Working Ranch Magazine March/April 2025

opportunity to level up her horseman ship and give her horses a “real job” out side the arena has been irreplaceable. Flora typically trains five to 10 horses at any given time and has been selling them from a young age. After her childhood accident, she spent the next five years riding a new pony with Buck Brannaman which she passed down to her brother. “He was such a good pony, a great confidence booster and you don’t always hear that story. So my wheels got turning and I thought, ‘We need to start mak ing some nice ponies because there’s not enough good ponies out there.’” Always the entrepreneur, Flora found a paint pony on Craigslist for $500, and at 15 years old she and her brother drove four hours away with a Ziploc bag of cash to bring it home. “We rode her for a couple of years and sold her, which sparked some interest and got people paying attention. Then we bought a couple more, and when I got too tall, I started buying horses and trying to do the same thing. I started from the ground and just tried to figure it out as I went and somehow I survived,” Flora adds with a laugh. Five years later, Flora sells horses at some of the most well-respected horse sales out west. In 2024 Flora consigned her 2019 Palomino gelding “Queso,” at her first invitational, the Art of the Cowgirl Elite Horse Sale. For sales like this, a seller can submit a form to be considered for consignment, but not everyone gets approved. You’ll need to provide extensive information and submit professional photos — and first-time consignors are also required to have a full sale video to showcase whether a horse is broke and ready to sell. Once accepted, you want to make sure your horse is in and stays in the best possible shape. Since require ments vary from sale to sale, make sure your horse is up to date on any vaccination or vet checks a specific sale requires prior to the event. “The most important thing when selling horses to the public is they have got to be gentle, gentle, gentle

NICOLE POYO NICOLE POYO

Angels Tricklin Smoke, a 2019 AQHA Mare, is consigned to the 2025 Pitchfork Ranch Horse Sale by Flora Belle Horses

Flora Binninger

and they’ve got to be able to fit just about anyone,” says Flora. “If you take a horse to a sale, it better be pretty much flawless, where the horse is going to fill in for any level of rider, and you should be able to put your kid on ‘em or Grandma, and if you can’t, you better very clearly advertise that.” According to Flora, consistently sharing Instagram reels, stories, and Facebook posts about your horse is critical to generating interest. “It’s really important to keep that presence on social media and keep your horse in people’s minds. Few people are apt to go watch your seven or eight-min ute-long sale video on YouTube,” she explains. “They’re on their phone, on

their social media, so that’s where you need to post them. Especially as you start getting close to sale day.” When it comes to the content that best showcases your horse to poten tial buyers, Flora says to get creative, especially in the months leading up to the sale. “I try to throw every thing I can at ‘em. You want to think of unique things that people haven’t done where it catches a buyer’s eye. It’s not just your horse loping circles, it’s loping circles, bareback, with a tarp flying off of them.” “Versatility is so important. I don’t try to pigeonhole them into any par ticular discipline, they’re going to be good at all of it, or they’re at least going

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