I heard “…13.3, 3-year old…” in the video.
I think she’s 13.3. I don’t need a huge horse and don’t understand why huge horses are so desirable anyways. I’m not very tall.
I’ve never been lucky a day in my life. I guess I’ll keep peeling away at it and hope someone scoops her up in the meantime.
Well, I looked at the video…and I think she’s a nice horse. Looks sound, straight, good top line. I hope you save her.
This horse isn’t going to the killers. Horses that list for sale at over a grand don’t get put on a truck to sell for a couple hundred for meat. She’s really too little to haul there anyway, and greys are often/always turned down at the plant because of their color (melanoma condemns a carcass.)
This is a dealer capitalizing on your fear. She’s cute! If you want her, buy her, but not because you’re being manipulated into it with “the truck is coming!” nonsense.
I agree, and that’s part of my debate for sure. There was/is a number of colts and fillies there. Most of them were 800-1k. I don’t know why she got marked up $300-400. Because she’s actually a nice horse? Because she’s grey? I guess I have expensive taste.
Actually, lots of these do end up going to slaughter unfortunately. The mark up is somewhat minimal if you consider they keep them for weeks before they ship them. If nobody wants them, where do you think they go ultimately?
And grey horses go to Mexico and become dog food all the time. So do baby horses, ponies, etc.
There is a localish person who takes them over the boarder to just that end, and has for many years. It is sickening to see what is in his holding pens. I cannot do a thing about it, he does not sell out of those pens. He fills his load and ships.
Yeah, this is the difference.
He’s not buying this horse at a grand plus to ship it to Mexico.
Not at all disagreeing that horses ship to slaughter. This one won’t, though. This is the very successful dealer market. You pull the ones that are marketable, get pics and video and house them in a way where they’re not going to get too damaged.
These guys aren’t stupid. If they can get a grand for a horse that might pull, what, a hundred bucks across the scales, they’ll make that happen.
The actual kill lot horses are generally not for sale, like with your local guy.
The kill lot horses are sometimes for sale, it depends absolutely on the person who runs that pen. They are separated and kept that way, but can be pulled from the direct ship pens if allowed. You get a coggins and health cert and you are good to go. You just have to ask.
This mare will most likely end up shipping to slaughter, if she doesn’t sell. Most horses are marked up when run through the auctions, that’s the point.
More than a heart string pull, it’s a last chance for most of these horses. Dealers usually don’t take the time to YouTube, they get shuffled off to another sale if not sold. Or direct shipped.
Have you seen the horses that ship through the auctions of the Mexico border towns? Lots of nice horses go to Mexico. Many end up becoming dog food. There are not enough homes or people willing to work with these types of horses, and they are crossing the border all the time.
If this mare doesn’t go on the trailer that ships her to Mexico, she will most likely get run loose thru a few more auctions, if another dealer wants to deal with her.
Most don’t, unless they get a great deal on a bundle. Those horses end up at the auctions around the Texas/Mexico border all the time.
I grew up on the border, going to my first auction at 8 years old. I was a wild child and talked my mom in to a kill pen horse 
, so I have many years experience with this side of the horse industry.
I am going to enable you. She is a cute mover, sounds pretty sound on a hard surface, feet look pretty good and body wise she looks to not be starved or injured. She is just a medium size pony that has not been handled, much less broken to ride. That really limits those people that might be interested in her because lots of people do not have the skill set to deal with a semi feral horse, especially a small one that is more suited to a child. She doesn’t look that wild or crazy. Just unhandled. I will say if she was running through the lower end auction in north Alabama she would never sell for $1200.
But if I wanted this horse I would figure in the cost of quarantine in her price. I just remember all those sad sagas when the PMU foal craze was in its height. The “breeders” would not spend $50 to vaccinate their foals and they got shipped everywhere. And some poor fools got a $5000 vet bill for their $100 foal when it got horrible strangles and other diseases after all the stress it went through. If this young horse is in a feed lot it probably isn’t up to date with vaccinations and it has been exposed to you know what. Better to take care of that and let it get healthy before you add the stress of shipping.
I think that gray is cute. I’d looked at the lot (because of this thread) before you posted which horse you were interested in, and I pretty much thought that this horse had to be the one.
If I were in the market for another horse I’d definitely be looking hard at this filly.
Plenty of dealers, like this one, take the time to get a couple pics and a bit of video, because they know that’s what people need to see, and because it pulls at the heartstrings. It’s so profitable.
Yes, horses go to slaughter. This one? No, she won’t. She’ll sell from here. Someone who’s taking the time to set up a site, get pics and video, and price this horse here isn’t going to ship her. Could she spin through another sale and change hands? Sure, maybe. But realistically? She’s cute, well put together, and a popular breed. Someone will pick her up.
Yeah, this is exactly the point I was trying to make before. My next horse will be a 3-4 year old and I’m extremely partial to Lusitanos-- Andalusians less so, but they’re very similar. With the horse market what it is right now, $1400 is totally reasonable for a 3 year old, even unhandled. But, then factoring in someone to quarantine it (I did get a quote from someone: $400 to pick her up, $18/day for board, and $350 for “training”), and the $2.5k it costs to ship her, now this is a $5k horse at minimum. That’s if there’s no vet bills I’m responsible for. I’m creeping toward the price I could buy a healthy, handled youngster that I can go pick up myself if I wait out the market a little.
Man, that seems steep, doesn’t it? Is “training” optional? Unhandled is kind of a bonus, that clean slate is nice!
It was from one person— so maybe there is a much cheaper option.
My method for the unhandled is to throw them in with one of my friendly guys and usually within a week they come around. Haltering and leading is not hard. I understand needing to handle the horse even for quarantine. What if there’s a veterinary issue? But that doesn’t mean I want to pay for a stranger’s training.
