Congrats!!! You know, of course, that now you have to keep us updated on his progress with lots of pictures. 
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Yeah, I admittedly just bought the one who looked like he was most in need of an upgrade, LOL, with zero expectations for him! He was pretty uncomfortably lame in the video, and I entirely bought him thinking that the vet exam might uncover euthanasia as the best outcome. Alas, it turns out he has some terrible cellulitis on both front legs (you can sort of see it covered in AluShield in that photo, the day he came). Still, he has excellent feet, zero hoof tester sensitivity, and other than regular arthritis for his age, and he will likely be perfectly OK. The worst leg was in a compression wrap 'til yesterday and now looks much better. He is walking sound, very bright, and eating like a pig.
I think he is sooooo handsome and is going to be a real looker once he’s back to 100 percent. In an ideal world, he’ll come up to NY eventually and live out a very cushy life as a cute little beginner lesson horse for my trainer, but if he doesn’t want that job, he’ll nonetheless be safe somewhere in a big field for the rest of his days. 
(The worst leg on the day he came.)
(The leg yesterday after the wrap came off.)
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Just curious, did they say “shipping” or “shipping to slaughter”?
In kill pen sales context, “shipping” usually means to another dealer sale barn or to auction. Passed on to another dealer.
Kill pen / sale-pens use words like “shipping tomorrow” and even putting a countdown on it to spur people to buy, when actually they are just passing horses from one dealer to another.
East Texas has many livestock auction barns and it is easy to sell off horses that are getting stale on the sale list. There are a considerable number of horse dealers who go from one auction to the next, flipping horses, while also trying to sell the better ones for more profit. It’s not uncommon for some of the same horses to show up at one auction after another, until a dealer can find a non-auction sale for them.
Unless they have plenty more horses coming in the pipeline (and they may), sale pens don’t usually sell horses earmarked to soon go to slaughter (if they ship to slaughter and not all do). They need a certain number / certain total weight for the truckload to slaughter in Mexico. They have a date by which they need to deliver. Once they have enough, those horses eat hay until loading time. Selling them just opens gaps in the load that have to be filled with other horses. New horses may or may not pass USDA inspection standards for shipping to slaughter in Mexico. A full load is worth around $15-$20,000, so they don’t want to be short. Hope this makes sense.
There is a difference between selling horses for profit and accumulating enough for a truckload to ship to slaughter by a certain date.
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I know, they say shipping to slaughter but I don’t necessarily believe it. I realize that these operations are mainly low end horse brokers who are making money off of horses that have very little value and probably were not viable for a private local sale. I hate to line their pockets, but I do feel bad for the horses themselves though because most are not / have not been properly taken care of, are exposed to all sorts of diseases and injuries, etc. I would love to give one a chance, however I also do want a riding horse. I would be fine with “nursing it back to good condition” within reason, but honestly don’t want to end up with a permanent pasture pet either and certainly don’t want to get a dangerous one either . And am having trouble finding anything halfway decent local for under $10k and I just don’t want to pay that for an older basic plain ol horse that would have cost $2k a few years ago!! And of course the same buyer beware situation exists with private sellers too regardless of price.
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I don’t know what exactly you want, but Bowie has this sweet gelding who has also had my eye: https://www.bowietexaslivestock.com/product/7735-broke-gentle-for-anyone-paint-gelding/
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I think he looks pretty sound, moves cute, attractive, and clearly willing. If I needed a cute lesson horse or just a little riding horse, I’d take a chance on him.
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Yea, I was looking at him. He’s really cute and I do want a type like that :).
How much do the horses at Bowie usually sell for? Seems they have some that seem like they could fetch a few bucks.
I think it varies wildly. I paid a little over $600 for mine, who as you can see, is not worth much at present. lol
I can’t think of anything that has a higher percentage likelihood of ending up with a pasture pet, even a difficult horse, than buying from a sale pen / kill pen in another state, with no chance to talk to anyone who has known the horse for the last several years. No chance to personally see the horse, vet the horse, try the horse.
There are no guarantees of course, no matter how a horse is bought, even with vet checks. But the odds are never in your favor with a kill pen / sale pen, or with any blind, un-vetted purchase.
But people suit themselves. And sometimes the opportunity for a faster immediate buying satisfaction overcomes long-term considerations.
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Playing devil’s advocate here, but to date, the only “problem” horse (lameness, not behavior) I’ve ended up with in a lot of buying and selling was the one with the $3k PPE. 
I’ve been quite lucky with my cheap, off-video buys. I totally get your point, but there are SO many unknown variables with horses and if OP’s budget is indeed limited for a simple riding horse, I’d perhaps run the risk of buying from a sale pen.
