Adventures in Horse Shopping, part 2

The day of the auction had arrived.  Gemma could hardly stay within her own skin, she was so excited.  I was feeling a bit nervous about the logistics of the day, not to mention the thought of potentially bidding on a horse.  As we had done the day before, we headed out to the barn in the morning to check on Donut and Star.  I also hooked up my trailer so I would have it with me in the off chance I decided to buy a horse.  I didn't want to make another drive up to the auction location the next day because Gemma would be competing in a dressage show.  Then we stopped by home to take care of the dog and the cats and replenish our snack supply.

But by noon, we were on the road.  I had the route planned better this time, although I had forgotten the memories it would hold.  I felt a little stab in my heart as we drove past the gas station that I used when I had hauled Nimo up to the Foxcatcher endurance ride a few years ago.  I love the gas station because it is so easy to get in and out of with a trailer.  I made a mental note to remember it for the way home in case I needed to stop for gas.

When we had started the trip, my navigation app indicated we would hit heavy traffic in a few areas, and I watched my window of time to look at horses before the auction started begin to dwindle.  But there was nothing I could do about it.  As luck would have it, though, some of that traffic cleared up before we got to that area, so our expected arrival time didn't look as bad as I had initially thought.

And I was also lucky that a good friend was monitoring the auction from home and sending me messages with updates as the auction staff started posting more information and videos about the horses.  As we got close to arriving at the auction location, a video came through of the mare I'd been so interested in the night before, but whose seller I couldn't find.  I didn't watch the video because I was driving, but it was good to know there was one and my friend's evaluation was that the mare looked sound.

I pulled up to the entrance for the auction parking area and talked to the staff member who was directing vehicles.  He saw my trailer and asked if I needed to unload a horse.  I said, "Nope.  I'm just feeling optimistic!"  He smiled and directed us to the parking area.  There were a lot of trailers there, but it was still easy to pull in to a spot and we would be within walking distance of the sale barns.

The first thing we needed to do was to get a number for bidding.  We checked in at the trailer that doubled as an office and I got my number.  I learned that I needed to guard my number with my life.  Because if I somehow lost it, and someone else bid with it, I could be held legally liable for whatever purchases that person made.  I would spend the next umpteen hours compulsively guarding that yellow tag with number 272 on it.

Then we headed to the barns.  The facility was laid out so that everything was connected, but it was clear that the original facility with the sales ring and maybe 15-20 stalls had been expanded many times.  We had learned the way around the day before, so it was easy to navigate today.  Thankfully all the stalls had numbers that matched the hip numbers on the horses, and we had a catalog, so we could quickly figure out which horse was which and locate the few that we wanted to see more of.

One of the first things we did was check on the mare and gelding that were on the top of my list.  Still no sellers.  But we did find sellers for several other horses and we got some more information about those horses and were able to watch them under saddle.  One by one, each horse was crossed off of the list.  In some cases, it was that there was something off about the horse's movement.  In other cases, it became clear that the horse was a little too forward under saddle.  And in one case that still makes me sad, it was clear that the mare had a physical issue.  I had really been excited about her.  She was a 12 year old gray mare that had turned almost white, except for her black mane and tail.  She was a stocky quarter horse about 15 hands tall.  She was quiet in her stall and her history included carting an old lady around the trails.  But I noticed she had a pretty significant hunters bump and under saddle, she really had trouble picking up the canter.  I sternly reminded myself that I was not there on a rescue or rehab mission, and crossed her off the list.  But I think I will remember her for a long while and hope that she ended up in a good home.  Her name was Lily.

Meanwhile, we kept checking to see if we could find the sellers for the mare and gelding that were now the only horses left on my list.  The start time of the auction was imminent, although it had been delayed by about 45 minutes because the tack auction from the previous day was still going on.  (I guess they had a lot of tack!!!)

