Legends of Ranching Sale a Success

The Legends of Ranching Performance Horse Sale – the annual culmination of unique hands-on education in the CSU Equine Sciences Program – sold a total of 62 quarter horses, generating more than $250,000, organizers said.

The sale was April 30 at the B.W. Pickett Equine Center at Colorado State University.

The event capped the academic year for about 60 CSU students. The equine students trained young horses offered in the sale, and also contributed to the event through coursework in equine sales management and equine event management.

“The Legends of Ranching Performance Horse Sale is a keystone event that helps us maintain an excellent education for our students because it is so closely linked to the equine industry they are preparing to enter,” said Jerry Black, director of undergraduate programs for the CSU Equine Sciences Program.

This year, the Legends program involved 20 consignors, including some of the largest and best-known Western horse operations.

Consignors provided yearling and 2-year-old quarter horses to the Equine Sciences Program last fall, allowing students to gain valuable horsemanship and other skills throughout the 2010-2011 academic year. Consignors also added older horses to the sale.

The high-selling horse was a 2002 sorrel gelding named JS Easy Pep consigned by Cowan Select Horses, LLC, of Havre, Mont. The gelding sold for $14,500.

The high-selling young horse was a 2008 bay mare named Miss Basic Affair consigned by Crofoot Ranches, LLP, of Lubbock, Texas. The young mare sold for $8,500. She was trained by CSU equine student Sam Minnich.

The average price for all quarter horses in the sale was $4,052. The average price for young horses trained by CSU students was $2,907, according to sale records.
Auction proceeds underwrite sale costs, contribute to student scholarships and go back to consignors.

From an educational perspective, the sale is meant to help prepare Equine Sciences students for success in the diverse horse industry, which in Colorado alone produces a total annual economic impact of some $1.6 million, according to a 2005 study commissioned by the American Horse Council Foundation.

For information about the 2012 Legends of Ranching Performance Horse Sale, contact Gary Carpenter, CSU Equine Sciences industry outreach and liaison director at (970) 491-8373 or Gary.Carpenter@colostate.edu.

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