From Gavel
to
GREATNESS
IN EUROPE, sport horse auctions have been around for almost a century with many venues to choose from today. With only a handful of auctions here, for most Americans, sport horse auctions generally conjure up feelings of fear, anxiety and those “what ifs.” However, what if the famous Hanoverian Brentina—America’s superstar at World Cups, Olympics and Pan-Ams—wasn’t purchased at a Verden, Germany auction by Peggy Thomas in 1994? Brentina could have easily landed in another professional’s barn competing for another country. Instead, thanks to Peggy’s purchase, the incredible longtime team of Debbie McDonald and Brentina has become a worldwide icon for American dressage. In fact, Debbie’s prior World Cup horse Beaurivage was also purchased by the Thomases at the same auction five years earlier.
Warmbloods Today found that with the right preparation, purchasing a sport horse at auction proves to have many
advantages. So we sought out two riders, a dressage and a hunter/jumper rider, and asked them to share with us their own experiences of buying at auction.
18 January/February 2010
Finding Camelot
P
by Susan Rose Marcus
erched upon her pitch black Lusitano stallion, British-born Athene von Hirschberg entered the ring of their first Working Equitation competition.
Images of Medieval England during King Richard’s era could have flicked through minds as the woman picked up a lance with her right hand and maneuvered the obedient steed with her legs. Like its ancestors who battled in wars because of their intelligence, quickness and courage, this six-year-old Lusitano veered in and out of obstacles before coming to an abrupt halt at his owner’s command. Hardly a knight in shining armor, the 55-year-old Connecticut mother is currently living her dream with a horse she bought at an auction, Zulu Interagro.
The Plan
It began in 2008 when Athene decided she wanted to buy a “real horse,” rather than the rescue Thoroughbreds she’d been riding her entire life. She’d learned to ride hunter/ jumpers as a youth and had recently started dressage training with Tim Malin, a USDF Gold, Silver and Bronze medalist. After much research and countless hours on the internet, Athene decided she wanted to purchase one of those gorgeous Lusitanos, probably from Brazil. “All that power, nobility, athleticism, courage and charisma in a relatively small package” was attractive to her. When she learned The Lusitano Collection International Horse Auction was bringing horses to South Florida in the winter of 2008, she was delighted she wouldn’t have to travel to Brazil, deal with import fees or the quarantine holding period. Of the more than two dozen horses in The 2008 Lusitano Collection™ catalog and video which Athene
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