Profile of a Horse Trader

Charming, Knowledgeable, Sincere, Dangerous


We'd like to make an important distinction between two scenarios.

1.)  Some people overestimate their own abilities and knowledge of horses.  They buy animals with known bad habits or health problems, or no training at all, thinking they can successfully overcome any issues.  If they fail, it is a sad result for both owners and horses but not the focus of this website.

2.)  Some people, in good faith, buy from traders who grossly and knowingly misrepresent the horses they sell.  Dishonest traders can be manipulative and cunning.  They might present themselves as "experts," so it is easy to understand how novice horse shoppers might be fooled. We hope HTT will help people avoid falling into this trap.

For the sake of brevity, we'll refer to our horse trader in the masculine, but there are plenty of women in this game too.  A horse trader buys many of his animals at auctions and sales.  He knows nothing about the history or training of the horses, but he buys them cheaply with the intention of creating fictional histories and selling the horses quickly for significant profit.

This fellow is relaxed, friendly and funny.  The warmth of his personality is reassuring and we feel welcome in his presence.  He makes small talk when we first meet him.  His eyes tear up when he tells about the horse of his heart, long-dead now.

The horse trader listens well.  He is a con artist and knows that most of us want gentle, kid safe horses for trail riding, fun shows, and family pets.  Therefore, the horse he's trying to sell us acquires all the traits we seek.  If we confide that we've bought horses from other traders and been unhappy, he will commiserate and tell us that he's also heard bad stories about that seller and will assure us that we're safe with him.  Don't be fooled; most of the traders know each other and work together.  They meet weekly across their region at horse sales and auctions.

Traders shamelessly use their children to sell horses. When we see the trader's 6 year-old daughter effortlessly turning, trotting and stopping the horse we're looking at, we're very impressed.  Traders are affectionate with their own children, and ours, too.   

A tricky trader will exhaust the horse hours before we've scheduled our appointment to look, or he will administer a sedative so the horse appears calm.  The horse will be bathed and saddled, and anyone will be able to ride the horse without incident.

A typical trader has only a small round pen or paddock to showcase his horses.  If we ask how the horse behaves in a larger area, or out on the trail, he assures us that the horse is steady and exactly the same no matter where it is ridden.  The horse trader has his other horses in fields around the paddock or round pen so we can't try the horse ourselves outside the small area.

He is adept at trial closes (Sales tactic 101) by telling us we won't find a nicer horse anywhere else, and encouraging us to agree.  He'll say he has two other people scheduled to look at this particular horse later in the day.  He carefully lets us know that we would be foolish to let this perfect horse go, by not making an immediate decision to buy it.

He'll say he's had the horse for over a year, but he has too many and needs to let some of them go.  This horse won't have a current Coggins certificate because "it has just expired."  If we could see the real Coggins, we'd know that he's only owned the horse for a short while.  

He may tell us we can try the horse for a week or two and return it if we're not completely satisfied.  He'll give us examples of a few fickle and unreasonable people who have returned good horses to him.  He'll explain, with a sigh of resignation, that he refunded their money and sent them on their way.  We are again reassured.

If we say we want to think about the horse overnight, he'll kindly offer to hold the horse because we're such a wonderful home.

If we're clever, we'll whip out our sales contract and ask him to document all he's said.  If he refuses, run away and don't look back.