Cranbury Auction- Higher End Stock

[Bogie]

@enjoytheride

I think it is the worst possible place you could think of to buy a husband horse! My local low end auction has horses go through all the time that are advertised as safe. If you’re lucky you can see someone ride them in the parking lot. You can’t ride them yourself, you can’t vet them, you can’t do a drug test, etc. There is a horse right now on that website that ran through the same auction 30 days before as unbroke, a different age, and a different breed.

Dealers purchase horses, put an intense and overwhelming 30 days on them, hit them with a bit of bute and some ace, and voila they are broke to ride.

A local dealer picks them up and they are on his website in 24 hours flat for sale for double what he paid with a “this horse is safe for anyone to ride.” He has no actual idea if any of this is true.

Auctions are good places to get cheap horses if you know what you are doing, know what to look for, and can accept what you get if the horse ends up being dangerous or lame. Rescues that work with auctions want you to believe you are getting the next husband horse when you are just as likely to be buying someone else’s problem. Not every horse purchased at an auction ends up winning at Devon.

Absolutely do NOT buy a husband horse at a place like this unless you have a big insurance policy on said husband. Buy a horse you can ride, and vet. Several of the horses in this past auction came from the Strain Family Farm. At least if you buy from them, you have a 2-week return window (and should use it for a solid PPE and drug testing). The Nakota horse that sold for $9K had gone through the sale unbroke with no papers a month ago. Horse was never put in quarantine, just ridden for 30 days and flipped. The Nakota horse sanctuary where the horse was born posted quite a lot about that particular horse and there were reasons why he’d ended up at auction.

ETA – There are always going to be people who tell you they got the perfect kids horse or husband horse at places like this. However, I’ve heard far more stories about horses that ended up being dangerous or permanently lame. And if you do want to pull a horse from an auction, you can often get the same horse at New Holland several days before the Cranbury auction for half the price.

[MoonWitch]

I got two from Cranbury last year for less than $1k each. Both working QHs; one 25yo that just needed a soft landing and the other had been doing games. Both came sweet, healthy and sane. The 25yo is my personal trail horse and the little palomino QH is in my lesson program. Is Cranbury the place for everyone? Absolutely not. OTOH, I had a really bad experience with a so called “professional” in the area that sold an unsuspecting client a rank, dangerous waste of $5k.

[WildandWickedWarmblo]

@MoonWitch

I got two from Cranbury last year for less than $1k each. Both working QHs; one 25yo that just needed a soft landing and the other had been doing games. Both came sweet, healthy and sane. The 25yo is my personal trail horse and the little palomino QH is in my lesson program. Is Cranbury the place for everyone? Absolutely not. OTOH, I had a really bad experience with a so called “professional” in the area that sold an unsuspecting client a rank, dangerous waste of $5k.

Great that you got 2 out of there. I admire people who can go pull horses from bad fates and give them good homes.

[enjoytheride]

@WildandWickedWarmbloods

Great that you got 2 out of there. I admire people who can go pull horses from bad fates and give them good homes.

Locallly a 25yo horse would go for $200. Maybe $300 on a really really good day. Even if he’s ridden in the ring by someone’s toddler. I think the location and Facebook drama drive the prices up which is only good for the dealers.

[MoonWitch]

@enjoytheride

Locallly a 25yo horse would go for $200. Maybe $300 on a really really good day. Even if he’s ridden in the ring by someone’s toddler. I think the location and Facebook drama drive the prices up which is only good for the dealers.

Maybe, maybe not. I don’t really care since I didn’t play into the FB drama or anything else actually. He (25yo) had been through NH the week before but I didn’t see him. He’s worth his weight in gold to me and as sweet as can be, so I don’t really care how he came to me. I do stay away from the “angels” page and some of the rescue pages that scream - buy before midnight or they go to slaughter!!!

[chicagojumper]

For what it’s worth, there’s a whole fb group dedicated to Cranbury sales horror stories.

[MoonWitch]

@chicagojumper

For what it’s worth, there’s a whole fb group dedicated to Cranbury sales horror stories.

