For you locals who’d been going nuts over this
Jan 31 2010
Remember how Dean Solomon got some hapless person to buy a Thoroughbred mare for her at the December Enumclaw Auction? A mare that she’d owned before and given away to someone who apparently dumped her at the sale yet again?
Well, Dean never picked up the mare (good) but whoever the idiot is (someone named Shelly? No, no one that I know, some Shelly in Orting, I believe) didn’t take care of her, either, and now she looks like this. As we all know, birds of a feather flock together so it is no big surprise that a pal of Dean’s would let a mare get into this condition.
Her breeder had indicated to me previously that they would be interested in helping her, so I’ve just sent them an e-mail. Â Hopefully they are still interested.
Oh, and Dean? JUST FUCKING STOP IT, WILL YOU? You’re not helping. If you hadn’t bid on this mare, she might have gone to a real home or been picked up by a real rescue. Just sit your photoshopped ass down in front of the computer and stop going to auctions. You going to the auction is like an alcoholic going to a wine-tasting. JUST STOP. Â At the point where you have to plead guilty to animal cruelty, that is a sign that your rescue career is OVER. Â Find something new to collect, something that doesn’t breathe or eat.
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Sorry for the OT post, but does this mean that the Canadian horse meat market is about to close to American horses?
http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/fssa/meavia/man/ch17/annexee.shtml#e4
Wow.
I haven’t had a chance to read up on this and see how they intend to enforce those new regulations, but sheesh…remind me to bathe all my horses in Furacin as a preventative measure!
Honestly, IS there an American horse who hasn’t had Furacin used on him?
haha, bute’s on that list (Phenylbutazone). I’d like to know what percentage of old horses sold at auction HAVEN’T ever been buted!
I read somewhere that the horse has to have a certificate saying that they have been disease free and chemical free for 6 months. How they plan to inforce that, I’m not sure. I think anyone can SAY that the horse is disease free. Hell, a feed lot is a breeding ground for infections and illness!
http://www.horse-canada.com/?p=3135
Here’s another link on the same topic.
double edged sword type of thing. no american horses going to canada for slaughter, yay! what’s left? mexico, a true living/dying hell after the torture of transport. if i could pick and choose, i’d rather it be mexico that refuses our horses, but then, of course we all would pick a no slaughter option if we had it.
My largest fear from this happening is that all the horses will now be trucked to Mexico, which is a horrible situation made even worse due to the method they use (JMO). I’m curious to hear if the EU will require Mexico to come up with standards also. IF that happens, it’s going to be a wonderful day for all horses and the people that love them.
That’s interesting. All European horses must now have passports which specify if they will ever be slaughtered for meat. If you choose “no” for your horse, it indicates that you will be using medications for it which will be dangerous for human consumers. Also, handily, it means that a horse that has gone out of your possession cannot be legally sent to slaughter for meat by the new owner.
I have 3 European horses all microchiped all with Passports…I didnt see the box where it says .” not for slaughter” The passport thing is just to hold vaccine documents so you can travel in and out of the different countries, it will never save your horses life, because not all horses have them, and they are not always checked going in and out of all countries. Here in Switzerland they dont go to “slaughter” but you can choose to have your horse go to the local butcher if you want .. where he will walk your horse to the back of the barn and shoot it in the head. Switzerland is very civilized…also ..ALERT …new law being enforced… no more stalled horses of any size. yep, you must show that your horsey has a proper turnout that he can get to , I dont know the exact measurements… but vets are to report you if you dont have a big enough turnout for ALL horses.. I love this new law.
@bowlerised: actually, the passport rule for european equines is not, ehrm, well, THAT new. In Germany a passport for all equines became mandatory at June 1st, 2000. And indicating your horse for “not to be slaughtered for human consumption” means exactly that. It`s perfectly legal and possible to haul your horse to the slaughterhouse to get it killed. It just won`t land on anyones table as dinner.
@krissy3:
well, Switzerland is in the European Union – geographically. But Switzerland is NOT a member of the European Union, which means basically, that the laws and regulations of the EU are not mandatory for Switzerland, hence no common European horsepassports for Switzerlands horses.
In Germany exist different kinds of horsepassports. The ones for the grade horses are usually green, and if you`re looking for the “slaughter/non-slaugther” thing – it`s on page 8 (in German, French and heck, even English). The ones for registered horses are usually dark red, I don`t know on which page to look there…
In general: The horsepassport serves different purposes. Identifying the horse, giving informations about measurements (if the “horse” is a “pony”…), vaccinations, former owners yadda yadda yadda…and well, yes, it also gives information about the horses “slaughter/not for slaughter”-status, which can be changed from “slaughter” to “not for slaughter”, but not vice versa.
Sorry for being Ms know-it-all, but sometimes there are misinformations I just HAVE to correct.
To clarify my sloppily worded post:
1) by Europe I meant the EU
2) I know that passports aren’t new, but stories about the “no slaughter” side only appeared in the UK press last year (again I can go check my facts). I am a Brit in Germany researching a book on horses, but I get my horse news in English.
And yes, a horse can still be killed in a slaughter house, but if kill buyers make no profit buying “no slaughter” horses which can’t be turned into meat, then I think fewer horses will end up being killed in slaughter houses. The meat men’s pool will be reduced. Whether or not they get a humane end remains, of course, the responsibility of humans.
I’ve also heard (anecdotally) that horse auctions are becoming rarer (at least in the area I’m working on) because the welfare regulations governing them in the UK are now so strict and horses that are in a sorry physical state cannot be sold. This I got from a long-established horse rescue. Not sure if the law for that is UK or EU though.
In the UK there are only a handful of working horse abbatoirs (I’ve read that 80% of the horses slaughtered in them are TBs – often those who didn’t even make it to the race course. That’s a fact I need to check). The problem which has gone on forever ( I’ve been digging up parliamentary EDMs and clippings going way back) is the long distance transport of British horses to the Continent for the meat trade. Some horses without the “no slaughter” tick will still get shipped over, but campaigners are, at least, working on trying to get legislation to stop the long distance transport:
http://equinerescuefrance.wordpress.com/2010/01/31/deadline-fast-approaching-for-meps-to-sign/
http://www.worldhorsewelfare.org/help-tomorrow/hannahs_diary
The problem is that it is so easy to get passports that if a horses passport says “No Slaughter” as all mine do, if the person that steals or buys them at auction wishes to take them for slaughter out of the country it is the work of a moment to get a new passport. So, they safeguard nothing, really. Added to which the enforcing of regulations at the ports varies from port to port and form ferry to ferry. I have exported many horses to Ireland….form whence they can go down into Southern Ireland and then out, with new passports, form Dublin over to France with no problems at all.
Please do not think the passport scheme is anything except another con to force horse owners to pay for money.
Noe they now where we are they can enforce the Equine Tax they are considering . After all, all horse owners are rich, aren’t they??
Krissy you will not be quite so joyful when you realise that the law does not take into account the size of the horse, and that you may be forced to supply and acre for each of your tiny animals, and to allow them to roam free on this acreage, not even allowed to break it up with electric fencing…this is the law being suggested here, and if it works, it is the one that the EU will adopt!!!
Just remember, one of the main reasons they closed American slaughter houses was because they couldn’t weren’t able to enforce the humane regulations.
Thank you for pointing that out. It is often lost in the insanity that ensues in these discussions.
Well from what I can see, at this moment in time, all that these new regulations will do is is slow down the asembly line a little bit.
Horses that don’t have the proper paper work will just be held for 6 months, and then be put in the line. Unfortunatily it will also mean that the horses that were bred specificly to go to slaughter will not only have no wait time at the yards. But that some owners will withhold treatment of an illness or injury just so that their horses will still be marketable.
In no way will it inhibit horses coming from the US since these forms can be forged. There are people who make their living buying and shipping horses to the slaughter house, and some of them have no moralls at all and will simply claim that they have owned the animal for over 6 months.
So unless these new forms require a copy of the bill of sale, (and even then some of those can be forged) then there will still be medicated horses going into the kill line.
Actually, I don’t think a feedlot/kill buyer will want to keep any horses around for 6 months! That’s a lot of mouths to feed. So, yes, I’m hoping this puts many kill buyers out of business.
The full thread: Here
And I hope Serenity will be persuing Animal Control for charges against the woman who allowed the horse to get into this condition.
I am also posting OT, I already searched horsereunions, but I am looking for the full brother to my paint mare. His name is Yukon Juan, by Cortando Juan out of Waconda. From allbreedpedigree it looks like he is sorrel tovero, but I am not sure, he would be 28 years old right now, born in 1982. My mare is Annaconda, born in 1986. I mostly want to see what Anna would look like if she had not been born solid
Do some picture swapping. Both were bred in Washington I believe, the mare (waconda) was in Arlington?
Oh the poor girl. I just want to take her home and love on her. One of my mares wasn’t quite that badly, but she was headed that way before she was rescued.
Is someone doing something for this horse? Do we need to rally the troops to get her placed or helped in some way?
Patricia is overburdened like all of the rescues, and could certainly use a new home for the mare – or at least donations. Let’s hope the breeder steps up to take her back like they said.
OT, and I’m sure you’ve heard about this already, but another clusterf**k with too many horses, no money, substance abuse maybe, etc etc:
http://forums.arabianbreeders.net/topic/33743-arabians-in-ohio-in-desparate-need-of-homes/
I will never understand how someone can go on with their life, as if nothing was wrong, while horses are starving to death right outside their house. It’s just a mental state that I cannot imagine.
You know, I feel like I should blog on that, but what do I have to say that will even be new? It’s the same situation AGAIN. That hosebag was telling people their horses that were with her were “safe and spoiled” A WEEK AGO!
So anyway, for reference: Hosebag Du Jour is Robin O’Neil of Far Niente Farm. And horses that those of you who are into Arabians would have died to own are now dead because the hosebag let them starve.
By the way, let’s also talk about who else has blood on their hands: EVERY SINGLE PERSON who went to her farm but didn’t do anything. If you reported her to A.C., great, you’re off the hook. But if you didn’t do anything then you might as well have locked those horses in a stall without food yourself.
I’m so sick of people being spineless and covering up for people like this. You can’t tell me nobody else ever went to her farm. People went. They didn’t report her and they sure as heck didn’t out her on the Internet or these horses could have saved. It’s really simple, you just pretend like you’re texting and snap pictures with your camera phone when you walk into these situations. That way you have proof of what you saw and people know it is not just gossip and back-stabbing.
I know, it just makes you want to scream. And then, right after the thread about the Ohio horses was started on ABN, someone in Texas died and now there are 42 Arabs there that need homes as well. Doesn’t seem like they are starving, but it can’t be good for them that the owner’s family doesn’t want to have anything to do with them.
So d**n frustrating!
Made a mistake – the 42 Arabs needing homes are in Grass Valley CA, not Texas. But still….
Cathy– Here is a link to an allegorical story that speaks to your feelings in this particular post:
[FHOTD: link removed by request -- replacement link is downthread]
I was introduced to this story over a decade ago by a dear friend of mine who died (too young) recently.
It is clear that you know how to convert your passion and anger into constructive action. For what I have learned from this blog and for all the animals you help–thank-you, I appreciate this about you.
Wow, are her other stories as incredible and thought provoking as this one?
Where would one find these short stories? Are they published somewhere?
Ursula LeGuin is a well known fantasy writer, with dozens of published books (many of which I own). The Wind’s Twelve Quarters is my favorite short story collection.
BTW, folks, that story is still in copyright, so posting that link is illegal. In case anyone cares anymore.
Posting the link to the original copy writed work is not illegal – copying the story and posting on your own blog is illegal.
Actually, PRS, the jury is out on linking to copyrighted material and there are several big lawsuits going on right now that will set precedent for such questions. It doesn’t really matter anyway, as we all know. What’s “legal” is usually defined by which side has the bigger pockets.
For those of you who pointed out the illegality of posting a link to a site that has Ursula LeGuin’s entire short story titled “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas–” you are correct. I contacted Ursula LeGuin’s literary agent about this and learned that yes, it is illegal to post a link that leads to copyrighted work which is illegally posted on another site. Because of this, I have asked Cathy to remove the illegal link. I mistakenly thought the link would fall under the definition of “fair use” since no money was being exchanged for the story and it was just one story in a collection. I was wrong and I learned something–so thank-you! (Should have checked first….)
“The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” appears in her book “The Winds Twelve Quarters.” It is thought-provoking and serves to support Cathy’s particular point in her post here. Your library either has it or can possibly borrow it from another library for you, or you can purchase it from Amazon.com new or for a used price of 99 cents.
Here is a (legally okay
link to this book on Amazon: The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula LeGuin at Amazon
I just looked at her Robins Word Blog (http://www.robinsword.com/About__Biography_.php) – a dangerous mixture of addiction, recovery[well we'll see about that] and crazy religion. Could these be interconnected? Time for a PubMed search on that issue. Very sad, very sad
I couldn’t make this up – she has a Recovery Dating site also [http://www.recoverymeanslife.com/Press_Release.html].