Luckily, the mare and gelding would not be up for sale until toward the end of the auction, so we still had time.  The mare was number 72 and the gelding was number 86.  And that was probably my order of preference based on what I knew about each of them at the time.  I had seen both in videos under saddle and knew they were sound with good basic movement.  But I didn't know much about their history or their temperament.  And I needed to know more before I could even decide if I would bid.

I decided we could go watch the auction for a bit and then check back in at the horses' stalls to see if the sellers had shown up.  If you are interested, here is a video of what the sales process looked like:

I watched a few ponies go through the ring.  And I realized I didn't know if I could make it through the auction.  It was hard to watch those cute ponies go through and see the impersonal nature of the sales process.  To see that they were probably worried and didn't know what was going on.  I wanted to take every one of them home with me.

I decided we needed a short break, or at least I did.  Gemma was still excited to be there and probably didn't have a good understanding of exactly what was going on.  And that is probably a good thing.

We wandered around the horse barns again.  Still no sellers for that mare and gelding.  Where were they?  I mean, didn't they want to sell these horses?

Then we headed back to the auction in time to see one of the horses I had seriously considered for Gemma go through.  He was a nice calm, bay quarter horse gelding.  But under saddle, he looked like he could be a little too much for Gemma and my friend had spotted something that wasn't right with his movement, so I had decided to let him go.  I was kind of sad about that as I watched him do some really nice jumping in the sales ring and even sadder when he sold for $4,000, which was well below my budget of $6,500.  I hope the person who bought him appreciates him and gives him a good home.

We watched for a little bit more and then I realized it was dinner time already.  We walked to the truck and got a snack before checking the horse barn for the sellers, whose elusive nature was starting to really irritate me.  Still no sign of them.

Gemma and I settled in to watch more of the auction.  We saw several horses go through that we had looked at.  Most sold for really reasonable prices.  Except for Lily.  She was a no sale at $2,500.  (A "no sale" occurs when the seller sets a reserve price, below which they will not sell the horse, and the top bid is below that reserve.)  Apparently, other buyers had seen the physical issues that I had seen, but the dealer selling her wasn't willing to let her go for that price.  I'm still hoping she ends up in a good home with some little kids who just want to putz around on her.  That would be a good life for her.

Then a magnificent palomino gelding came through.  I had never seriously considered him for Gemma, but if I had been shopping for a horse for myself, he would have been my top pick.  He was absolutely stunning.  16 hands of stout muscle built to rope and drag down steers if necessary.  He was also a no sale at $7,200.  I was beginning to realize that there was a disconnect between sellers and buyers.  By the end of the auction, almost 15% of the horses that had gone through were no sales.  The horse market may be hot right now, but it was clear that buyers were not willing to pay those extreme prices at this auction any more.  I think some sellers had gotten greedy and were looking for the $10,000 plus price tags they had seen earlier in the year, but their horses, no matter how nice they were, simply were not worth that kind of money.

We watched the auction just a bit more, and then staked out the stalls for the mare and gelding.  While we were doing that, I noticed that a family with a little kid had basically taken up residence in the gelding's stall.  He was super good with the little kid and I could see they had fallen in love with him. I wondered if I would have the stomach to bid against them if I decided the gelding would be a good fit for Gemma.

More importantly, though, it occurred to me we could do the same thing with the mare.  At least if we could hang out with her in the stall, we would be able to get an idea of her temperament.  So I asked Gemma if she wanted to meet this mare that she had been gazing at with adoration for several hours.  Unsurprisingly, she said yes, and we slid open the stall door.  

