My neighbor called me in a panic, she had just heard of a barn auction being held of neglected Arabian Horses. She expressed her deep concern and wanted to drive to Ocala and check out the Horses. So we planned on the next morning, we would get our Kids, her two and my three off to school and heading Ocala to see the Horses. The morning chores and school routine sped by with out a hitch. We met at her house and started our hour & a half trek to the land of Horses. Ocala is the Horse capitol of the World, having representation of more breeds than any other place in the World. The last periodical I read the consensus in, stated Horse breeding and or show farms representing 50 different breeds. And, 450 Thoroughbred Horse breeding farms. Wow, right here in my native State, Florida, a mere 120 miles from my own little Horse farm. It is amazing to think that Horse Heaven is so close, yet, I only get there on very special occasions. The drive thru the rolling hills of gorgeous Horse country is nothing short of spiritual to a devout Hose lover such as myself. back to the mission at hand. We arrived at the Horse farm mid morning and started our tour thru the numerous Horse barns. There was a mare barn, probably 20 stalls and large paddocks of each half on both sides. The center isle wide enough and tall enough to drive a large tractor pulling a big trailer right thru the middle with plenty of room to spare. The show barn set up the same way with many World Class Show Arabians housed within is expansive walls. The three Horses worth the most money had been led to back pond and shot, one Mare, rumored to have sold for 3,000,000 in Scottsdale, Arizona a couple of years prior. The Sheriff’s office had found them a couple days after the official seizure of the Animals had taken place. One awesome Gelding stood 16hh , that is quite tall for an Arabian Horse. He was the color of a brand new shine penny, sleek with muscles rippling under his perfect coat. So many awesome horses, all being auctioned it was hard to know what to set y mind on bidding for. We strolled thoughtfully through each barn, stopping to meet each and every horse. We were not allowed to go into the paddocks with the mare, foal pairs to handle them, so we wrote notes on the printed farm guide as to which were friendly and came up to be petted. There were rescue handlers there to answer questions as best they could. The last barn we came to, the Stallion barn filled with many stallions shown but many never bred. My friend sighed a long sigh and expressed her fear for theses horses above all. She was certain that these unproven stallions would be in grave danger of no-one wanting an aged unproven stallion. Oh, I knew little of the show world or breeding world on Arabian world for that matter. My heart melted as I thought of theses older guys not getting homes and being sent to local auction, usually the meat market. The Auction was set to be held on the following Monday, I was set to attend. They started in the back barn with all the show horses. And the first three World Class Show Horses, with points and pedigrees to die, for went for under 500.00 dollars. I was so tempted to bid on one beautiful Gelding, he was dappled grey with black mane and tail. A handler jumped on him bareback just a halter and rope had him doing fancy gaits and precision turns, I was very impressed and wanted that horse so dang bad I was sweating but, I remained chased. Thinking of the poor Stallions in the last barn that would really need me. Then out of the crowd some “yahoo’ yelled out “what kinda friggin’ horse auction is this, people? Get your real money out these are great horses!” The rest in that barn went for over 3000.00 each. My heart sank a bit, I felt very uninformed, misled and stupid at that point for NOT bidding on a horse I really liked. I followed with the crowd as the announcers stand was set up in front of each barn listening and waiting for the stallion barn to be picked through. I had fallen in love with a handsome four year old white stallion with a long grey mane and tail. I did not bid on any of the horses till it came his turn. I bid all the money I had plus the money from a friend to buy a horse for him as well. The man from Illinois who had come for his son, to bid on that horse and that horse only out bid me. I was crushed then the last horse rifled through the crowd cheered me to bid, I did and they got me excited about the fairytale looking beauty that pranced in the ring before us. they bid against me until my limit 3000.00 dollars. Then the guy tipped his hat and said ” He’s all yours ma’am” and it was over all the horses were sold. I had spent my friends money on a fancy horse I had nowhere to keep. Jahel looked like a painting or a drawing, maybe an animated horse that Prince Charming would ride up on. He was very gentle, I had not thought too much about housing him in the quick decision to add a fancy stallion to back yard herd. We decided to board him until we could come to an agreement of our shared horse would be the best. He had always been stalled with little turnout time. My herd live out 24/7 with only walk in feeder stalls. I owned a senior gelding that had not been gelded till late in life, many years of being my herd leader. He would not think well of a new stallion invading his herd. I would have to reinforce fences and geld Jahel before he could be introduced to my horses. I had no interest in breeding or showing at the time. I only owned half a stallion and didn’t really have the money to buy out the other half. Each month board was adding up on both our sides of ownership. When breeders came around inquiring about his owners and offered a fair price, we came to the conclusion that it would be best to devolve the partnership and sell our dream horse to the Arabian breeding farm that so desired him. We sold Jahel, I cried and learned a very valuable lesson in the world of horse business. Never buy without a lot of thought !!!