Morgan Horse Queen, animal hoarding is a mental illness. Hoarders don’t realise their animals aren’t healthy. You’d think they would, but they really don’t. You or I see body scores of 1 or 2, they see some projection of Flicka or The Black or whatever their inner equine dream is.
There are many cases of small animal hoarders where the carcasses of dead animals weeks, months, even years dead have been found in a hoarder’s home that the hoarder swore were just sleeping. There are cases where the hoarder was sleeping in the same bed with dead animals. In other words, some hoarders are so out of touch with reality that they cannot tell if an animal is alive or dead.
It’s an exaggeration of a normal human tendency. Haven’t you ever seen a horse that was nothing special whose owner insisted it had great conformation? It’s so common, it’s called stable blindness. Hoarders have an extreme and dysfunctional version of this common type of delusion.
People with normal mental health keep doing reality checks. For instance, someone who thinks their horse has great potential in some field don’t just assume it is true, they reality check by showing. If the horse does have great potential, then they have the ribbons to show for it and if it turns out not to be the case, a normal person figures out how to re-adjust their perception of that horse.
While I do not think hoarders should be left to neglect and kill animals, I don’t think it helps to call them names or deride them. It’s like deriding someone for having cancer; being mentally ill is nothing anyone consciously decides to do. People with mental illness are suffering just as people with physical illnesses do but unfortunately, there are generally not many options for treatment.
I appreciate what you are saying. I deal with people with mental health issues almost every day. However, if you’ll read through the thread on ABN about this person, it doesn’t appear to be just a hoarding situation. She seems to have a lot more going on there than just hoarding.
I don’t believe I called her names either – I’m just expressing a lot of frustration that once again, innocent horses have had to suffer. And to be perfectly honest, I don’t understand the mental states of many of the people I deal with IRL. That doesn’t mean I don’t have any compassion for them and try to do what I can to help them and their children, but I truly don’t understand how their brains work. That’s just a fact.
Morgan Horse Queen, my apologies. I started off replying to the post where you said you couldn’t understand the mindset and then I veered off into a different direction altogether, without indicating I’d left your post behind.
And to be perfectly honest, I don’t understand the mental states of many of the people I deal with IRL. That doesn’t mean I don’t have any compassion for them and try to do what I can to help them and their children, but I truly don’t understand how their brains work. That’s just a fact.
good lord….I hope and pray you are not a “mental health professional.”
I hope she is one.
I’ve come across a few situations in which the mental health professional’s sense of empathy outweighed their grounding in reality, they got sucked into the ill person’s world and became almost an enabler instead of helping them.
No I’m not a mental health professional. I’m a court appointed special advocate and have represented the best interests of around 30 kids in neglect, abuse, and dependency cases in the last 4 years. I don’t see the problem in holding those two concepts in my head at the same time – I care a lot, a lot about the kids I represent. If I didn’t, I certainly wouldn’t spend significant amounts of volunteer time trying to help them. Why does being honest and saying I don’t understand their parents mind set cancel that out? In fact that’s the only way I’ve been able to deal with some of the cases I’ve worked on is to accept that I don’t understand the parents. It doesn’t mean I consider them subhuman or don’t treat them with kindness. It just means that people who do some of the really awful (and I do mean AWFUL) things that these parents have done work from an entirely different frame of reference than I do. The hugely different ways we treat our children are proof positive of that.
OT: They haven’t touched her in 2 years… but they want a good home for her so they’ll be picky. Oh yeah, and she’s 21yo.
http://www.equinenow.com/horse-ad-251422
Hopefully someone will get that poor mare!
OT: From my neck of the woods:
31 horses rescued in Ottawa County cruelty case
31 horses rescued; 6 others euthanized near Oak Harbor
Volunteers assist neglected horses in Ottawa County
The last week has seen the temperature down in the low single digits, mid-January it was colder yet. The fact these horses have survived so far is a miracle. I’m off tomorrow and am planning on going to the fairgrounds to help out. You said before, Fugs, that soaked beet pulp is okay, right? If so, I’ll take a couple of bags with me.
Sorry if I screwed that up, here are the individual links:
http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100130/NEWS16/100139977
http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100131/NEWS16/1310323
http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100201/NEWS16/2010336
If hot water is available that will help keep them warm – plus the beet pulp will expand much faster.
Could someone confirm that this mare did go to Serenity Equine Rescue so that folks can make donations to help for her care. Folks like me! Thank you, Rg
That is my understanding. If you wish to donate, of course do so, but I want it clear that I never asked or encouraged anyone to donate to Serenity on this blog. It is not run responsibly. She’s had “oops” foals out of rescue mares and there are other issues. I’m hoping the breeders take this mare back or she is quickly adopted.
Cat – Have you EVER been to Serenity?? Have you ever met Patricia in person? I really like what you do here, I really do! I hate these abusers as much as the next person. But I will NOT stand by when someone drags Patricia’s name through the mud!! I’ve known Patricia before she rescued horses, though I think she’s been rescuing animals her whole life. Patricia is an AMAZING person! She has a HUGE heart of gold. Serenity is immaculate! Every horse has a large turnout, every horse has a stall of run-in shelter, every horse has a blanket, every horse is handled and loved on by Patricia, every horse is very well fed, and every horse is taken care of medically. She took immaculate care of Exclusive Report, yet you slam her?? I don’t get it!
And yes, there were accidental babies. SHIT happens! But considering what heroic work she has done, give the lady a break! And for those of you that don’t know, Patricia took on Dean Solomon single handedly. Dean Solomon’s shit hit the fan BECAUSE of PATRICIA!! Patricia took on 30 some horses of Dean’s and either rehabilitated them, or found them proper foster homes or permanent homes! For those of you who have never been to her website I invite you to go and take a look at Sequoia and Lakota, those were both Dean Solomon’s horses: http://serenityequinerescue.com/contactus.aspx
And read about Patricia’s fight to expose racehorse trainer Robby Baze, who illegally dumped 3 VERY thin horses at the Enumclaw auction: http://serenityequinerescue.com/test.aspx. Not only does Patricia take in starved & abused horses, she is also out there FIGHTING for them!!
Then make up your own mind.
If you want to help this mare, then yes, make a donation to Serenity. The horse will receive the best care, lots of love, and a bright future.
I’m sorry, SHIT DOES NOT JUST HAPPEN!
There are a TON of people here who own stallions and they do not get in with the mares and make accidental babies!
Even if they DID, YOU ABORT THEM! Simple process. I know for a fact Dr. DeWard knows how to do it. You don’t produce more crappy grade horses that will end up needing to be rescued. You don’t contribute to the problem.
Sorry, but we could discuss Patricia’s mistakes all day. Has she done some good? Sure. Has she done some harm? Yep. Is she a rescue I will ever endorse, recommend or tell people to give money to? Good lord, no. She just doesn’t make the cut – based on the oops babies alone.
Oh and while we’re at it, it’s total bullshit to give Patricia credit for Dean being busted. King County Animal Control worked on that case for years. Tons of people reported Dean. It was very much a community effort that Patricia was a part of, but not singlehandedly responsible for.
I’m not here to fight or argue, I just want people to know the kind of person that Patricia is. And believe it or not, I absolutely understand everything you are saying here, except of course comparing her to Dean, which as you know is absolutely ridiculous. I know there has been a lot of frustration on the board regarding number of horses etc. and other issues. I really get it and understand it, but I don’t think it’s fair to slam her on that basis, considering all the good she has done and considering what her INTENT is. Intent is huge, and her intent is all about the animals and what is good for them compared to these hoarders or selfless people that don’t give a crap about the animals.
If a ran a rescue, I know it would be incredibly difficult for me to turn away an abused/starved animal.
Please don’t run a rescue, ever, if you can’t say no.
Intent is behind most of these complete train wrecks – all these people will tell you how much they love horses, but they still take in too many and get overwhelmed. That’s not love. That’s about getting attention for your rescue efforts, staying in the spotlight, and getting donations.
As for hoarders, EVERY ONE OF THEM will tell you how much they love their animals. That is par for the course. It’s entirely because they love them (in a twisted way) that they cannot place them in other homes that could care for them.
I’ve posted before – intent is completely, totally irrelevant to me. Results are what matter. Either you get the job done in rescue, which means things like effectively quarantining, preventing accidental breedings, cleaning up injuries, being able to call the vet EVERY time a horse needs it, having a sensible plan to provide feed and not making emergency OMG I NEED HAY! posts on Craigslist, etc. or you don’t. I don’t give a crap what your intentions, dreams or warm fuzzy feelings are. I only care about whether or not you can effectively do the job of rescue.
I don’t even care if I like you or you hate me. There are people who can’t stand me that I think are doing a fine job rescuing and I’ve supported their rescues and always will as long as the standard of care continues as it has been.
Is Patricia Dean? No. But is her rescue up to the standard that it would need to be to be promoted on this blog? No. It’s up to her which direction she goes with it. If she cut down her numbers by half to make things more affordable and stopped stabling stallions near mares (one mare was bred through the fence) and, oh, by the way, stop STANDING stallions that haven’t done a damn thing but look pretty, then she could improve her reputation. I’m not holding my breath.
No, accidental foals should NEVER happen! We’ve had stallions for 12 years and we have NEVER had a stallion get loose with the mares. Our stallion field does not abut the mares’ field. There are at least two post and board fences between them. Colts are removed from the fillies and mares at weaning time-never to return.
Redflower – I have been to Serenity, many times. Yes, the facility is gorgeous. It’s also on the county’s sh!t list for code violations and permit issues.
Yes, Patricia loves the horses. Love is not enough. And she’s just one person – she doesn’t have time to love on every horse there (as many as 30 at a time) on a daily basis. Her own horses mostly do nothing but stand around eating their heads off (as horses will do). Every time the facility gets down to a number of horses (hers and rescues) that’s small enough for her and the regular volunteers (a fluctuating number) to actually pay attention to each one on a daily basis, she brings in more, regardless of the rescue’s financial condition.
One oops foal is “sh!t happens”. Three oops foals is not, it’s lack of stallion containment and carelessness.
Yes, she cleaned up Dean Solomon’s mess, and I’ve never seen any but a just-arrived horse at Serenity in the condition that so many of Dean’s horses were in. Sadly, Patricia has let herself be overwhelmed and has put the entire operation at risk. If you know an “angel” who can provide the money needed to bring the place up to code and has the strength of personality to get Patricia to stick to what she CAN do as opposed to what she WANTS to do, please drag him/her out to Serenity post-haste.
And see, this is just more fodder for the myth that stallions CAN’T be contained, that they’re wild uncontrollable beasts and therefore a rescuer shouldn’t own a stallion or a rescuer can’t have a separate breeding operation. Obviously that is a thorn in my side, personally.
Patricia has had many angels step in and donate thousands (tens of thousands- heck she had a $150,000 grant from Milgard in 2008) and she repeatedly takes in too many horses and she does not follow a budget nor does she properly account for rescue money.
I am not someone who was kicked off the board- wrong guess. Ask her for her records on that- I don’t think she has “kicked” anyone off the board- everyone has quit- look at her record, everyone leaves- even her most loyal supporters because she is out of control— THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR HER ALLOWING RESCUE MARES TO GET PREGNANT. Period. None. How can you defend that?
tell me what any of you would do if you got a dog from the pound and found out it was pregnant from the foster home’s breeding stud?
Tell me how she keeps her hay- does she store all that hay you are all donating seperately or is everyone who donates feeding Patricia Clark’s personal arabian breeding business? Yeah, she still studs her horses out- her friesian AND her arab…she is a very sick cute little old lady, that is what she is.
Redflower, you will end up exactly where every single person who supports Patricia is- you will see her for what she is… it is all a good act at first then you start catching her in bald faced lies.
I would like to say that I think you made things quite a bit worse by replying this way. Fugly only said she didn’t want to be seen as advocating this rescue as it does not meet her standards. Now you’ve brought up all the reasons she feels that way, in detail. Good job.
No shit?! Obviously that wasn’t my intent! But when tb rocks compared Patricia to Dean, which is so outrageous, well that pushed me over the edge.
Here is what I know about Patricia’s involvement with Dean Solomon’s case:
1. posted on her website is a letter of commendation FROM King County.
http://serenityequinerescue.blogspot.com/2009/03/king-county-animal-control-letter-to.html
2. people reported Dean for years – EXACTLY CORRECT– while KCAC did NOTHING It doesn’t take YEARS to bring down a person who has 96 starving, neglected horses on their property. KCAC watched for years and let it go. Period.
3. Patricia had to legally threaten KCAC and get the media out there BEFRORE they would do anything.
4. KCAC totally BOTCHED the job and that’s why Dean’s not in jail yet.
5. KCAC screwed Patricia with a loophole – making sure the horses were surrendered and confiscated so that she never received a penny of compensation. She DID their job and they got paid for it.
