Auction 'politics'

Well Loki found his new partner today- a really nice guy with horse sense and compassion.... and he's getting lessons from some highly rated mounting shooting people. Loki's going to go be a cowboy shooting and park ranger horse. I really liked this guy (obviously since I sold him a horse) and I think it's a absolutely great match.

So we were talking, petting the horses (we both agree we wish we could go back to our childhoods and apologize to our horses) and  I was telling him about the auction politics and scams that go on behind the scenes. I thought it might make a semi interesting blog post.

But guess what?! Even if it isn't, you're getting it anyway.

So, I'm watching 'storage wars' and I'm watching the bidding- okay more like the catty bitch fights and name calling. I'm seeing a lot of people bidding other people up just to be jerks and lots of posturing. Hellooooo reality TV!

This is not the same game as horse auctions, at least in my experience. So I'm going to describe some of the shittier aspects of horse sales and the people that frequent them. We're going to skip over the obvious drugging and lying about the horse, exploiting children to make your horse look better, etc. Keep in mind this is my personal experience, it probably doesn't hold true everywhere and certainly not at the high quality auctions.

Kill buyers and brokers as auctioneers: yep. Guess who's horses get the longest time in the ring? Brokers- Guess who the bid spotters in the ring help 'up' the price for? Still them. These people also buy horses cheap, then take them to the next sale and sell them themselves- making a tidy profit at the same time.

Don't know the auctioneer? Good luck getting a decent price because they'll try to rush you out of the ring as quickly as possible- oh and they don't like to talk about the horse either so you'll have to yell.  Yes, the auctioneer makes a commission, but many get paid a flat rate fee- so it's all the same to them what it sells for.

Kill buyers as bid spotters in the ring and kill buyers hanging out in the ring so they can yell what they want to pay. It's amazing how often the kill buyers "don't see" your bid when its going against their own...  This is why you have to yell.... loudly.

Kill buyers as auctioneers (again) who will start the horse super high ($1400) and when there's no bids their partner will call out the meat price or below it and no one bids against them. They do this so the thought in everyone's mind is: "Well those horse isn't worth that much.. there's no way I'm paying that..." Basically it takes people out of the game before it starts

Traders who sit next to you and will lie about the horse so they can get it cheaper or who'll lie for their friends if they think you're a newbe and wont be back. Thankfully this doesn't happen as much once they know your face. There are also the good traders who will tell you the truth about the horse so that you don't get burned. A good way to build this communication is a commentary on certain horses, for example: Auctioneer: "10 years old!" Me: "Sure, 13 years ago..." Or just discussing horses that go through. Be nice to the people around you, you'll probably find out a lot more than you would otherwise. Especially if they've seen the horse being ridden before. The guy sitting next to me at the London sale was the one who told me that Moose would rear, when I was bidding. Not an issue for me personally (especially since he's not actually a rearer but a bluffer), but very nice of him to mention.

Anyway, then you have the workers who will hit, spook or poke horses coming up with cattle prods. This is to get them worked up and anxious so that they or their friends and partners can get the horse cheap.

There are many more, but I've forgotten them now- of course. I'll add them when I remember them.


As a note for a follow up to my last post: To 'horse proof' sharp edges that refuse to go flat you can use the spray foam used to close gaps. This stuff:

It's not pretty looking, but when it dries it works pretty well as a blocker. It has some give so when they run into it it doesn't cut them. The best part is that these cans cost under $3. I'll vouch that this actually does work.... unlike the waterproofing of blankets stain. That was a dud. 

Cheap horse people slowly become Macgyver.

Yep. We've all done some quick ingenious fixing up (unless you're really really rich, in which case- hey, you're my new best friend!) you know, fixed a blanket with bailing twine, substituted this or that for grooming supplies, used household products for horse things. For example, we've been using a two step plastic step stool as a mounting block.

Basically this. 

It actually worked pretty well, and for several years. Unfortunately it's my gelding Sam's favorite toy. He is very fond of flipping it over with his nose and then turning around and backing up into it until he is standing in the gaps. We don't know why he does this (I freaked out the first few times he did this thinking he'd panic, now I just yell at him to quit breaking things) we think he may be trying to hitch himself up to a 'buggy' because he'll look back and then realign himself. Because of this irksome habit he's basically destroyed it. So We've been looking at mounting blocks- real ones. 

