"Rescuing" horses from auctions

The two Suffolk fillies went for 6500 gns and 4200 gns apiece. They could have bought one or other of them and still have some of their barn roof money left if they’d not bought the two ‘rescues’.

The sale topped twice at 6500 gns for a 16.1hh, 6 year old dun maxi cob gelding with HOYs potential and a registered yearling Suffolk Punch filly Grane Valley Millie, whilst Grane Valley Josie, another yearling filly sold for 4200gns.
 
GoldenWillow said:
Tbf, in the newspaper article she does say she went to the auction for a friend for the Suffolks.

But rereading it pretty much everything else said in the rest of the article still annoys me on every level.
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Tbf I haven’t read the newspaper article, just the GFM blurb and the CHH Facebook posts.

The GFM makes no mention of looking at the Suffolk fillies for a friend. They were intended, if purchased, to join the CHH breeding program.

We'd gone to look at two Suffolk Punch fillies to potentially join our Breeding programme, however the bidding was high - good news for the vendor and breed - and they went to good homes, leaving Jonny and I time to look around.
 
Tiddlypom said:
Tbf I haven’t read the newspaper article, just the GFM blurb and the CHH Facebook posts.

The GFM makes no mention of looking at the Suffolk fillies for a friend. They were intended, if purchased, to join the CHH breeding program.

We'd gone to look at two Suffolk Punch fillies to potentially join our Breeding programme, however the bidding was high - good news for the vendor and breed - and they went to good homes, leaving Jonny and I time to look around.
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I hadn't noticed this before but there is indeed a discrepancy between the news article and the GFM blurb.

The GFM account clearly states that they had gone to the auction to look at two Suffolk Punch fillies to 'potentially join our breeding programme', but 'the bidding was high'.

The news article, presumably written at a later date, states 'I went to the auction for a friend never intending to buy anything! The horses he was hoping to buy - two Suffolk Punch fillies - went to good homes at a fair price. I should have just gone home but we had a look around…'
I suppose it's possible that someone else is funding their breeding programme, but it does come over as a not-entirely-straight story.

I think the barn roof story is a bit of a red herring. If you need urgent repairs to a building you're simply not in the market for spending £££ on more horses - and to do so would be completely irresponsible.

I do hate the fact that the news article refers to the horses being 'saved'.
Also the way in which the auction is described, supposedly by the owner:
“Horses at auction are there because to someone, they are a throw away item, with a numbered sticky label on their bum, and I hate that."
This is clearly not true for the Suffolks - - and many other horses at auction; they are not a 'throw away item' and it's insulting to say this.
And in the GFM account:
"The catalogue entry offers opportunity to 'sell ' a horse well, yet entries often state 'horse' with no real details in many cases, as if they don't matter."
Having seen the catalogue entries for NWA I have to say that the majority include quite a lot of detail.

It's all quite dishonest, but while most of us on here can see that, others have fallen for the sob story and the current total is nearly £13.5k.
 
Nancykitt said:
I hadn't noticed this before but there is indeed a discrepancy between the news article and the GFM blurb.

The GFM account clearly states that they had gone to the auction to look at two Suffolk Punch fillies to 'potentially join our breeding programme', but 'the bidding was high'.

The news article, presumably written at a later date, states 'I went to the auction for a friend never intending to buy anything! The horses he was hoping to buy - two Suffolk Punch fillies - went to good homes at a fair price. I should have just gone home but we had a look around…'
I suppose it's possible that someone else is funding their breeding programme, but it does come over as a not-entirely-straight story.

I think the barn roof story is a bit of a red herring. If you need urgent repairs to a building you're simply not in the market for spending £££ on more horses - and to do so would be completely irresponsible.

I do hate the fact that the news article refers to the horses being 'saved'.
Also the way in which the auction is described, supposedly by the owner:
“Horses at auction are there because to someone, they are a throw away item, with a numbered sticky label on their bum, and I hate that."
This is clearly not true for the Suffolks - - and many other horses at auction; they are not a 'throw away item' and it's insulting to say this.
And in the GFM account:
"The catalogue entry offers opportunity to 'sell ' a horse well, yet entries often state 'horse' with no real details in many cases, as if they don't matter."
Having seen the catalogue entries for NWA I have to say that the majority include quite a lot of detail.

It's all quite dishonest, but while most of us on here can see that, others have fallen for the sob story and the current total is nearly £13.5k.
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NWA is a respectable auction with an excellent reputation. I wonder how they feel about the picture being painted here.

People sell through auctions for a variety of reasons, but for many long standing breeders it's a tradition, as in the Fell sales in October.
 
Tiddlypom said:
The doubling down on having ‘rescued’ these horses and accepting the plaudits (and the cash) of the deceived is getting worse.

As a prospective client of the trekking centre I knew that she has a reputation as being another rather dotty horse person, but I didn’t have her down as dishonest. I thought that her heart was in the right place. It’s most unedifying.

