Prices up at Casino horse sale

EAGER BUYERS: A large crowd watches the horse auction at the Casino saleyards on Saturday.

THE Curtis family, of Fernside, has said goodbye to their beloved 11-year-old Shetland, Rocky, after seven years in the family.

Rocky was one of 80 horses at a special auction held at the Casino Regional Livestock Exchange on Saturday.

“I just hope he goes to a good home,” Kim Curtis said.

The Curtis children, Amber, 7, and Luke, 6, learnt to ride on Rocky, but they had since moved on to bigger horses.

Mrs Curtis thought she would get about $500 for the horse with its saddle. She said she was surprised when the horse alone made $670.

In the market for a new stock horse at the auction was Erin Molloy, of Blue Knob.

“There are some really good horses here,” Ms Molloy said.

“I think the prices here are pretty good.”

Although Ms Molloy did not buy a horse on the day, she plans to come back in September for the next auction.

Eighty horses were yarded, with 70 per cent of the stock cleared. The best unridden horse made $990 and the top ridden horse fetched $1050.

Elders Casino plans to hold another horse auction in September.

Auctioneer Mark O’reilly said demand for horses was on the up due to the popularity of equine sports like camp drafting.

There was also a return to mustering on horseback due to the danger of motorbikes.