TRADING YOU HORSE IN ON ONE OF OURS! 

Because the horse market has changed so much in the last year, I get even more calls than usual from people who want to trade in their horse for one of ours.  I am always reminded of a past customer. 

A few years I had a nice mare that had been used as a school horse in a barn in Florida for several seasons.  She had shown consistently at 3', would carry my Dachshunds tied on to her saddle, and was reliable as you would ever want a horse to be.  A father brought his daughter out to try the horse.  They had a TB off the track and although she had gone pretty well for the girl in the beginning, when they laid her off for the winter and tried to ride her in the spring, she was WAY too much for the girl to handle.  I had my mare priced at $4,000.  He wanted to swap straight across for my mare!!  He said someone had told him she had a lot of potential (I HATE THAT WORD!!) and that she was worth $5000, so I was getting a bargain!!

From a business standpoint, I would have to take their mare, spend six months putting training in her, advertise her, find a buyer for her and do all the customer service it takes to make another sale.  It makes no sense for us to EVER do a straight across swap.  Even if the incoming horse is just as nice as the one we are selling, we still have to evaluate it, and get to know it before we can sell it.

I know everyone has taken a car to the dealership and been disappointed in the amount they were willing to give you as a trade in.  We are the same way.  Someone has a horse they want to trade and they say it's wonderful.  But if I buy from my regular sources and I don't like the horse for ANY reason, I can take it back.  I can't do that with a trade in horse.  And in this market where GOOD horses are still easy to sell and even horses that are just a little off are not, that is a problem.  As mentioned, I have to take time to evaluate it and that is time I can't sell it for cash flow for the business.  At the very BEST, I've lost a sale on a good horse that might have come along right after I did the trade and tied up that cash in another horse I can't sell for another month.   And yes, my wonderful customers HAVE been know to lie to me and even drug their horses when the bring them to me.  You can't believe how honest and sincere a person can appear when they are trying to get rid of a horse that is lame, crazy or just plain MEAN.  The I have to figure out what to do with it, because unlike my regular sources, I can't just take it back.  Yes, sometimes I DO take a horse in on trade and make a lot of money on it...but a lot of times I end up LOSING money because it doesn't FIT our farm.

I find that when people ask me if I will take a trade, it is often on horses or ponies that they are trying to get rid of.  Now, by definition, ~ since they are trying to trade ~ they like my horse for their purposes, better than their horse!  Since they are probably the same as most of my customers, in the fact that they have come to find a specific type of horse, again, by definition, the horse they are swapping is NOT the same as what most of my clients are looking for!  I don't mind putting the time in and training their horse, but then I have my training time into it, just as I have training time into what you are buying!!! 

I find that most people have an unrealistically high value set on their horses.  Quite often, they want what they have paid for the horse.  It is sometimes necessary to take a good look at the horse and admit that you PAID TOO MUCH.  Every year I buy horses that I think will be good, only to get them home and find that they don't fit the needs of my clients ~ in short they aren't what I thought they were when I bought them.  Usually I have purchased them from people I have a long term relationship with, and they can be exchanged.  If I've bought them from individuals or taken them in trade, I might be able to put training into them and make them good horses, if not, I sell them at a loss.  My horses are very fairly priced, often below market for what they are. I can name ten farms within a an hour of me, that have lower quality horses for about twice the price or nice quality horses they want a lot more for.  So, they many times people have paid more for the horse than I would have SOLD it for!! 

I find that frequently in trades, all of this means that people either want to swap straight across, or they want to have me pay additional money for their horse.  However, I have a horse that I already have training time into.  I have picked out that PARTICULAR horse because I know it will fit the bulk of my customers.  The horse that is being traded may be a great horse, but he may not fit the majority of my customers as well as the one I am taking in trade ~ therefore, he is worth less money to ME!  If I swap I have to find another buyer for the new horse, AND put training into it, so I have to price it higher.  I've lost time and I've lost money. 

When buying a car, the advantage of A TRADE is that you drive in with one car and drive out with another, it is clean and doesn't take any time.  The disadvantage, the dealer is going to give you less for your car than you could get for it on your own, but then YOU have to keep it clean, advertise it, handle the phone calls and show it to people.  The marketing is time consuming.  With a horse, you have to ride the horse regularly to keep it fit.  Sometimes the car dealer, who knows the market, will point out something about the car that you don't see, or don't care about, but he knows it will make your car harder to sell.  For example, I LIKE stick shift cars.  But dealers don't because they know MOST people want an automatic.  Same good car, but the stick shift is worth less because it appeals to a smaller number of potential customers.  Again, same thing with horses.  I know that certain types of horses are just harder to sell and will take more time.  So, I can less afford to tie up money in them.

So, yes I will take your horse in trade, if it appears to be a nice horse or looks like one I can do something with.  But I will usually only give you $300-$600 allowance against a horse we have here.  For all the reasons stated above, we just can't do any better.  What we CAN do is to take your horse and a deposit in on our horse, and the additional money can be broken it into payments to make it easier. 

AND ~ on your side, you don't have to show the horse to a dozen people, you don't have to take the phone calls, do the advertising, and wait to be able to move onto the horse you want!!!  And your horse is off your feed bill!

A horse is worth what someone is willing to pay, and you can get a higher price, but it may take you a while and you will probably have to show the horse frequently, handle a lot of phone calls and put some money into advertising.  It is like using your car as a trade in.  You might think of putting some training into the horse, but sending the horse out to training is expensive.  You might be surprised at what you can do yourself.  TRAINING  can be easier than you think, even with limited time and talent.  Take a good look at Personal Horse Coaching, which has been successful and helped many find a way to maximize their horse's talent and value.  If your life and facilities aren't set up for this, you might think about putting the horse on CONSIGNMENT.