I found the person making you look bad: She’s in your mirror!
Jul 09 2010
Another day, another drama on the Interwebz. Apparently 2 young horses, Indigo and Moon, got adopted out to someone who moved away and left the horses in the care of her parents. The horses were being well cared for (they are shown in the “fat” picture below just prior to leaving that home), but the parents got sick of feeding them and gave them away to some dingbat named Tara, who admits she got them in October, 2009. The horses got confiscated by the sheriff in JULY 2010 and somehow Tara does not think their condition is HER fault. Who else’s fault it is would be anyone’s guess – the Easter Bunny’s? The Illuminati? The Volturi? Who knows, we just know Tara does not think it is HER fault despite the fact that they were in HER backyard. (The authorities, fortunately, beg to differ and Miss All Caps has been arrested!)
Check out this recent post by Tara. When you read this, doesn’t it just paint a great big flaming red “guilty” on her face in your mind?
“OK NOW LET ME SET EVERYONE STRAIGHT. THESE TWO HORSES HAD NOTHING WHEN I RESCUED THEM. THE COUPLE THAT HAD THEM HAD ONLY WATER AND BARELY ANY GRASS FOR THEM. THESE HORSES WERE ADOPTED OUT TO A WOMAN THAT WAS A CHRONIC ALCOHOLIC AND ADVID DRUG USER. DID KRISTEN EVEN BOTHER CHECKING ON WHERE THESE HORSES SHE LOVED SO MUCH WENT??? NO SHE DIDNT. JUST BECAUSE SOMEONE SAYS THEY KNOW HORSES DOESNT MEAN THEY SHOULD BE TRUSTED. I WAS THE ONE THAT WENT TO THAT FARM TO TELL HER HOW MUCH OF EVERYTHING SHE NEEDED. I WAS THE ONE THAT WORKED WITH INDIGO AND MOON TO GET THEM RIDING AND EVERYTHING ELSE. I WAS THE ONE THAT WENT THERE TO HELP FEED THE HORSES AND WATER THEM. THEN THAT OWNER SKIPPED TOWN AND I DIDNT EXACTLY KNOW WHAT WAS GOING ON WITH THE HORSES UNTIL I WENT UP THERE ONE DAY TO GET A PHONE NUMBER. I WAS ASKED TO TAKE THESE HORSES BECAUSE THEY HAD NOTHING….. IT WAS THE END OF OCTOBER AND I KNEW THE SNOW WAS COMING. I GOT A FENCE AND SHELTER UP FAST SO I COULD GET THEM OUT OF THERE. YES ERICA DID TRAILER THEM TO MY HOME. SHE KNOWS THAT I KNOW WHAT THE HELL I AM DOIN WITH HORSES. CHRIST I TAUGHT HER A FEW THINGS… I HAD A HORSE WHEN I WAS YOUNGER AND LEARNED ABOUT OWNING A HORSE FROM MY BEST FRIEND WHO HAS A FARM FULL OF HORSES AND OTHER ANIMALS. FIRST OF ALL THESE HORSES WERE SKINNY WHEN WE GOT THEM. I HAD THERE FEET DONE BY A LOCAL FARRIER WHICH I HAVE PROOF. I ALSO CONTACTED MY BEST FRIEND WHEN I NOTICED THEY WERE GETTING SKINNY. SHES THE ONE WHO TOLD ME TO TRY THE BEET PULP. I THEN CONTACTED DR. AHO’S OFFICE TO MAKE AN APPT. WHEN HE COMES UP HERE. HES FROM MARQUETTE AND I HEARD HE WAS THE BEST. I HAD BARNA TAKE CARE OF THE LAST HORSE I HAD AND I WASNT TOO IMPRESSED WITH HER. I HAVE AN APPOINTMENT WITH DR. AHO SO I DID CONTACT THE VET. I HAVE PROOF OF ALL THE HAY I BOUGHT FOR THESE HORSES AND RECIEPTS FOR GRAIN THAT I PURCHASED AT ERICKSONS FEED AND SEED. I PUT A LOT OF MONEY AND TIME INTO THESE HORSES. THESE ARE MY BABIES… AND EXCUSE ME BUT THE VET THAT LOOKED AT THEM RECENTLY ONLY SAID SHE COULDNT DETERMINE ANYTHING BECAUSE SHE NEEDED TO DO BLOOD WORK AND STOOL SAMPLES. NOTHING WAS DETERMINDED THAT I NEGLECTED THESE HORSES… SHE SAID THAT INDIGO HAS BAD TEETH. AND THAT IN HER OPINION IT HAD TO BE A PARASITE IN ORDER FOR BOTH HORSES TO HAVE IT. UNTIL U KNOW THE FACTS KEEP UR OPINIONS TO URSELF. I FED THESE HORSES EVERYDAY. WE DONT KNOW WHY THEY LOST WEIGHT SO FAST. WE HAD THEM AT A GOOD WEIGHT IN THE WINTER. WE DID NOTHING WRONG WITH THESE HORSES. WE ARE SAD THAT THEY LOST WEIGHT AND WE DONT KNOW WHY BUT THE WAY U PEOPLE ARE TREATING US IS LIKE WE DIDNT CARE AT ALL FOR THEM. EVERYTHING WAS IN THE PROCESS OF GETTING DONE WITH THE VET. SO WHEN IT IS PROVEN BY A VET THAT THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG WITH THEM THEN ULL REALIZE THAT U HURT A FAMILY VERY BAD FOR SOMETHING THAT COULDVE BEEN TAKEN CARE OF. STORMIE MAKES A LOT OF SENSE ON HERE. U SHOULDNT JUDGE THINGS UNTIL THE FACTS ARE OUT. MAYBE U SHOULD ALL TAKE ADVISE FROM HER. WE WILL CONTACT STORMIE AND GET HER ADVISE BECAUSE SHE SEEMS TO BE THE ONE WHO MAKES SENSE OF THINGS. I ACTUALLY DO HAVE HORSE FRIENDS THAT ARE ON MY SIDE BECAUSE THEY HELPED ME WITH MY HORSES WHEN THEY STARTED DROPPING WEIGHT. AS OF NOW NOTHING WAS PROVEN AND A VET WILL TAKE BLOOD AND STOOL SAMPLES TO DETERMINE THE CAUSE… MY HORSES WILL BE BACK HOME WHERE THEY BELONG. I KNOW I HAVE DONE NOTHING WRONG. GET THE FACTS BEFORE U SHAME US. SHAME ON U! AS FOR ERICA I WAS CONTACTING U FOR HELP WHEN I NEEDED IT FOR THESE HORSES BUT U WERE OUT OF TOWN. I KNEW U WOULDVE HELPED ME GET THESE HORSES BACK TO THERE WEIGHT SO I GUESS STILL I DIDNT TRY CONTACTING OTHER HORSE PEOPLE FOR HELP RIGHT?? LOOK ON UR CALLER ID. U KNOW FOR A FACT I KNOW WHAT I AM DOING WITH HORSES. U KNOW I HAVE OTHER HORSE FRIENDS. IF U DIDNT THINK I WAS QUALIFIED ENOUGH WHY DID U TRANSPORT THEM IN UR TRAILER TO MY PLACE????????? U WOULDNT HAVE IF U DIDNT THINK THAT I KNEW WHAT I WAS DOING. I CANT WAIT TILL IT COMES BACK THAT THESE HORSES HAVE SOMETHING WRONG THAT I COULDNT CONTROL THEM GETTING. I WILL BE ON HERE LAUGHING MY ASS OFF AT ALL THE PEOPLE WHO THOUGHT THEY WERE SO SO RIGHT. AS OF NOW MY HORSES WILL NOT HAVE A FOREVER HOME THERE. I WILL DO MY GOD DAMN BEST FOR THEM TO BE HOME WITH ME WHERE THEY BELONG. THE CONTRACT THAT KRISTEN HAS ON THESE HORSES DOES NOT STAND WITH ME. IT STANDS WITH THE PREVIOUS OWNER WHO TOOK OFF. THESE ARE STILL MY HORSES. OH AND BY THE WAY WHERE WAS SHE WHEN THESE HORSES NEEDED A HOME FOR MONTHS BEFORE I TOOK THEM. DONT U THINK THAT SHE SHOULDVE CHECKED IN ON THEM IF SHE LOVED THEM SO MUCH. SHE WASNT REALLY LOOKING TOO HARD FOR THESE HORSES NOW WAS SHE.”
Reading that, don’t you just KNOW that the horses involved came back from Tara’s care looking like this?
Well, of course you do. Everything about Tara’s post screams “illiterate, knuckle-dragging, bottom-feeding moron.” From her inability to use lower case or spell out complicated words like “you” to her ridiculous protestations that something other than a lack of feed resulted in this condition, this response leaves little doubt that she is completely and utterly guilty of nearly starving these two horses to death in her backyard and beating the fuck out of the gray one. Read the whole thread – it’s priceless.
In case you were wondering, here is how the horses looked, just last fall. I guess the alcohol, avid drug user is a hell of a lot better home for horses than you are, huh, Tara?
Oh, and Tara, you knuckle-dragging moron, when you show up here and are all pissed off at me? Here is a link for you, sunshine. It will really help you in your future life.
10 Words You Need to Stop Misspelling
Maybe you can get some education in jail. Tell you what, post and let us know where you’re going to be locked up and we’ll all send you some helpful horse care books to pass the time. 
145 comments to “I found the person making you look bad: She’s in your mirror!”
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I like how she is soooo smart about horses but didn’t know beet pulp is used to maintain weight, which is common knowledge among horse people. I also can’t believe that if they did have some mysterious “condition” why she didn’t get them to vet sooner before they were a TOTAL rack of BONES?
When I read a “screaming” rant, I always think Shakespeare: “Methinks (s)he doth protest too much.” Pointing fingers at others when the horses, (supposedly) under the care of a (self-proclaimed) horse expert, mysteriously went from good weight to “OMG” smacks of trying to move the spotlight or attention from oneself. I hear cockroaches scuttling.
If there is an issue with their weight, why not call the vet right away? Parasites leave other signs besides weight loss. Poor coat, scratching their tails, evidence in the manure, etc.
And why feed the worms for NINE MONTHS before noticing there MIGHT be a problem?
The vet didn’t intervene?
Sometimes people truly make no sense at all, and the poor creatures that suffer are the animals that cannot speak for themselves.
