I haven’t heard anything about the Pony Finals auction this year and a quick google search turned up nothing. Does anyone know if they’re having it this year?
I saw an advertisement in the side bar on COTH the other day talking about a Select Pony Sale, but I didn’t see if it was the one at PF or not.
No auction this year and no one should be surprised. The marketing for it over the past few years has been poor, the quality of the ponies has been down as have the prices.
It’s a REAL SHAME because in the first say…5-10 years of the sale it was a great one. No more.
As stated above, no Pony Finals Auction this year. Instead, they will be offered at the July Sport Horse & Pony auction. www.sporthorseauctions.com/Online-Auction.html
I have to agree that the decision to change the format of the auction, day and lack of promotion has hurt the auction. I also agree that the quality has been down as of late…but that may very well be due to a number of reasons not listed above. The economy may count for one…but now that nearly everybody has internet and social media access, it makes it easy for sellers to connect directly with buyers. Back when the Pony Finals Auction took place in the late 90s/early 2000s, very few were on the internet, very few had websites or a way to promote their sales horses & ponies and very few buyers knew where to find them. Much easier now to just sell directly to buyers and cut out the middle man. Although, in those rare instances, nothing beats a selling price when you have two pony moms who desperately want the same pony and are bidding against each other! 
Tim Jennings does an awesome job of keeping sellers honest and buyers happy. I think it’s a great conduit for buyers and sellers and once buyers get comfortable with the process, the online auction will take off. I think there are many buyers out there who are sick of the tacking on of commissions and are getting smarter and smarter. The Internet has changed the “game” entirely. It’s not for everyone but it targets a certain niche in the market. Tim is no dummy. He is a step ahead. Knows his market and is filling a void. The top 1% will always pay the prices and not care about getting taken advantage of. If this was a public company I would buy stock in it. My money is on Tim. I think you may have less risk in the auction of being taken advantage of then with half of the trainers out there. Tim plays the role of the horse and pony police in keeping everyone on the up and up.
