"discounts to show home"

[walkermini]

I am interested in offering discounts to show homes to promote my farm, as many do. I have no experience with this though... So how do you offer a discount, and know the buyer will really show the horse? If you put it in a contract, how could you enforce that they really show the horse? Or do they pay full price, then you give a "rebate" once they have proved they have shown the horse? Do you have a contract that states they must show at X number of shows, or at breed shows versus local fair shows to qualify for the discount? I'm very interested in offering this, but I'm obviously clueless on how to go about it! Any input would be great!

 

[MountainMeadows]

All I can tell you, is that it is hard to enforce - been there, done that - buyers got a great deal, I let some of my best horses go because I was expecting them to go to show homes -- didn't happen and I lost the $$, the promotion and the horse from my breeding program.

If you can get a way to enforce such a thing I would love to know how to make it happen - for me it has been a complete "kick in the face"

Since that happened more times than I like to think about, I have therefore kept most of my best stock - of course that means that the herd has grown more than I wanted it to, but by the same token I still have these bloodlines in my breeding program to work with --

Personally, I have purchased horses on a show contract and I have followed thru with it -- but then, that is me - apparently I have "sucker" written all over my forehead tho because I have been taken advantage of over and over again - they say: Let the buyer beware. But as far as I am concerned the Seller should also have a "saying" -- sorry for the whine - I guess I am just tired

Stac

 

[disneyhorse]

Put in your contract whatever you feel comfortable with. Or, talk to the buyer about their plans for the horse and discount it from there.

If the buyer has shown at Nationals for ten years straight, or routinely sends horses out with big-name trainers, or has a very long list of recent National Champions, it's a safer bet for you and possibly worth discounting your horse further to really get it promoted at the national level.

If they are just starting out or you aren't sure, offer rebates ($100 off for showing at one registry-sanctioned show, $500 rebate for taking horse to Nationals) or whatever.

There are too many variables.

Andrea

 

[minimom1]

I have no experience with this but I would tend to lean toward

charging a said price (full) and then giving a rebate AFTER the horse has been to say mabye 3 to 5 shows.

Offer it as a Show Incentive rather than a discount and put it in your contract that you will refund said amount after the horse has been to said amount of shows.

As a buyer if I was buying a horse that I signed a contract was to be shown I would not object to this situation.

 

[kaykay]

Like said above I have also sold awesome horses with a show discount only to find out they didnt show. I am now rethinking it and maybe offering a rebate according to how many shows they show at. I got some awesome horses from others that I did show as I promised so I hate to do away with it totally but it does get old when you sell them at a show discount and then they never show.

I also offer gelding discounts but have never had any trouble with that one so that has worked well.

Kay

 

[Songcatcher]

Post deleted because I was off topic of what the original poster asked.

JMS has made a very good point, which needs to be considered. Sometimes foals just do not develop as both the seller and buyer had hoped.

 

[JMS Miniatures]

I think you also got to put into account say the new owners intentions were to show that animal but perhaps that animal did not turn out to be show quality as once preceived, that would do yourself a favor by them not showing that animal, or perhaps they just could not afford to show for some reason or another.

I think the best way to do it is offer show incentives, say like they take that animal to Nationals or Worlds they get a slight discount, or is given some money back, and say if they place top 10 even more, or even Champion or Reserve then even more $$$. I personally don't feel like taking that horse to a couple of local shows isn't enough. Now like AMHA you have the regional shows and perhaps thats all owners can afford and thats their Worlds. You have to take everything into consideration. But I would just draw up a contract and say here is the price of the horse, and here is what you can get back if you show your horse at Nationals/Worlds, etc...

I think if you just offer show discounts you are just going to be taking a gamble and really your just offering that animal at a reduced price hoping it will be shown.

 

[Charlotte]

A 'show incentive' works quite well. Buyer gets a certain amount refunded for placings at AMHA local shows, Regional and World. The World placings are worth a LOT! But in truth I see the local show placings as doing the most good to the seller many times. Those placings bring in more buyers.

Charlotte

 

[JMS Miniatures]

A 'show incentive' works quite well. Buyer gets a certain amount refunded for placings at AMHA local shows, Regional and World. The World placings are worth a LOT! But in truth I see the local show placings as doing the most good to the seller many times. Those placings bring in more buyers.

Charlotte

I guess for local shows it could be an incentive counting towards AMHA cause you actually have to qualify in those classes to show at Worlds, so yeah I can see your reasoning for that. But when it comes to AMHR a person can just show that horse in a color class for 2 shows and be qualified for Nationals. It doesn't do much good when it comes to advertising your farm that way.

 

[dgrminis]

As someone who doesn't show and since we are a very small farm we don't get noticed as often but I agree with what alot of people have said... We sold a filly out of state to what was supposed to be a home that wanted to show her.. I took 1/3 of her price off since we are a small farm I thought that would be great to get one of my horses in the ring but unfortunately the buyer never did show her -- she is now in a new home in another state much father away with no plans of being shown.. Which is ok I guess just wish I had done it the other way now and just offered the rebate that others have mentioned. Pay "X" and then when you show you will get "x" amount returned to you....

