The Silver Cup Sale is this weekend. I love going to horse sales, but this one makes me crazy and here's why:
They almost caused this big moose to kill my groom.
Our friend/owner and I at the sale last year. Okay, so as far as the social part goes, the sale is fun.
I miss Phoenix.
1. Most of the yearlings aren't very sales prepped. I think half of them are barely halter broke. For example, my groom is just getting ready to put Nelson on the walker today and about gets killed as some idiot leads, I should say tries to lead, a horse by. Oh, I should mention, instead of walking on the dirt where it's safer and quieter, this person is letting the horse run circles around her on the pavement. Does she have a chain on it? Of course not. Chances are it has no idea what a chain is, but wouldn't you think it would be a good idea to get them used to one before they bring them in for a sale? Usually horses prepped for sales like Keeneland, Barrett's, Fasig-Tipton, etc. are some of the easiest to start because they've been handled so much. That is rarely the case here. *I feel really sorry for my vet and my shoer right now.
2. What some of these horses go for is ridiculous. Typically, you can go to one of the bigger sales and get something with similar breeding for about half the price.
3. Half of the horses aren't ever actually going to be for sale. People just run them through so that they are eligible for the Silver Cup sale.
4. They put the yearlings behind us on the other side of our barn. Where we are at is usually fairly quiet. That's why we like it. Now we have a barn full of yearlings screaming their guts out and trying to bust through the gates (one actually succeeded this morning) and we have three horses in this weekend, one of which that freaked and got his leg over his gate. They make ace for a reason people! Use it!
5. Everyone comes over and looks at our horses, trying to find the yearlings that are for sale.
6. They park out where I usually ride and it just rained. There goes my plans for riding anytime soon unless I feel like jumping ruts every stride.
Anyway, it's a giant pain in the ass and I'm already done with it. At least they have a bar up during the sale though.
