Yesterday was a long day. It started early in the morning for Destini and Nathaniel and they did not get back home until about 12:30 am. We went with hopes to bring home a full trailer, as we try to most times, but with the knowledge we had a limited amount of funds to spend, and still horses left over at home still looking for good homes, so we could not over do ourselves this trip.
There were at least 1,000 horses there yesterday. The catalog sale did not finish until around 8:00-8:15 pm. I stayed in the catalog and watched for the very last horse that went out of our budget that someone had really hoped to be able to buy. In the catalog, there were a lot of lame horses, but even the lame horses brought a decent amount of money. I would say at least one third of the horses were sold “at the end of the halter” or smooth mouthed (meaning they would not state their age or didn’t have the teeth to check their age).
The loose pens were full and overflowing. There were a lot more skinnier horses this trip now that a lot of people are having to feed hay. Lots of thin ponies too, which are usually the easy keepers. There were trailers everywhere, lots of semis and large horse trader trailers. We rubbed shoulders with the guys who run very popular kill pen “rescue” pages. We were literally sitting right next to them in both the catalog and loose auctions. I watched as the guy in front of me bought horse after horse and wrote their number and kept a tally of how many he had and filled up his auction card. I heard familiar bidder numbers of known kill buyers and bail out people called out frequently as the winning bids.
I left a little while into the loose auction because I needed to get back home with the kids. It was a long day and exhausting. We can only do so much. And yes, it was disappointing coming home with only three. When there were SO many, that we knew where they were going to, we wished we could do more. We had a list of about 20 some possibilities this trip. We brought home a mini jack, a wonderful pony, and a sweet quarter horse.
My sweet friend Amber sent us the story of the star fish, and how the little girl walked down the beach and picked them up one by one and threw them in. Her grandma asked her why when there is a whole Long Beach full of them and she would never be able to get them all, and she replied, no but I made the difference for this one. That’s what we did this trip. We made the difference for the three sweet souls that came home with us, and we still need to focus on the horses we have at home. We have some incredible horses just waiting on the right people to fall in love with them and see their value and put the effort into them to turn them into their heart horse.
Someone commented yesterday, that they may be interested in a Percheron mare who came through the catalog. She sold for $1700, at the end of the halter, was work broke, and walking a little off. And I stopped to say, I still have a beautiful Percheron mare at my farm, work broke, green to riding, in good health and full of live at 15 years old for just a tiny bit more than that and you know so much more about her. I couldn’t justify $1700 on a lame percheron when I still have one at home looking for her forever home.
Ponies, and minis sold for high amounts. Broke minis, even a lame mini broke to ride and drive sold for $1150 in the catalog. I was surprised to see mini’s prices still high, as I had a hard time rehoming ours for three times less the amount, that was broke to ride and drive and having had been foundered but sound. Some of these ponies were the same.
Someone asked why there were so many. There was no sale last month, July-August is usually a slow time for the horse market. People don’t like to take on a new animal in 100 degree weather. And there are horses upon horses for sale if you look around, and very expensive horses! However, just because the horses are for sale, does not mean they are selling like hot cakes, because, they are not. I would say a lot of people who could not get their horses sold, brought horses to the sale yesterday, and got decent money for them. But sadly, I think the majority of the horses being bought were by major horse traders and kill buyers, and bail out type pages. There were also individuals buying. And the rescue groups were small in number in comparison to the big time buyers.
Next month, is the Labor Day Sale. It is the two year anniversary for us going and rescuing. I would like to help as many as I can next month and we will do our best to meet that goal. The Labor Day sale is always huge and will be expected to be about the same size as this sale. It will be a long day and a late night, and lots of horses in need. So today, I shake off the disappointment, and embrace the reality this is what we do, and why we do it. When we started, we only owned a tiny two horse straight load trailer, and could bring home maybe one extra horses, at the most two. And since Sept 2019, we have rescued more than 200. We have grown and not every month will be the same! We do only as much as we can. 
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