October 8, 2021 – Bladel, The Netherlands – “It is simply a picture!”, “This horse is your dream come true,” “Taking the lead and going faster,” and “Business class!” are just some of the descriptions of the auction horses from SLF Horse Auctions. The October edition of the auction opens on Friday, October 8, with foals and embryos available on Otober 11, young horses on October 12, and top-class show jumpers on October 13.
“SLF” stands for Harrie Smolders, Walter Lelie, and Niels Fabrie, who needed less than a year to stage their third online auction. “We were already doing some business together and during the Covid-19 lockdown we got the idea to upgrade our trade,” said Lelie, who hails from Belgium. “We wanted to show the horses to the whole world.”
Diverse Offerings
It did not take long to create the three collections. “We are in full agreement about show jumping horses,” said Lelie. “Harrie is more involved with the top sport, I know a thing or two about breeding and youngsters, and Niels specializes in young horses and works from the Netherlands. In that way we can make the collection enormously diverse, which is precisely as we wanted, for everyone to find a suitable horse in our auction: the breeder, the professional, the amateur, and the stallion owners.
“Our foremost concern is not to get the highest prices, but to sell good, honest, and sound horses that appeal to many people,” continued Lelie. “SLF Horse Auction has to be a platform where buyer meets seller and where horses are sold that we believe in, which we have seen in the flesh, and in most times even ridden. In that way we can provide the client with good information.”
With great passion
At present, you can find 20 horses under saddle, 19 youngsters, and 21 foals and embryos online. “That took quite a bit of time,” admitted Lelie. “You have to really like this job. But we are real go-getters and we do this work with great passion. If you want to get paid for every hour, do not start organizing an auction. You know what is the most gratifying? When we manage to select good horses and some truly exclusive foals for our auction and that we can do this very well together. The long road up to the moment that the bidding starts. That is great.”
There already are some good SLF references, such as the Nations Cup Young Riders team victory with Eyes of the Tiger (Carambole) and Evelyne Putter and the third place in the Belgian Championships for the seven-year-old O Music (Diamant de Semilly), successful under Alexa Markin.
For any questions about the new auction collection or horses under saddle anyone is welcome to contact the SLF Auction partners.
Harrie Smolders: +31 610 185 963
Walter Lelie: +32 496 808 230
Niels Fabrie: +31 622 206 340
Email: info@slf.auction