There is so much that goes into a proper sales presentation, so this is going to get split up into several posts covering each part. We’ll go over pictures, videos, the copy of the ad, pricing, and advertising options. After nearly 2 decades spent marketing and selling horses, these are the top tips I have based on endless testing and observation of different strategies. All these tips added together can make a massive difference in two critical areas; how fast they sell, and at what price.

For today’s tip, we’ll start with pictures. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. But when it comes to sales, pictures can be worth thousands of dollars gained, or also lost.

In both the conformation and under saddle photos, many of the same practices apply. Let’s take a look.

Camera position: make sure you’re standing perpendicular to the horse. Standing either towards the front or back and pointing the camera at an angle towards the horse creates an image that makes the front and back end of the horse look very out-of-proportion. No one wants to spend $50,000+ on a Frankenhorse. For under saddle photos, you should be moving around the arena. General trot and canter photos look best from the side, but lateral work like half pass are best shown from directly in front where you can capture the crossing legs.

Location: Hard, level ground for the conformation photos, obviously you’ll be in the arena for under saddle. Flowers are always nice in the background, but of utmost importance is a clean, clutter-free area. The focus is supposed to be on the horse, not on the mud pit next to the water trough or a pile of manure that someone couldn’t be bothered to pick up.

Lighting: Early morning or late afternoon is always best, with the sun at your back. This avoids the extra harsh shadows, and while a silhouetted horse may look lovely from an artistic point of view, it’s a sales presentation, not a gallery exhibit. This applies to the camera position for the under saddle photos above too.

Clean. Your. Horse... Seriously. Having your horse looking like it just won the Saturday night mud wrestling competition down at the local bar isn’t going to add any dollar signs to the price point. They should be bathed, I prefer them braided but they should at least have a neatly trimmed mane, hooves oiled, body shined, tail brushed, and looking ready to go in the show ring. The rider in the under saddle photos should have clean, polished boots, and a clean, professional outfit on. For conformation photos, a clean leather halter with a nice lead rope is sufficient, though a bridle is also appropriate for older horses.

Equipment: While your phone is good for some things, this isn’t necessarily one of them. While it is more expensive to use a professional like me to sell your horse, you’ll usually also get better results because I enlist the help of professional photographers and videographers to get the best quality footage possible. At a minimum though, you should have a good quality digital SLR camera with a burst shot setting to get the best photos of your horse.

Of course, there are still a ton of other minor details you can focus on to make your horse looks it’s best in the presentation and bring top dollar to your pocket, but those are the main action items.