Breaking New Ground

The evolution of the Callaho Online Auction

- Dr Lizzie Harrison

Callaho’s inaugural 2020 Online Auction was an unprecedented success. Remarkably, and despite the COVID-19 crisis, the auction whipped up enormous interest, saw record-breaking prices and benefitted from the highest number of buyer registrations ever. Twenty-one years of early mornings, cold winters, long summer days and relentless devotion continue to pay off!

THE 2020 CALLAHO ONLINE AUCTION

Back in early 2020, in the face of the great challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Callaho team was forced to reconsider the stud’s traditional auction format. Following advice from major players overseas, they committed entirely to a new online model. International technical experts immediately began working on the first-of-its-kind sport horse auction portal in southern Africa.

Naturally, nerves ran high during the course of the transition. The economic impact of the pandemic was unclear, and there were some butterflies about the wider Callaho family adapting to the new format. But as auction day approached, excitement in the horse communities around the country was palpable.