Tuesday 8 December 2015

A Quick Tip for Advertisers...

When you have written and posted your horse for sale advert, always try to check how it looks on the main site. Otherwise, this can happen:


See how the post in the middle looks a bit... odd? There's more of the hedge than the horse on display!

The advertiser needs to review how their advert looks now that they have placed it, check the pictures in the full advert and consider making another the main one to better fit the space they are allocated. With a bit of trimming, I think this one would be much more suitable:


And just for your information, here's the full shot of the other one- you can see where the problem is in terms of how central the horse is (or isn't!) to the image.

 
As always if this horse has piqued your interest here is the link so you can find out more:

http://www.horsemart.co.uk/irish-draught-mare/Horses/445257#ZDtrDMc6oSVDO4ZA.97


Wednesday 2 October 2013

So How Young is Too Young?!

Some people just don't seem to think horses need any time to grow up at all. Here we have a baby horse- currently aged 15 months, that's a yearling plus 3 months- hard at it in the shafts. Dragon Driving again of course.

Future stallion potential they say- I bet. He probably won't be much good for anything else in a few years time, the state those overworked developing joints will be in. He even looks like a little baby still poor soul. It boggles my mind that this happens so much and no one seems to see the problem with it!



Sunday 29 September 2013

Because Honesty Is The Best Policy...

Here is a highly entertaining ad which is making waves on the net at the moment. I have copied it while it is still live for readers of the blog...




Miserable, cantankerous horse for sale - $1400 (New Haven)

Meet Rotten Banana. My wife named him that before he was born 7 years ago, and for that reason I believe she is a true psychic medium.

Rotten Banana's father was a registered Paint we owned, who was a valiant sweetheart of a horse but was ugly as sin. His mother is an evil wench, but is built like a brick house and is afraid of nothing. We thought the breeding might give us a valiant sweetheart who was built like a brick house. Instead, we got.....Rotten Banana.

Banana has a lot of.....personality. He has great ground manners. He loves attention. He is probably the best horse I have ever seen about picking up his feet. My 6 year old daughter can lead him anywhere.

And that's where the good stuff ends, so....maybe stop reading here?


Still reading? Dammit.


Rotten Banana is very broke to ride and has hundreds of trail miles. Like his mom, he is afraid of nothing. He will go through brooks, mud, trees and not miss a step.

If he wants to.

If he doesn't want to, he won't do anything. Literally.

If you want to ride, he will just stand there. Whip and spur all you want, the best you will get is a half-hearted buck and a grunt. (The very reputable natural horsemanship trainer I paid $900 to work on this became as exasperated as i was.). If you want to put him on a trailer, and he doesn't want to get on it, he will go backwards. Quickly. If you want to put a bridle on him, he will actually point his nose to the sky like a timberwolf. When you are not looking, he will either steal the hat off your head with his teeth, or grab your shirt and give you a tug.

In short, he is an ass.

So, if you're looking for a project horse with lots of miles left in his- ta da! Here he is.

Someone with time could actually make a horse out of him. That person is not me.


UPDATE: I'd like to thank those of you who have emailed that you enjoyed this ad. A few points of clarity:

1. Yes, he is really for sale. To the right person and home, not the first person with $12 bucks in their hand. If he doesn't sell, I will not be dropping him off at an auction or anything stupid like that. (I thinks it's funny I said 12 "bucks" while talking about Banana. He loves bucks.)

2. I posted him on craigslist to sell him, not get unsolicited horse training advice. I'm neither the best, nor the worst equestrian around. I have owned and trained my own horses long enough to know I'm not a good match with this particular horse.

3. Not that it's anyone's business, but since a few folks have taken it upon themselves to call me irresponsible for breeding Banana in the first place- I bought Banana's father at a farm auction simply because we were afraid for his fate. He was 200 lbs underweight, not gelded, and no one would even bid $50 for him. I bought him, fed him up and started him under saddle. At the time, Banana's mother was getting older and my wife likes the miserable nag, so we bred them with the intent of replacing one of our trail horses. Banana's father was gelded and sold (for a loss after all of the vet bills and feed) and now works as a school pony at a lesson stable.

