Why Horses Might Not Sell
BlackOak [Basic || 70 posts] on 9/17/2023 1:12 pm
I've been debating this for awhile. And I think I've come to the conclusion that a topic voicing the preferences and reasons why a person may not buy a horse, might help those that are selling... rather NOT selling horses that are posted. Hopefully, a lot of players will participate and maybe we can clean up or horse sales market? Or at least give insight into why horses don't sell.
So, I'll go first.
Here are the reasons I'll forgo a horse purchase.
>A wild, foundation or even custon that's been branded. It is my belief that if you didn't breed the horse, your brand shouldn't be on it. After all, a brand is supposed to be trademark of your production. But that's me and it's one of the reasons I'll skip a purchase. I almost never make exceptions to this. But mistakes can happen, even I've accidentally branded a wild. And I kept that horse (but I was already keeping it!😄).
>Price. This is very likely one that most may list. Unsure of an appropriate price? Apply it into auction as a single bit or a single ingot starting bid with a reserve. Then keep watch. Sometimes if I'm interested in a horse, I'll put how much I think it's worth to give the owner a better understanding of what other people value it.
>I don't see it. Some people will look through the sales if they're actively looking for certain horses. Other times it'll be a quick look through the auctions. But if a horse isn't selling, a shout can certainly go a long way. Interest in horses can be active or inactive. Unless I'm running low on colts or fillies of a particular project, I'm very unlikely to go searching for a horse that may otherwise be of interest to me. In these cases the auction is where I'll take a peak, usually daily.
>The horse has offspring. If it's a wild, foundation or custom and it has foals, my interest in such a horse drops a great deal. That's just me and the way I like my horses when I'm looking at certain projects.
>Low PS. If I look at a lined horse and the horse has super low PS (I'm thinking specifically of PS under 100), I loose all interest in the horse. Trying to build such a horse up, is like trying to pull teeth without painkiller. It's difficult enough to deal with foundation, wild and customs.
>Low TB. If I'm looking at a lined horse for inclusion into my showing projects, a low TB can also kill the deal. It's not so bad if the PS is strong, but a TB under 6 usually kills it for me, regardless. It's far easier to build a horse through the levels and avoid strong competition if you can simply blow past that strong competition in a week or two of training.
>Too many. Beyond all the other reasons, my interest for purchase or my desire to bid or pay higher prices is killed if I get too many horses for any particular project. I like small herds for my projects and have to keep a strict hand on keeping those numbers low.
>Not knowing what it is at a glance. This is another reason I'll overlook a horse. When going through the auctions or the sales, these only list the name of the horse (the sales only lists what the horse is and it's gender). The search does list the name of the horse. Anyway, listing a number of highlighting facts in the name can be quite helpful. But there's not too much room and you want to be concise and thorough for that horse. Crosses are best with the cross they're to make, maybe stars (doesn't always make a difference to me, but to others it does), rare genes sometimes help, especially in auction and I've seen people list variance from breed standard. Also helpful information can be PS and TB. I try to add TB when I'm selling lined horses and rare genes when selling wilds, foundations or customs.
I think that's the most important ones that will make or break a sale for me. Hopefully that'll help others with their sales. And also, hopefully, others will give their reasons and maybe some additional hints. 😊
@Rosi - Training Boost. It's the number beneath the experience bar. The reason you try to get a horse to level 50 is because a level 50 horse x level 50 horse = foal with a TB of 10. Meaning that their training counts for 10x what it would at base level. Foundations start with a TB0. Wilds are 1 and up. And bred horses can vary. You don't know a foal's final training boost until they are fully trained.
You can estimate the TB by adding the sire and dams levels together and dividing by 10.
This one seems to be manyfold. I don't buy many horses from other players simply because up until recently I only had 1 breed. I have spent a lot of time getting stats high and consistently producing 4 and 5 star horses. While they do exist, I rarely find available horses of my breed with even remotely comparible stats for sale. And when I do, more often than not, they are my own breeding which isn't really helpful for me. Most of what I buy now are wilds and foundations that are 4 or 5 stars and have coat variations or rare genes I want. Otherwise, I am already producing much higher PS and TB horses than what is on the market.
Now, why my horses don't sell... 1) because my bloodlines have become common and 2) they are spendier than a lot of what is out there. I think I may slow down a lot in the future. I am contemplating retiring more than I sell and focusing on building up a high-stat herd of variation coated horses. And making my line less accessible.
@Nittrous ty
Whilst I agree for the most part on all discussed issues. As a newbi I was excited to see the coats and bred early before reading up and understanding the long term benefits of waiting till much later. Only when understanding PS BS and TB did i relize the downside.
We all learn and advance our knowledge over time and for this reason I just pass on horses that don't suit my programe.
Branding: I honestly don't mind Wild Horses being branded. The BLM and other government bodies Brand every Wild rounded up across the world. In HoF it takes alot of time, patience, effort and cost and at times all the treats one has in their inventory. I can see why some Brand Wilds as they are not easy to catch and a Brand is a small token to display for their effort. What isnt right to me is Branding someone elses caught Wild after purchase.
Just my thoughts
I have another to add to this.
Flooding the market.
If you're selling out a lot of the same breed of horse (or unnamed crossbreed), the desire to check out the 'unknown' horse for interest, bottoms out when I see multiple repeats down the page. Not really sure how to correct such a thing though. Except to suggest to put such important information as you can, in the horse's name (for auctions at least), to help define which horse has which things. Increased work for posting, yes, but it increases the possibility of selling as well.
Sadly the market is full of horses with bad conformation, low PS and low TB.
I never buy those horses
What makes me look away from a horse is
1. Low TB, if it's not a wild. A TB less than 10 is out of the question for me to buy, it's far to much work to get good horses even with high TB. To play a horse for 19 weeks, I rarly breed a mare until she is 19 to get her as a high level so she inherit a high TB, and than still not get a useful foal from her is out of the question.
2. That a foal is older than 1 year and still don't have their basic training done. You loose a lot of levels that way
3. A foal that isn't registered so I can't see the amount of stars they have.
4. A grown up horse that is still on level one, se point 2.
5. A horse that is around 7 that is still less than level 50, se point 2 (a horse will be around level 45 when it's 2 wotohut much work)
6. Wrong colour. An arabian that is roan will not get my attention. An arabian can't be roan so it's a crossbreed no matter what the registry says.
7. Bad looking brands. I'm the one who has to look at the brand and if it's to attention seeking I will not buy the horse even if it's the best horse in the game.
Yes a lot of points is about TB and that is because a foal will only keep 25% of the parents PS. TB is for that reason a lot more worth than a higher birth PS.
My biggest gripe is if I'm looking for Crossbreds (for projects), them not having any identifying breed information- either in their name or having DNA Tests done.
Low PS for sure- below 100 is an automatic no.
If they're overbred or at their breed limit for rare breeds.
GG horses are an automatic no. Some Gg I'll consider but for the most part, I avoid Grey genes... same with White genes, usually.
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