Selling horses at market - your thoughts.

Enfys

Enfys

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This topic is taken from another Group I belong to.

What are your thoughts on it?

Necessary evil, nothing wrong with it, irresponsible, cruel to the horses, depends on the market, you are a bad owner?
 
I personally would never sell at a market due to the horse could end up anywhere! But I have known people that have and they have been nice ponies they have lost jobs or grazing so can't keep them and needing a quick sale...
 
I went with a friend selling a lovely pony who just hadnt sold on the open market despite having two people pay a deposit on him never to be heard from again. I led him round in the ring...... And nearly cried. It was heartbreaking seeing really rough blokes bidding on him who were about 16stone and had just ridden a 13hh into the ring to show off!! I've been to sales in Ireland (goresbridge) which were well run, nice horses and people and think that's a far better experience. Ashford monthly sales is now somewhere I have sworn I will never set foot in again. I was truly shocked at what was allowed to go on.

Fortunately the pony was sold to a lovely woman for her daughter and they still hear from her and he is doing very well. Every cloud has a silver lining I guess!
 
I wouldn't do it personally, especially through the lower end sales; your horse could end up anywhere, even going for meat. There may be decent buyers there too, but it is a gamble.

That being said there are risks selling privately too and I am fortunate that my mare has been perfect for what I wanted and circumstances have allowed me to keep her. If that were to change she is now at an age that I'd probably pts rather than sell on.

I think the markets do serve a purpose for those needing a quick sale, but it can also be an excuse to pass on old, lame or unrideable horses that end up in a cycle of sale ring after sale ring.
 
i have never sold at a market. My last visit to Ashford gave me sleepless nights on the condition of some of the horses. I cant see me ever having to do it but plenty of my friends have come home with some cracking ponies.

Some people use it as a sales platform and put high reserves on the ponies so they can then sell outside the ring.You can tell the families who put up loads of photos and info about their horses, they usually go for a better price.

I hope I am never in a position to have to do it , I have had a mare up for sale for ages at a low price but not a single call and I am lucky that although she is wasted at the moment I can keep her until spring if necessary.
All of my friends 6 horses have come out of the sales ring and she has the experience to take the chance but a novice girl bought a 15 yr old tb ex racer who is unrideable They are stuck with her. The auctioneers wouldnt help persue the owner and I think that attitude will put people off .
 
To be honest I couldn't do it. If I was between a rock & a hard place I would rather PTS a horse & know it would never be subjected to fear or pain. PTS is quick & the horse knows nothing, all I would lose is money & that's a price I would pay for peace of mind. I find it very difficult to sell a horse even when there is plenty of time to find the right people.
 
POLLDARK said:
To be honest I couldn't do it. If I was between a rock & a hard place I would rather PTS a horse & know it would never be subjected to fear or pain. PTS is quick & the horse knows nothing, all I would lose is money & that's a price I would pay for peace of mind. I find it very difficult to sell a horse even when there is plenty of time to find the right people.
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Most of this but I have sold at Doncaster sales (TB) which was bought by Andrew Nicholson. I would use there again as they are so well regulated, all the TB sales are but I would never put anything through somewhere like Besston, that place turns my stomach.
 
I have sold at auctions and taken horses to better markets for others who were desperate. I prefer to sell privately and if I had an old retired horse I would pts rather than have it go to an uncertain end but when people have no money and need to sell the horse the markets do serve a purpose. my gripe is with people who take an old or unsound horse knowing that its going to end up as meat instead of having it pts at home or taking it direct to the abattoir themselves. if you look on here there is very much an attitude of you are a bad owner if you pts a horse thats healthy but been retired foor a few years which I think does reflect the thinking of a lot of people off the forum as well so if someone cannot keep a horse and it does not sell privately they put it through a market so that they can say it has a new home but whats not said is that the horse may be going on a long trip or to a field of meat horses that are not cared for the way they should be. There should be more inspectors at the markets though who patrol the lorry park as well as the pens and ring and there should also be a law that all horses should have water and hay in the pens.
 
We have, and are in three weeks, selling horses at a specialist breed sale. I'd be reluctant to sell in a general sale/market, as with the type of sale we sell at it's very easy to keep in touch with the buyers and we're such a small community really that everyone pretty much knows each other. Granted, you can't guarantee that the horses will end up in the best of homes (found a horse we bred in excellent hands now but had been badly treated from a foal when we sold him all the way to three when he was bought by his current owners).
 
Nothing wrong with the high end ones, but hate the lower end ones, despite having bought there. Would pts before I sent to a low end sales. The oldies in auction pens are heartbreaking.
 
I would - and have - bought at the low end markets, but would only ever sell at the higher end markets.
If there were more regulation like at livestock markets, then I would be more happy to buy and sell.
I think they are a necessary evil (the low end markets like Derby and Beaston) and like littlelegs, it breaks my heart to see oldies, crippled horses and pens full of foals at those sorts of sales.
 
One of the saddest things I saw this year was a little grey pony sold through Melton, the seller, who seemed decent and I got chatting, she said pony had to go ASAP, wasn't my business to pry, seller didn't put reserve on and pony was sold for 200 quid, saw her later in a cafe, weeping and looking devastating.
I nearly put one through the market, he was foul, but good looking and healthy, luckily, I found a home and sold with full disclosure, if I hadn't found a home, brutally, I probably would have put him through the sales, no, it's not very moral, but sometimes you find yourself with a horse nobody wants and you can't keep.
 
