Many of our trail horses we use in our dude string here at Horseshoe Canyon come from an auction.  Our favorite auction to buy horses from is the Arrow P Sale in Tulsa, OK.  They hold their sale every first Thursday of the month.  Auctions can be fun and exciting way to purchase a horse and also a very disappointing and expensive way to purchase a horse , it can go either way.  For me, buying a horse at auction is like playing in Las Vegas.   Sometimes when I go to a sale by myself, without Barry 🙂 , I end up buying a “project” on purpose.

Late spring I went to the Arrow P Sale to buy saddles and maybe two or three more horses for the trail.  It was late, 2 in the morning, and I had purchased a couple of riding horses.  I was about to leave but decided to stay for the “loose” pen.  These horses are either broodmares, horses that no longer can be ridden, horses that never were broke and are over the age of 3, young, young horses that are not ready to ride…etc. There is usually  no one there to tell you about them and no one rides or leads them in.  About anything can be in the “loose” pen. The good, the bad and the ugly…

So I am sitting watching nice young colts come through along w/ broodmares and older geldings.  I am thinking to myself, “It would be fun to buy one of these young horses and break it, ride it and then possibly resell it.”  Late night and cheap horses prices are not a good combo for me.  I bid on a few but they go up high enough it is not worth the risk.  Then in comes this bay paint.  He is long and lean, kind of gangly and seems a bit wild.  I bid and I get him.  Then I think, “What have I done?  Barry is NOT going to be happy.”

After the sale is all over and I have paid for my three horses I search for my new “project” out back.  I find him and to my pleasant surprise he is friendly and lets me pet him.  I did notice one thing, he was still a colt, not a gelding.  Oops.  I check his mouth and can see he is a coming two year old.  Another bonus.  He could have just as easily been a poorly bred horse that was mature and a bean pole.

After getting him home, wormed and gelded, we just let him be a horse.   Jennifer and Scott came in for the summer season and a month or so after they arrived Jennifer started George and is riding him today on some of the trails.  He is still not the widest horse but he has filled out nicely and as he matures probably will get a little more muscle and fill out more.

Will I sell him, we are not sure for now.  He has been so quiet and relaxed we may just keep him.  Time will only tell.

After he was gelding and only had been here about 4 weeks.

George today. He still has a lot of growing & learning to do.