August 2021 Issue

EAST COAST EQUESTRIAN August 2021 Page 19 By Jennifer A. Sheffield It is quiet on a Tuesday after- noon at the Eyler auction stables, but on a Saturday there can be over 90 horses being shown for sale. Buyers are local farmers and horsemen crowding its historic stands, and those clicking in on- line from all over the country and just down the road. “People have told us that they love the fact that this place is lively again,” said barn manager, Tyler Donnelly, co-lessee of this updated arm of Wolfe Agricul- tural Auctions that re-launched in September. “Prices are way up, and it has been nonstop, but it warms our hearts.” June sales included a 10-year-old bald-faced registered paint for $15,000 that had only been trail ridden. A Friesian cross hit $8,200. “He rode and he drove, but wasn’t a fancy jumper or anything,” Donnelly said. If those prices seem high, try looking for a medium green hunter pony to fly into the finals with, as Maryland trots out of the pandemic. Finksburg’s Full Moon Farm owner Karen Fulton said standard price points of $25,000 to $100,000 for the right event horse are consistent, but more new riders entered the market last year. “It puts pressure on barns to evaluate riders quickly and find safe horses to buy, often sight unseen,” she said. Fulton has noticed a different clientele. “We saw people paying $20,000, for a horse that will walk and trot down the rail. In years past, that horse cost $2,500. They can’t buy them fast enough.” Stephanie Brigham, who re- opened the Columbia Horse Cen- ter in Laurel, MD in January, said that getting lesson horses has been hard. “It was a challenge,” she said. “We started getting horses that are on the greener side and are working them into our programs once they have the saddle time.” Maryland Horse Industry Board (MHIB) Executive Direc- tor Ross Peddicord confirmed that sales and riding boomed during the pandemic. He said losing the state’s higher-end events and racetrack purses hurt, but a big win was that the Fall Standardbred sales, usually held in Harrisburg, Pa., and featuring over 1,000 horses, was moved to the Maryland State Fairgrounds. Harry Eyler began selling horses and livestock at the old Pandemic Sends Horse Prices–and Participation–Soaring barn on Emmitsburg Road in Thurmont, MD in 1933, and there are still old signs on the walls, reading ‘No guarantees on any horse selling for under $600.00.’ Today, it offers a private buying option, even delivery, and Donnelly said that folks who are not regular auction-goers are try- ing it. “In May we had 156 horses and were turning people away,” she said. Looking for Lessons Following COVID-19 clo- sures, horseback riding was one of the first activities to resume in Maryland. Stables were allowed to re-open in May with public health protocols in place. Horse shows resumed in June 2020. MHIB published results of their licensed stables survey in June 2021. Recreational lessons grew by 14 percent, with some Maryland barns reporting as much as a 35 percent increase in business. But just as prices for lumber rose during the pandemic, even new riders were confronted with ads for six-figure leases. Christine Barakat, of EQUUS magazine, said there were three factors. “There were parents who wanted outdoor activities for kids last year; adults who took the plunge; and people who already had a horse and bought another one,” she said. That meant Fulton and Brigham had to find ways to cope with crammed wait lists for their summer camps and offer more chances to share horses and join barn sponsored equitation teams. Brigham also leases the Andover and Andy Smith Eques- trian Centers. “Between all three facilities, we have a wait list with 200 people on it. Our six-week camps were completely filled by March. That maxes out our two large locations at 30 kids, and 20 at Annapolis,” she said. “Having enough school horses also means not overworking them and making sure they are happy and sound. At Columbia, we are limiting boarders so the community can take lessons from us.” The welfare of horses and consumers is also the concern of MHIB, the equine component of the Maryland Department of Ag- riculture that oversees commer- cial barns. The 2010 horse census found over 16,000 locations in the state where horses are kept. Peddicord said, “We jumped from 728 licensed stables in 2019, to 782 in 2020.” As Fulton searches for horses, she is surprised to also be on the selling side of the business. “Typically, we buy for ourselves and sell those that are not going to work for students but don’t have an outside sales program. Having said that, we sold three horses last month,” she said. Reaching Millions While the public isn’t buying foals on the path to the Preakness, and no one is offering freebies off the track since Thor- oughbred retraining programs are more popular, Fulton said she keeps an eye out in places she never had considered before, like Eyler. Because of the internet, “the market is wider,” she said. “How would I have found a horse in North Carolina when we had to read classifieds?” To meet this growth, Eyler held its first-ever online sale in Jan- uary. Donnelly said, “Facebook is (Continued on page 21) Lesson pony Frisky Business is an 11 year old Welsh pony who teaches youngsters at Morningside Farm’s Andy Smith Equestrian Center location in Anne Arundel County, MD, and a favorite of the kids who ride him. The value of ponies like Frisky has shot up during the pandemic as new riders flocked to lesson stables.