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Regarding the horses at the auction to be held this weekend and next weekend.
My wife and I looked at them today. Not exactly the best looking group of arabs I've
seen. Many are stunted, especially the 3 year olds. I asked and was told the
malnourishment was an ongoing problem for these horses from about 1990 until they were
seized in 1995. So all the horses born in 1987 and on had their growing years with poor
nutrition. The worse year was 95 when they were seized, prior to that I would imagine
they got thin every fall and put weight on in the spring. Also they continued to breed
every year in the wild and put an increasing load on there grazing area every year. So
the 8 year olds look better than the 7's etc down to the 3 year olds who are very small.
The 1 year olds look the best having been raised with adequate feed and worming, shots
etc. They were only malnourished for 2 to 5 months inside their mothers. They are very
cute and have been halter broke. The 3 to 8 year olds are wild I believe. The older
brood mares were broke years ago but need some work now.
The other problem with this auction is they will not let you inspect the horses. Too
much liability. You can look from outside the pens only. You might be able to work with
a brood mare as some local arab people were helping groom them today to help these
horses get adopted. The horses are wards of the court and the county isn't in the horse
business. So it is buyer beware.
My opinion, if you want a pet and a project come on down, but if you think great
endurance arabs are going for $500.00 this weekend I think your mistaken. I'm sure there
are a few that could make it, especially the yearlings in 4 to 5 years, but you'll be
lucky if you pick the right one.
Jim Mitchell
Bakersfield, Ca.
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