Well real ones, especially 3 step ones, are damn expensive. My family has never been into buying something new if we can find it used or make it ourselves. ( My father is a professor, my mother is stay at home and they had 5 kids. Two biological and three adopted from India- two around age 10. At one point they were raising all us on about 12-13 grand a year. And we had dogs, cats, chickens and yes, horses. Because of this we had to get pretty creative with what we could get our hands on and what we could make ourselves. Now that we're making considerably  more than that we don't have to pinch as much, but man are those habits hard to let go of.)

Anyway, I actually found a real mounting block at a garage sale- but it wasn't for sale. :( So I've been looking into building one out of wood. 

The problem being..... well, I'm not all that good with building shit. My father is, but I'm.... less so.

Anyway, I'm avoiding putting away my laundry so I'm going to share my favorite cheap horseman and future goals. You can thank pinterest for making me all crafty and giving me ideas. They all look so easy but pinterest can lie like that.  

One of my own:

Make poles for practicing pole bending or improving flexibility and turns:

Need: Quick mix cerement- 1 bag

Several old one gallon size ice cream tubs

Around 4 pvc piping- as thick as you want- these are usually pretty long so you can cut them in half

Step: Cut the piping

Step 1: Mix the cement and pour it into the ice cream tubs.

Step 3: Add pipes to middle of the tub.

Step 4: pour some cement down the middle of the pipe

Step 5: let it dry. The longer the better.

Step 6: Let it sit a few days then remove it from the ice cream tubs. 

Bam, cheap poles from fun or practice. They'll still move and fall, and it costs about 8 bucks for all of it. 

Now onto others I want to try:

Waterproofing old blankets with wood protector. We've got some old crappy blankets that we don't use anyway, and I'm going to try this on one of them. If it works, I'll do it to others. I'm skeptical though.

The downside is that they won't be breathable.  However  I only blanket when I really have to: sudden temp. drop or freezing rain, etc. So basically I'd like to have an extra waterproof blanket on hand if I have too many horses and not enough good blankets.

We have 3 nice, new waterproof heavy blankets. One was a gift and we bought the other two on sale for like $40 each or something ridiculous since it was out of season. We should have got 3 of them, ah hindsight! 

We have 3-4 non waterproof heavy blankets, most old and dusty, one light non waterproof one, and two waterproof (I think) thin blankets/sheets.

So I figure, if I wreck one of the ones we never use, I'm not really out much (A gallon of the walmart brand stuff cost me $10.) and it if actually works, hot damn! 

(Update: I tried it. While it may help a little- especially with light rain, I would not call it waterproof. Don't get me wrong, it's more so than it was before, but not worth it overall.)

The links to these are all wacky and messed up, so if you see something you want to try... ... ... use google.

Build a mounting block:

We also want to make slow feeders:

Easy fill bags- this is for sale but I don't know why you couldn't just make it yourself with twine. 

lol! This one just makes me laugh

Keep feed off the ground

This is the kind we're trying to make, getting a hold of the barrels is annoying though, unless you want to pay full price. 

Tehe, my horses would destroy this in minutes, but it's a neat use of a plastic tub. 

This is an idea... if you have horses that get along and won't monopolize the hay. 

Make your own hay bags  from bailing twine (So making these! I hate when I send a horse home with someone and they have no hay place and a decently long drive)

Make your own saddle rack

Clean non leather halters

Make horse safe scratching posts

Tackle-box first aid kit

Blanket hanger- not a DIY but I bet it wouldn't be that hard to make one... 

De-sensitizing ideas

Heck, I'm kind of scared of this thing. Mainly because I don't like spiders... 

Genius! 

Streamers

And I saved the best for last!

What about you, oh faithful readers and lurkers, what things have you gotten creative with and what things to you want to try? 

Childhood dreams and adult reality.

When I was little I dreamed of having herds and herds of pretty horses running around.
Now that I'm an adult (in theory anyway) I've realized that I have too many damn horses! (At least for our facilities)

We have the feed barn/shed with two stalls where Sam and Nora (the permanent horses) eat.
We have another shed/barn with two stalls inside the round pen- attached to the side of the other barn.
There's a bucket attached to the round pen and there are one (now 2) feed pans outside the round pen. Normally the newest horse or lowest ranking horse, gets to eat in the round pen so I can lock them in if needed.

