I have never been able to figure out how it is worth it for anyone to sell their horses at a sale for $250--and we do see it here with big horses, not just small. we don't actually have mini sales locally, but there might be Minis at any given open horse sale. We do have lots of big horse sales, and there are good quality youngsters (weanlings, yearlings) selling for $250. Obviously plenty of breeders do feel it's worthwhile to raise foals & sell them for these low prices.
Would I ever take a horse to a sale and sell it for $200? No. I don't bother going to many horse sales, and I've never gone to one planning to buy a horse. If I happened to be at a sale & had the $$$ to spare & the room for another horse & one came through real cheap I might very well buy it, assuming it was one I liked and had some use for, or if it happened to be a really sad neglected horse that I felt very sorry for!
I've certainly bought a few horses for very low prices. I just recently bought a very nice pony for a very low price. I wasn't shopping but I saw her & liked her & the price was right & so I bought her. Had she been high priced, I wouldn't have even inquired, because like I said I wasn't actually shopping and really didn't have a horse budget for buying. I've been looking around at other ponies. I've found some higher priced ones that I really like, but cannot afford them. I've seen some very high priced ones that I simply do not like. I've got my eye on a lower priced one...one that I really do like. Why would I, as a sensible buyer, pay way more money for a pony that I like far less??? That makes no sense. When it comes to horses I don't believe that you always get what you pay for. Sometimes you pay a high price and get TOOK, big time. Sometimes you pay a low price & get a fabulous horse.
I've had people come here to look at horses & they wonder why should they pay the price I'm asking when they know someone that has a horse for $200. They don't want papers, they just want to have a horse they can have fun with. What I have found with a lot of this sort of people is, if they can't find a horse for $200, they simply aren't going to buy one. They are not going to pay $2000 for a horse, because they don't want a horse that badly. They want a $200 horse, and if there aren't any available then they just won't have one. So I really cannot say that the sellers of low priced horses ruin the market. <Shrugs> a friend of mine asked me some time ago if she really needed papers if she bought a Mini. She just wanted a little horse to enjoy and to keep her other Minis (registered gelding) company. Honestly, how could I tell her that yes, she definitely needed papers, and definitely she needed to pay upwards of $1000 for a papered horse when I knew the $200 unregistered filly she was looking at would suit her perfectly?? She ended up buying the $200 and she got a lovely little horse that she in completely happy with.
I know one thing for certain. If I ever went to a sale and bid on a registered horse and got the bid and the horse, if and when I went to pay for it and the seller "pulled the papers" because they thought they had sold the horse too low and it should have been a pet only, I would NEVER, EVER buy from that sale or that seller ever again. Once you put a registered horse in a sale, no matter what you agree to sell it for, once the gavel hits the dock, that horse is sold-with the papers it was consigned with like it or not.
I do so agree with this! If the auction organizers actually allowed a seller to do this they could find themselves in serious trouble I would think. Once the horse is consigned as registered & the papers are submitted to the sale (as they are supposed to be at reputable sales) those papers must go with the horse. If the seller doesn't like the price they can no-sale the horse, but if they let the horse sell they must let the papers go to.