Redflower – nobody here has said that Patricia has never done a good thing. But what you’re pointing to happened years ago. What people here are talking about is ongoing and systemic mismanagement of horses and infrastructure. Lack of proper containment, lack of quarantine, too many animals for the property, too many animals for the available hands, horses able to move freely in and out of fences, stallions not effectively penned, overreaching available funds…
In isn’t my policy to use foul language, but redflower, you really need to pull your head out f your ass. Patricia supporters are either a) people who know next to nothing about horse care, or b) former Dean supporters. Patricia is a hoarder, hands down. I’ve been there when the stallions broke their gate and were running loose with the mares. She says “That’s OK, the more the merrier.” The fencing is dangerous and not suitable for any horse, let alone stallions. She allowed her stallions to cover many rescue mares and didn’t even know they were pregnant when they went to new homes.
Why would you rescue mares and then breed them, creating non-papered offspring for which there is no market (other than with the meat man)?
Patricia has had over a half dozen “freak accidents” in the last year resulting in horses being put down. Freak accidents are not freak anymore when they happen multiple times.
Patricia lies. She is broke and doens’t have money to support the horses. I’ve been there when there isn’t enough hay to feed everyone. How do you choose which horse eats and which ones go hungry? It was the same at Dean’s. Pathetic and a poor excuse for a 501(c)3.
WOW! Maybe you should switch your policy since you seem to know how to use foul language quite well. My head isn’t up my f ass and one) I know how to take care of my horses very well thank you and 2) I certainly wasn’t a Dean Solomon follower so look whose fucking head is up whose fucking ass!
RF – I wasn’t referring to you. What’s up with all the defense? Feeling guilty about something?
It won’t let me reply that many layers in, but how could you NOT expect RF to feel attacked when you clearly stated you were referring to Patricia’s supporters, after RF has been defending her?
I don’t know Patricia, I haven’t been to her place, but I do know BS when I smell it. I intend to go out there and form my own opinions – as should anyone who wants to support ANY rescue.
Quite a few of Paricia’s supporters (past and present) are people who never heard of Dean, and more than one is a quite competent horse person. Patricia has tremendous power of personality, she sucks people in with her apparent compassion and dedication to the horses. Very few are able to see through from the beginning, most only learn over time just how wide the gap is between reality and Patricia’s vision.
But many of us feel sufficient anger and frustration from our experiences at Serenity that we just might say “anyone who believes in Patricia needs a reality check” or something less kind.
Thanks zebra!
And, excuse me tb rocks, let me quote you “In isn’t my policy to use foul language, but redflower, you really need to pull your head out f your ass.” And so yes, I get a little pissy when someone is telling me my head is up my ass! And, I don’t have anything to feel guilty about.
Ugh, so sorry I asked…..I did not realize that this was the case and that my question would create such an argument. My intentions were good, but I will sit on the sidelines on this one.
Oh, don’t feel bad, I’m highly entertained.
*eats popcorn*
Sorry, but it is just absolutely f$%#@*& pathetic that I live clear across the country and I KNEW about the horrors of Dean Solomon way before I stumbled on this blog, and that the public still needs to be warned away from her photoshopped fat ass! Fugs, you are providing a public service.
I agree! Infact Fugs, maybe you could get some kind of govt funding for all of the public service you have provided through all these years. Think of how many foals havent been bred and how many unwanteds have been rescued and placed because of you. Snarky or not, you say what needs to be said and you try to educate those who need it and want to learn. You do provide a service and every city should start requiring thier animal control officers to read on a weekly basis or put together a book of some of your material for them to test on. Maybe you could get funding to tour and give responsible horse ownership classes!
Whatever, I just hope you realize how much good you do every day
Yep-as soon as I wrote that I started wailing and lamenting about where my tax $$$ are going, and sadly, they certainly are not supporting the Fugly censure and education efforts!
Between the picture of the mare and the ones coming up on Joe’s TBFriends blog this morning, I am going to go outside in a few minutes and overfeed my horse. What is WRONG with people who are so clueless or blind or in a state of denial that they cannot ask for help?
I take lessons from a gal who put it very well: “Mankind has domesticated these animals, so we OWE them.”
It is called “being a good steward,” and it means not having animals if your budget and “busy schedule” do not allow. Period.
Fugs, you are correct about Miz Solomon. She needs help (or a straitjackete), and so does the person who bought the mare for her and then permitted the mare to deteriorate to the point of the picture. Let us hope the mare will recover.
People like these two women are pathetic.
Poor horse– What happened to her leg? Did this woman just take her, and dump her in a pasture with a bunch of other horses waiting for her “friend” Dean to come and get her?
I can’t believe this Dean woman is still able to get her hands on horses after everything I’ve read on the internet about her for at least the past two years. I had gotten snookered in by her other friend– the one who ran CBER– I can’t recall her name.
OT- And on the topic of the new rules about horse meat in Canada– I wondered why this was taking so long to happen given that the Europeans are so picky and strict about animal tracking and where meat comes from there.
One of our horses ended up in Germany– as a show horse and stallion– not on a dinner plate. His owner wrote me recently to explain that all horses have a “pasport” that follows the horse for life– on that pasport. In addition to a health record with list of medications, etc., the owner can specify if the horse may be slaughtered, or may not be slaughtered, and that is recorded on the passport.
She was very quick to say that “Ham” and all of their TWHs have had their pasports marked “Not for Slaughter.”
I made very sure to explain to her that much of the horse meat being sold in Europe as being from “wild American Mustangs” is actually meat from disgarded totally tame horses such as former race horses that have been exposed to numerous drugs that would have made them “unfit for human consumption” had they have been European-bred animals.
She was shocked– and though her family does not eat horse meat– she said she would quickly tell everyone she knew the “truth” about the imported horse meat for sale in sale in Germany, because she said there were people who saw nothing wrong with eating horse meat, but would not if they knew about the drugs and chemicals they could be eating as well.
I figure another way to help end horse slaughter is to try to dry up the demand for it.
I wish there was a group working as hard to spread this information in Europe as they are to pass legislature here. Think how much of a difference it could make if the issue was attacked from both sides.
“I figure another way to help end horse slaughter is to try to dry up the demand for it.”
Right On! We need another couple thousand like you, EFF. That takes care of Canada, now how to tackle Mexico (and Miami.)
I’m going to take a page from your book and broach the subject with the Latinos I know (I’m taking Spanish lessons, maybe they will end up being useful.)
“I had gotten snookered in by her other friend– the one who ran CBER– I can’t recall her name.”
Her name would be $am, just and fyi.
When will people start googling? How hard is it to spend five seconds looking and seeing if someone or a rescue has been charged, or alleged (not one or two, but when we have a whole corus singing the same song….. hmmmm) to abuse or neglect animals. Or if they have a history of dumping their poor show jumper at auction because he wasn’t sound *bangs head against desk*. If people did this, than the greedy would be forced out of buisness, because no one would want anything to do with the scum of the earth. And if the scum of the earth want to flock together. Good. One big mass the rest of us honest people can avoid. People like Solomon and Hsue need just need to be put on a desert island, away from the rest of us. Perfect example of someone trying to make $$$ of helpless animals, and a person who has the $$$$ but refuses to spend the $$$$ on the show jumper that packed her sorry ass around, and kept her safe……. When will people learn, that these types of people won’t change, even when their stuck in a jail cell?
Im trying to figure out the difference between Dean and Serenity… property issues- check. Too many horses for property- check. No quarantine- check. Allowing breeding of rescues- check. Why does anyone support them?
Because Patricia talks a very good story, and unless you’re part of the local horse community, it’s easy to be taken in. Even if you are part of the community, you see the horses and the need and it’s hard to turn away.
She has undeniably done good things, but anytime the facility gets to a number that can be easily managed, she brings in more until she’s right up against her farm plan limit. Plus there have been three oops foals born to mares there, two of them rescues.
There are plenty of other issues that are going to come out over time.
If you wonder why she’s managed for so long…there have been criticisms from the start, but many of her detractors either got their facts wrong or exaggerated for effect, which made them ineffective. The simple truth would have been a better choice.
I am a part of the local horse community, and I will stand by Patricia, any day. Perhaps you are bitching about the three paints she just took in a month or so ago? There is/was a stallion (I’m not sure if he got gelded yet, because these horses were basically wild when she got them), pregnant mare and baby by her side. These 3 horses plus one more were being chased by people riding quads (and I use the word people loosely here, more like monsters)). They hit one horse in the leg, and that horse had to be put down. Patricia took these 3 in. So, everyone is up in arms because she took in these 3 horses. I really don’t know where these horses would have ended up otherwise, probably at the auction.
People need to understand that Patricia has a huge heart, and turning away an animal in need is probably one of the hardest things for her to do. Her animals are ALWAYS extremely well cared for. I live 10 minutes away, I was just recently there, her animals lack nothing! I’m sorry, but I just can’t condone a person because of that. If the animals were not well taken care of that would be another story, but that is not the case here.
Redflower – Sugar is just the latest stallion. How about Eskont, who sired three foals in the last year (yes, I know Patricia will say he sired only two). Or Dante – is he on the property still? And then there’s Jahmaal, a yearling colt who at last report hasn’t been gelded and is on the property.
Taking in three horses when you’re relying on donations of hay to feed what you have is irresponsible. It’s good for them, but puts the whole operation at risk.
Extremely well cared-for includes regular work. Feeding them and seeing to medical needs is not enough. How many of the horses on the property, including Patricia’s own, get that? Last I saw, not many.
As for the board – most board members who were kicked off were dumped for disagreeing with Patricia. More have left out of frustration.
Marecare – I don’t even know where to start! Comparing Patricia to Dean is like comparing night to day! This is so ludicrious, it’s barely worth my time to respond, but unfortunately, there are people out there who do not know Patricia, and may think that there is some truth to this!
I have a pretty good idea who you are! Why don’t you tell the good folks here why you have it in for Serenity? Is it because you got KICKED OFF the BOARD at Serenity?? And if this isn’t who I think it is, I apologize, but then I just have to think that you are plain mean spirited and on crack!
Just remember that everybody who has things to say about Patricia is a former supporter who used to defend her, but who has seen enough that now they are speaking out. If it were one person, I’d ignore it. It’s a lot of people saying the exact same things.
Does Patricia have any board members left? Who? Last I heard, everybody had jumped ship. Patricia may claim she pushed them overboard, but I haven’t heard from any that they wish they could go back.
Under the right circumstances, I think that at least a few former board members would go back. I think it would take a combination of Patricia either stepping down from her position as President or respecting the board; funds in the bank to resolve all code violations and other infrastructure issues (hot tape on fences and such); an independent accountant/financial officer; and a hard limit on the number of horses on the property that is lower than the current farm plan allows.
Serenity IS Patricia Clark. It is HER farm, she makes EVERY decision from which horses to bring in to how a rescue is defined which is why she brings in her friends fuglybred arabs and calls them rescues- Kiera (and foal) , Mirage, Bellamia… she also buys animals and calls them rescues. Yes, she does rescue some horses but she also blurs the line quite often.
If you can think of one suggestion you made on how the farm would be run or how she would operate (or even how a horse woudl be cared for) that she not only agreed to BUT ACTUALLY IMPLEMENTED then I am shocked. She only agrees to things until it is time to actually do them.
If you can name any her Board Members or “friends” or employees that she has not badmouthed or treated poorly when “mad” let me know. Have you seen her when someone comes to the farm and she pretends they aren’t there or ignores the volunteers doing her dirty work??
As for feed, how many of us have been there when she DOES have hay and seen how much she feeds them- there are several geldings there that were mistaken for pregnant mares on a regular basis.Yes she did not recognize that Lovey was pregnant until a week or two before the birth ,she just assumed she was fat like many of the others). I know it is not as bad as starving but how can you overfeed then cry out for hay- why not have a routine- because she makes the decisions and she likes to overfeed.
Look, it is hard to see it all on paper. It is even harder for us all to face that it wilL NOT change- it always has been and always will be Patricia’s private horse farm (Cavailia) behind the nonprofit name Serenity. She does some rescue but always on her terms.
Marecare – no disagreement from me on any of those points. The realization that nothing I or anyone else did would ever change anything at Serenity is one of the reasons I don’t go there any more. And I’m quite sure she’s had horrible things to say abut me since my departure.
I would not compare the two except in two ways: too many horses and oops foals. Horses at Serenity don’t have rain-rot, aren’t starving and are generally cared for. Both have/had too many horses, but Serenity isn’t nearly as bad as PEC was.
OT this topic but further to post on the recent Oregon horse seizure (Tania Herring, mega perp). There is another really bad horse neglect situation with well-to-do BYB’s in western Oregon not far from the Lighthouse Farm Sanctuary where the Herring seized horses are being kept. Because as we know all too well in the western Oregon counties the local law enforcement agencies are extremely lax (could have used some really appropriate bad language here) in responding to even repeated multiple reports of equine neglect spanning months if not YEARS, a friend who still lives in that area with whom I frequently correspond contacted Lighthouse Farm directly. The response was, um, sadly lacking in concern and definitely could be described as ho-hum pass the buck will ya we’re not interested.
