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Member
Posts: 25
| Just wondering about people's experiences with buying a horse at a auction. The auction seems to be reputable, and all that, I don't want to name them, in order to buy a horse I'd have to purchase it sight unseen.
A little worried why the horse owner would send them to an auction to sell. Trying to hide something that I can't see in pictures and videos, or maybe just don't want to deal with inquiries?
Your experience with doing such, the good, the bad, the ugly?
Things to look out for??
Thank you in advance. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 664
 
Location: Canada | I haven't purchased an aged horse from an auction but I have known many who have sent them to an auction and dealt with training horses that have come in who were purchased from an auction.
Now excluding young (unstarted) horses and breeders auctions (where they breed, train and sell their own stock at auction - where most come with some form of health/lameness guarantee) in my experience the horses that are sent to auction are the ones that:
- are hard to sell in private sales due to training issues
- have health or lameness issues
- have behavioral issues
- are aged and unstarted or have limited handling
There of course are always exceptions to these standards. For example people who have fallen on hard times, death of owners, or divorces where a liquidation of the stock is required quickly. But most of the time the horse sale brings in far less that what would have been received had the horse been sold in private sale.
If you can afford to take the risk on the horse and financially bounce back if it doesn't work then it may be worth the chance to you. But if you had to save up and can't easily replenish the funds then I'd look at buying something locally that you know you can try and ensure you and the horse get along.
Best of luck!
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 My Heart Be Happy
Posts: 7486
 
Location: Arkansas | Bump
Edited by Chandler's Mom 2019-02-08 7:49 PM
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| I have bought horses from auction and have sold horses from auction. I have been burned buying horses and I have had really good luck with them. I think a lot depends on the history of the horse. I prefer to buy from people who have not traded the horse around where it ends up in trader alley. (Some of the stories one hears!) Plus a lot depends on the actual auction and their reputation. Some auctions have the reputation for people just dumping horses. Some people you see at every auction buying and selling as that is how they make a living. Not all auctions are bad either. Some are very reputable and want the seller and buyer to be very happy.
I have started selling many of our prospects at an auction for convenience and also less hassle of tire kickers. We don’t try to hide anything on the horse but want to see the horse go on and be successful so it makes their half siblings more in demand. We also try to take some of our best homegrown horses to an auction. |
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I Really Love Jeans
Posts: 3153
Location: North Dakota | I purchased a gelding at the end of the summer from an auction that was an invitational auction. They have a good name in our part of the country. They sold 125 horses and the lowest price for a riding horse sold was $5500. The highest was 26 thousand for a 18 year old roping mare. These are ranch horses that have all been used in daily ranch work. They offered a 48 hour guarantee in soundness, so you need to get the horse to the vet immediately to check for any issues. The horse I purchased has a fantastic handle and stands quiet and loads easily etc.. I just wish they would have said he was extremely hard to catch lol. I have to feed him in a round pen daily and lock him in their if I know I’m going to ride. I then have to actually lunge him for a large amount of time to catch him. The longest it has ever taken me to get him was 45 minutes. I love the horse but my god I will never own a horse again that can’t be caught!! My point is that when you get a horse at an auction you will not be told the entire story about the horse. At least if you purchase from and individual you can watch and see if the horse can be caught and you can take your time to get a soundness check and try to get the truth at least. I paid a pretty penny for him and it can get aggravating sometimes that they didn’t disclose his bipolar tendency about being caught. I don’t think I will purchase from an auction again after this experience! It sounds minor but you can’t even go up to him in the field just to pet him at all! |
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Miracle in the Making
Posts: 3051
| angelica - 2019-02-11 10:44 AM I purchased a gelding at the end of the summer from an auction that was an invitational auction. They have a good name in our part of the country. They sold 125 horses and the lowest price for a riding horse sold was $5500. The highest was 26 thousand for a 18 year old roping mare. These are ranch horses that have all been used in daily ranch work. They offered a 48 hour guarantee in soundness, so you need to get the horse to the vet immediately to check for any issues. The horse I purchased has a fantastic handle and stands quiet and loads easily etc.. I just wish they would have said he was extremely hard to catch lol. I have to feed him in a round pen daily and lock him in their if I know I’m going to ride. I then have to actually lunge him for a large amount of time to catch him. The longest it has ever taken me to get him was 45 minutes. I love the horse but my god I will never own a horse again that can’t be caught!! My point is that when you get a horse at an auction you will not be told the entire story about the horse. At least if you purchase from and individual you can watch and see if the horse can be caught and you can take your time to get a soundness check and try to get the truth at least. I paid a pretty penny for him and it can get aggravating sometimes that they didn’t disclose his bipolar tendency about being caught. I don’t think I will purchase from an auction again after this experience! It sounds minor but you can’t even go up to him in the field just to pet him at all!
sounds like my doc horse but he dead now shees he was hell to catch |
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 A Barrel Of Monkeys
Posts: 12749
Location: Texas | Tnmunch - 2019-02-06 6:47 PM
Just wondering about people's experiences with buying a horse at a auction. The auction seems to be reputable, and all that, I don't want to name them, in order to buy a horse I'd have to purchase it sight unseen.
