Sad state of affairs today

Today will be a 'worst' of blog. 


All three horses today are in dire - in one case very desperate - need of upgrading and re-homing. 





Ad Text: 
i have an horse thats is 27 ear old she is still riding me and my kids she loves trails just dont have the time to ride or take care of the way she needs she is a brown horse with a white diamond on her forehead and belly i am asking a 50 dollar rehoming fee plz text/call or email me my #xxx. 


(no picture)


These are our adults writing this. Its a 27 year old horse that way deserves to be treated better than I guarantee this person has treated her. 





Ad Text: 
Clydesdale for sale. she's 16 hands. Vet said she's about 4 or 5 years old. She's broke. Not shoed. Not trailor broke. She was recently dewormed. Good with kids. She's real smart. She's fast & strong and rides like a dream. She has a thick brown winter coat from all the snow. I'm selling her due to hard times (economy). Price is FIRM for she's worth ALOT more. 








*HEADDESK* Ok, at least... at least this one is broke. Supposedly. She's still not being taken care of decently and looks to be underweight and wormy, not to mention  but maybe someone with an eye for drafts will snatch her up - hopefully for a lot less than the $5000 being asked for her. Because, no, she's NOT worth that much. 


And finally... saving the "best" for last...





Ad Text: 
will be 3 in August. not broke would make good horse no time to break out to ride. 14.2 hands

$50.00 or best offer








I sincerely wish that at this time I had 1 million readers in all parts of the country so someone would see that arabian gelding and take him out of his misery, and get him looking like the superstar he so desperately needs to become. 


I don't think I even need to comment on that poor geldings condition. Any person with eyes that had a heart can see how miserable he is. 


I thought I was against licencing for horse ownership, yet the more I see this level of  'care', it makes me think more and more that maybe a licence for ownership wouldn't be such a bad idea. 


On a personal note, its been very rainy and cold the last few days, and been good weather to hole up and do things like read, and catch up on tv episodes on hulu.com, as well as get totally engrossed in looking at these horrible ads. Time to go find something cheery. Night.

New Way To Eat Horse Meat... Breading!

For my second post, I searched high and low, and while I found a few ads that were okay to use... nothing really struck me as GREAT. 

Until I saw this one listed in todays Las Vegas list. 





Ok Here's the Text: 


"Horse For Sale.

10 yr Red Chestnut Horse (Um, this is like saying "its wet rain". Chestnut IS red. Pick one color word or the other, but not both. Its redundant and annoying.)
Stocky, broad chested breed with well-muscled hindquarters and a compact body. (Grrr, can't help myself here. this describes him as a stock horse. If he's a stock horse, than chances are he's either a quarter horse, OR a breeding stock paint. If he's not registered, he's grade. Your breed description, frankly, sucks.)


Great for Riding, Strong and Handsome! (So what has he accomplished under saddle? Is he trained? How much training? Inquiring minds want to know!)


Sound and healthy. 


(Are you ready for it?)


Great for breading!!! "


Oh 'cause I know we all just LOVE horse meat with some BREADING on it! Better grab a chunk of it, get it rolled in some herbs, a little flour, salt and pepper, oh - can't forget the breading - and fry it up southern style! 


Ok, I think the word we are wanting here is "BreEding". B-r-e-E-d-i-n-g. ITS CALLED SPELL CHECK FOLKS! ITS ON YOUR COMPUTER ALREADY. IF YOU CAN'T USE A SPELL CHECK PROGRAM, USE GOOGLE! 


Rant aside, I know perfectly well that 'breading' is spelled correctly. But come on here. If it just doesn't look right to you, then look it up! There are online dictionaries that can help. Or get someone ELSE to proofread. Authors do it, journalists do it, and these are people that eat, breathe, and live the English language.


What really concerns me here is even though they can't get the correct word for it, the current owners obviously have him as a stud. And they've probably been creating MORE of him. However, unless you were able to translate Breading into Breeding, most non-horsey folk wouldn't realize that just by the ad. NOT ONCE does it say this is a stallion. Which brings me to another point: the possibility exists that some unknowing person might just go see him not realizing he's got boy bits. Said possible buyer tries him out, and he decides to have a 'stallion moment' and tries to bite said possible buyer. Possible buyer then freaks out, and sues owner for not telling her he's a stud. There are a million variations on this possible scenario. A Child. An older person. Etc. This is not just annoying, its possibly dangerous. 


