picking each other apart. Fortunately, I haven't seen too much of that.

    Ann, you're right about integrity. There isn't nearly as much of it out there as there needs to be.

    Lori, I know that you and Larry don't agree on ethics and sales. That can make things hard, that's for sure.

    Anonymous, I'm afraid I don't quite understand your question. I think I'm missing something. What do you think might not be ethical? I think I need more details to figure out what you are concerned about.

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