It's been raining cats and dogs since
4:00 AM and Friesians, Quarter Horses and Gypsy Vanners since 2:00
PM.
The rain pelting the top of my LQ woke
me up at 4:00 AM. It subsided long enough for me to feed the horses
and clean pens...then pour some more. I didn't think much of it until
Patty banged on my door and said she was out taking video of the
washes running full with rain water.
I've been told it happens around here
especially in the summer when the monsoons hit. Until you see it
first hand - you don't grasp the magnitude. There are signs all over
the roads that say: “Turn around – Don't drown.” Flash flooding
is a regular occurrence here. If I didn't take it seriously before, I
definitely do now.
The plan was to drive into Wickenburg
for the Cowgirl Cadillac horse sale hosted at the Rancho
de los Caballeros
golf course. Mother nature wasn't fully cooperating. Even if we could
get out of the driveway – we might not be able to get back in if
the culvert washed out. Dave determined “we'll probably make it but
we might have to park a ways and walk back. Don't worry – it won't
be more than 3-5 feet deep.” I packed a swimsuit before I came
south but I didn't think I'd be needing a life preserver.
We
made it to the golf course without needing a pontoon boat...getting
back might be a different story. The rain was not letting up. The
sale didn't start until 2:00PM so we had a couple hours to kill. We
found a buffet in out of the rain and pretended like we were guests
of Rancho
de los Caballeros until they kicked us out: “The
buffet will be closing in 5 minutes.” We got the hint on the second
reminder.
Everyone
crowded under whatever overhang they could find and watched the rain
come down in sheets. Would they postpone? The sale was being held out
in the open on a circular section of lawn surrounded by bleachers and
plastic chairs. I was about to ask Dave for the keys. A good nap in
the Long Horn was not out of the question...it was, however, out of
the wind and the rain.
Ike,
the stock contractor putting the sale on, must have a direct line to
to someone higher up in charge of the weather...or he's the luckiest
horse trader in Wickenburg. Not two minutes before the sale started
and the clouds parted and the wind and rain stopped dead. I was so
thrilled I thought I just might pick me up a bidding number.
They
had everything: Quarter Horses, Gypsy Vanners, Andalusian
crosses..toss in a few Friesians and a pony and you could walk away
with just about any color or shape of equine your little heart
desired. The only requirement was a bidding number and a whole lot of
disposable income.
I
was shocked at the first horse going for 24K dollars. An average
looking palomino that was nicely collected and loped amazing tiny
little circles. If “Taylor Swift” could have laid down, sat on
her haunches and let a dog jump on her....she would have gone for
50K. Several of them did. While golden palomino's seemed the most
popular – they weren't the only ones going for high dollars. Red
roans and buckskins with lot's of chrome were a close second.
However, if your name is “Blue Chip Investment” you don't have to
be palomino, buckskin or red roan. You just have to be a huge,
quarter horse friesian blue roan and somebody out there will write
out a check for 225K. That's Two Hundred Twenty Five Thousand
dollars. To hell with a horse. For that kind of money I could buy
myself a place in Arizona and have money to spare! I've never seen
anything like it.
Apparently
I don't have expensive tastes in horses. The ones that I liked the
best went for the least amount of money. A nice black gelding that
looked like he would do anything for you went for 19K. A light
buckskin that was put together well sold for the lower end of 15K.
Sorrels
got the raw end of the deal. I don't know what it is but people don't
seem to like a red horse. An old roper told me years ago that you
should never overlook a red horse. I agree. In my opinion, people are
breeding out the mind and sound conformation for color and chrome.
Some of the nicest built and kindest eyes in that sale were sorrels
that went for much less than their flashy counterparts. But...to each
their own. I'm happy with my cranky little sorrel and big roman nosed
buckskin. I wouldn't trade them for all the “Blue Chip Investment's” in
the equine world.
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