cedarglyn@yahoo.com writes:
> The Haflinger is my first choice for a mount and I continue to think
> everyone could enjoy this wonderful breed. I tend to think the owner of the
> $700 Haflinger is looking for a rapid sale due to difficult times. My local
> craigslist is full of free horses or ones less than $200. Unfortunately, we
> are experiencing a sad economy in many areas of the US.
>
this statement says it all ... clear across the entire US . I get
calls weekly from folks that want me to take in their kids horses due to not
being able to feed them anymore and the child has lost interest as they can't
afford to go take lessons anywhere.
I know that money is tight for everyone and face it, feeding horses takes
away from other family activities. I see free horses listed in my local
papers and feel so sad for those owners that have to get to that point where
they have to give the horse up ...
The auctions barns are charging a fee just to take the horse to the sale
now and the reason is there are no buyers! And they don't want to get stuck
trying to run a sale and not be able to pay the staff that help to move the
horses thru. We are in hard times and it is not for the faint of heart. It
is a battle daily for many ranches that have herds and have to decide to feed
the cattle and let the horses go fending for themselves on the wheat
stubble. It is the way a lot of the ranchers get by where I live, they turn the
horses out on grazing land and if they make it fine and if they don't well
they are coyote bait.
the feed store I go to says that their sales of wormer and grain and horse
supplies have dropped so low that they had to lay off all the gals the
worked the counters. the feed guy that would deliver is now down to once a month
deliveries and they now charge a fee of $20.00 no matter if you buy ten bags
of feed and four panels or hay or whatever or buy one sack of grain and
want it brought to your place.
My area of the state is not doing well with sales of horses but a few of
the real ranches and breeders have enough hay to tough it out.
I do feel sales are going to come back
but we will not see the high prices that were the norm of the 80s and the
early 90s .... there are new folks out looking to buy
but they want a really good horse for what they consider a good deal of
money ... and we as the ones feeding, raising and training them are trying to
let them know it cost more to train and to feed and we need to try to get
something back on that five or six year old horse but sometimes
we go ahead and make a sale
thinking we have found the best home possible,
only to find out the person just dumps the horse within a short time and a
horse trader comes in and scoops up that good bred mare and then raises the
price to double or triple of what you sold it for .... So there are
shysters out there pretending to be upstanding breeders or sellers of the
Haflinger,
but word of advice,
be very careful,
as some of those who have web pages full of horses for you to try out,
well they are just dealers,
who are trying to take office and become inportant and well known due to
the drop out of good horseman that were great leaders in the breed.
not the real breeders who cares and spends the times and money up front ...
I am sad to say that many new folks might be taken advantage of even in
today's down market.
So yes there are some private sales that looks like this breed is priced
low
but that is better than finding out
you went to a place
and then tracked down the previous owners and find out you got snookered,
and got a horse that was at their barn for less than a month and paid triple
the price ...
So see it is a real study in human nature to be in the horse business and
only the strong survive ... I want to encourage new folks and hope that the
market improves but in the meantime shop carefully and ask a lot of
questions and take your time. Easy to buy hard to sell.... Peggy in eastern Wash.
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