Has anyone been to any of the sales at Clifden? I’m thinking of stopping by the next 2-day in May and wondering if anyone has any experience at this sale.
I watch them but have never bid. I did buy a 3 year old Connemara cross mare directly from her breeder and used an Irish guy to go check her out along with several ISHs. He charges a fee to video or ride each horse, very thorough and quite reasonable. I did have him look at a couple at another Irish sale and he discovered some hidden issues that would not have been easy to see if you weren’t knowledgable. Definitely recommend using someone who knows what they are doing and what to look for.
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Oh, wonderful, thanks for sharing your experience! I’m not ready to buy just yet, but would love to take a poke about the sale and see what it’s all about. I do have a local breeder for help. Would you mind if I PMed you for more info?
If you just want to poke around then just go! Horse fairs are fantastic for people watching and huge fun.
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I’ve a breeder using my land for his brood mares so I’m going to tag along with him. Should be fun!
I’m quite envious as Clifden is on my rather vague bucket list. Maybe my next visit to Ireland will have to timed to go to the fair.
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Mission accomplished!
Spent a morning at this weekend’s sale. It was quite something to see. If anyone reads this now or in the future and has any questions, please feel free to ask and I’ll see if I can answer based on my super limited experience.
I went with a very local breeder. We neither purchased nor sold. Breeder keeps tabs on how foals from his programme are doing price wise. I’ve never been to any sale before in any country so I cannot compare. Saw bucket loads of beautiful ponies. There was a HUGE range in age, quality, state, skill of handler, size, colour, etc.
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