While I realize that rescue organizations cannot seize, there are things that rescue groups CAN do to light a fire under respective law enforcement patooties. I would add LIghthouse Farm to a general rescue wall of shame as they clearly are uninterested in helping get these horses some help because Marion County, Oregon, is simply not interested in stepping in on this situation which has been going on for at least two years.
The neglectful owners of these horses have family members who are local politicos. I guess in nepotistic western Oregon that would just about guarantee immunity, now wouldn’t it?
I feel the reason that these skanks get away with starving horses even though people see what they are doing is explained by today’s blog. People saw what Dean Solomon was doing for years and it also took years to get her a measly slap on the wrist. These abusers/neglectors are masters at deception. Its like this believable trait is built into their DNA and they work it so well. And then, to top it off, she (and I am sure others) finally gets busted but she is out at it again, right under everyone’s nose. It makes people like me and so many others, who make sacrifices to help/rehab/keep “unwanted” horses really pissed!! You nailed it, Fugly….could they just STOP, please? Their compulsion is driving US to the poorhouse but we will go there because the horses that get caught in their wake need us.
I was so angry when I saw another horse that got caught up in the Dean Solomon saga but I was not surprised in the least. Is anyone planning on sending this information and these pictures to the authroities? However, would it do any good? I try and have hope and I report stuff that I see but when Dean Solomon is able to do this AGAIN, my confidence in the authorities takes a big hit.
OMFG Why???? That poor mare, I really hope she lands somewhere good *for good* this time.
OT: San Diego Police are auctioning off their horses. Not sure what kind of screening is going to be done but bids are said to start at $500. I haven’t seen the info posted on the auction site yet, but it should be up sometime this morning. http://www.thehorse.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=15733
Hopefully they all get purchased by other agencies as suggested.
Somehow I doubt that these police horses are “stallions”.
Really doubt it! 
Most police agencies don’t even want *mares*, never mind stallions!
I really feel like this needs to be a whole new topic but: who is REALLY a mentally ill hoarder, and who is a hosebag who won’t admit they are broke and will let horses starve to death rather than admit that? You know, these days everybody wants to classify all forms of bad human behavior under some kind of illness. Like “sex addiction” which I think is a joke if applied to someone like Tiger Woods. Puh-leese. He’s a sports star – how many of them do NOT take advantage of the constant opportunities offered to them? Likewise, while I believe there are hoarders who are mentally ill, I do not believe everyone with 50 starving horses is mentally ill. I think it is starting to be over-used as an excuse by people who suffer from nothing worse than a desire to look cool in front of their peers.
It’s like all the kids getting diagnosed with ADD and ADHD… Or when I was working at Vet (in a higher end part of town) there were regular requests for doggie Prozac (or similar). If your border collie is left cooped up in your house while you’re at work for 8+ hours a day with little exercise OF COURSE he is going to find something to amuse himself with and chances are it will be destructive! There were the rare cases where a dog would benefit from that kind of medication and luckily the Vet/owner of the clinic had good judgment.
It’s just an excuse and the overuse of it will eventually detract from those who really DO have a condition.
What?? There isn’t a pill, treatment or excuse for every irresponsible act? Shocking.
Has anyone watched the show on A&E “Hoarders”? It’s very interesting from the standpoint of seeing how mentally ill these people are. Many of them are just normal seeming suburban-types, but you can’t even get into their homes for all the junk piled to the ceilings. A few that they have shown have been animal hoarders. One woman had had her children taken away by CPS and was MORE upset by AC wanting to take her dogs to be rehomed. Why? Beacuse she knew where her kids were, but wouldn’t know the animals’ adopters. It’s on tonight at 10pm EST
I absolutely refuse to believe that every single person who has ever been caught “hoarding” has a mental illness. I’m sure there are some who are genuinely ill but not all of them. And the worst part of it is you often can’t prove or disprove a mental illness and if you dare say anything about it you are instantly the “bad guy.” It seems that every bad behavior can be attributed to some kind of mental illness these days. I’m sorry but I just don’t buy it. Sometimes a criminal is simply that, a criminal who CHOOSES to do the wrong thing for whatever reason, pride, greed, lust, whatever. They deserve to be punished and in the case of people who have starved their animals they should never be allowed to own an animal again, period, illness or no.
I’m certainly not saying all hoarders are mentally ill. I phrased that wrong. I think plenty of them need therapy and support network of people (family, friends, professionals) to save them from themselves. There should be no insanity plea for animal neglect. I watched the show out of curiosity. Most of the people wouldn’t get rid of stuff because they were always afraid of “needing” it someday, or because each item was attached to a memory. I think what many people have stated before about animal hoarders is true; that they truly believe that they are the only people that can care for those animals properly. Hence the women on the show who was screaming that she’ll still feed and take in stray cats while people are removing 18 dead ones from under the piles of debris in her home. Hence why so many hoarders fancy themselves rescuers.
The willingness to let 50 horses suffer in order to look cool strikes me as not exactly being a characteristic of mental stability.
In purely pragmatic terms for animals, it would probably be to the overall good if hoarders/neglecters were classified as mentally ill and thus subject to civil legal interventions like psychiatric assessments, conservatorships, etc. If people knew that there were consequences less dire than prison for hoarders, I think they’d feel much more comfortable about working to bring attention to neglected animals.
Having a less dire than criminal conviction consequence would also act as a disincentive to hoarders/neglecters to move to a new location and set up all over again. Right now, a hoarder who is legally charged typically loses everything (I don’t know how Dean Solomon managed to be allowed to keep up to four horses). They’ve already lost everything, so why not try for a fresh start where people don’t know you? If they were being subjected to conservatorship, then there would be a goal plan for them and thus, a reason for them to stick around and work for it.
I’m no expert, but after watching many, many episodes of Animal Cops and other such shows, I find it pretty easy to tell a hoarder from a douche bag – usually they hoard more than just animals. Their houses are FILTHY – seriously, it looks like they may never have cleaned, there is shit littering the house and a lot of the time you can barely get inside at all. It just looks like a breeding ground for bacteria and mice.
I read about one person who was a hoarder and was CRUSHED to death by their crap.
I find that BYBing assholes that just don’t care, usually have sub-normal housing. When you walk into a house and EVERYTHING is messy and cluttered, IMO that is hoarding – maybe there are people who only hoard animals, but in most cases I think you’ll find that hoarders hoard just about everything. I think that hoarders may share many characteristics with BYB’s or lazy idiots, although I think that once it starts affecting THEIR quality of life, they’re a hoarder – most BYBing idiots just don’t want to live in their own filth – they don’t care if their animals do, because it’s not directly affecting them and most of the time they just don’t have much empathy, but when it’s affecting their quality of life it goes from bad behaviour to a mental disorder IMO. Like I said though, I’m no expert, so I could be WAY off – that’s just the way it appears on all those shows.
http://www.operationhorserescue.blogspot.com
It’s a good point. Look, I’m a lifelong slob, always have been. I have to MAKE myself clean, and I don’t “see” dirt the way a lot of women do. I’m sort of like a guy, LOL. But I don’t know how the hell you get to the point where there are just piles of stuff everywhere and you’ve lost entire PETS underneath it and haven’t noticed they were missing. Nor do I understand making your kids live in filth to where they can’t even have friends over…those shows are just awful. Kids have a hard enough time being accepted without living in a sty and having to wear dirty clothes.
I agree! And just because horses are not dropping dead does not mean someone is not a hoarder. Some people think if you pull into a property and it looks good that everything is legit, until you realize 10 of the 30 horses you are donating to help are personally owned by the rescuer. The Grange and Reber are collecting hay for Serenity and Patricia’s personal horses eat as much as the rescues. That’s wrong!
http://schwung.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=auction&action=display&thread=5658&page=2
I getting so sick and tired of this shit. FHOTD who have my email if you need me to take her in.
Fugs, you said the “key” word here. It’s ‘hosebag” Dean! Sorry, I don’t care what disorder this woman claims to have. She’s a skank who should have no contact with horses, dogs, parrots, etc.. There are probably piles of dead animals in her wake. She’s proven that she can not take care of an animal, that’s it in a nutshell..Hope this mare survives, also the “rescues” that dear Joe rescued, they are pictured on his blog.. Body scale, zip, nada, off the charts….
I’m tired of Mental Illnesses being used as an excuse for a person’s actions. I personnally do not feel any sympathy or compassion for a person who commits a crime and uses the excuse of being mentally ill. I feel that they deserve the same punishment and to be treated the same as someone who is not mentally ill.
There are some people who use the “Illness Card” every chance they get as an excuse for their unacceptable behavior. Not to mention – that when some of these low-lifes who claim to be mentally ill after they are caught were the same one’s who tried to hide what they were doing before they were caught – if they were truly mentally ill and didn’t know what they were doing was wrong then why were they trying to hide it!?! I just can’t find it in myself to feel bad for anyone who does something like this.
I’m right in line behind you…….here in Wisconsin we are dealing with a long time offender…Zoophilia diagnosis…..prefers molesting and mutilating horses….in and out of jail and mental facilities for 20+ years…..last released again (early) in spring of ’08 and now were are hearing of at least one horse euthanized due to a torn perforated bowel and others with ‘strange’ injuries beginning in the fall of ’08…all with in minutes of where he lived. Amazingly a ‘man’ was found in a boarding barn, in a stall with a gelding, at night, wearing rubber gloves and a red headlamp, he was very apologetic, never happen again, etc and left. Police were called, great description (how many guys are there with handlebar mustaches and big thick glasses ?)and reports filed but never followed up. ** head bang** And yes the sherrif’s dept was notified that he was moving into their county but I guess they couldn’t remember that they needed to keep any eye out for a guy who shoves sticks (and ???) into horses butts and even cut the nipples off a mare?
This guy is always pleads guilty BUT mentally ill so only gets sentenced to mental facilities AND automatically serves only 2/3 of the sentence imposed. He is well versed in Wisconsin sex laws and argues that his is not a sex crime because his sex organ did not have contact with a sex organ …..on and on…….
The horse community is really jumping on this one (google Sterling Rachwal) so we may be seeing him locked away again and soon…but not soon enough for at least one horse that is dead.
I could not agree MORE, Krystenft2. Having experienced over decades the hoarding problem (whether of inanimate objects or live animals) in my past rescue work and even among my relatives (paper, old clothes, food, cars) I can tell you that it was a big mistake on the part of the Tufts University folks who appear to be the researchers who decided hoarding was a mental illness and managed to get it into the insurance code book which I guess is most people’s rubber stamp of validity. If hoarding were a true mental illness then there might actually be an effective treatment for it (there is not). If hoarding were a true mental illness – this is key – the hoarder would not know they have a problem. Trust me – while they may not admit it to everyone they DO know. From the hoarders I have known, it is my opinion that these people are largely sociopaths who sometimes use the excuse of a mental condition to not only continue hoarding but increase it or return to it if briefly stopped AND USE IT AS A MEANS TO CONTROL OTHERS.
And any time that I see registered horses of any breed being hoarded and at the same time neglected the first thing I want law enforcement to do is find out if the horses are insured. There are a lot of “breeders” out there who let (encourage) horses to die so they can collect insurance. Most insurance companies in the past would not look hard at low dollar claims made under blanket “herd” policies – that is changing now with the bad economy as underwriters have become more vigilant about the dollars involved. Surprising how many times a routine investigation of an insurance claim turns up a hoarder. Well – hoarder/neglector starves horses, leaves them without water or shelter or what feed they provide is cheap and very bad so of course some are going to die. But is that always by pure accident or is it by design? I knew of one breeder/hoarder whose annual income was nicely supplemented by not having the vet humanely euthanize a sick horse but allowed them to die “so the insurance company would pay.”
Just sayin.’ There’s more to this hoarding thing than oh gee golly a rescue that got outta hand and the “more to this” is worthy of analysis from a crime standpoint.
Look, no question that horrible crimes against animals and people should be punished and prevented, and that the laws do not seem to be adequate to the task. No matter what the mental illness, people should not be allowed to inflict their sicknesses on other living beings.
BUT hoarding IS part of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.
You may argue that it gets over-diagnosed. You may also think you know everything about hoarders (of animals and things) based on TV shows. But people who are truly suffering a disorder ARE suffering. Perhaps not “enough” in your mind given the type of damage they can do. In no way would I dispute that animal hoarders should have a “restraining order” against owning animals and just punishment for any abuse. However, please stop with the armchair psychology. Please.
Some of us reading this blog have actual, diagnosed disorders we’ve been dealing with more than half our lives and don’t appreciate having mental illness painted with the “it’s just an excuse” brush.
