Feedback

I had two lovely, complimentary emails from a complete stranger last night. I’m not sure the compliments were completely justified but it was still very pleasing to receive such nice messages out of the blue.

Here is what the first one said: "Hi, no enquiry, but just wanted to say what a brilliant website you have. Great descriptions, very detailed and super clear videos and pictures. Anyone coming to look at one of your horses would really know well from the site what to expect about the horse. Brilliant & refreshing. I am really impressed; very professional and had to tell you so".

It’s great to get positive feedback. We really do try to be honest and accurate about our horses and match them as well as we can to suitable buyers but it is an art, not a science.

For a start, horses seem to love to make liars of their owners. We had one horse that had its problems but seemed to love to jump and never refused. Someone came to try her and, sure enough, after we had given her the big build up, she refused three times in a row. Fortunately, she then got her act together and that helped to lessen the embarrassment.

Positive comment is also doubly appreciated as, these days, so many people seem to use all their energy being critical and negative. My husband is a journalist and, sometimes, after he has written an article for a newspaper, there will be an online discussion about the story (usually about the content of the story or the conduct of the people involved, rather than my husband's grammar or punctuation!)

Anyway, it is obvious that people are far more likely to be negative than positive. I guess that, when someone agrees with an article or likes something, they will usually think "hmm I like that" or "yes, I agree" but rarely feel strong enough about it to post a comment. If, however, they have read something that they don't like, they are happy to take the day off work and spend all day discussing it!

My first personal experience of this occurred a few months ago, when I first built my website. I decided to kill two birds with one stone and combine some free advertising with some feedback collection. I started an online thread on the horse and hound website asking for feedback on my new website. I was really hoping for feedback about page layout and how different web browsers were displaying my site etc. It didn’t turn out that way! Go and look for yourselves - type "saxelby sports horses horse and hound feedback" into google and the thread should come up.

I got loads of messages from people saying "your site is rubbish, your horses are awful, you can't ride, your photos are scruffy" and so on.

Ok, I admit that, at that early stage, some of the buttons on my site were a little bit bright and didn't load up quickly and I was trying slightly different styles on different pages so the site was far from the finished article (still is, really). Anyway, I received some really useful feedback but also some which seemed nasty and gratuitous (even allowing for the fact that no-one likes criticism).

I mean, how could a random person tell from a still photo on my website whether I could ride or not?! I have been riding since I was a child, worked on two different Olympic dressage yards in Switzerland, trained for five years at equestrian college and have show-jumped, hunted and played polo. I certainly don’t claim to be the best rider in the world but I do know how to sit on a horse. I also know what the text books say about riding and looking after horses, even if I don’t always follow them to the letter.

Several people who made constructive comments wanted to see formal, side-on photos of the horses – traditional conformation shots really. However, in the end, I decided to stick with more informal snapshots as I think they show the horses as they really are and give a better idea of their personalities. You will have to believe me that I know how to plait up a horse and make it look smart but I am not sure that that would tell potential buyers much.

One thing that several people were fairly rude about was that we were not selling "sports horses".

It is true that not all of our horses are sports horses by the narrow definition (certainly not at the moment, when might rename ourselves PONIES R US or COBS-U-LIKE).

However, all horse riding is a sport and, when choosing our horses, we are looking for animals that are at least good at one of the main equestrian disciplines (dressage, showjumping, cross-country).

To me, this makes them “sports horses”. We initially did have some true Irish Sports Horses, which I believe is an Irish draught crossed with a thoroughbred, but they are not necessarily more “sporty” or athletic than many other breeds.

I personally love thoroughbreds. If they have raced, they are almost guaranteed to be good loaders and travellers, as well as used to hacking out everyday in all sorts of traffic. They are also so used to cantering on grass that they don't go looney.

Ok, you get the odd thoroughbred that lives up to the “crazy” stereotype but I personally do not think that is the norm. Horse racing is the ultimate equine sport and I certainly class thoroughbreds as "sports horses".

Thoroughbreds normally have muscular, fit bodies that can be trained and finely tuned to any discipline. I would like to say: “a bit like my husband” but he is not so trainable, although he assures me he used to be fit and muscular 20 years ago!