Sat Nov 20, 2010 11:52 am
Dixie Draft Horse & Mule Sale.
.
- Since we're getting ready for the Autumn sale at the end of this week, I thought I'd repost my report from the Spring sale back in March...
- The turnout at the big Mule/Draft Horse/Carriage/Equipment sale was notably lower this Spring than in years past, both in terms of attendees and critters/things being sold. This may have been a result of the organizer's effort to get at least the Friday session of the sale back on-theme. In the past, the stables have been jam-packed with backyard scrub-ponies, decrepit refugees from an Alpo can, and lots of run-of-the-mill saddle horses that you could find at regular horse-auctions anytime, while the field sale has been cluttered with plain old trash... And buyers wishing to bid on proper mules, draft horses, carriages, and farm equipment had to wait a discouragingly long time to get a shot at the good stuff.
- This year there was far less trash in terms of field items, horses, and people.
- We arrived early, as usual, to get our bidder number and to raid the Amish baked goods stands before they sold out all the best stuff... Then it was out with the notebook, and on to the business of checking-out horses.
- Almost an embarrassment of riches... Lots of high-quality animals this year. Unfortunately, no suitable colts, and only one stallion. A Clydesdale who was "okay", but was 9 years old and had never been broke to harness or saddle. (My stallions have always been my best working horses.) I wasn't that keen on him, but the wife insisted that I put him on the list for at least a half-hearted bid, since we do need our silly mares bred.
- There seemed to be no full-sized draft mules at the place, but we found a bunch of really nice, big draft geldings. For once the wife didn't fall for any hard-luck cases, and we agreed on a half dozen horses whom we'd seriously looked over... Some sellers make it easy. Posting basic information on the horse's stall door. Taking the animal out to work him in public. Other owners you have to track-down to get any info.
- The ones on our list were the nicest suitable geldings we could get full info and a demo from. I arranged them by hip number, name, description, and our agreed-upon maximum bid (in Roman numbers to keep straw bidders in the crowd guessing) on my notebook list.
- Shires and Clydesdales are a rarity at this sale, so I was surprised to have two Clydes on my list. One was the aforementioned stud. The other was a very tall, young gelding brought down by a top Amish horse dealer. Not the prettiest horse around IMHO, but he was beautifully trained, very good-natured, and unflappable. A teenage Amish girl rode him all over the place. Later they hitched him to a wagon and the wife bummed a ride to see him work up-close. Despite all manner of noise and idiocy going on all around him, the young gelding worked perfectly.
- Only drawbacks to him were due to his breed. By draft standards, the Clydesdale is actually a bit of a lightweight. Although this guy was nearly 18 hands, my Belgian mares might drag him around if I teamed him with either of them. Also, I feared being a Clydesdale would add a premium to his price due to rarity in this area... Still, he was just so freakin' nice that we would definitely bid the budget on him given the chance.
- One reason we usually don't stay for the horse sale proper is that it's a long way home and we have our own herd to look after. This year, the wife went home mid-afternoon (while the tack and field auctions were still going on) to tend our stock, leaving me alone at the sale until she could get back (after the horse auction was scheduled to start).
- While the tack auction, then the carriage auction went-on, I revisited the horses on our list. Chatted with the owners... Especially the one that was the wife's favorite. The seller wasn't very motivated to sell that one. He'd no-sale'd it at the previous auction because he just didn't like the look of the bidders. He was here to sell other horses, and didn't mind if he hauled his big gelding home again. While I was visiting him, a lady who had tried to buy the horse pre-auction stopped by to tell the seller that her husband had told her "no". Bad news for her. Good news for me.
- The carriage auction was moving along fast. As the carriage shed began to empty, I suspected that the auctioneer might move right into the horse auction a bit early... So I grabbed some dinner. (Horrible, evil carnival-type food! A rare treat for me these days.) Debladderated. Found a place to sit down and get a little rest before the main event.
- As the last carriages sold, I worked my way down to the horse entrance door of the sale barn. The bleachers and rail of the barn were packed like sardines, so there was no getting a decent spot in there. But, guarding the door, there was no way any of our selected horses could sneak into the sale without me knowing.
- The auctioneer did indeed start the horse sale ahead of schedule. The horses are supposed to run through in order of their hip-numbers (the sticky tags affixed to their rumps when they register for the sale), but starting early caught a lot of folks in the stable off-guard, so it they came in jumbled order for a while...