While someone who is “crazy” enough to not recognize their behavior as crazy (animal hoarder on tv) is probably extra flavors of crazy, someone can also be very well aware that they are acting irrationally and still be that way. This latter group also tends to have a high rate of suicide.
I am not saying any of the people mentioned (Dean, etc.) fall squarely into either category. I do believe the group in the middle, the people who come across as pretty normal and yet deny they are doing stupid things are most likely the bullshit-artists-hosebags. Speaking of armchair psychology
…and maybe this is what y’all are getting at.
bondgirl wrote: But people who are truly suffering a disorder ARE suffering.
Yes. To me, that’s the point. I don’t like to see any animal suffer, including human animals. Compassion is not a zero sum game, where giving compassion to one necessitates withholding it or withdrawing it from another.
Mental illnesses vary in how they start. Some can come on literally overnight but with many of them, there is a gradual onset. There is often a point at which the person suffering wonders if they need help or actually tries to get help.
Unfortunately, some of those who reach out for help do not get effective help or do not even get a compassionate response. Their illness continues to develop and worsen. No good comes of it.
I’ve seen a particular sort of slide repeatedly in the dog world; I’ve read that it is also true in horses, cats and birds. It happens a couple times a year when a well respected breeder or trainer is suddenly arrested for neglect or dies and then people discover their animals in terrible condition. The question always comes up “why didn’t they ask for help before it got this bad?”
I suspect the reason that they didn’t ask for help is because people in the dog fancy are often savage to one another. I remember my showing days and most of the people I competed against, I would rather die than ever ask them for help because I know how they would treat me. How do I know? Because I’ve seen how they treated others who needed help.
If dog people (horse people, cat people, bird people) don’t change their response when someone needs help, these situations will continue to happen. It should not be necessary to swallow a huge dose of humiliation as a condition for getting help. It is so difficult for many (including myself) to accept help that making it even more difficult is ridiculous.
I’m no saint. I’ve said awful things about other people before I stopped to think things over. I’ve done things to other people that I wish I had never done. I know that in the past, I have also contributed to making my special part of the world a less compassionate place. I don’t know of any specific case of someone who decided to hide their troubles rather than seeking out help because of something I specifically said but that doesn’t mean there isn’t some blood on my hands as well.
What is saddest is that for all I am trying very hard to change, I know I will continue to make the same mistakes in the future. Less often, I hope. But I doubt my hands will ever be truly clean.
That poor thing!! I hope her old owner helps her out or takes her back!!
I haven’t checked today, but as of last night Hercules had 990 fans!!! Does he have 1000 yet? Now just imagine if everyone of those fans donated a dollar
I too object to the “illness” tag being given to someone’s poor behavior. It’s like saying a fat person has a glandular issue. Most of the time (accent on MOST), it’s a case of “overactive spoon.” If it WERE “glands,” the doctors would have interceded.
We are witnessing what happens when personal responsibility has been shelved and “self-esteem” is now front and center as the reason why people get away with rotten behavior. Can’t say no because it might hurt the kid’s self-esteem. Gotta negotiate with the five-year-old about bedtime or taking a nap. Baloney.
Most of us who were raised before this ME generation nonsense have pretty good self-esteems because we got a good paddling if we got too big for our britches — and we had to make up for wrongs we did by paying for them. Our parents saw to that.
Oh, the missed allowance payments and the “groundings” (though that wasn’t what my parents called it). I remember more than once going to my high school football and basketball games and playing in the pep band, with Mom and Dad in the stands waiting to take me home again afterward. No after-game dances for me. I was not allowed because I had done something that ticked the parents off ;o)
Now people like the hoarders and the cheats of the world claim abusive childhoods or too much junk food for their behaviors. Makes me sick, but makes me even angrier because so many people buy into it. One of these days the pendulum, which has been on the wrong side for far too long, is going to swing back to where common sense rules again. Cannot wait for that day to come. It’s been way too long.
Um, the vast majority of hoarders profiled here and elsewhere are NOT “young people.” They are middle aged or older, likely NOT raised with an entitlement morality.
That is my point. This entitlement mentality has been going on since Benjamin Spock wrote his child-rearing book, which first proposed never saying “No” to your child because you might damage the child’s self-esteem.
That was in 1946.
TBDancer, have you ever actually *read* the earlier editions of Dr Spock’s baby care books? Because they were far from tomes of permissiveness and he certainly didn’t worry about a child’s self-esteem. He advocated firm, fair leadership, along with telling mothers that they were their own best authority on their own babies. This was revolutionary at a time when most mothers were regarded by the established authorities as being ignorant and incapable of raising a healthy baby.
How did Dr Spock get portrayed so inaccurately? The Nixon White House saw Benjamin Spock as a threat after he publicly stated his opposition to the war in Vietnam. Here’s this nice, white doctor that wrote a book that literally hundreds of thousands of parents relied on saying that the war was wrong! The Nixon White House came up with a response. Rather than debating the merits of the war, attack the messenger. They came up with the idea of blaming Dr Spock’s work for the civil unrest of the times; the plan was to have Norman Vincent Peale denounce Dr Spock from his pulpit and then the attack would gather it’s own momentum. Peale happily cooperated and the attack was on.
The plan worked to a fare-thee-well and you are proof of it. Forty years later and you are participating in one of the most successful smear campaigns of all time.
The ones I have known ranged in age from early thirties to eighties and they every last one of them had a strong sense of entitlement. VERY strong. Martyr complex too. And an oft-exercised desire to have other people cater to their whims and a lot of other behaviors that add up to sociopath – not “mentally ill” in the genuine sense. Just one (experienced) person’s opinion here.
I totally agree. If anyone wants to know about sociopaths, I would recommend checking out The Sociopath Next Door by Martha Stout. That’s a really good book.
OMG, sociopaths and OCD-hoarders aren’t even in the same SPECTRUM of mental illness. NOT to be confused. Geebus.
I couldn’t agree more!! I just recently signed my 4 year old up for preschool. In the process of filling out the paperwork I had to check yes or no if my son had any behavioral issues including one that was called something like “defiance disorder.” I can’t remember the exact title but seriously give me a break! A preschooler who has “defiance disorder” is a smart kid who has figured out how to get Mommy and Daddy to give him/her whatever he/she wants b/c God forbid we say no to our child and crush his/her creative little mind… and now the school system has to clean up the mess. My son is no angel for sure but he is already smart enough to know when he is in trouble and most of the time before I even say anything… Usually he is already running away with both hands covering his butt before I so much as move.
TBDancer wrote: It’s like saying a fat person has a glandular issue. Most of the time (accent on MOST), it’s a case of “overactive spoon.†If it WERE “glands,†the doctors would have interceded.
Wow. TBDancer, if you have the secret to losing weight, please share it. The 98% of us who fail to lose or maintain weight loss via conventional means are all eager to hear your wisdom. What do you know that doctors don’t?
Oprah Winfrey is worth an estimated $2.7 billion and she’s certainly motivated to lose weight. She’s done so, several times. And just like 98% of the people who lose weight, she has failed to maintain that loss. Due to her wealth, she has access to the best medical care in the world. She can afford a personal trainer or a whole staff of personal trainers. And yet, she has publicly proven she cannot maintain a weight loss.
So what do you know that Oprah Winfrey doesn’t know? Or is it that you’re blowing smoke out your ass like every other fat bigot in the country?
Oprah can’t maintain the weight she’d prefer for the same reason I can’t. Because the Burger King/Dairy Queen/Taco Bell drive through is right there and it tastes SO damn good. I understand Oprah has a particular weakness for mashed potatoes and gravy. I can understand that. I’ll skip the gravy, being a veggie, but mashed potatoes drowned in butter? YUM.
This is why most people do not keep their weight idea – because high calorie foods TASTE GREAT and few of us have as much willpower as we’d like! That is what TBDancer meant. She is not being a “fat bigot.” It is a simple fact that the VAST majority of the overweight are overweight because their caloric intake exceeds the need created by their level of activity. In short, we eat too much and exercise too little.
There is a small percentage that are overweight due to an actual health issue like a thyroid problem, but most people eat too much. For my level of activity, I cannot exceed 1300 calories a day if I am going to be at the weight I should be at, the weight where there are no unattractive lumps, bumps and bulges. That is a fact. I work a sedentary job and come home and write on the computer. I should drag my butt to the gym in the AM but I don’t want to leave the dog alone longer than I already am by going to work. I can and have lived on 1300 calories a day but it’s boring and not anywhere near as tasty as the yummy BK veggie burger combo I had for dinner tonight.
I’m not currently very motivated to do anything but eat tasty crap and sit on my butt by the computer, which is why I’m currently packing around a dozen extra pounds, and that’s why most people are. It is not unfair or evil to point that fact out. Most of us just eat more than we burn and that results in fat. There is nothing mean about that observation.
OFF TOPIC — ROLKUR
Please find below a link to a petition to be presented to the FEI on Rolkur…. You can get the english version by clicking the little english flag once you get to the page…
* * *
You can make a difference in the Worldwide Welfare of Sport Horses….
Act Now! Send a Message to the FEI
Please consider signing the petition at http://www.wu-wei-verlag.com and registering your opposition to the executives who control horse sport the world over!
I am writing to you today in the hope that you will take a unique opportunity to support the welfare of the horse. Dr. Gerd Heuschmann, a German equine veterinarian has been invited to speak to a committee of the FEI (the international federation for horse sport) on the subject of “rollkur” or “hyperflexion” and its negative consequences for horses.
Dr. Gerd Heuschmann needs our help when he addresses the FEI on February 9th at a special meeting regarding banning Rollkur. Dr. Heuschmann needs as many signatures as possible to take with him on February 9th. They have specifically requested his presence at this meeting to give his expert opinion. This may be the defining moment in the heated debate of Rollkur.
Please help us by going to this web site and signing the list. Please forward this to as many of your horse contacts as possible. Let’s use this momentum and create a tipping point of public sentiment by sending this email around the world to make a difference for the good of the horse.
Dr. Heuschmann’s book makes clear his case by explaining how training with hyperflexion adversely affects horses. In short, this so-called training method is harmful and unnecessary. For those of you who don’t know exactly what hyperflexion is, I have listed a few sites that explain the practice and its results.
http://www.horseandriderbooks.com/mm5/merchant..mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=TUWA&Category_Code=
http://www.horsetalk.co.nz/news/2009/01/107.shtml
http://www.horsetalk.co.nz/news/2009/10/218.shtml
http://nicholnl.wcp.muohio.edu/dingosBreakfastClub/BioMech/BioMechLightness.html
There is so much more on the web; just google “horse hyperflexion” and you will get more results than you could read in a day.
Please consider signing the petition at http://www.wu-wei-verlag.com and registering your opposition to the executives who control horse sport the world over.
Please also forward this petition to your friends who care about the issue of animal cruelty. Dr. Heuschmann is a courageous doctor who has chosen to speak out against hyperflexion, while the FEI, thus far, has chosen to ignore the issue-until now. Please sign and forward the petition today.
Dr. Heuschmann will be speaking to the FEI committee on February 9, 2010. He is hoping to get 20,000 signatures on this petition. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if he got 40,000 instead?
Thank you for your consideration.
http://www.wu-wei-verlag.com
From Dr. Gerd Heuschmann on 1/29/10:
“Starting tomorrow (Saturday) from 6 00 PM (German time) we open up a list to sign up against Rollkur/Hyerflexion on my publishers web site, which is: http://www.wu-wei-verlag.com. We should try to get thousand of signatures which I can take with me on the 9th of February. Maybe then we can make a difference!!!!!
On the side you have to click “Officials! Stop Hyerflexion!”
I signed the petition. Thanks for posting the links.
Please be very careful with the “Far Niente” thing (Robin Vess) on the seized Ohio Arabians. There is also a Far Niente in Pleasant Hill, they do Saddlebreds and quite well, actually – ABSOLUTELY no relation whatsoever. The owner of the Far Niente Saddlebreds in Oregon will not take kindly to being hate-mailed by people mistakenly thinking she’s starving her horses!
“One of our horses ended up in Germany– as a show horse and stallion– not on a dinner plate. His owner wrote me recently to explain that all horses have a “pasport†that follows the horse for life– on that pasport. In addition to a health record with list of medications, etc., the owner can specify if the horse may be slaughtered, or may not be slaughtered, and that is recorded on the passport.”
Well, in this country, you’d have people all up in your grill yelling “ZOMG THAT’S BIG GOVERNMENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
Sorry, but Government is the only institution in this country big and broad enough to help its citizens in so many ways. Instead of getting all bent out of shape about the mere existence of government-imposed standards, it’d be nice instead if people worked really hard to change the government so that it worked better for the majority of people AND animals.
I, too, am sick of people jumping on the “hoarder” bandwagon. Some people are genuine hoarders, yup. Like alcoholics or anorexic people, daily maintenance and policing of their activities is the only way to keep them functional. But the people who are simply into having a ton of animals around, for some weird prestige factor I guess, without the means to care for them?
