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On the 13 of Oct, I mosied up to Oneill, Nebraska...my goal a horse
auction. My mission, to act as moral support for Lynn Schmale
(of Phoenix Rising Horse Rescue) and Jana (a rescue volunteer)
and to help with the loading and unloading of horses. Okay so
really my job was to be there and to enjoy a day away from my kids and
hubby while also working as a volunteer to help save some horses from
the meatman.
This is probably a good place to mention my restrictions for
going to the auction. The only one I had was from my
husband and it was this...Absolutely
no buying anything!!!!! This would be the reason that my husband
(keep in mind that I didn't even have a trailer of my own there) only
sent me with $13 in cash and an empty bank account. He seemed to
think that with that amount of money I would be able to stay out
of trouble. lol. I spent $2.25 on lunch because I was too
nervous to eat before the auction and I had a feeling that I would
need every penny that I had.
So on to the auction report. I am guessing that between 200-250
head of horses went through the ring yesterday. Sadly I
estimate that 16 went to the one killbuyer that we were able to
pinpoint. I suspect that there was one more, but he also worked
at the auction house helping the auctioneer see the bids (what do
you call those guys? lol). You might ask how I know for sure
that the one guy was a kill buyer, well the fact is that I was sitting
directly behind him. I watched as he made a list of horses on
his auction card that was labled Mexico. He also had a list of
prices based on weight that showed what the Mexican slaughterhouse had
authorized him to bid on the horses. It was one of the toughest
seats that I have ever maintained. If that man couldn't feel the
abhorance that I was directing at him the whole time, then I suspect
that he has no feelings at all. Needless to say, it was all
I could do to keep myself from knocking all his teeth out. That
is right, I am a bit of a savage and I also have 9 years of Taekwondo
to back it up. lol I did have a bit of a laugh when he realized
that the scale was not on and that he was going to have to guess the
weights of the horses. He looked pretty frustrated at that.
I learned from my Uncle in law(lol...tried to think of a short way to
say my husband's uncle!) today that the scale there is broken and
that the owner hasn't been able to afford to replace it yet. lol
So prices for the horses were very low. The highest bid on a
horse (a well broke ranch gelding with excellent AQHA bloodlines and
just out of the cattle pen) was $1500. The owner no saled him.
The next highest was a mare with Topsail Cody and Leo bloodlines (for
those of you who don't know, these are my mare's bloodlines. I
would estimate that this mare at the right place in front of buyers
that knew squat about the AQHA Legend's books would have gone for over
$4000) went for $1025. Another similar mare (with very similar
bloodlines) went for $650. A three year old Belgian
stallion (broke to ride and drive) went for $160!!! His mare
(broke to ride and drive) from the same farm did slightly better
at $335. I suspect that the stallion would have gone for a
higher price, but his mare was in heat and he kept challenging any
male horse gelded or not that went past their adjoining pens. I
think it was a bit unnerving for most of the people who went to look
at him. lol
So you might ask...what was the lowest price? Well, that would
be the lowest price EVER paid
for a horse at the Oneill Auction house. A whopping
$5!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And the proud bidder of that price? ME!!!!!!!
That's right. I broke the rules and bought a probably pregnant,
grulla mare for that small sum. The second lowest price of the
night? $10!!!!!!!!! And the winning bidder? ME!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh yeah, I am in deep trouble with my hubby. lol Not only did I
buy one horse, but two. (By the way the extra $5 dollars came
from Jana...you are all sworn to secrecy because her husband doesn't
know that...as soon as Curt gets paid and he forgets and gives me
money, I will pay her back! lol) Both of whom are skin and bones,
possibly pregnant, laughed at as they walked into the arena, and
shunned by even the kill buyer!!!!!!!!! If I had been thinking
instead of reacting when the $10 mare came in the ring, I probably
could have got her for $5 too. No one else would even bid, or
look at her...they were too busy laughing at her. The gentleman
in front of me said, well I hope you will give her a good home (this
was just before the kill buyer ended up sitting there) And I told
him that she would be well taken care of. He said that he hoped
I knew what I was getting into, that it would be almost impossible to
bring her back. I told him that I had seen worse and helped with
one that was getting close to that...his reply...well they were
probably younger. To his surprise I told him that it was a 20 yr
old gelding with Cushings...he turned and stared at me in astonishment
and I politely said, I'm in horse rescue. He shut up after that! lol
Cheyenne was very frightened when we went to load her on the
trailer. She started to try to go back down the alley and I
spread my arms out and stopped her. At that moment I found out
what a special mare we had bought for $5. What she did will stay
with me no matter what happens to me in life. She simply walked
up to me and placed her head against my stomach. She stood there
leaning against me with this air of resignation, scared, and weary.
I rubbed her head and ears telling her that everything would be okay.
I tried out my minimal skills at animal communication and tried to
send her mental pics of sunshine and green grass. Her sleek and
shiny in a field with other horses. And of Lynn's daughters very
carefully brushing her and loving on her. She tipped her head
back just a bit and looked into my eyes, then with slight pressure, I
put my hand on her neck and turned her toward the trailer. She
went over with great dignity and carefully got in.
In all we were able to save 3 mares (all with a certain amount of
troubles...the third is limping slightly on one leg, but we think it
may be minor and will go away in time with the correct care), 1 jack
donkey (Harriet Pearl, Lynn's personal donkey, now has a friend!!!),
and four weanlings (one is a gorgeous leopard appaloosa and the others
are adorable little bays!).
So now we come to my begging for help.
Because I would like to stay married (LOL), and Lynn would like to see
that too, she has agreed to take the horses into her rescue as
sanctuary horses. Don't tell my irritated hubby, but when we buy
our own place and are better off financially, they will be coming to
live with us, if they are able to survive the neglect that they
suffered at the hands of their previous owners. This arrangement
with Lynn will be putting her in a tight situation this winter.
She had already agreed to take in the 4 horses in SW Nebraska for me
(she still will). That is once we have the funds raised to
purchase them from the owner and to get hay lined up for them for this
winter.
Cheyenne is the grulla mare that I bought for $5. She has
an old injury to her front leg that makes her limp (the bone looks to
be fused and she is unable to straighten it). She walks on it
fine other than the limp and doesn't seem to be in any pain, I am
hoping that a good trim will help with this problem. Her feet
don't look like they have been done in quite a while, so her limp was
more pronounced (she walks like my mare did before her trim and the
trim did an amazing job for her!).
Jasmine (name pending...I just thought of it and haven't told Lynn
about it yet...her daughter's may have come up with another name since
last night...I asked them to think about it. lol Update as of Nov
6th: Now named Sarah Beth!): Is the $10
mare. She is white and has a very soft eye. She is a bit
more wary than Cheyenne. She has a large tumor (it looks like a
tumor, but may be proud flesh from an old injury) on her hind leg.
It isn't causing her any pain and she walks perfectly on it. She
was a bit frisky last night in spite of how neglected she is.
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