Come here honey, I want to do a little experiment with YOUR nose
Jul 21 2010
Warning, graphic (bloody) video at the link along with still pics:
Help Comes Too Late For Neglected Horse
If you don’t want to click, here is the story in a nutshell: BYB asshat waste of oxygen lets a halter grow deep into the nose of a colt. First of all, stop leaving nylon halters on horses in the field, second of all, COLTS GROW! You have to ADJUST the halter as they grow or the halter GROWS INTO THEIR FACE, which is what happened here. Anyway, when BYB asshat waste of oxygen realizes she is about to be outed and the police have been called, she KILLS THE COLT.
“A spokesperson for the owner tells KING 5 that the owner checked the halter a month ago and it was fine. When she tried to remove it last night, the horse lashed out violently. She felt she had no choice but to have it put down.”
OF COURSE IT LASHED OUT AT YOU! YOU STUPID PIECE OF SHIT! You’d lash out too if someone tried to rip out something that was embedded in your FACE. You have NO BUSINESS owning horses, much less BREEDING horses, which apparently you are still doing as there is at least one pregnant mare behind your shitty barbed wire fence.
Guess what, sunshine, I am totally not going to drop this until your name is plastered all over the Internet. You are the poster child for everything that is wrong with horse breeding in America: Completely ignorant fools who cannot get their lazy ass off the couch to perform the most BASIC care breeding horses at improper facilities. They look like some kind of stock breed, and I bet you wouldn’t know what HYPP was if a seizuring horse fell on you. You checked the halter a MONTH ago? A MONTH ago? Most of us look at our horses EVERY DAY.
WTF. Seriously. If this story bears any resemblance to how you care for your horses, GET OUT OF HORSES. NOW.
As for you, sunshine, let me wrap some of your fencing around YOUR nose and I’ll tell you what, I’ll check it in a month.
HUGE kudos to Hailey Nelson who, while young, had the spine to immediately do the right thing and report the asshat and get as much publicity as possible for this very, very, very sad situation. Also, as always, kudos to King 5 – you guys have always been on the side of the animals and it is very much appreciated.
UPDATE – ok, we’ve got a name! Bottom feeder is Donna Shelton of Onalaska, Washington. Of course here she is twittering about going to church, doing her part to make organized religion look bad yet again. Oh, look, she has a Myspace and it has a BLOG!
From her blog:
“As most of you know I made some promises to myself while i was in jail! Well as of tonight I am one step closer to my promises n goals I have set for myself! I am finally all enrolled in school, Haha not sure what I am gonna study but at least I started the steps! I love what I do but Just dont make enough money to be a single mommy and have all the stuff I want out of life. By the time the kids are grown I’ll be too old, so why not start now. Not sure how I am gonna Juggle it all but just going to put it in Gods hands n he will lead me! I am very proud of myself I only have one promise to follow though with, YE Kristen I think I should start going to Church with you! It would be great! I hate going to new places and not knowing anyone. More to come…….”
No, you were in jail??? SHOCKER! I am just stunned to hear that coming from such a classy gal like yourself. Nice skankalicious hair, too. FYI the option for “graduate or professional school” on myspace does not apply to hairdressing school! I see you have already deleted all of your horse pictures or marked them as private. Of course you have. Ugh. You have the energy to paint stripes on your hair but not to check on your horses, huh? What a waste of peroxide. I hope Lewis County throws the book at you!
269 comments to “Come here honey, I want to do a little experiment with YOUR nose”
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My horse has a DENT in his face from something similar. No scars, but his bone structure was defintely affected.
Sorry, had to go help out the farrier.
I cannot buy the fact that she did not see the horse for over a month. Maybe if her mother was in a coma in another state. If that was the case (which I’m pretty sure it’s NOT), someone else should have been checking on the horses. Kudos to the person who called all the authorities! Thank you!
If a vet did put the horse down (as opposed to it being shot) I’d like to know why they did it since it would have probably been cheaper to sedate, and cut off the halter. Granted, the wounds would need to be taken care of… and this person is CLEARLY not up to that level of responsibility… The only rational conclusion I can come to is that the vet (if there was one) should have called AC and insisted on the animals being removed from this person’s care, instead of waiting for someone else to step up. That’s part of your job, Doc, belive it or not.
I can’t imagine that the the halter would get as tight as that in just one month. Would a baby grow that much in 30 days? This is exactly why I keep mine at home, so I can keep tabs on them at all times. Was this where the owner lived? When I saw the news this morning, I don’t recall if it said she boarded out or had them at home…. That is just hideous. You can’t leave halters on babies. I can’t even imagine leaving a halter on unsupervised!
No, I do not see any way that happened in one month. S/he is full of it.
I saw this on Facebook this morning on a post from Second Chance Rescue. Okay, maybe I am ignorant, or maybe it is because I NEVER leave a halter on a pastured horse, but it only takes a month for something like this to happen? I can’t believe that! I agree with fugs, I would have lashed out at the idiot too if she had tried to remove something embedded in my rotting skin. Why not call the vet? Or if you aren’t going to be that responsible, call a firend of a friend of a friend and get them to sell you a shot of tranq so you can get the halter off and dress the wound at least. I am not saying this is acceptable but neither is killing a colt for you own stupidity and neglegence. I hope this a$$hat gets cited for cruelty, neglegence, and trying to destroy evidence although the last one would be very hard to prove.
No, I don’t believe that happened in a month, but even if it DID, it wouldn’t be a defense.
Who ARE these people who do not check on their horses for a month? It just boggles my mind.
Yes, that’s what I want to know – who ARE these people who don’t look at their horses for a month? And if your life is so busy, that you spend so little time with them, WHY do you own them?? And on top of that BREED them??? It boggles the mind…..
