A few months ago, my friend Queenie and I attended the 2018
National Clydesdale Sale, a yearly auction held by the National Clydesdale
Association (www.clydesusa.com). The venue had moved to a new location this
year—the new Michiana Events Center (The MEC) (www.michianaevents.com) in
Shipshewana, Indiana. The vendors set up
in the open area of the MEC, and the horse auction was in the colosseum area on
the other side of the L-shaped building.
The first photo is the front cover of the auction brochure. It shows the highest-selling horse from last
year—a mare—which brought $45,000! The
second-highest-selling mare in 2017 brought $29,000. The highest-selling stallion brought $8,200,
while the highest-selling gelding brought $18,500—which surprised me, since
geldings can’t be used for breeding, but they seem to be favored for parade and
show horses. Notice in the pictures that
the Clydesdales have braided-up manes and their tails are twisted into a sort
of bun… This seemed to be the common practice.
Queenie is an animal lover, so we spent a couple of pleasant
hours at the Saturday auction in the colosseum.
There was a mixture of Amish and “English” people in the stands, but
mostly English in the VIP area at one end of the arena. The Clydesdales are about the same size as
the draft horses that the Amish use in the fields, but the Amish prefer
Belgians, or occasionally Percherons.
One thing that surprised us was the wide range of prices for
animals that (to us) seemed quite similar…
The first gelding we saw went for $33,000—but later ones of the same age
and appearance (to us) went for as low as $2,500. We figured it must have something to do with
their pedigrees.*
Almost every horse was described in detail in the
brochure. Notice the difference between
horse #45, “Rex,” and horse #46, “George’s Cristal’s Kid.” Horse #46 has the extensive pedigree which
apparently increases the value and sales price.
Quite a few of the horses came from Canada, and the rest from various
American horse farms, mostly in the Midwest.
Many of the horses were described in terms of their looks,
and also in terms of being broke to pull a wagon single or double, or as part
of a larger team. Some were described as
being great prospects for winning prizes at the fall WCS (World Clydesdale
Show). Others were described as being
good brood mare or stud prospects, or well-suited for farm and field work, and
often in terms of their personality or intelligence.
********************
Here is a link to a little of the action at the sale…
No comments:
Post a Comment