Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Welcome to the blog!

Howdy everyone! Thanks for 'tuning in'. I am creating this blog for very selfish reasons - I continually and obsessively read Craigslist for their ads. Its entertainment, and while one can find some great deals on things like cars, furniture, and odd items, what really irks me is when I delve into the horses for sale ads.

I have a lifetime working with horses. I have honestly never sold a horse. However, I have spent my entire life watching those that buy and sell horses, and it never ceases to amaze me how often the truth and or just plain common sense gets lost in the process.

So, while CL is entertaining for sure, I'm going to highlight some of the best and worst of the ads I've come across - as well as commentary on the ad itself. The ads that will be showcased on here will be chosen for several reasons. Obvious stupidity, Lack of simple common sense, wording/spelling/grammar to make any good english teacher run screaming down the street in horror, and well, whatever darn reason I feel like posting it for. I don't plan to censor myself or anyone else, so feel free to comment as you wish.

My goal here is to evaluate these ads from a prospective buyers perspective. I know I will not manage to make a dent in the hundreds of ads that get posted daily, but If I can help out even just a few people manage to sell their horses and NOT have them go to the KB across the border, then ON TO THE SHOW!

For our very first post, lets play "Whats WRONG with this picture?"

She's a very nice AQHA mare, good weight, well groomed, lovely legs.. wait.. what is that on her hind leg? A cast? Nope, it's just a bandage for whatever reason...yet the owners decided it obviously wasn't WORTH MENTIONING in the text of the ad.. yet its ok to post the picture of the horse standing there with its leg bandaged.

2/23/10 post

Ad Text:
Nice well broke mare that is started on barrels and needs someone to finish her out. Just have too many to ride and don't have time to finish her out.
Ey Yi Yi.

Ok folks, A) its generally not a good idea to post pictures of your horse standing with their LEGS BANDAGED UP! Rather ruins the whole vet check idea, eh? B) Simply saying you don't have the time to 'finish her out' is NOT enough for me to even consider emailing you, much less dragging my butt out, wasting gas, and finding out that the horse is some no name wild 2 year old becuase, well, C) YOU didn't give enough information such as Age, Parents, Registry Info, Personality Info, Etc. Guess what folks, most normal everyday horse owners don't have the time to finish her out either!

Note to seller: Beyond the obvious horrible FAIL of trying to sell your mare that is obviously injured, you might also want to consider ... nah. I can't get past that enough to care who the mare is or want to know anything about her.



Now to compare, here is a lovely ad for a chestnut Saddlebred Gelding. While Saddlebreds aren't always my favorite breed, I do like to admire them from afar. This particular horse is presented well, in a safe looking pasture/pen with a buddy. Theres several different pictures, including a nice one from the side. I can't see his feet though, which concerns me somewhat as this breed is one that can be subjected to some nightmare shoeing issues. She's got some great information on him, bloodlines, what he's ok with doing, and a little bit about his personality. Just enough to entice ME into looking at him for sure.

Ad Text:
This is a great Registered American Saddlebred! Extremely nice 3 year old gelding /16.2 hands tall, red chestnut, very blond mane/tail, just gorgeous! He is trained to RIDE and DRIVE. Extremely gentle and easy to work with! Just So Worthy---118848 . His Dam is by CH Foxfire’s Prophet! $16,000.00 We will consider all offers! He is very sound with no problems! Please keep this outstanding colt in mind! Thank you.

Photobucket

Photobucket


Ok, so now that we've got the first post out of the way, hope you enjoyed it, comments are always welcome, and by all means, send me those ads!

If at all possible, take a screen shot of the ad, as it is very common for the ad to be taken down by CL if its particularly horrendous. My blog email is clhorseads@gmail.com.



3 comments:

  1. The QH..
    When I first saw the ad it took me a minute to notice.. She's a nice looking mare.. pretty face.. muscled.. her body is proportionate.. front legs looked good and then WHOA! Why would ANYONE post a pic with their horse's leg bandaged and expect it to sell? Maybe if they had explained the injury.. and put more than 30 seconds into posting the ad

    The saddlebred..
    I couldn't believe that someone thought they could sell that quality of horse on CL.. The horse would probably sell better on a different site.

    ReplyDelete
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