by Dan Rosenberg

With sales season upon us and having more or less retired from sales, I have some observations and suggestions that consignors might find interesting, possibly amusing, and maybe helpful. We are talking about our potential customers, the people who come by our sales barns to look at horses.

We all know our day starts at 5 a.m. Horses have to be walked; stalls must be cleaned and bedded. Horses have to be fed, watered, groomed, and sometimes bathed. The shedrow and showing areas need to be raked and swept. Brass needs to be polished, and leather cleaned.

Somewhere in there, you try to catch a quick breakfast, and then it is time to clean up, change clothes, and be ready to show. It is a lot to do in three hours and a push to be ready by 8 a.m.

When someone shows up at 7:30 a.m. and wants to see all your horses, try to remember it is the early bird that catches the worm. And when you show up at a place of business before opening time and pound on the door, don't merchants always open the door early to welcome you?

Grab the phone

Pretty soon, you are so busy that every possible showing area is full, horses and people are packed tight, and you fear an accident is waiting to happen. There is no room to walk a horse, and since it is still early in the day a couple of horses are feeling pretty fresh and acting up. Your eyes and ears are focused on more than a dozen horses and even more people, so you can ward off problems and make sure customers receive the service they need.

You are answering questions and trying to do a little salesmanship when a well-meaning person with not a lot to do approaches you to have a chat. This is a good time to take out your cell phone and pretend you just got an important call.

At the same time, though there is not room for one more horse or person in the showing area, at least one of the people looking will be frustrated because the horses are not getting to him or her quickly enough.

It does not matter that everybody out there wants to see the same horses, and you can only show a horse to one person at a time. It does not matter that there is no place to show another horse. That person clearly feels he is more important than all your other customers, so try politely asking the others if they would please wait until this very important person is finished.

On the phone

One of the very important customers is looking at your best horse, which all the other customers are waiting to see, when his cell phone rings. He moves into the shade and becomes engaged in a 20-minute conversation while the horse and show person are standing in the hot sun.

Or, if he is not on the phone, someone else will walk up and begin talking to him for what turns out to be a very long time. I am sure this is a very important conversation, probably about how much fun they had at the bar last night and what they are going to do tonight. When you are very busy and it is necessary to hold horses in the breezeway to be readily available for the next spot, huge crowds gather in the breezeway to watch a race or a football game. Before you ask them to make way, remember that is why the sales company installed the televisions there in the first place.

Some people have very limited time and ask you to show "only the good ones." Even though you are being paid a commission to get the best price possible for every single horse in the consignment, even though you know people have different tastes in horses, and even though the owner of the least desirable horse in your consignment is standing right next to you and heard the request, it is best to not waste this person's time. Show him one or two horses only.

Some potential purchasers will not walk around the horse to see it from the other side but will insist the show person turn the horse around. While this might seem excessively demanding, do not blame them. They cannot help it. They have been accustomed from childhood to having everything done for them by someone else.

Must-see list

Some bloodstock agents anticipate the back-up and wisely send runners ahead of them with a list so the horses will be ready when they arrive at your barn. This makes a lot of sense and actually can make your job easier as well. Unless, of course, you get all the horses ready and this agent does not show up for a very long time.

You should keep the horses ready no matter how long it takes because, after all, they went to the trouble to "pre-order."

It is a lot like making a reservation at a very popular restaurant and then showing up an hour late. Although people are waiting in the bar for a table, the maitre d' will hold the table for you, won't he? Try it some time.

People in a hurry will sometimes ask you not to bother "knocking them off." Forget that your job is to show these horses in the best possible condition and to create the best possible first impression. Forget that others will also see these horses while they are out of the stall in the showing area. He is a horseman, and he can look past a manure stain or straw in the mane and tail, a dirty hoof, or a snotty nose.

No lunch break

By noon, the horses are becoming tired. They do not want to walk, and they do not want to go back in the barn. They just want to be left alone. Instead of getting behind them with squirt bottles and brooms to encourage them to walk, how about just closing down for an hour so the horses, grooms, and show persons can get a rest?

But of course that is impossible because as soon as the caterer shows up, a crowd quickly forms since all the buyers think everyone else will be at lunch so they will have a quiet time to look.

Don't you particularly love it when a group is looking at your horse and making gestures with their hands, like pointing at the horse and then turning their hands in with their elbows bowing out, or hands out with elbows nearly touching?

They are doing a service to others who were considering the same horse and now might want to reconsider. And you might also have missed the fact the horse turns in or out. These are good things to know.

You know someone is seriously interested in buying a horse when he arrives at the barn and asks if you have a catalog and a pen he can have. And why is it that when you have a horse that probably only six people in the world can afford, that horse is out of the barn more times and looked at by more people than all the other horses in your consignment combined? At the same time, in the next stall is another perfectly nice horse that hundreds could afford, but that one barely gets out and is looked at by five people.

The question asked most frequently at the barn is: "How does he vet?" Sure, we all know the answer is subjective. Veterinarians very often have very different opinions on what is there and how significant a lesion might be. And of course you have spent a great deal of money to provide radiographs in the repository so veterinarians can make their own judgments. But why should they have to pay a vet for an opinion? Yours is good enough. And besides, if he "vets good," you probably have already volunteered the information.

"What's the reserve?"

The second most frequently asked question is: "What's the reserve?" The best answer is not: "Well, that depends on how much you're willing to spend." They probably would not tell you anyway. If they do tell you, that in itself should make you nervous.

Rarely asked questions are: Does this horse have any health issues that I should be aware of; is this horse on any medications; and does this horse have any vices?

I guess the answers must not matter very much. And, of course, they would not want to tip their hand that they are interested in your horse just by asking those questions.

Of course, most consignors have cards that potential buyers fill out to help assure that all the requested horses are seen. And the cards are also used to track who has looked and when, so that we might gain some intelligence on who the potential bidders might be.

Some lookers think it is very amusing to write completely illegibly or sign as "Santa Claus" or "John Lennon." While it is good for a chuckle, as a consignor you really should recognize each and every one of the hundreds of lookers by sight anyway, thus making the signature line irrelevant.

By the end of the day, horses and staff are exhausted. It has been a long, hard, stressful day. Everyone has started at 5 a.m. and it is now 4:50 p.m. Time to change the halters; give all the horses feed, hay, and water; put on blankets in November and January; and rake the shedrow one more time. Inevitably, someone shows up and wants to see them all.

So, you put the show halters on again, pull the horses away from their feed, and show them. It has already been a 12-hour day. What is one more hour? Plus, it is one more show you will not have to make tomorrow.

In all seriousness, an overwhelming percentage of those looking at horses at sales are very polite and considerate. They acknowledge stable staff by name and say "please" and "thank you." That goes a long way. Almost everyone is patient when they see we are doing the best we can under the circumstances.

To all of you courteous buyers, we understand the stress and pressure you are under. Yours is not an easy job, either. And we appreciate your kindness, your understanding, and your humor as we try to do our job. I doubt those who are less polite will recognize themselves anyway, and consignors will just go on smiling as they try to do their best for you, too.

Dan Rosenberg, owner of Rosenberg Thoroughbred Consulting, is a consultant to "Farm Management News" and a regular columnist