Slaughter Auctions

South Dakota Horse Sales in Corsica used to have monthly horse sales. As times change, so do their auctions and with COVID, they like everyone else had to make changes. I have only been to their auction once or twice and always come away feeling sick.


For a very short time, there were more local horse auctions that I would insist on attending and again would return home feeling sick. Those auctions have disappeared and now as far as I know, there's only the one (although there is a local auction at a smaller scale which may sell one or two horses). My stomach did a flip when I read the notes from the last sale held in early June. I know that it's a reality but it's still hard to read when it is in plan writing.




LOOSE HORSE SALE: Buyers are short on saddle horses and Sellers are short on time and choose to sell the drop off and go Loose Horse Sale way to market their horses. This resulted in many high dollar horses selling in the Loose sale and going back out to the country including to Buyers from out of State, and that requires a health and coggins test. The top Loose horses sold for $4,000 - $3900 - $3400. & $2850 - $2800-$2800-$2800, or top 10 avg. $2.870.00


NEW RULE: The Loose horse sale was meant for horses going to weigh up market (slaughter). From now on, if you want your Loose horse marketed as a saddle horse or bred mare with footnotes and a pedigree, you must submit a Neg. Coggins test upon delivery or it will be Green Tagged in as a Market/weigh up sale horse only.


While I'm glad they are trying to get the saddle horses and broodmares more notice for those owners who provide notes on their horse, it still angers me that the owners don't try and do more with their horse to find them a home. Even at auction, why not put the horse in the catalog sale or at the end where they are consigned but not listed (sorry, I lost the technical name for that one). I've had friends dump their horses off at loose and "hope they got a good home" at this sale. I was flabbergasted when I heard that because I would have taken them and figured out a way to afford them. Any horse going to this auction loose has an extremely high rate of going to slaughter, with the exception of a few high dollar loose horses.


I so wish that we could do more for these horses. But we have to turn away horses where owners are doing right by their horses and reaching out to find a home. This year funding is going to be very tough to come by and I'm struggling. We won't close the sanctuary down completely but we will have to shutter our doors to any incoming horses if we don't find the funds. That's where I need help in finding someone to help me look for grants. They are going to be few and far between and I don't seem to be looking in any of the right places. And fundraising is pretty much out until I figure out how to make our name a little bigger so people know us. Current friends and family are pretty well tapped out and in my personal life, we are pretty well tapped out of funds for anything but necessities so heading to an auction to rescue a horse from the loose sale is out.


I wish I could do more to help save lives. It doesn't feel like I'm doing enough. As our horses grow older and we lose them, our numbers decline and with funds low, we can't open our doors to any more. I always worry for those horses where we have to say no. Did the owner find someone willing to take in that horse? Did that horse get a permanent home with someone to love and cherish them? I guess because we are a sanctuary, I need to remember that heading to auction to help save a horse and get them out of the slaughter pipeline isnt' feasible. It just seems unfair to the horse to work all your life and then find yourself at in auction and overlooked because you're unadoptable due to age and health conditions.


But for now, all I can do is look at the report and wish that we could head to the sale and pick up at least one horse to bring home. But to do that, we'd need funds and would first go to our waiting list to accept those horses. Always a catch 22. But the reports are a reality and I need to figure out a way to do more with less.