Wish me luck

And good prices:lol: . I have the horses loaded and am just waiting for Brennen & Taegan to get off the school bus, then we are off to the sale. We have 6 horses in the trailer. And a girl coming to look at Vamp's daughter, Secret, tomorrow at luch time.
I hate selling at auctions. I am already stressed and a bit sick to my stomach, plus I lost a filling and the tooth abcessed and it's killing me. But I just took a Tylenol 3, so I should be fine for a while.
Ahh, at least I'll have that many less to feed this winter, regardless of how bad prices are.

hope all goes well and you get some good prices

Good Luck!!!

Hope it goes well!

How did it go I hate auctions too.

aww, I hope everything went well!! You'll have to fill us in. Hopefully they got good homes and you got atleast decent prices!

and my thought... dont sell vamp! sell gun!

Well, I left here with 6 horses and left the auction with 5.
Well, 2 were the next door neighbor's pass outs and 2 were a friend's purchases. One of which was from us. He bought Whiskey's colt.
Prices were absolutely terrible. Brennen rode Trouble around in the aisle, but when she was in the ring she was so herd bound that she freaked and neither of us could get on her. I paid $600 for her in January of her yearling year. She's now 5 and I got $550. And she's trained. Well, I guess I could have passed her out, but let her go.
3 of the weanlings went to private buyers. Most colts just got sent in. We had ours haltered and led them in. I wont even tell you what they brought. It was disgusting. I am DEFINATELY not breeding next year.
As we were getting ready to go in the ring, a guy I know came up and offered me $250 for the pinto filly. I told him I had to let her go through the ring because we had paid to enter her in the sale and there was a rule against alley trading (plus there were a few auction barn workers within ear shot) . So he told me to pass her out if she got less and he would buy her. So we passed her at $90. And when he came up to me, he tried to give me $50 for her. No f'ing way. Excuse my language, but I was big time po'd. Then he tried to hand me 2 fifties, saying that was the deal. Well, several people heard him offer the $250, as in two hundred fifty, as he worded it when he offered. So just because he pissed me off and my kids love this filly, we brought her home. Before we left, I had 2 people ask for my number and my price on the filly.
The pinto mare went to an older teenager wanting a project.
Brennen did bid on a nice pony, but he didn't get it. He's kicking himself now for not buying it. It was a smooth trotter too, which is great in a pony. He figured he could ride it for 2 years then pass it off to Taegan or Sean. And we could sell Tony, who is a bit strong for either of them. He's really beating himself up over it. I told him there'll be other ones.
There were weanlings by a stallion that is by Smart Little Lena and out of a mare by Peppy San Badger & out of Doc's Marmoset. The dam has won about $80k cutting. The sellers are friends of ours. Brennen bought both Sandy & Caffiene from them. They passed colts out at $120. And they are out of really nice mares. They had Caffiene's full brother there. Man, is that colt built. He's a sorrel, not a roan like his sister, but stouter. Brennen asked what she'd take for him. She told him $300. He paid $1000 for Caffiene a year ago. But prices here were way better then.
I left there almost sick. Ah well, down to 15 and there is a girl coming to look at Secret tomorrow.

So the girl did not buy Secret. She was looking for running bred mares and instead bought one from the neighbors that is foundation on top and Impressive (N/N) on the bottom. Oh well, but now I still have her to get rid of.
Brandi, I still say you need a Vamp daughter. What about I just come up and drop her off

I assume when you say pass out that is the same as no sale REally sucks and when you do that you have to put that much more in them. I would really rather give them away to someone I know who will take care of them.

Yeah, pass out is the same as a no sale. I'm second guessing myself about Trouble, but she was a loony if you tried to ride her by herself. She was a heck of a good looking mare, but her babies were asses to deal with.
You know the type that when you halter break them, they never seem to get it and you have to drag the suckers around for ten times as long as the others and when you ask them to move over, they lean on you instead? That was her colts. Which is why she has been open for 2 years & I've been riding her. One person suggested that attitude may have come from the stud, but she had colts by both Gun & Pep. The Pep colt was better than the Gun colt, but still no brains to speak of. Not something I wanted to produce more of, regardless of looks.
I was working with the pinto filly this afternoon. Now that one is a gem. I like her more and more. She'll make someone a nice kids horse when she's older. If I don't get what I want for her, she'll stay here and be my project. The guy who wanted her had the audacity to phone and try to buy her again. For cheap of course. But you know what,even if he offered my asking price, that *censored* is not getting my filly. Just on principle.

I know how you feel. That's why I got on so much of a tear last year. Why I only have 4 horses now! The last time I went, because I'm like you, I get sick to my stomach, literally, so I told them, the leads are so and so, they have halters on, they're ready to go, and got one of their guys to take them through, and I left. I left before they sold, after giving them all the info I could think of, and told them to send me the check.

It's bad. And what makes it worse is, is that why would you even raise a horse right now, when you can buy one cheaper at age 2 unbroke, or even one who is broke for LESS than you can feed a mare through gestation... Unless it's some high dollar horses, it's just not worth it.

At least you cleared out some, and might ought to think about getting ridding of those broodmares.

2 of the ones we sold at the sale were ones we had used as broodmares. With the 5 mares that are left, 3 will be kept for riding because they are well broke, the other 2 are for sale. We had someone come look at the one mare, but didn't take her. I will up my advertising. Plus, I am putting some under saddle work on them, that should increase their desirability.
We will be keeping everything else other than those mares and Gun unless I get the prices I want, because realistically, we put up our own feed and can well afford to keep them. Plus, we use the riding horses all the time and work with the others daily, keeps the kids busy & out of trouble, and we enjoy it. Whats left for horses wont be breeding animals, not something we are trying to make money from, just a hobby. I can have 8 horses in the barn over winter and 4 outside if I get down to 12.
Brennen is talking about joining 2 4-H clubs, and with Sandy out of commision for a while, his horses will get a pile of riding done. And as a bonus, Wade is getting more interesterd in riding now that he doesn't see it as a money pit business, but as an expensive hobby. He is even talking about coming with us to a trail ride next Saturday.

Congrats on selling some of the herd, I hope you get the prices you want for the other ones. It sure is easier taking care of a few than it is 20+. Good job on downsizing and I'm so happy to hear Wade is getting involved