At our boarding barn there is a horse whose owner has not shown up for an entire year! She brought her horse to the facility in May 2009, came out to ride the following week and has not been seen since. Pays board $200 board every month and for regular farrier work. The BO called to let her know vet was coming out and she had routine shots, Coggins and teeth checked but hasn’t seen or ridden the horse for twelve months. Very sweet gelding, mugs you for scratches, treats but also if you tell him “Enough” he trots off!
Another horse was brought to barn last fall and owner same for a training day and was never seen again. Same story as above, paid board, farrier and then stopped paying. BO made many calls trying to get in touch with the owner and then sent a certified letter reminding her that the agreement she signed with him stated that the horse would be sold of she did not pay what was owed. Never did hear from her so horse was sold and she also left her horse trailer at the barn.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that not everyone looks at their horses once a day or once a month or even once a year. Love, love, love our BO/BM and totally trust him esp. after I got a call one morning at 8:15 that my horse had some scratches on her face and chest from running into the jagged edge of a large branch that fell against the fence. I arrived at barn eight minutes later and BO is very gently cleaning scratches with CLEAN cloths and water and he applied wound cream to her face and chest twice a day until they healed. Other boarders have had similar experiences with being informed about their horses’ health and well being and the same level of care for wounds, swellings etc.
Yeah, but when you’re boarding somewhere that’s great, it is different. I mean, I live 1000 miles from my horses but I trust my BO/trainer with my life. I am told every time there is the slightest little issue. It’s awesome.
If you can delegate someone trustworthy to do that once a day look for you, great. If they’re sitting in a field ignored, not ok!
If this happened in a month—and that’s no excuse for anything this bitch did—it was too fucking tight in the first place. Do we expect someone who fences with barbed wire, blames a colt for “lashing out” (and who has hair from 1999), to know how to fit a halter?
I think it would be a fine idea to insist AC recover the colt’s body as evidence. Absolutely.
That picture is just horrifying!! *gag*
I hope we get a name soon. This bitch ought to be put down herself.
And kudos to the girl who called everyone and anyone who would listen. I want to send her a medal…
Ugh, I just don’t understand how people can let this happen to their animals – whether it be a growing foal or one of the poor dogs you see on Animal Cops with embedded collars. I’ve volunteered at several rescue organizations and I’ve seen a lot of infected wounds, and the smell is just awful. How do people not notice that?
I remember one summer the flies were particularly bad and I got a little over-enthusiastic tightening my mare’s fly mask to minimize the spaces they could get under the lining. The next morning when I pulled it off to do my daily check of her eyes and face, I noticed a small raw spot under her jaw. I felt terrible for days! How do you live with yourself knowing you were responsible for something like what happened this poor baby?
People suck sometimes.
I use fly masks all the time and always was told that they need to come off at night as they impair the horses vision after dark. I have made mad dashes home at dusk because of this information. If I have been misinformed it would be great to know. Would save me the mini panic attacks. Any input?
I have never heard of that before, and my horses wear fly masks 24/7. Even at night, you have gnats and other annoyances.
I too always remove the fly mask at dusk. I’ve always thought that they work similar to sunglasses and do impede vision after dark. To test this put it over your own face and see how well you can see thru it after dark. I won’t leave a fly mask on after dark. I have also found a small raw spot on my horses jaw after only 12 hours of wearing a new fly mask. I felt soo bad that I took the fly mask and sewed some fleecy material to it to make it softer where it touched him.
Ok so I just did some poking around the net about this. Lots of sites suggest the best thing is to remove them as they can impair vision up to 40%. Some suggest if the area the horses are kept is safe (bloody well should be!!) and well known to the animals it would be OK. I suppose it would also depend on the fly situation. Here in northern BC the bugs seem to settle down after dark and my horses get wiped everyday as well. Some masks may be better than others. Interesting and I will not panic so much when I am running a little late.
I’ve heard that they can impair vision a bit, but I don’t think it’s always necessary to remove them at night. As with many things in life, it depends on each individual situation. My horse knows his pasture extremely well, and it’s quite horse proof (as anything can be). It’s a big enough pasture he’s not likely to panic and run into anything but small enough there’s not a lot of new territory for him to explore.
Since I board him and am not always out every day (and rarely in the morning – usually after work), I often put his flymask on at night so it will be on the next morning. The groom at the barn will sometimes put his mask on if it’s off, but I don’t count on him to do it every day.
Anyway, I think leaving it on at night can be fine depending on the situation. I can certainly see through my guy’s fly mask at night, and horse’s night vision is in many ways better than ours. So, as usual, use your own judgment = ) It’s more important to keep my sensitive-eyed appy in his fly mask at night so it’s on in the morning than to leave it off and him have to be in the sun all day without it (his eyes get watery and irritated in the sun/bugs without it). If I had the perfect life and my horse was at my house (or better yet, at my place of work where I had a barn full of training horses), then I would consider taking it off at night if the bugs weren’t too bad.
Although I make sure to remove the fly masks at night because, uh, they are in the paddock and typically stay in their run-in during the night BUT! I always remove when there is pending rain as I have looked through one and when wet, they are like looking through a bowl of water
I keep a fly mask on my horse pretty much year round because we have winds that blow and dust and crap that blw right along with it. The masks protect from that as well as from sun. My horse had a squamous cell carcinoma removed from its inner eyelid years ago and the vet suggested I fly mask him.
I do take the mask off at least once a day to check for guck in his eyes and also to check for stickers in the fuzzy parts and for loose threads. I have two masks, actually — one to wear and one to spare — and I field wash the mask weekly (or more often if necessary).
As for keeping the mask on at night, I’ve done that and so far no damage done. Last night the wind was down and the flies weren’t too bad, so I took it off him and will put it on again in a few minutes. I think wearing one all the time is fine (vet says so, too) and as long as the mask is clean and you check it daily to make sure it’s okay and clean it when needed, it’s a good thing.