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Alllll of this
Which she noted…
OP, your words are inconsistent. You want all the good checkboxes but aren’t looking at the sources or at the price level for those checkboxes.
You are shopping in the wrong channel for the level of certainty you seem to want. No one can give you that certainty at a kill pen.
The chances of an outcome that you say you don’t want are so much greater on the path you are on now. Re “honestly don’t want to end up with a permanent pasture pet either and certainly don’t want to get a dangerous one either” – your words and search actions don’t match. You are looking where those outcomes are the most likely compared with more reputable sources of horses.
You are very unlikely to find a sound, durable riding horse at the price range that they were 3 or 4 years ago. The market has changed significantly over the past few years and it is unlikely to go back to those levels in the foreseeable future. The same is true for many types of goods these days.
Bowie horse sales knows better than either of us how much they can get for each horse. Their horses are priced accordingly. They are unlikely to sell a nice sound riding horse well below the current market price for a horse like that.
If you want to keep looking for a seller of a truly nice horse who is outside of normal horse networks and doesn’t know where prices are these days, that’s fine. You may well find one who will sell at the old price point. Be prepared that it could take quite a long time and require diligent monitoring and networking. Because anyone getting knowledgeable advice is likely to price their horse up. You’ll need to be endlessly patient and prepared for long-delayed gratification (but who knows, tomorrow could always be the day ).
You need to face up to a decision. Either your first priority is price, so you will buy a cheap horse and once you get it home will be willing to spend any amount of money on its needs, and maybe it won’t be that ride-able. Spend money on medical and/or supporting a pasture pet. Given the higher-than-average chance of one or both of those outcomes with a cheap horse. Wherever you find it.
Or you are primarily looking for a sound riding horse likely to be serviceable for several more years. In which case you are not looking in the right channel or at the right price level, in today’s market. If a good riding horse will bring a good price, it isn’t on the kill pen sales list for a discount. Sellers don’t knowingly give away desirable qualities that could bring a higher price (including Bowie).
If I want a higher-end TV but find out that what I want is priced higher than I want to pay at every store i the area, then I have a decision to make. I will pay less and not get what I really want, and talk myself into being satisfied with whatever I do get. Or, I pony up and pay for what I really wanted in the first place.
Horse prices may come down at some point but given the economic direction of prices of all things there is a chance that they won’t. In which case a nice riding horse will never be cheaper than the prices as they are now. Even though those prices have elevated significantly over the last few years.
Just don’t fool yourself into believing that you are getting a premium product at a steeply discounted price from a sales pen / kill pen, because that’s not what you are buying. Especially from an unknown background and history, not vetted and not tried by you.
“Giving a horse a chance” means a chance of not being what you say you want. That’s up to you, but you’ve said what you want, and it isn’t this flexible.
Sorry for the reality check, but it seems to be needed. Do as you wish but with wisdom and realistic expectations.
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And frankly with horses, it’s as simple as “if I save what I would spend on board/care each month, well in a few months I’ll have the higher price I need to get what I want”
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Well than what are you waiting for?? ( sorry it is easy to make a decision for someone else 
).
I see a lot of people shelling out big bucks on a horse( extensive PPE as well) and then we see them on here with all sorts of debilitating soundness issues that go from one end to the other. Buying any horse is a gamble as you can never know what tomorrow will bring.
There are some of us who find good , sound horses and are not paying out thousands to do so. What OP and others choose to do is up to them but a horse selling at a lower cost due to needing some good food doesn’t have to mean there is an underlying issue.
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I knew of one person who had “success” buying horses at auction at just above meat prices. The difference is that he ran a string of rental horses. He had a good eyefor horses and liked to “buy the problem you can see”.
But all his purchases didnt work out. He would simply send them back through the auction and try again. 
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When I read this thread, I feel like the seesaw has tipped too far one direction.
It’s worth repeating: people get good, useful horses from low-end auctions and kill pens on the regular.
I also think it’s worth repeating that the warnings and attempts to dissuade you come from a place of truth. Buying from low-end auctions and kill pens takes a type of flexibility that most people don’t have. You never quite know what experiences the horse had, why it landed there, and what it will take to overcome it. However, I’d say the combo of bad luck and bad horsemanship top the list more often than not.
So bottom line, there are plenty of useable horses coming out of places like Bowie, the problem is most people aren’t in a position to take that kind of gamble.
@Tha_Ridge your new guy is adorable! I hope you keep us updated on his progress.
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Perfectly said.
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