Sunday, May 18, 2008

What I do on a lot of Saturday evenings

I know, I live a simple life. We go to the auction barn just about every other Saturday night. It is free, I have friends that attend, I see horses both beautiful and pitiful. I see a lot of cowboys (well kind of) riding in the ring and outside in the warm up pen. I have bought and sold horses there but the two horses that I ended up keeping were not from an auction. They came from private owners and that generally is the best way to buy a horse.

DSC05275

DSC05276

DSC05285

DSC05284

This girl was HUGE!

DSC05287

This was a beautiful stallion. I didn't stay long enough to see what he sold for but I hope it was a good price because he was a studly boy.

DSC05283

There he is again in the warm up pen out back. That Appaloosa was a beauty too. He is only 2 years old and put the other horses to shame in how he moved.

DSC05295

DSC05296

DSC05294

Notice this stud has a tie down. Not surprising since he was talking to all the other equines. No doubt looking for a vunerable mare!

DSC05298

DSC05300

I wanted to take this boy home!

DSC05305

This is Lucy. She is always at the barn. I think she lives just behind it. She goes wherever there is another dog and/or wherever there is a kind soul to feed her a bit of their burger or hotdog. She is a sweetie. And she is a Boxer!

DSC05293

They have a tack auction that starts at 4pm and is supposed to end at 7pm. Rarely do they end then. I have bought a lot of tack here but it gets annoying when they just keep on and on and on and on. UGH

DSC05289

Finally they start the horses.

DSC05315

Unfortunately I didn't have my new camera because I have to buy a new memory card. The one that came with it takes a maxium of 8 pictures, what a tease. Anyway, my old Sony doesn't do well inside.

DSC05317

Then comes the part of the auction that I hate. It has in the past made me stop going for months on end. It isn't right and I wish I knew what to do to stop the barn from accepting horses like this. I warn you, this is not a pretty sight.

DSC05273

Here is her head. She is a beautiful horse.

DSC05274

I talked to the owner and he said that she was kicked as a foal and apparently no one did anything to take care of her. She has actually had a foal. I can't imagine the pain she must have gone through carrying the weight of being in foal. It was obvious that it hurt her because she kept favoring it. The owner said "even if she brings $5 that is ok." It was at that point that I went off on him. You don't want me to repeat what I said to him. I keep this a family friendly site. When the poor baby came into the auction ring it was announced that they were just looking for a good home for this baby and she was being given away. An older gentleman raised his hand and said he would take here and give her a good home. At least she is out of the hands of the asshole that brought here there.

I realize that laws have been passed regarding the slaughter of horses and believe me, they needed to be. But one of the downfalls is that horses like this and many others keep being bought and sold over and over again and all the while they are in pain and/or not being cared for properly. When I look at my mare and realize that she is FAT and that I need exercise her more in order to lose some weight I think of horses that do not get enough feed. It is a very sad situation.

3 comments:

Scott W said...

I love it that you can speak the truth to people like that. I admire you for that quality.

Zanejabbers said...

Poor little horsey. GOOD for you. You done a good deed.

Alison said...

Go to the horse auctions frequently in England my husband cnt stand to see a badly treated or poorly horse. He ends up buying them! We've ended up with 21 at present Arrgh!

More people should speak up about animal cruelty and neglect. Good on you for speaking your mind.