Total douchebag asshats.
I have to wonder why so many people are in such a hurry as to label this douche mentally ill? Not ALL people with too many starving animals are hoarders. Some people just don’t give a damn. Some people are just too stupid/ignorant to know better. Some people just like the IDEA of having horses and for some reason think it makes them appear more affluent/important or whatever and are unprepared for the the reality of actually getting off their asses and pocketbooks to actually care for their animals. Others know perfectly well how to properly care for their animals and for some reason when they fall on hard times are unable/unwilling to ask for assistance. Yet I’ve seen it over and over people just assume they are hoarders and allow them the automatic out of being mentally ill. I won’t accept that diagnoses from any of you armchair psychiatrists unless you have actually gone to school and earned an MD AND actually examined the “patient”. Until then she is just another douche IMO.
I have lived with an actual mentally ill person for most of my childhood. Believe me when I say most of the people who get labeled as mentally ill are not. And even then most mentally ill people know right from wrong. Not to mention those whose mental illness is controlled by meds but they choose to go off their meds. I don’t think they should get a pass either. When you choose to go off your meds and commit a crime you should be held as accountable as any person.
I have family members who are severely mentally ill, too. It causes horrible suffering but is not an excuse for crime or other hurtful behavior. That being said I’ve met a hoarder — not an animal hoarder but a stuff hoarder. She’s definitely fucked up, with a lot of various issues at play.
Discerning who is hoarder and who is a douchebag should be left to mental health professionals, the idea being there may be medical intervention for hoarding (but not for being a douchebag.)
If people want to impress others with luxury items, jewelry, couture and sports cars are the way to go. That way, inevitable financial problems will not cause suffering to the luxury items. Leave horses to people who actually give a crap about them.
Yes, thank you.
The only way I will “donate to” or help any “horse rescue” is to physically go and purchase the hay/grain/meds/wormer/etc. and watch as those items get administered to an actual rescued horse. Hell, I do that everyday to my own rescues and I just do not trust the rescue world anymore. I am tired of encouraging relatives/friends and co-workers to donate money to rescues and then hearing about accidental babies, missapropriation of funds, poor feeding programs and no training to give the horses a better life. I dont even support paying for bags of grain at the feed store some rescues use as you have no idea if that nutrition is going to a rescue horse or not.
As for Dean Solomon, I do not believe she is a hoarder. I believe she does some mental disorder to seek attention and she has chosen horses and birds to get that. When I think of a hoarder, I think of someone that has a terrible time or no ability at all to see that they are destroying lives, human or animal. Dean knows the what she is doing. Look how easily she manipulated the system. She is calculating and convincing, not sick.
I just finished watching Mr. President answer questions on youtube, and even though I’m young I submitted a question. >:]
“Mr. President, how will you handle animal abuse, backyard breeding operations, and illegal slaughter houses in Canada and Mexico?”
ummm
President Obama doesn’t have any jurisdiction over Canada or Mexico he’s the President of America and no where else…and the slaughterhouses in either country aren’t illegal either. Please don’t take this as an attack, BTW
Granted, but there are things we could be doing from here to prevent horses from going across the border for that purpose.
Most of the people in this country are “mentally ill” to one degree or another (except me), especially horse people, but thats neither here nor there. I say, if they do bad, hang them all and let God sort em out.
Former horse-loving/horsepeople-hating spouse use to say all horse people need a good 12-step program.
I’m assuming that article about the San Diego police horses is a misprint? Since when are police horses stallions?
Regarding hoarders, if your mama or grandma is a hoarder and you do nothing, I hold you accountable too. People need to keep track of their relatives, especially the crazy ones, for the good of the public. Yes, some are mentally ill but most are just deluded in their own fantasy world because no one has the cojones to call them out for their behavior.
While your desire to point a finger/blame/hold family members responsible is commendable, it is extremely naive. Unless you are able to obtain some type of legal standing (e.g. guardianship, conservatorship, depending on the situation), there is VERY little family members can do to stop hoarding/collecting.
A friend’s husband is a psychiatrist in the southwest, and he has treated quite a few *serious* hoarders (akin to the crazy rabbit lady in Oregon). He said these are his hardest patients to treat – that without YEARS of therapy and drugs (which begs the question of who pays? Who monitors? And given the current “anti-government” climate, it sure as shit won’t be government entities who monitor or pay for very long) they have the highest rate of recidivism.
Because the courts don’t order that appropriate level of therapy, these people go right back to what they were doing.
I agree that there are likely many socipaths (and let’s not forget that manipulation is a hallmark of a sociopath) who hide behind the mantle of “hoarder.” Dean is a prime example.
*Holds her hand to her forehead and says in a mystical voice* “I foresee a new rescue coming to the west coast. A rescue not in honor of, but because of someone. It will be called the Foto-shopped Ass Rescue for Bretheren of Equine Type, FARBET for short. If sources are used correctly they could find sponsorship from kodak and microsoft.
LOL, On a more seriuos note I hope the old owners are willing to take back this cute old lady and retire her. She looks like she would fit in a field of other “Red hat society ladies” playing bridge and talking about thier wild days
Please look into the Arabian seizures. I am sure you have good contacts. It seems that the situation is getting more complicated. There are now accusations that many of the horses were injured during the seizure or after when locked in stalls together. It seems that they are rejecting help from Arabian experts familiar with the breed as well as experienced in seizures and rehab. There are many different stories coming out of many different places!
http://irjci.blogspot.com/2010/02/as-states-seek-to-revive-horse.html
The blog above is a digest of rural stories across the country, and is read by journalists across the country. Generally it’s pretty good, but I’ve noticed every horse story is a pro-slaughter story. It’s worth some actual horse people taking a look at and commenting on!
@elysian field farm:
heck, reading your post one could be tempted to think that eating horse meat is the rule in Germany…I don`t what you`ve been told, but I can assure you: it fu**ing is NOT.
Horse meat is available here, of course, but not at every butcher shop in your neigbourhood, as one might assume. There are few, very few slaughterhouses for horses, and even less butcher shops for horse meat (this is due to a regulation that forbids to sell horsemeat AND other kinds of meat like, let`s say chicken, in the same shop, at least as long it`s not been industrially boxed – which most of the horse meat I`ve seen is NOT.)
It don`t makes sense to import horse meat to Germany from other countries, since the demand for imported horse meat is just so … just not there. Might be different in France or Italy, but certainly not here…
If your horse is a TWH, as I presume, I wouldn`t worry too much about him. TWHs are so damn rare here, therefore so pricey, that no one with a brain would consider slaugthering him, even if he`d be old and lame. And even if so – there would certainly be so much entries in his passports about medications, no slaughterhouse would take him in to be slaughtered for human consumption. Heck, even if he`d not been marked as a “non-slaughter-horse”.
Thank you for your well thought out post. It is good to get an informed perspective on the demand for horse meat and the handling of horses in Germany from someone who actually lives there.
averagecowgirl– I really am not sure how to respond to your POST – First off- the horse in Germany is not “MY” horse as in I currently do not own him –but he was bred by my late husband and me– so in a way– he will always be “my” horse.
Secondly– Your post seems to imply that because he is a TWH he somehow should be expected to have more drugs asdministered to him than a horse of another breed would. What do you have against TWHS that you would make that asumption? Why would you think a TWH that competes in Germany would have more drugs in him than any other breed of horse there?
Thirdly– Your post seems to imply that from my post you inferred I was worried about him goinig to slaughter– which is absolutely NOT the case. His current owners have had him since about 1995– they imported him to Germany where he has had a very sucecessful career. His current owners support the showing of sound naturally gaited walkers– that is why they bought him in the first place. (He was not bought from me, for the record— I had the right of first refusal on him and was told by the person who bought him from us that he had died as an 18 month old of colic. But that is a whole other story)
His current owners bought him from his third owner who claims she was totally unaware of my contract with his second owner that gave me right of first refusal, and also prohibited future owners from changing his original name. She changed him name before he was sold and exported. (Again that is a whole other story.)
I have become internet friends with his current owners, and it was during our corresepondence that the subject of horse slaughter and horse meat eating came up. I really don’t know how common it is in Germany– and I figure she — as a German–would know more about that than I.
But I do know that several anti-slaughter groups list Germany, France, Belgium, Italy and Japan as being the destination
countries for most horse meat from Canadian and Mexican slaughterhouses.
I was posting mainly because I wanted to make the point that the new regs. in Canada might help end exportation of US horses for slaughter — and to point out that if Europeans (those who do eat horse meat) knew the truth about their possible exposure to drugs and chemicals, they would not want to buy this meat at all.
Yikes, everyone is so edgy today!
I think she meant to imply that he would have had medications used because he’s a show horse. Around here most horses who are ridden regularly, even those not shown, have had fly spray, topical ointments, Bute, vaccines, and all sorts of other thing you don’t want to ingest used on them. All of which are for the benefit of the horse, not performance enhancement.
o Elysian Fields Farm says:
February 1, 2010 at 6:23 pm
averagecowgirl– I really am not sure how to respond to your
POST – First off- the horse in Germany is not “MY†horse as in
I currently do not own him –but he was bred by my late husband
and me– so in a way– he will always be “my†horse.
I can`t remember to have written that he`s still your horse –
meaning, still owned by you. I meant it in exactly the way you
described.
Secondly– Your post seems to imply that because he is a TWH he
somehow should be expected to have more drugs asdministered to
him than a horse of another breed would. What do you have
against TWHS that you would make that asumption? Why would you
think a TWH that competes in Germany would have more drugs in
him than any other breed of horse there?
You seem to imply a lot in my post that is simply NOT
there…Neither did I say or wrote, that TWHs need or should get
more medications than the average horse. And what makes you
assume that I don`t like TWHs ? Just because I said that they
are very uncommon in Germany, therefore expensive, and
therefore a lot less likely to become dog food than, for
example, a haflinger colt or filly ?
Thirdly– Your post seems to imply that from my post you
inferred I was worried about him goinig to slaughter– which is
absolutely NOT the case. His current owners have had him since
about 1995– they imported him to Germany where he has had a
very sucecessful career. His current owners support the showing
of sound naturally gaited walkers– that is why they bought him
in the first place.
Although I`m not involved in the showing of TWHs here I`m
pretty sure, that such things like big-lick-showhorses are not
covered (meaning: allowed) by the german animal protection law.
Simply said, that manipulating a horses gait with sky high
horseshoes and soring, would be considered as “animal crueltyâ€
and therefore by punished
I have become internet friends with his current owners, and it
was during our corresepondence that the subject of horse
slaughter and horse meat eating came up. I really don’t know
how common it is in Germany– and I figure she — as a
German–would know more about that than I.
Horse meat eating really isn`t very common, really, I can
assure you…most people consider horses as pets, not as
“eadible†livestock.
But I do know that several anti-slaughter groups list Germany,
France, Belgium, Italy and Japan as being the destination
countries for most horse meat from Canadian and Mexican
slaughterhouses.
Well, of course I can only presume where the horse meat in
Germany came from. But, let`s take a look on the available
facts: the average german (me, despite my nickname, excluded, I
hardly eat any meat, but that`s a different tale) eats about 50
grams of horsemeat – in a year. And there are over 1 Million
horses in Germany. It just doesn`t make sense that we should
import horsemeat from god-knows-where (let alone the US) when
we have so much horses here to eat (theoretically, of
course)…the market is just not here !
I was posting mainly because I wanted to make the point that
the new regs. in Canada might help end exportation of US horses
for slaughter — and to point out that if Europeans (those who
do eat horse meat) knew the truth about their possible exposure
to drugs and chemicals, they would not want to buy this meat at
all.
I do hope that any foreign horsemeat, which doesn´t reaches the
standards given by European law, wouldn`t be allowed to be
imported.
Something in general to consider, when reading my posts: I`m
German and English is my second language. I do make many faults
(grammatically or otherwise), I`m sorry for that, and I`m also
sorry, if anything I write is to blunt/honest/open/ heck, even
brute by US standards. Since I`m not a big fan of political
correctness and from the northern part of Germany ( we tend to
mean what we say, no pun intended), I`d call – for example –
an overweight person fat anytime…not “vertically challengedâ€.
Just out of sheer couriosity: your german friend is Birgit
Dresel ?
Maybe it was my bad to post that Patricia is broke. We really can’t prove one way or the other if she is broke or not since there are no financial records. To Redflower and all the other Serenity supporters, why don’t you ask for financial documentation before you donate your hard earned money? Where is your money going? Patricia has taken in hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations for her non-profit since she started to rescue in 2007. Do you think it all went to the rescues? She hasn’t had that many rescues at one time. It is about time an audit took place over there.
Whoever said love isn’t enough was right on the money.
