A local rancher’s six-year-old registered quarter horse topped the ranch horse sale at the 2011 Calgary Bull Sale, March 3.
Ron Hanson’s grey mare, Queen, sold for $14,000 to Ian and Eleanor Bowie of Bowie Ranches, located in Maple Creek, Saskatchewan. The sale earned the farmers $3,500 more than the second most expensive horse.
“She has a really nice personality,” said Hanson. “She is just a nice mare and she is pretty and well broke.”
Queen was born and raised on the ranch and the family used her as a working horse, to cut, rope, herd and heel calves. She was gentle enough for children to ride and rode through bogs and trees with no problems.
This isn’t the first time the Hansons have stood out at the Calgary Bull Sale.
As a purebred cattle breeders, the family has set and still holds records for top earnings for their bulls.
In 2002, Hanson sold a Red Angus bull for $11,000 and in 1999 he sold a Hereford bull for $65,000. Over the years, he has sold five horses at the sale and done “reasonably well,” although never earned this much.
Hanson purchased his first horse in 1956, and since then, the ranchers have always had animals around to help handle cattle. In fact, the Hanson family is well-known for their horsemanship skills, regularly competing at the Airdrie rodeo in the Ranch Hand Competition.
According to Hanson, he was pleasantly surprised at the amount Queen went for as he was hoping to earn between $6,000 and $8,000 for the horse.
The average price for working horses at the sale was about $7,000.
