|
Auctions for horses are just like auctions for cars. You can kick the tires but you will never be sure what you are buying. You won't be able to know the training history most often (if its been handled before being trailered to auction), and many horses behave differently at auction whether its strung out due to stress or quiet because they rode it to death before hand. Unless you are 150% of your ability to tell good conformation in less than 5 minutes you could easily buy a horse with faults that could lead to it being unsound down the road, or even before you get it home. And even then you can not tell if the horse may carry genetic issues which could lead to death. Buying from a reputable breeder/trainer allows you to know the training history, the breeding history (or a good guess if they didn't breed themselves), and the ability to try it out beforehand or even take it on a trial basis. You can have you vet out to evaluate health, your trainer for temperament, etc. Even experienced horsepeople can end up with a bad purchase from auction.
|