Of course there is! I would never suggest an inexperienced person, first time horse buyer or other novice to go to an auction without knowing what they’re getting in to. Common sense; these places are not that are all lollipops and daisies. Come to think of it, nothing is in life …

[Angela_Freda]

@Bogie

Absolutely do NOT buy a husband horse at a place like this unless you have a big insurance policy on said husband. Buy a horse you can ride, and vet. Several of the horses in this past auction came from the Strain Family Farm. At least if you buy from them, you have a 2-week return window (and should use it for a solid PPE and drug testing). The Nakota horse that sold for $9K had gone through the sale unbroke with no papers a month ago. Horse was never put in quarantine, just ridden for 30 days and flipped. The Nakota horse sanctuary where the horse was born posted quite a lot about that particular horse and there were reasons why he’d ended up at auction.

ETA – There are always going to be people who tell you they got the perfect kids horse or husband horse at places like this. However, I’ve heard far more stories about horses that ended up being dangerous or permanently lame. And if you do want to pull a horse from an auction, you can often get the same horse at New Holland several days before the Cranbury auction for half the price.

Most recently horses came out of there with EHV-1, and most of the time there’s shipping fever, strangles and other issues that end up costing those with big hearts, big money… so yeah…

The exceptions are amazing stories, which alas encourage those who shouldn’t [often] to go ahead and dive right in… but they are the exceptions.

[MoonWitch]

@Angela Freda

Most recently horses came out of there with EHV-1, and most of the time there’s shipping fever, strangles and other issues that end up costing those with big hearts, big money… so yeah…

The exceptions are amazing stories, which alas encourage those who shouldn’t [often] to go ahead and dive right in… but they are the exceptions.

There was an impressively, well known, high end farm in our area that had EHV-1 about a year or so ago; lost a few well bred horses if I remember.

The horses that come from auction are encouraged to go to a quarantine facility and those are even earmarked at the top of their websites. Those that foolishly go to an auction expecting to find the perfect “little pony” for their kid or “husband” horse, are playing Russian roulette. I don’t think it encourages anyone to do anything that they wouldn’t have done on their own, but YMMV. It’s also more likely you will hear negative responses or horror stories, more so than any success stories; that’s just the way it goes.

Like I mentioned earlier, I had a client go out on her own and buy from a so-called 'respected" dealer who sold her a rank, dangerous, piece of crap that ended up costing her over $5k in purchase, training, trailer fees and board; only to be left with an empty halter in the end.

[Escada]

Anybody know anything about the #1 Spanish horse or his former owners? I looked at the videos but didn’t see any third level stuff in there. He’s very pretty though and I hope he got a good home. I worry about horses in auctions.

[Bogie]

@Escada

Anybody know anything about the #1 Spanish horse or his former owners? I looked at the videos but didn’t see any third level stuff in there. He’s very pretty though and I hope he got a good home. I worry about horses in auctions.

He was owned by one of the people who run the auction – for at least the last year. The problem with hyping them up is that when people buy them and find out they aren’t as advertised. That was a pretty horse who looked mellow. Let’s hope that was enough.

[findeight]

@Bogie

He was owned by one of the people who run the auction – for at least the last year. The problem with hyping them up is that when people buy them and find out they aren’t as advertised. That was a pretty horse who looked mellow. Let’s hope that was enough.

An imbedded shill…

[Southern_Belle]

@Escada

Anybody know anything about the #1 Spanish horse or his former owners? I looked at the videos but didn’t see any third level stuff in there. He’s very pretty though and I hope he got a good home. I worry about horses in auctions.

He got a phenomenal home:-)

[Escada]

Southern Belle - so glad to hear that!

[enjoytheride]

I was once at an auction where one of the dealers was selling a horse as broke but would not get on it. There are always men hanging around to hop on a horse and get some extra money for the seller, and several of those love a chance to ride some bucks out in the 15 X 40 ring. It was an extraordinary first when the dealer refused to let anyone on the horse and was very very clear he felt it was extremely dangerous. I’ve NEVER seen a dealer risk losing a dollar claiming his horse was unsafe to ride and these men can ride ANYTHING. It ended up being sold to the auctioneer who owned bucking stock.

I’ve personally seen ponies advertised as “kid safe” but nobody gets on it and the seller says “so, you’ll get on it before your kids right???”

[ladyj79]

@enjoytheride

I’ve personally seen ponies advertised as “kid safe” but nobody gets on it and the seller says “so, you’ll get on it before your kids right???”

Answer: No, but you will.