Comments on: World Sale Results http://appaloosablogspot.com/2007/11/05/world-sale-results/ Wed, 07 Jan 2009 08:21:11 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.1 By: Dave http://appaloosablogspot.com/2007/11/05/world-sale-results/#comment-27278 Dave Sun, 30 Mar 2008 15:15:33 +0000 http://appaloosablogspot.com/2007/11/05/world-sale-results/#comment-27278 I have to agree with Julie for the most part. She is very diplomatic. Promotion is number one to any auction and other than it was on the schedule that was about it. The ApHC staff kept saying the catalog was being mailed out. I called the office for weeks asking what was going on. If our members all wait past the deadline to enter their horses, this is not a good practice and show bad leadership. As for a $200.00 or a $500.00 bid who cares. If any horse in this Auction dosn't bring a minimum of 2,500.00 it should not be in the Auction. The catalogs were under a skirted table in the show office and not out for attendees until the last minute. If our best yearlings are only worth 2 or 3 K than they arn't worth bringing to the sale. If the manage allows this to be a dumping ground for some than we need to rethink to whole thing. Catalog was very nice. To bad nobody saw it until the day of the sale. Very poor promotion in the sale stalls. And who wants to leave their animal over their alone. List its stall number where it is being stalled with the farm and people will find it throughout the week. Oh and then we won't have to pay for two stalls!!!!! Brilliant !! In my opion the few Quality horses that were their were devalued by all the animals that were being dumped. Screen the horses prior to acceptance. Quality not Quanity should be the priority. For what you get it is to expensive to bring a high quality animal to the WORLD APPALOOSA SHOW SALE and to find out that our Breed buyers see no value in our own breed. What is this telling us? I have to agree with Julie for the most part. She is very diplomatic. Promotion is number one to any auction and other than it was on the schedule that was about it. The ApHC staff kept saying the catalog was being mailed out. I called the office for weeks asking what was going on. If our members all wait past the deadline to enter their horses, this is not a good practice and show bad leadership. As for a $200.00 or a $500.00 bid who cares. If any horse in this Auction dosn’t bring a minimum of 2,500.00 it should not be in the Auction. The catalogs were under a skirted table in the show office and not out for attendees until the last minute. If our best yearlings are only worth 2 or 3 K than they arn’t worth bringing to the sale. If the manage allows this to be a dumping ground for some than we need to rethink to whole thing. Catalog was very nice. To bad nobody saw it until the day of the sale. Very poor promotion in the sale stalls. And who wants to leave their animal over their alone. List its stall number where it is being stalled with the farm and people will find it throughout the week. Oh and then we won’t have to pay for two stalls!!!!! Brilliant !! In my opion the few Quality horses that were their were devalued by all the animals that were being dumped. Screen the horses prior to acceptance. Quality not Quanity should be the priority. For what you get it is to expensive to bring a high quality animal to the WORLD APPALOOSA SHOW SALE and to find out that our Breed buyers see no value in our own breed. What is this telling us?

]]> By: Steve http://appaloosablogspot.com/2007/11/05/world-sale-results/#comment-12816 Steve Tue, 06 Nov 2007 03:47:21 +0000 http://appaloosablogspot.com/2007/11/05/world-sale-results/#comment-12816 Thanks for the comments. They will certainly be included in discussions as we plan for next year. Thanks for the comments. They will certainly be included in discussions as we plan for next year.