“… SHE SAID THAT INDIGO HAS BAD TEETH. AND THAT IN HER OPINION IT HAD TO BE A PARASITE IN ORDER FOR BOTH HORSES TO HAVE IT”
Holy Crap! Is she claiming the vet told her that a parasite attacked the horses’ teeth which resulted in the weight loss? If so, how much longer before it chews through their bones and they melt into a puddle of goo like the wicked witch in the Wiizard of Oz? ALERT THE MEDIA!!!!
Or maybe she needs to use punctiuation and complete sentences?
Oops typo…”punctuation”….this is what I get for multi-tasking during work!
This is really OT because it’s not about Tara but I just saw this bizarre story:
http://www.subletteexaminer.com/v2_news_articles.php?heading=0&page=72&story_id=1449
”
“On Sunday, April 25, two Bureau of Land Management (BLM) employees found carcasses of 12 foals that were shot, killed and dumped on BLM land 15 miles east of Marbleton.
The foals appeared to be newborn, 1 month to 1 week old, BLM Law Enforcement Ranger Shane Wasem said Wednesday in a statement.”
…I didn’t post the link to the article about the foals to hijack the thread, I just didn’t know how else to send it and thought you’d see it when moderating. Then it might become another topic for another day.
Aw, that’s cute how the BLM pretends to give a crap about dead foals. Especially since they started the Elko roundup to remove 1400 wild horses today when they will use a helicopter run week old foals midday in the desert… But then, I suppose news reporters and humane observers won’t see all the babies that die from the roundup since no one’s allowed to watch and hold the contractors accountable. If no one sees it, it doesn’t happen!
I guess baby horses only matter when they’re born domestic.
Actually, the horses are moved at a walking pace until just before the Judas horse is released in front of them, about a mile away from the corrals. Not too far to run for a wild horse, even a young one.
Although not something we might do, I can see a rancher culling the foals if “they” felt the foals were at risk. I can’t imagine not being able to haul the mares and foals somewhere and being able to rectify their issues but ranchers often don’t view these situations the way we do. I know people like this and while I do not agree with them, I also don’t want to be put in that type of situation where I have to make the decision of getting vet care for the horses or feeding my family. The real mystery here is the mismanagement of these mares by their supposed caretaker where all 12 of them ended up being bred but supposedly had not been exposed to a stallion. I think the so called manager should be fired at the very least. Hopefully they will be prosecuted for disposing the foals on public land though.
They should have a look around and see if anyone is running a foster mare or HRT operation…that’s a lot of young foals and the services of the mares at that time may have a higher value for something else…poor little mites
(oops reposted to reply to the thread)
Nothing says class like upper case and a complete lack of any paragraph breaks.
FAIL.
*Snorted my iced tea*
Agree with “U” on that one—I write for a living and can’t get through things like that paragraph on most occasions… my eyes start to glaze over. I just need to look at the endless run on sentence and ALL CAPS to get an inkling of what is going on there… Uh, I mean THEIR. Or, wait, is it THEY’RE…???
Agonizing.
“I CANT WAIT TILL IT COMES BACK THAT THESE HORSES HAVE SOMETHING WRONG THAT I COULDNT CONTROL THEM GETTING. I WILL BE ON HERE LAUGHING MY ASS OFF AT ALL THE PEOPLE WHO THOUGHT THEY WERE SO SO RIGHT.”
Really? It shouldn’t matter why they are emaciated. The point is… they are. Even the folks on this site will get carried away with the finger pointing. I’ve been guilty of it myself. But the fact is, these guys should have been helped out WAY SOONER than they were. Feed, parasites, whatever – it doesn’t matter. The weight loss problem should have been addressed before they looked like they look now.
Absolutely. It really is not THAT HARD to call the vet when you are faced with baffling and inexplicable weight loss in an animal. Run a blood panel, do a fecal – it’s not like horses routinely lose weight for totally baffling reasons.
Oh, but she DID call the vet. She was just waiting until they were in the neighborhood–wouldn’t want to haul them in, or (omg!) pay a farm call!
My question is why would any loving and caring horse owner be laughing their ass off about their dear horses having something wrong with them — these “babies” who she purports to love so much! WTF?
She KNOWS what she’s doing with horses, alright: starving them. Poor babies. I bet they’re wondering what the hell they did wrong to deserve to end up in that situation.
“I CANT WAIT TILL IT COMES BACK THAT THESE HORSES HAVE SOMETHING WRONG THAT I COULDNT CONTROL THEM GETTING.”
I can’t wait until you find out that they’re skinny because you didn’t feed them.
Priceless.
Off to go read the other thread for amusement….
Actually there is an update from the vet that was there with the Sheriff’s Dept when the horses were seized. Her report came back there was nothing wrong with either horse, Indigo (Arab) is due for a teeth float, but it wasn’t bad enough to be the cause (still wouldn’t explain why HIS teeth needing to be floated would cause the other horse to be in the same condition, unless of course Moon was feeling sympathy pains…just a thought).
The cause for both horses condition is *drum-roll* LACK of food!! *faints in complete surprise*
I like how Miss Smarty One also admits to selling drugs to and using the money to take care of her
*drum-roll again* 5 kids!!! She can’t take care of 2 horses but she can sure as hell give Octomom a run for her money;)
I guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree as dear old daddy grabs pooch by the neck and picks said pooch up and hauls him up the stairs into the house like that!! Just love an abusive family tree now if only we could grab a clue bat and beat the hell out of all of them. Speaking of beatings we wouldn’t want to leave Indigo out of that as he has broken bones in his face, of course Tara didn’t do that either and is going to sue anyone who says she had anything to do with it!! Also the update did mention that there were arrests made and dear sweet Tara wasn’t around to tell everyone how she was unfairly accused and was going to be suing the hell outa everyone, so guessing that she’s now sitting behind bars where hopefully for the animals and her childrens sake she will be for quite a while and just to point out the unfairness of it all…getting 3 meals a day, which is WAY more then she did for Indigo or Moon. I am now going to go feed my fat, spoiled rotten, 4 legged monsters that I actually do love and try to forget there are people (term used very loosely) like Miss Tara out there that have NO objections to not feeding their critters that the profess to love so dearly, when of course they aren’t threatening to sue everyone or how THEY are being treated unfairly.
Fugs, you’re right on with your criticism of illiterate rants. There’s something warped about people who, faced with the same language every day of their lives, never figure out that its simple rules apply to them.
Oh, yeah. I will purchase the poster for her cell so she can study it long and hard.
So the vet visited, told her that the problem required blood work and a fecal but she didn’t have them done. Now she is going to get ‘her babies’ the care they needed way back. Tara is only a responsible horse owner when the heat is on. You know Tara, even with many health issues it is entirely possible to keep weight on a horse. You just used the vet’s advice as an excuse for the horses’ condition. However much you spent, there is no excuse for these horses being skin and bones six months after you got them.
If there is any justice for the suffering these horses endured, you will sit in jail for six months. Please use that time to stop with the denial and consider your role in their condition. They depended upon YOU.
Who keeps receipts and whatnot for totally routine purchases like feed and hay? Don’t we all buy stuff like that so often, we’d be up to our knees in paper?
Everyone uses that as a defense. Look, you’re not being audited by the IRS, and the horses’ condition tells the story – not any paper trail you allege exists.
Sorry, I’ve never had horses look like that 9 months after I got them…no matter what they showed up looking like.
Plus, occasionnally buying hay and grain is one thing; actually distributing it the horses on a regular basis is quite another…
Besides, even if you don’t keep receipts its easy enough to print out/obtaing your bank/credit card records. If you’re purchasing everything with cash… well, that’s just abnormal.
My hay is all cash but most of my grain and supplement and whatever else is usually bank card. But even better than paper proof all you have to do is drive by and look
Actually, I do. I don’t get receipts for hay, but I have a copies of my cancelled checks. I get a tax break under the “Samll Farm” Form on my taxes, so I keep every receipt. As long as I have at least one boarder, or sell one horse, I qualify for the tax break. Since I don’t ever sell anything, I board.
I keep all of my receipts. For feed, salt blocks, vets…anything to do with my horses…I have every receipt. I scan them onto my computer and save them on a disk and I also put the originals in my file cabinet. It’s worth it’s weight in paper.
From her rant:
“JUST BECAUSE SOMEONE SAYS THEY KNOW HORSES DOESNT MEAN THEY SHOULD BE TRUSTED.”
Later in her rant:
“SHE KNOWS THAT I KNOW WHAT THE HELL I AM DOIN WITH HORSES.”
Says it all, I think.
When will it end?
I LOVE that Appy BTW!
One page 13, “Gina” reported the rescue group got the medical test results back. No underlying medical reason found … not even a heavy parasite load or bad teeth.
Surprise surprise surprise!
When I worked with the local humane society, we found the people who did the most yelling at us, where the ones who were treating their animals the worst. The people who really didn’t know about animal care were willing to either turning the skinny animals over to us to rehab and rehome, or wanted to keep them and learn how to care for them correctly, which we were happy to teach them. However, if they were screaming and threatening us, they usually had no desire to learn how to take better care of their animals, as they already thought they were doing a good job and were not willing to listent to one word we had to say to them.
Boy! did you hit the nail on the head. It is oh! so true! that people who know the least are the ones that claim to know everything. I have literally given up on those fools. If I did not fear for the safety of my own animals I would blow a lot of whistles. Ignorance is bliss I suppose, but sure doesn’t help the animals in the care of those stupid people. In my neck of the woods, it takes a lot before any law enforcement steps in. Usually an animal has to die and others suffer before any help arrives. I’ve just given up and hope that the poor animal dies a quick death. God only knows I have done my share of trying but always to no avail. Can’t wait to move!
Poor guys, they’re both really cute too – deserve way better then this nut-job.
