February Workhorse Sale to feature record number of horses

Posted 2/1/23

A whopping 637 horses grace the sales catalog for Kalona Sales Barn’s February Workhorse Sale, set to take place Tuesday, Feb. 7.  The quantity of horses up for auction exceeds last …

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February Workhorse Sale to feature record number of horses

Posted

A whopping 637 horses grace the sales catalog for Kalona Sales Barn’s February Workhorse Sale, set to take place Tuesday, Feb. 7.  The quantity of horses up for auction exceeds last year’s numbers by about 100.

“This workhorse sale is held every February; we also have our April and October sale, but this one is geared just for workhorses,” said Rochelle Mullet, who works at the Kalona Sales Barn with her family. “We’ve had this sale probably six or seven years now, but it’s been the last, like, three years, it’s grown every year more and more.”

Workhorses of all ages and sizes, crossbred and purebred, will be up for sale at the all-day event, which could potentially last 12 hours, given the quantity of animals at auction.  Food service in the lunchroom begins at 6 a.m., and hitching is scheduled for 7 to 9 a.m. at the South Driving Arena.  Sales follow immediately in the West Sales Area.  All are welcome to attend.

February is the perfect time of the year for a workhorse sale because spring is quickly approaching.

“In February, guys will start to get into the fields and work a little bit later,” Mullet said. “February is a good time to get your horses before that spring work starts so they’re kind of just getting them prepared for that spring working time.”

Although it will sell workhorses only – no pleasure horses or tack -- this sale will still be one of the largest of the year.

“We’ll probably end somewhere around like 650, 700 horses total that we’ll sell, and it’s just horses, we won’t have tack or anything like that, or like the carriages that you usually see in April,” Mullet said. 

What is the difference between a workhorse and a pleasure horse, one might wonder. A workhorse can be used in the field and on farms to help with various tasks. A workhorse is also generally a larger horse that can haul more than your typical, run-of-the-mill horse. Pleasure horses are used for riding and thus don’t need to be as large.

“At this sale you’ll find horses that will be going back on the farm to work in the fields. You’ll also have horses that a lot of carriage companies will come out [to buy], and in St. Louis, Chicago, Denver, there are different carriage companies in those cities who use them to give carriage rides downtown,” Mullet said. “There’s a lot of outfitters from out West that come, and they use [the workhorses] for packing through the mountains.”

This is not just a local Amish and farmer sale. You will see people from all around the country at the sale, seizing the opportunity to get the horse they need. 

“We have people from all over the United States that come. I know we have people from Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, Montana and then out like Pennsylvania, Ohio, a lot of Eastern states, too, that come out, and then some of Canada, too,” Mullet said.

Everything about this sale is open to the public, from the breakfast to the hitching and the auction itself. The environment can be very hectic.

“[The environment] is definitely very busy. [There’s] a lot of people. We’ve got different food vendors going on.  You’ve got the busyness of people driving horses out back, and then you’ve got the sale going on with the auctioneers, and it’s very crowded in there. Then we have a food truck out front and our lunchroom, those stay busy all throughout the day.  It’s just kind of a whole cycle.  Then in the office, everybody’s all just kind of moving everywhere to keep it all going in line the way it should be,” Mullet said.

Hitching itself can start the day before the sale, in this case, Monday, Feb. 6. According to Mullet, people will come that day and begin unloading all throughout the night in preparation for the big day. 

“Guys will start coming in on Monday and they’ll start unloading all through the night. A lot of the barn will start to get busy around four or five in the morning,” Mullet said. “Guys will be starting to get their horses ready, and then at six, they may go eat breakfast, and then they go out back [in preparation for hitching].”

Hitching is a judging process for the horses. They’re scored based on how well they drive, stand, and back by a hitch committee, and they receive a score card that is revealed when the horse is on the auction floor. It is vital information for those in attendance.

Horse prices vary, of course. It depends on their size, breed, color, and if they’re broke, for example. A broke horse is a horse that is trained for something specific, like leading or riding. 

Each horse must have a negative Coggin’s test, otherwise they’re not permitted to be sold. A Coggin’s test is a blood test that determines if the horse carries Equine Infectious Anemia, a viral disease found in horses that can be fatal. If the test has not been done before the horse arrives, it can be tested at the Sales Barn with their in-house lab, but the horse is also subject to be turned down. 

“We have a lab here and then we would draw the blood and then the lab tests it, but it’s a very rare thing. I don’t think we’ve ever had [a horse not previously tested],” Mullet said.

Buyers may be looking for certain colors and sex for various reasons. Roan colored horses seem to be a popular choice now. For sex, some horses might be chosen specifically for breeding. 

“It can be like a blue roan or a red roan or strawberry roan, [which is] kind of like a [color] mixed in with white hairs. The roans are kind of a popular color right now, you’ll see those more on your draft cross horses,” Mullet said.

Horses, much like dogs, are available in purebred and crossbred varieties. Some are more popular than others, and some have more uses than others. Some of the more popular breeds of horses right now are the Belgian and the Percheron draft horses, which are purebred.

“The purebreds, it’s just kind of [like dogs], like your lab is your lab, and now you’re getting into all your goldendoodles and stuff like that, so, it’s kind of the same thing in the horses,” Mullet said. 

Breeding Belgian and Percheron horses with a quarter horse can create the ideal smaller workhorse. Someone buying a horse might prefer a smaller horse to a larger one for various reasons, such as lower food costs or a more docile temperament.

The workhorse sale is not the only horse sale the Kalona Sales Barn holds; their draft horse sale on April 3-4 will be their next big event.  This two-day sale will include carriages and accessories.

The Sales Barn holds sales for smaller animals throughout the year, but they don’t attract quite the same level of national attention as the horse sales.

“The horse sales, those are the ones where the [distant] travelers come in, compared to our hay sales and sheep and goat sales that maybe just [attract people from] the surrounding states.  Our horse sales would be people from all over coming in,” Mullet said.  

Despite the high level of energy and effort that goes into these sales, Mullet said that it is something her family loves to do.

“It’s just always been fun. There’s a lot of work that goes into it, but it’s always a good event.  We always enjoy seeing people that come year after year, and it’s been great to see it grow in the community,” Mullet said. “It’s kind of a meeting place for the two coasts to kind of come together and get these horses that go all over the country, and it’s just kind of a neat thing that we enjoy.” 

Since it will be an all-day event, consider stopping by anytime on Tuesday, Feb. 7 to spectate, get food, and meet new people at the Kalona Sales Barn.