The American Quarter Horse Association will manage the 2012 AQHA
World Championship Show Sale at State Fair Park in Oklahoma City.
The sale, held in conjunction with the AQHA World Show, has
previously been managed by outside auction companies, but for 2012, AQHA
and a committee of AQHA Professional Horsemen, breeders and sale experts will manage the sale.
Quite a few changes will be made to the sale:
- The consignment fee will be lower than in the past
- The commission rate will be 5 percent for both sale or repurchase
- There will be a penalty for selling a horse before it goes through the ring
- Results will be posted about 15-30 minutes after a set of horses has gone through the ring
- Sale order will be assigned randomly. The consignors of multiple
horses will draw slots randomly, and then use the slots that they draw
as they wish.
For the first time, AQHA is establishing criteria for the quality of
horses consigned to the sale. Doug Hayes, AQHA director of business
development, and the sale committee members will screen horses consigned
on whether a horse can bring the base amount – $5,000.
“Much like a horse has to qualify to be able to compete at the world
championship shows, due to the point system … these (sale) horses are
going to have to be qualified in the form of pedigree and (they must be)
a good individual, so that the sale can, in turn, become just like the
show,” said Jeff Tebow, chairman of the AQHA World Show Sale Committee.
“(It should be) an honor and a privilege to be able to consign a
horse to the World Championship Show Sale,” he added. “It doesn’t have
to turn into a boutique sale where you’ve got to have a heck of a lot of
money, but $5,000 is not a lot of money if you want to come get a
quality horse.
“The goal is not to have quantity; the goal is to have quality.”
The AQHA members on the sale committee have been carefully chosen to represent all niches of the Quarter Horse industry.
“We’re going to rely on that group, that committee, (to solicit and
critique consigned horses),” Tebow explained. “That’s why on the
committee, we have people in areas of expertise in most all the
disciplines, and we’re going to rely heavily on those people to help
solicit cow horses or reiners or ropers or cutters or pleasure horses or
halter horses.”
A horse’s performance record, pedigree, dam and sire performance records, conformation and athletic ability will be examined before it is accepted into the sale.
In addition to elevating the caliber of horses consigned to the sale, the critiquing of horses is also a reassurance to buyers.
“I’ve been judging all over the country, and I’ve seen a lot of new interest in the Novice division, and I feel like the AQHA leveling program
will also contribute to a much bigger audience for our horses in the
sale,” said AQHA Professional Horseman and judge Suzy Jeane, sale
committee member from Valley View, Texas. “If someone is interested and
they can come to the sale and know that everything there is above board
and really held to a higher standard, then they’ll be a little more
comfortable purchasing horses there. It’s a big goal of mine to make
sure that there’s a lot of integrity in the sale.”
Buyers aren’t AQHA’s only focus while organizing the 2012 sale.
“We want to instill that this is a place where the big breeders of
our association can feel like they can go to that World Show Sale and
put a good yearling, a good 2-year-old or a good horse in there that’s
got the pedigree, and it’s got the bloodlines and has the quality, and
it can bring what it can bring privately,” said AQHA Professional
Horseman Ross Roark, sale committee member from Monahans, Texas.
“We can’t have the sales without the consignors – they’re the most
important element,” Jeane said. “If they don’t understand how the sale
works or don’t feel like they’re special and their horses are special,
then we’ve kind of fallen down on the job.
“If you have a quality individual, we want to make sure that you get
just as much money for your horse as some of the big guns,” she added.
“Just because you’re not a big name doesn’t mean you don’t have a very
valuable horse. We really hope that this year we can give everybody a
good place to go.
“A valuable horse is a valuable horse, no matter who he belongs to.”
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