- Since we hadn't attended the horse auction in a couple years, I had no reference as to what the prices would be like... Last time we wound up slightly exceeding our planned budget for one decent draft mare to buy the best pair of draft mares at the sale. I'd heard a lot about depressed draft horse prices, but it always seems that well-broke, solid horses manage to bring some money, so I just didn't know what to expect.
- The first horses to go through were a pair of very nice, big, well-broke Belgian geldings. We'd had one of them on our list until we learned that he was being sold with his "brother" as a pair. I wasn't bidding, but listened to get my bearings... And was more than a little worried when the per-head price on the boys shot right past my whole budget and didn't slow down!
- After that, prices were all over the place. A lovely pair of gunmetal Percheron mares brought just slightly above my budget together. (They were no sale'd.)
- A big Belgian mare went fairly cheap. A really fancy-looking Clydesdale filly brought next to nothing.
- Another team of really nice, big Belgian geldings went through. Again, one of them was originally on our list before we learned he was to be sold in a team... This time the per head price was within our budget. Maybe we weren't out of luck after all.
- Biggest surprise for me was the Haflingers. These critters look like Belgians who shrunk in the wash. Medium to large, blonde ponies who are often thought of as 1/3 size draft horses. They're supposed to be very popular, but the bids on them were miserably low. A shame... The little buggers can be very useful.
- The first horse on my list, and the wife's favorite, was #27. In the early start jumble, he'd missed the queue and was nowhere to be seen. I was beginning to think the nice Clydesdale was going to go through ahead of him. Oh well, the wife would have to forgive me if I spent the budget on him and didn't have anything left to bid on her favorite... Because she really liked the Clydesdale too...
- Then my GMRS radio crackled. The wife was back at the fairgrounds. It was too loud in the barn to talk to her over the radio, and I couldn't desert my guard spot to look for her. But I knew she was back.
- Then #27 finally showed up at the door. I spoke to the owner (as best I could over the din) and followed the horse into the arena threshold.
- Meanwhile, the wife had managed to stick her head into the barn, saw number forty-something going-through, and assumed that I'd been asleep at the switch and missed #27 or been outbid or something... Then she found me and I explained that the horse was just then going in.
- As per normal, the call-price starts in the stratosphere and works down until someone actually bids, then works up from there. I stood there quiet until the bidding began to slow down, still below our max. The wife poked me in the ribs, HARD. "Dammit woman, let the bid-happy folks get it out of their systems first, then I'll jump in for the finish! SHEESH!"
- Finally the bidding ground down to just two bidders, with one wavering, so I made eye-contact with a clerk and nodded. The clerk pointed me out to the auctioneer, and it was us versus the other two. The waverer quit two increments later. I knew exactly how high I was able to go, and had five more horses to bid-on if we lost this one, so I would have been cool as a cucumber if not for the psycho chick punching me in the back.
- With this particular auctioneer, it was a little hard for observers to keep track of who had the bid. When he said "sold!", we bidders knew I had it, but the seller thought the other bidder had it, and he was telling the clerk "no sale" because he didn't like the other bidder. (I don't know who the other bidder was. It was of no concern to me. I was focused on the auctioneer, and had a fixed max in mind, so I didn't care who I was bidding against.)
- SOP when the seller "no sales" if for the auctioneer to ask "what'll it take?" so that the bidders can meet that price if they want... He didn't get the chance, because the wife ran out to the seller to ask for herself... When he realized that we were the winning bidders, he told the clerk to forget the "no sale" and let the high bid stand.
- So we got the first horse on our list, which left just enough in the budget to go buy the largest size collar & pad available in the vendor's hall, as we realized the biggest one we already owned wasn't gonna get it... So no more horse bidding!
- Later, while I was looking after the horse (once we win the bid on something, I'm stuck with watchdog duty, paranoid wife thinks sore loser might mess with the animal), the wife went to the office to settle accounts. While up there, she met the guy who bought the nice Clydesdale. Said he was a flamboyantly gay guy who owned a small carriage company and was actually weeping tears of joy having won the Clydesdale, which he intends to use for special events. We were glad to know such a nice horse went to someone who would appreciate him. (The Clydesdale also brought more than our budget, so we wouldn't have got him anyway.)
- That leaves us with our new addition...
- About 18-2 hands. 6 years old. Built like a tank. Black as a thousand midnights at the bottom of a cypress swamp.
- I only wish I'd been able to buy the perfect vehicle to put him in front of... They sold it earlier.
- Wife said it gave her the creeps.
.
