Mostly just wondering out of curiosity but also because in a few months I’ll be looking for a new horse partner and thought that could be an interesting endeavor. A little on the fence about it given that you could wind up with a boatload of vet issues and whatnot, but thought I’d ask my favorite expert community
I have.
There’s been a few successes and a few duds. You have to have a good eye and not get suckered in by a sob story. Unless you’re an experienced rider and can take the loss financially if the horse doesn’t work out, don’t do it.
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I’m strictly a trail rider. When I was young, we (myself and friends) bought quite a few horses that way and they all worked out great.
The worst thing we had to watch for back then was a drugged horse, or a horse that had been horribly “used up”, as a buggy horse, by the Amish. We had all grown up with horses, with a lot of experience, so buying a horse with big holes in its training was no big deal.
We also got to the sales early enough to watch the horses come in and pretty much knew, the ones we were interested in, ahead of the auction.
I bought an 18 month, green broke, Tennessee Walker at a gaited horse auction in 2004. He was a fantastic colt, especially after I got him gelded. One of the most intelligent and people oriented horses to grace my pastures:):).
@BrokenArrow ”‹”‹”‹”‹”‹”‹is spot on, you had better know your horses, or take someone with you who does, or don’t go:)
I would stay away from on-line auctions too:)
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I bought my most recent horse at a ranch horse auction --but I always have to tell people who ask, it wasn’t THAT kind of auction. The 30 horses that sold that day were guaranteed for 7 days after purchase —buyer could do what he/she wanted with the horse and if it didn’t work out for any reason, bring it back for full money return. I started going to the site two weeks before the auction to try out the horses as they came in --decided on 5 that I liked, narrowed that to three by auction day.
My husband (who used to own race horses and does not become emotionally involved with them) looked at my choices and put them in order that he would bid. The first horse came into the auction ring lame —pass —second horse was the one I purchased for exactly what my husband suggested was the correct price (not high, not low, not a deal, just what horse was worth). The horse I didn’t buy was four years older and had less training on his resume.
FYI the Ranch Horse Auction I attended (and I’m told this is true for most/all) is completely up front with the horses’ backgrounds. If the horse is sold as a money-winner, he has won money. If he is sold as kid safe --he’s kid safe. My horse had been at the auction site since February (I bought him in April). During that time the auction people had ridden him, worked cattle with him, done reining patterns, made videos, and tried him loading, clipping, shoeing, etc. I asked the auction organizer when I tried him a couple of weeks before if the horse would stand for washing with a hose. He said, “I don’t know; he’s ok with the power washer.”
The horse is everything I was told he was. In my “trial week” I hunted him, had a PPE done, trail rode him and had the shoer out (I would never buy a horse without the shoer giving him a look --don’t want to hear about bad feet for the next 20 years.). I also was able to contact all four of the horse’s previous owners via FaceBook (and help from COTH people) using his Coggins Test (previous owner’s name on it). Found he was everything I was told (Rodeo pick-up horse, cutting sorting, money-winning, and real ranch work). I also found out he’d been used as a pack horse (carried half an Elk out of the mountains} and had been used as a mounted shooting horse. Needless to say, he has worked out well as a fox hunter and a mounted archery horse. If you are in my area --Stoney Creek Quarter Horses is having another Ranch Horse Auction soon --they post horses on their Facebook page as they come in. Honest people.
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I know people who have gotten great horses this way, and people who had nothing but problems. Being experienced with horses and having a good eye can help, but sometimes you just end up with physical, training, or behavioral issues that you wouldn’t see in a few minutes in an auction environment. I wouldn’t do it unless you are prepared for the possibilities. You may end up with something that needs training. If you aren’t experienced enough to do that yourself, are you willing to pay for a trainer? You may end up with something that has physical issues; do you have money to put into vet work? If the horse doesn’t work out for you, you might need to sell it, but if it has really bad problems you might be stuck with something you can’t ride and can’t sell unless you’re willing to send it back to auction. Are you prepared to keep it forever or put it down? You also might end up with a great horse that works out perfectly or something that is at least serviceable. It’s a bit of a crapshoot and I would do it only if you’re prepared for the possible financial and emotional repercussions.
Where I boarded in AZ the barn owner would go to the auction and bring home horses for the lesson program and summer camp. She had an amazing eye -AND- she was quite willing to take them -BACK- to the auction if they did not work out. Unless you are very experienced at spotting a diamond in the rough, have deep pockets to retire them if they turn out to have unseen issues, or are extremely pragmatic and okay with moving them on, I would not recommend it. You will be praised for “rescuing” one from the auction, but absolutely vilified if you get in over your head and need that way out.