In the summer my mare lives in her mask 24/7 – the worst time for bugs is dawn and dusk so it’s not an option to remove after dark (after 10-11 at night at the earliest) and then have it back on before dawn (4-5 am). Never had any problems with her wearing it at night.
Did she shoot the horse (“She felt she had no choice but to have it put down.â€)? Big brave ten month old horse owner.
That’s a foal halter, not something a ten month old should be wearing. Who the hell leaves halters on young horses unattended for a month? I bet it’s been a hell of a lot longer than a month.
Nobody fed this horse in the last ten months?? I think you’d notice.
They are on pasture and don’t you know, if they are on grass, you don’t have to check on them?
I’d love to see the feet on those mares. Bet they have not been seen to in a long time, either.
All the signs of the typical BYB.
1. No hay through winter – Check
2. No trims – Check
3. No Worming – Check
4. No Immunizations – Check
5. No handling – Check
And another in the oven.
*headdesk*
Speaking of breeding, when are you gonna out Serenity Equine Rescue for breeding it’s RESCUE MARES. 3 mares from RESCUES got pregnant while AT Serenity. Breeding rescues? EWWWW!
3 rescue mares and one of her personal horses got ‘accidentally’ pregnant at Serenity in 2009.
Patricia Clark claims one got pregnant while in foster care- nice try, except that there were no stallions there AND the foal looks identical to the other whoops babies from your farm from your PERSONAL STALLION. Yeah, yeah, you finally gelded him but only after a lot of bad press and you were furious. Keep blaming “jealous people” and “former board members” because you’ve got a revolving door of board members, I doubt there will ever be a lack of people who have left Serenity and want the truth to be told.
By the way- if you foster for Serenity, watch out- you too can get blamed for her pregnant rescues.
For those of you who support her, keep it up- you’re just a few months and lots of donated personal dollars away from posting the TRUTH about that operation when you reach the end of your rope.
How does an unemployed woman afford over 10 personal horses and a rescue with no money- yet she brings in new horses NONSTOP despite her begs for tractor repair money and hay and shavings. Fugly- PLEASE- do what only you can do, and post the full Serenity story.
Oh I know. And now she is having a benefit horseshow. Benefiting what, her backyard breeding program? PUKE!
I sincerely hope no reputable Washington horseperson shows up at her show.
OMG… there are no accidental foals. Breedings, yes. Pregnancies, no. We have Ludalyse, people. It’s one tiny little shot, to prevent bringing an unregistered, unplanned for, unwanted foal into the world. Horses are NOT humans. We don’t have to get into an abortion debate about them. Stop that breeding from becoming yet ANOTHER rescue mouth to feed.
And if you pretend to run a rescue just so your crappy stud can get his jollies with unwanted mares, consider using the same shot on yourself– We really hate it when you people make MiniMe’s.
That should be a bumper sticker…there are no accidental foals, only accidental breedings.
And that should be a question on an “are you ready for horse ownership” test. What is Lutalyse and when is it used?
Lutalyse is used to bring a mare into heat, and can be used at around 30 days (or when the mare should return in heat) to prevent the conceptus taking hold in the womb. It does cause a bit of sweating and maybe slight colic, so the mare needs watching, but it is eminently superior to an unwanted foal.
And just in case some soft hearted person is horrified at Kirri’s description, those side effects are felt by some mares, not by other mares, and have no connection to whether the mare is ‘losing’ her embryo– mares that haven’t ever been covered can exhibit those symptoms when given the shot.
Re: Lutalyse does not always work
My mare accidentally got pregnant where I was boarding her. The stallion jumped two fences to get into her paddock. I took her to a vet clinic specializing in breeding and they did an ultrasound and sure enough she was in foal and it was very, very early in the pregnancy based on when I found the stallion in with her. They said we could terminate the pregnancy with Lutalyse. Because I was not interested in having a foal, I had them give her the shot. Well 11 months later I had a baby horse. I realized she was pregnant and not just fat with a spring grass belly when she was about 8 or 9 months along. So at least I was able to get her vaccines done about 30 days prior to foaling. I have kept the colt. He’s three now and is a terrific ‘accident.’ Oh and I used a leather foal halter from day one but only put it on him when I was in the pasture with him. It’s great training to expose a young horse to having a halter taken on and off frequently. I would never leave a halter (except a breakaway) on a horse in pasture.
Not one of those pregnancies was acknowledged until the mare was showing. Even when they knew a stallion had mounted the mare in question, no shots. One mare was in the habit of roaming the property freely, including going in and out of turnouts at will (she’d squeeze through the fence strands – no hot tape at the time).
Wandered at will? Sheesh. That in itself would be grounds for a visit from the police around here– we DO have roads and train tracks.
OK, Patricia has officially lost it. She apparently intends to run Bribe Your Horse as a group class.
“Bribe Your Horse
A well spaced line is formed of handlers and horses wearing only a halter or bridle (no lead line!) along one side of the arena. Handlers must convince their horse (using voice, treats, or body language) to follow them to the end of the arena, to turn around, and come back to the starting side. The first horse/handler combination to make it back is the winner. ”
HOLY SHIT! Who is gonna go take video of that? Someone is going to get their head kicked in or a horse is going to get kicked to death.
Grin~
Are stallions allowed?
Haha, we used to have that class at our local Arab show. I never went in it, but it was always pretty safe. We only had ONE horse and handler in at a time though… I can’t imagine doing it another way. When we did it, you’d take your horse in in a halter, close the gate, remove the halter and lead, then have to get him down to the end and back. They’d almost always run to the end immediately – it was the getting them back to the gate that was hard. It was usually at the end of the first day of the show (to avoid delays) and was pretty funny = )
Yes, you do it with ONE horse and rider at a time – like at the aptly-named SAFE show.