A little worried why the horse owner would send them to an auction to sell. Trying to hide something that I can't see in pictures and videos, or maybe just don't want to deal with inquiries?
Your experience with doing such, the good, the bad, the ugly?
Things to look out for??
Thank you in advance.
I can see sending a horse to auction if you don't need the money and don't want to deal with the public (which is painful these days).
I've bought several good broodmares at auction, as well as a few young horses. You're basically buying a pig in a poke, and there's risk involved. You just have to be willing to accept that risk. |
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  Semper Fi
Location: North Texas | In the 90s at a Texas Sale, I found needle marks on horses I was looking at for possible purchase. Needless to say, I did not bid on said animals. |
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 Own It and Move On
Location: The edge of no where | There can be a million reasons to put one in an auction and there's all different kinds of auctions. The local sale barn is a very different deal from an higher end auction where you have to be approved to be considered as a consignor. I've sold 2 at really good sales and was extremely happy with where they wound up. Keep in mind that if you put inferior horses in a good sale, or if you misrepresent your horses - you will not be invited back. It's kinda odd, but most of the other parts of the horse industry other than barrel racing have higher end sales with great reputations.
Reasons I did it - There's not many barrel races where I currently am and I wasn't comfortable sending my horse to another part of the country for someone else to campaign. I run barrels and I HATE dealing with barrel racers - they give me headaches when selling horses. Very rarely do I opt to sell one and there's no way in hell that I'm letting whoever wants to try my horse go make a run on it. She's proven with a million stats and video'd runs. I advertised her as going to the sale and welcomed previews & vet checks.
I've bought from auctions before and will in the future as well. If you're worried about the horse, see if you can contact whoever has it consigned and get more videos. Do you know anyone that can go lay eyes on the horse for you?
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 Miss Laundry Misshap
Posts: 4942
| I think it depends on the auctions. There are several that have big names and have pretty good reputations. Billings Livestock comes to mind. So the 5 Star Horse Sale.
I think sometimes the horses in these are sold by horse traders who fit the horse, and then sell them high at those places. I know the people who have the 5 Star sale sell some throughout the year at Billings. That's a 16-18 hr drive for them...so obviously they are making quite a turn around to go that far at a good sale.
Our local horse auction MIGHT get to 5K once in a great while with prob a 1000-1500 avg. I think 5000 is the low end of Billings usually and their avg is like 7500. They've got some nice horses that run through there and I've always wanted to go! |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 1160
Location: Sapulpa, OK | I strongly disagree! I sell all of my horses at auction. They are young and not finished horses. After years of tire kickers, wanting to come down on the prices etc. I rarely sell at home. But, I only sell at big sales. Heritage Place, BFA sale are 2 of my yearly sales. They have quality horses, advertise them worldwide and broaden my market. The Heritage Place had a quarter horse sell for 1.6 million in October. Average for the January sale was around $12,000. If you go to a local cheapo market you are going to have a higher risk of a horse with an issue. If you buy a horse off the track you are going to get whatever issue that horse had that brought him off the track. If you go to a big sale, study your catalog closely, do some reasearch, learn your pedigrees and you can become a successful buyer. I bought a Pink Buckle filly at the heritage Place this year :) and a Smoke Creek Ranch gelding :) Both are young horses. |
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 Expert
Posts: 4594
Location: Desert Land | palgalz - 2019-02-20 11:48 AM
I strongly disagree! I sell all of my horses at auction. They are young and not finished horses. After years of tire kickers, wanting to come down on the prices etc. I rarely sell at home.
But, I only sell at big sales. Heritage Place, BFA sale are 2 of my yearly sales. They have quality horses, advertise them worldwide and broaden my market. The Heritage Place had a quarter horse sell for 1.6 million in October. Average for the January sale was around $12,000.
If you go to a local cheapo market you are going to have a higher risk of a horse with an issue. If you buy a horse off the track you are going to get whatever issue that horse had that brought him off the track.
If you go to a big sale, study your catalog closely, do some reasearch, learn your pedigrees and you can become a successful buyer.
I bought a Pink Buckle filly at the heritage Place this year :) and a Smoke Creek Ranch gelding :) Both are young horses.
This ^^^ |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 431
Location: Tennessee | You're taking a gamble at an auction, but sometimes it pays off. My grandfather bought my heart horse for me at an auction (that was back in '92 I think). He was a barrel horse and he got him at a reputable performance horse sale. I won more on that little horse than I could even list. He was only about 14.1, but he could run with the big boys and he sure was gritty with a huge heart. Just lost him last year at 33. That gamble sure did pay off. |
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Own It and Move On
Location: The edge of no where | There's a few going to the Billings Sale advertised on here that I'd love to have in my barn. |
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