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Before You Buy
Things to Know Before You Offer To Buy a Horse (or Llama)
Hi, folks! This page provides necessary information for prospective buyers. Especially if you live outside South Dakota and have never bought a horse from another state, this page will contain information to read before you make an offer on one of our listed horses. Not that local folks can't arrange to just stop by the ranch and see what we have at that time--they can and do--but this page should provide answers to many of your questions.
- Health Inspection Requirements and Costs: Horses leaving South Dakota to go into other states will require certain health papers, tests, etc. which will vary somewhat by state, depending on destination. The buyer will be responsible for paying for those costs, if any. This will include a health inspection and may include a current Coggins test and/or other requirements. You should find out what requirements your state has...in-state SD sales do not require health inspection, etc. and I will not likely be up to date on what your state requires. Read further if you want to know more! [Most of our sales are inside SD, and our prices are not on the high end of the spectrum, so we do not include those costs in quoted sales prices, except in rare cases on more expensive horses; if so, it will state so in the individual listing. Many SD folks will come to see a horse they are interested in and leave with that one or a different horse the same day. They may come looking for one and get two or more, often at least one we hadn't known they'd be interested in beforehand.] When we make out-of-state sales, in some cases the buyer may stop in-route, at a convenient veterinary clinic with same-day service, before leaving SD, and have the tests done themselves. In other cases, we may have the necessary tests done after firm arrangements have been made between us and the buyer, and a transport date is set. If we do Coggins testing locally, for example, it may be up to a week before we receive the paperwork back, so that will be a factor to consider. Health papers are only valid for 30 days, so they should be done as close to the time of transport as feasible. If applicable, options, time frames, etc. will be discussed as part of the sales process and worked out on an individual basis to best suit individual sales.
- Transportation Information: Transportation and associated costs are the responsibility of the buyer. If you live in SD or the surrounding area and have your own transport available, it probably will not be a big issue for you. If you live a long distance away from us and/or do not have your own transport, there are transport companies available: costs for transport, etc. will vary. In many cases, over very long distances, expect that transport costs may be as high or higher than the actual asking price of individual horses we list for sale, and may not be affordable for your budget, if it is very limited. It will be up to you to determine what transport you will use, costs and requirements, etc. Please be aware of your options and costs before making a firm offer to buy.
- Brand Inspection and Brand Clearance Information: Western South Dakota is a brand inspection area. By law, horses leaving Western South Dakota must have a brand inspection, whether they have a brand or not. Also, branded horses going to new owners within Western SD will be brand inspected and the paperwork you receive will provide proof of ownership of that horse with that brand. Yes, you will need it, and we will provide it. Since we do it all the time here, it's not a big deal for us; we know what will be needed and how to go about getting it done. If you have any questions about it or it's a new concept to you, please ask.
- International Sales: We do not do international sales; all such queries we have received to date are obvious scam attempts, which we do not reply to. If you are the one-in-a-million person who lives outside the US, legitimately wants one of our horses, and can afford the transport costs and associated issues, we could talk.
- Payments or Deposits: Most of the time, we are paid when a person comes to pick up a horse--because most folks we've sold to do pick up their own horses, in person. Sometimes we are paid in advance. In some cases, perhaps for out-of state sales or distant sales where we would be handling the Coggins or other testing, etc. beforehand, we may ask for a deposit, as a show of good faith on the part of the prospective buyer. [Some folks do say they are buying, firmly...and then the sale never happens...either because of some circumstances they can't control in their lives or because some folks just don't follow through.] If someone knows they want a particular horse and wants that horse reserved for them, they can make a deposit and we will hold that horse for them, for a period of time they and we agree on. If someone wants to make payments before getting a horse...that may also be an option. We handle payments/deposits on a case-by-case basis, and work out those details with each buyer as part of the process. We do accept cash or legitimate money orders. We may accept personal checks. We would accept Western Union. We don't do credit cards at this time. Basically, if we're doing business with you, we try to work out what works for both of us. If you have any questions and we haven't discussed it with you yet, ask. Most people are honest, and we get along with them fine. Some folks aren't, and we've met a few of them, too. We try to keep it simple if we can.
- Discounts on Multiple Purchases: Many times, we will make a discount when folks buy more than one horse from us at one time. Ask if you want to; otherwise, the boss may just cut you a deal when you're here, looking at the horses, before you buy. Depending on what horses you want, and whether or not we've placed a firm price on any or all of them (some we are less firm on than others), we may make you a discount, too.
- Making an Offer: Yep, we do permit that. Just be prepared to accept our word if we say we won't accept less than a given amount on a horse at a given time. [Sometimes, we have a young horse around for a while and the price eventually goes up (because of work we've done with the horse or other reasons that we feel increases the value of that horse); sometimes it may even go down after a period of time, on a few horses; sometimes...a horse gets claimed by one of the family, is removed from availability, and we never sell it.] If we've already set a firm bottom on the price of a given horse, and your offer is less...we probably will politely refuse. On the other hand, if you offer way more than we want for the horse...I'll probably have to tell you that we'll take less: yes, I've done that, too. It doesn't mean there's anything wrong with the horse, just that we haven't priced him or her that high. [However, if you've always dreamed of paying a million dollars for a horse, well, I'd love to sell one, once; just tell me and I'll see if I can make your dream come true!]
- Trades: In general, we don't do trades for our horses...but we might consider it in some cases. For example, if someone is relatively local and a good trainer, we might consider a trade for acceptable training on other horses. [We've also had some "train wrecks" sending our horses to trainers, so we'd have questions for you first.] We might trade for things...like, say, a usable ranch pickup or lumber for a windbreak or whatever. We might even trade for another horse...but that would depend on the horses involved on both ends of the deal. In general, no, but you can always ask. Bear in mind that trading is usually more workable for local buyers, naturally, than for distant buyers!
- Halter Training: If you wish to buy a horse from us that has not been halter trained when you first inquire, we can and will provide basic halter training before pickup in most cases. That may be the case with some as-yet-unweaned foals or others we just haven't trained yet. We do it all the time, and one or two days is usually all the time needed to get our horses going well. Some we can just halter up and start with, they're that quick. We have bought older horses that were not halter trained and done well with them, also, as well as some of our own that we may halter train as yearlings or older. More trouble comes up from a horse having been improperly trained or handled previously (we see that in some we've bought) than in them having no halter training before we start. If any issues come up when we do halter them, we'll communicate that to the prospective buyers. Some folks do like to start with a young horse that has had no training or minimal training and do it themselves (so they have no "fixing" or "retraining" to do, or for the experience, or some other reason) or may want a more challenging horse for some reason and we'll accommodate that if we can.
Thanks for stopping by!