Oh wow- 1. the demolition derby style “bribe your horse class”- I have a cranky, built like a tank, food crazed mustang mare. Lucky for them Joy won’t be anywhere near that mayhem and it sounded so fun as a solo event. Just today we had to move her majesty in the mare motel shedrow because she didn’t like the new neighbor.
Hailey is my hero what a sweet young woman- that injured suffering horse broke her heart and she didn’t walk away.
Owner/breeder God knows what was in your heart when you offed the baby horse should have loved and cared for. That colt deserved so much better than you. Even if you do “get away” with keeping your motive secret from the law there is always the ultimate justice you will face. I am once again so embarrassed by a someone spouting Christian faith without any remorse or responsibility. Repent and confess, then go your way and sin no more ( please). We all will be watching.
I’M BRINGING MY VIDEO CAMERA!!! Seriously Fugs, I thought the same thing. Twenty or so loose horses in an arena with 20 people carrying treats in their pockets??? How is that gonna work out? Maybe Patricia will bring some of her stallions to add to the mix.
A rescue show would be a great idea, but only if is supports the rescues. SERR (Serenity) misuses funds and volunteers. There are so many well meaning poeple in the rescue community: a show like this should benefit one of them.
Serenity has a Twitter page, too…I’ve been following it…some interesting stuff there. In early June, somebody who goes by “CallingDogs” asked about Faheed, a yearling there, and was told he was out of a rescue mare that has since been adopted. I took a close look, and Faheed is none other than the oops baby out of one of Patricia’s own mares! (Said mare is for sale on DreamHorse, for $7500. Look for Zoey Rasine Shaat.)
And check out their Twitpics – shots of horses loose on the property, of Patricia’s Freisian stud in a turnout right next to a mare and foal (there’s hot tape, but not on the gates), of a baby (seven or eight months) loose and sniffing at a horse having his hooves trimmed.
More recently, they’ve asked for $1200 to pay for tractor repairs. Yeah – the tractor that is used for overall farm maintenance. It might be legal, but it sure as hell is questionable.
Patricia Clark has been skating for way too long – she sucks in people who see bunches of pretty horses and a pretty property and believe her all-too-easy excuses. But almost everyone gets wise to her eventually. She’s a con artist and this has been going on way too long.
I should be taking this seriously but I am giggling over who needed to name an Arabian with the phrase “Rasine Shaat.” Tell me you don’t read that as Raisin Shit.
I don’t…I read it as “raisin’ shat”, which could be morphed into “raising shit”…which really isn’t fair to the mare. She’s not a great Arab, but she’s a sweet horse. I’ve never seen her ridden, so have no idea if she’s got any hope for having a job.
I once ate a raisin, but then I shaat. Maybe the tenses of “sh**” are how she describes her horses. She has her mare Zoey on Dreamhorse for $7,500 or some unimaginable about and claims she is professionally trained. Oh and brags about her horses bloodlines- newsflash: MANY registered animals have good bloodlines 5 generations back. You can’t sell bloodlines (which is why no one in their right mind buys them- how long have they all been for sale!) No horses at that farm INCLUDING HER PERSONAL FUGLIES get worked consistently because every time she lures someone in to “train rescues” they quit because behind the nice rescuer facade is a meanspirited, unaccomplished horsewomanwho refuses to listen to anyone. Those who have been there regularly know about her mood swings, how she will scold volunteers (who are also caring for her personal and boarders horses) about how they clean pastures, right as she heads down the driveway to ‘run errands’ all day and pay NO attention to the horses. Talking baby talk and putting on a good act when people visit doesn’t count as handling or training.
I agree with Fugs, NO ONE should go to that show- supporting Serenity is supporting Patricia’s horse hobby and breeding business while she sits home unemployed and crying for money.
The rest of us WORK to support OUR horses, and legitimate rescues don’t take in more horses if they’re in dire straits financially. Check this out, fugly readers- look how much rent/utilities Patricia pays HERSELF with your donated dollars. While you’re at it, enjoy reading the personal loan she repaid herself- add in those “staff” costs and she’s pocketed a good portion the the money that went into that rescue in 2008- I wonder if her Cavalia Stables taxes show all that income. http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments//2009/261/817/2009-261817306-05482b31-Z.pdf
Dishonesty by nonprofits is 2nd only to cases like this where horses suffer because of people’s neglect. Please research Serenity and look at the evidence if you are a supporter- if you can justify the dozens of posts by people who have clearly been part of SERR and seen ONGOING issues (ones you don’t see on a friendly farm tour), and you can justify all that money put back in her pocket- feel free to give her hay, shavings and money. You can help her pay off the lien against her property for failing to get permits before she built her barn and arena- your taxes are already paying for the County to charge and investigate that, and its been going on since 2006.
Here is a twitpic of Zoey having her feet trimmed.
http://twitpic.com/238ran
She looks a little on the thin side to me. I guess that is what happens when you have a couple of accidental foals and your owner doesn’t provide you with the proper care of nutrition.
In Zoey’s defense, she is a realy sweet mare – not a mean bone in her whole body! She was green broke in 2008 (while she was pregnant and no one knew). She has maybe 30 days of training on her. As kind as she is, no way she is worth $7500.
They posted later that the mare getting a trim is Zara – which I think is correct. Zoey is a lighter color. Zara is Zoey’s first foal. Also a sweetheart, but pretty much totally untrained.
You’re posting tax information about SERR. I would love to see more documentation online showing proof of any of the stuff you’ve been saying about this place. Unfortunately all I am reading on this W-9 is that she runs the rescue full-time and she is paid a fee for that which may or may not include the rescue renting her property and her time to train the horses. Am I missing something else from the document?
