# COWTOWN Horse Auction in Turlock CA last night



## Brandi* (Oct 21, 2007)

I went to the auction just to see what was available. I only planned on staying through the ponies and mini's but ended up staying to the end. There were a few mini geldings but nothing I just had to have. They were so overweight!!!!!!!!!! There were only 3 minis and the two that sold went for $200 and the nicest one didn't sell because the owner wanted more then $325. Two of the larger horses sold for $75 dollars!!!!




: I couldn't believe it!!! And a few of the horses looked so nice and they only sold for around $200. I was in shock!!!! I have never actually stayed for the auction. I always just cruise through and take a look at everything and then leave. I had no idea you could get horses for so cheap!!! A registered QH went for $200 and he was REALLY nice!!!!! Papers and all! Anyways it made me very sad to see the shape of some of the horses. If I believed in living more than once, I sure wouldn't want to come back as a horse!! Poor things! It seems like a living h*# for them I watched as people bid on them and I was happy to see that most of the people looked like family's and trainers. I would love to just bid on the ones that no one else wants just to give them a happy home



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I might head down there for the next auction in two weeks just to check out the mini's again. Ya never know what will come through.



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## HGFarm (Oct 21, 2007)

With foreclosure rates at the highest, people losing jobs to overseas business or company cut backs, and the high rates of gas, groceries, utilities, etc.. to keep up with- I am not surprized. Were they registered?


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## Brandi* (Oct 21, 2007)

HGFarm said:


> With foreclosure rates at the highest, people losing jobs to overseas business or company cut backs, and the high rates of gas, groceries, utilities, etc.. to keep up with- I am not surprized. Were they registered?



The mini's weren't registered if thats what you were wanting to know. There were big horses that were registered that only went for $200-$300 if that.


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## [email protected] (Oct 22, 2007)

thats really sad to hear - i've never been to an auction (breed specific ones only), and as a breeder have always been concerned about those horses you sell and lose touch with the new owner . . . I would hate to have a horse run through one of those.

Unfortunately, as Laurie pointed out, with our economy and the rising cost of feed, there may be more minis run through these.


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## crponies (Oct 22, 2007)

What is the day and time of the next one? That might be something interesting to go to sometime. Do they do tack too?


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## Brandi* (Oct 23, 2007)

crponies said:


> What is the day and time of the next one? That might be something interesting to go to sometime. Do they do tack too?


The next one will be on November 3rd at 7pm. It is every two weeks on Saturday nights. They do all the tack at the beginning. It takes forever!!! They don't get started on the horses until 1030 or so. I guess it just depends on how much tack they have that night. They run the ponies, mini's and young ones through first once they start on the horses. You should def. check it out. There were some nice horses there and I couldn't believe the prices. The three mini's that were there this week weren't of the greatest quality but I am sure it just depends on who comes each time.


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## Warpony (Oct 23, 2007)

I was going to take my old pony harness to the local stockyard and when I called to find out when the next horse auction was they said they will no longer be having horse auctions. They said horses were selling so low that they were losing money every time they had one so after almost 75 years (I think that is what he said) they have stopped having them altogether.

I talked to my ex's cousin who works in the office after that and she said at their last 3 horse auctions they had 35 to 45 horses go through each time and only 5 horses out of ALL those had bids go over $300. This is the same auction that fall before last had a whole truck load of mini weanlings go through and sell for around $25 each. :no:


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## Charlene (Oct 23, 2007)

there used to be a monthly horse auction near me and a friend and i went to most of them. they were almost a social event, we would see people we hadn't seen in ages and catch up on news. we stopped going because it was just too depressing to see the pitiful horses, most of which ended up with the killer buyers.

i don't know about the rest of the country but more often than not, horses that go through auctions here usually have some major negative issues going on. for many, it's health related but for most, it's behavior related. they can't be sold privately because they are simply either too poor, physically or their behavior issues have become downright dangerous so they are shipped off to auction and some poor, unsuspecting newbie buys them for his kids.

once in a blue moon, a GOOD riding horse will go through a sale when a person goes off to college or simply no longer has time for riding and caring for a horse. it's rare though. so many times, the auctioneer will "talk a horse up" saying how wonderful he is, how sweet he is, what a great trail horse he is, blah blah blah. person buys it and the next month it's back at the auction because nobody told them he was either cold-backed, reared under saddle, had to be sedated for hoof trimmings, was a terrible biter, cribber, stall weaver...the list goes on and on and on.

the saddest thing to see is the poor little pony walking on skies because nobody treated his founder and he hadn't had his feet trimmed in years.


