Saturday's Horse Auction

One word that sums up Saturday is "Stressful". Maybe only to me but I take auctions very seriously. I don't see livestock. I see a life changing moment for so many four legged animals where someone simply didn't care about them any longer. There are better ways to move someone on than to dump them at an auction with disease.

I got up fairly early Saturday. The auction started at noon and I wanted to be there by noon to get a look look at all the loose horses. I rushed around to do all the chores and we headed out the door in the car about 11am. With Mike driving it didn't take as long as it does when it's just me puttering along.

We arrived at the sale barn just before noon and I went directly to the loose horse section. I didn't see any thin horses. I cant' figure it out. They are out there but no one is accepting them. I KNOW they are standing in a pasture or barn starving. It's not like the starving horses just disappear because the salebarn wont' accept them. They are OUT THERE!

But I digress. I walked through the whole lot of loose horses. I fell in love with some and remembered their numbers for later. 707 and 706. Two belgian cross mares. One with a halter and friendly. The other without a halter, a bit thin but super friendly. Loved the head scratches. I simply fell in love. Saw one other horse with terrible feet. I figured I'd see how much he/she went for and would bid. I'd do the same for 707 and 706.

Let me just say I dispise auctions. Absolutely hate them. Cruel people and sick horses. Hate it, hate it, hate it. But I have to go!

After a walk through the loose horses I went over to the catalog and non-catalog horses. Lots of noncatalog horses saddled and waiting. I didn' tlook too hard at these horses knowing that they would get decent homes. I figured I wouldnt' be able to touch most of those horses and didn't come to see them anyway, although I'm always interested in prices.

I grabbed my number and headed up to the arena, knowing that finding a seat right after the sale started would be tough. Of course they ran out of catalogs and I had to snag a supplement sheet to write down all the prices. I stood at the rail for an hour writing down prices. Lots of nice horses. Once the non-catalog sale started people started to thin out (not a lot but enough for us to get a seat).

We sat for about two hours watching catalog and non-catalog horses go through. Luckily the same auctioneer did most of the sale. I hate it when they switch. It takes me at least a dozen horses to get the feel of the new auctioneer, and that's pretty hard when they start rushing through loose horses.

Unfortunately they started in reverse order on the loose horses and started almost immediately with the horses I was intersted in 707 and 706. I couldn't figure out how to raise my hand and ended up letting 706 (the one with the halter) for for $280. 707 which is the one I really wanted went for $160. Why did I not raise my god damn hand?! WHY?!!? I'm so angry with myself.

The loose horses started to go faster and faster as the crowd continued to thin out. It was 3pm and the place was emptying out and buyer #79 kept buying all the horses. You KNOW he was a killer buy. He bought 706 and 707. I am still sick over it.

Then they rushed a donkey in. I remember seeing him but didn't remember much since he wasn't on my radar. No one bid. Then the auctioneer asked if anyone would give $10. All of a sudden my arm was in the air. What the heck?!!? I just bought a donkey! Dont know anything about him. I guess my thinking was I would buy that terribly crippled, long hooved horse that could barely move. Then it wouldn't be such an expense to drive down to get one animal.

Unfortunately my hand froze when the aformentioned horse hobbled through. He went for $10 to buyer #80 (another killer buyer I think). What the hell was wrong with me?!!?! By 4pm I was exhausted. They'd switched auctioneers and everything went to hell. Everyone was clearing out. They were going so fast that the temp dropped at least 15 degrees because the doors were constantly open. Buyer #79 bought amost everything. Every horse that went through was a sorrel but I didn't know anything about them. I couldn't even tell if they were mares or geldings. I was getting SO frustrated.

So I gave up. I had to quit. I figured that we better get going since we had a few hours on the road to go bring my donkey home.

I went to the office to pay for my donkey. The lady laughed and said someone had put a longhorn donkey on my ticket! I guess that's what we'll call him! Longhorn! or LG for short! hahahaha Once I had my recipt and pickup order in hand we rushed home to hook up the trailer and head back. It's about a 50 minute drive one way. So least to say we were busy driving for most of the evening.

We got back home about 5pm. Mike went to get gas in the truck while I did some chores. He hooked up and headed back to Worthing at about 5:30pm. We didn't get back to the salebarn until 6:30pm. I'd decided while driving that I would ask them if I could get the buyer #79's information and see if I couldn't buy 707 from him.

We got to the sale barn, backed up and handed them my papers. They'd already put him to bed for the night. Awesome people helping. I really liked how they handled the animals and were willing to answer my questions. So once we got Longhorn into the trailer I asked about buyer #79. They said he'd already taken a load but I was more than welcome to go see if the mare was still there. There were 30 horses he hadn't taken yet. I felt sick!

I climbed over fences to see if she was there. If she wasnt I guess it wasn't meant to be. I walked along and climbed the fence to see if she was there. I spotted 706. She came right over to me and started nuzzling my coat. I couldn't figure out why. I then spotted 707. I kissed to her a couple of times and she same over but didn't spend any time with me. She put her head back into the round bale and continued to ignore me. Of course 706 was still pushing on me. That's whne I realized I had put treats in my pocket to lure the donkey into the trailer. I'd forgotten about them so I gave 706 a handful of treats. She wouldn't let any of the other horses get any. If I would have known I would have dropped them all so she could have every single one.

I rushed back to the office to say she was still there. They gave me the guy's phone number, Ryan. I called but no answer. They said if I didn't get an answer to come back in. They were getting ready to go but were willing to help me out. They called but didn't get an answer. They called a differnet number and got someone else. The guy said he already had a buyer for her. I totally spaced asking about 706. But I figure he had a "load" and wasn't willing to sell her since she was bigger (although ribby). If he sold one than he wouldn't have a "load" and wouldn't be able to sell. Makes me so mad. Why did I not RAISE MY GOD DAMN HAND?!!?!?

I had to rush out of the building so they wouldn't see how upset I was. I pretty much drove home in silence. I decided I would put my attention towards the donkey.

Got home about 8pm and still had to do chores. I left Longhorn in the trailer while I grained, watered, and hayed everyone. Then came the adventure of getting Longhorn out of the trailer and into the barn.

I'll post that story later! :-)

By the time I was done doing chores I was so tired, stressed but still keyed up. Mike went right to bed but I stayed downstairs. I think I cried myself to sleep knowing that all of those horses in that holding pen were going on a truck for their last ride. It's a same. 706 and 707 were super friendly. They haunt me now.