The Auction House Scam

The long awaited post on the auction scam…

So there is a local auction house about 30 min from my house. I have known about it forever because it has a horrible reputation. Growing up, some of my trainers used to go there to buy lesson horses for like $100 at this auction. The horses would go for so cheap because this auction house was the last stop in the line. Many killer buyers frequented this place. A fun added fact for you all…I learned just a few weeks ago that this very auction house was where Genny was to be sent (I ran into someone that works at the place that wanted to kill him at a show my trainer was riding in). I have been to this auction horse as a teen and it was not an experience I ever want to repeat. They sell tack, hay and other horse stuff there so when I was looking for a saddle I was told to go there (I knew nothing about saddle fit back then). I have also been to 2 other horse auction houses on the east coast besides this one. One was actually very nice and the other was not the best, but at least the horses seemed care for in it, unlike the one right by my house.

Anyway, as you are all aware it is very expensive to keep a horse and with rising food and gas prices some people are getting desperate to get ride of there horses to cut back on expenses.  As you all know if you have read this blog I am the person who got a horse, had the horse suffer a terrible injury, and still kept the horse. I pay all his expenses including vet, full board, and farrier services. Money is ALWAYS in issue for me. Especially since I decided that I wanted to keep chugging along at my dreams so I leased X. I have just felt that in good times and bad my horse is my responsibility. I get annoyed when I see people put horses up as companion horses in the paper because they are not rideable anymore. You should know before you buy a horse that the day will come when that horse needs to be retired and that the bills will not end with that. You don’t have to be a crazy like me and keep them in a traditional boarding barn, there are plenty of equine retirement homes that will cost you less than $2,000 a year. If you cannot afford that I am not sure how you were able to afford a horse in the first place.

Sorry for my rant but it is just a pet peeve of mine that people don’t take responsibility for there actions. And I am not saying that everyone who is putting up a horse for free because they are not rideable is a selfish person. Sometimes life throws curve balls and I am positive that some of those people really are struggling with money and will still go visit there horse and give them love and attention. I am also positive that some people just don’t want the responsibility and wash there hands of the horse once it is out of site.

Okay back to the slaughter house story. When there are 3 auction houses in a driveable distance I am shocked that people would choose the one closest to my house. It doesn’t have a good reputation and even with the ban on equine slaughter in the U.S. there are still killer buyers going to this particular auction house and shipping the horses down to Mexico. For fun I googled the name of this auction and have found some great posts about how clean and nice the auction is and what a good quality of horse they bring in…I wonder who posted those (not really because it was totally the owner or someone connected to him). The owner of this auction is an interesting guy. I have never met him but I have heard him described as “slippery” and “used car salesman like”. He is trying to make money and he is doing everything in his power to make as much as he possibly can.

With the tough times he is offering “help” to horse owners in the area. You see he has a large farm himself and he is willing to take your horse off your hands for a mear $100 or $200 and give it a life long home. You don’t have to pay to register it in an auction. He will keep it, he promises that the horse wont go to a killer buyer. So people pay the money, drop the horses off and leave. Now this is where the fun comes in…if you don’t come back and visit your horse they get to go on the auction list with no reserve.

Being the nice guy that he is he calls the local rescues the day auction to tell them all that he has horses that were “given to him” up for sale. He gets the rescues to come to the auction and bid on the horses. Most of them do get saved and go to a forever home at the rescue, but the guy who runs the auctions is the one making the money. He is getting money from the horses original owner and then gets paid again to sell them to the rescues. That chaps my ass because here people are trusting him and he is making a dime off of it. And not only that but not all the horses are saved so some poor ponies end up going on a long drive to be slaughtered anyway.

Poor ponies.