Epona78 said:
Sorry if this counts as a hijack, but has anyone been to Beeston? How bad is it exactly? It's just down the road from me. Just curious, never been.
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It's a cattle market and the horse sale is like a cattle market.

It is possible to get good horses there but the risks are huge compared with a private or a dealer buy.

As others, I would sell at Ascot, Doncaster, breed/purpose specific sales and Brightwells quality sales but no other.

I have sold at Beeston 20 years ago and I would never repeat that experience. I have bought at Beeston and got an ex-racer who was horrible :( and I wished I hadn't bothered. But there are some nice, warranted, horses there that are worth the risk.
 
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I went to a horse market once, many years ago. I still think about the poor horses I saw there. I will never go again.
 
I don't have recent experience of beeston, went in my teens quite a bit with someone who bought there, I'm 31 so from 92/93 to 98 or so. First visit was enough to convince me I'd shoot a horse myself before I put it through that type of sales, & my opinion has never wavered since. Beeston is responsible for my strong views that old/injured/valueless horses should be pts instead of passing on. The 'no choice' excuse doesn't wash either, I'd find the cash for a knackerman. And since then I've experienced enough low end sales to be certain beeston won't be all that different now. Sad as the foals are, old horses that try sniffing your pockets for treats, & enjoy a good pat, because someone once loved them, & they expect only kind treatment are so much worse.
 
Personally I'd rather not. I do appreciate though that sometimes people don't have any choice. If they have to go, then they have to go... I've bought from the sales, I was going to take a colt foal to sell last year, but when it came to it, and prices were absolute rock bottom, i didn't take him and bought home 2 filly foals instead for the grand total of £82.00 ...
 
Oh god the thought of faithful old horses and family ponies not wanted anymore and chucked in the sales really makes me choke up. So sad and shows such disrespect for an animal who put their trust in humans :-(

I want to visit a sale - I want to see what they are like even if it is bad but I know it will upset me. I just don't like to shut my eyes to what happens in the world.
 
I couldn't do it as I like to know where they are going and turn down people I don't think are right etc. But I do end up buying the poor tbs that I feel sorry for.
 
I do think there is an element of assuming that everyone who buys at sales are awful. This is not always the case. I buy from sales and my horses have the nicest life they could wish for.
Even if you sell to a private home there is never any guarantee that the horse will be looked after properly, its a gamble with any sale.
I bought a little horse from reading market last time it was on and he is fab.
I wouldn't take any of my best horses to a sale but if you need to sell in a hurry or have a tricky one then I would consider it.
We have always found diamonds in the rough. One reading purchase went on to compete in the under eighteen teams British eventing
 
I couldn't, I like to know what happens to mine, but private buyers aren't always better, I helped find a family a pony, she was perfect to show get them started, that poor mare ended up beaten on a regular basis, as was the other horse the family aquired, because they listened to the wrong people, instead of learning to ride properly, it was whip on and kick on.
The poor mare ended up retaliating was sold on to someone who spent the time putting her right.
I went to a portugese horse sale last year in the Algarve and had to walk away, skinny horses with open wounds covered in flies, I got some peculiar looks as my face said it all
 
See, I always find this puzzling; nice people do buy horses from sales, and some private sales are horrendous - why do you assume that all horses in sales are going to end up abused and mistreated? I regularly buy horses from auctions, and have sold many there too. I've also sold horses in good faith to "perfect" homes that have ended up in really bad situations, so making assumptions is not really based on fact.
 
Cortez said:
See, I always find this puzzling; nice people do buy horses from sales, and some private sales are horrendous - why do you assume that all horses in sales are going to end up abused and mistreated? I regularly buy horses from auctions, and have sold many there too. I've also sold horses in good faith to "perfect" homes that have ended up in really bad situations, so making assumptions is not really based on fact.
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I quite agree. Selling "privately" you have no more idea of where the horse is actually going to end up either. I have bought and sold at our local sales (Beaulieu Road New Forest Pony Sales). The last one I sold there only went because I had been unable to sell him privately and he simply HAD to go. He went to France and I have tracked him down via his competition record on the French FFE site!
 
I can't really say as I have very limited experience with sales. The only time I have been to one is when I was leading up for a dealer at the Ascot Bloodstock sale and yes I would have sold there, and bought from there (very nearly did actually!).
 
I've just been browsing the adverts on a well known website and can truthfully say that there are far, far worse things than horses being sold at market or auctions (see my rant above)

I've had the pleasure to know some fantastic horses that have gone through sales rings for various reasons, a few with issues mainly caused by previous numpty owners, but many nice allrounders, quality talented horses, some cracking gypy cobs and some poor quality stock that have ended up going for meat.

Whilst I don't find it particularly pleasant at times at the lower end and would never choose to sell at a market myself there are much worse things going on at yards near all of you than go on at the majority of markets/auctions these days.
 
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Have bought some crackers from sales. Mostly looking a bit rough but they soon come round. I've also sold, quite a few go to nice homes and a well presented horse riding round well should get £800 upwards. I think people expect minor dodges when buying from sales, but normally things you can sort out.
 
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