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Elite Veteran
Posts: 747
  
| I have a horse for sale and have been approached with trade offers, but have never done one before. Does anyone have experience with trading horses with someone instead of just selling outright? What should I be mindful of if I were to proceed with one? Any information is greatly appreciated! |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 460
| I just traded horses for the first time, with my last horse for sale. Just make sure you would have still bought the horse with your own money if the trade weren't taking place! Otherwise you're cheating yourself :) |
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  Witty Enough
Posts: 2954
Location: CTX | I traded my last gelding, but I did with a friend. And we both knew what we were getting. Not sure if I would with a stranger.
Edited by cranky B4 10am 2016-03-23 6:46 AM
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 788
| I have done trades several times. Once I traded a almost finished horse for a young one plus money. Once I traded one really nice finished horse for 2 young ones and I have traded one for one. It is great for both involved as long as both parties are completely honest. If you are getting something finished or started I would just make sure you go through the same precautions you would if you were spending a lot of money on it with vet check and such. And its also a good idea to go try the horse, think about it and then decide so you dont get sucked into something you dont really want. But it is a good idea if you are planning on buying another horse when yours is sold anyways. The biggest thing I would say is be careful your not getting someones problem, that really isnt worth anything, they are trying to pawn off on someone. I see alot of that. |
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 Straight Shooter
Posts: 5725
Location: SW North Dakota | I did a straight trade with a friend of a friend a few years ago. We talked on the phone a few times- our horses were 180 degree opposites! We met in the middle, rode each other's horse and agreed to swap for a week, with either party able to cancel the transaction if we didn't like the horse after a week or two. It could have been a train wreck, I guess, but I hated the horse I had, so I didn't feel like I'd be out much. Turned out perfectly and it was an amazingly painless experience. We both loved our new horses and the matches were perfect!  I might have even done it without the week trial, because I liked her horse the first night. I would think it would have been a LOT more stressful if I would have liked my horse very much! haha. |
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 Accident Prone
Posts: 22277
Location: 100 miles from Nowhere, AR | I traded a broke horse I hated for a yearling, sight unseen. We met at a rest area and swapped horses and papers. Worked out great for me, as that yearling is now 6 and I adore her. |
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Veteran
Posts: 144
Location: East TN | as stated earlier, just be sure you like what yo're swapping for or would consider buying that other horse with cash if trading wasn't on the table
I made the mistake of swapping before. He was a GREAT minded horse super sweet and would do absolutely anything asked of him and considerably younger than the one i let go BUT after some research, come to find out he had a fractured hock and was really just trail sound only. Partially my fault for going on the other person's word rather than getting a vet check for myself. Luckily for him he was a beautiful paint and he was easy to love... so selling him to a trail riding family was relatively easy.
Just do your research on what you're getting AND GET A VET CHECK! there are just as many dishonest sellers/traders as honest ones lol 
Edited by MissMary2277 2016-03-23 8:04 AM
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Addicted to Baseball
Location: Where the stars at night are big and bright, TX | I've traded twice and had 2 bad experiences. Traded a nice mare for a young gelding. He dropped dead where he stood 7 months later from an HYPP attack...we didn't know he'd had it. They were not requiring testing or stamping papers yet. The breeder claims HYPP comes from dirty boarding conditions so you can imagine how well that discussion went when trying to talk to her after he passed.
The 2nd time I was flat lied to and traded a dear mare of mine who could not barrel race for a gelding who came from a well-known breeder and program. The gal who had him when I was looking veiled the truth quite a bit but we found out his true story after he'd given a trainer friend of ours a closed head brain injury. I went on a mission to figure his story out. He had been to 7 trainers who'd all sent him home for inflicting bad enough injuries on the trainers themselves or their apprentices they all refused to go on with him. "I'd" been told he had one trainer who called him "a little cold-backed." We put him down to stop that cycle for both someone else's sake and his. That woman traded my mare off to someone who severely starved her - found that out when someone here on BHW made me aware the mare was for sale again and looked starved. Through the network of angels here we were able to buy her back. I won't be trading any horses again. And at least I sure wouldn't do it out of the area where you can't plenty well check that horse out yourself, just like most every other transaction. And ditto to what someone else said, make sure it's a horse you'd pay money for - people looking to trade or sell or looking to get rid of something. I was honest in both my dealings...the first was a small Arab mare I'd raised and trained for endurance, I wanted to barrel race instead. The 2nd was a mare who had suffered a hip injury at birth and we didn't know she wasn't sound to turn a barrel and pivot on that hip until we got her started. Though we did finish her, she's a jam up ranch horse and every day riding horse. "I" wasn't "dumping" anything, just looking for something in the vein I had wanted to go in, but both people in my case were looking to dump horses and you won't always get the truth - they want them gone.
Edited by Tilt The Kilt 2016-03-23 8:31 AM
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 Own It and Move On
Location: The edge of no where | I've done it a few times. Don't trade for something you wouldn't buy outright for that price. It's no different from buying horses. |
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 I hate cooking and cleaning
Posts: 3310
Location: Jersey Girl | I traded for the current horse I have but it was with someone I trusted. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 823
Location: East Texas | I traded for one last year sight unseen. The guy we traded with was a friend and said he would take the horse back if it was not what we wanted. It all worked out.
