Selling your Canadian Horse

Selling advice

Do you want to sell your Canadian Horse?

Whether you’re a breeder or an individual selling a horse, here is some important advice to ensure that the horse and all parties involved are treated with respect.

Preparation before you sell your horse

If you decide to sell your horse, it’s important that you hand it over to its new owner in the best health condition possible:

  • Book a check-up with the vet to identify any potential health issues.
  • Consider getting its shots up to date, and giving it a worming treatment and Coggins test.
  • Make sure the hoofs are trimmed regularly until the sale.
Write an ad and set a price

Your ad is important. It must be honest and detailed. Include your horse’s registration name, its age, its character (good and bad qualities), its skills (is it trained or not? Which disciplines does it practice?) and the kind of experience it has (has it been in competitions or parades? Is it used to being bathed? Has it travelled in a trailer?) Be honest about any potential health issues.

To reach a larger audience and increase your chances of finding a buyer, make your ad bilingual (French/English). Find someone who can help you write a professional looking ad!

The sale price can be difficult to determine. Take the time to browse similar listings to get an idea of the market and make an objective comparison. Don’t be afraid to set a decent price for a high-quality horse!

Publish your ad on specialized sites

You can also increase your audience by posting your ad on other media (your provincial association’s website, Facebook groups dedicated to horse ads or specific disciplines, etc.).

The key to success: compelling photos and video

We can’t emphasize this enough – pictures are key! Hire a professional photographer to do justice to your horse’s beauty! You’ll need conformation photos (with the horse standing square), and action shots that showcase your horse’s charisma.

Choose an aesthetically pleasing location (you don’t want to see machines in the background, or piles of manure). The ground should be level and clean.

The day of the photo session, clean and groom your horse, and brush out its mane and tail. Use a nice clean halter or a shiny leather bridle.

Looking for a photographer near you? Check out our list of partners who often generously provide us with beautiful photos for our website and magazine.

Be aware that most buyers will want to see a video of your horse before travelling to see it. Be prepared! A cell phone video will do the job. There are also simple, intuitive video editing apps you can use.

Ideally, try to catch people’s attention with a short video of no more than 60 seconds (film your horse trotting and galloping freely, then harnessed or saddled). Avoid long texts at the beginning of the video and resist using every transition frame available in the editing app!

You can also make a longer video (max. 5 minutes) to be provided upon request. This one can showcase more things about your horse – show yourself brushing it, picking its feet up, leading it in a straight line to show its conformation, saddling it, etc…)

Draft a sales contract

It’s important to sign a sales contract for every transaction. The contract should include, at the very least:

  • The breed (sold as a purebred Canadian Horse?)
  • The name of the horse or foal
  • Its registration number (if it’s registered)
  • The name of the sire or dam (if known)
  • Its date of birth (if known)
  • The sales price
  • The mention “paid”

You can download our sales contract template for free (to come).

Ownership transfer

Purebred Canadian Horses MUST BE SOLD with their REGISTRATION PAPERS (registration certificate). If the horse no longer belongs to you, but is still registered under your name, you could be held legally responsible for it.

According to the law (Animal Pedigree Act, section 64J), and subject to punishment, the seller must transfer the horse’s ownership to the buyer within six months and pay any related costs (unless there is a different agreement with the buyer).

  1. The seller must sign the back of the certificate of registration and add the buyer’s contact information, then send it to: SCEA/CLRC, c/o: Laura-Lee Mills, 2417 Holly Lane, Ottawa (ON) K1V 0M7. Questions about the transfer of ownership?
  2. Buyers, for their part, are responsible for becoming CHBA members for at least one year. How to become a member?

The only exception is for foals under 6 months, as the registration process may not have been finalized yet. HOWEVER, even recently weaned foals SHOULD NOT be sold before the last steps of the registration process have been completed, namely:

  • The final registration request form MUST have been sent to the registrar;
  • The DNA parentage test MUST have been sent to the lab;
  • An electronic chip MUST have been implanted BEFORE its departure.

Have any doubts or questions? Contact us!