I mainly notice this around feeding time.
Feeding two horses: a breeze, quick, painless and cheap
Feeding three horses: slightly more work
Feeding four horses: slightly annoying as it requires waiting to make sure they're done before  I can let the others out.
Feeding five horses: nightmarish. It's like a merry-go-round from hell. The trio (Loki, Blue and Moose) are constantly right behind me and they won't go where they're supposed to. Yesterday it was fine, today they refused to do what they're supposed to and nobody ate where they're supposed to. It was maddening and ridiculous and I refuse to do that every feeding time.

This isn't the first time this has happened and I don't put up with it long. So how do I get order? I could halter everyone and lead them in and then lock them in. I could, but that would take a while.

So I do what I read in a Mark Rashid book a few years ago.
I will feed grain to whatever horse goes to their proper spot and stays there without causing a fuss- and no one else. They'll all get hay, but not grain.
It doesn't take them real long before they figure it out. First one, then two and then eventually all of them. Then they settle down and eat like nice, polite creatures.

In the book when he'd feed the herd they would practically run him over every day and he got tired of it- so he didn't feed any of them that didn't walk in nicely. The old, lazy horses went in and got their food right away. The next day it was the same way. The next day horses started watching to see what the others were doing to get in. Then more horses did it, and more, until eventually every horse walked in without pushing.

Horses are smarter than we give them credit for- and boy can they problem solve when there's food involved. Like figuring out how to unlock the doors to the feed room....


I feel like a parent with too many kids. I might also just be cranky since I just had to blanket everyone.

Auction Report: London and my new 'ponies'

Well, I do indeed have the report for London, and here it is!

So I went to the new London auction, it’s better organized and I have to admit, they consistently have better horses than Beebe. However whenever I get a horse from there they tend to take longer to sell than Beebe. Still, where Beebe had maybe one or two nice horses and a lot of duds, London had a lot of nice horses and a few duds

1. 8 year old reg. cute palomino mare, Doc Bar lines, good build, broke- 60 days riding, been on night trail rides, RT. Nice little mare. $550
2. Black and white 14 y/o spotted saddle gelding, nice build, stocky but a little standoffish in the pen, RT: $450
3. 12 y/o bay gelding, stocky and Fat-Fat- FAT, ‘anyone can ride’, RT: $420 TD
4. Cute bay pinto pony mare, 6 y/o, been a barrel and pole horse, kids horse: $270 NS

5. Adorable and nicely built 2 y/o grulla filly (registered but they’d been waiting a year for the papers to be sent to them) nice little horse, the size a 2 year old should be, sweet little filly. Going to grow up to be a nice horse, LT. $225 (Mom is kicking herself for not coming home with her. She says she could sell her this week for like $800. I told her that kind of makes her a trader/flipper and people generally don’t like that. Plus if she’d gotten her, I couldn’t have got Blue since we only have a 2 horse trailer.)

6. Big gray gelding, registered AQHA 2002, nervous in the ring, RT, great build, extremely big, very friendly in the pen. $500

(This is Moose- when I was trying to decide if I should continue past my normal limit I swear to god, this horse stopped and practically glared at me.  Of course he may have just wanted more carrot bits, but still. Anyway, he came home with me. He’s got a bit of a spoiled brat problem. He throws little hissy fits when he doesn’t want to do something and will do this little almost rear thingy.  Basically he must have had an owner who let him get away with murder. After two brief rides he’s already figuring out that it’s pretty pointless and he might as well just do what I ask.)