Edited by CrossDRanch 2016-03-23 9:12 AM
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 On the Countdown
Posts: 2934
Location: Texas | Nope never would again. Horse I traded for bucked between the second and third. Would buck so hard in bank sand. Wouldn't buck with a man, but would with me or a lady i sent him off to be rode. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 324
| Traded sight-unseen with a lady I know pretty well. I HATED the horse that I traded and liked the little mare that I got, but she definitely wasn't as-described. The mare that I got needed a lot more work than was disclosed to me. I am still happy that I made the trade, but I lost about $1,000-$1,500 from just the value of the two horses.
Some horses just aren't meant for some people and some are... Hence why I'm not upset about losing a little money, I ended up happier in the long run with the horse that I got. |
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 Lady Di
Posts: 21556
Location: Oklahoma | I trade all the time. It's usually for a horse that I get along with better than the one I have, but I'm VERY picky about what I'll trade for, and I try to trade for something that I would buy anyway. Some horses just don't fit some people. Doesn't mean they are a bad horse; just not the horse for that person, so sometimes trades work well for two people like that. Two of the best horses I've ever owned, I got in a trade. Just do your research beforehand, and make sure you like the horse you're trading for. |
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Miss Southern Sunshine
Posts: 7427
Location: South Central Florida | Just did my first trade, and it was great. I kind of think I ended up with the better deal, but I think she feels the same way. So I guess that's good.
In my case, I would have probably given this mare to this person because I love the horse so much. The horse however fell in love with the girl. She literally got so excited when she saw this girl and would turn and walk away from me.
I am happy and she is happy...so I guess it was a good deal!
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 754
Location: Arkansas | I've traded several times, and have only been unhappy once. It wasn't a case of dishonesty on the other person's part, I just did not like the horse, did not want to trade in the first place, but let my husband talk me into doing it anyway. We did get the horse that I didn't like sold outright eventually, so it still worked out in the end I guess. While I still value his opinion very much on horse deals (he sees WAY more than I do), I don't let him override my gut saying "NO" anymore, lol.
Most of my trades have been horses that I didn't have much invested in to begin with, so I was comfortable with the idea that things might not work out. I did trade a semi-retired older mare that I owned for almost all of her life to a very good friend of mine for her daughter a step-up horse. I got a very nice younger mare in the deal, that I put some riding on and sold. That trade was more about my mare getting the perfect home and getting used but not abused (instead of wasting away in my pasture) than it was anything else.
Edited by rodeochick382 2016-03-23 11:28 AM
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Accident Prone
Posts: 22277
Location: 100 miles from Nowhere, AR | rodeochick382 - 2016-03-23 11:24 AM I've traded several times, and have only been unhappy once. It wasn't a case of dishonesty on the other person's part, I just did not like the horse, did not want to trade in the first place, but let my husband talk me into doing it anyway. We did get the horse that I didn't like sold outright eventually, so it still worked out in the end I guess. While I still value his opinion very much on horse deals (he sees WAY more than I do), I don't let him override my gut saying "NO" anymore, lol.
Most of my trades have been horses that I didn't have much invested in to begin with, so I was comfortable with the idea that things might not work out. I did trade a semi-retired older mare that I owned for almost all of her life to a very good friend of mine for her daughter a step-up horse. I got a very nice younger mare in the deal, that I put some riding on and sold. That trade was more about my mare getting the perfect home and getting used but not abused (instead of wasting away in my pasture) than it was anything else.
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1131
| Accepting a trade on one of our old horses was one of the best things we ever did. We gave them a young AQHA western pleasure reject gelding and they gave us an unhandled (but very good natured) 4yo APHA mare and a lightly handled (but still pretty rowdy) 3yo POA mare. We were VERY hesitant on the trade, but we really want to get rid of the gelding - they wanted a horse they could ride, but had to get rid of two if they were to get one. A few days before we were going to make the trip a few states away, the gelding got caught in the fence and degloved his back leg - no major damage, just going to be an ugly scar. Luckily, they still wanted him, so we made it happen.
After the trade...
- The gelding died of colic a year later.
- We sold the POA mare about a year later at auction and she went to a western pleasure barn in California.
- And the APHA mare is the very horse in my profile picture who went on to win me countless awards in many different disciplines. She's being bred in the next few days to AQHA stallion, Nonstop Firewater. No amount of money in the world could buy that mare.
Edited by FlyingHigh1454 2016-03-23 12:58 PM
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 494
| Trading with a friend, yes. Trading with a stranger, no...Usually when people want to trade it is because they feel that they are getting the better end of the deal such as: They see your horse worth more $ than if they sold theirs outright...Otherwise what is the point in trading? Someone ultimately has to see the other horse as being worth more than their own... Kind of like a cutting your losses type of deal |
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 Veteran
Posts: 274
| I have only traded horses 1 time.... made a very great friend in the process...she got what she wanted...I got what I wanted......and still talk every day, its like we were long lost sisters or something....
Guess it was a positive experience for me, so I would consider trading again... |
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