The mare was happy to see us and she stood perfectly still while I felt her whole body, looking for any unusual lumps or sensitivities.  I did see she had a big scar on the front of her hock, but it seemed well healed and didn't seem to interfere with her movement.  She also had shoes on her front feet.  They were overdue to be reset, but the hoof seemed strong with no crumbling and her feet were a good size for her body.  I had previously wanted to look at horses that were barefoot, but it became clear to me that wasn't giving me many choices.  Almost every horse for sale had at least front shoes.  So I had made my peace with the possibility that I would have to use a farrier for the first time in over eight years.  I had found a farrier that comes to my barn that does a decent job.  He's been trimming Star, and I discovered if I gave him a little help by doing a touch-up trim before he trimmed her feet, he would trim them pretty close to the way they should be.  And he comes out frequently for other horses, so I figured I could manage a horse with front shoes if I needed to.

While I was doing my physical assessment of the mare, Gemma was doing some bodywork.  Yes, you read that correctly.  Gemma has been using the Masterson Method Bladder Meridian Technique on Star and gotten some nice results with it.  So she was using that knowledge to good effect on this mare.  Almost immediately she got some yawns and licking and chewing.  We spent maybe 10 minutes with the mare, and it was clear to me that she and Gemma were getting along just fine.  The mare had willingly picked up all of her feet and moved over in each direction when asked.  I had seen no signs of weaving or cribbing.  So we were one step closer to me thinking I could bid on her, but I really wanted to talk to her seller.

We gave up on seeing the seller and headed back to the auction while I fretted about what to do about that mare.  I had been messaging my friend back and forth all night, and she was doing a good job of keeping me grounded and reminding me of the information I needed before I could make a decision.  It was so valuable having another person to bounce ideas off of and to take a second look at my assessments.

The auction continued with relentless inevitability.  Horse after horse came through the ring.  And then we were 10 horses before the mare was supposed to be up for sale.  I realized that someone was going to have to come tack her up to ride her for the sales ring.  And that person would have to answer my questions.  Gemma and I headed back to the mare's stall.  And we waited.  

Finally it occurred to me that maybe the mare had been pulled from the sale.  Maybe her seller had seen the lower prices and decided not to sell her.  I found the announcer who was checking in horses and asked.  She said the mare was still scheduled to be sold.

We went back to the stall.  And waited.  One of the auction staff who knew us because we had essentially been living at this barn for two days and asking tons of questions walked by.  She smiled and asked if we had found anything we liked.  I explained that we really liked this particular mare, but we'd never been able to talk to anyone about her and that she was scheduled to be sold soon, but still not saddled.  She told us that she would look into it for us.

A couple of minutes later, she was back, followed by a stressed-looking young man leading a horse Gemma and I knew on sight.  Tito was a sturdy paint gelding that we had evaluated earlier in the day and ruled out because he looked like he would be a little more than Gemma could handle.  But he was otherwise a very nice horse.  Apparently, this man was riding Tito and the mare.  He explained he hadn't realized the mare was up so soon, so he quickly put Tito back in his stall while the auction lady helped him get the mare out of the stall.

We watched while he threw the saddle on in what was probably the worst set of circumstances to show a horse to a prospective buyer.  The mare was completely chill and stood ground-tied while I asked if he knew anything about her.  He said the sellers were friends of his and he would be happy to answer my questions because he knew the mare well.  I started going through my list of questions about how she handled trailer loading, and leading, and bathing, and other assorted basic tasks.  Then I asked the question that I had discovered no seller so far would lie to me about.  Is this horse appropriate for an advanced beginner rider (as I pointed to my ever-so-cute child)?  The answer was yes.  The man told me she was a wonderful horse who he thought would be a great fit for a young rider.  I would have liked to have learned more about why she was being sold and the scar on her leg, but we were out of time, and I had to make my decision.  Would I bid on this mare?

If you are wondering why I was so interested in this mare, this sales picture had a lot to do with it.

The man led the mare to the sales ring and Gemma and I headed to the bidding area.  I'd made my choice.  We were going to bid on the mare.

We got to the sales ring as the horse listed before the mare was being sold.  I had butterflies in my stomach, and I was nervous as all hell.  I had no experience with buying a horse at auction, and I was worried I'd somehow bid more than I could afford.