Nope it’s not hard to see that your horse is losing weight suddenly without a seemingly valid reason, and to call the vet out right away. Happened to me: Christmas 2007…NASCAR pony (my now 28 year old QH gelding) was at a great weight. Had had his teeth floated in Sept. 2007, was eating well, etc. By February 1st, 2008 he had dropped weight dramatically inspite of my upping his feed, adding suppliments and beet pulp and worming him thoroughly. Noticed his front teeth looked odd (when I could look…thats the one thing he will fight is having his mouth looked at…he will take a bit just fine, just don’t try to actually look in his mouth without taking your life in your own hands…) so I called the vet out. She did all the routine exams on him and had to sedate him to look at his teeth and was surprised that his front teeth were WORN TO NUBS all the way down to the gum line. They hadn’t been like that when she floated him 6 months before! Turns out (I didn’t know this) that horses don’t have a normal enamel on their teeth like humans do, and once it’s worn off (usually during old age) their teeth act like chalk on cement and will wear away quickly, usually when they are trying to graze a short pasture (like I had). This doesn’t happen often, but sometimes it does since all horses are different. After a bit of dental work (not much there to work on), she suggested feeding him chopped hay, soaked senior feed and a weight builder suppliment, with beet pulp shreds soaked in it and even soaked alfalfa pellets since he really cannot graze anymore. After another week of disparing since he wouldn’t touch his wetted feed and kept losing weight, she came back out again and took blood and fecal samples. All was fine there and I got so angry and frustrated at him one morning a few weeks later for not eating his wetted senior feed I screamed at him, tears streaming down my cheeks, “You damn stubborn old fart, would you just eat?!? Do you want to die?” and flung his feed into his feeder DRY, without wetting it. I came back a few hours later, expecting to have to dump the old feed and put fresh in (he was costing me a bundle of money to keep feeding and I was getting frustrated enough about his ailment I was considering having to euthanize him to be able to continue to afford to keep my other 3 horses) and was shocked his feeder was licked clean and he was asking for more! A lightbulb went on in my head, so I started giving him the senior feed without wetting it and to this day he won’t touch it if it’s wetted! I’ve found his happy medium and he bounced back dramatically. He now gets senior feed fed to him as a free-choice feed as he doesn’t gorge himself on it. He eats his fill, walks away and comes back as he gets hungry so I keep adding a scoop or two to his feeder as needed during the day. He also won’t touch a suppliment unless it’s pelleted and a small pellet at that. I also discovered that although he will eat chopped hay relucatantly, he prefers a “soft” stemmed grass so I have to hunt around to get him soft hay and I stock up on it for him when I do find it! Yes he’s Mr. Picky, but in my eyes he’s worth the trouble I go through to keep him fat and happy!
So, recognizing that your horses are losing weight and doing something about it IS hard, but do-able if you are willing to put the time, money and effort into your babies.
I had a similar problem, though it wasn’t because of an issue with the horse. The pelleted feed I had been giving my horse for a full 10 years wasn’t available anymore. It was called Sea Power. The protein, 16 percent, came from fish meal (hence the “Sea”). My OTTB was thin when I first got him, and I wanted to put weight on him without making him too hot to handle, and the feedstore guy recommended it. The vet had told me not to feed alfalfa hay (people up here don’t know how to buy it for horses. They get first or second cutting and end up with hot, high horses that colic because they have “stones”).
Anyway, I bought Sea Power and my horse loved it. It was his daily “goody bucket” along with a bit of sweet feed and some wet bran with supplements mixed in. Add carrots, stir and voila. A horse in good weight, tractable, perfect.
With no more Sea Power, I tried to duplicate the protein. Bought and fed a lot of different feeds. Horse began to waste away. The protein was the same, 16 percent, but the feeding plan wasn’t working. He was losing muscle mass and starting to look a little “peaky butted,” which is how he looked when I got him almost directly off the track. “Racing fit” but a bit thinner.
So I asked my vet — I should have STARTED there — and he gave me HIS formula for feeding: Alfalfa pellets, rice bran, soybean pellets or meal. Fat and protein (up to 18 percent, I think he said). Lots more mixing and scooping, but it didn’t take long before the boy was looking his fine self again. He’s older now, and he gets alfalfa hay at night (third or fourth cutting — the feedstores are wising up now, too). He gets Bermuda in the morning and at lunch). The alfalfa pellets are a brand that dissolves quickly, but I also feed them dry if I’m in a hurry. He likes the crunch.
We gotta do what we gotta do to keep our critters happy.
My oldest son’s old show gelding was like that. Mr. finicky. You could not wet any of his feed – at the end it HAD to be PURINA Senior. You could only add so much oil. He would NOT eat beet pulp – it didn’t matter what you did to it or mixed it with. Any supplement HAD to be in pellet form. I too dumped many buckets of feed he deemed unfit to eat. He was a real fussy old man, but he was in great weight until the day he had to be PTS at 28(his stifle could no longer hold him). Yes, there were days we wanted to throw up our hands and say “deal with it old man!”…..but we never did. He was the kindest, most honest horse we have ever owned, and worth double whatever trouble and headache he caused.
If you truly love them, you will stick with it to figure it out. If you honestly can’t figure it out, then you do the kindest thing and euth them, before they suffer further.
Ug, could we please make Friday a “happy post day” or a “post pictures of your fat and happy rescue day”? It’s beginning to seem like around every corner there is a horse hoarder/starver/abuser/creep!!! And I’m sure they do lurk in all the dark and nasty corners of the world, but what happened to all the good horse people in the world? Before we lose complete faith in all horse people could we please make Friday a day to celebrate the good/kind/encouraging people in the horse world.
I’ll give you the first idea: at http://www.runhennyrun.com you will find a wonderful video of Peter Atkins and his 3 day event horse Henry. The video contains footage of their run on the cross country course at Rolex and it is quite extraordinary to hear Peter encouraging Henry and celebrating his efforts as they compete on one of the toughest cross country event courses yet!!! If you go to Henry’s bio you will see that he is also a lead line horse for Peter’s two year old son Owen. Now that is something extraordinary, world class event horse by day, lead line babysitter at night
Sorry Fugs, I know you do a good job of showcasing the heros of our horses, it’s just that the reality of horses and their dysfunctional owners sometimes becomes horribly overwhelming……I hope for my children a better future with horses because of what you are trying to do.
Yeah, you’re right. We are overdue for a happy thread. I’ll do one next week for sure!
That vid was awesome! And such a great story about the horse. Thanks so much for sharing – just the right “pick me up” before the weekend.
What an awesome team! A true horseman who truly loves and appreciates his horse. Not rare for sure but you seldom hear of cases like this. How refreshing! And to see how he is with Owen, how adorable. Very heartwarming for sure.
I was the crazy lady who called the vet out in Feb 07 because my chunky monkey mustang mare lost weight. She was losing weight fast in Nov still nursing her 6 month old foal so I moved herto a new barn to accomplish the weaning. Joy was blooming with the better hay she didn’t have to share with a spoiled brat greedy piglet. Thanksgiving and Christmas happened then a family emergency out of state and I came back late Feb and freaked out. No she wasn’t as skinny as Nov. yet but I knew she had good care and great food and was going in the wrong direction. ( she is still at the same barn I love it) Vet thought I was a total nut case case- she is just a little lighter, horses drop weight in the winter she is fine. NO I said my girl doesn’t drop anything in winter she is an air fern something is wrong. Vet asked to check her teeth, I was insulted as she was always floated when needed. Vet said I am already here might as well check. He and his assitant couldn’t get her mouth open wide enough to even put your thumb in it- diagnosis unspecific auto imunine response vet prescribed a single conservative dose steroid shot to watch for reaction and careful monitoring of how long it took her to eat a measured amount of beetpulp and senior feed. She was eating lots but with her muscles constantly in contraction it was taking more energy to eat than she was gettig out of it. Low weight day of vet visit 14.2 Joy was 790lbs and given 1lb of beet pulp with 2 cups senior feed ( plus free choice hay) she walked away from not totally finished in 20 minutes- just too tired to eat- Every day she got more energy and faster at eating- week 6 she was gobbling the feed mix in under 5 minutes, licking the bucket and was back up to 1040lbs. Reason why?- maybe the move- maybe suddenly missing her baby- maybe sad I was gone so long when my sister died- ( 4 H girls leased her twice and maybe she thought I abandoned her)maybe a reaction response to her fall vacinations and her 8 week worming schedule I put her on when she started losing weight nursing.. (I worry about overuse so don’t generally worm more often than 12 weeks) I don’t know why but even when a vet I respect is telling me I’m nuts I know my horse better than he does. (it was the first time he saw her). ps I am not gernally an appy fan but that boy is cute hope he chunks up soon too.
stupid typos have the wrong glasses with me- it’s summer I left my teacher brain at school.
It is easy to forgive typos, bad spelling, bad hair days, stupid horse names…when the person making the mistake takes good care of their animals. Spelling and grammar are good but they are outward appearances and the animals tell us what you are really about.
When someone does not care for the animals they have taken in, it tells me that they are stupid, evil and self centered to the very core and it becomes easy to find fault with the outward things such as grammar, spelling…
(Why do those people give us so many reasons to criticize them that we would not have if they would just shut up and learn something!)
You are forgiven. Miss All Caps is not.
I only have a few moments to check in, but maybe your mare DID miss you. I took care of a mare while her owner was out of town for over a month. She had bonded with my gal and was fine during the owner’s absence. But when the owner came back she was SOOO excited, she had gas colic.
I’ll have to check out the vid of the event rider but that’s the kind of relationship you can have with a horse if you try. An offhand remark is what I consider my best compliment as a horseperson. When off site from the ranch, if I had to leave my mare for any reason, even if there where familiar horses close by, she would have a hissy fit. We were each others fan club! People noticed I was her “herd”.
I also have problem with sloppy posting. Hey, I work in programs that prefer CAPS to get the job done, then text page people who think I am yelling at them. For me it’s easier to read on a pager.
As usual, the topic is heartbreaking. I leased an Appy that looked just like that.
All I keep thinking as I read the other thread is that, if ever my horses started losing weight, and long before they were anywhere NEAR those two poor walking corpses, I would be more than happy for someone who could take better care of them to take them off of my hands. I would be absolutely heartbroken to lose either of them, but just like many horsepeople, I do my best to live by the old “The horse first, and then yourself” idea. (Off topic: I vaguely remember reading that expression as a child in a horse book; I believe it’s the motto of the Canadian mounted police; does anyone know for sure?)
This Tara lady sounds like she’s absolutely nuts. I hope she takes better care of her children than she did of those horses. Actually, she blames someone who had a drinking/drug problem… would she maybe be a little schizophrenic? Maybe she has a split personnality, and so now she’s blaming the OTHER Tara for starving the horses, and now THIS Tara has to deal with it. What she writes makes her seem drunk, or high, or both. That would explain a lot of things.
The horse first, then yourself. Sort of the same as in a book by M.A. Stoneridge, “A Horse of Your Own,” one of the first books I bought when I got my first horse. I was an adult, and I wanted to know EVERYTHING about caring for horses. This book is in its umpteenth printing.
Anyway, in the section on horseshows, the author said (paraphrasing here), You’re going to be hot and tired when you get home, but before you head to the house, you take care of your horse.
