Why this matters
The usual way to sell a horse is to advertise and hope. You write the advert, pay for the listing, post it to a few groups, and then wait to see who turns up — answering the same three questions twenty times, filtering out people who were never serious, and having no idea whether anyone suitable has even seen it. Meanwhile the horse still needs feeding, shoeing and keeping in the shape it was advertised in, so every extra month on the market costs real money.
Views are the wrong measure of that. A listing with two thousand views and no buyer is worth less than one request from a rider who is looking for exactly your horse, in your country, with the budget to buy it.
And those riders exist right now. Buyers describe what they want — discipline, level, age, height, temperament, country, budget — on HORSES.SALE, in Facebook groups and on other platforms, every day. The information is out there; it is just scattered, in several languages, and impossible to keep up with by hand.
Turning the search around answers a question you otherwise only answer by guessing: is there demand for this horse, at this price, in this market? If ten matching requests come back, you know how to price and where to advertise. If none do, you have learned that before spending money on advertising — and you can adjust the price, the discipline you are marketing the horse for, or the country you are targeting.
It also works for horses that are not officially for sale. Because you can see matched requests without publishing a listing, you can test the market discreetly, without a price and a video circulating in public and without the yard finding out that the horse is available.
How to use it
Start on horses.sale/for-sellers. The Current buyer requests section on that page shows a live sample of what buyers are asking for at the moment — worth a look before you do anything else.
Step 1 — Add your horse. Press Add a horse in the dashboard or the sidebar. For matching, four fields are needed: category (discipline), age, gender and country. Level, height and price are optional, but each one makes the matching sharper — price especially, because it is what separates a genuine match from a buyer who could never afford the horse.
Step 2 — Skip publication if you are only looking. On the Publication step you do not have to choose Public Listing or Private Matching. Skip it, follow the link in the description text, and the horse stays unpublished — it exists only so the system knows what to match against.
Step 3 — Open the horse card. Under Buyers' requests for similar horses you will see two counters: AIHorseAgent matches, which are requests collected from across the internet, and HORSES.SALE matches, which are requests submitted directly on the platform by registered buyers.
Step 4 — Look at the matches. Click a counter to see the current matching requests, then See requests for the full list, newest first. Requests found on social media link back to the original post, so you can approach the buyer where they asked. The results are refreshed daily.
Step 5 — Turn on notifications. In the same pop-up you can enable alerts for new matching requests, so you are told when a buyer appears instead of having to check. Daily updates are part of the paid plans.
Step 6 — Decide how to sell. If the matches look promising, publish the horse: a public listing puts it in the HORSES.SALE database, and buyers whose requests match it are notified automatically — you do not have to contact them one by one. If you would rather stay discreet, Private Matching keeps the horse out of the listings and offers it only to buyers whose requests fit. Either way the buyer gets your direct contact details, with no commission on the sale.
The same flow exists in the HORSES.SALE mobile app, where it is called Find buyer request and needs only the minimum details before showing the matched requests.
Help centre: search for buyers' requests
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to publish my horse to see buyer requests?
No. Create the horse card, skip the publication step, and you can still see the matched requests. Publishing changes one thing: buyers whose requests match your horse are then notified about it automatically.
Where do the buyer requests come from?
Two sources. HORSES.SALE matches are requests registered by buyers on the portal and in the mobile app. AIHorseAgent matches are requests the search engine finds across the internet, including social media groups — those link back to the original post so you can reply where it was published.
How is a request matched to my horse?
On the criteria the buyer gave and you filled in: discipline, level, gender, age, height, country and budget. That is why price and level are worth adding even though they are optional — without them a horse can be matched to requests that were never realistic.
Will I be told when new matching requests appear?
Yes, if you switch notifications on for that horse. The lists are refreshed daily and the newest matches appear at the top; automatic daily updates are included in the paid plans.
Is there a commission if I find a buyer this way?
No. HORSES.SALE does not take a commission on a sale. Buyers receive your direct contact details and the negotiation is between the two of you. Up to two horses can be listed for free.
What if there are no matching requests?
That is useful information rather than a dead end: it usually means the price, the target market or the discipline you are marketing the horse for needs a second look. Adjust the details and the matching runs again, or publish a listing so buyers can find the horse from the other direction.