How to Present Your Horse For Sale or Lease
When advertising your horse for sale or lease it is important to be clear and thorough in order to represent the horse well and attract enquiries from suitable homes.
There are two main elements in an advertisement – the text and the images. The text should give the reader a good idea of the horse’s abilities, education, physical attributes, rider suitability, temperament and location. The images should clearly illustrate the horse’s condition (fitness, weight, etc.), conformation and ability under saddle if applicable.
The most important part of advertising are the photos you use for the advert, as this is the first thing people see and it determines whether someone reads your advert or scrolls past.
Here are some handy hints to help with photos to make your ad stand out.
Standing and Conformation Images
| Example | Explanation |
 |
IDEAL PHOTOGood lighting. |
 |
LESS THAN IDEALPoor lighting. |
Standard Guidelines for Advertising
| Desirable | Avoid |
| A clean, well-presented horse with neat and tidy equipment. | An unkempt horse with unsafe, dirty or misused equipment. |
| Clear, well-lit images | Anything that blocks or covers the horse in the image; rugs, flyveils, shadows or trees.
Photos that are out of focus or blurry, dark or taken from a distance. |
| Neat, tidy and presentable image background. | Having unsafe or distracting objects in the background, such as other horses, broken fencing etc. |
| Both ridden and unsaddled images. |
Handy Hints
| Content | Details |
| Write a succinct introduction to the horse while giving the reader an idea of the horse’s experience and what home it would be suitable for. | Example one: Luna is an 11 year old thoroughbred mare, who raced as Moonshine Lady. Luna has many years’ experience competing up to 115cm show jumping tracks and is ready to show a junior rider the ropes. Example two: My name’s Jack, I am a three-year-old 16.2hh thoroughbred gelding, who has spent the last six months on spell after finishing a short racing career of four starts. |
| Describe the horses’ temperament. | Is the horse good to handle on the ground, easy to worm, good for the farrier, float well and how are they to ride? |
| Detail what training has been undertaken. | Has the horse had any training? For example, regular lessons with qualified coach or for a horse who has just finished racing – has been lunged for two weeks since coming back in from spell after retiring from racing. |
| Cover discipline and competition history. | Is the horse currently competing in a certain discipline for example dressage, show jumping, eventing, show horse or polocrosse and what is their competition history? For a horse who has recently retired from racing, have they displayed any ability or qualities which may mean they will potentially suit a discipline? |
| Include other details you think are relevant. | Anything interesting that may make the horse appeal to someone. Example: Jack is great with sheep and cows and loves to go for a trail ride out in the bush. |
| Our recommendations: | If horse is straight off the track, it needs to be advertised as ‘horse is straight off the track so will require an experienced home and rider. Include as many details as you can, this will help to answer the questions people have. |
This article was written in conjunction with Off the Track WA Sponsored Rider, Linda Brenzi. Linda is a part of the successful Facebook page Rehome a Racehorse in Western Australia.