Working with a reputable rescue might be an option. For example Bluebonnet in Texas seems to have a great program of retraining theirs, so you have a better idea of what you’re getting.
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When I was a teen I worked for a rental string that got their horses from auctions. As others have said, it is a gamble. Sometimes you can find a horse with an obvious treatable problem (we got one with a bad rope burn on its leg) Owner always avoided the pretty, fat “why is it here?” horses. The results were varied. Thin camp horses in the Fall if you could overwinter were the best bet. Although one thin TB type turned into a lunatic when fed. Most were serviceably sound (guy knew what to look for and the bar was pretty low!) but there were many behavior issues. Some could be worked through but others earned a trip back to the auction. There was one pinto that looked half Arab who seemed to ride nicely until she decided she was done - then she reared up until she fell over. They tried the old cowboy tricks on her, but she would not give it up and she went back to auction. Pity.
When I was a teenager and we couldn’t afford expensive horses, we went to the local kill auction. (They didn’t refer to it as that, but we all knew what it was.)
You have to be very careful. My first horse was purchased at auction for the whopping sum of $269. She was ridden through the ring, sound, cute as a button, just the right size for me. Only AFTER they pulled the saddle and huge blanket off of her could you see the road rash and banged-up withers that indicated a trailer accident of some kind. But she went on to be one of the sanest, prettiest-moving horses I’ve ever owned.
Know what you want, know what you want to spend. Auctions are fast-paced for a reason - you get emotionally involved and poof! You’ve bought something for five times its value. Especially when that something is a horse in a bad situation. (Did that, yes.) And there are a lot that still haunt me. They’d all be dead by now of old age, but they deserved better than to end up in that place.
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I ALMOST did. I went with a friend to hopefully get a weanling . The one I wanted was also the one everyone else did. Unknown to me the breeder was a well known local. who was known for quality. She went way over what I could afford so I went home empty handed.
If it is a registered sale or a special sale you may find a noice horse. If it is a weekly auction where anything from anywhere can show up you are taking a bigger risk at what you might find. You can still find a "diamond"in those sales too, if you are lucky.
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Just another aspect to consider depending on what type of auction you are talking about…the lower end auctions have a high turnover in horses. Strangles and other communicable diseases are pretty common. I know a lady who found out one of the horses she had bred had ended up at New Holland. She was contacted by a local breed group who noticed her name on his paperwork (and he was lucky to have come with his papers…many don’t!). She bid on him and paid for him, paid to have him shipped back to our state, and then proceeded to spend close to $2k to treat his strangles and had to be quarantined for months.
So if you are going to board, you will have to find a place to quarantine. Most barns will not want you bringing in horses with more than likely no vaccine records, and typically you want to quarantine the horse for a MINIMUM of 30 days. If you are keeping the horse at home, you won’t have the expense of quarantining at another barn.
I myself have never bought from an auction. I’m experienced enough, have a good enough eye, but I have never wanted to deal with it. A lot of horses that end up at the lower end auctions have health issues, soundness issues, little to no training, or behavioral/training issues. Not all of them, but a good portion of them. If you are dead set on an auction, try to find a higher end auction like the ones mentioned by the posters above. If you are not experienced enough to spot lameness or health issues, I would bring somebody experienced with you.
Good luck whatever you decide OP.
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The place where I barn-ratted growing up used to regularly pick up horses from the monthly auction in Thurmont, Md. Some made it into the lesson herd, some were flipped to families looking to buy a horse for their student, some departed as quickly and quietly as they arrived.
I remember some gems, along with some rough-cut diamonds that just needed a different sort of polish than what this operation could provide. (Being a school pony, even one for more advanced students, takes a special brain.) I don’t remember any outright disasters, but that’s likely because the owners really, really knew horses. And also knew they had to be really, really unsentimental about what were effectively business decisions.
I bought three horses from an auction, but they were all 6 months - 1 year old and no one had screwed them up yet. They all turned out just fine, physically and mentally. I did have the cost of gelding them all. I eventually sold two of them 4 & 6 years later. I would be very wary of buying an older horse at the auction.
I have a friend who was buying drafts at the Texas auctions for her carriage business. Not a single one ended up working out; or they did, but after a week or two back into fairly light work - crippled out and broke down. :no: They were all sent straight back to the auction, or in some cases, the vet came out and she dug a hole because their quality of life wasn’t worth sending them back.
IF you treat it like a business, I guess it can be a cheaper way to get things done - but I’d rather just spend the money on something I can truly vet out (both actually vet and also get some references).