They made an impulse purchase of two horses that they hadn’t budgeted for and panicked about paying the bills.
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I dont think they did panic. They had moiney for 2 suffolks so all this talk of bar roof money etc is nonsense. If you've got money for 2 big horses, you've got money for 2 big horses whether they are suffolks or not.

Oops, commented before I got to the end and saw it had been mentioned alreay
 
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I'm Dun said:
I dont think they did panic. They had moiney for 2 suffolks so all this talk of bar roof money etc is nonsense. If you've got money for 2 big horses, you've got money for 2 big horses whether they are suffolks or not.
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There's the potential caveat that they were looking at the Suffolks 'for a friend' but none of us know the true story here. They've recently had a Suffolk filly born so it's reasonable that they'd want another Suffolk (or two) for the breeding programme, but I don't know how that fits in with the reference to the desperately - needed barn roof money.

The massive advantage of getting the two horses they've got is that they've been able to ramp up the pity factor, giving the impression that the horses are victims of abuse, in dire condition and that they, as purchasers, are the golden-hearted saviours. Had they got the Suffolk yearlings they'd have to pay all the bills themselves.
 
Nancykitt said:
There's the potential caveat that they were looking at the Suffolks 'for a friend' but none of us know the true story here. They've recently had a Suffolk filly born so it's reasonable that they'd want another Suffolk (or two) for the breeding programme, but I don't know how that fits in with the reference to the desperately - needed barn roof money.

The massive advantage of getting the two horses they've got is that they've been able to ramp up the pity factor, giving the impression that the horses are victims of abuse, in dire condition and that they, as purchasers, are the golden-hearted saviours. Had they got the Suffolk yearlings they'd have to pay all the bills themselves.
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The post I saw said they wanted the fillies for their breeding programme, but they might have changed their tune now given the "rescue horses"
 
Nancykitt said:
Genuine question - I don't know the answer myself as I've not bought from auction...

The catalogue gives the name and location of the person selling the horse.
Is it possible for a buyer to have a conversation with the seller at any stage of the process? Or is that not the done thing?
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The owners are usually there at the auction and you can usually catch them and have a chat.
 
Nancykitt said:
Genuine question - I don't know the answer myself as I've not bought from auction...

The catalogue gives the name and location of the person selling the horse.
Is it possible for a buyer to have a conversation with the seller at any stage of the process? Or is that not the done thing?
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Yes, and sometimes it is possible to buy the animal direct from the owner so it doesn't have to go to the auction. Though the auction houses don't really want that. Some owners will be with the animals at the holding pens and will talk to you. I felt awful one time though when there was a crying girl in a pen with a pony who obviously didn't want the parents to sell it.
 
Gloi said:
Yes, and sometimes it is possible to buy the animal direct from the owner so it doesn't have to go to the auction. Though the auction houses don't really want that. Some owners will be with the animals at the holding pens and will talk to you.
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The main reason I was asking is that there's a bit on the GFM account where they 'slip into' the pen of the grey and start to examine him, raising questions about his legs etc.
When I read it I thought that surely it would be possible to ask the seller if they were around at the time? Admittedly I have zero knowledge about buying from auction but I assumed that sellers would stay around during the day.
 
Nancykitt said:
The main reason I was asking is that there's a bit on the GFM account where they 'slip into' the pen of the grey and start to examine him, raising questions about his legs etc.
When I read it I thought that surely it would be possible to ask the seller if they were around at the time? Admittedly I have zero knowledge about buying from auction but I assumed that sellers would stay around during the day.
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Quite often the owners will be by the pen but sometimes owners will have a dozen or more animals there so you'd need to track them down, and sometimes they will disappear until it's time to take the horse in the ring. There's no definite answer. The owners will be somewhere but you might not always be able to find them.
 
Nancykitt said:
I hadn't noticed this before but there is indeed a discrepancy between the news article and the GFM blurb.

The GFM account clearly states that they had gone to the auction to look at two Suffolk Punch fillies to 'potentially join our breeding programme', but 'the bidding was high'.

The news article, presumably written at a later date, states 'I went to the auction for a friend never intending to buy anything! The horses he was hoping to buy - two Suffolk Punch fillies - went to good homes at a fair price. I should have just gone home but we had a look around…'
I suppose it's possible that someone else is funding their breeding programme, but it does come over as a not-entirely-straight story.

I think the barn roof story is a bit of a red herring. If you need urgent repairs to a building you're simply not in the market for spending £££ on more horses - and to do so would be completely irresponsible.

I do hate the fact that the news article refers to the horses being 'saved'.
Also the way in which the auction is described, supposedly by the owner:
“Horses at auction are there because to someone, they are a throw away item, with a numbered sticky label on their bum, and I hate that."
This is clearly not true for the Suffolks - - and many other horses at auction; they are not a 'throw away item' and it's insulting to say this.
And in the GFM account:
"The catalogue entry offers opportunity to 'sell ' a horse well, yet entries often state 'horse' with no real details in many cases, as if they don't matter."
Having seen the catalogue entries for NWA I have to say that the majority include quite a lot of detail.