- Since we're getting ready for the Autumn sale at the end of this week, I thought I'd repost my report from the Spring sale back in March...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- The turnout at the big Mule/Draft Horse/Carriage/Equipment sale was notably lower this Spring than in years past, both in terms of attendees and critters/things being sold. This may have been a result of the organizer's effort to get at least the Friday session of the sale back on-theme. In the past, the stables have been jam-packed with backyard scrub-ponies, decrepit refugees from an Alpo can, and lots of run-of-the-mill saddle horses that you could find at regular horse-auctions anytime, while the field sale has been cluttered with plain old trash... And buyers wishing to bid on proper mules, draft horses, carriages, and farm equipment had to wait a discouragingly long time to get a shot at the good stuff.
- This year there was far less trash in terms of field items, horses, and people.
- We arrived early, as usual, to get our bidder number and to raid the Amish baked goods stands before they sold out all the best stuff... Then it was out with the notebook, and on to the business of checking-out horses.
- Almost an embarrassment of riches... Lots of high-quality animals this year. Unfortunately, no suitable colts, and only one stallion. A Clydesdale who was "okay", but was 9 years old and had never been broke to harness or saddle. (My stallions have always been my best working horses.) I wasn't that keen on him, but the wife insisted that I put him on the list for at least a half-hearted bid, since we do need our silly mares bred.
- There seemed to be no full-sized draft mules at the place, but we found a bunch of really nice, big draft geldings. For once the wife didn't fall for any hard-luck cases, and we agreed on a half dozen horses whom we'd seriously looked over... Some sellers make it easy. Posting basic information on the horse's stall door. Taking the animal out to work him in public. Other owners you have to track-down to get any info.
- The ones on our list were the nicest suitable geldings we could get full info and a demo from. I arranged them by hip number, name, description, and our agreed-upon maximum bid (in Roman numbers to keep straw bidders in the crowd guessing) on my notebook list.
- Shires and Clydesdales are a rarity at this sale, so I was surprised to have two Clydes on my list. One was the aforementioned stud. The other was a very tall, young gelding brought down by a top Amish horse dealer. Not the prettiest horse around IMHO, but he was beautifully trained, very good-natured, and unflappable. A teenage Amish girl rode him all over the place. Later they hitched him to a wagon and the wife bummed a ride to see him work up-close. Despite all manner of noise and idiocy going on all around him, the young gelding worked perfectly.
- Only drawbacks to him were due to his breed. By draft standards, the Clydesdale is actually a bit of a lightweight. Although this guy was nearly 18 hands, my Belgian mares might drag him around if I teamed him with either of them. Also, I feared being a Clydesdale would add a premium to his price due to rarity in this area... Still, he was just so freakin' nice that we would definitely bid the budget on him given the chance.
- One reason we usually don't stay for the horse sale proper is that it's a long way home and we have our own herd to look after. This year, the wife went home mid-afternoon (while the tack and field auctions were still going on) to tend our stock, leaving me alone at the sale until she could get back (after the horse auction was scheduled to start).
- While the tack auction, then the carriage auction went-on, I revisited the horses on our list. Chatted with the owners... Especially the one that was the wife's favorite. The seller wasn't very motivated to sell that one. He'd no-sale'd it at the previous auction because he just didn't like the look of the bidders. He was here to sell other horses, and didn't mind if he hauled his big gelding home again. While I was visiting him, a lady who had tried to buy the horse pre-auction stopped by to tell the seller that her husband had told her "no". Bad news for her. Good news for me.
- The carriage auction was moving along fast. As the carriage shed began to empty, I suspected that the auctioneer might move right into the horse auction a bit early... So I grabbed some dinner. (Horrible, evil carnival-type food! A rare treat for me these days.) Debladderated. Found a place to sit down and get a little rest before the main event.
- As the last carriages sold, I worked my way down to the horse entrance door of the sale barn. The bleachers and rail of the barn were packed like sardines, so there was no getting a decent spot in there. But, guarding the door, there was no way any of our selected horses could sneak into the sale without me knowing.
- The auctioneer did indeed start the horse sale ahead of schedule. The horses are supposed to run through in order of their hip-numbers (the sticky tags affixed to their rumps when they register for the sale), but starting early caught a lot of folks in the stable off-guard, so it they came in jumbled order for a while...