Sometimes being “hot and tired” means giving the horse a bath and standing close when the water hits the horse so some of it splashes back on ME ;o) I’m already dirty, so who cares about a little “wet on top”? This month my homeowners insurance is due, and I have to buy hay. There are all kinds of sales going on, and I need a wardrobe refresher, but my priorities are in place.
It’s just “the way it is.” Sadly some horse owners don’t have their priorities straight. As Fugly has said many times, the people with scrawny horses usually aren’t scrawny themselves. Funny how that works.
Great headline, FHOTD. Totally and obviously the case here to everyone except MS. ALL CAPS. There is NO excuse for how those horses look; she even admits the vet recommended some diagnostic procedures, which she didn’t do, so how can she possibly try to blame anyone/anything else except a simple lack of food? Amazing. Of course, nothing these starvation people do any more surprises me. (Bad camera angles, my a**, Arabian lady)
That grammar rules poster rocks, by the way – I want it! (I’m afraid many of your own posters here routinely type “loose” for “lose,” which drives me nuts)
OT: Who knew that tomorrow, July 9, is National Helmet Awareness Day? Not me! How about picking up a new brain bucket for 15% off from Dover (this offer even includes Charles Owen, for you hunter riders), or your local participating tack store? Here’s the website with all the details: http://www.riders4helmets.com/ I am just thrilled and delighted that this campaign is going on, and now that I’m aware of it, I’ll be checking back frequently. And yes, as per my earlier wish voiced on here, Courtney King-Dye is part of it!
Also thumbs up to the grammar rules follower.
What really gets me is the gratuitous (incorrect) use of apostrophes – it’s either a contraction or a possessive, not necessary for a plural. Drives me up the wall. Guess I’m giving away my age but when I was in school, we learned to spell and what the parts of speech are. Love the “interwebz” but it isn’t promoting proper use of our language.
Thanks for all you do fhotd!
“SHE KNOWS THAT I KNOW WHAT THE HELL I AM DOIN WITH HORSES. CHRIST I TAUGHT HER A FEW THINGS… I HAD A HORSE WHEN I WAS YOUNGER AND LEARNED ABOUT OWNING A HORSE FROM MY BEST FRIEND WHO HAS A FARM FULL OF HORSES AND OTHER ANIMALS.”
Auuugggghhhhh, I HATE the “I know everything about horses because my uncle/grandpa/friend had some horses once” line. It’s one of those things that actually gets increasingly annoying each time I hear someone new use it.
By the way, less than a year ago MY best friend, who loves animals and has learned a little about riding and caring for them from going to the barn with me, told me that she thought she wanted to get herself a horse. What did I tell her? You guessed it! “You don’t know enough about them to safely care for one, and you don’t know enough about them to use good judgement on selecting a barn with staff knowledgable to teach you. Before you buy one, spend a year taking lessons either on school horses or doing a partial lease one one, and — wait for it, wait for it — start reading a blog called FUGLY HORSE OF THE DAY!” =)
“I HATE the ‘I know everything about horses because my uncle/grandpa/friend had some horses once’ line. It’s one of those things that actually gets increasingly annoying each time I hear someone new use it.”
My vet says that he deals with a lot of people who really aren’t “horsemen” or “horsewomen.” They OWN HORSES but are basically clueless. One of them feeds her horse alfalfa that is really too rich and they colic (early and often) because they get stones (enteroliths). He told her once that if she would just change her feeding program to alfalfa that was a later cutting, she wouldn’t have this problem.
She wouldn’t change, and he finally told her to get another vet because he was tired of treating her horses for problems she was causing — problems she could FIX.
I’ve never asked him what he considers ME on his scale of “horsewoman” versus “owning horses.” Don’t want to put him on the spot ;o)
That is my biggest pet peeve…I cant stand when people think they know all about horses cause they got a pony ride more than once at the state fair or because they would go for a week to auntie horsebutts house and ride a few times while they where there. My other HUGE pet peeve is “Oh you have a horse! Can I, little Susie, my brother john, or who ever come out and ride your horse?!” I litterally have to hold my hands down and bite my tongue when some idiot says crap like that to me. I normally respond with some smart ass answer like “Sure, I heard you just got a new Boat, Car, motorcycle, ect let me take that for a wreckless/drunken spin first and you can come ride my horse
” I cant help it…..Just burns my toast!
OH LORDY.
I’m super duper paranoid about EVER keeping horses at my future country estate *snork* but apparently I’m more qualified than a LOT of DIY’ers out there!!
Yeah, I get riding requests all the time, too. I’d guess it’s like having a truck that everyone wants to borrow for moving stuff, or a swimming pool that people always want to come over & use.
Though one time my husband was on a house call (computer stuff) to a local doctor’s house… they went in through the garage and there was a brand new Porsche. My husband made one tiny admiring noise, and the guy’s like, “wanna take it for a spin?” and my husband ended up driving it all over the county with the doctor saying “FASTER!!! FASTER!!!”
You never know….
So true about some people owning horses but not being horsemen/horsewomen. You should hear some of the stories my farrier has told me. My old riding coach has also rescued a few horses that were the victims of ignorance too.
The worst story by far was an OTTB my farrier was called out to shoe, who the new owner was keeping in his GARAGE. WITH ALL THE TOOLS. Because he “didn’t have anywhere else to keep him.” *headdesk*
The sad part is my farrier is a good man and tries hard to educate the ignorant… but a lot of the time he gets ignored. I can’t imagine how awful that must be to deal with!
Personally I don’t think there is any excuse for neglecting a horse, even if it is ignorance. It is not difficult to learn the basic knowledge needed to care for a horse. Although, I guess that does require people actually LISTEN when their vets and farriers give them advice and follow through with the treatments prescribed. Apparently that is too much to ask of some people!
Well, I managed to read the whole thread! Her crazy posting sure made my head hurt, though! Yeesh. It isn’t enough to just “feed” your horse. You need to feed your horse an appropriate amount, keep its teeth floated and keep it dewormed.
I have never seen a horse get like that in a “couple of weeks”. My TB mare who is a hard keeper, did well over the winter but when I cut her back down to her “summer feed” amount after a month I could see that her ribs were starting to show too much. So what did I do? Knowing that her teeth were recently done, that she was dewormed, and that she was in excellent health, and had a history of being a hard keeper – I upped her hay again, and added some grain (beetpulp & complete feed) to her diet! Within a week she looked better, and within a few weeks back up to a proper weight (not that she was ever actually underweight, I just don’t like to be able to see the trace of ribs). My point being that horses do not randomly drop that much weight that quickly, it took quite a while of being on a smaller amount of feed for my mare to lose any weight (and she lost like maybe 50lbs max?).
I also know a lot of competition horses I see around here are a bit ribby, but never unhealthy. There is no way you could watch your horses waste away like that and think it was OK. A horse doesn’t go from fat and healthy, to skin and bones!
I agree. Even if it happens fairly slowly it is not to hard to tell if your horse is dropping weight. And if it is losing 100s of pounds, you think you would notice.
I freak if mine aren’t a solid 2.5-3 out of 5 on a condition score. A little fatter in the fall, a litter thinner midsummer. Stress on the “a little”. I just put my 2 year old gelding, Chico, on grain in the evenings, because the mosquitoes are so bad up here this summer that between growing and being bothered he’s getting a wee bit ribby. Not way skinny by a long shot, but thinner than I prefer, (I like easily palpable but not obviously visible ribs) and a his coat is a bit rough. That’s the other thing. If they aren’t healthy, neither is their hair coat. A healthy horse is shiny where the mud pig hasn’t gotten himself totally coated.
Sadly, no fly sheet for Chico. He and his pony buddy MacGregor would trash it in about 45 seconds.
I love the teamwork on that site, and the intelligence exhibited to get before and after pictures with dates. It reminds me that I didn’t take pictures of the last horse I sold before she left. I should have done.
Receipts for everything? I find it really hard to believe that this lady ACTUALLY has receipts. I would have to contact my bank to get the scans of any of my checks that have been cashed by the barn manager and farrier, and the debit card records for the vet and feed store.
I laughed when I read that the vet who came to the sanctuary found nothing wrong with the horses after they had been removed from the situation (other than the fact that they hadn’t been fed). Not that it is funny that they were starving, but it is funny that the offender made herself look so retarded with her flying-off-the-handle posts. So glad that the horse people in her area ousted her, and equally happy that the horses should make a full recovery.
I just can’t understand how people can live with themselves when they do something like this. I have honestly been on the verge of tears all day with guilt because my tried-and-true bell boots rubbed a small raw spot on the front of each of my mare’s cornet bands last night. I feel terrible! She was acting a little ornery, but that isn’t out of the ordinary. But, as soon as I took her bell boots off, I felt like the biggest piece of @#&$ in the world! GAH! Still so mad at myself for that one! I should have rechecked all my tack when I noticed she was acting naughty. I could kick myself! So warning to all, even if you have used the same bell boots on the same horse for 4 months, they can create sores in a matter of 20 minutes if they are stiff at all. WASH YOUR BELL BOOTS AFTER EVERY RIDE!
Okay, I will go about my day feeling like a big meanie owner… but head straight to the barn and hug my WELL FEED mare and doctor her boo boos.
WELL FED*
“I have honestly been on the verge of tears all day with guilt because my tried-and-true bell boots rubbed a small raw spot on the front of each of my mare’s cornet bands last night. ”
Yeah, I am the same way. If anything happens that could REMOTELY have been my fault, it deeply disturbs me.
It’s not so far-fetched that she would have records of hay and feed. If you’re running a business you need them for the IRS, and if you’re not, it’s still good to have them to track how much you spend, and in case there is ever something wrong with the feed. After having a valuable horse killed by improperly cured hay, I can’t imagine not keeping hay receipts. Besides, don’t most people have a standing account for hay? My mom is a bit anal about record-keeping, but she has receipts from every horse related expense in a file.
” I should have rechecked all my tack when I noticed she was acting naughty.”
Yep… the other day I was cantering my mare on the right lead- her bad lead- when she dropped to a trot. Now this is not unheard of for her, nor is bucking to switch back to the left lead, nor is attempting to cut corners or go wide to avoid having to canter in a *circle.* So anyway, I was aboput to get after her when I noticed something purple lying on the other end of my riding pen/area (don’t have a real arena at the moment). It was a polo wrap. Instead of getting after her I told her to walk and praised her… after all, I would rather have a horse that breaks gait when someone is unravelling around her feet than freaks out and hurts us both!
