UF horse sale saddles up

The University of Findlay will hold its Spring Horse Sale on Saturday, with one very special horse set to be auctioned to benefit a memorial scholarship fund. Tickets for the limited in-person attendance sold out quickly, and were also available virtually through an online auction. Art O'Brien, director of the western riding program and western equestrian riding instructor, said in a standard online auction, the buyer would look at photos or video, then bid. However, UF is working with a company that will livestream the proceedings, so bidders will be able to watch the horses being ridden around the ring. Through its YouTube videos, UF's program has drawn international interest, including people bidding from Canada, he said. "Once the gavel drops, it's their horse," so buyers are responsible for picking up the horse or having it transported to them, O'Brien said. This poses challenges this year, as Canadians can't cross the border. They can, however, hire someone to ship the horse to them. This sale is part of the university's equine marketing class, and proceeds provide both English and western equestrian students with scholarships. Funds also go toward bringing in new horses for students to work with. Organized by UF's equine marketing class, the annual Spring Horse Sale features approximately 40 horses, including western pleasure and all-around prospects, as well as reining, hunter under saddle, western riding, trail, ranch riding, and quiet lesson or 4-H horses. Some of the horses that will be presented in this year's sale are sired by high-caliber horses such as Battman, Kissin the Girls, RL Best of Sudden, Einsteins Revolution, The Kids Gotta Gun, and Starlights Boomernic. A special addition to the sale this year is Legend Revolution, also known as "Legend," who is proven in UF's Senior Reining Program and a student favorite. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of "Legend" will go directly to the Alexandria "Ali" Gokey Memorial Scholarship Endowment Fund. "The program was near and dear to her heart," O'Brien said of Gokey, an alumna who died. In UF's western and English equestrian programs, students learn "the intricacies of training the horse" and making it marketable, O'Brien said. The university has its own horses, but also operates what's known as the "Send Your Horse to College Program," in which owners send their horses to UF to be trained. This benefits both horse and students, he said. O'Brien said alumni go into a range of careers including training horses, higher education, youth equine programs, and the feed and pharmaceutical industries, among others. He has been teaching at UF since 2005 and said what's most rewarding is "the energy" of the students. Students work to help horses get, and build, confidence, rewarding them for responses to cues. O'Brien said students work with a lot of different horses during their time at UF, but they form strong bonds. "Every student can describe, vividly," every horse they have sat on, he said. O'Brien said UF had "a banner sale" in 2019, bringing in about $300,000 from the sale of 42 horses, or an average of about $6,500 per horse. Arthurs: 419-427-8494