It's all quite dishonest, but while most of us on here can see that, others have fallen for the sob story and the current total is nearly £13.5k.
Click to expand...
Thing is if an auction goes right you can get more money for something than you'd get on the private market, not au fait with horse ones (I wouldn't trust myself 😂) but presuming it's similar

The animal ones I've been to have been really rather strict re condition and if it's not up to standard or if there's any doubt at all you basically get told to leave and take your entries home immediately; if you don't have suitable home transport for purchases as well you're refunded on the spot and go home without.
 
FieldOrnaments said:
if you don't have suitable home transport for purchases as well you're refunded on the spot and go home without.
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If you don't have suitable home transport there are usually a bunch of rough looking blokes about who have sold their animals waiting for a chance to make money transporting your purchase.
 
This sort of thing really annoys me- there are some older/sorrier animals that go through auctions, but the majority are fine (a lot will be young stock).
I've bought from an auction before and would again, I'd be horrified if anyone referred to the sec D as a rescue! Any animal that's been through a sale is likely to be a bit rattled and bustled when they get home, as they've likely been pulled in from the field, tarted up a bit, bunged on a wagon and stood at the market all morning, then had another journey to their new home. Anyone would be a bit frazzled after that, but it's not abuse and to call it such is very insulting to the old owners.
Even if you buy something that is elderly/in genuinely poor condition, it's a pity buy, not a rescue. IMO you can't rescue an animal you purchase, although I know not everyone sees it that way.
 
I'll not give my opinion on this one... I have too many connections to write anything on this one on the internet. 🤐
However a few points of note; this morning I had the farrier to trim 2 clydesdales and cob and that only cost me £100... As for feeding I pay a fraction of that even in the depths of winter. There is a thread on how much does it cost to keep a heavy that went up last week, I don't know if it is related to this, but a few of us that own biggies have posted about our costs so might be of interest to others here.
The "grey" shire, I'm not sure which one it is but I know there has recently been a couple of issues around grey vs roan shires. Roans can't be registered as stallions and this has created an issue around what is or isn't grey and roan! These markings don't look like most of the grey shires on the showing circuit. I'd be very interested to know his full name as he could quickly be traced to his breeder and possibly other owners, plus it might give an indication on his breeding and how likely he is to be a grey.
@Tiddlypom if you want to have a ride on a clydesdale come and have a go of one of mine. I can't be a million miles from you (we live in the north but kids are at school in the midlands).
 
abbijay said:
I'll not give my opinion on this one... I have too many connections to write anything on this one on the internet. 🤐
However a few points of note; this morning I had the farrier to trim 2 clydesdales and cob and that only cost me £100... As for feeding I pay a fraction of that even in the depths of winter. There is a thread on how much does it cost to keep a heavy that went up last week, I don't know if it is related to this, but a few of us that own biggies have posted about our costs so might be of interest to others here.
The "grey" shire, I'm not sure which one it is but I know there has recently been a couple of issues around grey vs roan shires. Roans can't be registered as stallions and this has created an issue around what is or isn't grey and roan! These markings don't look like most of the grey shires on the showing circuit. I'd be very interested to know his full name as he could quickly be traced to his breeder and possibly other owners, plus it might give an indication on his breeding and how likely he is to be a grey.
@Tiddlypom if you want to have a ride on a clydesdale come and have a go of one of mine. I can't be a million miles from you (we live in the north but kids are at school in the midlands).
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It isn't grey, it's a black based sabino/sabino mimic
 
FieldOrnaments said:
It isn't grey, it's a black based sabino/sabino mimic
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According to the registry shires can only be black, brown, bay or grey... roan is acceptable in mares or geldings.
There are grey shire stallions who look very similar to this (Hillmoor Double Trouble is a good example). I don't disagree with what you say FO but there has been a bit of "goings on" in the SHS world about this in recent years.
 
It's ok - what something is genetically can be different to what the breed societies allow/say it is anyway because of course most standards were written before current knowledge of colour genetics
I don't think true/dark headed roan actually occurs in shires either but sorry nerd tangent again
 
abbijay said:
I'll not give my opinion on this one... I have too many connections to write anything on this one on the internet. 🤐
However a few points of note; this morning I had the farrier to trim 2 clydesdales and cob and that only cost me £100... As for feeding I pay a fraction of that even in the depths of winter. There is a thread on how much does it cost to keep a heavy that went up last week, I don't know if it is related to this, but a few of us that own biggies have posted about our costs so might be of interest to others here.
The "grey" shire, I'm not sure which one it is but I know there has recently been a couple of issues around grey vs roan shires. Roans can't be registered as stallions and this has created an issue around what is or isn't grey and roan! These markings don't look like most of the grey shires on the showing circuit. I'd be very interested to know his full name as he could quickly be traced to his breeder and possibly other owners, plus it might give an indication on his breeding and how likely he is to be a grey.
@Tiddlypom if you want to have a ride on a clydesdale come and have a go of one of mine. I can't be a million miles from you (we live in the north but kids are at school in the midlands).
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Can I have your farrier please? Mine charged £90 for 2 Shetland trims a few weeks ago...
 
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