4. Banana got his shots and a Coggins test done yesterday. He tried to steal the Coggins papers from the vet. I doubt it was because he thought it would taste good.


This ad raises some interesting points which I feel are valid to equine welfare particularly in the current economic climate.

Firstly the breeding issues, for which the current owner has been criticized. Here we have a snapshot of what happens every day all over the world when many people decide to breed horses. They want to replace one, or they want to keep something that they like in their current horse going. This is how so many unremarkable horses are born week after week into a flooded market.

The first lesson as we know is that you can't guarantee what you are going to get from breeding and here, as the owner freely admits, the qualities he admired in the parents have not emerged in their offspring quite as he hoped! So if you want something particular in your new horse, go buy one instead of breeding it. Then you can pick out just what you want because you can see it in a living animal.

The irresponsible breeders don't spent time on the horse-that-is-not-what-they-expected and move them on with no training or time spent on them- much as this horse's father was. At least here we have someone who has tried hard to work with the horse and make it a useful animal. They have decided to sell this horse because they believe that they are having something of a personality clash, which can happen, and that someone else may get better results than them.

The owner has not just dumped the horse-that-is-not-what-they-expected at an auction, a common fate for so many of his kind. They have also said they will not do this which is to their credit.

So while the situation is not ideal I like that they are being upfront and honest about what is happening with the horse, deliberately trying to find the right partner for him. But the ad is also a timely warning to anyone with a pretty average mare they just looove for one random reason or another and want a baby from- you could wind up breeding your very own Rotten Banana!

Monday 16 September 2013

Advert of the Day

Who thinks this is an appropriate picture to advertise this horse with? Raise your hands please...


Anybody? Gee I sure hope not!

Here's the rest of the ad for this 13.2hh stallion...


Truthfully, I get the impression that the process of breaking to drive is not going well.. now I may be wrong but that photo is not inspiring any confidence here!!

Here is an unnecessary list of reasons this is not a good picture to sell this pony with:
1- pony in high state of p-off!
2- pony rearing in driving gear- definitely not something you want from your driving pony
3- can't see any of the pony properly only the back so can't assess looks and build
4- pony looks like is close to being yanked over backwards by its poor mouth

Anyway, if anyone wants to take a chance on this little fella- the link is here.






Tuesday 18 June 2013

Extreme Reckless Child Endangerment

Eegads. Thanks to the folks of Bad Riding for this gem!

Most people agree that keeping your kids safe should include helmets when riding...


 But not everyone. Then there's those folks that see no problem with this...


 Ummm see the open 'escape' route should saintly horse be stung by a bee or other such unlikely incident...?

And this...



My thoughts on the relative virtues of standing on horses for sale ads has been expressed in the past... I reiterate that if the horse has a sneezing fit or jumps at the least little thing small child is high up enough to hurt themselves just hitting the deck from that height.

Finally we have....


Now this one makes me feel slightly ill, having only yesterday observed my kind-natured mare kicking at a fly on her belly in the sort of move that would have hit any child in this position square in the skull. 

Yes the horse looks sweet, but some nice shots of him in action with his little jockey would have put that point across readily without risking the prompt execution of said jockey! 

Horses are big and strong and react quickly and instinctively to all kinds of stimuli.. why put yourself or your family in the position where it's even easier for them to hurt you?! 

Tuesday 11 June 2013

Advert of the Day

Here we have for sale on equine now- a blob.


This frankly terrible picture accompanies a horse for sale ad promoting a stallion for stud 'serves' or sale. 

We don't know:
-What height
- How old
- If he has ever been ridden or even sat on!
- What he looks like to be honest, other than that he appears to have four white legs

We do know:
- a breeding would cost 40-80 dollars
- He's a black and white paint
- He loves other horses. 

It's hard to tell what would possibly recommend this horse as a father. Or as someone's new horse for that matter. Please people, put some thought into an advert. Think about what you're trying to say and what your horse's strong points are. And if he doesn't have many, give him some. Get some work into him!