I could see the mare waiting for her turn in the ring.  She was standing quietly.  No warm-up.  Stuck in a stall for two days at a place that must have been terrifying in a group of horses milling around while an auctioneer shouted over a loudspeaker, with tons of people lining the sales ring.  And she was quiet and alert.

And then she was up.  I took a deep breath.

Bidding started at $1,500.  I was in at $1,700.  And then things got crazy.  The bidding escalated so fast, the next number I heard was $4,700.  And then we were at $6,000 before I could blink.  But the bidding stalled there.  I was pretty sure I was going to have some sort of apoplectic fit.  The auction staff started setting a jump to show the mare's jumping ability as a way to entice more bids.  Inside I was screaming, "Noooooooo!" I didn't want anyone else to bid because I was currently holding the high bid.

Meanwhile two of my friends were watching the auction online and on the phone with each other while they tried to figure out who had the high bid because Gemma and I were standing in a place that the web camera wasn't able to see.  The auction allowed internet and floor bidding, so they knew the high bidder at that point was probably me because the website said the high bidder was a floor bid.

And then the auctioneer started his patter again.  "62, 63, 62, 63..."  And then we were at $6,500.  It was the highest I could go.  One of the auction staff asked if I could go to $6,600.  I didn't know why.  I asked if I had the bid.  They said yes.  So why would I need to go higher?  I just said I couldn't.  $6,500 was my top bid.  Gemma asked, "Did we just buy a horse?"  I told her I didn't know.  The auctioneer hadn't said she was sold yet.  Was there another bidder somewhere?

All that I could think was that we were going to lose this horse and how disappointed Gemma would be and how we would have to try again at the next auction.

And then the auctioneer asked, "Will you sell this horse for $6,500 to this little girl?"  Apparently everyone knew I was bidding on a horse for Gemma.  I don't know how.  (Maybe because we'd been living at the auction for two days asking questions...)  And somehow the auctioneer knew who the seller was and was communicating with them.  (In the stands?  On the phone? I don't know.)  And the seller said yes.

And that was it.  In a blink of an eye, we had bought a horse.  And Gemma started screaming and I think I might have been cheering too.  And everyone started clapping and congratulating us and telling us what a nice horse we'd bought.  It was like a scene from a movie.  

In hindsight, what was happening was that the mare had a reserve price that was lower than my high bid of $6,500.  And she was going to be a no sale.  But somehow it occurred to that auctioneer to ask the question and the seller decided to let the mare go for less than her reserve price, maybe because they could see she wasn't going to a dealer who would try to flip her but also for some reason that I will never know.  If they had advertised this mare on Facebook, she would have sold in a heartbeat for probably significantly more than I had paid for her.  I wish I could have seen who the seller was or had a chance to talk to that person later, if for no other reason than to thank them and assure them the mare would have a good home with us, but there was no way for me to know who it was.  There were too many people and too much confusion.

After taking a minute to fully realize that I had just bought a horse at an auction for my daughter, I figured out that the next step was to go pay for the horse and figure out how to pick her up.  The process was crazy simple.  I walked to the trailer where I had gotten my number, handed my tag to the lady, and explained that I had bought a horse.  She looked my number up on the computer to confirm the sale.  Then I wrote her a check and she handed me a receipt.  She told me I could pull my trailer up to the barn, get the horse, and before I put the horse on the trailer, I needed to show my receipt to the staff member at the barn door.

Gemma and I got the truck and trailer, pulled up to the barn, and confirmed the process with the staff member by the door.  I was sort of blown away by how easy everything was.  Gemma confidently walked to the mare's stall, put her halter on, and led her down the barn aisle, through a human-sized door and to the trailer.  I took over from there.  Even though the mare had been represented as loading well, I decided I should be the one to do it, just in case.  The mare didn't even give a second look at the trailer.  She hopped right on and started munching the hay we had set up at the front.

