MILESTONE, Sask. – Dark skies threaten rain, the winds blow and a Corgi dog barks nearby but the horses barely notice.
It’s just the kind of advertising that Lee and Tracy Pedersen want for the two dozen or so horses they keep on their southern Saskatchewan farm.
The animals are bought, trained and eventually sold to riders for use in rodeos and on ranches.
“The demand for gentle, broke geldings has never been higher,” said Lee. “A quiet well-broke horse will suit anybody.”
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He cited strong markets among semi-retired Albertans in their 50s and 60s who are unconcerned about the current price of feed and just looking for a “nice” horse.
“The horse market doesn’t have hills and valleys for these kinds of horses,” said Lee.
Each May, the Pedersens host the Western Sales Unlimited horse sale in Saskatoon.
It has grown steadily, with this year’s show selling animals for an average of $2,700, up from the first year average of $2,000 in 2002.
Top prices in May included a gelding that sold for $10,400 and a stallion for $10,200. Prices improved by $400 per horse on average this year, the Pedersens said, with 290 horses sold during a one-day sale at Saskatoon Livestock Sales.
Many are consigned and some come from the Milestone farm. Buyers come from the United States and Canada. Some buy a dozen horses, many of which will travel by trailer to new homes in Alberta.
“Our consigners are also our buyers,” said Lee.
Tracy, a veterinarian who specializes in equine cases at a clinic in Regina, said they strive for a good quality sale offering a range of reining, riding, roping, cutting, barrel racing and pleasure riding horses.
“I’d like to sell good horses and make everybody happy,” she said.
“A lot want to take the horse home and ride it tomorrow. They don’t want to be bucked off.”
They get expert help from the staff at the Saskatoon auction mart and their families, with Lee’s father, Jim, serving as the “p.r. guy at the sale.”
The Pedersens launched the sale six years ago when tightened international border controls and the Canadian dollar made it attractive to host a sale in centrally located Saskatoon.
“It’s easier to come to look at 300 rather than 30,” said Lee.
Spring is an optimistic time of year in agriculture so prices are generally good. A preview is held the day before the sale.
Tracy said the sale size is as big as the family can now handle. She is on call several evenings each week and Lee also has a full-time job off farm as a youth counselor.
The pair met in rodeoing circles, where she did barrel racing and he competed in steer wrestling and team roping.
He grew up riding horses on the farm and participating in 4-H projects, while she was raised in the city but developed a passion for horses in her teens.
Their combined association with rodeos and the horse industry has helped their business, they agree.
The Pedersens continue to enjoy rodeos, where Tracy and the couple’s four-year-old daughter, Sydney, compete in barrel racing and show off their best stock.
“It’s a good place to expose our sale horses,” said Lee.
Their shared passion for ranching life makes the busy lifestyle manageable.
“Lee eats, drinks, breathes horses,” said Tracy. “If not, it would be an impossible life to lead.”
The family had cattle until Lee broke his pelvis in a horse riding accident and BSE closed borders. They now cash rent a section of land but retain four quarters for their horses.
Sydney is the fifth generation of Pedersens to live in the family’s expansive two-storey farm home that sports sunrooms, 56 windows and antique wood mouldings and paint.
Jim’s father, William, served as an MLA in the 1920s and as president of the national Angus association.
Jim works as an NHL hockey scout. Lee played junior hockey in his youth and his brother, Rod, handles the play-by-play broadcast for the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
Farms have grown in size around them as fewer families remain.
“One bus takes the place of four old routes,” Lee said of the changes he has witnessed in the Milestone area.
