From An Auction Horse Emerges A Million Dollar Ride
“The Lord chooses our paths before we know them, “said Delores Lints the day she introduced “Court” to her Facebook friends.
By Delores Kuhlwein
Delores Lints had always loved horses, and as a young woman, she pursued her desire for all things equine by visiting nearby auctions to buy young horses to train, rehabilitate, and resell.
Delores’ love for the overo coat pattern continued to her last Paint, Katies Grand Finale.
But at age 19, she found herself working for Spike Holmes, who owned the APHA stallion “Crayon Scribbles.” It was then her lifelong love affair with Paint Horses with Overo patterns began.
“One day I was in a tack shop and spotted a beautiful Overo mare for sale, so I went home and sold a couple horses I had bought/trained and bought the beautiful, registered Paint mare,” she explains. “Her name was “Sassy Go Classy” and that was the start of a 25-year breeding business.”
The last horse of a four-generation bloodline she cultivated by first crossing Sassy Go Classy with Crayon Scribbles eventually resulted in Katies Grand Finale, a 2006 overo mare by Mr Classic Rock and out of Katies Crayon “with the most perfect Overo pattern.” But “Banner” passed away 10 years ago, sadly taking Delores’ heart with her.
The Auction
When Delores posted her plea along with three photos to find her new horse’s identity on social media, she thought she had a slim chance of finding out.
Though her days of buying and selling young auction horses were long over, Delores explains she and her husband still like to attend for the tack, and for the atmosphere. So off went the Camden, New York residents on May 18, 2024, to see the sights and the bargains.
“I definitely was not there to buy a horse,” but the one she spotted with the perfect Overo pattern sure was pretty, she explains. “I was like, ‘Well, if he goes cheap enough, I’ll buy him… didn’t need another horse as when we built our retirement home, we built a 3-stall barn for a reason and we already had 3 horses.”
She adds that when she lost her beautiful Banner, her husband knew how heartbroken she was. “My hubby is the greatest and always wants me happy, so needless to say, he wanted to buy that horse for me no matter the price.” She planned on stopping at $3,000, but with the hype of the bidding process, she kept going, and finally, stopped at $4,500.
“Next thing you know my hubby starts bidding and every time the auctioneer looked at my hubby to see if he wanted to bid more, I would shake my head ‘No’ and Hubby would shake his head ‘Yes’,” Delores laughs. “Needless to say, the beautiful Paint came home with us and on our way home, hubby made the comment ‘That horse was coming home with us no matter what I had to spend on him!’”
The Magic of Social Media
Breeder Resse Phillips was ecstatic to find Million Dollar Ride, and she prompted provided baby photos!
She knew just by looking at him, her new gelding she named “Court” was well bred. But disappointed that with the price tag, he didn’t also come with papers, she figured it was worth a shot to post his photo on various Facebook groups to see if anyone recognized him.
On July 1, 2024, Delores posted a plea in the group APHA, PtHA Western Pleasure and Hunt Seat Prospects.
“Slim Chance but does anyone know this horse? I bought him a month ago and was told he was registered APHA but was selling without his papers. I would love to find out who he really is.”
Who knew if anyone would notice Delores’ post, or if anyone would recognize the horse she had purchased at an auction on May 18th? It indeed seemed to be a slim chance, so she went to bed.
However, within no time at all, the post exploded with comments. “I got so many comments, my phone was going off all hours of the night and one of my friends called me at like 4 am and was like you have to get on Facebook – you found his Identity!!”
Baby Million Dollar Ride! Photo from Resse Phillips.
Fellow Paint Horse lovers connected Delores to Court’s breeder, Resse Phillips, who identified the gelding as Million Dollar Ride, aka “Lotto,” born on April 6, 2015, by Hesa Special Hotrod and out of Vested Pine Vicky.
She also learned that day from Resse that he has successful full siblings — Ready Set Lets Ride, and Hesa Good Ride. “I own Cruz, aka Hesa Good Ride!” posted California APHA Amateur Spencer Chelwick. “He is a full sibling to your guy! We are competing at the APHA World Show right now. This is a really special line. You sure got a great one!”
After the show, Spencer posted an exciting update: “We were intermediate champs in both the amateur horsemanship (5th overall) and pleasure (bronze champs overall)! It was a great show!!!”
Delores was beside herself with joy, “I am literally so happy to hear this information.. we have found his true identity,” she wrote. “This is the only reason I like social media.. because of people like you all that have cared enough.”
Resse revealed, “We do our best to follow them through their life journey as long as owners are willing to keep us updated. So happy to have seen this post and be reconnected with Lotto! And be able to help his new momma. It’s absolutely amazing to see him again!! Hopefully I can stay updated and assist the new owner in obtaining his papers.”
Another image of young “Lotto,” aka “Court.” aka Million Dollar Ride.
Resse was also able to use the post to tag and connect with the the owner still listed on his papers, Cynthia Figueroa, even though she was not the last owner. “Wow, Lotto!” Cynthia exclaimed. “I will definitely sign his papers.” So Delores was able to get his papers and have him transferred into her name, she informed the other followers of the post. She was equally excited to see Zippos Sensation in his bloodlines, a horse she had planned on breeding to Banner one day.
How Did This Happen?
After some of the excitement peaked, the expected questions came – how had such a promising horse ended up at an auction? The story wasn’t clear, but Delores says at the sale barn, they normally have a 72-hour guarantee. “BUT when he came in the ring, they announced that he is selling AS IS, meaning he sells without any type of guarantee,” she explains.
“Wasn’t sure I would ever have this kind of pretty in my pasture again,” Delores wrote in June. Congratulations on such a happy ending!
Unfortunately, Court was four-legged lame, she says, after being sound the first three days, and after the suspected drugs wore off. Delores says, “The funny thing is you know how “bad horse dealers” make up stories behind why the horse is at an auction? Well, of course it was the usual ‘the people were getting a divorce blah blah song and dance.’ So because I didn’t know his name, I named him “Court Case” barn name Court. I thought that would be a funny show name for him.”
The happy ending, Delores adds, is that after seven months, things are looking better and they’ve gotten him 98% sound, and the plan is to show him if he has the talent. “If not, hopefully he will be sound enough to trail ride. I figured we would take the year to figure it out. The breeder and I have spoken and if for some reason I ever decide I no longer can keep him, she would like him back because she never wants him to end up at the auction again.”
Besides coming away with a million dollar ride, Delores also came away with a new perspective and an even bigger appreciation for the Paint Horse community.
“I really don’t have much use for social media because of all the crap that comes with it… but for a group to pull together like they did for this — IT’S AMAZING! One night I put that post on the page on Facebook before I went to bed, not really thinking I would find the owner, and overnight, he went from Court Case to Million Dollar Ride!”