]]> By: Julie Kreider http://appaloosablogspot.com/2007/11/05/world-sale-results/#comment-12787 Julie Kreider Mon, 05 Nov 2007 22:09:53 +0000 http://appaloosablogspot.com/2007/11/05/world-sale-results/#comment-12787 Let me preface my comments with saying that our farm has been on both the buying and selling end of the world sale over the years on a regular basis. Our overall opinion was that while the prices appeared to be down at this sale and there was room for further improvement, the general management of the sale was better than last year. So why were the averages and prices down? The consignments were not what the market seems to want most. There were many solid horses, many hypp positive horses or horses of questionable hypp status. There were very few bred mares or breeding age mares. One colored bred mare was sold prior to the sale and was scratched. This was a quite a disappointment as several people had come quite a distance to bid on her. Also, during the day of the sale there were still a number of horses not present in their sale stalls to preview nor were many of their sales representatives there to answer questions. This was better than last year it is our feeling it should be a requirement of the sale management. We were quite pleased to see that the sale was moved back to the West Sale Arena. It puts the buyer in closer proximity to the horse and ringmen. It also generates more enthusiasm. When we attempted to save a few seats in the West Arena, we were told only people with bidders numbers were allowed in the first four rows. This was not a problem for us. We simply got our number. In past years this sale had standing room only so we understood. This year, only about half the seats were filled anyway. We easily got our seats without reserving them. I will say, I thought the printed catalog was much nicer this year and that I was pleased that they announced "no sales" in the ring. While I personally know that there was still was some shill bidding and buy backs, I don't think it was to the degree it had been in the past. While the statistics reported dropped sales, we felt these numbers could be taken with a grain of salt. Last year, there was so much funny business going on in the sale to get horses into the incentive program that the numbers were never true to begin with and were inflated. Overall, there just plain wasn't the horses actually there to be sold for the crowd to get enthusiastic about. My suggestions for improvement would be to concentrate on getting better consignments. How? I would first suggest that the club latch on to an established equine auctioneer familiar with our breed who is well networked with the breeders and trainers. A good auctioneer inspires confidence in consignors. While the auctioneer this year was more easily understood in his prattle, he did not generate enthusiasm. I will say, he did at least pronounce the names right and get the gender of the horse correct MOST of the time...a huge improvement from last year. BUT....I almost jumped out of my chair to lynch him when he stopped the sale to say how all of us halter breeders really NEEDED HYPP positive horses in our program to produce winners! What was he thinking?? And is this the philospophy our club wants to promote to the general public? I also think more could be done to promote horses consigned to the sale in advance. I did like the catalog that was available on line and it was beautifully done, but folks...NOT EVERYONE has a computer. The printed catalog should have been mailed out to interested parties well in advance. In addition, I do not understand why the ApHC can't put a listing of the consigned horses in a journal ad for at least a couple of months prior to the sale like they had done years ago. These advance ads gave us all a chance to get enthused and research possible purchases prior to sale. A confident bidder will bid higher. This begs the question, why is the world show promotion in the November issue of the journal? Most of us get our get our November journal AFTER we get back from the world show. Wouldn't we get more promotion for this event by promoting in the Oct. edition? Finally, lets do even more to get rid of the monkey business. Let's somehow make sure that in order to be eligible for the incentive monies, the horse really does have to change hands instead of just getting bought back by the owners. AND....can't we boost the select sale by offering an incentive program for the foals of bred mares that go through the sale for both the consignor and the buyer? In my opinion, what makes a good horse auction is #1- great horses that people enthusiastically want to buy #2- marketing- getting the word out to the serious buyer that the horses are going to be there in a timely manner #3- HONEST sale practices and representation by an auctioneer with a good reputation #4- Crowd enthusiasm. Overall, the sale was MUCH better than last year in management. It can turn around and be better yet with a bit more tweaking. Nope. We did not buy anything this year. In the past, the World Sale was always one of the highlights of our trip and yes, we would have bought had the sale had a horse that being sold legitimately that would have benefited our program. If you were looking for a mediocre, solid colored horse and didn't care about hypp...you could have found it at this sale and bought it reasonably IF it was legitimately consigned to be sold. But then, you can buy those types of horses anywhere! And wouldn't you expect more of a world sale? Let me preface my comments with saying that our farm has been on both the buying and selling end of the world sale over the years on a regular basis. Our overall opinion was that while the prices appeared to be down at this sale and there was room for further improvement, the general management of the sale was better than last year. So why were the averages and prices down?
The consignments were not what the market seems to want most. There were many solid horses, many hypp positive horses or horses of questionable hypp status. There were very few bred mares or breeding age mares. One colored bred mare was sold prior to the sale and was scratched. This was a quite a disappointment as several people had come quite a distance to bid on her.
Also, during the day of the sale there were still a number of horses not present in their sale stalls to preview nor were many of their sales representatives there to answer questions. This was better than last year it is our feeling it should be a requirement of the sale management.
We were quite pleased to see that the sale was moved back to the West Sale Arena. It puts the buyer in closer proximity to the horse and ringmen. It also generates more enthusiasm. When we attempted to save a few seats in the West Arena, we were told only people with bidders numbers were allowed in the first four rows. This was not a problem for us. We simply got our number. In past years this sale had standing room only so we understood. This year, only about half the seats were filled anyway. We easily got our seats without reserving them.
I will say, I thought the printed catalog was much nicer this year and that I was pleased that they announced “no sales” in the ring. While I personally know that there was still was some shill bidding and buy backs, I don’t think it was to the degree it had been in the past. While the statistics reported dropped sales, we felt these numbers could be taken with a grain of salt. Last year, there was so much funny business going on in the sale to get horses into the incentive program that the numbers were never true to begin with and were inflated.
Overall, there just plain wasn’t the horses actually there to be sold for the crowd to get enthusiastic about.
My suggestions for improvement would be to concentrate on getting better consignments. How? I would first suggest that the club latch on to an established equine auctioneer familiar with our breed who is well networked with the breeders and trainers. A good auctioneer inspires confidence in consignors. While the auctioneer this year was more easily understood in his prattle, he did not generate enthusiasm. I will say, he did at least pronounce the names right and get the gender of the horse correct MOST of the time…a huge improvement from last year. BUT….I almost jumped out of my chair to lynch him when he stopped the sale to say how all of us halter breeders really NEEDED HYPP positive horses in our program to produce winners! What was he thinking?? And is this the philospophy our club wants to promote to the general public? I also think more could be done to promote horses consigned to the sale in advance. I did like the catalog that was available on line and it was beautifully done, but folks…NOT EVERYONE has a computer. The printed catalog should have been mailed out to interested parties well in advance. In addition, I do not understand why the ApHC can’t put a listing of the consigned horses in a journal ad for at least a couple of months prior to the sale like they had done years ago. These advance ads gave us all a chance to get enthused and research possible purchases prior to sale. A confident bidder will bid higher. This begs the question, why is the world show promotion in the November issue of the journal? Most of us get our get our November journal AFTER we get back from the world show. Wouldn’t we get more promotion for this event by promoting in the Oct. edition?
Finally, lets do even more to get rid of the monkey business. Let’s somehow make sure that in order to be eligible for the incentive monies, the horse really does have to change hands instead of just getting bought back by the owners. AND….can’t we boost the select sale by offering an incentive program for the foals of bred mares that go through the sale for both the consignor and the buyer?
In my opinion, what makes a good horse auction is
#1- great horses that people enthusiastically want to buy
#2- marketing- getting the word out to the serious buyer that the horses are going to be there in a timely manner
#3- HONEST sale practices and representation by an auctioneer with a good reputation
#4- Crowd enthusiasm.
Overall, the sale was MUCH better than last year in management. It can turn around and be better yet with a bit more tweaking.
Nope. We did not buy anything this year. In the past, the World Sale was always one of the highlights of our trip and yes, we would have bought had the sale had a horse that being sold legitimately that would have benefited our program. If you were looking for a mediocre, solid colored horse and didn’t care about hypp…you could have found it at this sale and bought it reasonably IF it was legitimately consigned to be sold. But then, you can buy those types of horses anywhere! And wouldn’t you expect more of a world sale?

