Shari
Well-Known Member
On a sadder note, what I have always heard called “the Nordstrom farm” (it was owned by Loyal McMillan, daughter of Lloyd Nordstrom, and her husband Jack McMillan) but is actually Meadow Wood Farm has fallen on hard times and the animals are being dispersed to meet the requirements of creditors. This means that the Polish Arabian herd (10 broodmares and 2 stallions) will be auctioned on March 20th starting at 11:00 a.m., along with 8 mammoth french donkeys, 40 miniature horses and 23 miniature donkeys. They won’t be going to the Enumclaw auction – they will be professionally auctioned at their home at the farm. The auction company are not horse specialists (Schneider Industries lists itself as a Real Estate and Equipment Sale company) but they have taken the time to photograph and list details of the horses, viewable here and create a web page with details of the auction, including address and directions, here. Saturday March 19 from 9 am to 3 pm (and also the morning of auction) will be preview time at the farm.
A lengthy thread on the Arabian Breeders Network forum has some insight into the horses that are available, and I hope that mini folks are also networking for those horses. Meadow Wood Farm was noted for high quality breeding stock – contrast this Seattle Times article from 1991,when Sothebys was the auction house. Granted, those were headier times, when the Arabian bubble was fullblown. The farm sold most of their horses since those days, but those remaining are not neglected or shabbily cared for and there is no mention of the mares being in foal – I don’t believe it was an active breeding operation. However, the horses have not been in work, some of the mares are quite aged, and they are just going on the auction block at a difficult time.
This goes for the camelids too – if, like me, you ever wondered just how many alpacas were in the fields you could see from 522, now you know. There are 278 Alpacas to be auctioned on Saturday, March 26th) and 292 Llamas the following day, including 16 “Guanoco Llamas” – Guanocos are the wild camelids ( I am not sure if these are actual Guanocos or if this refers to a Llama coat color.
This a total dispersal auction and there will be no reserve prices or minimum bids. It’s obviously an unfortunate situation, forced by the fact that creditors are in control rather than someone interested in the long-term future of the living “assets” of the farm. While it is doubtful that there will be “kill buyers” actually at the auction, my hope is that these horses find people who are realistic, capable and willing to care for them long-term, so they won’t end up in the “at-risk” category – please spread the word to anyone who might be interested.
Scroll down to near the bottom of the Article.
http://blog.seattlepi.com/horsebytes/2011/02/26/calendar-roundup/
Pictures of donkeys and minis
http://www.bidspotter.com/forms/imagegallery.php?gallery=13279
A lengthy thread on the Arabian Breeders Network forum has some insight into the horses that are available, and I hope that mini folks are also networking for those horses. Meadow Wood Farm was noted for high quality breeding stock – contrast this Seattle Times article from 1991,when Sothebys was the auction house. Granted, those were headier times, when the Arabian bubble was fullblown. The farm sold most of their horses since those days, but those remaining are not neglected or shabbily cared for and there is no mention of the mares being in foal – I don’t believe it was an active breeding operation. However, the horses have not been in work, some of the mares are quite aged, and they are just going on the auction block at a difficult time.
This goes for the camelids too – if, like me, you ever wondered just how many alpacas were in the fields you could see from 522, now you know. There are 278 Alpacas to be auctioned on Saturday, March 26th) and 292 Llamas the following day, including 16 “Guanoco Llamas” – Guanocos are the wild camelids ( I am not sure if these are actual Guanocos or if this refers to a Llama coat color.
This a total dispersal auction and there will be no reserve prices or minimum bids. It’s obviously an unfortunate situation, forced by the fact that creditors are in control rather than someone interested in the long-term future of the living “assets” of the farm. While it is doubtful that there will be “kill buyers” actually at the auction, my hope is that these horses find people who are realistic, capable and willing to care for them long-term, so they won’t end up in the “at-risk” category – please spread the word to anyone who might be interested.
Scroll down to near the bottom of the Article.
http://blog.seattlepi.com/horsebytes/2011/02/26/calendar-roundup/
Pictures of donkeys and minis
http://www.bidspotter.com/forms/imagegallery.php?gallery=13279
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