No luck selling horses

I am a rescue, and i always have horses up for adoption. But no one seems to want them. I have posted in the forums and everything. I am always willing to change prices and everything, but no one ever buys them. Every now and then one will sell, but it goes SO slow. That is not good for such an impatient person.    XD


P.S.  If you know anyone who is looking for horses, i have PLENTY of them they can buy, and i will work with almost ANY price you like.   :)
Thanks

I think it's important to keep in mind that everyone is looking for something different when it comes to horses they buy from other players. Personally, while I like that a lot of your horses have high overall stats, many of them also have high NSS stats and that's a main reason I wouldn't want to purchase any to include in my lines. Most people are super specific and maybe what you have right now just doesn't fit their breeding/showing program. 

I raise a few different breeds and noticed as well that i went from selling 4-5 a week to almost just one 1 week or so. i believe the market has just dropped right now and no one is buying, but as posted above. High NSS stats has alot to do with it too

I'm not having too much trouble selling mine, though all are set for 5k so maybe that's why? I did sell one horse, for bid only, and got 20k for it and it was only up for like a week, but it's the only one I have sold for more than 5k recently so I don't know if trying to sell others at a different price from my 5k would make their sales take longer *shrugs*

Sorry, i try to buy from everyone equally, but i go for horses that best fit what i breed for in the horses i work with.

Low nss: i sometimes ignore this if i really like the color, or if the horse’s conformation will help the horse it will be paired with for breeding.
Good conformation: i try not to go for conformation under 50.00, and try to avoid a lot of poors because it makes it hard to find a mate that doesn’t have the same ones.
Color/pattern: gray is avoided, but white is fine if it’s WRn or W+. The only patterns i avoid are rabicano, sabino, tobiano, and frame overo. I prefer splash, roan, and varnish roan (for appaloosas). I do make an exception for frame splash though.
Specialty: i try to only buy horses that are in the specialties i’ve chosen for the breeds i work with. If there are none, i will look for horses that are being fed hay cubes or go to the equine center.
Some of my chosen specialties are not popular for the breed.

Patience is very important when it comes to selling horses unfortunately. Some just don't sell no matter what you do and others are snatched like hotcakes as soon as you put them on the market, the best you can do is advertise in the forums and list them in clubs with sale books and try to look at what people are looking for. Sometimes your horses just won't sell in that case you can either hold onto them or let them go through the RC. 

I'm drawing a blank. What is NSS?

NSS = Non-specialty stats
Those stats that are not pertinent to whatever discipline the horse is. For example, a show jumping horse needs high speed and agility, the other three stats (strength, intelligence, endurance) are the non-specialty stats, or NSS. Lower NSS helps a horse have an edge in showing. 

My guess would be the NSS. Despite the horses having high stats, many people look at the nss because it can be hard and long process to breed down. Which ultimately makes the horse less successful in showing. 

@Wind Blown - NSS is non specialty stats which are stats that are not related to the horses set specialty.

Thanks guys. I will definitly try this! I am just not a patient person.   XD    And i never really paid that much attention to the nss. So i will try to figure it out. 

Thanks again

I have trouble selling my horses too, but now that I understand from what everyone else is saying, I'll check it out.  I also don't think I have any physically pretty horses either, but check 'em out if you'd like!

I have trouble aswell. Mostly it is trouble with my low confo ones, understandable. I haven't really paid attention to nss until recently. The price system has been off too so I'm still trying to set prices right, that's why most of my horses for sale aren't listed, but are in a separate division stating they are for sale. I've always had trouble with trying to price right, I miss the old pricing system lol. Horses aren't really worth more than 10k it seems like. Before good horses would be selling for at least 50 or 60k from what I remember 

Unless your horses meet my requirements, I am not interested in them.

As you consider yourself a "rescue" you are probably trying to rehome what many people would consider "discards".

Cubing is a bad thing if you are trying to lower NNS, and if your horse has higher than 60 nns, forget about it (as the saying goes). I will no longer buy a horse that has been cubed, nor will I consider a horse whose nns are significantly higher than it's base nns. You will notice that most of my horses still have nns the same as when they were born. they are bred for dressage and treated accordingly, always.

I am one of those quirky folk who is not only interested high total stats, (most of my horses are now well north of 4000) but am also now trying to lower nns. In addition, I will not consider any horse who's conformation score is less than 98.5, with no individual score less than 95.

I don't expect others to share my standards, nor do I expect anyone to pay what I think they are worth, so now I usually just "retire" my discards.

So I basically have the same-ish problem... I started 2-3 weeks ago and I've sold so far only 1 out of the 5-6 rescues that I have for sale... I try price really well and I've lowered the price about as low as I think these horses could potentially sell for, but no one has really bought any yet... I'm pretty impatient like Avery but tbh i have no idea what to do and need some help figuring this out...
PS If anyone is interested, please check them out... super pretty horses...( i'm willing to maybe go down a little more )

Last edited on 2019-10-22 at 16:40:10 by ShadowGlennStables

I ran a side account before I took my break that was my "rescue" and actually never had problems selling my horses. They would sit with me for probably 1.5-2 weeks but always sold. You can find that account here for reference. I marketed my horses on the forums constantly which I believe helped but I never purchased a horse from the rescue that wouldn't fit my own requirements, which are pretty strict since I breed show horses. 

What I notice most about your horses is that you seem to go for the horses in the rescue that have the highest stats. While high stats are good, they mean nothing if the rest of the horse will not perform well or fit into a breeding program. For example, this horse is 0 years old and has almost 4,000 stats which is awesome! If high stats were the only thing I cared about. Based off my own breeding goals, I would never have this horse in my program for a few reasons: he has 88 non specialty stats (I do not have horses with anything higher than 60 ns stats though I would prefer 55 ns stats) therefor he will not do well in shows. He also has a very, very big pedigree. Many breeders do no want horses that everybody else in the entire game has a related horse. Now, long pedigrees aren't necessarily bad as they can be preserved very well, but his sire has 19 foals which is a HUGE no to many breeders. Most breeders like to keep their horse's offspring to 3 or less because it makes that lineage rare and more valuable. 

Another thing I notice is that you don't seem to be showing your horses. With my rescues I would always show them for a few days after purchasing them to determine whether they will make a better riding school horse or a show horse. I rarely bring in a horse that won't do well in shows either because to me a non-show horse is useless. It is important to treat your rescues like they're in your own breeding program, showing them and training them everyday still allows them to gain those stats, show placings, and points while waiting to find a new home. When you don't do this, they lose out on lots of extra points and stats gained which puts them behind. This horse for example, should already have around 500-600 stats from showing and training experience. Nobody really wants an 8 year old horse with 100 stats. Now if this horse had been shown and trained since he turned 3 he would make an amazing foundation addition to someone's breeding program, especially if they were missing a mate in their herd. 

Patience is honestly really important too. You can't be a rescue without it because it almost seems pointless. I have a Chincoteague stallion that I have had for sale since he was born. He came from my foundation line and all 4 of his other siblings sold except him. I keep him for sale and still treat him as if he were in my breeding program because I know he will eventually sell as he is an exceptional horse all things considered. One huge reason why he isn't selling is because he is a SJ Chinco and there are not many breeders of that style currently. I believe he is also gray and gray isn't ideal in any breed right now so that loses him points.