WILD MONTANA horse AUCTION! The horses were HUGE!

I just finished feeding the horses breakfast. There's a really cool horse auction today so I need to hit the road if I want to get there on time. I'll be heading along one of my favorite stretches of road in Montana. This sale is right outside of Yellowstone National Park. This valley that I'm driving through this morning is actually where the Yellowstone TV show is supposed to be taking place. The outfitter that is putting on the sale today, they have actually been in the valley since the early 30s. The horses that are going to be selling today are big mountain horses. They are specifically bred to get out into the backcountry so they are usually pretty big boned, very sturdy, and super good-minded. I had a hard time finding directions to the location of this sale but luckily I was thinking and I screenshot the directions on my phone before I ran out of service. I had to get on a gravel road and go up a bunch of switchbacks and then kind of meander through the mountains and right when I was starting to get worried that I was lost, I made it to the sale. I got my bidder's number and they started selling tack as soon as I got there. The tack that they were selling was all of the tack that the outfitter doesn't use anymore. These mountain horses are gigantic so none of this stuff really is probably going to fit any of my horses. I did see some bits that were pretty cool. This one someone had made from a horseshoe which was really neat. I didn't really need any tack but I just have to check this stuff out when I come to a sale. Nothing really caught my eye so after I was done looking over all the bridles, I went over to see what kind of saddles they were going to be selling. They had advertised that they were selling over 200 saddles. I started building and repairing saddles a few years ago so I'm always on the lookout for a nice functional saddle that maybe needs a little bit of work. There were a lot of these older bear trap saddles. A lot of them needed the fleece redone which is kind of a big job. A lot of these older saddles are also built on trees that are going to be too narrow for most of the modern horses. But if I could pick up a nice saddle that was a little bit on the wider side, it would be a good project for me. A lot of these saddles have been ridden in so much that the maker's mark has rubbed off of them. Here's an old one from Bear Valley in Colorado. This one definitely needs the fleece replaced. I thought this little saddle was so cute. I'm pretty sure this is an old Sears catalog saddle that you used to get when you bought a pony from them. This one is in really good shape given that it was probably bought in the 50s. It would be a really cool saddle to have just for the historical significance but I don't know that I need to be filling up my tack room with more random saddles. This little saddle caught my eye. I think it had about a nine inch seat which is a really hard size tree to find these days. I'm thinking if this one goes cheap enough I might buy it just so I can take it apart and build a new saddle on the tree. I went ahead and I looked at all the saddles. There was this really neat parade saddle that had some silver on it. They were selling tack as I was looking at the saddles and I wanted to make sure I got my eyeballs on these pack saddles. It looks like all the pack saddles that are going to be for sale today are sawbuck pack saddles. That's with the wooden tree. I have never seen a pack saddle with a rail eye tree which is what this is. It's like a plastic composite. The company that makes them went out of business a few years ago so it would be kind of neat to have one just around. They had some other odds and ends that were going to be for sale but after poking around for quite a while I was anxious to see what the horses looked like. As I was walking back past the saddles I heard someone say that they were going to be selling the saddles in groups that were tied together. I thought it was just so people weren't going to sit on them but I don't know if I need four saddles so I'm gonna have to rethink that little tiny saddle. There isn't a catalog for this sale. There was a few postings online of a few different horses so it was a little bit of a surprise what was going to be here. This mare was gorgeous. I'm not sure if they're selling the babies with their mamas but they might separate them. This guy was super curious. He wanted me to pet him but he was a little bit scared. A lot of these horses haven't been handled by humans very much but they do seem to be very good-minded so they were really quick to warm up to me. In addition to the outfitter horses that this ranch breeds they also breed some bucking stock. One of the reasons I came to the sale today is because I saw one horse advertised that didn't want a buck and they were going to be selling him today. I thought I might be able to get a good deal on him and I found him right away. I have restarted a few horses that didn't make it as bucking stock and it's really not that much different than restarting any other horse. This guy is four years old and he seems really really sweet. I decided to go ahead and get in his pen with him and give him a quick once over. I don't think it's really coming up on video how stout this horse is. Here is a picture of my leg next to his leg. He's got some serious bone. He was a lot more gentle than I had expected. The majority of these horses were bred and raised here so their ages are going to be pretty accurate. I do however always check their teeth just to make sure they don't have any dental problems. After checking him out I thought that maybe he wouldn't be as cheap as I had expected so I went to look at some of the other horses. This mare was really nice. I think she was four or five years old as well. One thing that I really liked about this outfit is they don't start their horses until they're four. That is really when I prefer to start them as well so that works out really good for me. Sometimes I see some of these horses show up at other sales and they always sell for a decent amount of money. I looked at some babies for a client a few years ago and they sold for well above her budget so I'm not sure what these little guys are gonna sell for today. Most of the weanlings selling today look like they're fillies. I would expect them to go for a little less money just because it's harder to run fillies in with an outfit or string. Just in case the prices are reasonable I decided to pick out the best looking colt. This girl was really nice and then I saw this guy. I don't say this very often but this horse was perfect. I couldn't find anything wrong with him. He had an exceptional temperament. He was super kind and very gentle. There is no doubt in my mind that he will be the highest selling weanling at the sale. Usually when I go to a sale like this and there's not really any at-risk horses I like to play a little game where I guess which one is gonna sell for the most money and for this sale I picked this Appaloosa. It is really hard to find an Appaloosa that has this much bone. I want to say he was like 16.3 maybe. He even had a mane and tail. I saw they were selling the pack saddles so I scooted on over there to watch them sell. They were