Horse Center Holds Successful First Online Auction

Arabians at sunset

The W.K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Center grossed nearly $75,000 in its first online horse auction.

The center put up 18 Arabian horses for sale, all of which were purchased in the Aug. 5 auction by buyers from Arizona, California, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, Ohio, Tennessee and Texas.

CP Charmming Notions, a 3-year-old mare and national-caliber English prospect with a good pedigree, fetched the highest sale price at $26,000. She was sold to a buyer in Ohio.

Scott Dunn, a member of the committee that advises Cal Poly Pomona on the horse center, said the university has embarked on a new and exciting era at the center. The first step was the hiring of a nationally recognized trainer in John Lambert, he said.

“The next piece in the renaissance was this online auction, and, by my estimation, there were some very good horses who brought very good prices,” Dunn said. “I can’t wait to see how they perform for their new owners.”

The proceeds of the auction will go to support the W.K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Center’s operations.

Oklahoma-based Addis Live Online Auctions facilitated the auction, which included videos of each of the horses for sale. More than 300 people logged online across Canada, Saudi Arabia, Europe and the United States to watch the two-hour auction, and 122 had the credentials to bid.

“That’s extremely impressive,” said Bill Addis, the owner of Addis Live Online Auctions, a veteran auctioneer and former member of Cal Poly Pomona’s Arabian horse advisory committee.

Most horse auctions only have about 30 registered bidders, meaning fewer bids per horse, he said.

 “The videos were done well,” Addis said. “The horses were groomed well and looked good. Having a veterinarian’s statement on each horse helped the integrity of the auction.”

The prospective buyers were horse breeders, trainers and individuals, he adds. They included representatives of Arabian horse owners in Portugal and Saudi Arabia, Addis said.

The purpose of the auction was to provide the public the opportunity to own some of the finest Arabian horse blood lines in the world, while also making room at the center to accommodate younger horses, including the 14 foals born earlier this year.

Then-University President Michael Ortiz issued a 2013 directive that established the goal of producing 15 to 20 foals at the center every year and holding an annual auction to sell the majority of the 3-year-old foals born on campus that had not been previously sold.

Originally, the auction was planned to be in the fall. But circumstances dictated moving the sale up to August, Lambert said.

Holding a sale in the fall would mean keeping the older horses around longer. They also would need training, because most of the 3 year olds had not been broken to ride, Lambert said.

That would take away training time from a dozen 2 year olds at the center that need to be moved into the barns this month in preparation for training, he said. Without training, the 2 year olds would sell for less at future auctions, Lambert said.

In addition, an early August date fell between events on the horse show circuit, which many trainers and breeders attend, he said.

Lambert and the horse center staff did an excellent job getting the horses and videos ready for the auction, Dunn said. The next step toward completing the center’s renaissance is hiring a new director, he said.

“The future of the Arabian horse center is very bright,” Dunn said.
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