Topeka IN Carriage Auction

[goodhors]

We attended the Topeka Auction yesterday, had a carriage to sell. I should have put it up on the Facebook sites, but just hadn’t. Decided to try the Auction, run off for a day. The Auction had new criteria for the sale in needing to get carriages to them on Monday. Could not consign and then deliver the day of sale as we did in the past. Not sure if that will be ongoing or was just for this sale event. We complained about it because of the long drive, but then husband suddenly had to go that way so he was able to drop the carriage off Monday, come home, and we went down again on Tuesday. We were not sure carriage would meet the reserve so we needed to be there to bring it home if it did not sell. Also had to get furniture along the way home, so it all worked this time.

Very nice day, mid 50’s, NO RAIN, so it was comfortable strolling around looking at things. I bought some strings of snaps for a good price off the wagons, while my friend got some pretty driving whips with bright yellow lashes! Had never seen those before, with red lashed whips also sold off the wagons. No light plastic scoop shovels like I got at the Mt. Hope OH Auction last year. Will have to keep looking for those. Didn’t really need any other accessories they were selling.

A vendor had the 2019 Misha Driving Horse Calendar, so I got one of those. Great photos as usual. Might be a good reference tool for folks working on show outfits, proper harness fitting to their vehicles. I always love the photos. Haven’t opened it yet to see if I know any of the featured drivers. A number of friends have been “calendar girls” over the years. You can order one from the Mishkas, I believe their site is Mishka Press. They also have Draft and Mule calendars, many driving books available.

There were quite a number of horse drawn vehicles, though not too many carriages. Lots of small metal mini and pony carts, 2 marathon vehicles, several Meadowbrook carts in various sizes. Husband said the Meadowbrooks all needed a bit of repair, had been behind kickers. I did not see them sell, so no idea on prices. A Roberts wagonette on air filled tires, some rough sleighs, hitch wagons were there. The rest were homemade vehicles or cobbled together creations going cheap. Not real safe looking without lots of work. One lovely slat sided Trap, big pony size, ready to show with. The buyers were ecstatic to have won the bidding. I like seeing that!

Our carriage sold well, got more than the reserve! Yay!! Buyer seemed quite happy to get it. I am VERY glad to have more room in the carriage shed again! We packed up then, headed out. Always an adventure attending Horse Auctions. Draft horses selling today. They expected 1200 draft animals, will be selling into the night! Dispersal of one farm was bringing way over 100 Belgian horses. The quantity staggers my mind! What kind of managing does 100+ horses take on a daily basis?? Just WOW!! The Auction place was ready though. All the buildings had nice bedded box stalls waiting. Auction folks have revamped everything since I was there last, added new buildings, moved offices, the sale ring and seating. Everthing is new looking, very nice. Horses should be pouring in for selling today, Thursday and Friday. Light Driving horses and ponies should sell on those other days.

Going to rest bit today, no driving trucks going places! Ha ha

[RMJacobs]

Sounds like a great day! I’ve only been to a carriage and draft horse auction once, at Troyer’s in Colorado. That was pretty cool. I’d go again if I still lived near enough.

Rebecca

[CERT]

From my observations the majority of draft horse sales are through sales and auctions. I’m not sure why that is, but they move a lot of head in just a couple of days!

Congrats on selling your vehicle!

[2DogsFarm]

I really like the new building @ Topeka - complete with theater seating!
Stabling is also a lot nicer.
And the ring they take the horses through is a HUGE improvement.

First time I went carriages were sold outdoors - you walked up & down the rows with the auctioneer until you got to the one you wanted to bid on.
Next visit carriages were displayed outdoors, but brought in for the sale - hard wooden bleacher seating, but at least it was inside.
3rd trip - with $$ in hand to buy - was to the March auction & danged if carriages & sale both took place outdoors!
Froze until we got to my chosen cart :grief:
Of course, warming up post-sale at the auction restaurant AYCE buffet was worth it :D.
And my friends from Orland,IN were able to join me & friends from my 'hood for lunch

Last trip I got to sit in the comfy seats ringside & stroll among the vendors out of the weather.
Scored a quart of maple syrup & got to check out the Drafts going on sale the following day.

