Buying a horse? Find it on the internet!

by Mary Melton
The internet has opened up a whole new cyberspace world to buyers searching for a new mount. Information on thousands of horses can be accessed through searches that can be defined in many ways. To get started you need a few good websites and a pad of paper. Two popular websites are www.agdirect.com and www.horseclassifieds.com.

On AGDIRECT you can refine your search to horses located a specific amount of miles from your zip code. Further, you can specify a breed, exact lineage, height of horse, price and age range. Carefully choosing parameters will prevent you from seeing those gorgeous horses that are out of your price range. On HORSECLASSIFIEDS you can select several breeds and states in one search by using the control button on your computer. Many of the ads on both sites display a photo or you can request one when e-mailing the seller. In the days before e-mail, we phoned the seller and received a great review only to find the horse had a head the size of a suitcase upon our arrival.

Other good resources are the breed specific websites, such as www.sshbea.org for the Spotted Saddle Horse Association or www.aqha.org for the American Quarter Horse Association. By scrolling down the home page of the spotted saddle horse, you will find an icon for photo and text ads. The quarter horse home page leads you to classifieds through the "publications" icon. Keep in mind that when you search this way; a large percentage of the horses will be close to the location of the association.

Not all folks with a horse for sale have access to a computer. To broaden your search to include them, go to www.newspaperlinks.com. on this website you can read the classifieds of newspapers in your own or neighboring states. Big city newspapers have several editions for classifieds, but you can view them all online.

As with any task, there are multiple ways to find horses for sale. By merely typing in the breed of horse you are seeking into your internet search engine, you can locate websites of private farms, many of which have a "horses for sale" page. An advantage to this method is that you usually get photos of the horses they are selling.

An experienced horse shopper can learn to read between the lines and weed out undesirable horses. When shopping for a gaited horse I asked the seller if the gait was smooth or super smooth. Normally, the owner of a poorly gaited animal would say smooth. I learned that the horse for sale was not super smooth without the seller feeling insulted. The owner who states up front that his horse "needs a firm hand" or goes all day" probably has a high spirited horse that would not be a pleasure to ride all day. A non-aggressive way to "interrogate" the seller is to ask what the best and worst qualities of his horse are.

Write down your top questions in advance so you can e-mail them to the seller. Many sellers are advertising more than one horse and mentioning the website and horse number in your request will help trace the e-mail to a specific horse. Make a note of the e-mail address, web site and horse statistics of everyone you sent a request to. This will help you know which horse they are referring to when you receive many replies in one day. Be aware that sellers do not always reply from the same e-mail address that your inquiry was sent to.

Do not hesitate to ask for a video or more pictures. The seller will usually try to accommodate a buyer. By waiting to receive a video there is a greater chance that the horse will be sold before you see it. When you do find an animal that looks and sounds like your dream horse, send an e-mail AND call the phone number. Some sellers don't check their e-mail very often, but get their phone messages daily.

I recently purchased a horse I found on the internet. I bought the first one I went to look at as a result of weeding out the ones that probably were not a good match for me. I checked new listings daily on my favorite websites for 30 days until that "perfect" one came up. Luckily, I was first in line to snap her up. If you are searching for that one special horse, I hope that you also find the internet to be a helpful tool. Where else can you shop for a horse without even leaving the house?