thinking about horse auctions

The article I just read at The Paulick Report, "YEARLING SCOPES MAY NOT REVEAL ISSUES AT EXERCISE" inspires a few thoughts. I always thought that buying horses at auction is not smart and I wonder why so many people do buy horses this way.

My wish is that breeders would sell their horses direct from the farm and skip all the sales prep and commissions to sales companies. I've noticed that sellers nearly always price their horses at double what buyers are willing to pay, so objectivity is definately a barrier to successful sales. If breeders can sell their horses objectively they can be successful doing it themselves. Expenses will be controlled, mob hype will be eliminated from the process, the horses will be better off, buyers will learn by seeing horses in their natural environment and by doing the research that they should do before buying a horse. Vet exams and scopes of horses for sale should be planned and negotiated between buyer and seller on a case by case basis.

I know that industry insiders like the big sales because they meet up with other insiders there and these meet-ups often drive their business, but the people who are paying for the horses rarely benefit from attending and buying at auctions versus private sales.