The Gifford Chronicles - Part III

Normally I would try to finish The Gifford Chronicles today, but blogger has blog limits, so the final piece will be posted tomorrow.

Topeka - At The Auction (Continued...)



It is an unfortunate fact that not all horses sold at auction go on to full and productive lives appearing in horse shows or working in the fields. Some arrive either past their prime, broken down or otherwise unusable. They go cheap and usually to the "kill" buyers. Once bought, these horses are put in a "kill pen" for holding until transport. I had thought at the time that most go directly to the slaughterhouse, but not so.  In many cases, the buyer/broker takes them to his farm, and feeds and cares for the horses while evaluating their fate. Some will be sold privately or publicly (at other auctions) at a profit.  Those remaining are taken to Canada or Mexico for slaughter, to be processed into horsemeat for sale abroad, primarily in Europe.  [At the time of the initial writing of the chronicles, there were horse slaughter establishments still open in the United States as well.]

Preparing the horses for the sale had actually begun a week before departing Pennsylvania. A blood sample had been drawn for a "Coggins" test, required for any horse leaving the state, the negative results of which are required at all shows and sales. A health record is also issued, showing which shots the horse has had.  A visit from the farrier for shoes had been on Monday, two days after power washing Gifford and Buddy in a local auto dealership garage (I am not kidding). 

Unwanted hair had been clipped, especially around the lower legs and ears, followed by miscellaneous other grooming. The braiding of manes and tail would be done on site an hour before entering the auction arena (as seen in the previous blog post--braiders are hired at the auction, and good braiders take very little time to braid the horses' manes adding ribbons to the braid.).  I should note that Gifford and Buddy are show horses and were to be presented as such, complete with glitter, rose buds, and ribbons.  On the other hand, their more "macho" field-tested brethren received little more than a quick rinse from the garden hose to clean off the mud.  Whether this would be the last time Buddy and Gifford had to endure such primping remained to be seen.



The crowd at Topeka.  Notice the horses standing quietly
surrounded by people, many with their Amish handlers.

 Once prepared, each horse is taken (usually by an Amish boy hired for the occasion) from its standing stall, and walked through a maze of aisles and passageways to the holding area outside the auction arena. This area can only be characterized as organized chaos.  In addition to horses lined up in numerical order [upon arrival, each horse is assigned an auction number--this number is glued to each side of its rump, where it must stay until after departing the auction grounds], there are at least a hundred or so people milling about.  That no one is kicked or stomped on by the horses is a testament to their temperament and the agility of those around them.

     Once horse and handler have worked their way to the front of the line, they enter the arena when their number is called.   The horse is run up and down the narrow arena so potential buyers can see leg and hoof action, conditioning, etc. Within two minutes, the horse is sold and taken back to its stall, to be retrieved by its new owner.

Based upon his lower number, Buddy was the first of the two horses to be auctioned. The experience of the last two days had shown that this was a buyers, not a sellers, auction. With only a few exceptions, the horses were going for far less than what would/should be expected.  Perhaps it was the economy. Perhaps it was the crowd.  Who knows?

Contrary to what may be thought, successful Amish farmers are good businessmen and are not poor.  Although it was difficult, if not impossible, to tell who was doing the actual buying, over ninety percent of those present were Amish and with all those horses to sell, most horses had to have gone to Amish farmers.

Buddy was sold for $1,450, to whom we have no idea.  Although Gary could have "no saled" Buddy [if the seller does not like the sale price, he has seconds to declare to the auctioneer "no sale", keeps the horse and pays a financial penalty for doing so] he accepted the disappointing price. The farm had mares expected to foal within a few months and there was simply no room to bring Buddy and Gifford back home.

For the final piece of this puzzle, tune in tomorrow!

Aarrooooooooooo!