Miniature Horse Websites

[Joanne]

I have spent a lot of time recently looking at miniature horse websites.

What has aggravated me most was finding a horse I would like to buy and then seeing that the website has not been updated for many months (or even worse YEARS) and that when I inquire that horse was sold a long time ago.

Also horses for sale where the horses' photo is years old.

This has started me wondering what it is that people like and do not like to see on a miniature horse website ??

 

[Jill]

I like to see current pictures of sales horses including decent conformation shots. Also, it's good to be able to easily identify where the farm is (so you can figure if shipping is within reason). Where possible, I also like to see pictures of the sale horse's sire and dam, and possibly siblings.

What I cannot stand is music. Urgh! I don't care for that at all on a website (I have left many websites as a result).

 

[Loess Hills]

Some of my pet peeves, also!

But the worst is POOR PICTURES! It takes some work, but even an amateur can take good natural action pictures with practice.

By the way, Joanne, I have your website bookmarked and check it often. Really nice clean layout, good pictures, and great information about genetics, not to mention the beautiful horses! JMO......

 

[Sterling]

Aside from what Loess and Jill already mentioned,......... Prices! I want to see prices on the horses that are up for sale. Also like to see updated websites where if the horse has sold within the last couple of weeks it is noted....even better make a separate Sold page.

What I don't like and it bugs me are those little flittery things that follow your mouse on the website.

 

[shelly]

PRICES~~~ RECENT- GOOD PHOTOS~~~PEDIGREE~~~PHOTOS of PARENTS and possibly SIBLINGS!!!!

I HATE AN OUTDATED WEBSITE!!!!

 

[Riverdance]

We have had some of this discussion before and I for one have listened to it.

It too drives me nuts to find a web site that never changes, or a stallion being promoted by one farm that sold that stallion 2 years ago. Horses that have been sold and the web site never marked. Drives me nuts. I also agree with Jill, music, I HATE IT!!!

I keep my web site up to date( it is always changing), and my wonderful web guy has taught me a few things, so I have been updating and putting more information on my web site. Now I will be showing parents as I can, siblings, foals that stallions and mares have produced. Updated photos as I can get them , and more than one,(course that will have to wait till it is warm here), fronts, rears, and bites and if I can figure it out, I will be putting some videos on too.

Love my web guy!!

 

[Joanne]

Thank you for the kind comments about our website. We really try to keep it updated. To our surprise, people frequently ask

if it is "current" even though we state when the site, and even individual pages have been updated. This makes us realize how often other websites are not updated.

I would love to take credit for the design, but we have a webmistress that takes care of that. We supply the photos and text and she takes care of the rest.

I agree with Jill about the music. Sometimes this takes so long to load that feature that I forget why I was visiting and I too have left websites because of the annoying music or the curser that has a butterfly or other icon that flutters around. I am not fond of animation that I can not stop either.

I love clean designs and the key information on the horse that allows me to decide on what I want to buy. i do not mind having to look on their stallion or mare page to find the sire and dam. Actually I always look at the stallion and mare pages to see who they are using !

 

[Jill]

I do also always check out the stallions page, and usually the mares page. If I don't like their stallions, I'd be pretty unlikely to buy a foal of their breeding, but will look at their sales. They may have a nice mare for sale that wasn't their taste buy might be mine (NOT that I'm currently shopping LOL)

 

[Joanne]

Jill you are saying that they may have a horse for sale they did not breed that you might be interested in buying?

That makes good buying sense.

 

[Jill]

Yes, that's what I mean. I'll still check out a sales page even if I'm not crazy about their breeding stock because they may have an adult I do like there for sale

 

[Carolyn R]

I HATE music. Nothing like being suddenly blasted out of your wits when your browsing late at night.

I also dislike when there aren't any prices.

 

[River Wood]

I HATE music. Nothing like being suddenly blasted out of your wits when your browsing late at night.I also dislike when there aren't any prices.

Or blasted our of your wits (and chair) when you are at work and are to be working

 

[ontherisefarm]

Our website is a free one as right now the cost of one is kinda prohibitive for us. Although I know ads can be annoying it also offers me a chance to be able to update it and add to it as I wish. It is easy to use. Although I cant put more of my personality into it than I have, I wouldnt put the music or the cursers on my site even if it was available. I also do not care for it as some of us also have internet limits for downloads. I also keep my pics down to the smallest file sizes for that reason. I am sure I could improve my site and actually plan on doing more of the things people like to see. I always welcome tips and info to improve my site. Oh the woes of visiting websites that are outdated,and pictures of horses not looking thier best. Winter fuzzy pics are very hard to see anything about horses. I even hate selling horses when its cold as fuzzy pics do not do any horse justice. I like to see websites that are simple and show good clean pictures of thier horses without all the hoopla. Nice,neat, and to the point.

