Closing the Sale

Okay, first off, thank you guys so much for the info on horse insurance! It's a lot of food for thought. I'd known it existed before but never put much thought into it. I read all of your comments (even the small novels that some of you wrote! Kidding, kidding) and really appreciated the information you gave me.

Things with my ankle have been going quite well. I'm actually able to walk on the boot without the crutches now, though it's kind of a zombie-limp. I feel like I should be shuffling along drooling and snarling and trying to eat someone. This has been a welcome relief from the crutches, because one of them is pinching a nerve on my left arm in a serious way, so a lack of crutches lets me get away from that.

It also lets me get around the barn a lot better. I can help bring the horses in, I can help carry tack, and so on. I still haven't tried longeing yet. I could probably handle McKinna fine since you basically just stand there and give voice commands, I s'pose.

I rode a little tonight! Just a walk on Pandora, but it was my first ride on her, and was quite nice. I suspect she's been asked to have a headset in the past rather than take contact with the bit, because she tends to tuck behind the vertical a little. It may just be an understanding issue, as there were some times where I got her to step forward into a nice contact without tucking her chin. We'll see where that leads. She does have a very nice walk, though.

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There's several things that you should keep in mind as you close the sale of your horse.

I admit this is more geared towards, well, the way I sell horses. A horse I've owned for quite awhile, know very well, and for whom I want the absolute best possible future life. Not all items on this apply to, say, people who buy and sell horses for a living -- but then, most people who read my blog don't do that, so I think we're safe.

Among them, a bill of sale. You can look up plenty of samples online. In general it includes but is not limited to these elements: names of seller and buyer, horse's name/age/description, for which price [note that it is paid in full on such and such date], horse is now sole property of buyer, and so on. Signed by both parties, one copy each to buyer and seller.

Consider feed and possibly water to send with your horse, or at least inform the buyer of the horse's feed for a gradual transition -- not so much an issue if your horse doesn't eat much other than grass hay. For the exceptionally picky horse, sending a bucket or two of your 'home barn' water may help the transition but that may be more for the overly-worrying types!

It is very helpful for the buyer to know your horse's measurements. What size blanket? Saddle tree? Bridle? Bit? Do you have anything you'd like to send with the horse? With Bailey, we sent some blankets -- we didn't have a horse they'd fit anymore, they weren't worth much to sell, and we wanted to be sure he had blankets for the winter.

Do make sure that your horse loads safely. No-brainer, I know. But it will go a long way towards everyone's peace of mind if there isn't an hour-long ordeal to get the horse headed to its new home.

Get contact information from the buyer. I don't know about you, but I like to hear how the horse is doing every once in awhile. Bailey's owner sends us emails every once in awhile letting us know how things are going, and once she sent pictures. It's nice.

Make sure you do what's necessary to transfer papers, depending on your horse's registration (or lack thereof). The Thoroughbred registry, for example, doesn't track transfers of ownership but you can simply sign off on the papers. I won't claim to know the way other registries do it -- perhaps you could enlighten me?

You may also want to give them your horse's medical records. At the least, letting the buyer know the date of the horse's last immunizations and deworming would make it easy to continue a healthy program at the future barn.

Alright -- it's bedtime and I'm all out of ideas!

What else do you guys make sure to do when you're selling a horse?