- Since we hadn't attended the horse auction in a couple years, I had no reference as to what the prices would be like... Last time we wound up slightly exceeding our planned budget for one decent draft mare to buy the best pair of draft mares at the sale. I'd heard a lot about depressed draft horse prices, but it always seems that well-broke, solid horses manage to bring some money, so I just didn't know what to expect.
- The first horses to go through were a pair of very nice, big, well-broke Belgian geldings. We'd had one of them on our list until we learned that he was being sold with his "brother" as a pair. I wasn't bidding, but listened to get my bearings... And was more than a little worried when the per-head price on the boys shot right past my whole budget and didn't slow down!
- After that, prices were all over the place. A lovely pair of gunmetal Percheron mares brought just slightly above my budget together. (They were no sale'd.)
- A big Belgian mare went fairly cheap. A really fancy-looking Clydesdale filly brought next to nothing.
- Another team of really nice, big Belgian geldings went through. Again, one of them was originally on our list before we learned he was to be sold in a team... This time the per head price was within our budget. Maybe we weren't out of luck after all.
- Biggest surprise for me was the Haflingers. These critters look like Belgians who shrunk in the wash. Medium to large, blonde ponies who are often thought of as 1/3 size draft horses. They're supposed to be very popular, but the bids on them were miserably low. A shame... The little buggers can be very useful.
- The first horse on my list, and the wife's favorite, was #27. In the early start jumble, he'd missed the queue and was nowhere to be seen. I was beginning to think the nice Clydesdale was going to go through ahead of him. Oh well, the wife would have to forgive me if I spent the budget on him and didn't have anything left to bid on her favorite... Because she really liked the Clydesdale too...
- Then my GMRS radio crackled. The wife was back at the fairgrounds. It was too loud in the barn to talk to her over the radio, and I couldn't desert my guard spot to look for her. But I knew she was back.
- Then #27 finally showed up at the door. I spoke to the owner (as best I could over the din) and followed the horse into the arena threshold.
- Meanwhile, the wife had managed to stick her head into the barn, saw number forty-something going-through, and assumed that I'd been asleep at the switch and missed #27 or been outbid or something... Then she found me and I explained that the horse was just then going in.
- As per normal, the call-price starts in the stratosphere and works down until someone actually bids, then works up from there. I stood there quiet until the bidding began to slow down, still below our max. The wife poked me in the ribs, HARD. "Dammit woman, let the bid-happy folks get it out of their systems first, then I'll jump in for the finish! SHEESH!"
- Finally the bidding ground down to just two bidders, with one wavering, so I made eye-contact with a clerk and nodded. The clerk pointed me out to the auctioneer, and it was us versus the other two. The waverer quit two increments later. I knew exactly how high I was able to go, and had five more horses to bid-on if we lost this one, so I would have been cool as a cucumber if not for the psycho chick punching me in the back.
- With this particular auctioneer, it was a little hard for observers to keep track of who had the bid. When he said "sold!", we bidders knew I had it, but the seller thought the other bidder had it, and he was telling the clerk "no sale" because he didn't like the other bidder. (I don't know who the other bidder was. It was of no concern to me. I was focused on the auctioneer, and had a fixed max in mind, so I didn't care who I was bidding against.)
- SOP when the seller "no sales" if for the auctioneer to ask "what'll it take?" so that the bidders can meet that price if they want... He didn't get the chance, because the wife ran out to the seller to ask for herself... When he realized that we were the winning bidders, he told the clerk to forget the "no sale" and let the high bid stand.
- So we got the first horse on our list, which left just enough in the budget to go buy the largest size collar & pad available in the vendor's hall, as we realized the biggest one we already owned wasn't gonna get it... So no more horse bidding!
- Later, while I was looking after the horse (once we win the bid on something, I'm stuck with watchdog duty, paranoid wife thinks sore loser might mess with the animal), the wife went to the office to settle accounts. While up there, she met the guy who bought the nice Clydesdale. Said he was a flamboyantly gay guy who owned a small carriage company and was actually weeping tears of joy having won the Clydesdale, which he intends to use for special events. We were glad to know such a nice horse went to someone who would appreciate him. (The Clydesdale also brought more than our budget, so we wouldn't have got him anyway.)
- That leaves us with our new addition...
STOMPY McDOOMSTEED
- About 18-2 hands. 6 years old. Built like a tank. Black as a thousand midnights at the bottom of a cypress swamp.
- I only wish I'd been able to buy the perfect vehicle to put him in front of... They sold it earlier.
- Wife said it gave her the creeps.
.
I may be gettin' old, But I've been fightin' DIRTIER LONGER!
