Horsereview.com brought you the true story of all the abused and neglected miniature horses, llamas and ostriches that were seized by Lyon County, Nevada Animal Control Officers on June 1st, 1998. We gave you the coverage of the trial of the owners.

And now, for the rest of the story…

Mr. Graham forfeited the animals as part of his plea bargain with the Mason Valley Justice Courts on August 10th, 1998. According to Nevada State Law, the animals would have to be publicly auctioned off with the funds going to Lyon County. They set the date for the sale - August 29th, 1998.

I arrived at 8 am for the preview which was held at the ranch where all the animals had been impounded and subsequently cared for. They all looked better than the last time I had seen them. But as with animals that had been horribly starved, they were still woefully thin. It takes a long time to get them back to glowing good health, longer for the mares who were now in foal and some of them had babies at their sides. They had all been dewormed twice, vaccinated and tested for Equine Infectious Anemia prior to the sale. My boss lady in Reno had picked out one mare from all my pictures I had taken in July as the one she really wanted and I was instructed to buy a companion for this mare, also. Not knowing what the turn out for the sale was going to be, I had also "pulled in some favors" and had a Wild Horse Rescue Group, Red Wing Horse Sanctuary, willing to take what was not sold - old, sick or crippled.

I was amazed at the number of people who showed up to bid at the sale. There were local people from Lyon County, there were buyers from Las Vegas, Mason Valley, Carson Valley, Washoe County and Virginia City. There were also out-of-state buyers. This bode good tidings for all the minis, llamas and ostriches. I spent the next two hours examining all the minis and taking note of their physical conditions so I would be prepared when the bidding started.

At 10 a.m., the auctioneer called everyone into the largest corral, explained the "rules", and the first mini-horse was brought in. As none of these critters were coming with registration papers (they could be registered for a fee through the national association after purchase), I was not the only person there who was astounded at the price the first little sorrel mare brought. They went for far more money than a lot of us had thought they would, the majority over a $1,000.00. I was glad my boss lady was not too limited on her funds to purchase hers with. At these prices, I knew that I would not have to purchase any to go to the Sanctuary.

The crowd was tense and quiet, with the only sounds being the auctioneer's chant and spotters cries, with an occasional whinny to be heard. As with all horses at auctions, you could see the confusion in the eyes of the horses brought into the middle of this huge crowd of people.

Then in came the one mare my boss lady wanted with all her heart. I prepared myself to go as high as $1,500.00 for this little black and white mare. The bidding hit $550.00, then the auctioneer chanted "going once!" Startled I looked around, the crowd had thinned by more than half! I stuck my bidders number in the air, the auctioneer cried "$575.00, do I hear $600.00?" No one raised their cards or cried out. The next thing I know, I am signing on the purchase bid card for the secretary. I was astounded!! I had paid one of the lowest prices that would be seen during the entire day. As the crowd came back into the sale area, I realized that after all the hours in the sun and drinking coffee, water sodas, etc. most of the crowd had wandered off looking for the non-existent sani-huts!!

While the next few solid colored mares went through, I went over and saw that the mare I had purchased had a foal nursing on her. A little red and white filly….a package deal! Quickly I went over and paid for her and her baby. Then I went back to the corral to watch the others as I was done buying for the day. For one price my boss lady got her mare and a companion, too! The studs were mixed in with all the mares so she might have a three for the price of one deal.

The rest of the sale ran smoothly as the auctioneer went from one corral to the next.

The only incident was a woman trying to buy her mare back (she had sold the mini to Graham). A gentleman had purchased the mare when the woman hadn't been paying attention to what was happening. And at public sales when the cry of "sold!" goes out, the animal IS SOLD! The crowd got restless at this point, what with everybody feeling sorry for either the man or the woman. Gentleman that he was, he sold the mare to the woman on the spot, and everybody seemed tickled with that and the sale proceeded on.

The little stallions brought big bucks as did the rest of the pintos. They sold all the llamas and the ostriches. Then it was time to pay up, get brand inspected, and load up and go home.

I thought this was a pretty neat ending to a tragic story that started in California last year. Unfortunately because of the laws in both California and Nevada, many animals died on the way to being saved by the animal control officers.

We has horsemen and horsewoman need to ALL write our state legislators in whatever state we live in and get them to pass animal abuse laws that are FELONIES. This is the only way our animal control people can take the animals away and make sure these terrible, inhumane people do not get away with the disgusting things that they do to the helpless that cannot fight back or get food for themselves.

Come to think of it, while we are all writing our letters let's mention child abuse, too! These helpless victims NEED ALL OF US TO STAND UP AND SHOUT FOR THEM AS THEY HAVE NO VOICE!!!!

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