@RMJacobs Interesting…
There’s Troyers in Shipshewana with a saddle shop & other horse-related businesses.
Wonder if they’re related?

[pony_grandma]

Last year I had a job travel assignment in the Topeka area on the Labor Day weekend with the pony auction. What a nice perk!

I was amazed at the higher quality horse flesh in that Amish area. They seem to take more pride in their animals. Everything I saw pastured or driven was in good flesh. Altho I will make note that I noticed most all were younger animals. And I saw a lot more hay production than in the Amish area near me in the southern part of IN.

The pony auction had a lot of Hackney crosses, they are breeding fancier types. And they love breeding for color now. There was a young 3-4 yo lg pony hackney cross that I would have bid on if I was doing combined driving! That would have been a phone call home …. come bring truck and trailer (I did it again).

The kids packed into the cart seats in the ring were adorable. I witnessed an Amish fathers bidding war over one mini that was kid proof and drank his favorite soda out of a bottle. Those folks have some hot cash!

I have throughout time frequented the very large multi-day carriage auction here at the Dinky’s Auction center near Odon/Montgomery. They do 2 a yr, spring and fall. I even did buy! A med pony size completely refurbished 100 yo runabout with a velvet wicker seat. They said it came from Canada. The guy bidding against me stopped and later spoke with me that he let me have it bc he already had several in his collection. He told me that I had a great buy. Price and condition wise. I was pretty basically clueless. I had a friend look it over before I bid and he said the same.

Mostly I go just for the education. And you have to show up bc you never know what you’ll find. One yr they had a Paris park drag! It had been imported by a guy in Texas and stripped down to refurbish and then he had died. We walked circles around it bc it was unpainted and you could see all the construction detail! It was huge - you know the gents sat up on top with the luggage piled up there. I saw a long stock trailer with Kansas plates with 4-5 sleighs loaded on top ready to leave. They also have the farm antiques filling one field. Tour buses have started showing up. A video sampling here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFFhPh8UwhE

[RMJacobs]

@2DogsFarm, I wouldn’t be surprised if they are related. Harley Troyer owns the Colorado operation. He does large auctions and I think also hay sales. He was Amish but left the community; he doesn’t completely embrace the modern world but he does do some computer stuff, has a phone, uses electricity and has a couple of cars that he drives. There are usually a lot of Amish folks at his auctions–I think they all come from elsewhere by bus or other transportation. Maybe they are his Indiana relatives?

I looked on both websites to see if I could see a connection, but didn’t find one other than the last name and type of business.

Harley is a very nice man. When I was buying Salt’s harness and cart, I went up to Harley’s to give him the measurements and look at what he had on hand. He said I must have made mistakes measuring, as he didn’t think there could be a horse with those proportions. Knowing Salt’s funky conformation, I was ready for that reaction and whipped out a picture of him. Harley laughed and said he wouldn’t have believed it if he hadn’t seen it. He had to piece a harness together from some horse sizes, some pony sizes and even a mini piece or two. But when he got it all together, it fit perfectly and I used it all the years that I drove Salt. I thought I’d never be able to sell it because of the odd size, but it had so much adjustment capability that I did sell it. When I retired Salt two years ago, I sold the harness and his cart to avoid the temptation to hitch him up again “just one more time.” I took the harness to the buyer and fitted the pony for her, and the only thing that needed to be changed was the bit I’d been using, as Salt had a horse-sized mouth.