BTW…. the after pic… what’s with the crappy brown hay? Is that at Tara’s or at the rescue? Is there a reason for it?? I’m picky about hay… sunbleached on the outside is okay, but if it isn’t mostly green, I won’t buy it… and around here, stuff like that would be cow hay.
It’s mature grass hay, in round bale form. It isn’t a good choice if you are trying to use it as feed hay– it doesn’t have a lot of nutrition. It’s wonderful, however, for starving horses to supplement the nice hay. They can stand and nibble, expand their stomachs, and not get colic from it.
Frequently I’ll use old (as in mature, not 3 years old!) grass hay for horses that arrive that are thin. They can eat their heads off without getting sick on it, and it really helps settle their metabolism and put good weight on. Horses won’t suck it down like candy– they eat it casually, and really enjoy the chewing and munching that they can have all day. I then supplement with a nice second or third cutting grass mix hay, two or three times a day. With a horse in good weight, that type of hay is fine. No, it isn’t pretty green hay, but nutrition is only partially connected to how green hay is. Around here in this part of the Midwest, we are in heaven when we get a pretty first cutting hay– usually hay has to be in the field at least three days or more before it can be baled.
Why in Michigan? This state already makes itself look bad enough what with our horrid economy and the auto industry flipping over on itself.
How could you not be running to every vet within reach trying to find out what was wrong as soon as possible? I would be in a panic if our horse started dropping weight for no apparent reason, and would probably end up pestering my mother to pester the vet to the point of annoyance.
I agree with the other fans of the appy, he is a cutie.
The screaming wall of misspelled words makes it really, really, hard to get through her defense.
Tara,
There’s no excuse for what you did to these horses!
Man, she does sound like a nutcase, doesn’t she? Looking at that before and after makes me think thoughts that aren’t legal to discuss on the internet.
Playing devil’s advocate for just a moment: in the after picture, they have, admittedly very crappy looking hay, but a lot of hay. They clearly have SOMETHING to eat. So why so skinny? These guys aren’t old and should be able to keep better than that even on crappy hay.
The pictures were after they were rescued, which is why they have hay.
Aha, that explains it. It’s still pretty poor looking hay though. And a lot of muck!
I agree, that hay looks really bad. Why doesn’t the rescue have better hay? It’s kinda like saying “I finally moved out of the middle of the hood — to the outskirts of the hood!” Either way you slice it, you’re still in the hood… Oy, it’s the end of the week and I fear my analogies might be making sense only inside my own head at this point….. =)
Okay, hat answers part of my earlier question, but once again- why is the hay so crappy looking? Is it a regional thing? Is it to start them on not-so-rich food so they don’t colic or something? Just curious…. like I said, around here, in AZ, nobody would feed that to horses, that would be cow hay.
I just moved from AZ to TX and have been appauled at the hay quality here. Like you said, nobody in AZ would feed that to their horses. AZ must just be better about their hay standards than everyone else, because I’ve had to go above and beyond since living in TX to supplement my horse’s hay. I was buying my own GOOD hay and alfalfa pellets and keeping them in my trailer so I could give it to him each night after I rode (Can you imagine how irritating it is having to do that when you’re already paying an arm and a leg for boarding?). I’ve now found a place that is actually up to my standards in horse care – in fact, I’m thrilled to not be the pickiest one at the barn anymore because some of the ladies at the new place are even worse than me, which I love!
Get this: There was one barn that I went to look at, and the barn manager – a dressage rider with some nice quality horses – said “We don’t always have the best quality hay, because I think it’s important for the horses to be willing to eat bad hay in the event that sometimes you just can’t find good hay, and if all you ever feed is good hay then they won’t eat anything else.” WHAT?? I said “….I ALWAYS find good hay for my horse.”
It’s like when there is a drought and people argue they CAN’T get hay. Uh, no, you can ALWAYS get hay. The only question is what it will COST.
Amy, in Arizona you have irrigated fields. Hay is often cut in the morning, raked at noon, and baled in the evening, or the next day at latest. In Indiana/Michigan, in order to get first cutting off, you have to be able to get the fields dry enough to drive into them to cut the hay. Then you need a bare minimum of three days to dry the hay– I’ve seen it take five days before. First cutting usually needs raked twice here, sometimes more.
All this in an area of the country where even the forecasters can’t guess what the weather will be with more than about 50% accuracy (and that’s assuming you are choosing between rain and sun!). I would say that the bales you are seeing are typical first cutting grass round baled hay. It isn’t pretty, but it appears to be free of weeds, dust, and mold. It’s also probably a LOT more nutritious than you think, because our ground up here is sorta made for producing and farming. The horses will be able to eat it without gorging on it, or getting compaction colic– two high risks for starved horses.
I want to see what these horses look like in about 2 months. This will be a tale tell sign of simple neglect and not a “disease” of such. This Tara might have bought feed but didnt actualy give it to the horses or very minute amounts including hay and what ever else she supposedly “fed” them. Another person wh bought thier brains at “Dumb Asses R Us”
Another person wh bought thier brains at “Dumb Asses R Usâ€
On sale.
Ouch, my eyes hurt! Lemmesee…she noticed the horses were skinny, and then after she got them, she told her best friend they were getting skinny? I lost something in translation (and too many caps to understand all that!) I’m thinking that she “texted” that reply. I’ve heard other people, on other boards, say that texting is ruining the English language, and grammar and punctuation! It sure comes across as “broken English.” Sorry chickadee, you’ll get no sympathy on this blog!!!
That gray looks like she’s going to fall over–how is she even on her feet long enough to get anything down? Even the look in her eyes is completely pitiful. I’m so glad they’re both out of that situation and getting some groceries, but jfc little miss ALL CAPS, if a random person on the internet looks at a picture of the horses in your care and recoils, something is wrong.
Maybe you’ll understand it better put this way: SOMETHING IS WRONG.
It doesn’t matter what that something is–you just get in there and fix it, and if you can’t, you find someone who can help you. You don’t go screaming at the internets. That’s not even basic horse care–it’s basic humanity.
The appy looks a little better though, at least in the eyes. And what cute little ears! Good luck to their rehabbers, and best wishes for a new, much improved home for them.
Crap why must crap like this happen in my state? Haven’t we had enough shit thrown our way?
Oh and fugly please please tell me you’re not a fan of the Twilight series (volturi)
Where are the ponies now? They’re both cute (when they had meat on their bones).
Haha…I admit I read the books one night when I was bored, and really, the books are pretty good. I still reserve my right to laugh at the extreme Twi-Hards though!
Can’t wait to see these horses fat and sassy again and this piece of work thrown in jail.
Is there going to be a trial? If so, maybe this Tara is building up an insanity defense with her inane internet babbling. It’s making my brain bleed just to try and parse out WTF she is going on about.
Those poor horses
I hope they are able to be rehabbed and find REAL homes with loving families.
I’m the Stormie that Tara refers to in that post. I just wanted to make it clear that the help I offered her was offered BEFORE they got there to check on the horses and that it was an offer IF she ended up keeping the horses(as we know in some cases it takes them a long time or they don’t follow through) and it was not an offer to help her keep or get the horses back like she seems to think. Until everyone knew that yes the horses were going to be removed I didn’t want her totally closed off to the idea of getting help just in case. I would rather bite my tongue and help her to help those horses then just yell at her and not get anything done to help them if it did happen that they were not removed. It wouldn’t be the first time animals were not removed that should have been and I didn’t want it to end up being one of those cases were we all shake our heads because the animals died after they failed to remove them the first time.
She read more into my general comments about cases like these then what I meant them to say. She seemed to believe it was me backing her and what she has done which was not the case. I have no plans of helping her in anyway to get the horses back and never planned to help her keep them.
I’m the type too that just beats myself up if anything happens to any of my animals even if it wasn’t my fault I can think of reasons why it could be. I’m a huge worry wart when it comes to them and actually micro manage some areas of their care to the point that family and friends think I’m nuts. I don’t think I’m nuts because I know that my horses will never get to that point and you would have to be nuts to let that happen to animals. With that reasoning I’m perfectly sane. Okay so I might be a little bit of a nutter but aren’t all horse people.
I thought the same thing as Alliecat…that round bale at the new home/rescue hopefully is just a place to munch a little and take naps because from the photo it appears to have little food value, brown/tan and stemmy. I would worry if they were stuffing themselves on it, their gut probably isn’t ready to handle coarse fiber. Feeding starved horses isn’t just a matter of putting food in front of them and they can easily die if fed improperly. Ideally they should get many small meals and hand walked in between, standing and eating non stop is not good. With all the arguing about who knows what about horse care I hope the current owners forgot everything Miss Tara says she taught them.
So just what is she in jail for??
God only knows….the moron admitted to selling drugs with kids in the house on the internet!!!!!! Shes the type of person that would have continued to comment even after she said she wasnt so I am assuming she is actually locked up. I hope some one in the area shares that little beauty with the cops and helps to get her drug dealing baby daddy off the streets!
Unfortunately, so often starving horses are caused by loser human beings.
If you are a loser, please do not (a) own animals (b) have children. Fuck up all you want but could you keep the innocent victims out of it? Please?
They must not teach the losers sex ed in school like the rest of us?? I notice that even after the first kid is born they never figure out how it happened and keep having them! Maybe it has something to do with a high amount of drug use, maybe it really is because they are dumb, Im not sure but its a shame theres people who would love to be able to get pregnant that easily and have ONE kid of their own.
Not sure but the only thing I really remember from 6th grade sex ed is my teacher saying “The only 100% fool proof way of not getting pregnant or an STD is to NOT HAVE SEX!!”
Our rescue’s unofficial mantra… “He who complains the loudest be the most guilty!”
Like the total numbnut who owed almost a year’s worth of board for 2 horses, the horses were left without water for 48 hours and without feed for3 days in an 8x8m yard made of crappy, loose barbed wire and star-pickets propped up by the occasional log with NO SHELTER at ALL and were covered in small cuts. Horses were legally removed and rehomed and they’ve spent every week since harrassing us, harrassing the property owner, been down to the police station 5 times to report them stolen and have been TOLD 5 times by the police it is not a theft and that they were legally removed and the old owners should get legal advice.
When I did speak to the owner they were ranting about them being stolen I said (again) it was a legal removal, they needed to get legal advice from a lawyer and we got involved because of their condition and lack of food, water and shelter. He argued they ‘didn’t know’ that the horses had been locked up for 4 days and they shouldn’t need to go see them every day. I told them that was what DIY was all about – cheaper agistment in order to go EVERY day to do the work themselves. They said to me that they “See other horses all the time in paddocks and their owners don’t go out to them every day” and I answered becase THOSE responsible owners PAY THE PROPERTY OWNER to do the work and have the sense to go to reputable barns. They said “I don’t want to get into that right now”. Yeah… I bet.
