Wow...still headshaking in wonder at the last thread and thinking I need something stronger than the pumpkin spice light frappucino I'm currently drinking...but I will proceed to today's auction report. I didn't stay for the whole thing; had to leave to go home and feed, but I saw quite a few go through. As my friend put it "the rich get rich and the poor get poorer." This was never more true than today - but it was about the gap between the high quality horses and the low quality horses. Check out the mind-boggling price differences.
AQHA Buckskin colt, yearling, tall, show condition, groomed, clipped, quiet. $3700AQHA Black colt, yearling, tall, show condition, groomed, clipped, quiet. $2800
AQHA liver chestnut colt, yearling, furry, smaller. No saled.
AQHA sorrel filly, Doc O'Lena bred, cute, good sized, big hip, but very hot and spooky in attitude. No saled.
AQHA buckskin filly, Dry Doc bred, great color, sensible acting, nice balance to her, medium sized $700
Breeding stock APHA filly, big and stout but very pushy and piggy, 2 years old, not started. $260
Big ugly headed tobiano mare, 4 y.o. Percheron/Paint cross ("sport horse" for the uninitiated). Bad mover, paddled, very spooky, ridden through. No saled at $500, they wanted $1000.
AQHA buckskin filly, 2 year old, nice hip but small, cowhorse breeding $500
9 year old Arab or Quarab (didn't hear which) gray gelding, well broke, ridden through, sensible. $700
6 year old AQHA bay mare, small but super cute, think she was Doc Bar bred, very quiet, pretty faced, $675. Would have been 1 of my 2 choices for a resale project if we'd been shopping. This mare was worth more.
Roan AQHA filly, yearling, quiet. No saled at $450.
Big 4 y.o. tobiano mare, quiet but common looking, rode well. $1300
Appaloosa mare, 14 y.o., eyes not tracking, probably some visual impairment, screaming for her buddies, ridden through, appeared well broke, no saled.
AQHA mare, 15 y.o. broodmare, swaybacked, tank of a mare. Rode very well in a halter and lead rope. In foal to some stallion I have never heard of (Sport Storm or Sports Storm?). I liked this mare. If she hadn't been in foal she'd be a good beginner lesson horse. Clean legged and apparently sound. Had that sweet look on her face. No saled at $450, wanted $600.
Squirrely acting pale buckskin filly, AQHA, common headed $625
Black filly with white markings, no papers, sensible, ridden through, 3 y.o. No saled.Dark bay AQHA mare, ridden through, cute, sensible, no saled.
Big gray 2001 TB gelding, ranch broke, big hip, clean legs, not a great head but good conformation otherwise, great shoulder/chest, probably a super performer. $650
Pony, 2 y.o., registered Curly, palomino paint, broke, $475
AQHA gelding, 2 y.o. not broke but saddled, appeared very quiet, $100
AQHA gelding, 8 y.o. ridden through, looked resistant, $170
Sorrel mare, 13 y.o., small, well broke, looked like a Quarab. Bad rain rot. Their neighbor abandoned her and so they brought her to the sale. No saled at around $170 - they wanted $300, my guess is they were decent enough to want to make sure she didn't go to kill. Good for them. Nice little mare for a kid to ride. I'd buy this mare for a lesson horse if I were shopping.
Big fugly grade sorrel gelding, looked resistant/piggy, big hip, 14 y.o. $225
Small pony with BAD BAD BAD stringhalt...ridden through by girl who HAD to be 15 or 16. Poor pony. Pictured left. (Look, he's so broke I can ride him backwards! I'm cool!)$175.Buckskin gelding, stout and tall, big bones, good feet, sensible, been trail ridden and packed, clean legged, 5 years old. I think he had AQHA papers. He sold for $750 - this would have been my other pick for a resale horse.
18 year old Arab gelding, led through, $100
Big sorrel QH, packed elk, broke, 10 y.o. $260
REALLY good looking, good colored palomino AQHA mare, Goldseeker Bars bred, 5 y.o., led through, had a club foot she was a little lame on. $220 This was a super nice mare. I bet she'd be sound with better hoof care. I couldn't believe they let her go for $220.
Hideous headed 14 y.o. AQHA gelding, broke, very quiet, no sale.
4 year old Welsh/QH mare, unbroke, unsound behind, no saled at $90. So comatose I thought she might be aced.
Dark bay QH mare, small mare, total saint. Dealt with tail skiing. No shit, some guy grabbed her tail and she dragged him like he was water skiing without blinking an ear. No papers but, damn, she was a bargain. $270Blanket appy, bay, 9 y.o. gelding, broke, quiet, no saled.
I didn't stay long enough to see what happened to the pen of fugly, wormy, skinny babies...or the TWENTY FIVE year old foundered gelding in show condition being presented by his young owner who was "ready to move on!" as I heard her mother chirp cheerfully...or the one horse I would have wanted to drag home, a skinny chestnut mare that I'm pretty sure was a TB although she had no tattoo.
It was your typical sale, with the typical main categories of horses: Low end QH's, ugly tobiano horses, fug-headed things that were probably mustangs, and old broodmares that some jackass or other was discarding. Every single QH I saw run through was consistently cow horse bred. Doc Bar, Peppy San, Chex whatever, Fritz whatever. And TONS of horses with Two Eyed Jack in the fourth or fifth generation but nothing else you'd recognize any closer. I know the foundation QH fans hate to acknowledge this, but I'm telling you, you just don't ever see a son of Sky Blue Walker or Simply Hot or Indian Artifacts at the low end auction. You just don't.
The other news of the day was apparently horse dealer Randy Eppers has passed away. Well, I've said before that I don't really blame the kill buyers - I blame the shitty owners who dump the horses and let the kill buyers get them - but I have to tell you, I was not a big fan of Mr. Eppers. Mr. Eppers, several years ago, sold a nice QH broodmare to my friend at the Yelm Auction. He had her mother there, an elderly mare in skeletal condition and announced "if she ain't pregnant, I'm gonna can her." So my friend bought the elderly mare, too - a good thing since she slipped the foal due to her condition. That mare is now my much loved pet and her name is Kit. Well, Mr. Eppers, that mare you were going to can? She's still here and you're not. Nyah-nyah. She's no longer skinny, and she's wearing a lovely plaid waterproof blanket, and she got groomed and her tail conditioned today, and got her last apple of the evening about an hour ago. Who says karma doesn't work?