7. Pinto pony gelding, NRT: $110
8. Cute chocolate mini 8 y/o gelding, fluffy!! RT: $150
9. Big flashy chestnut gelding, lots of “chrome”, rode nicely, had a weird lump on one knee, RT: $420 NS wanted $450
10. 6-7 y/o white mini gelding, RT: $150
11. 18 y/o reg. QH gelding, used for team penning, RT, very responsive, Doc Bar on his actual papers, adorable face, they guaranteed him sound and that he would rope a cow- said they had a week to try him out and if he didn’t work a cow they could return him. $550 NS Wanted $650 but they met in the middle for $600
12. Black pony gelding, 5-6 years  old, green broke, RT: $75 NS
13. Cute 10 y/o chestnut gelding, finished heeling horse, RT and rode well, offered the same one week trial as the 18 year old: $490 NS Wanted $700
14. Huge stocky chestnut gelding, 15 y/o but looked older, been to the chuck wagon races, RT: $425 NS $450
15. Registered 13 year old chestnut gelding, used for trails and working cattle, ‘kid safe’, they guaranteed him 100% sound, NICE horse: $580 NS Wanted $650
16. Sorrel mini mare, RT, slipper footed: $80
17. Big 11 y/o bay gelding, they said he can get gimpy on his front leg but that he’d ride fine if you gave him bute beforehand. Rode well, ‘anyone can ride’, cutting and working cow horse. NS- bidding wasn’t going high enough so he nixed it.
18. Stocky 14 y/o chestnut gelding, family horse, RT: $350 NS W: $650
19. Fat pinto gelding, kinda fugly, RT, bucker- didn’t like the spurs, had hives. $290
20. Reg. 2003 QH, Leo lines, very big and very pretty bay gelding. Great build, roping and a finished head and heeling horse. Guaranteed him 100% sound. One of the nicest horses of the night. $860
21. Sorrel mini pony, RD, comes with saddle and bridle: $100
22. 10 y/o (looked much older) scruffy chocolate mini, RT- arthritis? Nerve damage? Something was wrong there. $50 NS
23. Reg. 2004 Paint, big flashy chestnut overo, branded, gentle, said he didn’t know anything fancy but that he was an ‘anyone can ride’ horse, RT. $500 to me. NS wanted $550- tried to compromise at 525 but I told him I had only brought $1000 total- which was true. Guy representing the owner said just to sell him.

(This is Blue- who isn’t really that fond of riding- so we’ll see if we can’t change that. He and Moose are both big babies and seriously pests. They have to be the friendliest from minute one horses we’ve brought home. I think I’m going to go mute yelling at Blue, Moose and Loki to stop getting in my way!)

24. Big bay gelding, reiner, RT, rode nice. Cute horse. NS- bidding wasn’t high enough.
25. Black and white pinto, 14-15 y/o but looked considerably older, skinny, RT: $185
26. Palomino mare, trail horse, cute but nervous, RT- didn’t ride well. (I missed what she went for.)
27. White spotty mule gelding, RT: $260
28. Nice looking big bay gelding, reg. 2008, heading horse, rode him in a halter- didn’t ride very well at all. $310 NS wanted $400

I left after that point so I could get home before midnight.

Anyway, I came home with two big, big geldings. Who are both constantly underfoot and following me around. Between them and Loki it's impossible to get anything done. Have you ever tried to saddle a horse when the other horse lays his head on your horses back? Or one that follows you under the tied lead rope of the other horse? Because that is what these beasties do.

On the plus side, when we introduced them to the rest of the herd, everyone was like: "Okay. So what?" Apparently the size difference convinced Sam that maybe getting along from the start was the right choice. Loki immediately took to following them like a puppy.

Meet Moose- aka Capt. Two Eyed Cody

11 year old Reg. AQHA gelding

And yes, he is that damn big. 

If he wasn't registered I would swear he's part draft. 

Moose is just like: "Oh, that's your big fence? That's cute." 

This is Blue- aka Golden QJ Bar

9 year old Reg. Paint gelding

Yeehaw! Freedom! 

And my new favorite picture ever: that is the most "Oh SHIT!" look I've ever seen on a horses face. Didn't quite stick the landing there buddy.

Not actually why I started calling him blue. Mom and I were listing kind of dumb names that made no sense and I said blue- and it stuck. The other eye is brown- with a slice of blue. It's creepy. His additional nick name is now spook. 

Mom and the big, spoiled, boys. 

Auction Report number one: Beebe

Spoiler Alert: none of these came home with me. :(
What I came home with: 2 cinches (one actually really nice, one crap): $2
2 Breast collars: $2
1 Nice thick leather bridle with tom thumb bit: $4
1 Hay bag: $2.

Big spender, huh?

Anyway, it was just a weird auction. There weren't a lot of horses, even fewer nice horses, and those went high. Even without riding or saying anything about them which drove me crazy. Also, there really weren't a lot of kill buyers there... Which was awesome!

