Original Gangster and Commander Bling top the 2017 The Horse Sale at Rancho Rio.

Held annually in conjunction with the NTR National Finals, The Horse Sale at Rancho Rio, has quickly become one of the industry’s top rope and performance horse sales.

With 56 consignments the 2017 edition took place on Thursday, March 9, following the $100,000 NTR National 9 Finale. Renowned auctioneer, Steve Friskup of Muleshoe, Texas, was on hand for the third annual event. It was a packed house on auction night as hundreds of buyers and spectators filled the 80’ x 100’ tent that is erected each year. On Wednesday afternoon viewers lined the fences at Rancho Rio to watch the horses work in a phenomenal preview event. The overall sale average was $14,288 with two high-selling horses topping the sale at $26,000.

Lot 48, Commander Bling, a 2010 buckskin gelding, consigned by Jed Jacobs of Sugar City, Idaho, was the ultimate show stopper in the sale ring. A trained reiner and money earner on both ends he was purchased by Lynn Nuss of Pismo Beach, Calif.

Also selling for a whopping $26,000 was lot 32, Original Gangster.

A 2010 palomino gelding consigned by Fuller Performance Horses, “Gangster” was purchased by Roy Jarrard, of Casper, Wyo. With flashy eye appeal Gangster has an equally impressive cowhorse pedigree going back to Smart Little Lena and Doc Bar on the top side and Poco Bueno on the bottom.

“Gangster is the horse of a lifetime,” said consignor Macy Fuller of Whitman, Ariz., who came across the gelding two years ago as a then 5-year-old. She knew immediately he was going to be perfect and by the time she took him to the sale at Rancho Rio he was a true all-around horse, finished in the breakaway, calf roping, goat tying, heading and heeling.

“The first time I took him to a rodeo, I had never tied goats off of him, and I won the rodeo. I had a lot of memorable wins heading on him too. He was the cool horse I could put my 86-year-old grandma on to go on trail rides.”

While there were lots of tears involved, Macy ultimately decided to sell her No. 1 mount in an effort to get her name out there as a performance horse trainer.

“I want to be the person people call when they are looking for a horse,” she said. “There are so many people out there looking for horses and I want to be able to match them up with the horse of their lifetime.”

Yost Events Inc., looks forward to bringing you the fourth annual The Horse Sale at Rancho Rio next March during the 2018 NTR National Finals.