Then they complained it wasn’t their fault, because the property owner had cut the water off and I said then why did the tap work immediately when I went down there to water their horses and save their lives? Then it was “oh he told us we weren’t allowed to use it” so I’m like so why didn’t you a) PAY YOUR BOARD, b) use the water ANYWAY as they could easily have DIED and c) remove the horses to a new location when they were told to several weeks prior?
Then they started shouting abuse at me for ‘stealing’ their horses agian so I hung up on them. Really there’s no point, because they can’t get it through their thick skulls that they are 100% at fault. I’ve had no less than 14 missed calls from them yesteday and 3 already before 9am this morning.
Im sorry but The Illuminati line cracked my ass up!
Wall of shame!
From the thread:
“HOW COME NO VETERINARIAN WAS CALLED WHEN THEY STARTED DROPPING WEIGHT? I will tell you all why! They couldn’t afford the feed, the farrier, let alone a vet bill. it sickens me to have to be the one to let you all know this. This person was my FORMER friend. I will not pity anyone who lets this happen. … I am amazed they survived the winter. The bottom line is that they were rescued and will now be taken care of. … It is just sad that the call wasn’t made until after the neighbors called the police to complain. That is just PATHETIC!!!!”
and even worse …
“Indigo and Moon made it through the night. They have a long, hard road of rehabilitation to go down. Indigo has many scars and wounds from being beaten. There are broken bones in his beautiful face.
You see, they liked Moon (The Appy) but misunderstood Indigo (The Arab). He is a very sensitive, intelligent soul and has survived horrifying things that have been done to him in the past by humans. If he is faced with a human who doesn’t approach him with understanding and gentleness, he’ll react in fear. They took that fear as being a “bad horse” and abused him for it. He is now more weary of people than when I first rehabed him 3 years ago.”
Here is Tara’s response to that:
“look here. we never abused indigo. whatever there missy. i hope u have a lot of money cause im gonna sue ur ass off for harassment. we will be in court and u will have to have proof of abuse. dont ie to make urself look so god damn good. now this has gone way to god damn far. show us proof of xrays that he has broken bones in his face. prove to the community that u have proof. put the proof on line. ur a lying sack of shit that has caused my family such heart ache already but now u really pissed me off. i will see u in court… come on prove it. put xrays on line right now. maybe everyone will realize u are a liar and making shit up. yes the horses are skinny and we dont know why but now ur accusing us of abuse. ur fucken nuts lady.”
You starved the horses but have money for a lawyer. Sure. According her post, Tara has five children and no job and neither does her boyfriend (She claims he’s a contractor and they have plenty of money). That means NO MONEY for animals. The rest of the thread is just her denying everything and protesting her innocence.
‘i know what i did to help the situtation and thats it. maybe the last batch of hay i got was no good. who knows. i didnt intentionally make these horses get skinny. but it happened and im saddend by it and all this isnt making me and my family feel any better. i think people need to think a little more before they speak. i sure hope this doesnt happen to u because horses do regularly drop weight exspecially in the winter so hopefully no one makes a big fuss about seeing that and u lose ur horse. think about how we feel right now?????”
Your last batch of hay might have been “no good?”??? Yikes. Horses drop weight in the winter? Since when? Yeah, when they aren’t fed. Is there such a thing as anorexia by proxy? She seriously couldn’t see she was starving and abusing these horses, apparently.
I can clearly see nasty wounds on the Arab from the pictures. I was wondering about that. It’s absurd to pretend the horse wasn’t injured. Does she think the x-rays are going to vanish because of her protests?
The five kids and no job sort of completes the picture for me. I mean, five kids is a lot of work and a lot of money. (Assuming you don’t chuck the kids out in a backyard with no food and no shelter.) It seems pretty clear she “forgot” to take care of the horses like she “forgot” to take her birth control pills.
Sorry – that was a little tacky of me – but this one is staying in my mind. That’s such a sweet appy and my favorite horse of all time was an Appy. She’s lucky she’s making her dumb comments over the internet, because if we were face to face, I don’t want to be responsible for what I’d do.
Somebody ought to lock this sick person up in a dry lot until she looks like this.
See the cross chew on the grey (in the skinny pic)? That proves his teeth are at least fairly ok in one direction. Not much chance they are TERRIBLE in the other direction.
The 23yo TB I took-over into retirement boarding care hadn’t had his teeth done in at least 7 years, and intermittent worming. He had 4 ribs showing when he arrived. Worming fixed that down to 2 ribs showing when I got the dentist in (once he was officially under my care, I put my foot down before winter came). 2 ribs from bad teeth – not all his ribs and hips and everything sticking out. He’s never been hardfed in my care, and now has no ribs. Just pasture and hay. How is that difficult?
http://uppermichiganhorses.ning.com/forum/topics/what-else-can-i-do?id=2432597%3ATopic%3A130888&page=1#comments
Check out the thread where it all started.. She is telling the Lady who wnats them back that her and her five kids love the horses and are taking great care of them and that she won’t give them up after all the time and money she spent on them… But if she chances her mind she will call the rescue lady…
You mean in case charges are going to be file you asshat!
I have all 5 of my ponys on a diet right now. They still look like marshmellows….I think we need to do a pony trade for a month or so (me and Miss. I am too cheap , dumb and lazy to feed my horse.) I am a “overfeeder” I could fatten those sweet little horses up in no time. Its real easy to do , but it costs money. Behind every skinny horse is a cheap owner. So glad they are in better hands at last.
Pretty funny that in that woman’s rantings she says the vet suspected parasites. She’s screaming about how she feeds those horses every day but never once mentions deworming them. She says the vet said one of the horses needed its teeth done, but she never mentions she had a dentist come out.
She says she learned from her friends that have horses and she had a horse when she was younger and taught her friends a few things about horses…. OK? That’s all fine and good, but if you learned from idiotic friends who were doing it all wrong and not taking proper care of their horses, then you probably passed on that same flawed knowledge to your friends. Sharing bad information does not make you know what you are talking about it or know how to take care of a horse.
Wow.
Really. Just wow.
How come people like this can get 2 horses and I am trying my butt off to find one and can’t? I actually know how to take care of my horses and keep them happy and healthy through thick and thin, and yet I cannot seem to get one… and these morons that starve perfectly good horses seem to have them in herds.
http://www.kshai1715.wordpress.com
I imagine the rescuer will find that these horses could live off minimal grain and good hay. Possibly being OVERWEIGHT. We rescued two mares like that. And once their weight was UP, they get 1/4 scoop all grain and unlimited hay. One of them can barely fit between two pine trees she’s such a fatty. So now we have to carefully re-evaluate. So my thought has been, did she live on AIR before we got her? How DO you starve such an easy keeper? But people can.
As for Tara, did she really go to jail? How do you know? I am really really curious on this one. Not often the abuser is so vigilant and so self damning. The amusement factor is fantastic!
Really love that App. What a superb head and expression too. I’d like to see them eating hay that is a bit nicer, however.
Vet apparently said that there were skeletons because of lack of feed, period, so hopefully we’ll see them fattening and improving real soon. On another note..
Here is another rescue wanting hay money: http://www.ilehc.org/President100609.html
” Our fate is in your hands!…..
…….To date we have raised less than $1,000 toward our annual hay expenditure which totals more than $17,000. Without your help, we will not be able to purchase the hay we need to feed the horses and we will be faced with having to close our doors. I don’t wish to frighten anyone with this statement, I just want you to realize that these are the facts. Without funds to feed the horses, the ILEHC will cease to exist. If you wish to make a donation to our hay fund, please…..”
Sigh…………..
that THEY were skeletons, is what I mean, sorry
Fugs, thank heavens you find and post these stories. Wingnuts like this illiterate knuckle-dragger need to be exposed to the light by name and by pictures so that other potential victims can avoid getting caught up in the impending trainwrecks. And unfortunately there are soooo many wingnuts like Tara out there.
Thank you to all of the Northern Michiganders who went over and above to save these poor horses, and best wishes for Indigo and Moon’s continued improvement in their physical and mental health……….
Somehow, somewhere, there will be justice for these poor creatures and Tara will get her own. It’s called ‘karma’.
Sweetasitgets- I feel your pain- they DO tell us. All behavior IS communcation. Yesterday my great mustang needed to get tacked up fast at the last day of horse camp. My two “good” saddles were already in use so I broke out the weird heavy leather aussie of my friend’s to use. Camp kid 10 year old helper was on the off side and we tacked her up fast. We had games to play and not enough riders to make even teams. I get to ride for our team events because I time everything so they kids are always having a tie or very close to keep it exciting for such different ability riders- yep we rig the games. Camper forgot to pick her feet when she caught her for me so I lifted her near front and she leaned on me and acted like she wanted to lie down (something she doesn’t do unless she is right about to go lame from an absess!!!!!!!thankfully we are so far past that problem knock on wood). I did the pilot preflight walk around check and found the problem wasn’t the usual suspect.
The funky cheapo saddle underflap on the kid side was doubled up and all wrong- I fixed it said “sorry baby” and gave her a neck rub for being so smart. Then she was a happy girl and went and played with her favorite kids for a few hours.
Deny, deny, make excuses, rant & rave. I’ll bet she DID feed them every day, if only once a day. And I’ll bet that consisted of somewhere around a flake of hay (most likely ’08 1st cutting) for the two with maybe a sprinkle of grain on top for flavor? For Tara’s edumacation: an average horse will maintain on 6 flakes of hay and 5 lbs of commercial horse grain split into 2 feedings per day and NEVER get to the condition those poor animals are in! Even with bad teeth and worms, they would maintain a semblence of weight if they could at least EAT. Horses eat more than, say, cats or dogs. So….a 50# bag of $13 feed should last 2 horses a week, tops.
We have an on-going case where both defendents are in complete denial about their lack of care of their animals her in CT. Mr Novicki has vehemently denied ever abusing an animal. Apparently, he’s another who doesn’t believe that starvation is abuse and he does it over and over again. Read this warrant…. and then head to the barn and give your horses a hug!
http://www.scribd.com/doc/25176054/Animals-Seized“
http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5154/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=1636
More if you’re interested!
Looks like either the local farrier that supposedly came out to do the horse’s feet sucks ass or carpools with the tooth fairy because the gray’s feet look like shit.
