When I was a kid, the only thing more entertaining than a “Saved by the Bell” marathon was the Saturday night Michigan Horse Auction. Each week I would carefully pick out my outfit to look as “cowgirl” as possible and then nudge my parents out the door early to get a seat close to the auction floor.

Every week we’d start with the tack and barn items, sometimes picking up a feed bucket here or a bridle there, just waiting for the moment they would clear the “arena” to prepare for the horses. And each week I would beg and plead with my father to prove that this next horse is really “the one”.

But you know what I really miss about the auctions? I miss the stick thin cowboys with small jeans and big hats. I miss the crazy-haired youngsters dying to dig their hands into the mane of an auction pony. I miss the soggy polish sausage and half-flat diet cokes. And most of all, I miss that lively ol’ auctioneer that would let me slip a bid in every once in a while if my Dad wasn’t raising his card fast enough.

 

“Who’ll gimme a hundred dollars? One hundred dolla bid, now two, now two. Will ya gimme two? Two hundre’dolla bid, now three, now three. Three? Three an’ a half? Three fifty, fifty, three fifty, fifty, SOLD!”

 
With the increased popularity of Craigslist and other web-based horse and tack sale options, it seems that traditional horse auctions have become few and far between. But if you still crave that hat-tippin’, boot kickin’, chaw spittin’ good time, here are a couple of the Michigan Horse Auctions still going:

• Tom Moore Sales Horse & Tack Auction first Saturday of every month 

• Lake Odessa Horse and Tack Auction
  

If you know of any other upcoming horse auctions, please send me a comment or email with the details and I’ll add it to the list.

Cowboy Logic of the Day

“No matter where you go or what you do, keep your saddle

and chaps and always know where you can get a good ride.”