THE Warwick Saleyards were filled to the brim with locals and visitors alike for the Warwick Rodeo horse sale on Friday.

Run by McDougall and Sons, the annual sale attracts buyers from far afield and many Rose City residents looking for the ideal horses.

Auctioneer David McIvor was impressed with the size of the crowd.

"It's definitely one of the largest crowds I've seen there," Mr McIvor said.

"That annual rodeo week sale has been going for several decades now and it attracts buyers and onlookers who are here for the rodeo and campdraft but also a lot of local buyers and sellers."

Mr McIvor said in a larger yarding of horses, more than 70 ridden horses were on offer this year, 43 of which were sold to an average of $1600.

"It's probably a bigger yarding this year for the ridden horses - we'd normally offer about 50 but we had over 70 this year," he said.

"The vendor of the top-priced horse was Roger Ellison with a seven-year- old gelding and he was very happy with how he did.

"The top price isn't quite as high as last year's prices - I think it was a top of $8000 - but the better- quality horses sold to strong competition, with six horses in the offering making over $3000."

Another 240 horses were penned, averaged $380 at auction.

Mr McIvor said buyers of ridden horses were after good quality horses.

"There was certainly good value around that $2500 and $3000 mark," he said.

"I believe there was pretty good value there for people looking for a good work horse or campdraft horse.

"Lesser quality horses were very difficult to sell with less competition so you could see buyers were certainly looking for quality."