It was an excellent October day for the sale, windy but warm enough. Was a good turnout seemed to me. There were lots of horses and mules there that certainly had potential. It is always interesting to me what sorts sell high and what sorts sell lower or not at all. I can’t say there was a real ‘show-boat’ horse there this year as there has been for the last few sales. This show-boat horse is usually flashy, a paint cross, reputed to be dead broke. He/she is usually paraded around throughout the pre-sale days as well as on Saturday to show off just how desirable he is. This is usually done by a youngish child, to illustrate just how wonderful he is — “even a kid can do anything with this horse”. The kid can jump up and down on the horse, crack a whip, shoot a cap gun, drag a tarp, etc. What is not clearly communicated is the fact that this ‘kid’ is about as rough-and-tumble as they come; not an insult by any means, but not your typical video-game-playing kid of today. This kid grew up climbing on and falling off of horses of all temperaments. The horse KNOWS this kid. The horse knows how pointless it is to step out of line, as this kid has way more energy than the horse, and this kid dreams of unruly horses so he can have some kind of challenge. Not intending to detract from the horse at all. He is most likely as broke as he seems and will be a very good horse, BUT just because this kid can do it doesn’t mean any kid off the street will be able to handle the horse in the same way. I’m just sayin’. That’s the horse I missed at this sale. It really is a good show, and it’s free. My kind of entertainment.
As is typical there were quite a few no-sales. What was annoying was the number of NO-SHOWS. They sold thru hip number 238, but there was not nearly 238 equines that passed thru the sale ring. I can’t say if it was penhooking or what was to blame. It certainly wasn’t the weather, but for whatever reason there was a disappointingly high number of no-shows. Maybe I’m just getting old and cranky (nah, couldn’t be) but there was an awful lot of substitutions AND the numerical order of the catalog was apparently like the Pirate’s Code, merely a suggestion. I counted 27 no-sales. That’s counting a no-sale team as one no-sale. 39 no-shows are recorded in my notes; that’s over 15% no-shows. Yuck.
Generally, the nice draft teams went high, the nice mule teams went real high, decent looking saddle horses were cheap, $600-$1000. Anything cutesy, under three feet tall, and had a kid somehow attached (leading, riding, sitting -as a passenger even- in a wagon) went for a ridiculously high price. I think it’s referred to as “Marketing”. Hmmm.
As to be expected, there were some nice horses, even without the show-boat, and there were some rogues. There were quite a few pitifully thin ones. I don’t expect to see that as much at the fall sale as in the spring. Surprised me. Anyway, check out some of the short clips from Saturday below.
| 6 yo Haflinger Cross | 5 yo Gaited Molly Mule | 5 yo Gaited Paint |
| 14 yo Percheron Team | 7 yo Paint Mare | 6 months old ponies |