Terms:
 TD: trader- possible kill buyer
LT: led through
RD: Ridden through
NRT: not ridden through, led through
L: loose- not led through
NS: no sale

Beebe: 11/8

1. Young black gelding, sicked hocked and scared, said he was gaited, loose: $100
2. Red roan colt, nervous but cute: $85
3. Chestnut pony care, “anyone can ride” LT, calm: $200 TD
4. Runty, long backed young gelding, “green broke”, NTR: $125 TD
5. Chestnut mare, reg. AQHA, 2004, king bred top and bottom, LT: $200 TD
6. Light bay possible dark buckskin mare, 2005, AQHA reg, also king bred, sweet, LT: $170
7. Light gray mare with dark legs, 2004, very long backed, scruffy looking, “Broke” but LT, calm: $240
8. Light reddish gray roan gelding, reg. 2003 Missouri Fox Trotter gelding, LT: $255
9. Bay mare with high socks, scared but okay build, RT: $240
10. Flashy bay female mule with high socks, owned by a 70 year old man, “broke” but NRT, cute: $380
11. Very cute bay gelding, adorable head, very nervous, “broke” for very experienced rider but NRT: $385
12. Young sorrel gelding, NTR: $160
13. Bay gelding, very nervous, roach backed, NRT: $260 TD
14. Skinny, pony pinto mare with chestnut colt, NRT: $ 80
15. Small gray stud with a big weird lump under stomach, NRT: $120
16. Chestnut Arabian mare, cute but terrified, L, tried to practically climb in the auctioneers booth: $170 TD
17. Bay stud, never been touched, cute mover though: $100
18. Bay mini gelding, RT in halter, cute: $85
19. 9 y/o bay almost grulla looking pony mare, RT, hadn’t been ridden in 2 years, said she worked and rides, cute: $260
20. 7 y/o perlino TWH gelding, homely face, big horse, RT, good gait: $260 NS- wanted $600
21. True black mare, hadn’t been messed with much, cute, NRT: $220
22. Unhappy bay mule, RT, bucked and didn’t like the spurs: $265 NS
23. Cute 12 y/o red roan pony gelding, RT and bareback, thick, thick neck: $390
24. Chocolate pony,  NRT: $35 TD
25. Scared, splotchy gray pony mare, looked preggers, NRT: $75
26. Adorable bay pinto weanling filly: $40
27. Black pinto filly weanling possible yearling: $41
28. Bay pony mare, RT: $120
29. Bay weanling filly: $25
30. Bay filly and bay colt: weanlings: $27 x 2
31. Fugly bay gelding, RT, possibly gaited? $255
32. Nice light palomino gelding, stocky, 9 y/o, RT, team penning, cute face: $380 (I’m kicking myself for not picking him up!)
33. Bay mini, NRT: $100
34. 2 y/o palomino gelding, mini: $80
35.  Flashy chestnut pinto geldings, matched team of brothers, 7 and 8 y/o, broke to ride and drive- in driving gear: $285 x 2
36. Chestnut mare (?), spunky, NTR: $380
37. Chestnut pinto colt, 2-3 y/o, stocky, NRT: $370
38. 17 y/o bay gelding, “broke” but NRT, very sweet and friendly in the pen: $455 (he was one of my picks)
39. Gray mini mule gelding, NRT: $12.50
40. Bay gelding, 14-16 years old (looked older), been to rodeos and worked cows, RT: $360
41. 5 y/o palomino gelding, RT: $350 NS: $400
42. “adult” white gelding, RT said he did barrels: $300
43. Bay mare, preggers, L: $140
44. Runty fugly Grulla stud, very scared, L: $100
45. 2 BIG good looking chestnut mules, 11 and 12 years old, works and rides, sold as a pair since they don’t like to be separated, $450 each NS: $700 each
46. Big and stocky 4 y/o ½ QH ½ draft gelding, rode well, branded, sweet horse, good looking, hugely swollen hind leg (fetlock area and around), said he’d gotten wire wrapped around it but it had healed now…. Seriously hugely swollen. RT: $370 NS wanted $600
47. Massively gigantic bay mules, 6 and 7 y/o sisters, cute, pair: $680 NS wanted $900
48. Bay draft cross- looked like a mini Clydesdale, sweet in the pen, L- $375
49. Black mare, blind in an eye, NRT: $195 TD
50. BIG bay paint, NRT: $500
51. Nice 13 y/o chestnut paint gelding, stocky and big, flashy, kid broke, ridden by a kid, responsive and calm on a loose rein. Good horse but he had a crack in one front hoof all the way up to the top of the hoof through. $800
52. Big 17 hand Bay gelding, TB (?) slightly underweight, friendly but runny eyes and he was wind sucking in the pen, RT: $340
53. Cute little blanket appy pony stud, NRT: $90
54. Gorgeous pure black TWH mare with a star, Reg. 2001, great bloodlines, had The Pusher on her papers. Good build, big chest but slightly runty back end. Long black mane and super long forelock.  Looked like my old Friesian cross. I really wanted her, except on my second round she got pissy and kept seriously trying to bite me when I tried petting her shoulder. Not bluffing.  One of the people said she was trying to kick when they brought her in. But she was good with a guy that tried to pet her and she was ridden through bareback and rode nicely. Looked like she’d been shown, possible BL horse? $420 If she’d been friendly I’d have happily paid way more than that for her.
55. Sorrel stud, cute, NRT: $140
56. 4 y/o big black mare, well built, heeling, AQHA reg, guaranteed sound, RT, rode well. Very nice horse. $620 ns. Wanted $2,000
57. Wild chestnut, nervous, gelding: $175
58. Bay mare, pretty, NRT: $295
59. Buckskin mare, said she was 4 going on five, but she was AQHA reg- born 2006. RD, rode okay. I actually won her for $415 but NS- wanted $850
60. Chestnut mule, NRT: $125
61. Huge 17 hand (or more…) gaited mammoth mule, gray pinto, flashy, 5 y/o gelding, RT- rode very nicely: $800
62. Tall 8 y/o chestnut  TB mare, RT bareback: $270
63. 9 y/o reg. Bay, cow horse: $350 NS wanted $850
64. Reg. 2007 skinny horse, ewe necked, RT: $85
65. Chestnut mare, 12-13 years old (looked considerably older) RT, rode great, very responsive: $490 NS: $650
66. 16 y/o chestnut mare, retired reiner, RT (didn’t ride great though): $375
67. Bay pony, kids horse, RT: $190
68. Bay mare, AQHA reg. 1991, fantastic shape and weight, healthy, Doc Bar actually on her papers, good bloodlines, used for team penning, sorting, heeling, etc. RT, rode really well. Good looking mare. Bet she was a very pricey horse a few years back, even at 22 she was one of the nicest horses of the night. $400
69. 11 y/o gelding, ‘American Saddle horse’, chestnut, cute, but moved kind of weird- almost a little off, RT: $370 I was bidding but just wasn’t sure so I bowed out.
70. 5 y/o Bay gelding, started on barrels: $240?

