The BLM auctions are now being called a “pipeline to slaughter” after investigations, so adopting a BLM horse is rescuing. No drama. No heavy mark-ups from dealers. Just a cheap young horse that you might even get paid money for adopting (Adoption Incentive Plan).
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Adopting a BLM horse is most definitely on my bucket list but I don’t have the bandwidth now to start an untouched horse unfortunately. And at this time, I’m not setting out purposefully to “rescue”. Don’t get me wrong, all of my pets are from the shelter, but honestly I just want a decent weekend trail riding horse and don’t want to spend $10k on it 
I know something will come up somewhere. Just considering Bowie as a potential.
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he is just unpredictable, some days are fine other are WHAT IS THAT … but he will be here until the end as he Bonnie’s best of friends
he is a registered Morgan, we were able to get his papers transferred into wife’s name
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Though the The Adoption Incentive Program allows qualified adopters to receive up to $1,000 up to 60 days after title date.
To encourage more adopters to give a wild horse or burro a good home, the Adoption Incentive Program provides up to $1,000 to adopt an untrained wild horse or burro from the BLM.
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Too, too many 
Auctions, in my part of NY, Unadilla
You might contact a camp near you, to see where their string comes from.
None around here. They all do IEA for the school year and then camps all summer.
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Cool, thanks!
The best bet for people actually looking for a horse that worked at a camp is to contact camps with riding programs in the area and see if they are looking to sell horses at the end of the season.
Camps generally fall into two categories: ones that keep their animals year round (either leasing them out over the winter or just wintering them) and ones that lease from a broker.
The brokers do what they wish with the horses at the end of the lease period.
But a good quality, sound, not very aged camp horse is usually a $$ animal. They aren’t really discarded at the end of the season like they may have been twenty years ago.
I used to help make connections to retire camp horses into good quality homes. Many had years of service and the inside connection is how many were sold into their retirement homes. Those that had programs that leased their horses out would often sell to the leasees first because then they knew the horses and had proven they could care for them well.
Be wary of “camp horse” in an auction description. It’s become a tag line to get people to think they are buying a kid safe horse, but many are not. Those kid safe ones are gems and do usually command a fair price.
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if really interested in a “camp” horse it might be available in Gardiner, Montana as the floods that washed out and closed Yellowstone also destroyed the hay fields. The pack-train outfitters might be wanting to reduce the herds
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This doesn’t answer your question about Bowie (sorry), but this guy sounds about right except where he’s currently located: https://canterusa.org/horses/listings/trojan-14yo-thoroughbred-gelding-16hh-approx-3000/
If you have a local facebook horse group, you could do an ISO there. Of course network with vet and farrier feed store, etc. If you can wait another month or so, more tend to come up for sale as kids go back to school and people think about the price of keeping through the winter.
You may have some luck with a local dealer. Around here you can get a good trial ride (not usually available at auction or even “kill buyers”). Many also offer a “guarantee”. Now that means returning an unsuitable horse for a different one (which may be more expensive), Still some risk and a bit pricier than finding a horse at auction, but I have known people to get decent horses - even of they had to go back and forth a couple of times!
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As you pointed out in your OP, sound, sane trail horses are worth a good bit of money right now. Therefore, you should be suspicious of any horse that ends up at one of those “kill pen” dealers (cough…scammers…cough) that is claimed to fit this description. There is almost always a reason a horse ends up in that kind of place, and that reason generally makes the horse unmarketable otherwise.
If you are willing to take a chance on an unknown quantity, you are better off buying from your local low-end auction. You’ll spend about 1/3 the money and know just as much about the horse (maybe more, since you’ll see it in the flesh before purchasing). You also won’t be supporting the “kill pen” extortionists.
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I agree about the young sound unbroke horses probably being the best bet but I have a young horse now myself so not wanting to train 2 at this point. There seem to be a lot of Amish horses which I figure could be not sound enough to pound the pavement all day but might be fine for weekend trail riding?
I would buy an Amish horse from an Amish auction, not a kill pen type auction. If they are unloading it at a low end auction, it has problems. I have a lot of Amish friends; if it had value, it would be sold Amish to Amish, for a better price. Don’t think that their horses come without quirks.
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I would not buy a BLM and assume it’s all going to be fine. I follow Elisa Wallace and she’s started many a mustang and my goodness she’s had every possible stripe pass through her hands. Some have been easy some have been incorrigible buckers some have been unsound some have needed oral surgery - they are still just horses.
JJ Thompson in Texas starts a lot of young horses and if they aren’t going to make it as barrel horses she then has a really well started young horses that have seen and done a LOT and are ready to be whatever. I would buy a horse from her all day long if I was ready to finish it/put miles on it.
The worst horse I ever rode got sold to a dude string in MT, lol so yeah, buyer beware 
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People can and do find good horses at a " kill pen". Maybe not the norm but if you can see and inspect them close up and see someone ride them ( happens at our area auctions) it can take some of the mystery about what they may be like out of it.
I know nothing about this auction, but if you know what to look for , go see what they have?
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I have, on occasion, bought horses from an auction where the meat dealers are there, with some success. It depends on what you are looking for, and your ability to assess on the spot, the quality of a horse, and your ability to deal with any issues that may effect your success or failure with the horse you buy. If you attend the sale in person, there may be people there who know the horse, and can give you some information which may be helpful. But if you are buying such a horse to “rescue” it from going for meat, know that the meat buyer will simply buy another, different horse, instead, to fill the quota of tonnage that they have contracted to fill. So, net “rescue” of horses is zero. If you buy one, another one takes it place, due to the demand for horses for meat, purchased at meat price. So, purchase the horse that best suits your needs in a horse, whatever those may be… otherwise, you will be disappointed.