I DON’T THINK U SHUD TAKE ADVISE FROM HIM.
Yes, her post screamed “high quality”.
OT:
A small win, but a victory nevertheless agianst abuse and harm towards horses.
http://www.ajc.com/news/fayette/teen-to-serve-jail-568046.html
Teen who shot horses with arrows sentenced to 60 days in jail and 5 years probation! AND….he must do community service at an Animal Refuge Center!!! How awesome a judge to go and make he view and help other animals people have harmed.
It’s a scary thing for children to abuse animals. It points to being criminally insane and leads to crimes against humans later in life.
It’s unfair that these horses were shot with an arrow from a teenager because it’s an unpredictable danger that threatens a horse’s life, and a person’s pet, friend, and companion amidst 20 other predictable dangers that just go along with horses.
Happy Day! I’m so glad that loser got community service, and such a good long probation. I wish they had hit him in the pocketbook too– a nice vet bill would have been fair.
Did you happen to notice in the lower left corner…they arrested a man for beastiality?!?!? Literally had to pull him off the horse?!?! WTF!?!?!
WHAT is this world coming too?!?!?!?
She seems so thick she probably used the shift key
These two horses are so very cute. I notice that in the “before” pics, the grey horse doesn’t have a halter imprint on his nose, but certainly does in the “after” pics! If Miss Tara Knows-All-About-Horses was paying attention, perhaps she could have given her horse a halter that fit? Or not kept the halter on all the time? Poor pony – looks like that nose needs a kiss! I wouldn’t be surprised if that nice Appy has a mark too – I just can’t see it on my very outdated computer monitor!
I don’t think she would have needed a halter at all to catch him. I really don’t think he had much energy to run to fast to get away;) But then again the gray was the one with the broken bones in his face so very well may have been difficult to catch, can’t say as I would blame him one bit for that.
What that stupid upper case rant really says is: I GOT CAUGHT! OMG! I GOT CAUGHT!
Apologies for being AWOL…
Had to deal with a weird, weird gas (?) colic. They can’t find an impaction but the horse is full of gas like a beach ball and is now up at the clinic. I got home at 11:30 last night and am now headed back up, so you guys will just have to make fun of Tara for another day.
So far, the mare is doing well on IV fluids and I’m hoping she works out of it. Very weird, very fast onset colic (during a one hour trailer ride, what the heck?) I’ll blog about it if we figure out what is going on and it’s useful to the rest of you.
Hey, as we have been saying here, horses come first. Hope all is well and horse is better. Get back to us when things are okay.
Maybe heat contributed? It’s been brutal here, wouldn’t want to be a horse in a trailer. Hope your baby is okay soon with no repeat.
It wasn’t hot when it happened but we’ve had a lot of extremes of temperature – cold nights, hot days – so that may have been a factor.
Oh no! We’ll be praying for a good result.
It worked, and thank you!
I hope she recovers soon!
Please do! I have two very gassy horses and my 16 month old has had gas colic three times since he was born. He is on fresh, quality feed and hay (he eats the same diet as the other colt with no problems) and he gets plenty of fresh water everyday and turnout on fresh grass. Regular wormings, blah, blah, blah. And I give him Pro-Bios twice a day for his gut. I stick to a regular feeding schedule. I just can’t figure out why he is so gassy. My other gassy horse is on the same diet as her pasturemate and again; one gassy, one not.
FHOTD – I wondered what happened to you….44 comments for most of the weekend then, suddenly 93.
Hope the mare pulls through.
A quick gas colic? No impaction? Did she have access to non-pasture grass? My friend found out the hard way that letting her horses snack on her lawn grass can be fatal. Once the pastures were torn up and switched to straight pasture grass (and no more hand grazing in the yard), the horses were 100% fine from then on.
She had an impaction, but so far up that they couldn’t feel it. The impaction caused her to fill up with gas. She had just moved to a new barn 10 days previously, so it’s entirely possibly she was not drinking enough (different tasting water). They have automatic waterers and buckets so it is hard to gauge exactly what they are drinking, which I don’t like, but most stables in SoCal have the automatic waterers and there’s nothing you can do about it.
She’s fine though. Good news.
Just made my weekend longer and more sleepless!
Here in Upper Michigan where the rescue took place (not Northern Michigan) we’ve had a lot of rain, once we put a round bale out it loses color very quickly if it gets rained on for a couple of days. & with horses in that condition you can’t start feeding them huge quanties of rich hay/grass right away.
Our local TV station will be running the story on the horses & Eden Farm Animal Sanctuary this coming week. TV crew is scheduled to be there on Monday.
Donna – Manager of Upper Michigan Horses
Best wishes for a speedy recovery for your mare.
http://www.gloverenterprises.com/other_breeds.htm
I came across this website from the Chronicle of the Horse forums. The horses are all in great shape, no abuse or anything here, but I am pretty skeptical of this person’s marketing efforts.
a) she posted for training help for the mule on the dressage forum on COTH, not mentioning it was a mule. In fact, she went on about how the animal in question had a “million dollar trot”. When she posted the link to the above page, wayyy down in the thread, a lot of people were a little shocked it was a gaited mule (including yours truly … you had to click on the link to see it was a mule). And then she cried prejudice and foul that people were discriminating against a mule … hmm. Not that you can’t do dressage with a gaited mule, but it’s more likely you will have more show ring success with a breed more suited to the task. And mule training is not horse training. And slyly suggesting your mule is a dressage star horse on the COTH dressage forum — home of many dressage divas — when asking for training advice is also kinda wackadoodle.
b) the horse “Amadeus” is being described as a “warmblood cross.” Is that like a new term for “grade horse?” Could go along with “sporthorse” and “sportpony.” Getting an upgrade for this guy is great, but if he’s a warmblood, I would like to know exactly how you came to that conclusion, especially for $6K.
c) lastly, check out the photo of “Oliver” being jumped on the bottom left. It’s so weirdly photoshopped — his lower front legs are gone. And why photoshop his lower legs out of the picture? What was he jumping?
I think this stable is perfectly legitimate, there are helmets, and the place is nice, horses are well taken care of, etc. but seeing that photoshopped pic is just bizarre.
It’s so easy with all the horrible things that go on all around and get reported on this website to just see horrible things everywhere, but I don’t really think that this woman is doing anything wrong.
If she was asking for dressage help on a dressage forum, then what does it matter whether she was talking about a horse or a mule? She wasn’t trying to sell it to any of you, was she?
For the jumping pic, if you look closely, it looks to me like he’s just got his feet tucked way up to his elbows, though it also looks like a HUGE long spot . . .
And for the warmblood cross, if she can get that for him, sounds good =o). Her ad seems pretty honest about what he’s accomplished and she invites people out to come and see him, so if someone goes and doesn’t think that he’s worth it, then they wont pay it.
I can see his lower legs in all his pics, I don’t know about the photoshop. The first picture I assume is what you are referring to, they are there, just tucked way up, he’d be a girth chopper for sure.
I agree with the dressage mule thing, it’s rather different. Props to her though if she can figure it out! The only problem I can see with this place is that she’s got a few stallions of seemingly average quality and some horses are advertised as still growing though they are obviously mature.
Olivers feet are there, he just has them very tucked up clipping his girth. It looks like he took off very early for the jump but other than that they are there
I get the feeling of horse trader from her site, like she goes to the auctions and picks up a few “projects” then puts some riding on them and jacks up the price.
Sounds like she bred the mule so Im not sure why she would breed for a gaited mule if she wanted to do dressage. She could still do it but if it has such great gaits then I would guess the better path wouldnt be dressage JMO.
Just looks a smaller barn ran by some one who is trying to flip a few horses and make money breeding, but none of them are skinny and from what I can see their feet are in good shape…Nothing screams bad place or person to me
Oliver has fine legs, they’re just hard to see because of the chrome. It’s not illegal to have a wildly inflated opinion of one’s own mule. These folks seem kinda rinky-dink to me, but so are the majority of horse owners.
The issue with “warmblood” is because different people mean different things by that word. It can be used to describe a breed, or in what used to be the more common sense, any horse that’s a mixture of draft and either Arab or TB, who are respectively coldblooded and hotblooded. People who use it in one sense run afoul of those who think it’s being used to deceive people into believing it’s being used in the other sense. There’s nothing wrong with either sense as long as both parties know what’s meant.
Hang in there mare! My BO lost two horses in one day about two years ago. It was a stressful trailer ride that they lost their mare from. Hubby’s roping gelding sadly broke a leg at a practice. The vet hospital was closer than home so both horses were quickly loaded and rode in together. It only took about 45-50 minutes to get there but Cachina was riding next to suffering Tug who stoically was puting on a good front at least in front of his people. Nobody guessed he was hurt so badly just not beaing weight on one leg. Cachina had been through a mystery colic episode earlier that winter and lost a lot of weight but was fully recovered and back to team roping. The best vet hospital in our state couldn’t bring down her heart rate after hours of trying theirbest.
Sorry Tara, we are still here. I only skimmed the local forum on this drama but here is a hint from a teacher to you. Your kids are going to start school eventually if they aren’t already there. Your behavior choices when confronted is what you are teaching your children is normal. Only you have the power to be the person you want your children to become. Kids in schools have conflicts. They can settle them with reason and logic or they can tantrum and scream obscenities and refuse to be responsible for anything ever. We will do our best as educators to civilize your children so they can have a sucessful future in society despite you if that is necessary. ps home is where the heart is so we usually fail in the attempt but every child deserves our best efforts no matter how futile it seems.
OT but I thought this was interesting and should be brought up.
Im not sure if you (Cathy) know this rescue personally, but I’ve just read this on FB and thought it needed to be looked into if its true.
He website is http://draftybarnrescue.com/
Her FB page is http://www.facebook.com/posted.php?id=114605106853&share_id=132205926819809&comments=1#!/profile.php?id=100000301536408
There is a news story that aired about a horse auction that sells to meat buyers in OH back in 2008. She is on the video pretty much supporting slaughters in Mexico and canada. I don’t know but she seems pretty ignorant in the video (she’s the very loud, obnoxious blonde) and this might be worth looking into.
Heres the news story..
http://www.wkyc.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=89723&GID=R79yd+ovwxZu3VsCoB7Ha4lCI9EXGVrmzKDgn4P
I know this is from back in 2008, but she is running a draft rescue for gods sake that is non profit, you’d think she would be totally against slaughter and seem a bit more educated.