So what I understand about Patricia (which granted, is very little) is that she receives social security (retired), runs her own breeding program with horses from decent lines and she boards/trains. In addition to running this rescue with outside donations, she is using $ from those three additional sources of income. Within this rescue, she has made many mistakes apparently but she would like to continue rescuing because she is too emotional about horses (animals). Does that about cover it?
Here’s my take: I am everyone’s #1 skeptic. That’s how I roll. The last time I donated to an animal rescue it was when I drove an injured fawn to PAWS wildlife center in Lynnwood. You can talk as much crap about someone as you want but at the end of the day, most educated people require proof of allegations for their opinion to be swayed. If SERR is as horrible as everyone here says it is, I would love to have you start posting valid government documents that say so. If you already have, if you could re-post the links to those documents, I’d appreciate it. I don’t have time to read through a million Fugly posts again.
So this W-9 also has two people named Susan Bunch and Kim Clark on it as well. Does that mean those two people are in line with Patricia? Were they “scraping off the top” as they say? If not, how do you prove otherwise since you’ve posted this W-9 as proof of some sort of financial scheming? Let’s open up this can-o-worms I say!
Fugly, question for you. Do you believe in “learning from mistakes”? In your opinion, how many mistakes is too many mistakes? Interesting question, I think. Personally, I’m on the fence about SERR. I have never donated anything but depending on how they decide to respond to the rabid allegations here, that could make it or break it for me. I suppose a person’s attitude and actions to rectify issues would sway me one way or the other. I love the open opinions of the internet but I wish people could just stick to facts they can prove when they’re flaming people. (I’m not talking about you, just some of your commenters) I suppose that’s why you haven’t made a blog post specifically about SERR yet? An opinion is one thing (of which I often agree with) but false statements is a whole different monster. Please correct me if I’m wrong..
I don’t know if what’s horrible about SERR is in government documents. MY big problem with them is simple: Accidental rescue mare pregnancies that (a) happen and (b) are not dealt with.
To me if you can’t keep your studs penned up, you have absolutely NO business running a rescue on the property. I had my stud on the same property with rescue mares for years…NO accidents. Shawna at SOS has had her stud on the same property with her rescue for years…NO accidents.
And if you HAVE accidents, GIVE THE MARES LUTALYSE. Why were unwanted foals brought into this world? C’mon, if you are a reputable breeder, you know Lutalyse exists. She has a good vet. I know her vet.
I do believe in learning from mistakes. That allows for, say, one mistake on accidental pregnancy. You have a stud get out, you get Lutalyse, you pay the vet bill. And if he got out because of bad fence, you fix the fence. If he got out because volunteers left the gate open, you post a big honking sign to ensure they don’t do that again. You did the responsible thing in response to a mistake. That’s cool. If it keeps happening, it’s not a mistake anymore. THIS KEEPS HAPPENING. Good lord. And while some of Patricia’s horses are decent, AGAIN this is a person breeding who cannot afford to show, does not show, and her horses haven’t done shit. That simply isn’t marketable in 2010.
I basically haven’t made a specific post about SERR yet because it’s so overwhelming that I can’t even wrap my mind around ALL the stuff and all the issues to write it up. I just don’t have that kind of time.
This talk of Serenity rescue begs the question, “Why are there studs there in the first place?” The only way to stop the need for rescues is to cut back on breeding crap. Any stallion they rescue should be immediately gelded. Poof! Unwanted, mistake pregnancies solved.
Well, he wasn’t a rescue. Patricia had an Arabian called Eskont, who I believe is gelded now. But she still owns that fugly unapproved Friesian stud that was shown on this blog when he was behind barbed wire because the place SHE had him leased to subleased him without her knowledge. So you watch, I’m sure Friesian cross mistakes are coming down the pike!
I mean, I don’t know how old this is but here is the page for her breeding program that is not the rescue.
http://cavaliastable.com/
FYI it’s NOT “purebreed,” Patricia!
Hmmmm, I didn’t know she owned Eskont. I have an Eskont baby. Definitely not junk, but then, I did buy her from someone with a good eye for breeding, thought that her mare and he would make a good match. I am in total agreement that stallions and rescues don’t mix, and yes, once is accident, a dozen is a pattern…
This observation in no way contributes to the investication of whether SERR is a legitimate rescue, but just looking at those horses for sale, I can’t get over “Midnight”‘s conformation. When my imagination fills in the parts of his body not shown in the photo, he ends up looking pretty much exactly like a banana.
And I’m also amused that her horse “Lightening” is named after the verb, not the electrical phenomenon (which is spelled “Lightning”).
Me too – that totally cracked me up!
Oops, I misread that W-9. I think it actually states that for full-time work at the rescue she received ZERO compensation and ZERO rent for the use of her property. Is that correct in how I’m reading that? So if I read that correctly, then what was the point in you putting the W-9 up again? I guess I missed your point..
So I think the only accidental pregnancy allegation they have admitted to is just the one, and the stallion was subsequently gelded after that. Which additional accidents were there again (which stallion) and have they somehow been proven? I mean I could just as easily say Fugly’s stallion accidentally bred a mare and expect people to believe me at this point. Would Fugly pay the $ to have a DNA test to prove it wasn’t her’s? I wonder how much that costs..?
I agree about how breeding stock should have some sort of professional accomplishments, not just who their momma or poppa is or that they’re a pretty kolor so I’m glad to hear she’s getting out of that business by selling her stock. With all the drama that’s attacking her now I can only say “thank goodness”.
DNA is $50, no biggie. I had to DNA Cecil to prove his parentage with AQHA. You bet I’d do it to prove he hadn’t fathered a foal in my ownership, because he hasn’t. Patricia can’t clear her name because her stallion HAS sired multiple accidental foals out of rescue mares while in her ownership.