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## hahler (Oct 23, 2007)

Dan and I went to a sale on saturday after the Guthrie sale and i was in shock

they sold a medicine hat paint mare (with papers) for $75

we just went to look and didnt get a number and we were just kicking ourselves

the one that i liked was a blood bay mare with 2 ice blue eyes and only 2 years old

she brought $60

they need to open up the markets again or there will be alot of starving horses out there

dawn


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## sdmini (Oct 23, 2007)

Charlene said:


> i don't know about the rest of the country but more often than not, horses that go through auctions here usually have some major negative issues going on.


Couldn't be farther from the truth here. Some friends of ours took their QH foals to a local auction sale. This sale barn has a good reputation and has sold some really high dollar horses in the past and a "typical" sale has buyers from 10-12 states. They have a son of Shining Spark that they bought directly from Carol Rose. Shining Sparks stud fee alone is $12,000 and Carol doesn't leave just anything stallions. They put him in Reining Training and have campaigned him nicely for two years. The vast majority of the foals were palominos. Their price range was $75 for the low and $700 for the high while the majority could have been bought for $150-$200.

We are also in cow country so there are lots of ranch broke horses that go through. Well at least there use to be. Ranches would buy young unbroke colts and ride them for the summer and turn around and sell them for a tidy profit. Those horses are still in demand but are not bringing enough to make it worth their while to do.

Last month when IL was still open the market was somewhat better but hey I'm glad we shut down the kill plants to save the horses.



: Starving is so much more a natural death then a bolt gun.


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## windingroad (Oct 27, 2007)

Way too many people are breeding. And breeding mediocre horses. Seeems the only quality a mare needs to have is a uterus. It is much cheaper to purchase one than to breed one these days, and in buying one, offers a much-needed home. Doesn't matter size or breed. We have looked a the enemy, and no one wants to admit--IT IS US.


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## jbrat (Oct 28, 2007)

I agree! It is the Breeder's - wether its dogs, horses, cats, ect.

TOO many puppy mills out there. And how can we control it? THose of us who are geniunely concerned will do our part and Geld and spay. But too many will still mass produce and sell off to whomever - to never even wonder if the life they helped create will have a caring happy home, so sad.





I wished I'd win a giant lotto. I would buy up tons of land and help every poor forgotten animal I could.

Those poor ruined (health issues or behavior issues) animals, could have been great animals to some loving individual but unfortnately they got into a bad situation (controlled by a human) which in turned ruined their life.

Sometimes life SUCKS!

I believe we should all have our freedom to do as we like but some people do need limits - I'd hate for anyone to ever step in and say we could only have (?) # of foals a year. I don't breed but wouldn't want my freedom of choice jepordized.

its like the person who has 15+ kids, no job, no desire to try and do better,,,,,,,,,,, OH- you get the point and I could just FLAME so I better stop-

WE are so overcrowding the world and they say the deer and other animals are over populating,, NO WE ARE! and we're hogging up all the land, trashing it with our buildings and pollution then leaving it to rot and just rebuild in a new spot where that nice farm or woods use to be - arrrrghhhhhh!!!

Gotta go!

Sorry to even get it started!! I get sooooo mad about things I can't control or fix!!!!!!!!!

I'd love to breed and raise a few of my very own stock but I see way to many that need saved so I have yet to breed anything.

:cold:



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## Brandi* (Oct 28, 2007)

Yes I honestly don't think I will ever be able to breed. I did buy Melody and she was in no way mistreated but I didn't feel comfortable taking on a rescue case at this point since I have so much to learn. But in the future I would love to go to the auction, buy the worst off, bring them home and do whats best for them, even if that means paying to have them euthanized. I think that would bring me great satisfaction to know that I am helping them. I just feel so bad for all of them when I go to the auction. They look like they've been through heck and back and they are SO scared, run down and sick. Most of them don't have any life left in their eyes. I get really angry when I see the old grandpa's and grandma's that probably carried the kids around for years, taken to the sale because they just can't do it anymore. The least people could do is pay to put them down. I know not everyone can afford certain things but there is such a thing as budgeting



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