THE most important thing about preparing foals for the sales is to imagine that all foals born on the farm are being sold as foals.

We run through all foals with the farrier and vet in their first week to check conformation and make sure all foals are landing level and have no major issues. We would be very careful in regards to hocks and joint stability in general and we would make a call on what foals get turned out in a paddock/small pen or box rested. This is so important as a weeks box rest can make a huge difference in the early stages of a foal’s development.

We would always have, in the back of our mind, what foals would be obvious foal sale candidates but this can often change depending on how the foal is progressing, how the sire is doing during the year and if there was an update on the dam’s page - the aforementioned would all influence the decision.

FINAL DECISIONS

We make our final decision on what foals are being sold in August as foals have to be entered by the end of the month. We would be slow to sell any foal born after mid-April as generally they are too immature and will struggle in preparation.

As a rule we wean sales foals a little earlier as they need a month to recover from weaning before they start coming in for sales. All weaned foals get gastrogaurd for three days after weaning as it is a stressful time and helps avoid ulcers. We would also wean a foal that is a heavy type as joints can struggle and all foals get copper gels every week, which helps regarding epiphysitis.

We start foal preparation around second week of October as yearlings sales are over and staff are back at base. Before this, from September on, they are in three days a week and spend a couple of hours stabled and then back out and this helps them when they eventually come in for sales preparation.

DAILY SALES PREP

Foals get their feet picked out first thing and a quick brush over. We are lucky to have miles of paths through the woods here and they start off at 20 minutes hand walking with rubber bits, in bunches of six. This builds up to 35 - 40 minutes for the strong mature foals.

I don’t use a walker at all for foals as they have enough stress without that and it would be harder on their joints. Your average foal at the foal sales will be shown twice as many times as any yearling hence they need for man and beast to be fit!

All foals get turned our after exercise in small groups, every day, and this keeps them happy. You have to keep a very tight eye on all foals daily and do a walk through and stand them up because they need to be used to this come sales time.

We put cornucrisine and hoof hardener on their feet daily. We don’t touch manes or clip bridle paths. I don’t like rugs on foals as they have good coats and don’t need them. They get their final rub from the farrier about three weeks prior to the sales as they need all the foot they have when showing at the sales - they get foot sore very quickly.

X-RAY AND SCOPING

It is very hard to decide about X-rays and scoping at sales. It is very costly. We have overdone this in the past and would be very selective regarding this now. As a general rule we would have a full set of X-rays for the top-end foals and scope certs for all foals.

If a potential purchaser wants to scope or X-ray a foal at the sales we organise that for evening time after showing as the foal needs to be available for other clients to view and will also have the night to recover. This can be very stressful for the foals but if a client is spending serious money on your foal he/she needs to do their homework.

Scope certs normally suffice and it’s debatable how accurate scoping at a very young age will be down the line. We try to line up whatever vets have requested to see the foal scoped and do one viewing. We have started to bring video scopes to sales and we set up a viewing room in our yard for scopes and X-rays which has worked well.

TRANSPORTING

When transporting foals to the sales we travel them in their original bunches loose in the truck. They are with their pals and we make sure tails are treated with anti-chew spray and we give all foals electrolyte gels when leaving and on arrival and we have never had a problem.

At the sales it’s good to get them there in good time and give them a day to recover - this can be a problem as access to stables at sales can be an issue.

We always deep litter boxes at sales as this avoids slipping and capped hocks etc. Foals regularly go off their food at the sales so little and often is the best way to keep their energy levels up. If foals come in to us from other farms to be sold we keep them on their own feed at the sales.

We always pick out their feet after a days showing as their feet can get sore quickly. Their mouth can also get sore and we would often remove the bridle at the sales and show them on a head collar.

It is vital to remember that you have a very small window to show your foal and the clients have a very small window to view them. We always make sure we have lots of staff on showing days. You can never have enough staff especially if a foal starts to play up/or vets need some help.

No point cutting corners for these few days as it could cost you a customer and they have so many choices you will get scratched!

THE WALK IS KEY

The walk is key and no walk means you will really struggle.

Make sure to have all necessary updates on foals, but only vital information, and make sure the person showing knows the details. Don’t hand out pieces of paper with updates as they will be quickly lost/binned and are a waste of time.

We have a big number of foals at sales every year and it’s very important to have a few good people organising foals and showing the foal otherwise it can be chaos and you need to be available for any questions regarding the foal.

Customers have a lot of stock to see and very limited time to see them so always make sure there are no unnecessary delays for anyone!