Something that no one has touched apon is Patricia’s personal horses suddenly appearing on the SERR website list of rescue horses. The mare that got attacked by the dogs was an arab broodmare that Patricia bred herself TWICE when I knew her. She will say her friend owned the horse and bred the horse but the horse’s upkeep was PAID FOR by Patricia and she KNEW all about the breedings, condoned them and delivered at least one of the babies. Now, why, when the big dog attack story broke in the media was that mare labelled a “rescue”? That mare was Patricias. So, all those donations that came into SERR due to that story were the result of calling that mare a rescue horse. This just is not right. That is like me begging for money on TV for food for my rescues, then using the money for my own horse’s vet bill.
There is/was no seperation between Patricia’s arabs and the rescues…so rescue monies go to feed her horses too. And, she always claimed not to have money to pay for gelding those studs. However, I dont think she had any intention of ever stopping breeding fuglies. Accidental breedings? sure, they happened through the fence or somewhere on her property but they were no accidents. I feel it is a rescue’s responsibilty to geld anything they pay for or have COMPLETELY OPEN SEPERATE BOOKS.
Is Patricia a sweet lover of animals? absolutely! BUT, that is about 10% of animal rescue. You need organization, book keeping skills, extensive horse health knowledge. I have many of those things but am missing money and time. Therefore, I KEEP MY NUMBERs DOWN and do QUALITY, NOT quantity!
ok, redbug, or whatever your name is. Hang in there as long as you can. It is only a matter of time before you leave SERR. We all wanted so bad for it to work there but there is just too many holes and Patricia refused to acknowledge any of them.
Newbie – tempting as it is to call all of it deliberate and/or deliberately deceitful, I’d be very careful. I can’t tell if Patricia knowingly makes things up to suit the situation, or truly believes the things shes says at the time she says them. Certainly, her memory is rather disturbingly fluid.
There have been multiple conflicting stories about Kiara (the Arab mare you mention), and she was listed and treated consistently as a rescue for many months before her death. Likewise about funds – as disillusioned as I am about Patricia/Serenity, I think that in the beginning the funds were handled appropriately, although the documentation clearly was not there. Sometime in the last, oh…I don’t know…anywhere from six months to a year…actual spending not only was poorly accounted for, but I would be surprised if none of the rescue funds didn’t end up caring for Patricia’s horses – in part because she contributes her own money to Serenity, then will justify that it’s “her” money to spend it as she sees fit.
I absolutely agree that she needs separate books – truly separate. I think part of Patricia’s problem is that she sees her ownership of the property and contribution of much of her own money as giving her special privileges in the management of Serenity.
Compulsive liars can make up stories to fit the situation and they will actually start believing their lies after a while. Does that make it OK?
Kiara never was a rescue. She was a crippled, fugly mare that was bred repeatedly until the breeder didn’t want more foals out of her. The breeder is one of Patricia’s friends who has been in business with her for years. They ship horses back and forth so one mare can be covered by the other’s stallion, etc. When they got tired of breeding Kiara she was listed as a rescue. She can “legally†be supported with Serenity money that way. The poor thing was so lame she should have been put down long before she ended up on the news.
If you can’t find Patricia’s studs on the property that is because she is pimping them out on people’s farms. They are not trained or remarkable in any way. The Friesian is so rank he is barely halter broke. Why would anyone breed to that? Regardless of the answer, it certainly isn’t behavior that is becoming of a responsible rescuer.
Definitely doesn’t make it okay, but I think that intent is important when you’re sorting these things out. Accusing someone of being deliberately deceitful is more likely to have a negative impact than calling them well-intentioned, but mistaken.
I know of at least two other “rescues” there were actually abandoned by boarders who had been there before Patricia started Serenity. Bellamia and Mirage. Patricia treated Mirage as one of hers for a long time, then moved him over as a rescue.
Dante is not really what I would call “rank”, as I understand the term. What he is is woefully, and dangerously, untrained. It’s been a while since I saw him, though, and his personality may have changed for the worse in that time.
Newbie – tempting as it is to call all of it deliberate and/or deliberately deceitful, I’d be very careful.
Notafollower, what does this mean?
How about this? We were lied to all the time. Is that more to the point?
Newbie – what I mean by “be careful” is that past complaints about Patricia/Serenity have often included inflammatory language, exageration, and even completely false statements (misinformed or lying, I hope the former). That kind of high emotion doesn’t help solve the problem, no matter how true it is. Stick to observable facts as much as possible – facts that any visitor could see for themselves. You say “Patricia lied” – do you have documentation? Do you have more than one other witness to the deed? Do you have proof it was a deliberate lie?
I am NOT saying you don’t…just pointing out that objective, non-emotional, provable statements will go farthest towards fixing the problem.
I’m not always successful in following my own advice on this. I’m PISSED about the things that have happened at Serenity, about how Patricia treats the people who are trying to help in general, and about how she hides from reality.
Oops Robin…http://www.robinsword.com/About__Biography_.php
Maybe you need my 12 step program (posted previously)
There is no way they can enforce it–i.e. whether the animal has had chemical wormer or furacin etc. The whole thing is sickening. The only thing we can hope for is that the people who eat horse meat hear that the meat might be contaminated–that is the only way to stop it–oh yeah then they will feed it to our dogs…. it is SO depressing.
Here is my 2 cents: when you are a rescue and you become a legal 501(c) 3 Nonprofit you are agreeing to be a public entity and inviting people into how you manage your rescue, your finances, and your farm. It’s not a choice. You want the benefits of paying no taxes on hundreds of thousands of dollars of income; you open your doors to the public eye and agree to be more than just a sweet person who means well.
I have never seen an organization fail IF it operated in a manner that was 1) honest; 2) within its budget; 3) fully abided by its own bylaws and board decisions. Take emotion, love for animals, pets and everything else out of it because at the end of the day if the rescue has to close there will be more animals left without homes than those few you turned away to work within your means.
Great post.
By the way, I’d be interested to see someone trying to enforce the no-breeding clause in their own adoption contract when all the errant adopter has to do is point at them and say, well, you couldn’t keep your horses from breeding either – how am I held to a higher standard?
Oh for the love of Pete….how in the hell can you even live with yourself taking an animal in that condition and dumping it at an auction! My goodness PEOPLE SUCK!!!
Carrie Giannandrea
Dances with Horses
Formula One Farms
This tears my heart out. I am upset whenever I see horses starved/neglected/abused (like that poor TB mare pictured up top), but to see it within ‘my own breed’ really cuts deeply. It sounds like this person might have had a good income to invest in the horses; buying from Varian isn’t cheap (believe me, I’ve looked). At least Varian made a donation to help out, that’s quite respectable.
If you have horses that are such high quality, why let them waste away and die? If they were sold when troubles were starting for this owner, likely they would’ve fetched respectable prices, even if they need a few pounds or a farrier visit. And I am sure lots of people would have taken one or two for free to rehab if it was a quality horse that needed help. How somebody could watch them suffer and die when there were open hearts and helping hands available…that really baffles me.
Gah, sorry, that was supposed to be a reply to Morgan_Horse_Queen’s link to the starving and dying Arabians in Ohio. My browser just flipped out on me and posted it as new. Sorry for the confusion!
Redflower, no one has said that Patricia hasn’t done some good things in her attemps to rescue horses. Quite the opposite in fact.
However, claiming that it’s ok to operated outside of legal requirements (501(c)3, set industry standards in horse care, being responsible and ethical in how you deal with your supporters, board members and how you use donor’s hard earned $s , having a mediocre at best breeding program and perpetuating the cycle of rescue/ let alone that recues being bred is just unthinkable. Saying its ok because “her heart is in the right place” is bull, anyway you slice it. She cannot claim ignorance, she has been told, guided and begged to do the right thing by way more people than you will ever know.
As for those of you who think Patricia’s horses live in the lap of luxury…I treated rain scald, ringworm, serious lack of grooming and basic handling (some horses had quite dangerous behavior issues), illness one imparticular that was quite serious on a young stud cold that progressed to hospitalization becuase medications were never given as perscribed at home. It just took regular medicating and nutritional support to get him back to healthy. These horses were from her breeding program, for color and bloodlines and none of them were anything special and some should NEVER have been bred due to massive conformation faults.
There was NO quarantine, NO individualized feed programs (yearlings, stallions, mares in foal and lactating mares w/ foal on side/geriatrics/ minis ect were all just thrown a flake and given a scoop of grain. Horses lived wherever/turned out in different places in with whatever (yes that includes stud colts, older mares ect. or just loose on the property because they wouldn’t stay in fencing.) Patricias personal horses inhabited the barn along with a couple boarders and maybe 1 or 2 rescues, all were lucky to have maybe 6 hrs of turnout daily. Many were horses that are young, growing and none were being worked or hardly even handled. Shavings at the time were close to 5 dollars a bag. (5 $ x 20 – a day!) You do the math per month and that was being paid for by the co-mingled rescue donations. Well, we all know how much things cost to own 1 horse…there were 42 on the property when I was there, working hard to get Patricia to reduce her numbers.
There are so many things that I could state here but this isn’t about bashing its about informing the public, donors, corporate sponsors and an ethical responsibility to take a stand and call a spade a spade.
Patricia doesn’t need help and certainly doesn’t need someone to come along and infuse her operation with a large donation to bail her out and enable her to keep operating in this irresponsible manner, as someone suggested. She has HAD that $$-(no one except Patricia really knows how those considerable funds were spent because she will not let anyone see the financials), she refuses help (the accountable kind), she wants to keep living in her world that allows her to feel important and fund her lifestyle and large number of personal horses and look like a hero (until you stick around a while and see things as they truly are.) Who really knows her motives? That’s between her and God. But I’m sure there will come a day that she will have to answer to some of these issues and the truth will come out.
A cup or two of good doesn’t outweigh a bucket of bullshit.
If you are wise, you will look at documented history and actions and not listen so much to what someone says.
I agree with TBs Rock an Audit would be a fabulous idea!
And while things have rarely been as bad at Serenity as WranglerintheRain experienced, the overall pattern is disturbing. Her farm plan allows for more horses than she can take care of, and it’s not unusual for her to go over her farm plan (42 horses is WAY over, but just over 30 is more common).
During my time there, mares with foals received supplements to help them out, but Patricia frequently ran out of all sorts of things and would have to make an emergency run. Grain, shavings and hay were all too often in short supply. Sometimes, the weekend volunteers would have to wait for Patricia to get back from a run before they could feed the horses.
As Wrangler said, many people have tried very hard to get Patricia to deal realistically with the problems at Serenity. So far, it hasn’t done any good. And when she hears about these posts, she will cry and moan that she just doesn’t understand how anyone can be so mean and heartless; that she hasn’t done anything wrong and has never had anything but the best intentions. She will be alternately angry and depressed. She’ll vow to track us down and get us back. I doubt very much she’ll actually do anything to fix the problems.
It feels like kicking a puppy to say all these things, because Patricia really did start Serenity from the heart. But her failures have already hurt a number of horses, and will hurt many more if the problems aren’t addressed.
Let’s not forget the days Pat would go to “work at booths”, usually a table in front of the Grange and leave the farm with just 1-2 volunteers to care for all the rescues and her personal horses, many times without even acknowledging them. When she did interact with them she often was hypercritical, not even stoping to think about how they were the reason her own arabs horses got fed. She also complained incessantly about the volunteers- what they did or didn’t do, why weren’t they there, why did they leave ‘early’, what they did wrong and how they know NOTHING about horses.
She CAN be a nice lady and VERY charming but she is also a backstabber and burns through “friends” like crazy. I head her talk about her Board Mmebers, volunteers, her employees, the vet. And that’s before they all got sick of her and left- you should hear her once they’re gone!
From what I’ve read here there are a lot of former Serenity volunteers that have the same negative things to say about Patricia and only one person trying to support her. The nay-Sayers could say it is one person with multiple screen names, but I for one can say a lot of us experienced the exact same things as notafollower and marecare (with the exception of the supplements for mares and foals).
There was a definite shortage of hay, shavings, and other supplies. Volunteers were treated horribly. I had a volunteer come to me crying one day because she had purchased over a hundred dollars in grain and all Patricia said to her was she didn’t buy the right kind. Not a “Thank you†or “We appreciate your effort.†but rather “That isn’t the grain we use!†She would tell volunteers not to leave until x, y and z got done (most of which involved the care of her personal horses and not the rescues). When she had open barn hours on Sundays she would leave a volunteer there all alone to care for the horses AND deal with the public and show them horses. Most of the horses had a serious lack of training and would rear and try to kick people. It was a lawsuit waiting to happen.
Patricia has a part-time job and is trying to run a rescue and support a farm with a dozen of her own horses. Do the math – Could you support 14 personal horses on a part time job? The only way to do it is spend rescue money to take care of your own.
Last time I saw her she wasn’t working at ALL. Please tell me how you support like 10 personAL HORSES WITH NO JOB when people are donating thousands to your rescue. If she CAN then she is not as broke as she is always saying.