Here is another link to another draft rescue in OH that she is supposedly harassing.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cambridge-OH/Frog-Pond-Farm-Draft-Horse-Rescue/114605106853#!/pages/Frog-Pond-Farm-Draft-Horse-Rescue/114605106853
I have never heard of this rescue before, but new ones pop up every day so I’m not surprised.
A pro-slaughter draft rescue? How is her turn-over rate? It wouldn’t surprise me if it was weirdly high.
Have been reading the threads on this at the Michigan site. I really don’t have anything to add about the situation the horses were in, other than to strongly agree with Stormie about treading lightly to avoid stepping on toes.
I don’t have any land to get involved in large-animal rescue (I board my two), but have done a fair amount with small animal rescue over the years, and sometimes you have to be careful what you say and suck it up and be all sweetness and light to the abuser in order to accomplish your goal.
I’m sure that isn’t news to anyone here, and even to the rescuer/former owner of these two horses. It is really hard when our emotions get in the way.
After reading Tara’s posts, I have to point out one of my grammar issues, that I see all over horse message boards: advice vs. advise. (It’s not on the poster.) Advice is a noun. “I would like some advice on a situation.” Advise is a verb. “I would like him to advise me as to the best course of action.” The “s” sounds like a “z”.
Thank you for giving me an outlet to point this out. It drives me nuts.
They should have a look around and see if anyone is running a foster mare or HRT operation…that’s a lot of young foals and the services of the mares at that time may have a higher value for something else…poor little mites
This reminds me so much of a lady I dealt with rescuing one of my old horses. Long story short, I thought I had found 1 of my horses a good home, she looked after him so well on their 6 months lease I gave him to her. Silly mistake, after that I started hearing stories but never seemed to catch up with him, he moved agistment centres so often.
Eventually he fell into the hands of someone I know running an agistment centre, after a battle she managed to get possession of the horses through the courts and I brought him straight off her.
My gosh, the text messages I received after that were very similar, way over the top defending herself, guilt trips, very poor English etc. The fact of the matter was she had the horse for years, she was given the horse looking spot on and what I got back was terrible, he was underweight, had clumps of hair falling out leaving bald patches, his teeth hadn’t been done since I owned him before and his hooves were terrible. It is no-one’s fault but her own.
Our boy is now leased out to the perfect home with a water tight contract. It nearly brought tears to my eyes watching his new ‘mum’ at Adult Riders with him, he was in his element.
Every single person who starves a horse (or just about every single one just in case there was an odd ball honest one somewhere) has a ‘very good reason’ they starved the horse.
They also have ‘very good reasons’ that the horse was standing knee deep in manure with their skin rotting off
They also usually have a great reason why they could not have helped it, I mean…after all they were upset about someone in the family dying….or they were out of work….or or…they were just not SURE WHY A HORSE IS LOSING WEIGHT with no reason….and of course the vet has been out and of course the vet knows all about it……and of course EVERYONE ELSE is the bad guy because somehow someway this is someone elses fault or the worlds fault or the economies fault but God help us, it is never OUR fault when we starve, beat, hurt our animals, OH NO, goodness NO.
We are innocent people who sit inside and eat our meals while the poor creatures in our care STARVE TO DEATH…we waddle our way to the fridge to get another whatever it is, probably a donut.
And Lord knows it is also not our fault we don’t know how to spell our way out of a paper bag.
Don’t you all know, it is always someone elses fault. It is always anything but the truth and the truth is
You people that starve your horses have NO EXCUSE, NONE, NADA, ZILCHO, ZIP, THE BIG ZERO ok? There is no good reason. Get off your duff and feed your horse or take it to a rescue or take up a fund, heck, make a lemonade stand, I don’t care what you do but feed your horses and clean their pens or don’t own them and STOP blaming it on whatever it is. REAL depression is no laughing matter but it is still NO excuse. (I have been depressed and I know it is NO excuse)
Take responsibility.
I love your post.
And I agree wholeheartedly!
You know… if she was telling the truth about the mysterious illness that caused her horses to drop weight like that, the responce would probably have been something like so:
“I know my horses look terrible and the vet can’t figure out whats wrong with them. We’ve been trying everything we can to get them healthy again, but if they keep getting worse I think we’ve going to have to put them down.”
Instead of “UR JUST A BUNCH OF MEANIES HOW DAR YOU PIC ON ME BECAUSE MY HORSES ARE TOO SKINNY U ALL DONT KNOW NOTHING BOUT NOTHING SO SCREW OFF!”
It’s just the same ol’song n’dance
OT: 3 guesses and the first two don’t count….what adoption center is she talking about?
http://www.examiner.com/x-36925-Clay-County-Environmental-News-Examiner~y2010m7d11-The-drk-side-of-horse-adoption-just-gets-darker
“OK NOW LET ME SET EVERYONE STRAIGHT. THESE TWO HORSES HAD NOTHING WHEN I RESCUED THEM. THE COUPLE THAT HAD THEM HAD ONLY WATER AND BARELY ANY GRASS FOR THEM. THESE HORSES WERE ADOPTED OUT TO A WOMAN THAT WAS A CHRONIC ALCOHOLIC AND ADVID DRUG USER.”
I think I love this sentence. “barely any grass” the before pictures shows them up to their knees in grass. and OMG because someone drinks and does drugs that makes them a terriable animal owner, looks like they were better off. Personally at shows most ppl party alot, and I know alot of horse owners who “smoke”, their horses and other animals are always fat and healthy. Sounds like this woman just wants to use any excuse she can to point the blame elsewhere.
OFF TOPIC, APOLOGIES!!
I have a new horse in the rescue and I have never seen feet so badly neglected. They are wry and have never seen a trim. As such, there is horrific deformities as a result and we are trying desperately to remedy this before his feet basically blow apart. Picture a long fingernail, now picture pointing your long nail down onto a table and having the nail bend back and sideways. The pressure at the coronet band (your nail bed) is so bad it is splitting apart. THAT is what we are working with and are trying to find a way to alleviate that pressure!
Excess hoof is being trimmed off and we were trying to take it off in a reasonably quick fashion but without making a further mess of his legs. HOwever, we must take the rest off asap as the hoof has begun to split at the coronet band. He felt much better after the first trim and began to move around more. This was good, but it was also bad as it increased the pressure on his already stressed hoof. He has been here a week and a half and he is one of the sweetest little creatures (as wel as quite pretty!). I would LOVE to be able to save this little guys life. He deserves it.
I am not sure how to post photos, but here is the link to the public FB page and if anyone knows how to add photos etc. please feel free… I hope this is ok Fugly, and if you have any ideas yourself while I try to locate an equine podiatry specialist, it would be fantastic.
He is the bay pinto at the end of the album… he has been christened “Slippers” cause thats what his feet are kind of like.
Thanks all…..
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=13706722&l=1c58480de5&id=545030346
IDIOT! I just see and hear idiocy! I have to say that thin horses aren’t rocket science, hun… There is either three things wrong with horses that are thin:
1. Lack of food. Horses have an amazing ability to get absolutely EVERYTHING out of what they eat. so if they’re thin, you are really not feeding them a whole darn lot, now are ya?
2. Bad teeth. Bad teeth prevent horses to chew and mash their food enough for their body to process it correctly… result, most of what the horse eats (even if he eats with a more than healthy appetite) passes right through him without bringing any nutrition to his body, therefore, his body utilizes what is already there and feeds on fat and muscle tissue, eventually resulting in a rack of bones and death.
3. Parasites. Any form of parasites will affect the look of a horse, but worms are easily being rid of by using seasonal DEWORMER!!!!! If you notice a thin horse… try and deworm him. It’s not a hard thing to do and costs very little. It’s a very small price to pay for the life of your horse.
I would feel sorry for you, not because your horses are thin… but because you just don’t know horses enough to know this… but after hearing that you beat on them to top things off… you are just an idiot, plain and simple. You should never have a baby, horse, dog, cat or hamster in your care.
They made the local news today…here is the story in print..
http://www.uppermichiganssource.com/news/story.aspx?id=481786
Horses were severely starved, had worms and cracked hooves
AURA — It’s going to be a long road to recovery for Moon and Indigo – two horses who were starved so badly that their rib cages are visible and their hip bones protruding from underneath their skin.
The pair was rescued from a Hancock residence last week and brought to recover at the Eden Farm Animal Sanctuary in Aura.
It isn’t their first time living with the sanctuary’s founder, Kristen Hill.
Hill first rescued the horses in 2007, but after they got better they were adopted.
The sheriff’s office has now restored full-ownership to Hill who says she won’t let them go again.
“Once I got them home I gave them a good look-over,” says Hill. “My heart’s broken but I’m relieved at the same time that they’re home and will be healed again.”
Monday morning 27-year-old Tara Lynn Ahonen and 36-year-old John Patrick Beaudoin were arraigned in Houghton County District Court.
Both pled not guilty to the misdemeanor charge of animal abandonment and cruelty.
After court, the couple said they were shocked by the charges.
They admitted they didn’t know much about raising horses but they thought they were helping out when they took the animals in last fall.
But Hill doesn’t buy it.
In addition to starvation, both horses are suffering from worms and cracked hooves.
And Indigo has fractured bones below his right eye.
“It takes a long time to get a horse into a condition like this,” Hill says. “I think they were starved for a long period of time.”
Hill says the horses are already more relaxed and their health should continue to improve over the next few months.
As for Ahonen and Beaudoin – they’ll both be back in court for a pretrial hearing on July 26th.
If convicted they face up to a year in jail.
Now check out the comment made “They admitted they didn’t know much about raising horses but they thought they were helping out when they took the animals in last fall”
Oh really..here is some exerpts from 2 of her rants!!
“JUST BECAUSE SOMEONE SAYS THEY KNOW HORSES DOESNT MEAN THEY SHOULD BE TRUSTED. I WAS THE ONE THAT WENT TO THAT FARM TO TELL HER HOW MUCH OF EVERYTHING SHE NEEDED. I WAS THE ONE THAT WORKED WITH INDIGO AND MOON TO GET THEM RIDING AND EVERYTHING ELSE. I WAS THE ONE THAT WENT THERE TO HELP FEED THE HORSES AND WATER THEM.”
“U KNOW FOR A FACT I KNOW WHAT I AM DOING WITH HORSES. U KNOW I HAVE OTHER HORSE FRIENDS. IF U DIDNT THINK I WAS QUALIFIED ENOUGH WHY DID U TRANSPORT THEM IN UR TRAILER TO MY PLACE????????? U WOULDNT HAVE IF U DIDNT THINK THAT I KNEW WHAT I WAS DOING. “