With online horse sales becoming the new norm, having good advertising skills will be an advantage to your business.  The first thing people will look at when seeing a horse advertised online, is the pictures you provide of your sale horse.  With so much competition, and so many horses on the market, most people will only give your horse a quick glance before scrolling onto the next horse.  That is why it’s important to provide enticing photos to set your horse apart from the herd.  In this article, I am going to lay out how to take amazing sale photos of your horses; ones that will (hopefully) score you a buyer.

The first step in taking enticing sale photos, is proper grooming.  Get ready to pull out your inner super groom!

Whenever I take photos of my horses, I always make sure they’re looking their very best.  If my horse needs a bath a few hours in advance, or just a thorough brushing, I make sure I’m well prepared before pulling out my camera.  White socks and markings, perfectly combed manes and tails, and polished hooves are essential.  A good spray of Laser Sheen, and a rub of a towel insures a shiny coat.  Make sure your horse’s bridle path and whiskers are trimmed.  After my horse is spotless, I use a small sponge or towel to put a tiny bit of baby oil on their muzzle, eyes, and inside of their ears.  Unless you are selling an Arabian, we don’t want his face to be too glossy.  Just enough to enhance his features.

Quick Tip: If you are shooting on a windy day, run some baby oil over your horse’s mane and tail to keep it from blowing in the wind.

To round out the “picture perfect” horse, I make sure to put a clean, quality bridle on my horse for the photos.  I always make sure to use a D- ring, or loose ring snaffle on the bridle.  Pelham’s, two-rings, and other clunky bits are a major turn off in sale photos.  Simpler is better because we want the main focus to be on our horse’s amazing features, not the hunk of metal in his mouth.

Most of the time, I shoot my sale conformation photos with my Nikon D5200.  It gives me professional quality photos with minimal effort.  However, if you do not have an expensive camera on hand, don’t fret!  Smartphones have increasingly high quality cameras in them, and work just as well.  (The head shot above was taken with a smartphone).

The other crucial equipment you need, is another person.  It is almost impossible to take great conformation sale photos single handily.  You will also need some “props”, aka, attention grabbers for the horse.  A lot of horses lose interest in getting their photo taken after the first few minutes.  Make sure you have some things on hand to keep them entertained.  Think, treats, wrappers, and crinkly things.  Anything that will make him prick his ears and maintain a good stance!

The location and background of your photo shoot is key.  You want to pick a location that has a plain background.  I wouldn’t recommend taking your conformation photos right up against the side of a building.  Giving your pictures some dimension will help your horse stand out.  By shooting with a field in the background, or in a plain arena, you can give your pictures an ascetically pleasing background without being too distracting.

Try to shoot on flat ground, and avoid long grass that will cover your horse’s feet.  It is okay to shoot on short grass or in an arena, just make sure most of your horse’s feet are visible.  I don’t mind having part of the hooves covered, as I feel doing so always makes my horse’s conformation look better.  If you shoot on concrete or a firm surface, make sure you feel confident in your horse’s conformation angles of their feet and legs.  Shooting on firm surfaces can sometimes bring out flaws in your horse’s conformation.

A sunny day is ideal for photo shoots.  If possible, try not to shoot at high noon, as your horse’s coat won’t gleam as nicely.  And make sure you shoot with the sun behind you to show off that shiny coat!

The way you stand up your horse for conformation photos is EVERYTHING.  Your horse’s appearance can change drastically just by changing the angle of the photos.  You want your horse to look his physical best in conformation photos.  That’s why it’s so important to stand him up properly, and find his “angles”.  Below are three photos of the same horse, at three different angles.  You can see how much different he looks in each photo.

I chose to advertise the horse above with Photo 3.  To me, he looked most appealing in that photo.  Don’t be afraid to try out different angles, zoom distances, and stance of your horse.  All these factors can help you find your horse’s best angles.

Leg Stance:  I always stand my horse’s up the same way for a conformation photo shoot.  The legs should be slightly spread to make all legs visible.  Left foot forward, left hind farthest back so the horse’s far legs are visible.  You can play around with how much spread you put in your horse’s legs.  Some horses look better with less spread, others look best with more spread.  Remember, you are trying to find his best angles!

Body Stance:  I usually take pictures of the horse’s body from the left side.  This shows off their neck without the mane covering it.

Neck Stance:  Depending on the horse, you have to figure out how to stretch the horse’s neck.  Sometimes a horse will look best with his head long and low.  This stance can be attractive for horses who have short, thick, necks.  Some horses will look best with his neck up above the withers, with a slight arch.  I find this stance the most flattering on most horses.  You want them to look athletic and beautiful.  The amount of arch you put in the horses neck will depend on how thick his neck is.  A horse with a naturally slender neck won’t need as much arch as a naturally thick necked horse.  Be careful you do not compromise your horse’s stance by allowing him to lean over his front end.  This can make even the most uphill horse look like he is pigeon chested and downhill built.  If you are having this problem, pull out your props to find something that makes them stand up tall and curious.

Head Stance:  Getting your horse to put his ears up is perhaps the most challenging part of taking conformation photos.  This is where your props and other person will come in.  Keeping your horse interested and lively can be a challenge.  Aim to keep your horse’s head straight, or slightly looking toward the camera.

Snapping that perfect photo can take some time and patience.  The goal is to have a perfect blend of all the ideal stances.  Enjoy some of my photo shoot bloopers below, ha ha ha.

Oh, how I love a nice head shot…  Head shots are very personal, and can show off your horse’s unique personality.  They are the photos that always make my heart melt when I’m looking to buy a horse.  There’s something about seeing their cute face that makes them real, and not just another photo on my screen.

When taking head shots, make sure your horse’s ears are up, and he has a soft eye.  If your horse is a little too cautious about you props, they can sometimes look bug eyed and spooky.  We want the head shot to resemble the horse’s kind nature.

As far as editing goes, I try to keep it minimal.  If you have good lighting, and good angles, there isn’t a huge need for editing.  Mostly I will just crop my photos to cut the handler out, and make sure that the horse is in the center of the photo.  Try not to go crazy and overly zoom the side conformation photos.  You want to leave a little dimension to your photos.  Sometimes subtly blacking out the corners of the photo can be flattering.  It can make the main focus your beautiful horse.

Taking great conformation sale photos can take some time to master, but the payoff is huge.  There’s nothing more beautiful than a nice conformation picture of a horse.  Developing the skills to take great photos of your horses will set your ads apart and help you sell your horses.  Be patient, practice, and have some fun taking pictures of your horses!