OR How bout this: Possible buyer goes to see him realizes that he IS a stallion and wishes to breed to a mare. All fine and good until she actually goes to have him do the deed live cover, he decides to go berzerk and ravish the mare. Mare goes insane having squealing, biting, angry stallion hovering over her, and she can't get away, so she does what any self respecting mare does and kicks him .... or rather tries to kick and gets the inexperienced new owner right in the legs, causing serious damage as well as a trip to the er. 


These may seem like 'what if' situations and some might say they'll never happen. Really? Ok. And keep searching for the end of the rainbow folks...


Doesn't seem like just a simple typo anymore, does it?


Here he is: 





Overall, not a bad horse. He's actually rather cute. IMO though, the ONLY picture that was worth the trouble of posting was the one taken of his profile, commonly known as a conformation shot. (For those non-horsey folk, its a picture taken from of the side to show how he/she is put together, their build, their conformation.) His isn't that bad, though some would say his backs a bit long, and his neck is thick as well as his throat latch. He appears to be cow-hocked, but as he's a quarter horse or quarter horse type, this is pretty common. I'd love a better shot of his front legs, as in the one picture from the front he's standing weird, and its hard to see if he's straight legged or not. 


I will credit the owner this: you can see very easily that he had been bathed before these pictures were taken, you can still see the water on the mats. One point for the owner.


Overall, I'm sure he's a very sweet, kind, and wonderful horse. Aside from the bath, this owner is just NOT really putting his 'best hoof forward' here. Leave out the three pictures that don't do him justice, leave in the one side shot, and for goodness sakes, please make sure your text is correct! 


Oh on a side note, and a personal pet peeve of mine.... WHY OH WHY is he still a stallion? We don't need anymore foals from stallions and mares that have accomplished NOTHING but eat hay and poop! As a stallion what has he done? Is he broke? Is he cowwy? Does he do well on trails? Does he do ANYTHING except be a testosterone ridden pasture puff that makes more unwanted horses to feed into the slaughter industry? The ad sure doesn't tell us, so we, as potential buyers, are left guessing. 


Geld him, THEN try and sell him. Bet someone would just fall head over heels with him, or at least give him half a chance to live long enough to be trained decently by someone that's willing to give him some miles and give this guy a job. Without his boy bits, whatever wonderful qualities he has as a stallion will just get that much better as a gelding. 


Note to owner/seller: This is a classic case of 1) Not nearly enough information about the horse and 2) Not having someone else look over the ad for stupid errors like this.


Lets compare.


This ad, from the Dallas area is a wonderful example of how to do it right. There is actually so much information on the horse being offered for sale that I honestly could not think of a single question I'd not already had answered. They, quite simply, covered everything.

(Psst, by the way, remember CL doesn't charge anything. You can type in a freaking novel and they don't care!)





Ad Text: 


2007 AQHA sorrel filly with a beautiful flaxen mane and tail - she is super flashy. This girl is well bred - she has over $677,000 NCHA money earners on her papers! Freckles Playboy, Doc's Oak, Justa Swinging Peppy, Lynx Star Lady, & Tenino Badger just to name a few. 10 of the 14 horses on her papers have won money at NCHA, and likely with other programs, but this is the only one I have checked. You can see her pedigree at:http://www.allbreedpedigree.com/peppys+stylish+jewel

She is green broke, but she has never bucked, kicked, and she has no vices... the only reason she is green is because she does not know a whole lot. She does not neck rein, but she stops and turns on a dime. She will do anything you ask her to, she will cross a muddy creek full of water, she will go into a tank, she will load into a trailer, stand quietly tied up, etc. She has been ridden in the pasture, in the round pen, and near the street and has never spooked. My 16 year old nephew is currently riding her to put some miles on her, and she will be ridden daily until sold.

She is just a three year old, but I would trust my 4 year old son on her she is so sweet. These pictures were from last fall, but the only difference is her winter coat.

We are asking $800 for her, please call Cecil at xxx or email with any questions.


This is how you sell a horse folks. See the difference?








This little mare, while having somewhat of a thinner neck and more upright shoulder, SHOULD sell for what they are asking for. She's cute, well fed, shiny, obviously rides fine on trails, goes through water, etc, etc. What more could you ask for? Kudos to the owner for taking the time to think out how best to present her for sale. It really only takes a few minutes, swear!

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.

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.

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.