Empty Trailer

 I was up at 5:00 am and went over to do last minute cleaning at the barn. I had just come back when Mark came in from feeding the cat to let me know Sarah and the girls were already here. The girls were so excited about going to look for a pony that they came early. We left with the truck and trailer, picked up Rhoda and Iris at Busy Corner in Goodfield and drove to Arcola, IL to attend the big horse auction. That place was packed. We arrived a couple hours early so watched the horses warm up in the big outdoor arena. We made our way to the indoor around 11:20 am and found seats on the risers. The mini ponies went first. We were not looking for a mini but were shocked at the prices. Some of them sold for $3500.00, a lot of them were more than $2000.00. We were hoping to buy a bigger pony for the girls. Rhoda picked out one she thought might go too much but was exactly what we wanted. We were just shocked when it brought $22,000.00. The next one brought $23,000.00. The highest was $32,000.00. ALL of them were much higher than we would pay. We must be living in the past. 

It was really hot in the arena and we decided to go buy some ice cream. They were offering root beer floats for $4.00.

That hit the spot. The soda was ice cold and poured onto the cold ice cream it was creamy delicious and satisfying and helped cool us down. There was one Friesian mare listed that didn't have any information. I wanted to stay to see what she would go for. She was way down the list and when they brought her out announced she was a Friesian cross and had no papers. She was not well trained but I bid $6000.00 for her. Only one other lady was bidding against me. When she bid $6500.00 I let her have her. She was SO happy, she went running to follow the mare.  It was fun to see how excited she was to get her very first Friesian. The Gypsy geldings brought big bucks.

They also sold 3 or 4 Gypsy stallions. Those sold well. We didn't stay to watch the last 30 horses as it was getting late and we had a 2.5 hour trip to get home. We left there at 5:30 pm, stopped for gas and ate some dinner at the fast food restaurant located at the gas station. We dropped off Rhoda and Iris around 7:30 pm at Busy Corner then finally headed home making it here about 8:45 pm. We are all tired and a little sad to come home with an empty trailer.