IN THE TRENCHES OF EQUINE AUCTIONS.

A very unpleasant place to be. Bear in mind I am referring to the crap sales not the big money specialty sales where the Saudi Sheiks come to purchase.

Not a dissimilar experience to a casino. Filled with desperate people with an addiction. Or several.

Rescues purchasing in my mind is not any different than the private purchases. Except, they are most often purchasing with donated funds.
They tend to create more drama.
And expect the whole world to recognize this thing they have done and continue to do.

Here is my reality. And after 26 years of experience with this I have some standing to speak from.
I retired. I have allowed myself the permission to say, "Enough". At least, for me.

To me an auction is very similar to going to an orphanage of starving and abused children and saying, "Now I can only take a couple of you home".
It wears you down after awhile. Especially when the numbers at the auctions each month are 50-500. Or more.

Being surrounded by liars, thieves, deviants, suffering and neglect, has never been my idea of a recreational activity.
Or, a career I wished to pursue.
God who wants to be King of the compost pile?
Not me.

But I wanted to point out that all those private buyers deserve a pat on the back too.
And maybe, even a little round of applause.
After all, they have been doing this little thing called rescue long before it became popular.
And they haven't been asking anyone to subsidize them in their efforts.

Begging as a business does not hold much appeal for me. I would rather work. The whole charity thing sometimes reminds of the governmental agencies looking for one more way to skim the cream.

And I do not think that sale barn rejects and fuglies should ever be presumed to have a higher value than a horse that actually has a job. One who was bred and trained to perform.
At something other than eating 100lbs. of senior each week.

I love horses. I have a few sad sacks myself. But it was my choice to take them and care for them.
And to present them as equal to a working horse? Nope. Not even close. They are dependents in every sense of the word.

So here are my questions. What are we saving? Why? And who are we paying to do so?
And what is the message that we are really sending?
When there are families without homes. Hungry and undereducated people and children.

I wish everyone much luck in their continued efforts to raise money for organized rescue.
Because when rescues have to advertise on craigslist or offer animals in exchange for hay my guess is it is going to get worse before it gets better.
And if, you are spending that much time just trying to raise money to feed them how will you have enough time to train and promote them for adoption?