Since none of my picks came home with me, I'm going to go to the London horse sale tonight. It's under new, better, management so we'll see how it goes. Wish me luck! 

Tact- I have none.

I'm realizing this. For real.
I hate confrontation, I really, really do. Despite this character flaw, I realize I'm not very tactful. This leads to all kinds of squirmy discomfort when it comes to selling horses.

For example, we had some people come out. They were abrupt on the first call, but apparently passed my mothers approval on the second one since they were allowed to come out.

Unfortunately Loki boy threw a shoe on a trail ride and has apparently bruised his frog- which of course didn't show up until people came to look at him. So the people came out, and I immediately disliked them, and not just a little bit.

Don't ask me why, my gut feeling just did not like them. It wasn't that they weren't knowledgeable or that they didn't take care of their horses, because they were and they clearly do. I don't doubt that they provide excellent care for a minute.
 But I still didn't like them.  Honestly I don't even know if it was anything personal.

Since that was when Loki decided to be a little off on that foot on that day, we nixed them riding and they asked us to call them if he was feeling better. I was so relieved.

Why? Because then I wouldn't have to try to explain why I didn't want to sell them my horse for no apparent reason. Even if it is in all my ads. (It's that darn confrontation hating thing again) I figured they'd forget or lose interest, especially if we never happened to err, call them back.

Apparently not, and they're still very interested. We told them he still wasn't completely back to normal yet, which is true.  But if they call back again I'm going to have to deliver the not so good news, that or they're going to have to work exceptionally hard to convince me they'd be the right home.

