My experience with drivers buying their horses around here is that not many actually go to the meat auction to buy. Most claim them right out of a race on the track or buy them directly from trainers. The ones you see on the Stampede wagons are still very elite horses. They're horses someone would want for something. Thoroughbreds do it all and are very desirable as hunter/jumpers, course horses, ranch horses. The slaughter horses I have seen are definitely a lesser quality and would be no match for these stampede runners. They may not have even seen a rider either so paying a bit more for the known training is well worth it. But I don't know for sure. The whole thing really bums me out now.
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