Picture AND Video Fail

Rarely does an advert get it totally wrong in both selling mediums, but here we have a prime exhibit. The ad is for a young stallion named Smirnoff Ice- an alcopop for those not familiar with it- and at first glance it appears that the seller has over indulged in said beverage.

Yes the advert does look like a jigsaw, and yes, that's right, none of the shots shows the pony in full! In fact here's a close up of the 'best' one:

But it's ok, because there's a video- in fact there are three! So we can just check those out. 

Oh well, maybe the others are better:

Oh dear. Nope, all about 10 seconds of a majorly geed up pony sort of trotting towards people who don't seem to be able to keep the camera straight!

I sincerely hope that these are just make do efforts and they are going to try again as I am not sure what you can tell from this... he might have a nice flashy trot, but whether it would be as flashy if he wasn't practically trying to tank off with his rider I can't say! 

Time to have another go I suggest, maybe filming from further away? Be nice to see the whole horse clearly.

Advert of the Day

This is why we don't cut manes/forelocks with scissors...

We've all had haircuts we'd rather forget. This poor chap (a gelding I suspect, not a gilden) looks suitably unimpressed with being plastered all over the internet while this particular travesty is at its peak.

'Seriously.... I will kill you...'

Bless. The fact the he's actually being held through barbed wire is a more serious concern- not liking it being so close to his eyes! At least he's a decent weight and has been groomed, albeit perhaps over enthusiastically by the kids mentioned earlier! And his hair will grow back.

If you'd like find out more about him here's his ad on Craigslist.

Advert of the Day

So first of all this ad has a very unfortunate title! 

In addition to the misspelt content it also has some pretty poor and fairly odd pictures- here are the bigger versions:

Umm... can't catch it or something?!

And finally instead of going for a main selling point which would be at least partly supported by the pictures e.g. nice mover, attractive markings, totally unspoilt ready to train etc... they have plumped for.... 

"very quiet rond kids"

Okkkkaaay... I am left thinking I bet it is, because the moment it sees a child approaching it disappears to the far corner of the field and you don't hear a peep from it till they've left! 

Very very erratic and amusing little advert!

Wow, so that's not Irresponsible...

Why would a legitimate horse rescue organisation post ads like this (Link, Link)?! These two are from Equine Now and are posted, as you can see, by a group called Second Wind Rescue.

Yes folks that is not one but two adverts offering a BREEDING STALLION FOR SALE.
No mistakes- that is the title of the ad and comes up under a 'breeding stock' search.

Here's the problem-
-Neither horse is in good health (melanoma/looks like hell and doesn't seem to have great legs- see below!!)
-Both are older animals- so chances of landing on their feet permanently if just sold off and not kept under some form of guardianship are slim
-Both are priced to appeal to the idiot backyard breeder (Hey Wilma- hitch up the trailer! Got me a stallion for the old mare out back, registered and everything! *head-desk*).

Most importantly-
IF YOU ARE A GOOD RESCUE WHY WOULD YOU EVER EVER CONSIDER THESE ANIMALS SUCH FANTASTIC BREEDING STOCK THAT THEY ARE SUITABLE TO BE SENT OUT INTO THE WIDE WORLD WITH BALLS ATTACHED TO CREATE MORE OF THEIR KIND!!!

Jeez they are just not that special, poor guys. At a time when people are trying to sell horse for peanuts/dumping them on roads and out in the country/abandoning them at boarding stables and livery yards/shooting them rather than have to find the money to feed them no one should be more aware of the problem than the rescues trying to tackle the mess.

I seriously question the ethics of this organisation. SERIOUSLY. Poor horses!

Butt, Butt, Butt...

This is bemusing. I gather that for Quarter Horses a big rear end is a desirable feature. But to the extent that you don't get to see any other bits of the horse?

Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

Exhibit C:

Exhibit D:

Maybe it's just me, but if you can only get one shot in of the horse you're selling, wouldn't you want to show more of it on a better angle? I mean, to my mind you don't JUST buy a horse off the backside of it, cos if you spend that much time looking at your horse's rear end you're doing SOMETHING wrong! As the old saying has it, that's the end that KICKS!

USA/Quarter horse peeps, please feel free to enlighten me?!

Advert of the Day

Here's what's right with this ad.

The picture is reasonable, showing a sweet looking young mare (with growing to do!) in a relatively safe situation. She's quite nicely presented for the photo, really clean and with no tangles in her mane. Ok, not the best angle and the background could be a lot better, but hey, we've seen worse (oh boy have we seen worse).

Here's what's not right with this ad.

Um, pretty much everything else. The content:

Cheeky Girl, 16 months old pacing filly. Bred by Cheeky Chaps to full bred mare (no papers).

Been broken for 3 weeks, doing 25mph, still green. Just started with hobbles.

16 months old. Not even two. Doing 25mph- and we aren't talking light work here people. Here's an illustration of what she's doing on a regular basis on those immature legs:

 But hey. Don't panic folks. This is from a different ad! 

This mare is older! She's a whole 19 MONTHS!!

In a word, ick.