Rebecca

[2DogsFarm]

@RMJacobs Troyers in Shipshe are very “English” - unless they left the Amish community a loooong time ago.
The saddle shop is quite modern - nothing like the Amish shops I’ve bought from.
I rarely find anything there, usually just go with a friend who’s known them & done business there for 25+ years.
I can ask if she knows of a CO connection

:lol: LOL on your Salt’s Put-Together-By-Committee conformation.
Do you have a pic to post?
Now I need to know the story behind his name
I’d think Pepper or Hot Sauce would be more fitting for a Hackney
I named my guy Naraku Kouma - translated from Japanese it means roughly: Pony From Hell

@pony grandma TX for the link.
Someone - from OH, IIRC - told me about Dinky’s.
That place looks to be about Topeka X 3! :eek:
4H drive for me, so probably a sleepover trip.

[RMJacobs]

@2DogsFarm, Salt wasn’t the Hackney pony. That was Crackers, registered name Get Crackin’. Crackers is in my avatar photo. He was also called Crackhead at times, usually me screaming it at him when he was bolting after seeing a newspaper in someone’s driveway.

Salt was probably a Welsh cross. He was a rescue, supposedly a killpen rescue, so I have no background on him at all. He was very light gray (non horse people would say white, but he was definitely gray). He and my full size Paint mare could swap saddles as needed; it’s just that Salt had pony legs (height only 13.2) and a very short back. But his barrel was huge.

Salt was originally my daughter’s riding pony. She named him due to his color (she was 10 at the time). She had a black dog named Pepper (in the avatar picture where I’m driving Crackers), and thought it would be nice to have a matched pair, so to speak. He was awful to ride, and she finally quit riding. I asked if I could steal him to train him to drive. She helped me (as did my husband) and we ended up with an amazing driving pony.

I just can’t stand to post a picture right now, although it actually feels sort of good to write about him. He died last week. I miss him so much.

Rebecca

ETA: Interesting. Pepper got cropped out of my avatar. She was following me that day, just to the right of the bird bath, but she only shows up in the original pic.

[2DogsFarm]

@RMJacobs Aw, Crap
Sorry to hear of your Salt’s passing.
The Good Ones always leave such an indelible mark.
& great memories.

As for the name: coulda been worse (& I applaud your then-10yo’s sense of names).
Friend let her kids name their ponies. Son named his Steel, daughter’s ended up TeeHee.

A friend & former trainer just posted pics on FB of my TB Hunter (the Hey Vern! in my sig) “back in the day” - circa 1995ish.
Pics are from Lamplight, where he was on loan to a Jr who needed a Medals horse when hers went lame.
After she won her class, there was a fun class: Trainers Bareback & my friend pulled Vern out of his stall & had a go.
The expression on Vern’s face as they entered the ring - he was unsaddled, right? That means Done, right? - was priceless. But he snorted indignantly around a course of jumps, because he was 1000% Heart.
Vern’s been gone since 2009 & I still miss him.

[RMJacobs]

@2DogsFarm, yep, they do leave their mark on our hearts. I still miss Crackers every single day, and I had to put him down seven years ago when he was 29. He is just part of me, and Salt will remain so as well. Since Salt was retired two years ago, I’ve spent a lot of time just hanging out with him, grooming him, talking to him, scratching his ears. He was good company and a great listener.

Your Vern story reminded me of training my ponies to stop trying to rush home. We must have passed the foot of our driveway a million times (really!! LOL) with each horse during this training. Pony would start to turn, and I’d turn them back to the road and tell them to trot. I’d get the incredulous look and loud snorting. But you know, it ultimately worked, and we ended up consistently going home at my pace, and no turn into the driveway until they were told to.

Rebecca

[pony_grandma]

My pony liked to stop at the neighbors to ‘see’ their llamas. I’d have to get out of the buggy let him look then head him down the road before I could get back in.

something just for fun. I also got to walk through the huge Shipshewana flea market on Labor Day weekend. I was moving quickly down the aisles and I got stopped by an older woman standing in the middle of the aisle with an older man (husband, brother?)
and she was sharply berating him. "I don’t want to hear it! Don’t say anything. Not a word. " Then I looked up and this was the next stall.
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