As a question (since I do not show) what can you be shown or given as proof that a horse was REALLY shown and not just the buyer saying that they actually showed the horse???

 

[JMS Miniatures]

As someone who doesn't show and since we are a very small farm we don't get noticed as often but I agree with what alot of people have said... We sold a filly out of state to what was supposed to be a home that wanted to show her.. I took 1/3 of her price off since we are a small farm I thought that would be great to get one of my horses in the ring but unfortunately the buyer never did show her -- she is now in a new home in another state much father away with no plans of being shown.. Which is ok I guess just wish I had done it the other way now and just offered the rebate that others have mentioned. Pay "X" and then when you show you will get "x" amount returned to you....

As a question (since I do not show) what can you be shown or given as proof that a horse was REALLY shown and not just the buyer saying that they actually showed the horse???

You can usually see the results online. Or the owner can request a show history from the registeries to give to you.

 

[dgrminis]

You can usually see the results online. Or the owner can request a show history from the registeries to give to you.

Thank you!

 

[SilverDollar]

I wasn't really sure what that meant--"discount to show homes".

For the breeders out there, if you have the statement "show home preferred" next to a horse for sale, do you also consider selling the horse to a non-show home (but not at a discount)? Or selling a breeding horse to a non-breeding home? Just curious.

 

[Becky]

For the breeders out there, if you have the statement "show home preferred" next to a horse for sale, do you also consider selling the horse to a non-show home (but not at a discount)? Or selling a breeding horse to a non-breeding home? Just curious.

A show home may be preferred, and I may give an extra discount to one, but that normally doesn't mean I won't sell a horse to another buyer. As has been pointed out, you can't really force someone to show a horse they purchase from you. For me, if I really want a particular horse in the show ring, I will offer discounts/incentives if the horse stays in training and is shown by me through the season.

I may have a breeding quality horse for sale, but the buyer doesn't have to breed it. That is their choice.

 

[Eohippus]

When I bought one of my minis the discount was offered at the beginning and I had to sign a contract. The price was based off my over all plans for the horse (shows, education, therapy, breeding). The contract said that x amount of shows had to be done by the time the horse was x old, had to have x training by x time, etc. If the contract was broken I was to pay the difference in prices. I emailed after every show updating with how we did, how the show went over all, and who to contact for show results. I did this with everything else that I had to accomplish in the contract too. I still update the breeder with new information in case they just want to check up.

 

[JWC sr.]

What has worked well for us is a rebate of the original purchase price for wins at the various levels of competition. For instance local show and winning a grand or reserve 50.00, Area Show champion or reserve 100.00. National show grand or reserve grand 500.00, champion of the class 150.00, Jr/Sr Champion 250.00.

We also have one friend that offers selection of a new horse if you win a national grand champion with your horse you get to pick a second horse at no charge out of next years foal crop. We plan on offering that this coming year. Pretty good incentive.

That way the onus is on the buyer to keep the records and send them to you to collect the rebate. This last year we paid out a little over 3900.00 so far and still have nationals to go. I expect it will be somewhere in the 5 - 10,000 range when everyone is finished with the show season. Hope we have to rebate a lot of money as that is what we are looking for, to get the horses out there and being seen by folks.

The other approach is to know your buyer and negotiate the number of shows expected and such things as going to a particular trainer etc etc. But in order to keep from getting burned you have to know your buyer. And even then sometimes it will just not work out. for whatever reason!!!

 

[txminipinto]

Here is a link to my show home rebate program Buyer Incentives The catch is the horse has to be purchased at asking price and its only good for the original buyer. I do offer on all of my foals a 50% discounted training rate regardless if they purchased the foal from me or someone else later on.

 

[walkermini]

Thanks so much everyone for the input! I think I will try the show incentive where I would return money if the horse is shown. At this point that sounds like what would work best for us. So now I'll have to work out the details. I am planning to put some sort of time frame (I dont really want to possibly be giving rebates when a horse is 15 for example, though it would be great if they were still competing!), and that the horse be shown at AMHA and/or AMHR shows versus local fairs to qualify for the refund. Im thinking I will put some sort of limit on the number of shows for each horse also, not sure yet on that one. And offer greater incentives for regionals or national/world shows. Anyone have any other ideas on what they have offered with an incentive, or what they would like to see in a contract if they were buying a horse with a show incentive and were planning to show the horse?

 

[Bess Kelly]

Records are maintained for sanctioned shows and results are required to be reported to the registry. You can confirm the animal was in the class, etc. The fairest way is the rebate avenue, IMO. Just state what shows, amounts, results required for various amounts, etc.

I have never gotten or given a discount for show home and showed a good amount many years back, with excellent results. Of course, that is when there WERE a lot of shows and people attending them! I spent a large amount on advertising each month. Some of the larger farms offer an inclusion in their own ads for sold animals with their farm names who have won considerable titles. Just aren't as many "big farms" now, so it seems.