So you’re saying that in your opinion, that all she has to do to clear her name (concerning your largest objection, that is) is DNA test those allegedly accidental babies, allegedly belonging to her current or past stallion? (I say “allegedly accidental” because I heard there was one that was supposedly a part of her breeding program) If it turned out there was only one true accident, then what would your response be?
I’m such a little conspiracy theorist!
Hi there, I am Susan Bunch, who was listed on Serenity’s tax form (linked above).
I did not see, nor did I approve that form before it was signed and sent to the IRS in August of 2009 (though I believe the due date was April 15). The IRS is aware that though my name is on it, I did not sign that document, I did not approve those numbers and was not aware she was paying any rent, staff costs, etc. I am aware that Kim Clark has also contacted them because she was never even Treasurer; Patricia handled all money and finances.
I left the Board in September of 2010, and did my best to do so professionally and politely- I handed off the website and promotional materials I had created. I was disappointed in the fact that things there never changes, I felt mistakes were repeated over and over and it was the rescue horses and volunteers who suffered the consequences. I felt it was operated as a monarchy, and the Board was there only to raise funds, donate money and do the grunt work (and take the blame) and it was clear to me we could NEVER do enough to satiate Patricia’s need to have too many horses. The day I resigned she had brought in a horse who we, as a Board, had voted NOT to bring in due to finances and space issues. Her response, when confronted, was a smirk and to tell me “it is a Boarder, the owner paid board for this month and he’ll have a home within the monthâ€. As soon as I left this horse (Niko, a Paint) was listed as a rescue and “adopted†out a few months later.
I resigned from the Board and left in September 2009 and still had not seen that 2008 income tax until it was posted on Guidestar and someone sent me a link because they saw my name on it.
For over 2 years I tried to help Patricia with Serenity- I defended her with the same “but what if it is false information†or “those are just angry former board members†excuses until I could no longer defend her without compromising my values. Serenity had been a rescue for over a year and it was clear to me it was not being run or financed the way she claimed.
Four former Board Members (me included) sent her and her new Board a letter telling her what we had seen and what we felt was in direct conflict with her own bylaws and rules (as well as some laws). We were factual, cited examples we had witnessed, numbers and so on. She responded (her Board did not) and berated us for our “lies†and denied almost everything, and had “not my fault†excuses for the few things she didn’t deny. She expressed her disappointment and anger with us.
I brought in many donors, volunteers, and even a few adopters and when I left I had to face their questions. I was honest and told them what I had experienced. I apologized for having brought them into an organization I no longer supported and would no longer advocate.
As a result of my exercising my constitutional right to free speech, Patricia has repeatedly and aggressively tried to silence me with threats, insulting emails, lying about me and my family to my personal and professional acquaintances and now even blaming me for her lack of funds. I find that interesting, because she has brought in many horses since I left, and in fact operates with MANY more than I would expect since in September of 2009, the meeting where I resigned, there was a Board vote not to have more than 5 rescues at Serenity due to funds, space and so on. She agreed with our vote.
I am not picketing in front of Serenity, nor am I on the news talking about them. Heck, I am not even all the users on here or other online discussions she tries to claim I am- there are many of us who have seen that between bad finances, pregnancies, accidental deaths of horses and her personal horses sharing rescue resources Serenity Equine Rescue is a place that in our first hand experience is not worth supporting.
Hi – I’ve posted here before, and have defended Patricia in the past. The first time it was over funding, and Patricia totally let me and everyone who was defending her down by not clearly answering questions. The second time it was over the dog attack/barbed wire incident, when I spoke up and said “there is no barbed wireâ€, but it turned out there was and that the horses who were attacked were in a little-used turnout right next to the dogs that attacked them. Not everything she does is wrong, and I will continue to point out to people that they need to focus on things they KNOW are broken there, not sling allegations on supposition.
Susan got me involved with Serenity in September of ’08. I jumped in with both feet. By November I was their volunteer coordinator and by December I was on the board. By July of ’09, I had accepted that the board was a rubber-stamp for Patricia. Not by the board’s choices, but by hers. We were constantly trying to get her to reduce the number of horses on the farm, get grants written, lower adoption fees so horses would go to homes, communicate with us…and she simply refused. Or would agree, then turn around and do exactly the opposite of what we’d all voted for. I left the board and my position as volunteer coordinator as gracefully as I could manage, and then was told I wasn’t fit to come back and clean stalls. The letter telling me so was signed as from the board, but at most only one person beside Patricia ever saw that letter before it was sent. Three other board members knew nothing about it until I responded to it.
Starting in December of ’08, Patricia had frequent fits over how Serenity was going to have to close in a month if more money didn’t come in, that she wasn’t going to be able to pay her mortgage because all her money was going to Serenity, etc… Yet she continued to bring in horses. I know for a fact that I was bringing in close to $700 a month in matching funds from my employer (so many dollars for every hour I volunteered) and that I was one of at least three people doing the same at any given time (not all as much, some more).
The pregnancies have been questioned. Here are some facts: The first oops baby was out of one of Patricia’s own mares that had never left the farm. The second oops baby was out of a 20+ year old rescue who was on the farm when she was bred. The third oops baby is questionable – the timing is very close as she had been adopted out, but then brought back right about the time she would have been bred. That baby looks one heck of a lot like the second, and the two have had very similar health issues, and is the only one it would take a DNA test to prove if it had been bred by one of Patricia’s stallions.
