Horse to be in Hanover sheriff’s office auction Nov. 4

Hanover County Sheriff's Office auctions typically include the kind of horsepower found in seized cars and trucks, not Thoroughbreds. But a 2-year-old gray colt that currently lives at Horseshoe Hill Farm in Ashland is up for grabs next month.

The colt, with no name, is valued at about $8,000 and will be part of a sheriff's office public auction Nov. 4, said Horseshoe Hill owner Stephanie Nixon. The auction will take place at the farm, 14329 Horseshoe Bridge Road, at 9 a.m., with inspection beginning at 8 a.m.

Nixon, whose farm specializes in training racehorses, said the horse has been in her care since September 2008, and she has been training it for the past six months. The owner is behind on the bills, and Nixon can no longer continue to care for the animal and train it for free.

"It's not like a dog you can put in a home," she said, referring to the daily costs for boarding, food, and vet and blacksmith bills, as well as the need for sufficient acreage. "To really provide for it, it's nice if you could have a least a half of an acre."

Nixon declined to reveal the horse's owner and would not say how much she is owed, only that it is more than $8,000.

It costs $39 a day to board and train a horse at Nixon's farm. That doesn't include veterinary bills. She said she currently boards about 60 horses.

Hanover sheriff's Capt. Mike Trice said it's not every day that a horse is put on the auction block. But he said that in order for Nixon to keep it or sell it, she has to have the auction to collect the fees owed to her first.

Nixon said the horse is not a pleasure horse, meaning it has been trained to race and could still have a future in racing. It weighs between 1,000 and 1,200 pounds and is nearly 6 feet tall.

She said she would keep it if nobody buys it, but ultimately she intends to find it a good home.

Nixon said it is unfortunate that animal owners are not always responsible, but that is part of horse racing.

"Some people don't see [their horse] as an animal; they see it as a business."

Contact Holly Prestidge at (804) 649-6945 or .