Buying horses with suspect backgrounds and suspect futures is a giant quagmire of angst. It requires a lot of money and even more emotional fortification than I think 90% of horse people I know personally, have access to.
Horses are an investment: financially, with time, and emotionally as well. To put all of that into a horse that may or may not ever make it (and we can dispute what “making it” looks like til the cows come home. But having a friend who does do the auction thing, I can say that there are horses she buys that are never able to leave quarantine because of injury or illness. She puts money and emotional weight into an animal that she has no guarantee will actually manage to make it home to her).
She’s in a unique position where (within reason) money isn’t an issue. She picks out horses that ideally could be capable of doing a job after they get a softer landing. Some of them are healthy enough after a thorough vetting, good feeding program, and lots of work to build up fitness, that she can have them sent to a trainer and assessed for rideability. They’ll spend time with a trainer and afterwards, she’ll rehome them to people whose desires match the physical ability of the horses in question.
But that’s the thing - not every horse she picks up is a success story. She has them, of course, but she also has horses that are incapable of ever being under saddle, or ones she keeps and doesn’t advertise for rehoming because they’re on a timer and at a point their discomfort inhibits their quality of life so they’re PTS, and then of course, there are the ones that never make it home from auction.
I generally think that picking up a horse shouldn’t be about “proving” anything to anyone. People should buy a horse they can afford, whose long-term care they can afford, and whose ability and skill level falls within the rider’s desired trajectory, and one that they’ll enjoy! I’m sure there are many people who have picked up horses at auction that they enjoy. But I also think it’s necessary to take the other factors into account as well, to make sure that the long-term picture is a positive one.
At the end of the day, auction horses can be a heartbreaking prospect more often than not.