The fourth oops baby is quite recent, but again, the mare was on the property at the time she would have to have been bred and that is one of the mares that were allowed to wander freely on the property. Just before I left, I had all but begged Patricia to do something to keep her separated from the two stallions that were on the property at the time, and she flatly refused. We (Patricia and a handful of volunteers) knew the mare was hanging out with a stallion (a rescue, not one of Patricia’s, and in no condition to be gelded). Several of us saw her go into his turnout and the stallion mount her. We shoo’ed him off (yes, really…he was a very well-behaved horse)…then told Patricia. She got angry at us and told us “nobody can fsck in 30 secondsâ€, and let that mare continue to hang out with him. I don’t know if the foal is his or Eskont’s (Patricia’s now gelded Arab stud), but it was definitely conceived on her property and in her care.
That rescue stallion came in thin, but not horrible, and proceeded to lose weight. He had only half his teeth and Patricia insisted on feeding him two flakes of dry alfalfa every day. I watched him mouth the stuff, but he couldn’t chew it. He was dropping weight, fast. I asked her if he would do better on soaked pellets (I’m a relative newby) and offered to buy them, and she ignored me. He colicked and died just weeks after I left Serenity.
“Starting in December of ’08, Patricia had frequent fits over how Serenity was going to have to close in a month if more money didn’t come in, that she wasn’t going to be able to pay her mortgage because all her money was going to Serenity, etc… Yet she continued to bring in horses.”
Right there – trouble.
“nobody can fsck in 30 secondsâ€
I ve known MEN who only need that long. Let alone a horse. If you really want to be impressed, watch goats sometime. They are the ultimate Wham Bam Thank You Ma’am. I’ve seen that completed in literally one second.
WHF Said: “So what I understand about Patricia …is that she receives social security… runs her own breeding program …and she boards/trains. In addition to running this rescue with outside donations, she is using $ from those three additional sources of income. Within this rescue, she has made many mistakes apparently but she would like to continue rescuing because she is too emotional about horses (animals). Does that about cover it?â€
To answer – I don’t know what money Patricia receives. I know that from December of 2008 (when I was an active volunteer and board member) to July of 2009, she was constantly crying about needing money, dipping into her own funds, and having to shut down “in a month†if more money didn’t come in. Yet she continued to maintain anywhere from 24 to 30 horses on ten acres the whole time and still does today. She also alienated and eventually drove away three people who were bringing in substantial funds (over $1000 a month) via a dollars for hours matching program with their employer. She’s driven away a lot of other people, I mention those three only because I know their departure meant lost dollars as well as lost hands when they left.
I can’t speak to the quality of her breeding program, I don’t know enough…but not one of her horses has done anything in years. She hasn’t had a deliberate, planned breeding in years. Every foal conceived in her care since 2006 or so (a guess based on the age of Zara, out of Zoey) was unplanned.
I’ve never seen more than three boarders on the property at a time, and quite often those boarders paid barely enough to cover costs, if anything at all.
Training? You’re kidding, right? Most of her personal horses are handled just enough to have ground manners, but were worked or ridden so rarely it might as well have been never. In the case of Dante (her Freisian), he was effectively untrained and dangerous to handle the whole time I was there, and got steadily worse. Yet she’d had him since he was a baby. If she’s any sort of trainer, why was that horse allowed to go without training? And training the rescues? Yeah…right. Never that I saw. Sometimes a trainer would come and start working them, but it never lasted long because Patricia would take issue with something they were doing (or find something to take issue with) and chase them off.
She flat out refuses to admit that she has too many horses on the property, and has even used that she is putting in her own funds as justification to defy the board’s decision to reduce the number of horses. In other words, she treats the whole thing as her own playtoy and refuses to see the harm she’s doing.
Absolutely she is too emotional, and not just about horses, about any animal in her care and many not. Don’t get me started on what she allows her cute little dog to get away with.
Not a whole lot of documents available. You’ve already seen the tax return, signed by Patricia and including the names of two people who never saw the return and had no idea their names were on it until it turned up on Guidestar. By now, her 2009 returns should also be posted, but are not. This strikes me as a bad thing for any registered non-profit.
One other set of documents you can see are county permit records, and they’re not good. It’s hard to read them, and a lot of them have been closed without action. I and others have talked with the county, and the county hasn’t simply red-tagged the property because that can lead to even more and longer delays than constantly poking at the property owner to fix things.
http://info.kingcounty.gov/property/permits/PermitGlance/(S(rx4kq4ilebauec45yxb0dj45))/PermList2.aspx?tab=2&PIN=0722079004
Lots to read through, thank you for giving Fugly’s readers the opportunity to research for ourselves. So what I’m seeing on the County website is that all complaints sent to the County are either closed or the basic equivalent except for one which is still open, being appealed, which tells me that indeed, the former board members have been very busy trying to shut SERR down. If I’m reading something incorrectly in that there is only one open case, please let me know.
A common theme that I’m seeing in the posts from the previous board members is their opinion is that Patricia seems to have fairly poor people skills. I’m a skeptic, so I choose not to judge solely on what a handful of people say about someone.. generally, the more adamant someone is about something, then the more I want to research for myself. I will not judge someone through he-said-she-said. So, currently I am reading that a handful of people have the opinion that Patricia has poor people skills. That certainly doesn’t help her in running a non-profit organization which requires some PR skills, but that’s why non-profits have a board of directors, to fill in where there are holes. If Patricia learns that she needs others’ help in running SERR then perhaps there is hope that she can learn to work better with others in the future.
Now it’s interesting that this tax return talk brings up some questions about whether two board members had actually seen the return. Not sure what to think of that except that when you run a non-profit, you should be prepared to expect to see your name on the tax return.. I quickly read some online non-profit info and it seemed pretty logical to me as I sifted through it. Did the board take a class or get any outside help in learning how to properly get SERR started? This non-profit is only 2 years old which tells me that perhaps there was a lack of education on everyone’s part.
So we have a board President whom is probably too emotionally involved in everything and a board (and some additional volunteers) that felt unappreciated. What a shame it came to this..