selling close to what I could buy one for new so I decided to pass on the pack saddles. I also didn't want to be tempted to buy four saddles so I watched a few groups sell. They sold for a few hundred dollars but then I went back to check out the baby some more. This girl was super cute. They're about to sell the horses and I don't want to miss that really nice Appaloosa. He ended up selling for a little bit less than I thought he was going to. I've never seen a horse colored like that and I was surprised he didn't sell for more money. Since there wasn't a catalog it was hard to tell which horses were coming up because I didn't really write anything down and I didn't keep super good track but this mare sold for $5,900. The next horse in the ring was that draft horse that I wanted and he very quickly became way more than my budget. Usually I can buy a bucking bred horse that doesn't buck for around $1,200. This guy sold for $78. He did have a lot of experience packing so he was a little bit more broke than the ones I'm used to. This horse had kind of a cool story. She was gored by a buffalo. When she comes around here you can see she's got like a scar on her flank but she seemed like just a nice gentle girl that someone could enjoy in the backcountry. She was a deal at $3,500 I thought. Most of the horses that they were selling they had started in the last couple days which to some people might seem crazy. I don't think they got around to starting this one. She was a four-year-old and really pretty. One of the things that I really liked about this sale was they didn't have all the razzle-dazzle that comes along with some sales. They let the horses temperament and breeding speak for itself. This girl sold for $7,800 unstarted. I was sitting next to a lady that said something about how it was a ridiculous amount of money to pay for just a trail horse but if you've ever been in the backcountry these horses are way more than just a trail horse. If the horse is having a bad day you can't just get off and go home. Sometimes you're out in the wilderness for weeks or even months so you need a horse that's trustworthy and reliable and can handle the miles and these horses were definitely the exact type of horse for that. This horse had only had a couple of rides and I was really impressed with how quiet he was in the pen. I didn't catch how much he went for but it was a decent amount. This was a mare and I know that if she was a gelding she probably would have sold for double. She only sold her four thousand dollars which I think was a steal. This sale was moving at a much slower pace than what I'm used to. A lot of the sales that I go to they just want to get the horses in and out and sell them as quickly as possible but at this sale they really wanted the buyers to get a chance to look at the horse and see everything about them. I was starting to get a little bit bored so I went to go snuggle some of the baby horses. I did find out that they are selling them separate. They're not selling them in pairs. They are definitely old enough to be weaned. A lot of them didn't even mind being away from their mothers. This guy was super chill. For never having been around a ton of people these horses were very calm. As the sale went on some of them got a little bit tired but it seemed like all of them were getting pretty acclimated to all of the people that were looking at them and poking them. This was the Roan mare that I looked at earlier and she really warmed up to me super fast. If you've been watching my channel for a while you can tell the huge difference between this little girl and my horse that I bought last year at the same age. Scarlett who she still doesn't let me rub her face like this which is kind of a bummer but these horses are specifically bred to be super kind and gentle and you can totally tell while handling them. They started selling the pairs and this little guy was going. I just came over to watch to see how much he was gonna go for. His mama, I want to say she was six years old but she seemed like a nice steady good-minded girl so I can see where he gets it from. This little guy had so much presence I was feeling like he was probably gonna sell for around five thousand. His mama's price just kept going up and up so at this point I pretty much abandoned any hope that I would get to take him home or bid on him at all. I was a little bit surprised that she was going for so much money because she was a mare but she really was a nice gentle horse that it looked like pretty much anybody could get along with. She ended up selling for thirteen thousand. I was shocked when they sold this horse and he ended up selling for only twenty three hundred dollars. I really could not figure out why he didn't sell for more money but it's possible the other buyers had their eyes on different horses. I think I definitely missed out by not snatching him up. I go to a lot of horse sales so I obviously can't buy a horse at every one I attend but I have had my eyeballs peeled for a nice big mountain horse for quite some time so it really bummed me out that he went for such a good deal at this sale. This Dunn mare was a little bit smaller than the other horses and this was only her second ride. They had some pretty handy help at this sale that had started a bunch of these horses a few days before and they did a really good job. I don't know very many colt starters that would want to go in a ring and put the second ride on a horse and offer it for sale in front of a bunch of strangers but this horse looked really nice. She was really forward moving. She was listening to all the cues. She sold for $5,900 and I think that was a pretty good deal too. This really cool colored Appaloosa sold for $2,000. There were a few good deals at the sale. They had a few riding and pack mules. A bunch more babies sold. This little buckskin sold for $3,400 which is closer to what I thought most of them were gonna sell for. Most of these colts I think would have sold for more money if they were geldings. This little filly sold for $2,500. This mule coming up was so cool. She was registered and also gated. This was the only horse that I saw lope in the round pen and she looked like she was super fun to ride. She sold for $6,300 and I think she was probably underpriced. With all of the horses getting a decent amount of time in the sale ring, the sale was going on for longer than I had expected. I had to get home to feed the horses so I ended up leaving the sale before it was over. On the way home I did stop and scope out a trailhead that I might come back to later with some of the horses. This is pretty common in Montana. A lot of the trailheads will have corrals so you can overnight with your animals. Really I don't have any horses that I would feel comfortable taking into the backcountry right now but it's always nice to scope out the places where you might be able to camp. I'm glad I made it out to this sale today and that I could bring you guys along. This time of year there are a ton of horse sales I could go to in Montana and I plan on going on a few more before the snow hits. If this is the first video you're seeing of mine make sure you subscribe so you can find me again and you don't miss any future content. Thanks for watching and stay tuned for the next one!