If she CAN’T then she should get rid of some of her horses but allowing her arabs to share feed with rescues (donated feed) is not the way to get by. I wonder what Reber and the Grange would think if they knew the hay drives they have going were keeping Pat’s studs fat and happy so they could breed the rescues.
I still would love a good explanation for why accidentally bred mares were not given Lutalyse. THAT is not that expensive. It is WAY less expensive than another mouth to feed.
Why was this not done?
By the way, I have a vet who will geld for $80 near Patricia’s so I don’t want to hear any excuses about how it is too expensive to geld. Nonsense.
No Lutalyse because Patricia would never admit that a mare might have been bred until she was very obviously pregnant. I’m not going to play the game of trying to sort out her motives. There’s an obvious lack of connection to reality, no matter what her motive was.
Wow oh Wow are all these rescuers starting to sound alike? I am always blown away by how the public keeps supporting people like Dean , Patricia and of course good old NorCal. Sorry Fugs I know you like their euth and gelding clinics but it sure as hell doesn’t make up for the death and neglect.
Its all so wrong , when are they going to be regulating these damn animal rescues , how many times do we need to see the same sick stories played out over and over.
Poor mare- best wishes to her she looks like she’s been through hell.
Did you see Nor Cal’s blog today? Why would they haul that poor foundered old horse 1 1/2 hours back to the rescue only to keep him/her alive and suffering a few more days instead of just calling the vet in Loomis and euthanizing right then and there? I don’t get it?!!!
As a newbie to these issues, it’s so eye-opening to hear honest discussions about poor rescue management. Thank you all, FHOTD and commenters, for illuminating issues to look out for when donating.
OT, but had to show you this one:
http://redding.craigslist.org/grd/1580882465.html
cant afford training 4 horse?
Hi, we are forming a Non Profit to help your horse. We have top trainers that will train your horse and campain thier sale. If you are struggling with our economy and need to sell or need help with your horses email us. sincerely, dena
Who other than me think these people are full of bs??
Maybe they are and maybe they aren’t??
We have a similar program for our rescues because most need training to get a chance at a decent home and they don’t get great care let alone training at a lot of rescues.
We didn’t post this ad by the way . We still consider it adoption not selling as they posted in their ad.
OMG, poor pony – PICTURE
http://austin.craigslist.org/grd/1581176173.html
1year old broken Shetland Ponny.Very tame and cute please call if interested no emails please (512)369-2285
sale-dnjur-1581176173@craigslist.org
Yeah, I bet it’s broken, thanks to them!
Off topic… anyone able to upgrade this poor little “broken 1 year old shetland” in Texas?
The picture will really pull at your heartstrings, and want to get that pony OUT of there!
http://austin.craigslist.org/grd/1581176173.html
Back to the subject of the horse pictured above– Does anyone know how she came by that injury? Is anyone seeing to it that gets the medical attention she needs– are is everyone just content to sit at her/his computer and call the woman who has her a “dochebag” and a “hosebag” –terms which are demeaning to women in general– and the use of which by women about women — I find ironic at best- moronic at worst.
This isn’t Sesame Street. This blog has always contained profanity and name-calling and, hey, that’s what a lot of people love about it. I am totally equal opportunity – I call men AND women all sorts of names if I think they’re deserved (and extra credit if the name makes me giggle). There are plenty of moderated, sunshine and happy butterflies boards and blogs on the net for anyone uncomfortable with my tone here.
Hey fugly– If you want to demean your own sex– fine with me– But I don’t haveto like it, and I don’t have to just sit here without commenting– of course you can just moderate my comments away. Personally, if one wants to set the “edgy bad girl who uses profanity” tone — I can’t blame you– it certainly has worked to make your blog very popular — I just wonder how much more good you could do, and how many more people might take this blog more seriously — if you dropped some of the profanity posturing.
By the way — If one wants to use profanity– I prefer the non-gendered, non-sexist “asshole” — Everyone has one of those and they all stink to one degree or another.
Women going around using degrogatory terms for themselves and others reminds me of people using the “n-word” as a way to empower themselves. I just think it’s tasteless and pointless — but I realize that spewing forth “nasty words” into the blogisphere probably provides cheap thrills for some people judging some of the things posted here. The formula has worked for you so farr, so I can understand why you delight in it so.
That being said, I applaud your efforts to expose the cruelty and neglect that horses suffer daily at the hands of greedy, sadistic, apathetic and/or clueless humans. You are welcome to call me any ugly names you can think of (if that’s what it takes to make you giggle– but you won’t convince me that name-calling and profanity is wonderful– and I LIKE Sesame Street. Guess you don’t. A chacun son gout — and no, that’s not French cuss words.
Sesame Street LMAO
Remember the Count?
One , muhahaha One hosebag
Two muhahaha Two hosebags
Totally popped into my head when I read this.
Todays fugly blog was brought to you by the letter ……
oh, ferpetessakes, SACK UP and quit wasting virtual space on your holier-than-thou tirade…
EFF, I respect and appreciate everything you post. I agree that gratuitious profanity is often more destructive than helpful. But if you look at Fugly’s OP, Dean’s helper was called an “idiot” and Dean herself was called “photoshopped ass” (totally accurately) and told to “just fucking stop it.” The other objectionable terms were posted by commenters–who aren’t moderated, as you yourself aren’t moderated.
I appreciate the freedom of speech here (this seems to be turning into a rarity in general,) so people who post destructive language with nothing helpful to add, I just scroll on by.
I was told that she ran through a fence – the wounds aren’t deep, they just look nasty. And yes, Patricia is treating them.
Update on the horse seizure in Oak Harbor, Ohio:
http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100201/NEWS02/100209977
She was charged with 42 counts of animal cruelty. Her possible sentence: 90 days in jail and a maximum $700 fine. How sad.
I wonder how Robin would feel if she weighed 70 lbs. instead of 140 lbs.?
I don’t wish harm on anyone, but this is what these horses are going through.
Actually it says:
“**Each charge** is a second-degree misdemeanor that carries a penalty of up to 90 days in jail and a maximum $700 fine.”
So multiply 90 days and $700 by 42 if she is convicted on all accounts…that’s 10 years 3 months in jail and almost $30,000.
Actually, the potential sentience is 42 TIMES 90 days and $700 — depending on how the judge assigns punishment. Consecutive and total seems a little more appropriate to me: something over 10 years in jail and $29,400.
People suck. I found my 22yr mare dead this a.m. What kind of life did she have? Broke out for 2 yr old futurities, bred for a few years til she didn’t carry anymore. Then given to me 2 yrs ago, thin and nonaffectionate. I hope she’s happy now.
Windingwinds, I’m so sorry for your loss. I’ll bet your mare had two happy years and learned to eat carrots. I’ll also bet that for many years in her early life, she was well taken care of because she was valuable, even if she wasn’t loved. You did a good thing.
It’s time to stop these horses at the source. You shouldn’t have kids without understanding they are commitment. And mass producing horses should be wrong too. Guess not selling them young cuts into your bottom line too bad. I’m done taking them in.
Oak Harbor woman charged with 42 counts of animal cruelty in horse case Officials said the horses were removed starting Friday afternoon and through the evening into Saturday.
Many of the horses were emaciated and some died or were euthanized. They are being cared for at the Sandusky County Fairgrouds in Fremont.
It never ends….
windingwinds….it sucks big time….so sorry your old gal is gone. Just know she is running free and happy now.
I don’t know how to stop the overflow of horses….I know of one breeder who is expecting 14 foals, another is awaiting 10…and to what end? These aren’t even big time breeders, I can’t even fathom having 20 foals. How do you spend time with all of them, let alone get them all trained up. Guess I just see the picture differently.
I send you hugs…my old girl is 23, has never known evil, abuse or hunger in the 16 years she has been with me, I pray that more people allow their old girls to retire with dignity and style. Thank YOU for giving her 2 years of happiness.
Carrie Giannandrea
Dances with Horses
Formula One Farms
you all suck
for vess, that is 42 counts against her for animal cruelty, and EACH count has a possible 90 days/$700 fine. hope this has enough publicity that the judge won’t/can’t brush it under the rug with a slap on the wrist.
Kinda OT but I wonder when some one will come up with a permanent insertable birth control for horses, or a less invasive way of fixing them. Does anyone one know of any of the major drug companies working on one now? I bet some rescues would love to volunteer thier mares if they recieved the treatment for free… It would have to be something that was a one time shot, so the rescue wouldnt have to worry that the adopter “forgot” to make an appt or give a shot or whatever resulting in an oops baby. OR, at what point is the states going to require that rescues fix grade female animals? This may be what it comes to if we as animal advocates cant control it ourselves.
Just one of my crazy ideas.
Definitely not crazy!! Look at how many birth control options are available for women – it might take them a while to come up with something permanent, but couldn’t they at least market something that’s easy to do yourself and affordable – rather than having a vet come out?
AFAIK rescues aren’t even required to geld stallions, so I highly doubt they will require mares be spayed. That kind of operation takes too much money to be practical, not to mention the risk to the mare.
I think, if I ever ran a rescue, I would spay and geld everything that came through. I would keep my numbers down and my hours of service up. I would have a 4-H group run out of the barn and use every horse as a learning tool and an opportunity to learn. Kids would be able to see everything from basic brushing to vet assisted euthing (age appropriate/with parents permission). We would discuss the financial aspects of different procedures and everyday costs. I would also keep the books open to them and encourage them to look at bills and reciepts. These are all things that will prepare our future equinuts to be responsible and caring owners. It would also let any one who wanted to donate or volunteer with my rescue to know that I have nothing to hide and assure them it was truely for the sake of the horses.
Also do they spay laproscopically yet???
I’ve heard they can, but I don’t think it’s a spay like your cat or dog gets. If I understood what I read correctly, the uterus is left intact, but the ovaries are removed. No ovaries, no ovulation. It’s done similar to one of the methods for getting to the non-descended testicles of a cryptorchid, where an incision is made in the flank… I’d have to look the article up, and I can’t even remember how I found it.
As for other forms of contraceptive… If they can make a contraceptive that lasts for 5 years (Mirena and other IUDs) for humans, I don’t see why it wouldn’t be possible to adapt it to horses. How many other technologies have we adapted to our animals that were originally for us?
The only thing I’d like to see for an IUD type of contraceptive is it being used for a mare that is registered and will compete, and bred only after she’s proven herself, to a stallion that’s proven himself (more than a few times for both), and already has a buyer (or three in case the first has a reason they can’t take the foal) lined up -before- the mare is bred. (Go go, run on sentence!) There’s a reason a good dog breeder will have a longer-than-average-litter-size waiting list for a litter instead of getting puppies on the ground and going “Gee, I guess I need to find them homes!”
Also, I know here in PA they’ve talked about introducing some kind of contraceptive feed for the deer since there are so many of them (3 times as many as when the area was first colonized)… Perhaps this could lead to something for horses?
I will have to look for it too. The feed through stuff would have two problems 1. Being able to trust the adopter to feed it in a responsible way (or at all) 2. I fear it would have the same handling problems as regumate for women???
There just has to be better options
Heh… people keep popping out KIDS they can’t afford. And then proceed to neglect them. Really, kids ARE a commitment, but like horses, the rewards are totally worth it. If you do it right.
Very glad this woman is getting charged. I hope it sticks.
As for the term “douchebag,” it’s commonly used for women AND men. Douching is bad for you anyway.
As for “hosebag,” I don’t commonly use that, but I DO refer to dumbass men as “tools.” That’s also a gender specific, not nice way to refer to genitalia. Wah. I also refer to certain men’s sports cars as “compensating,” which I’ve not seen a female equivalent of, since I guess hoo-hoos of all shapes and sizes are universally appreciated or something.
Anyway…. as someone who’s been involved with several nonprofits over the years, if you want your $$ to go for the best cause, DO YOUR HOMEWORK. Absolutely check it out for yourself. Don’t take the Internet’s word for it being good/bad.
There is a 990-EZ on file for 2008 that has a file date of August 14, 2009.
http://www2.guidestar.org/organizations/26-1817306/serenity-equine-rescue-rehabilitation.aspx
Notafollower-
I totally understand what you are saying about sticking to the facts and keeping tempers in check. Matter fact, when approached about commenting about my time at SERR, I was adament that I would only report what I know to be true. I dont comment on any horses/purchases/volunteers/BM’s etc from a time that I was not there. I would never say that I was lied to unless I WAS…continually, to my face. I am not sure how to PROVE what I was told verbally but reality proves that she did not do what she promised to do…that equals a lie. We were told all the time that things were going to change and she was going to stick to a plan to sell her arabs and get her rescue numbers down…we turn around and more horses are coming up the driveway, in her trailer. We were told horses were getting medicated and then find UNOPEN antibiotics with their names on them from vet clinics.
I could go on and on but I think that is a pretty good effort to get my point across. I have nothing to gain by making trouble. I am just releived that “the cat is out of the bag” and others had the exact same experience as me.