The record books were rewritten at the Tocal College Approved Australian Stock Horse sale on Sunday where the top price, average and gross all hit new highs.
Run solely online due to COVID-19, the sale saw all 12 horses sold to average $15,671 for a top of $26,000 with no horse selling for less than $10,500.
That was compared with a $7153 sale average in 2019 and a top of $14,500.
It was the ultimate reward for Certificate III in Performance Horse Course students who were responsible for the breeding, breaking, and training program of each horse.
Some students even worked into the night, photographing and videoing the stock for the sale.
First time buyers Robert and Angela Linneth, Ropeley Park ASH stud, Tansey, Queensland, went from "just having a look" a few days before the sale to securing three horses.
They paid the $26,000 top price for the gelding, Tocal Remember Me (Peelvale Maestro/ Tocal Elite), and $20,550 for the top priced mare, Tocal Rendezvous (Peelvale Maestro/ Binnia Nightingale).
They also paid $14,500 for Tocal Rain Girl.
Tocal Remember Me came from top bloodlines with his mother producing the 2019 top price mare and the 2012 top priced gelding. The 15 hands high horse had already placed first in the 2019 Tocal College Stock Horse Challenge Freestyle section.
Mr Linneth had extra motivation to secure the gelding, notifying Angela after the sale that Remember Me was a gift for her birthday on November 14.
He has been breeding horses for at least 30 years and together they compete at shows and challenges and sell stock for campdrafts and polocrosse.
Ms Linneth said they were looking to put new bloodlines into their stud.
"What attracted us first and what we were impressed with was the college themselves and the way they trained their horses in a given amount of time," she said.
"We noticed the temperament and as far as showing, their conformation was pretty spot on.
"We were paying for the temperament of the horses, you could take them straight out and do anything with them."
It was the first time they had purchased stock without seeing them in the flesh.
While they initially only intended to "have a look", they studied the breeding and watched the videos "a million times" before securing their purchases.
Lucy Kinbacher
Raised on a cattle property at Biggenden, Lucy Kinbacher has spent 10 years working across metropolitan, regional and rural publications in both Queensland and NSW. Lucy has been the editor of the Queensland Country Life and North Queensland Register since 2021.
Raised on a cattle property at Biggenden, Lucy Kinbacher has spent 10 years working across metropolitan, regional and rural publications in both Queensland and NSW. Lucy has been the editor of the Queensland Country Life and North Queensland Register since 2021.
