Oktoberfest Sale Results...

[copperwood farm]

Very, Very sad day indeed, I cannot believe these prices. I should have gone with a BIG trailer.

 

[Riverdance]

If this doesn't prove to anyone that the miniature market is hurting then your not in reality.
True these horses are selling on application that didn't help. Also if these horses just weren't bringing in money cause they aren't "quality" that sure wouldn't help.

BUT back in 5 years ago these horses would have been brought in ALOT of money. This is a sign that people, even big farms, need to breed less and go for quality. As someone has already mentioned if you breed for quality and not quantity you will get alot more. Hopefully more people have not bred and more of these quality horses will make the $ amount. Just don't expect what you would have gotten 5 years ago.

Maybe the public is getting more educated as to what a quality horse is and not just running around spending big bucks just because a big farm has an auction.

The Reeses auction got some really high bids on a good portion of their horses and they no sale many of them.

I do not think that an auction of lower quality horses proves to anyone that the Mini market is hurting any more than any other horse market because of the times. But it may prove that people are starting to learn.

A good horse still gets a good price no matter what breed.

 

[Lmequine]

Thank you for posting the prices and details of the horses sold!

 

[sfmini]

You missed the filly that I was interested in, almost afraid to ask about her but what did she sell for?

Lot#54.Little Kings Super Lights

Little Kings Super Supreme X Little Kings All Lit Up Buck

AMHA 191752 AMHR 296503T

Bay Pinto Filly –6/5/08

What a classy and cute filly! Super Lights has big beautiful eyes and great color. She is very correct and well balanced. Her sire is World Champion Driving Horse and halter horse and her dam is a Buckeroo daughter! She should mature 30-31”.

 

[Billy G]

SUPPLY & DEMAND----Sums it up..

 

[Tami]

Jody, she no saled. I think the bid was one of the highest of the day...but I didn't write it down....

 

[ruffian]

I think she NS'd at $2,200. She was very pretty.

 

[Littleum]

The sales listing and pictures weren't posted until 10/12ish. The sale was 10/17.

That gives people days (literally) to decide if they want to go, how much they want to spend, make travel arrangements, and make arrangements for someone to look after the barn for them while they go- all that stuff.

I imagine that was a big factor as well. A lot of potential bidders just probably didn't have enough time to get things in order.

 

[ruffian]

Keep in mind that these horses were NOT all clipped and show ready. They were pulled out of the pasture, bathed and had a head and neck clip. The colt in the sale that brought the highest price (that I saw) was body clipped.

I could show photos of my World Grand Champion Senior Stallion that would make people go YUCK!

LKF chose, wisely, to not clip the horses due to the season. That makes perfect sense, and will definitely affect the prices. It's not because these horses were of poor quality. I would have taken 10-15 of them home if I had the room! The buyers will be anxiously awaiting the chance to "unwrap" their purchases this spring and most, if not all, will be most pleasantly surprised!

 

[Carolyn R]

I am kicking myself for not going, eventhough I think the wedding we attended took priority (I need to take care of a few financial obligations too, all horsey related of course)

Its a long haul from Pa, but next year we'll have to make the trip, if they have it. My husband can stay at my brothers place in Fort Wayne and go hunting with him, I'll go to the sale myself

I would have loved to see what the black Buckeroo son that no saled looks like now, I saw photos of him from a year or so ago. From what I remember, he was one I wouldn't have minded having. Looks like that income tax check is going right in the savings account this coming March.

 

[Windhaven]

Unfortunately, I think NOT having it live on the internet also was a factor in the prices (people are getting use to this). People who can't go love to be able to watch on the internet and you would of seen more horses go higher, MUCH HIGHER. Especially after they saw what the horses where bringing in the beginning. I have to say if I would of been watching the sale I definitely would of been bidding. That is what helped Reeces sale. It was live over the internet and they where able to pull in more bidders and buyers.

Also as mentioned up above, it hurt the sale NOT to have GOOD pictures posted at least a week before the sale.

I did take a gamble and am hoping, like mentioned above, that I will be pleasantly surprised come time to unwrap him in the spring.

With prices this cheap there are MANY PEOPLE who would of bid and taken a chance over the internet.

I think LKF does a great job with their presentation and quality, and I know time was a factor here in getting things ready because I talked to Robin a couple of times, but I think the main thing that hurt them most was not having it LIVE.

Congratulations to all the people that got the GREAT DEALS.

 

[Frankie]

Was just wondering how many people were there and bidding? I know several went just to see their farm.

 

[Little Indian Acres]

Tami, I thought I saw you there but only having met you one time before I was not sure it was you! I guess I should have said hello. lol

 

[rabbitsfizz]

For me this is a timely yet sad wake up call to the Mini Horse World as a whole!!

If horses of this undisputed calibre only make these prices what is the point or the justification in purporting to breed "pet quality" unregistered little potential snacks on someone's plate??

Personally I do not doubt that these horses were of top quality, what has changed, since the Reese sale and now is the market, not the quality of the horses offered.

Time to wake up, I think, and accept that the economy is in the toilet, and there is no point in putting all, if any, of your mares in foal!

I shall only be breeding as many as I can afford to keep for the foreseeable future.

It is going to get far worse, people, before it gets better.....be warned, as it is the horses who will suffer for your lack of foresight.

 

[Leeana]

Time to wake up, I think, and accept that the economy is in the toilet, and there is no point in putting all, if any, of your mares in foal!

So then I guess the breed will cease to exist anymore from this point??

Or should we just leave the breed where it is at - Heck with trying to improve it from this point??

Sorry.....I am not game for either of those!!

I think it is safe to say that LKF would not have let any of these horses sell out right via private sale at these prices....Oktoberfest is advertised as a chance to buy a QUALITY horse from LKF at an extreme bargin of a price. We all knew these prices were going to be low, so why are we acting surprised?

