The tent at Rita Crundwell's Dixon ranch is up and everything is ready for this weekend's auction. There are 319 horses and horse related equipment for sale. The auction is so large its generated world wide interest.
"It's an incredible place, beautiful place, beautiful horses and in the horse world she did things right," says Sally Atchue of Adams Center, New York.
Atchue drove 14-hours to bid on 2 or 3 of Crundwell's horses. Atchue is one of thousands of interested buyers who are previewing the sale. Beth Budreck drove down from Downers Grove to look for a horse for her daughter.
"The care of the horses, the stalls they live in, and the way they get taken care of is amazing," adds Budreck.
Not only have people traveled from all over the United States to bid on Crundwell's horses, calls have even come from as far away as Australia and Brazil.
"They're either world champions or are from world champions," adds Atchue, "They're high quality horses and they're all here in one place."
The quality of the horses is one of the reasons why the auction is generating so much buzz.
"There's good breeding, they are well taken care of and all the horses are different ages," says Budreck.
Rita Crundwell's name is also well known in the horse industry and that has helped draw people to the auction.
"This program has developed some major champions and not just ones that were purchased for show," says Mike Jennings of Professional Auction Services, "They actually put together a program that was producing its own world champions and that's not an easy task."
This is one of the largest sales the Federal Marshals have ever had to deal. Typically Federal Marshals don't forfeit live assets, but in this case they didn't have a choice. The Federal Marshals have spent $1.3 million taking care of Rita Crundwell's horses.
All money raised from the auction will go into a Federal Marshal Escrow account. The money can only be released by a court order.
