On Saturday I was lucky enough to go to Leudlow's animal auction. Cindy, a current boarder, had heard that there was going to be a paint horse for sale there and wanted to go check it out. Carol who owns Griffin from the barn, and Tanya (Cindy's friend and a past client of mine) also came along.
Too say we had a lot of fun is an understatement, as Cindy was carrying baby goats around and I myself was bidding on Wilbur the pig, and 2 mary "lambs". Of course, I wouldn't go over $5.00 so I did not buy any critters. Though, I was really tempted to buy that darn pig....I could smell the bacon....
On the sad subject of the horses attending the auction....they were a stellar example of why some people should not be able to breed their horses....sigh.....there were 2 registered quarter horse fillies, both coming 3 years old this summer. Neither could lead or tie or were friendly, as they were frightened by the environment they were shuffled in and were more than positive that the human beings staring at them were envisioning the evening meal. They were not horribly thin - they obviously had food, but their hooves showed that it had been some time, if any, that they had been trimmed, and they were definitely showing signs of some serious worms. One filly had serious clouding in one eye, and when I finally could get closer to it - I'm sure there was sight loss. When they came through the auction ring, they didn't even bring a bid of $25.00 And sad to say, they were not worth the $60.00 that the auctioneer bought them for.
Cindy was really eyeing the one filly and when the bidding started, I told her that her hospital bill or deductibles were going to be much higher than $60.00
So the paint gelding that was there was in about the same shape as the 2 fillies (as they came from the same place) - however someone in his short life had spent the time to teach him to lead and tie. And that human's might still be predators - that we were NOT going to really eat him. This gelding is also registered and very colorful. Cindy had named him and kissed him well before the bidding started. Cindy had never been to a "horse" auction (and we'll just call it that loosely"), and I bid on the horse for her. Cindy now owns a 2 yr old registered paint gelding for a mere $95.00 I will have to post some pictures of him here. She has a bit of project for herself, but I think there is some promise here.
We picked up the paint horse on Sunday afternoon and he loaded fine and came off the trailer pretty good. Unfortunately after he got off the trailer, he dragged Cindy to the nearest snow pile and promptly started devouring snow....Cindy took him to the water tank and he submerged his face and didn't come back up for air for some time. It appears that they didn't even bother to give this animal a drink of water, for who knows how long.... We took him a bunch of hay, and I'd have to say the horse hasn't moved from the hay or water tank. There is no other tracks in the snow.....sigh....
On other farm news - it is terribly icy around the barn - so all be careful!
Gus & Charisma are both riding well. Randy came over with me and rode Gus for a little bit too.
Until later!
T.
No comments:
Post a Comment