A few weeks back as I will sometimes to just for an afternoon of fun and entertainment I went to the local horse auction. A few clarifications are in order there to begin. First, I was only casually looking, having a half a thought depending on prices and such of maybe sometime in the very near future pursuit of a draft cross for jousting. The local sale is not really all that local, but at about an hour away it is not bad of a drive.
At this particular sale, you do have to be a bit careful and completely understand you are not buying hundred thousand or even ten thousand dollar horses. I know that is Kentucky and I am sure more the one person is thinking the Keeneland yearling sales or even the Ashton-Tipton sales of similar nature. But this is your typical little sale that common folk with common horses show up. Matter fact, most horses are not registered, more then several have never been handled and more then several others are aged.
That all having been said, lets take a look at the history here. Three years back and more, horses ran about like a good riding horse of common breeding, aged between say three and nine years that looked good in the ring and did not act stupid would typically bring between $800 and $1200 dollars. Add in some pedigree and registration papers on the riding horse and would go upward. Change that horse to a draft horse with ability and training as a team as well as driving and you could upwards of $1800 or more. Even ponies and green horses may bring several hundred any given time. Typically on a Saturday sale there may be upwards of two hundred head come through the sale ring.
Fast forward from three years to anywhere in a year or two range and things changed a great deal. Part of the reason here locally was a huge period of dry weather. Lack of hay was accompanied with a price jump in fuel and especially in commodities, making up the grains in horse feeds. The expense involved was having a two major effects. First, a large number of horses were being brought to the sale just because people could not afford to keep them at home. That number of horses supplied in conjunction with feed cost, served to really begin to drive horse prices down. You can take the numbers I gave above and half them easily, meaning a decent common riding horse was bring somewhere in the $400 to maybe $700 range, exceptional ones maybe a bit better.
A few weeks back, I showed up early expecting to take a bit looking through the horses as they arrived and what was already there. I was very disappointed in that plan however. There were at most about thirty five horses there, counting all the ponies and odd mule or ass that was present as well. Most discouraging to me there was absolutely not a draft or draft cross present at all. It got more depressing as the sale started, the first couple of what appeared to be decent riding horses brought only around $120-$150 dollars. In the first four head, there was one that was sold as green broke and only brought $25 dollar. This was a full size 14.0 hand horse and at least to my eye I could see nothing wrong with it. As the sale went on a typical riding horse probably did average about $175, some going up a bit. A few nice registered horses brought around $500, including a half sister to a stallion I once owned – which further depressed me, as I would have given that for her almost site unseen just because of his disposition.
What is the reason? Well, we have had a summer that has filled hay barns to capacity and then some. And the mild fall with plenty of moisture still has most pastures full of grass – my own horses are knee deep in clover. Grain commodities have dropped somewhat and are generally a bit easier to stomach, though maybe not as close to where they were three years ago. The biggest continued downward pressure? Well a few years ago the government made horse slaughter for meat in the United States illegal. You can take your side on the issue and I will not argue, I go back and forth on it myself. However, several states have had problems with horses just be turned loose and certainly without a buyer in that market at some sale down the road, they are not having that bottom line price support.
Thoughts are welcome on this as I am curious what you all think.
Well, I have spent several years looking at the issue of horse slaughter and realized all of the claims about it being bad on the industry to be hog$#^$. I go to the biggest auction in the East often and there are plenty of good horses at good prices. I visit some in Ohio as well when I am visiting family. Their prices are good. I have also tracked online sales reports and they all talk about record years. Like the car market, you flood it with cheap and abundant cars the prices drop. You keep a demand and the prices are good. A key thing you need to remember is that the government DID NOT ban horse slaughter. So when folks claim that they don’t know the issue and are only repeating what horse slaughter advocates want. It is still legal and over 100,000 horses will be slaughtered. Yes, the plants are closed in the US, but the foreigners operating plants simply went to Canada and Mexico and continue to kill American horses. So, this fact alond with it being legal in the US made me realize that I am tired of being fed manure by foreign hired lobbyists out to make a few dollars off of the American public.