About The Auction

I'd just like to share a few quick stories from the auction before I hit the hay - I'm exhausted and about to fall over sideways as I type this. First up at the auction was the tack (lots of misc. supplies such as buckets, snaps, lead ropes, stud chains, pitchforks... etc), then the yearling group (25+ fillies for sale), and then the rest of the horses. Just letting you know.

At the beginning, Lisa and Troy got lots of goodies for around the barn. Three grain scoops, six double-ended snaps, two trailer bungee ties, and two nylon/rope halter and lead combos for Grinder and what ever horse needs it (probably Lucy). That cost a total of about $40 all together, which really isn't that bad compared to what it would all be if you bought it all at rural king. =)

Then the yearlings' turn came. Lisa and I had gotten a list of the yearlings, their pedigrees (3 generations back), their registered names, and their registered color. Lisa and I picked out six or seven fillies that we thought we would like based on their pedigree and color, and even got to preview some when we went to explore what horses were available.

While we were still perusing around before the auction started, we saw a paint horse that didn't ride too badly, but had three big, round, gaping, bleeding spots on the left side of its butt, near the tail. We wondered what had happened - the blood was smeared like someone had tried to wipe if off unsuccessfully. When we saw it later, the blood had dried and it looked like it didn't even notice it was hurt. That horse went for around $250 or $300, I believe.

I also amusingly watched as someone tried to show off their ugly unregistered horse under saddle. The horse - a chestnut mare who seemed pretty angry, annoyed, and mad - stumbled, pivoted, and then bolted simultaneously, nearly unseating her rider. I actually laughed; hard. Lisa chuckled and we proceeded to spot a donkey, a big, narrow-shouldered draft horse, and a pretty nice dun Quarter Horse who we think got withdrawn from the auction (we didn't see it get sold).

But back to the yearlings. When the first one came through, the man who had bred and now owned all of the yearlings was standing in the pen. He chased the filly around a bit and she looked scared to death. She trotted around and Lisa and I commented to Troy about how scared she seemed, how her shoulder was too straight, how she practically had no butt, etc. When the bidding on the horse failed to raise - it had dropped to $175-ish), the owner took the mic from the announcer and announced that he was going to take home this filly and feed her, and bring her back in a month to the next auction. He said this was his second-best filly and that she was worth over $500 based on her breeding, conformation, and good gaits. Apparently he'd put a lot of money into this horse and expected a lot of money back.

Later on, Lisa and I's dream filly came. She was a sorrel filly, a great-granddaughter of Doc O'Lena (Three Bars's great-granddaughter, pedigree found here), and was absolutely beautiful. She had long, sweeping strides and seemed totally calm. She took in the crowd and sold for $475, I believe. Lisa and I were begging Troy to let us get her, and he said okay, but then Lisa zoned out. Later she said she was glad we didn't buy her because we didn't bring the trailer and had no way of getting her home. =(

One of the last horses (this is my last story of the night) was a little bitty appaloosa stud. He was thin, his eyes were lifeless and he seemed to not really care. Then, Troy gasped and said, "Look at his left hind!" His pastern had dropped and broken, and his leg was broken! The announcer hadn't said anything, and the poor little colt sold for $20, probably for someone to be able to take it home, make it happy, and put it down to end its misery. The poor thing looked like it was drugged; can you imagine being in that much pain and having to walk around an auction? I mean, Grinder just nicked his hoof and he was way more depressed than that stud. I feel so bad for that horse. He wasn't cute, and probably would've been better off put down instead of coming all the way to the auction just to put $20 into his owner's pocket.

Overall, it was an okay auction experience. I feel kind of sad that we didn't get a horse, but we have our eye on Uncle D's friend's horse that was originally $2000. Today, we talked to Matt (Uncle D's friend) and talked his price down to $1500. Lisa said that after seeing the auction, her, me, and Troy could probably talk his price down to $1000 or $900, if not less. His horse is a roping/reining/cattle mare that I could turn into a barrel racer easily.

Anyways... I'm hitting the hay! Goodnight!