Post by Rose on Oct 5, 2007 12:11:56 GMT -5
A couple of years ago I found myself at the Eugene Livestock Auction on a Sat in Feb. A friend of mine were getting in tothe hobby of buying drop calves and raisin them up to resale. It was a fun hobby and learned a lot.
Not too sure if anyone has been to a "cattle" auction. Calves are run through at the beginning and so are lambs, kids, small animals. Basically anything that is no a "cow". At first I bought a lil' ewe lamb. She was cute and my daughter wanted one for 4H. There were no calves that I wanted so we were going to leave. But something stopped me. A pony was being brought in that had been left over from the horse sale the week before. An older white pony that no one was bidding so I placed a bid and eventually bid him up to $75.
So I bought my first horse from the auction. A horse that I knew nothing about. Bought him on pure emotion. Good thing I had a place to put him. We already knew horse people and had been boarding a horse at family-friends. So we arranged transportation and hauled him out to the stables.
He was an absolute dream. Although he was very old and had melenoma tumors everywhere he was able to eat and poop ok and didn't seem to be in any discomfort. I figured any life I gave him was better than the potential life he could of had.
We decided he needed a noble name since he had earned one. So we called him Royal and he was the kind of pony you wished would live forever. Kind, tolerant and one all the kids wanted to ride. We mainly used him for very light riding for my daughter who was 5 at the time. Occasionally he would be used for lessons but for the most part he lived a semi-retirement life.
The day Royal was put down was one of the hardest days of my life and it still brings a tear to my eye when I think of it. Royal lived for a lil' over a year after we brought him home. I knew he couldn't live forever and after everyone had said good-bye we called the Vet and set Royal free. I cried.
My daughter, Alyssa, who is almost 8 still has the saddle we used for Royal and last night when she was riding we talked about Royal to our friend, Megan She showed Megan the lil' white horse hairs that are on the saddle and when I picked one off Alyssa said to me " don't pick those off they have to stay there". The lil' white hairs were Royal's.
Alyssa and I talked about the possiblilty of helping another horse like we helped Royal and she said wouldn't it be a good idea Mom if we could do it for Royal?
So we would like to start a Royal Fund with SAFE to help another old pony from the auction to find it's forever home, regardless of how long it may be.
We have pictures of Royal that we will post soon.
Not too sure if anyone has been to a "cattle" auction. Calves are run through at the beginning and so are lambs, kids, small animals. Basically anything that is no a "cow". At first I bought a lil' ewe lamb. She was cute and my daughter wanted one for 4H. There were no calves that I wanted so we were going to leave. But something stopped me. A pony was being brought in that had been left over from the horse sale the week before. An older white pony that no one was bidding so I placed a bid and eventually bid him up to $75.
So I bought my first horse from the auction. A horse that I knew nothing about. Bought him on pure emotion. Good thing I had a place to put him. We already knew horse people and had been boarding a horse at family-friends. So we arranged transportation and hauled him out to the stables.
He was an absolute dream. Although he was very old and had melenoma tumors everywhere he was able to eat and poop ok and didn't seem to be in any discomfort. I figured any life I gave him was better than the potential life he could of had.
We decided he needed a noble name since he had earned one. So we called him Royal and he was the kind of pony you wished would live forever. Kind, tolerant and one all the kids wanted to ride. We mainly used him for very light riding for my daughter who was 5 at the time. Occasionally he would be used for lessons but for the most part he lived a semi-retirement life.
The day Royal was put down was one of the hardest days of my life and it still brings a tear to my eye when I think of it. Royal lived for a lil' over a year after we brought him home. I knew he couldn't live forever and after everyone had said good-bye we called the Vet and set Royal free. I cried.
My daughter, Alyssa, who is almost 8 still has the saddle we used for Royal and last night when she was riding we talked about Royal to our friend, Megan She showed Megan the lil' white horse hairs that are on the saddle and when I picked one off Alyssa said to me " don't pick those off they have to stay there". The lil' white hairs were Royal's.
Alyssa and I talked about the possiblilty of helping another horse like we helped Royal and she said wouldn't it be a good idea Mom if we could do it for Royal?
So we would like to start a Royal Fund with SAFE to help another old pony from the auction to find it's forever home, regardless of how long it may be.
We have pictures of Royal that we will post soon.