I attended the PMU sales, auctions, for a number of years, when the farms were functional in Alberta. Mostly interested in buying the foals sired by TB stallions. Found several who grew up to excel in this province and beyond at the hunter and dressage shows. Half TB, 1/4 draft (often clydey crosses), 1/4 “ranch” horse. Beat all the imported WBs in competition. Made me laugh. One gelding, I took to a “sport horse” show in a halter class as a 2 yr old- he won the rather large class. I told the judge he was a PMU foal. She remarked “even better!!!”.
I attended an auction, looking for a lead pony prospect. I was late getting there. I talked to some of the guys bringing horses into the ring, told them what I was looking for. They pointed out a horse who had already sold, one of them had bought the horse. They knew the horse, he had some age on him, maybe 15 years old, but had been a rodeo pick up horse. I bought the horse from them right then, for $750, the guy made a quick $200 over what he had just paid. Horse was excellent, worked post parade right away, and was a dream to ride, a real luxury ride… so smooth, beautifully schooled, and kind. But he bowed a tendon later that year (when a “friend” rode him working post parade one night). I brought him home, and turned him out to recover, not sure what I was gonna do with him. Then, a friend who ran a riding school was looking for another school horse, and I showed him to her, the bow was looking pretty good by then. He won her over right away, and she bought him from me for $500. He became the “favourate” mount at the riding school, and he jumped beautifully, getting his flying changes and his jumps as required, with the greenest of riders on his back. Sometimes, at the schooling shows, he was the mount for MOST of the riders who won ribbons in a single class. He excelled for years in this situation… a superstar, a favourate at the barn and much spoiled in his old age.
Another time, at the same local auction, a TB was there off the track, owned and offered for sale by a trainer who was a friend of mine. He was beautiful, that brilliant dapple grey colour, with an excellent pedigree for sport, and kind. I was surprised he was there. The trainer/owner told me that he had been unable to sell the horse, he had a chip in his knee, which probably wasn’t going to be an issue as a riding horse, or could be removed with surgery, and he was disclosing this fact. Nobody would buy the horse for $750 from his barn, and he HAD to sell the horse, so had brought it to the auction. The horse sold for $2000 at the auction.
I now live in a semi remote location, retired from the racing scene. My neighbour is a “hunting guide”, earning money taking “guests” out on his horses, trying to kill the local wildlife for sport and profit. He’s not a “great” horseman, but I guess he can put a pack saddle on a horse and drag it down a trail off another horse. He frequents local auctions to buy replacement stock. He likes to buy the sales topper, for $900. He apparently buys those imported WBs that have the hocks that look like a jigsaw puzzle and can’t be kept sound enough to get their flying changes or jumps any more, and the trainer offers to “take care” of getting rid of them for the owner… so the horse magically disappears and the board bills and vet bills end. This fella buys them, puts a pack saddle on them, and they have a change of career. And he doesn’t mind that they don’t get their flying changes, or that perhaps they are a bit stiff to the left that joint injections don’t seem to fix. If he rides them, they don’t usually buck him off, and they “go” if he kicks them in the ribs. If they can make it down the trail and back again packing a dead deer, they live at his farm until they can’t any more and then he shoots them and uses them as bait for customers who want to shoot a predator species. As long as they are functional and useful, they live outdoors year round, on pasture and/or with round bales, aren’t incarcerated into cell-like stalls any more. Perhaps an upgrade?
Another local friend bought a 2 yr old at auction, 2 years ago now. If I had been there, I would have bid against her LOL. Appaloosa. He’s lovely. I have a soft spot for an appaloosa. She paid $700 for him. He’s only just broke to ride this summer, hasn’t jumped anything yet, but I suspect that he will jump well. He’s appy-smart, and athletic. My kind of prospect!!!
So you see, the auction can suit all sorts of buyers, for all sorts of reasons, and can work out well for both human and horse. If you are brave and know what you are looking at, buy what suits you, and maybe you will get a deal that others have missed or simply don’t know to look in unlikely places.
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I would add that auctions in rural areas are a very efficient way of getting all the sales horses in one place at a set time. Otherwise you’d be driving 100 miles East West North South to see one prospect here and there. I bought my first horse in the era of three line classified ads in the livestock section of the daily city newspaper, but actually the 2 horses we bought, for me and my sister, both came from low end horse dealers/ dude string because they had selection. Worked fine for that time and place! The dealers bought and likely sold to auction and I’m sure kill buyers were in the mix.
When I see data on rural Alberta auctions they do seem to sell and buy a lot of working stock horses.
Where @NancyM has the advantage is being a horse pro who can talk to other horse pros, and pasture to deal with ones that need rehab or a change in plan. And obviously a very good eye for a horse.
The Lower Mainland horse auction disappeared under horse activist pressure but not that long ago. My own horse was bought at Fraser Valley auction as a fugly unhandled two year old by my coach who has an excellent eye and she grew up gorgeous :).
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I don’t know if this thread got into my subconscious or what, but I bought a 17-year-old gelding out of Bowie last Wednesday on a whim. Literally no other reason than a video of this sad sack of a horse came up on my screen during a slow day at work and now I have a chestnut gelding in my friend’s front yard in Texas. 
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Lol! Awesome! Let us know how it goes! There are a bunch of horses on there now that are late teens (well, could be older lol) and sound like well broke and don’t look lame -and are supposedly shipping to slaughter tomorrow . I’m still keeping my eyes open for horses, haven’t pulled the trigger yet.
Thanks everyone else for all the responses too.
