They say that selling your house is one of the most stressful things you can do. I disagree. Take the word ‘house’, swap the ‘u’ with an ‘r’ then that statement is spot on. It’s selling your horse that truly raises the blood pressure.
There’s nothing quite like waiting for prospective purchasers to rock up at your yard to quicken the pulse and make your hands go clammy. Suddenly you remember your horse’s annoying idiosyncrasies (those that you know so well and, frankly, go to make up his personality.) Will he make those nasty faces when I do his girth up, strike off on the wrong leg at canter, stick his nose in the air on downward transitions? You bet he will. Why? Because you are uncomfortable and tense in this unusual scenario and he knows it.
Most of us are not born salespeople. Confronted with several strangers asking searching questions while you are tacking up and mounting, you begin to know the true meaning of multi-tasking. “Does he shy?” they ask. (Show me a horse that never has!) “When was he last wormed?” (Oh yes. At 8.55 am on Monday, 16th February!) “Does he jump fillers?” (Normally, yes. Today, probably not!)
But help is at hand, dear fellow rider and it’s called ‘Petros’.
It has never occurred to me to ask for an instructor’s help with the sale of a horse (buying yes; selling no) but as the stress began building up in me even at the thought of wording the advert, a light switched on somewhere in my brain: ask Petros to help.
Those of you that know Petros will not be surprised to learn that he was keen to lend me his support. At the outset, we discussed Rosco’s weaker points and agreed to work on them during our weekly lessons. Often I asked Petros to ride too. I used these occasions to take videos of Rosco being jumped over coloured fences then later, over cross country jumps. Once I had some good footage, I asked Petros what sort of price I should be asking. His knowledge of the market place coupled with his familiarity with Rosco’s capabilities made me feel confident that I was pitching the pounds in the right ballpark.
So far, so good. Rosco was now going well and, armed with some impressive videos (showing Petros riding Rosco beautifully), I felt ready to place the advert.
Call me silly but I never thought at that point to ask Petros to attend the visits by prospective buyers. A couple of viewings came and went during which I rode my horse abysmally and stumbled over simple, reasonable questions that were asked. Basically, I was in hyper mode, finding the whole thing far too personal. A rethink was needed. Result? Summon Petros once more.
As soon as I latched on to the idea of having Petros available for the next viewing, I relaxed. When the people arrived, he gently asked them about the type of horse they were looking for and spoke about Rosco’s good points and how he might be the right horse for their son . After Petros had shown Rosco off and popped him over a few jumps, the lad got on board. Again, Petros took control (but not in an obvious way). He advised the boy how best to ride him and by the end of this mini ‘lesson’, Rosco was taking the lad over 3 ft spreads! When the family drove off in their 4×4, questions about ‘Would I include Rosco’s saddle?’ were ringing in my ears. It was then a no-brainer for me to ask Petros to do the same thing for an older couple who wanted to view Rosco two days later.
They duly arrived and process was repeated, the only difference this time was in their departing comment: they wanted the bridle as well as the saddle!
Both sets of the ‘Petros’ people ended up fighting over Rosco. The older couple won out, simply because they lived in my county and arranged for a vetting to be carried out within a couple of days.
And so Rosco was delivered to his new home. The last I saw of him, he was being marched to a field full of the greenest grass… he didn’t even look back!
The moral of this story – for me anyway – is that using Petros to help in the horse selling process is worth every penny of the investment. Sure, it costs a few bob to have him on hand but the payback in terms of a successful outcome and importantly, the removal of the stress factor for the owner is worth every penny.