]]> By: Norman http://appaloosablogspot.com/2007/11/05/world-sale-results/#comment-12780 Norman Mon, 05 Nov 2007 20:17:21 +0000 http://appaloosablogspot.com/2007/11/05/world-sale-results/#comment-12780 Steve, My thoughts for the yearling sale is to have a minimum bid. Even though we had the lowest selling yearling in the sale, I feel we need to have a minimum bid of $500.00 and not go lower? I know to get the horse sold that may have to happen. But no one should come to the sale looking to purchase a $200.00 horse? This is a World Sale! Also, maybe make our sale books eligilble to members earlier? Or were any even sent out to the members? How can you have interest if no one knows about what is in the sale. Some people still do not have or know how to use a computer? Just some thoughts for you to think about! Thank you for your time. Norman. Steve,

My thoughts for the yearling sale is to have a minimum bid. Even though we had the lowest selling yearling in the sale, I feel we need to have a minimum bid of $500.00 and not go lower? I know to get the horse sold that may have to happen. But no one should come to the sale looking to purchase a $200.00 horse? This is a World Sale! Also, maybe make our sale books eligilble to members earlier? Or were any even sent out to the members? How can you have interest if no one knows about what is in the sale. Some people still do not have or know how to use a computer? Just some thoughts for you to think about! Thank you for your time. Norman.

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