Colorado State University’s eighth annual Legends of Ranching Performance Horse Sale was the largest in the event’s history, with an offering of 79 American Quarter Horses, and the sale generated $295,000 in proceeds, organizers said.
Zack Iddings riding Peptoplay
Legends provides a learning experience for students in CSU's Equine Sciences Program with students starting the well-bred young horses with faculty guidance in horse-training laboratories that run during academic year.
© 2013 by Ryan Brooks
The average price for the horses auctioned was $3,600 during the event on Saturday at the B.W. Pickett Equine Center on CSU’s Foothills Campus. The high-selling young horse brought $10,000, and the high-selling older horse Peptoplay, a 2004 sorrel gelding, was consigned by Cowan Select Horses brought $13,000.
Of the horses sold, half were 2- and 3-year-olds provided by consignors to the CSU Equine Sciences Program last fall and were trained by students majoring in equine science at the university.
The arrangement provides a singular learning experience for students in CSU’s trademark Equine Sciences Program: The students start the well-bred young horses with faculty guidance in horse-training laboratories that run nearly the full academic year.
In addition to the promising young horses, consignors offered proven older horses through the Legends of Ranching Performance Horse Sale, which focuses on standout bloodlines from some of the nation’s premier Western ranches.
“We appreciate the involvement of our many dedicated partners in the Legends of Ranching Sale. Consignors participate in what has grown into a notable sale in the region, while supporting the education of students who form the future of the equine industry,” said Jerry Black, D.V.M., director of the CSU Equine Sciences Program and the CSU Equine Reproduction Center.
“The student education that precedes the Legends sale, provided through our popular colt-training classes, sets this sale apart and helps to define the hands-on learning in our undergraduate program,” Black said.
In addition to training the young horses, CSU equine students also planned and managed most aspects of the sale.
Highlights from the 2013 sale:
- The high-selling older horse, a 9-year-old gelding from Cowan Select Horses, brought $13,000. Named Peptoplay, the sorrel is an experienced trail and ranch horse used in the arena and working cattle. He is sired by Pepto Taz and is out of Desire A Playboy.
- The high-selling young horse, a 2-year-old mare from Burnett Ranches (6666), brought $10,000. Named Gunpowder Pick, the filly is sired by PG Gunpowder, a successful National Cutting Horse Association competitor; she is out of Pick The Pay, a daughter of Sixes Pick, an American Quarter Horse Association World Champion Versatility Ranch Horse.
- The average price for younger horses was $2,995, and the average for aged horses was $4,274.
- Zach Iddings, who graduated from CSU in 2008 with a bachelor’s degree in equine science, was recognized at the sale with the “Creating the Mold” award, given to outstanding young alumni of the CSU Equine Sciences Program. Iddings is ranch manager for Cowan Select Horses of Havre, Mont.
Proceeds are split among sale costs, consignors and the CSU Equine Sciences Program.
For information about the 2014 Legends of Ranching Performance Horse Sale, contact Gary Carpenter, CSU Equine Sciences industry outreach and liaison director at (970) 491-8373 or Gary.Carpenter@colostate.edu