We had an early breakfast at the hotel then drove the 23 miles back to the Topeka Livestock Auction where the stallions were being presented. We went first outside to watch them warm up.
It was so impressive to watch them zooming around that huge area with their legs snapping up and forward getting big air. When we finally made it indoors the stallion presentations were almost over but what we saw was so very impressive. We met up with Marty Langhoffer who is the vet that works on a lot of the Friesians stallions. He had saved us front row seats at the arena. The place today was packed. By noon it was standing room only and this place is huge. When I wrote yesterday about the horses and buggies lined up I didn't think they could get any more packed in but today Amy said there was at least a thousand. She took pictures and sent them to me. There were just row after row.
The prices today were actually shocking. One 2 year old stallion went through and brought $40,000.00 and he was not FHANA registered but he was out of a Ster stallion and a Ster mare. Another brought $45,000.00 but this one was FHANA registered. Below is a short video of him strutting his stuff in the arena.
Even the crosses were bringing big bucks. The Amish really like the Standardbred/Friesian cross and quite a few brought $12,000 of those that were broke to drive. We saw bay geldings bring that much. What did not go over as well was the Saddlebred/Friesian cross and even the Morgan/Friesian cross didn't bring what I would have expected. Rhoda found one she really wanted me to bid on, a 3 year old by a Friesian sire and out of a Percheron/ Hackney dam. She was even in foal. This one was a flashy mover and well broke pulling a buggy but the bid was less than the owner wanted so he said, "no sale". I told Rhoda she could go offer more for her but she couldn't find the owner. While she was gone looking I bid on a 2 year old by a Friesian sire and out of a Percheron/Morgan dam. This filly was moving very nicely, pulling the buggy in the arena and because she wasn't the Standardbred cross I was pretty sure I had a chance and I was the high bidder. Mike and Diane were there and Diane had 1 she wanted me to bid on but this mare was almost at the end of the sale. We had to leave by 2:00 pm to make it home in time for Jessica's surprise birthday party so were not able to stay and bid on the one Diane wanted. At 1:45 pm I went to the office to pay for the filly and was told there was also a 7% tax on the filly. That was shocking! I told her I live in Illinois the most corrupt state in the union and they don't tax horses, then mentioned that I sure felt sorry for the person that spent $45,000.00 on a stallion." She was quick to respond "well that is a stallion and they are going to use him for breeding so he is not taxed." I responded with well I'm buying this filly for breeding too and do not want to pay tax. That saved us quite a bit of money. The clerk explained since the Amish do not own cars but use the roads they tax their horses. We had to drive through a blizzard to get home. Around Chicago there was 60 mile and hour winds and so much blowing snow everyone had to slow down. I was glad we had a horse in the trailer to help hold it down. We were glad to drive out of that storm and into the sunshine. We stopped at the Pizza Ranch in Morton, IL for a quick supper then finished our drive home arriving by 6:30 pm. The filly was unloaded, taken to the barn for a couple pictures then put in a stall with plenty of hay and water.
She is all black, they had a ribbon braided into her forelock. She was born May 26th, 2016. We will need to name her and the names for the year 2016 should start with A, B, or C. They were calling her Lisa. She is well put together for a 2 year old. We had Marty look her over and he gave us the thumbs up for buying her. Nice to have a very knowledgeable equine vet give us the AOK and approval.
The entire trip she was very well behaved and very well behaved leading into the stall. This filly came from a farmer up in Elgin Iowa. We met the owner of her sire and he is going to get us her paper work to register her in our name.
This was quite an experience for all of us, one we will probably be repeating each year. If you go plan on getting their early each morning to get a seat. The entertainment is amazing. Watching horse after quality horse strut that amazing movement is really something to behold.
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