Same friend went up to Ohio this fall to stalk some of the auctions there; apparently she got some really lovely horses for her upcoming holiday season, and that was the trick - going to the Amish auctions for driving horses. Makes sense. We’ll wait to see how they work out when push comes to shove - it’s always an interesting day when you take the carriage horse from poking around the pastures to the streets of Dallas and the crazy drivers, the Segway tours, the bicycles, etc. :lol:
I will say, the Texas auctions concern me because they’re so close to the border. Bowie is out of the way and it’s a nice place to make troubled horses go away quietly in the night. I’m sure there are some gems there - we do have a racetrack in DFW, and there are more cattle ranching/western type horses west of the metroplex - so if I was looking for a horse like that I might consider it. But, I’d prefer to deal directly with the consignment ranches if at all possible.
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I bought a gelding that I felt bad for at an auction, a whole $25. He was horribly malnourished and probably would have died within the week if he no saled and went back to the seller.
He was younger than I’d expected, and not gelded. He was so malnourished that his nuts hadn’t dropped at age 2. Six months of decent hay was all it took for surprise nuts!
He’s a sweet horse, but whatever hell he was in for the 2 years before I got him have fried him mentally. He was definitely used for either riding or driving, and to my best guess, probably got an into an accident of some sort.
He’s a mental basket case who still struggles to trust and is constantly on the lookout for if he feels the need to get OUT of a situation.
He’s an easy keeper, loves cuddles, and I know he would have died if I didn’t get him, so ultimately I’m happy with my decision to get him. I’m not sure I’d do the same purchase over again though. He’s a heck of an onion, keep peeling away at the layer! Lol
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My current one came from a local auction, which at the time was a low end place with a lot of meat buyers, loose horses with no info, bottom of the barrel stuff. I paid $325, he was ugly and small for a 3yo but had been sat on. When I got him home I spent another few hundred having the vet out to treat the flu-turned-infection he had, do a fecal (full of worms) and give him a once over. No lasting issues, and he turned out to be a pretty super kid who just needed proper nutrition and time to grow up (3" and over 400lb in 2 years). I like a good fixer upper and am comfortable with that process so it worked out fine. I think youngsters are probably a safer bet if the horse isn’t sold guaranteed sound.
If you’re looking at a low end auction or one where a lot of shady traders frequent… Believe nothing if you don’t see with your own eyes.
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“Surprise nuts” made me laugh harder than I should have. I’m glad you got him too. Sounds like a sweet soul that hard a hard run of luck before walking into the auction you were at.
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There’s a really nice sale each year in conjunction with the San Antonio Livestock Show and Rodeo - two sales, actually. I have been to it many times but have not bought one from there. Prices tend to be high, especially in the Ranch Gelding sale, but the horses are all really nice, registered quarter horses. There also used to be a sale in Sealy, not sure if it’s still held or not - Tom Lockwood was the man that ran It. I bought two horses there once (both young) and still have one of them now. The other was moved along when he proved to be a bit much for me at the time. There’s also Round Mountain that’s here central, and I have friends that have bought animals there, but again, I have not. One bought a lovely dark gelding that turned out to have come from a rodeo bucking string, so ya never know…
I did once. He was supposed to be a resale project, but frankly we fell in love with each other and now he’s a lifer. Pros: He is a fun ride, and no major soundness issues. Cons: He has a LOT of baggage, and while we’ve mostly worked through it, he has a tendency towards anxiety I don’t think he’ll ever get over; he’s about 8+ years older than they said (not blaming the auction for this one, I looked at his front teeth and also thought he was younger, it wasn’t until we got a speculum in his mouth and saw his molars we realized he was older;) he has cushings and needed his hocks injected.
Frankly, I love him, and wouldn’t trade him for the world.
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The surprise nuts stories is one of my favorites, lol!
Here I’m saying he’s mentally fried and struggling, yet my 7 year old ADHD kid who doesn’t stop ever, can run up full blast to him and give him a hug. Little horse loves it. But heaven forbid I look at him funny…poor little horse just can’t trust adults. I can’t blame him.
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I think auctions are super if you want a potentially difficult project or have the time and money to give a horse a soft landing (and recognize that you may very well never end up riding or being able to do anything with said horse). I DO know people who have nice riding horses they bought from the auction, but for the most part, these are exceptions. And they always took some work. Most of the horses run through auctions are being dumped for one reason or another – injury, mental instability, illness, old age, other quirks.
We recently bought an auction horse, and I will be happy at this point if she even makes it through the winter. Unable to halter, skeletal, and sick, with no history. I doubt she would have lived much longer had no one else stepped up to get her. Some of the auctions are a bit better than others, like Bowie…or so I’ve heard, never been there personally, but they seem to have paperwork in order and do their best to represent the horse to the best of their knowledge.
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