A Little History

So I thought I would give a little history on scooter so everyone knows where he came from, or at least what I know of where he came from.

I bought Scooter at a local auction barn October 16, 2009. He was tucked away in a little stall in the back of the auction barn all by himself. I was not planning on going to the auction let alone looking at the horses. I actually refused to look at the horses because I knew if I looked at them I would see the fear and desperation in their eyes and have to take them home with me! I have learned that lesson from going to past auctions. Fortunately enough most of the horses at this auction end up going to actual good homes, unlike some of the other auctions I have been to. Obviously I broke down and wandered the isles of the many horses, when I turned the corner of the barn isle there was a small sorrel nose just barely sticking over the edge of the stall. Of course i instantly fell in love, anything that small and cute did not belong at such a harsh place like this. I opened the door of the stall and went inside. What I found still haunts me to this day, there was a colt, barely 3 1/2 months old already weaned and all scraped up. He was just so sweet and trusting despite the horrible ordeal that he had been through. When the breeder finally came by, I spoke with him a bit about the history behind his colt. He told me that he was a color breeder (buckskin, palomino, grulla that such thing) and this colt was just not the color he was going for. He told me he weaned this colt about a week ago and had put him in a stall by himself. He said that the colt had not adjusted well to the weaning process and had got his back legs caught in something (he really did not know what or when or why) and he was just not interested in his color. I asked him if he had cleaned or treated the colts wounds at all, and he kind of looked at me with a smirk and just laughed off my question. I inquired as to why he weaned the colt at 3 1/2 months and he just smiled again and said the color was not desirable and the faster he got the mare bred again, the better. He said he was hoping to get color this time around.

When the breeder and his colt came through the ring, the bidding started at $50. No one bid, it went down to $40 and still no bids. I talked with my friend that came with me about how cute the colt was and the unfortunate beginnings that he had been born into. She is a more experience auction goer than I am, and informed me that the colt would most likely not get sold here and its fate was uncertain, because no one wanted to take care of a colt that has been injured so severely and so early on in life. She said he would be a lot of work to heal and that most people did not want to put that sort of effort into such a young horse when they could buy a yearling that was not injured. As we spoke the bidding continued to drop, $35, then $30. We joked how I could stick the colt into the back seat of my car to take him home but perhaps he was going to be to big to fit in my car. When the bidding dropped down to $10, I looked at my friend seriously and asked if she would have room in her trailer if I bought this colt. She said of course, the bidding dropped down to $6 and still no one bid. The auctioneer said if no one was going to bid he was going to close the bidding and move to the next horse. At that point the breeder leading the colt around said the horse had to go because he would not be taking him home on the trailer with him. I broke at that point, it was to pitiful to take any longer. I raised my number, the auctioneer raised the bid to $7 but no one else bid. He closed the bidding at $6 for a registrable quarter horse stud colt. My friend and I walked back to the stall with the colt where we joked about how the halter he had on had cost more than I paid for the colt. I instantly became the proud momma of my very own baby!!