Arena Tracks by Penny Schlagel: Redfield

The evolution of the horse sale is a mystery to most, but I’m sure wherever the first one started, the same excitement and promise of what COULD be wafted through the air just as it does in 2024.  Fresh from cruising the stalls at the Barrel Futurities of America horse sale, I couldn’t help but think of the sale that marked my youth and the past of many a cowboy and cowgirl: the Redfield Horse Sale.  

The Redfleld Horse Sale begins and ends with the Lutter family of Redfield, S.D. Gilbert Lutter and Spud Bebo purchased the Redfield Sale Barn in the late 1960s from Dick Looby and hit the ground running selling pretty much anything on four legs – cattle, sheep, goats, hogs and horses. Gilbert and Zelda Lutter bought out the Bebos half interest in the mid 1970s, though the exact date is up for debate.  Gilbert was the auctioneer, but everyone knew that the bottom line was drawn by Zelda, a whiz with numbers and people. Zelda remembers the early days before computers when everything was done on paper and it all had to balance…and sometimes it didn’t. Those times lead to late nights and prompted Zelda to use a pencil with a really, really sharp point, a big eraser at her elbow. My cousin, Terry Schlagel, hired by the Lutters fresh out of auctioneering school, remembers a Friday after Thanksgiving in the 1970s when they combined the sheep and cattle sale due to the Holiday. They sold 2700 head of sheep and an unknown number of cattle. Terry couldn’t put a number on them as they didn’t get done with the sale until 4:45 am and even my quit-witted cousin was a little cotton headed by that time. The Lutters were smart folks and the next few decades had special sales the week after Thanksgiving.

The horse sales started early on in the sale barn history with Gilbert’s father, John Lutter. John raised Belgian work horses and GOOD ones.  He started his sales at the home place by Zell, SD, but thought it would be a good idea to combine a draft horse and saddle horse sale.  The first few years they had to sell the draft horses in the parking lot because the gentle giants wouldn’t fit through the doors to the sale ring.  Terry recalls a sale in the 1980s when Joe Seville came down from Canada to buy horses from John, leaving with 2 yearling fillies and a bill of $26,000. Those two fillies would have put Joe back nearly $79,000 today. Joe was likely bidding against Hugh Kendrick, another perennial buyer that didn’t hesitate to nod his head when buying draft prospects. John Lutter and the consignors also sold working and riding mules which would typically top the sale around $7,500. There weren’t many draft stock sales back in those days and the Redfeld Horse sale filled that void selling about 150-200 horses every year as well as the buggies, wagons and harnesses needed to use them.

The saddle horse sale was held twice a year: the last weekend in April and the last weekend in October.  They would list around 150 horses in the catalogs that Zelda would put together herself and drop in the mail.  She said 2-3 days after the catalogs went out the phone would start ringing and didn’t stop until a couple weeks after the sale. They also sold about 200 loose horses and that’s where the bargains could be found for a discerning buyer with some guts and a little luck. The Spring sale grossed the highest average as saddle horses were sold for spring and summer work. The Fall sale, with breeders selling their weanlings, was typically the bigger sale in terms of numbers. Both sales opened with a pretty healthy tack sale as well, which was handy as there weren’t many tack stores and the online phenomena was 30 years in the future.

Over the years, the Redfield Horse Sale had a number of auctioneers – Gilbert Lutter, Spud Bebo, Derold Mentzer, Joe Lutter, Bryan Lenocker (Gilbert’s son in law), my cousin Terry Schlagel, Jack Campbell, Harley Lamb, and Alan Odden to name a few.  One of my favorite stories was of Alan selling a horse ridden by then seven-year-old Shorty Garrett.  Alan said, “Folks, he wouldn’t even be offering this horse if he wasn’t getting married next week, but the boy needs the money.”  Apparently, that drew a laugh and caught Shorty a little off guard.  Another year, Robbie Rainer, a long time customer of the Redfield Horse Sale, sold a saddle one wintery April day, putting the check in the pocket of his winter jacket.  That October, at the fall horse sale, Rainer reached into his pocket to grab his gloves and found the check from the saddle sale earlier in the year.  He laughed and asked cousin Terry, who had written the check, if it was still good.  Well, of course it was.

Both Gilbert and Zelda look back on their years at the Redfield Livestock Auction with fondness.  They met some real characters and have memories and stories that most folks could never imagine.  Zelda misses the people, including good friends she made like Gwen and Jerry Fleece, but not the long hours and stress of complying with government regulations and guidelines.  However, the sale barn offered the Lutters and their 4 children, Joe, Wanda, Marsha and Barb, a means of living a life with livestock while supporting their family and giving them experiences to take with them into their future.  Joe lives on his grandparents’ place, raises draft and cutting horses and runs an auction service.  His children are all involved in the horse world in one way or another.  Wanda, a former Miss Rodeo South Dakota, calls northern Minnesota home. She still owns horses and continues to ride.  Marsha now lives near Milbank, SD and competes in team penning and sorting.  Barb resides near Tulare and is involved in the family horse business, competing in cutting and helping produce events at the family’s barn.

While the purpose of the Redfield Horse Sale was to buy and sell horses, it marked the beginning and end of the breeding and competition seasons in the horse world.  The spring sale was filled with hope and excitement for the coming summer season.  Everyone had a prospect they were buying or selling and even if they didn’t, they met at the sale to catch up and make plans for the summer.  The fall sale brought folks out to show off their program’s foals and prepare for winter and then spring foaling. The Redfield Horse Sale was a premier event during a time when there weren’t big barns with winter rodeos, ropings and barrel races and few people went to Arizona or Texas for the winter.  The fall sale gave people a chance to touch base before we all hunkered down for the winter.  And hunker down we did, only to emerge ready to get back at it…at the Redfield Horse Sale.