 

[SHANA]

I hate a website that is not updated. Mine is updated often. When I sell a horse I put down that it is sale pending as soon as the downpayment has been received and sold once paid for in full. Every summer I try to get better photos of my horses to put on my website. I do like music but if the music is to loud, etc I usually turn the speakers off so then I don't hear the music.

 

[Littleum]

#1 pet peeves for pretty much any website:

*Music (no one cares about your taste in music, and no one appreciates you shoving it down their throats when they stumble onto your page.)

*Animated gifs (welcome to 12 years ago, no one is impressed)

*The water reflection java applet (WILL THIS THING JUST DIE ALREADY?!)

*Really bad, obvious photo editing/photo manips (no, really, because I believe your horse really does have wings and is running across the sky. REALLY. I DO. REALLY!)

*Just because you can make text blink, sparkle, rotate or page doesn't mean you should. The BLINK tag has always been evil and tempts many novice "designers" Much like the ice cream machine causes nothing but heartache on Iron Chef.

* REALLY HUGE GIANT PICTURES. REALLY HUGE GIANT PAGES OF BIG GIANT PICTURES. There are so many nice little scripts that can make these things so nice and neat. I have a 22" screen. When I have to scroll side to side and through 10 pagefuls to see everything, that's just bad. There is one website that leaps to mind that just makes me lay my head down. Nice horses. I want to look at these horses. And the picture presentation is just so big and clunky I just give up and leave.

Okay, I'm sure I've offended some people here because they've got websites who sing, blink, dance and are full of jumbo pics. Oh well!

 

[pinck43]

All of the above are very important. But one thing I like to see, is where the navigation bar is placed. If they are at the top of the page, they should also be at the bottom so whenever you need to go to another page, you don't have to scroll back up. If they are placed on the side of page, they shoud move with the page. This saves so much time from scrolling. Just a suggestion. We have navigation bars at the top and bottom. Works great. dionne

 

[Trinity Farms]

* REALLY HUGE GIANT PICTURES. REALLY HUGE GIANT PAGES OF BIG GIANT PICTURES. There are so many nice little scripts that can make these things so nice and neat. I have a 22" screen. When I have to scroll side to side and through 10 pagefuls to see everything, that's just bad. There is one website that leaps to mind that just makes me lay my head down. Nice horses. I want to look at these horses. And the picture presentation is just so big and clunky I just give up and leave.

I DEFINITELY agree. It really is hard to look at a horse when its head is almost as big as the window!! Also itty bitty pictures are very hard to examine!!

 

[georgiegirl]

"What has aggravated me most was finding a horse I would like to buy and then seeing that the website has not been updated for many months (or even worse YEARS) and that when I inquire that horse was sold. Also horses for sale where the horses' photo is years old."

It is annoying to find the "perfect" horse for sale in a website, contacting the owner, finding the horse is still available, and then when you want updated photos and more information, they do not answer you. I am not going to drive 800 miles to look at a horse with no previous information, nor am I going to ask to have a horse shipped to me with no current photos, videos, or information.

Also, saying that for some reason(health or whatever)they are in desperate need of moving some horses, then when you try to contact them, they either dont answer or dont respond for months.

 

[Kendra]

I will leave websites with music. And any that aren't updated in over a year (or over 5 years!). And it annoys me when I go to the sale page and all, or nearly all of the horses listed are marked sold. A few is okay ... over half isn't!

I don't mind no prices. I don't have prices on my website. Easy enough to email!

I like clean, simple, easy to navigate websites.

 

[Genie]

Thanks for starting this topic as we often have "tunnel vision" about our own sites and also many people won't criticize another site for fear of hurting feelings.

I know my pictures are horrible and the next opportunity for bathing and clipping horses will make for a better view on my site.

At the rate this winter is going our spring thaw won't be till May

I also know that the little ads that happen on my site due to my "cheapness" and not going to a paid site so they are eliminated, is a major distraction to visitors.

Good idea to have the navigation bars top and bottom.

I am not fond of music and the "floaties" that follow the cursor.

I need to get pedigrees on there as well, because that's something that I really like to view on other sites.