I do think I've finally figured out why my gut said no- I saw them exhibit all the signs of a knowledgeable horse person, they looked at all the right things and what not. But I never saw them try to make any kind of emotionally connection or a bond with the horse. While they'd provide a good home for him, it's not the kind of a home I want him to go to.

This is a horse who absolutely loves people and being around them. He is an inherently happy horse and he clearly wants to connect with 'his person'. I've had horses that could care less about that and so the above kind of home would be fine for them. But Loki does care, and I want the kind of home where someone is going to adore him and spend time with him for fun- not just riding or work.

Lacey's new mommy (who bought her the same day the other stuff happened) fell in love with her- and was willing to make it work even if things weren't always easy. She enjoyed being around her and was immediately protective of her.  She wanted Lacey to like her as much as she liked Lacey.  This is the kind of home that I like. This is the kind of home I want for Loki.

And now I have to try to figure out a nice way to tell someone, who's not been rude or awful, that I don't think they're that home for my horse. Actually, the lack of emotional connection is the nicest phrasing I've come up with so far.

Logically I don't think there's anything wrong with the pairing. But emotionally I do. So I've had to ask myself the question, would I regret selling him to them? The answer my gut said was yes. My gut is what helps me pick out horses from the auction- and when I listen to it I usually come home with a wonderful horse- but when I listen to my head only, it's a mixed bag.

So now I have to get over my dislike for confrontation and find some damn tact. Bugger.

In other news I will be going to the auction tomorrow. So, do you guys want an auction report? Yay or neigh? (pun fully intended)

Do parents secretly hate their offspring or something?

That's my new theory on why I get so many calls from people with children, who are calling about unsuitable horses. Like, would your speed event prospect, ranch horse that likes to go-go-go be a good match for my 10 year old inexperienced child?

..... No.  No, nope, nope nooooo.

If this was a one time deal I'd brush it off, but this happens with every dang horse like this. The hilarious thing is that it doesn't happen as much with the horses that *could* be kids horses. I don't get it.

Why would you contact me about a horse I specifically say "Is not for kids or beginners"? I had one like this, a greenie that I listed as 'started under saddle' not broke, not even green broke. And I got so many damn calls from parents.
 "Is this horse safe for my 8 year old child with a brain injury?"
.................... ............. ............. Are you kidding me?

I don't get why parents seem to want to endanger their children unless it's a clever ploy to buy them an unsuitable horse so they get scared and no longer want to ride horses, thus freeing up the parents bank account for other less expensive endeavors.
 Yes, yes that must be it.  I like that theory.

Now the horse I'm selling would do fine with a teen or young teen who's had experience for years or even in some speed events. That would be great, they'd have no problem controlling him. But a kid who's under 10? Can't do it. Won't do it. Sorry.

My thoughts on what makes a suitable kids horse (or one I'll put kids up oon) is  leftover from being a trail guide, and I absolutely err on the side of caution, and you know, common sense.

My mother is nicer about telling these people what she thinks, her conversations go something like: "Well, I think you may be better off looking for a horse like -bla bla bla- *insert suitable horse here*"
I tend to be more like: "No."

I need to work on tact or something.

I am happy however, that all my ads say 'I reserve the right to refuse any sale I do not think would be a good fit for either my horse or for you'. Because the first method is trying to persuade people to change their minds is tactful. When this doesn't work we often try the "well, there's a long list of people so I can call you back if that doesn't work out....." When that fails I'm left with: "Okay honestly I don't think it's a good fit." Or if they're an ass (Had one of those already) "I don't like you. You're not getting my horse. Goodbye."

My mothers a little nicer about this than I am. Sorry (not sorry) Mr. not a small cowboy, wants a horse for all his employees who are men who don't have lots of experience (but are required to wear spurs) I will not sell you my horse. No, a 14.1 hand horse isn't suitable for a larger man even if it is a shorter way to fall off. Amazingly, that isn't my concern- and it shouldn't be yours either!!!

Seriously, just go away.

My favorite is when people get huffy and play the 'but it's a buyers market!' card.  Yep, it is. So go buy one of those horses because you sure aren't buying mine!
It may be a buyers market, but I've had enough calls about this horse to make it a sellers market. Good day.

Rant over.