Sounds very reasonable
Please let us know if any of you come to the sale. Iāll be there and would love to meet you. Skipollo and cutter99 have covered the information really well. Iām a faculty member in the department that holds the sale. Honesty is a priority. During the demonstrations and at the auction block, they have even said that a particular horse has challenges in training and have described the issues. They truly want a good fit.
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That sounds perfect. Thanks!
Can I PM you about details of seeing these horses? I think Iām not AQHA-savvy enough to buy sight unseen, so Iād have to come up and watch them move and interact with their people.
Perhaps Penn State hasnāt yet decided just how much theyād like to open their barns/auction area to the public quite yet vs. how much they hope we could all buy and inspect remotely?
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Yes, you certainly can PM me. At this time, only personnel who have an absolute need to be on campus are there. So, weāre not having visitors right now. We donāt know when this will change. I know thatās not helpful, but as far as I know, they havenāt made a decision on how the sale will be conducted.
The Penn State sale will be held online with bidding April 27- May 2. Professional Auction Services will be conducting the auction.
https://sites.psu.edu/quarterhorsesale/2020/02/11/2020-penn-state-quarter-horse-sale-day-info/
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Thanks cutter99! You know our program well.
Here are some additional links:
When theyāre available, you will be able to see videos of the horses through Professional Horse Services https://prohorseservices.com/, on our sale website https://sites.psu.edu/quarterhorsesale/ and the Penn State Quarter Horse Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/psuquarterhorses/ . I know itās not like being there in person. If you are looking for a certain type of horse, certain personality, etc. Iām sure Brian Egan would be happy to talk with you. The entire sale team truly wants to make good matches for horse and buyer.
Our students are viewing this as an opportunity to learn different skills. Some of them have commented that they especially understand the need for clear written communication. While this was not the outcome planned, they are making the best of it.
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The good thing (for all of us) is that we all get to learn a whole crap-ton about how we might go about buying and selling horses from pictures, video and frank discussion of the horse between buyer and seller.
I know that when I was watching some of the YouTube video of last yearās demo, I brought my A-game horse-reading-skills while watching .a horseās behavior and the ride he was getting in order to try to decipher anything about his mind. It will be hard to do that again to make a purchase, but I think these horses and Penn Stateās staff will make this kind of distance buying experience way, way less risky than will be your average horse trading-by-video transaction. I find myself marveling at the COTHers who buy horses from videos.
And so students, too, will get to learn from this set of real-life buyers who are making a bet in economically uncertain times just what those folks will want to know about the horses they are marketing in order to get them sold well. Itās actually kinda cool to have them learn this as part of their course!
Full disclosure, I am married to someone who previously had involvement with the program, although that was many years ago. Our horse was purchased long after my spouse left.
But, I was first exposed to the breeding and training program 25 + years ago (long before I met my husband), through a halter horse breeder/ exhibitor, who would purchase most of his broodmares through the breeding program in a silent auction type format. This man knew horses inside and out, and was a true horseman. He had great faith in the program and swore these were some of the most amateur friendly horses you would ever find.
The program has had a change in bloodlines over the years, as well as a progression in leadership and it has not take a step backwards. The horses are high quality, well handled, and well cared for. Probably the worst things I can say about the horse I own is he was slightly herd bound when I bought him, and he seriously thinks he should have at least 5-6 college students worshipping at his hooves at any given time. He also thinks he should live in our house because he is of that sort of quality!
But, personally, I would have absolutely no issue buying a horse through the sale, sight unseen, but I have been either attending or bidding at the sale for 15-16 years. I have stated to the staff explicitly what I am looking for in a horse, have given them the name of a horse that interests me, and been told that that particular horse does not meet my criteria.
Talk to the staff, be explicit in what you are looking for, remember these are two year olds that are freshly started, and do your due diligence.
Although I do not know who Skipapollo and Skipās Rider are, I could hazard a guess because the horse world is not such a big place!
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I donāt have anything important to add other than another vote that I would definitely consider horses from this sale if I were looking for a QH prospect. (I graduated from Penn State and did the sales class.) It is very well-run and the horses are started well. Iāve ridden a few horses that have come from that program and they have all been agreeable, ammy-friendly souls. (Obviously the people who owned those horses built upon the education they came with and continued them on the path of horsey righteousness.)
I also agree with the suggestions above regarding letting the staff know what youāre looking for and also keep your immediate expectations modest as they are green two year olds. 
Good luck and I hope you find something you like!
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MVP, hope you update us should you decide to bid. Usually on the cautious side, at the very least, with things like this but this is one situation Iām comfortable recommending.
And you are one poster I know will practice due diligence and be honest with seller.
Dont get too hung up on height, half the taller horses advertised are not the height represented in the ad anyway. Fads come and go, solid citizens are always welcome.
Awwā¦ thanks for your kind words. And thanks, everyone, for your help with this.
I have met a couple of young horses that came from Penn. I donāt know them well, but I will go watch them work locally before the sale. That will go a long way to help me learn if my expectations are realistic.