And that was it.  Gemma and I got in the truck and headed toward the barn, with Gemma chatting excitedly about everything she'd seen and felt.  We also called my friend who'd been providing support through the whole auction and talked to her a bit and found out the story of how things had looked from an online perspective.  She said the bidding for the mare was crazy exciting to watch and that she was screaming the whole time with another friend who was on the phone with her watching the same thing.  Apparently, we were even better than reality TV:)

The drive back to the barn was pretty uneventful.  The mare hauled quietly, and she was calm when we stopped for gas.  There was a man there putting gas in his car and when he saw the horse in the trailer, he asked if he could pet her and take a picture for his daughter who was seven and loved horses.  I told him that of course he could.  Gemma was already in the trailer petting the mare and she told the man all about her.  After a few minutes, the man came out of the trailer and thanked me and told me I have a pretty special kid.  I told him I knew.  And maybe the universe did too, because I was still trying to wrap my head around the sequence of events that happened to lead to us being able to buy the horse.

We got to the barn at about 10:30 that night.  The trip from the auction had taken about two hours.  I unloaded the mare easily and walked her over to the round pen, which is where she would be hanging out for at least several days.  The auction provided a three-day soundness guarantee on all horses sold unless they were flagged "as is."  The mare had sold with the guarantee and it covered more than just lameness.  It also covered her respiratory system, heart, eyes, and stall habits (like cribbing or weaving).  So I planned to have my vet check her out to make sure there wasn't anything I had missed or that would prevent her from being ridden.

In the meantime, she would stay in the round pen as a way of isolating her from the other horses because the barn didn't have a quarantine facility.  (No barn that I have ever boarded at has had one, even though they really should.).  Normally new horses just go straight into one of the herds, but I wanted to talk to the vet about a more realistic approach.  I had seen one pony with a snotty nose at the auction, but otherwise the horses all appeared healthy.  I felt the risk for disease was less than it would be at an auction that included horses at the end of their lives where kill buyers made their living, but it was still a lot of horses and people coming together in a small area.  So I wanted to be cautious.

After we got the mare set up with food and water and made sure she seemed to be settling in OK, we headed home to try and get a little sleep before a big day.  Gemma would be competing in her second dressage show the next day and of course, we had a new horse to check on!

The next morning, we were at the barn bright and early to check on Gemma's new horse.  She had obviously been just fine over the night and nickered when she saw us.  Gemma wanted to hang out with her for a little bit, so we cleaned her pen, brought her some hay, topped off her water, and then Gemma just played around with her for awhile.

Such a friendly mare!

Spoiler alert: The vet found no issues when she came out to check the mare.  So as of Tuesday night at 6 pm, when the guarantee expired, we found ourselves in possession of another paint mare, of all things.  Gemma has named her Freya (pronounced Free-ya).  That is the name she picked months, maybe even as much as a year ago, for a horse that she never stopped believing she would get.  The mare's registered name is Zippin Reyka and she is a descendant of Zippo Pine Bar, the leading sire of western pleasure Quarter Horses.  Her sales listing said she is 15.2 hands, but I wouldn't be surprised to find she is an inch or so taller than that.  She is eight years old - the same age as Gemma! - and seems to be settling in to her new home very well.

I'm delighted to watch Gemma in the next step of her horse journey.  She now has a horse of her own, which is the thing she has wanted for years.  But have no worries about the beloved Star.  We plan to continue to work with her too.  In fact, Gemma competed with her in a dressage show and won a blue ribbon in their Intro A class. 

And it is awesome that Gemma has Star to ride and compete while we ease Freya into her new life.  So far, all the things that were represented about her have been true.  She loads easily, hauls well, was good for the farrier to pull her shoes and trim her feet, stood quietly for the vet exam, leads well, and is easy to tack up.  So now it is a matter of getting to know her and see how she works for Gemma under saddle.  Stay tuned for our adventures!