horse sale

One of my all time favorite places is the salebarn.  The salebarn is where they bring cattle and horses through for farmers and ranchers to buy.  

My love for the salebarn started years and years ago.  You see, Granny used to have the little candy vending machines -- the kind where you put in a quarter and you get a huge gumball, or a handful of hot tamales, or peanut m&m's -- and she had these vending machines at the salebarn in Calhan, where she would have to go restock every so often.  And I loved, LOVED, LOVED going with her.  She would let me go into the sale while she was doing her thing and I think she used to have to drag me out of there. 

Well, a couple years ago, I was friends with this guy who went to a horse auction every month and he invited me to go with him.  It had probably been at least 15 years since I had gone to one, but as it turns out....I still love them just as much today as I did as a kid!

Now, let me just interject a minute here.  The pictures I'm about to show you are not from the Calhan salebarn.  This sale was much more upscale...as were the horses.

Notice the bright green, grass-colored shavings?  In Calhan, we sat in bleachers and it was just dusty dirt being kicked up everywhere.  None of this fancy, green shavings stuff.  

Ok, now back to what I was saying.

At the sale barn, there's an auctioneer, who does the "hey-badda-bedda-hebba-bedda-3-thousand-dollar-biiiilll!"  It's not like going to a hoity-toity antique auction where they speak in normal voices.  

He's always got a guy up in the box with him who speaks normally, but only breaks in with some little tidbit of information when the horses aren't selling for enough money.  

And then there are these guys.  

They tell you where the bid is -- this horse is up to $2,000, looking for $2,500.  

And they look out at the audience to determine who's bidding.  Then they go "HEP!" when they see someone give them a slight nod to signal their bid.  (I really like the table centerpieces, don't you?  They certainly didn't have THESE in Calhan!)

And I'm telling you, people give the slightest nod when they're bidding.  That's my favorite thing to do.  Find the bidders.  And then watch as they contemplate whether to bid up or not. 

I remember as a kid trying to sit perfectly still so I wouldn't accidentally bid on something.  One of those tricks that adults pull, like a contest to see who can be quiet the longest.  

Take a look at this group.

These fools actually paid $19,500 for a saddle!

Ok, so maybe they got this horse to go with it...

The highest bidder wins a saddle and that group above was it with $19,500.  

But as if all that weren't enough fun, look at all the people-watching you can do!  

How cool are these guys?

And, I mean, just look at this sea of cowboy hats! 

How could you not love a salebarn?  

And just in case you've never had the pleasure of going, I've uploaded this little video clip for you.  I hope it works well and you can hear the auctioneer -- although, I have to admit he's not my most favoritest auctioneer ever.  

Enjoy!