Now, I just need to find a good foal pasture so that the youngān can have another year of growing up right.
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Just out of curiosity, what is the price range, generally, on the horses going through these sales? I realize that there will be exceptions, but how do the sales generally play out?
Thanks!
I believe the minimum bid is $1500. Occasionally you will see a horse that brings that but it is rare. I paid $2100 for my horse in 2008. The nicer horses will go into five figures but the majority will be mid four figures. The website does have a page listing the results from last years sale, and if you dig on the website you might find more previous years results.
MVP, I would say that if you want to work towards making a bridle horse, find one that has an innate talent to raise the base of the neck, to raise the withers. Such a horse would be rather like a dressage prospect, without any emphasis on that floaty, 10 trot, or height. Just ā¦not a sewing machine trot.
Iāve ridden a few on the ranchā¦one extraordinarily athletic OTTB, an appendix AQHA mare out of a jockey club mare, and an AQHA gelding.
They all have a natural, easy lead change and an aptitude for lateral work. They have all been really cowy, though they wouldnāt be cutting show horses. FWIW, all three like to rear at play.
Iāve had, and ridden several other ranch horses in the last ten years. Some horses make great ranch horses, cover the ground, are cowy and useful and fun to ride, but are just not as innately capable of a more collected posture. You can absolutely bring them along, and make them much better. But if I were trying to make a bridle horse, that could also jump around at 3āā¦Iād go for the one that could bust a move. Asking a horse to go in a bridle bit, one handed, he really has to have self carriage and be thoroughly non-dependent on the inside rein.
Justā¦ find a good minded horse, with a bit of ambition, sense of humor, and athletic ability.
Wow, Iām in love with that Mechanic filly. Oh, to have enough money to have two horsesā¦ sheās stunning. I wonder what her personality is like.
So helpful. Thank you!
I had the same idea that you did-- I need an uphill, somewhat ambitious and smart horse. Letās underline āuphillā again for good measure since I am a tad confused about the build of the modern AQHA and what a bridle horse has to do in terms of biomechanics. And I think I need one who is willing to do the mental work it takes to accept that kind of detail-oriented training. I think of my good olā boy hunter and I imagine that he would have been tortured as a dressage horse.
Iām also grateful for whatever you want to add about choosing a bridle horse prospect because the horses I see in clinics (with the exception of Buck Brannamanās dark bay gelding a few years ago) donāt look like horse that will find that genuine, uphill collection easy. And I see lots of horses who are very light in the hand but way, way, (way) behind the leg. To me, that means they donāt use their backs and hind ends as well as donāt wanna go forward.
I think I have a training story made up about how these horses were made this way. But I donāt know how much of the natural traits of the modern stock horses these folks are riding contribute to that āfront to backā horse. What do you and you all think?
The nice guy cowboy who is in my part of the country and will help me (via clinics) has said that any horse who doesnāt have some serious conformation problem in the mouth can be made up as a bridle horse. Iām not sure this is true, unless one is being very generous about what one means in terms of how that horse uses his body. I donāt think Iām going to get this all right on my first project. But buying one that doesnāt find the work physically easy or who doesnāt really want a C-suite kind of mental job seems the wrong raw material to start with.
I sound like I want to buy an English dressage horse and slap Western training on it but have a better, more happy to comply mind that a Warmblood. Is that the right search image? Should I be looking for something else?
More information is up on the auction companyās website- $1000 minimum bids!
First off, OP, thanks for sharing this sale. I lived in PA for years and never knew about itā¦ which is probably for the best for my personal finances, but still. Opportunity lost.
Other comments:
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I impulse-bought a then-5yo unbroke QH stallion in late 2018 because I was looking for a project and Iām a sucker for palominos (donāt judge me). After years riding of warmbloods and warmbloody-type horses, this little guy is a bit of a breath of fresh air. Heās more of a 7-mover than an 8 or 9, but he tries hard every time I take him out of the stall and has never said no to anything Iāve asked. Heās been gelded and under saddle about a year and a half now, and is toying with the majority of 2nd level. His default setting is collection-- he solves most of the balance problems with more sit.
Simultaneously, this is the kind of horse that can stand tied to a fence for however long you want, or toodle around on trails. Very much an all-around pleasant little guy.
Iām not saying that all QHs ever can turn into viable dressage candidates, but I do think the ranchy/reining types that have been bred for the right kind of sitting athleticism and arenāt quite as independent-minded as the cutting horses can be a good fit for the type of horse I hear you describing. Happy hunting!
The sale is going on now! Anyone bidding???
For better and for worse, I think the on-line auction is going to drive up their prices in comparison to when the auction was live. If you look at past salesā records, and compare those to this yearās current prices at the mid-point in the auction, I think youāll agree.
You always could have set up an account for bidding by phone, but it would be interesting to see if they had way more registered bidders this year than in years past.
That said, I donāt know enough about the various bloodlines and types of horses they are breeding now vs. years past. So is a reining baby a $10K horse while a rail prospect is a $4K horse?