The colt I wanted sold for $200 .... I would have for sure paid a lot more then that had I been there, auction or private sale.

I think the more we keep telling ourselves this the sooner we are all going to believe it! We can keep telling ourselves, and others, this but it is not going to make anything better. Its only as bad as we let our selves think it is.

 

[kayla221444]

A BUCKSKIN PINTO Buckeroo son, proven sire, broke to drive, for $1,600?????

The thing that hurt that horse was that his height was very questionable. Also, during the sale he attempted to exit the area via my lap !

I have a couple of bruises in the shape of hoofprints in a very personal area !!!!!

I believe he is over 34"

 

[txminipinto]

ROFLMAO! "Only as bad as we allow ourselvs to think it is"? OMG my dear girl have you not been watching the news for the past year? When the unemployment rate is at its highest since the Great Depression, its BAD! There's no talking yourself out of it. We're all hurting and concerned what the next 6 months will bring. I have to agree with Rabbitfizz. If you think the prices at the LKF sale was an isolated event or due to not properly groom horses, you are sadly mistaken. In fact, the results from this sale is EXACTLY the smack up the head every single person who owns a mare needs.

We all need to cut our breeding numbers. We all need to re-evaluate our breeding stock and what it produces. We all need to evaulate our stock against everyone else. And we all need to take a reality check and realize NO ONE NEEDS A MINI OR PONY. People buy because they WANT! And in times like this, NEEDS are put before WANTS. Stop breeding every dang mare! Breed only the best to the best and cull the rest. We don't need any more pets! And if you don't have show quality stock, don't breed it. PERIOD. There are plenty of show quality stock producing pet quality horses for ANYONE to go out and buy a foal for less than it would take to produce it yourself.

We all have a very long uphill road to climb in this economy.

 

[Sue_C.]

QUOTE Time to wake up, I think, and accept that the economy is in the toilet, and there is no point in putting all, if any, of your mares in foal!

So then I guess the breed will cease to exist anymore from this point??

Or should we just leave the breed where it is at - Heck with trying to improve it from this point??

Sorry.....I am not game for either of those!!

I seriously doubt that the miniature horse will disappear as a breed, or totally fall apart conformationally, by giving it a rest for a year or two. Other breeds have come back from near extinction, so I think we will be safe enough if we don't glut the market for a short time until the WORLDS finances get back into order.

I believe he is over 34"

And well worth the fees to register him AMHR, wouldn't you think? He should still have brought several thousand if they had done some paperwork, or if someone else was willing to.

 

[Riverdance]

Why is it that some people always feel that the sky is falling?

The news media likes to report all of the bad and sad, but almost never the happy and good. Why, because it gets them better ratings. Better ratings means more money...so for the sake of money...lets keep reporting everything that is wrong with the world, and lets enhance it too to make it seem worse than it is.

Part of our financial problems were because of the gloom and doom that the media has reported. When people start not spending money, the financial health of our country goes bad. With "the sky is falling" tactics. They predicted that we would run into financial problems and beat us over the head with it so much, that of course it was bound to happen. Only it became really bad because the media had scared everyone so much. Unemployment is low because no one is buying anything. If no one is buying anything, then stores have to close and companies have to reduce their employees. They still have many people scared to spend a penny anywhere. Our presidents tried to encourage us to spend, even gave us money to spend, yet the media keeps us all afraid.

Well, I have noticed a increase in spending in the dog market, the Real Estate Market as well as the Mini horse market, as have others who have even said so on this forum.

Little Kings had a sale, they have hundreds of horses and they need to sell some so that they can make room for the 100 or more they will have next year. Do they have some really nice horses, yes, but if you looked at their sale, their better horses where Private Treaty and not part of the sale.

The market has not gone down hill since the Reeses sale, there were horses that sold for a nice price at the AMHA World Show with many overseas buyers. I am sure that if Little Kings had put in some of their more expensive horses in the auction, you would have seen higher prices and larger farms there at the sale. This sale was meant for the average Joe. They were selling horses that the larger farms did not want, but affordable to the smaller farms.

This in no way indicates the value of Miniature horses in the future, just the value of average horses.

Do we all need to slow down in breeding, YES, will that stop the bigger farms from continuing to breed 100 or more horses a year, NO. As long as someone is willing to buy them, they will continue to breed them.

One must remember that a quality horse bred to a quality horse, does not always make for a quality horse. Many farms produce pet quality out of the best of their horses. A full sibling to a multiple World Champion may be nothing more than a pet.

I for one, prefer to look at the glass half full. If more people would start to look that way and not look at this sale as doom and gloom, perhaps our countries would come out of the bad economy faster!!!

 

[Maxi'sMinis]

I bought 2 horses privately a few weeks before the sale from HSR that I learned later were to be in the sale. (They were not listed in the sale catalog) obviously I payed more than what they might have gone for at auction but I didn't want to take the chance of not getting them and wait to bid on them at auction. They still gave me a break on the 2 horse package and I am in love. The mare is the sweetest with the prettiest head and my little colt has that Buckeroo head on him, those big eyes and little tippy ears. I love them both.

And for the quality of the horses in this sale there was no question that it was there. Buyers got a steal. I am still kicking myself for not coming home with a couple more. There were maybe 30-40 bidders and that may be a high estimate. It is a haul to go to Indiana for a lot of people so that maybe the factor in how many bidders are there.

It was awesome to see Buckeroo he is fabulous at 32. ALL of the stallions are very well mannered and pettable. Oh I fell in love with. JR, he is the spitting image of Buckeroo and so very cute. I could have stood at his stall all day.

Beautiful farm, lovely people. I will be going back to buy again.