Julie Winkel is selling (2) 20 y/o horses and a 15 y/o in a lien sale. https://www.facebook.com/mwstables/
And…?
What is your objective with this post?
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What a shame that the owner of these horses has chosen to abandon them so that the farm must resort to their only legal recourse by auctioning them. Hopefully whoever buys them will do right by all three.
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There is almost certainly a messy/unfortunate situation in the background of this situation. But the way this usually works is that the deadbeat owner bids to get the horses back (and then moves to another barn) OR people who know the horses and want them bid (existing clients or people in the area) OR the barn ends up being the high bidder/the minimum isn’t met and the barn owns the horses and then can resell them and/or use them in the program. This is probably just the first step that has to be gone through, legally, before the horses can be moved along to appropriate long term homes with people who will pay the bills.
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My trainer bought an 18 yr old warmblood gelding in auction last year and he ended up being a wonderful school horse at our barn until he went on to find his own person just this month.
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Not sure we should assume the owner is necessarily a jerk, unless that is the case nearly all the time with these sorts of things. Is it?
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Probably to generate discussion?
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I bought an imported WB with papers and passport for $1. Wife passed and husband had not paid board for 6 months. Horse was aged and lame and spouse thought for some reason he could be sold on CL for lottsa money. I convinced him that a retirement as a companion for my youngster was preferable to a lien.
Things happen. Divorce, legal issues, health problems can change one’s economics pretty quickly.
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Well you can fairly assume the owner hasn’t paid the bills in full. Whether that means the owner is a jerk or not is up for discussion (we don’t know WHY the owner didn’t pay), but lien sales don’t happen unless bills are unpaid.
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Really unfortunate things can happen with death, divorce, or illness. We don’t need the back story. This happens from time to time, not always formally with a lien and private auction. Sometimes owners just sign the horses over to the trainer.
These are 3 older horses going for a package deal of $11,000. Those are not high dollar horses.
It might be of passing interest somewhere like Horse Show Diva if the high dollar horses of some known semi BNT got in this situation. Here we are talking about 3 older horses at a very low dollar rate. No doubt there is a juicy story if you knew the people and want to follow the ins and outs of their personal troubles, but honestly the private troubles of other anonymous ammies who haven’t chosen to share with us don’t really seem like any of my business.
What string of unfortunate events leads someone maybe living a bit above their means to default on a mortgage, lose a job, get their car repossessed, fail to pay horse board? These things happen all the time and while the details matter when they are family and you are asked to help, otherwise the details tend to be sad and repetitious.
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Well, yeah, I think that’s obvious. 
My question was directed as the underlying motive. Based on some of the comments I saw on the farm’s Facebook page, I suspected it was in hopes we would all jump on the bandwagon and roast Julie Winkel for putting these poor old horses on the auction block. That’s why I asked.
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Oh by people that don’t understand that the “private auction” format is a legal part of the lien process, and not the same as shipping to a public auction?
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I applaud them for doing it the legal way. It is sad that the horses have been abandoned.
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Well according to the Facebook post, one is 13, so not terribly old and has a good show record per the comments underneath.
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Ok I misread that as 15.
It’s still super cheap.
The OP said Helios was 15, so one is wrong.
Also the 2 20 year olds are still rideable, if memory serves, good lesson horses was stated in the comments.
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Yes. A good number of the Facebook comments are critical of the farm for auctioning off those poor old horses instead of just keeping them and giving them a good home as retirees. They have no understanding that there is a legal process that must be followed.
One of the commenters said she didn’t understand why the farm wouldn’t just keep the horses and keep feeding and caring for them even if they had been abandoned by their owner.
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Yes there’s currently a fair number of online folks who just reflexively respond to any sales or rehoming of older horses with “so cruel to send your seniors to slaughter omg.” It’s about reached troll proportions. It’s fallout from all the horse rescue sites and promo.
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And obviously what it could cost the farm to keep three horses though their golden years! My mare will be 30 next March. Any of the two 20 YOs could last that long. And the 13 YO, that is still capable of showing, could last longer. Freaking idjits. No farm owner should be expected to keep horses that long unless they want to. Most just can’t afford to.
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My favorite comment was, “I hope they don’t go to slaughter.” As if someone would buy three horses for $11k+ and then turn around and sell them for $0.25-0.50/pound.
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