A view of horses waiting to enter the sale’s ring at the Maysville stockyard on New Year’s Day.
Along with the surging cost of gas and groceries, the days of buying a nice, well-trained riding horse for a low cost seem to be a thing of the past.
Prices continue to rise for pleasure horses, with sales hitting all-time records straight across the board from children’s ponies and trail riding mounts to mules and show animals.
The increase in the market value can be seen most readily at the local auction barn where average horses are now bringing high-dollar prices. Jodey Ramey, one of the organizers of Bluegrass Horse Sales, attributes the rise in prices to the lack of supply of good riding horses.
“People just aren’t breeding horses the way they used to and the overall cost of raising them has gotten pretty expensive,” Ramey said.
Bluegrass Horse Sales currently holds three seasonal equine auctions at the Maysville Stockyards on Kentucky 9 AA Highway. The New Year’s Day sale event brought in 239 head of horses and more than 500 spectators, bidders, and sellers.
“The high selling horse was $15,000 and the top five horses averaged $12,100. The top 10 averaged $10,210,” Ramey said.
Ramey went on to say, “These sales bring in a wide variety of breeds and disciplines, including Quarter Horses, American Paint Horses, Appaloosas, gaited breeds, draft-crosses, ponies, and mules. Buyers have traveled to Maysville from around the country to attend these sales. Sellers are hauling in their stock from places like West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Texas, Montana, and other states to auction their prized equines in an area hungry for quality horses and more of them. These sellers pay a $50 consignment fee, plus an 8 percent commission on each sale. Changing with the times, auction-goers can bid for horses online, by phone, or in person.
Ramey said with confidence that horses bought and sold at these sales go to homes looking for performance and pleasure horses.
“There’s hardly a market for slaughter pen horses. The prices are just too high anymore,” he said.
“The horse sales have been a boon for Mason County and Maysville, attracting hundreds of out-of-towners to the weekend events, who stay at the local hotels and eat at our restaurants,” Corey Story, the stockyard’s manager said.
Demand is likely to remain high for riding horses in the near future, but will the prices continue to skyrocket? Only time will tell.
The next event is the Spring Horse sale on March 19, 12:30 p.m., at the stockyards, and is currently open to consignments. Check out the horses already consigned to the sale on the Facebook page for Bluegrass Maysville Horse Sales.
