Afterwards, we switched gears to prep Xoe for the auction. (Also, I had to squeeze in taking the van to get a flat tire fixed!) We thought we had plenty of time until one of the organizers came by and asked if Kid 3 was ready to go in the round pen to demo Xoe as a pre-show for prospective buyers. None of the 4-H kids had known that was coming, but they all rose to the occasion.
One drawback to the event was that the BLM hadn't done all of their normal advertising. We only had 8 bidders for both the nine 4-H trained horses and the wild stock the BLM had brought. There were two kids whose horses never even got bid on while in the ring. I felt especially terrible for the one young girl who so clearly loved her little horse. That horse was probably the most kid-friendly animal there, but was not as flashy-looking as some of the others and so got overlooked.
On the plus side, both of those animals did get adopted after the auction was over.
With so few bidders, most of the mustangs went for the minimum bid price of $125. We were lucky and got a little more than that for Xoe. All of the winners got a great deal for the price. As the auctioneer pointed out repeatedly, the 8-10 weeks of training that each of the 4-H mustangs received would typically cost at least $1000. The owners ended up with gentled animals for the same price they would have paid to get a wild one. Heck of a deal!
Xoe ended up going to a young lady who had some money burning a hole in her pocket after selling her 4-H lamb at the market auction that was held Saturday morning. She's new to horses, but apparently has extended family nearby that can help her learn. I received a call from the girl's grandma on Monday morning. She wanted to know more about Xoe and her training, so I directed her to the blog for more info.
The grandma told me the Xoe will now be called Hazel (which I think is nice!) and that everyone in the family already loves their new horse. She was really impressed when she learned Kid 3 had done the bulk of the training and commented how friendly and well-trained Hazel is.
It was really nice to hear how Xoe, I mean Hazel! is doing. So happy she got a good home.
Thanks to the BLM for sharing all of the photos below.