Anyone bought a horse on an online auction?

[Abbie.S]

Or phone -in? Not talking about from a kill auction house or the houses of the unsavory variety. I’m talking online auctions run by breeders, farms, performance horse trainers/facilities, or individual auction houses that only deal in ranch stock, a lot of which you see in the midwest.

Anyone purchased a horse from such an outfit without seeing the animal in the flesh first? Did you have a contact out near the horse that did any verification for you? Did you go in blind just based on the internet ad? How’d in turn out? Any tips to share, lessons learned, good outfits to buy from (or ones to avoid?)

I think I’m going to be looking to purchase my next horse towards the end of this year, and I’m strongly considering a broke-as-heck little ranch horse to just enjoy…I work with enough difficult horses to not want to own one anymore, but I live in VT and it appears the good ones out in the midwest go quickly and often times aren’t put up for private sale but in auctions.

[soloudinhere]

I bought my filly this way from a dealer who sells almost solely online through the internet.

I think in the case of what you want you are running a bigger risk since you specifically want something broke and quiet to ride. Sure, many ranch horse are exactly that but they still may not be exactly what you would like for yourself.

I would look locally first before going sight unseen with a big shipping cost, but that’s me.

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[Abbie.S]

What I want I haven’t ever seen around my neck of the woods :winkgrin: otherwise I wouldn’t be looking that far away. More than likely I’d be going to pick the horse up myself instead of hiring a shipper…I don’t mind the trek, and it’s cheaper than paying a hauler.

[ladyj79]

I would absolutely.

That said, I would do a lot of research on whatever specific horses I was looking at.

I would be much more likely to buy either an unstarted youngster or a horse with a pretty seriously verifiable and current show record, and not much in between because I personally know several of those middling horses who were sold via online auction where the info provided was a lot of…exaggeration at best, outright lies at worst.

[Halt_Near_X]

The lady I bought my horse from bought him via an online auction. His natural movement does not match what the auction videos show or his pedigree suggests it should be. I’m not saying it’s bad (I bought him, obviously, so I like it)–I’m just saying all the research in the world wouldn’t have substituted for putting eyes on him. His previous owner did actually see him before the auction. Not sure if she saw him move or not; she just mentioned falling in love with his personality.

I think it’s like any sight unseen purchase, with the added risk of no PPE. If you are ok with the risks and have a plan for what to do with the horse if it does not turn out to be suitable (less broke than expected, more sensitive than desired, undisclosed health issues), then it might be ok.

Otherwise, in your shoes I think I would try to line up a general trip to see multiple breeder/sale barns. I wouldn’t be looking to see any specific horses; I would just tell them the type of horse I’m looking for and ask to see whatever they have available when I get there. If nothing else, you build some personal connections/network that you can leverage when you go back home–they know you are serious enough that you flew out to look and you have an idea of how honest they are in representing horses, so if/when their horses come up in auction you can bid (or not) with confidence.

[candyappy]

If the sellers have a reputation for honesty and having happy customers I would.

[IronwoodFarm]

I have but I am a breeder and I focus on a specialty breed. When a well respected farm was going out of business and selling the farm, farm equipment and horses, I decided that I like one of their older broodmares. I did my research, found someone attending the auction (they did not have live bidding by phone or online) and arranged for this person to bid for me with the auction company. I got the mare for a good price, found a shipper in short order and she was on my farm within days. My caution is that I was buying a broodmare, not at horse I intended to ride or drive. I was buying her more for my stallion and less for me. I also own a 135 acres,so an extra horse is not an issue. If I could only own one horse for my personal use, I would never have gone this route. Everything worked well. The stallion definitely likes her and she has had two very nice foals for us so far.

[over60]

My experience parallels Halt Near X’s. I bought my horse from the person who purchased him at an online auction. I think she thought she wanted a western broke horse but wasn’t quite ready to make a complete switch from English. The horse didn’t understand what was being asked “English” He is perfect for me as I was ready to go to the dark side become a western rider.