by Bruce A. Roy
This year’s Wild Rose Draft Horse Sale, held in Olds, Alberta, May 4 and 5, gave credence to its nickname, “The Biggest Little Sale in the West!” The crowd in attendance surpassed every expectation.
Every parking space in the fairgrounds was filled, while vehicles lined the adjacent streets. Over 1,000 numbers were issued to prospective bidders, these in addition to the bidder numbers in the computer issued in previous years.
The pundits maintain that this year’s Wild Rose Draft Horse Sale was the largest public auction ever held on the fairgrounds. There is reason to believe this was true.
This year’s sale grossed over $110,000. The tack itself grossed $47,000. The computer owned by the Wild Rose Draft Horse Association was pressed to handle the load. Shannon Leask and her crew never served a larger crowd from the B-Bops Concession.
Such was the demand for coffee, one of the coffee urns had to be replaced. Horsemen, present from Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, British Columbia, and Alberta, gathered ringside with several Americans.
A record crowd gathered Friday afternoon for each sale horse’s preview and everything went well in spite of the inclement weather.
The cash bar that opened at 5:00 p.m. was followed by a buffet supper at 6:00 p.m. $500 worth of Spolumbo’s premium sausages. Donated and cooked by Peter and Sylvia Blokpoel, Crowsnest Ranch of Claresholm, the sausages were a gourmet delight much enjoyed by everyone in attendance. Members thank this couple for their annual support.
Twenty-five door prizes donated to the Wild Rose Draft Horse Association by businesses, families, and individuals, were drawn for at the supper and several collectors’ items were auctioned off.
The massive tack sale started at 8:00 a.m. on Saturday. The quality and variety of the items consigned surprised everyone. There was an explosive demand for halters, collars, harness, bridles, bits, saddles, shoes, and more.
Items few horsemen today could name, let alone locate, came under the auctioneer’s hammer. The consignments were catalogued and identified by Tom Wraight, a veteran horsemen whose knowledge has won everyone’s respect. No volunteer on the sale committee deserves more thanks!
Equipment sold following the tack. The neck yokes, double trees, wagon poles, binder whips, buggies, wagons, and farm implements sparked a lively trade. Like most tack and harness sold, the equipment was in excellent repair.
The Clydesdale Stallion Service Auction was also a success. Buyers from across the province bought the service fees, which were donated by provincial breeders. The buyers had a stellar selection of stallions to pick from.
Devil’s Head Gentle Ben topped this year’s Wild Rose Sale. The 13-year-old Percheron gelding broke to ride and drive captured the $3,500 bid placed by a vaulting club located at Eagle Hill. One of those horses with a great love for people, Gentle Ben’s broad back has room for several vaulters.
This gelding’s full brother, Devil’s Head Curious George, was a crowd favourite in the Challenge of the Breeds held at Spruce Meadows some years ago. Readers will be pleased to learn Devil’s Head Curious George spent the final years of his life on the streets of Charlottetown, PEI, giving rides to tourists in a vis-à-vis.
While the large number of yearling horse colts in the sale consignment concerned the sale committee, the 47 horses sold averaged $1,482.45. The demand for teamed horses, matched for colour and stride, well broke to drive and ride, was again evident.
Registered stallions and females of top quality that were fit, well presented, and broke, enjoyed a solid trade. Buyers at the Wild Rose Draft Horse Sale include many successful horsemen – they can separate wheat from the chaff in an instant.
John Hunder, Eyebright Percherons of Innisfail, sold four yearling colts, sons of Koncarlaet’s Grandeur Lyle, that averaged $1,662.50. The high-selling youngster in this consignment, Eyebright’s Maverick, captured a final bid of $2,200.
Purchased on order for Lee and Marion Johnson of Mitchell, Nebraska, this exciting colt has futurity. His mother, the weighty, old matron Glynlea Francine, was Reserve Champion Mare at the last World Percheron Congress held in Calgary.
When David Carson, Carson Farms and Auction of Listowel, Ontario, dropped his hammer the last time, members of the Wild Rose Draft Horse sale committee were near exhausted.
This was the largest and the most successful sale yet held. While it is impossible to thank each volunteer involved for their spartan effort, I would be remiss if I didn’t extend thanks on behalf of the Wild Rose membership to David Carson, our guest auctioneer.
Thanks, to Bob Lewis, the sale committee chairman, and to Barb Stephenson, the Wild Rose secretary, two sale committee members that are irreplaceable; to Fred McDiarmid of McDiarmid Auctions at Veteran, our congenial sale manager; to Tanya Goodwin, who assembled the sale catalogue; to Jan McDiarmid, Susan Enns and Marilyn Ruthven, the office clerks; to our computer operator, Mireille Morissette, who was stressed on this occasion; to Heather Barr, the tack sale clerk; to Don Walker, Don Strandquist, Roger LeClaire, Monty Thomson, Blake Anderson, and Morley Berkholtz, the ringmen; to the many members who helped Tom Wright catalogue, organize, and display the tack; to Darwin Krebs, who organized the consigned equipment; to Tammy Pelonero and her crew, who hosted the supper; to the barn runners, Emma Duhaime and Jim Whalen, plus those consignors who co-operated with them; and to John Ruzicka, who stepped up to the plate when traffic control became an issue.
If I have missed anyone who volunteered, and I know I did, Allan Gordeyko, Joe Jorgensen, Sarah Hunder, etc., etc., etc., your services were equally important, to ensure a marketplace for the harness horse, purebred, grade, and crossbred exists in Alberta. I apologize if I missed you. However, the membership will know who you are.
The community spirit evident at the Wild Rose Draft Horse Sale is the secret of this sale’s success. It is the spirit of the old West: the spirit of Alberta’s enthusiastic draft horse fraternity!