So now we have 4 alleged accidental babies. The number keeps growing the more I read.. LOL! In all my time I’ve read Fugly’s blog, I have read many many.. many.. posts about how so many mares arrive at rescues/auctions already pregnant. Again, being the skeptic, I cannot help but wonder if one or more of those pregnancies did not occur offsite prior to the mares’ arrival. Sounds a little too convenient to me that one more story keeps popping up. Just as Fugly said, she can perhaps forgive one mistake.. but more than that is showing a trend of irresponsibility.
I suppose we’ll see what SERR decides to do in the future..
Timing-wise, it was impossible for the mares to have already been pregnant. That is the reason people started asking questions.
It’s the reverse of shotgun weddings.
Someone does the math and goes, hey, wait a minute!
WHF wrote: “So, currently I am reading that a handful of people have the opinion that Patricia has poor people skills.â€
I’m not sure where the assumption comes from that Patricia has poor people skills. Perhaps a better description would be greedy, selfish or narcissistic. Maybe fraud could be added in there as well. Personally I think her people skills are superb. She manages to get people to donate money to her using the “Poor me. I’m an innocent little old lady who’s never done a thing wrong†routine. Don’t miss understand me here. Patricia started the rescue with the intention of helping horses, but she is not running her “business†legally or ethically.
It appears that Djayne took my place on Serenity’s board when I left there in 2008. At the time there were weekly pleas to the board for money or the horses weren’t going to eat. Personally I brought in thousands of dollars in donated funds and hay. There were days when there was no hay to be fed to the horses. One day Patricia called Animal Control and told them they needed to bring out a ton of hay to feed horses that had been surrendered by Dean Solomon. A ton of hay was delivered by Reber Ranch that night. It was gone the next day since it was fed to rescues, Patricia’s Arabians, and boarders. The same went for grain and bedding that was donated by volunteers or purchased with donated money. Barn staffers were paid with rescue funds, but they also took care of Patricia’s personal horses, worked in her garden, etc.
I’m not going to go round and round with this. SERR’s former board members are not posting their opinions here; they are facts based on actual events they have witnessed. It is difficult to “prove†that funds where not spent properly since Patricia does not keep any financial records. SERR has been a registered non-profit for more than 2 years and it only has one publicly available tax document. This document was prepared and signed by Patricia, has names of officers of the Board of Directors that do not exist, and has many other discrepancies that do not make sense to anyone who knows how much it costs to care for a dozen or less rescues.
Inquiries have been sent to the IRS requesting an investigation of the use of funds. The county and other governing agencies have also been contacted. This is a long and time-consuming process, but we are dedicated to bringing the truth of SERR up front for everyone to know.
This is only the tip of the iceberg regarding SERR. Four documented “oops†foals, rescues being euthanized without consulting with the board of directors, obtaining additional horses when, according to Patricia, there was not enough money to take care of the ones that were already there, and the list goes on…
WHF said SERR will decide their future. I’ll make a prediction here. What SERR will decide to do in the future is continue business as usual. Volunteers and board members have a 6 month shelf life and they will be drive away by the abuse of the director. They will be replaced by people new to horses and teenagers who don’t know any better. Soft hearted individuals who think the rest of us are nuts will continue to donate money. An audit will eventually be done of SERR’s books which will prove the misuse of funds. Former donors will feel used, embarrassed, and gullible. Other rescue organizations and individuals will have to rescue the rescues once again.
All of the permit issues with the county predate the actions by the former board members. Believe it or not, we don’t want Serenity shut down – we want it cleaned up and running effectively. It’s either the most recent or the one just before it that, if you read it carefully, you will see that Patricia has still not actually done what the county wants. I don’t understand why the county does what it does, but their actions to date have been on their own initiative, not prompted by former board members.
Completely off topic, but my son has chosen to rename my gelding, choosing the iconic, regal, and apt name of Sir Schitzatohn.
LOL! LOL! LOL!
OMG I love it. LMAO
BWAH HA HA HA HA *snorks diet coke*
Phew, thank God you wrote the word “diet” there!!!
Hot tape is no sure stallion fencing – our colt (at the time, about 11 months old) was caught halfway over the electric fence with a mare backed up to him on the other side, pretty sure he covered but no foal
. (He promptly visited the vet and lost several pieces of anatomy)
Hot tape – or not so hot tape as the case was – is the reason the VLC sired two foals before I owned him
He has not been out on hot tape since (except as interior fencing with wood fence around the perimeter, and only other boys within the perimeter!)
I have never seen a stallion mount a mare on working hotwire or tape. the key would be ‘working’. If you have a weed burner hooked up, grounded, and your fence properly run, I guarantee you stallions will stay off. If you let the fence ground out or fail, I can equally guarantee that the same stallion will waltz right through the flimsy floppy Unhot fencing.
Wow…check this out…here’s the ad for Zoe for $7500 and pushing eight years old on Dreamhorse:
http://www.dreamhorse.com/show_horse.php?form_horse_id=1563924&share_this=Y
And her she is at six years old for $5000 on Patricia’s Cavalia Stable site:
http://cavaliastable.com/zoe.aspx
She has magically increased in value by 50% in two years, two years she spent doing nothing but produce an unplanned foal.
Personally, I think people suck a lot of the time. I call bullshit on her checking the halter a month ago. That wound is older than one month. Which vet put the foal down? Seems to me like she was trying to hide evidence. Who has a foal in barbed wire that they only check monthly? I can tell she’s a good breeder, nothing like foaling in the fall. We are having bear fights. Fish Wildlife and Park just killed our neighborhood black bear – we live in the mountains of Montana – cuz he killed some chickens. How many chickens is a bear worth, well here, it seems about 3. Take your chickens and move to Kansas with them, crap everything wants to kill chickens…Now FWP is after our sow with 2 cubs. LEAVE THEM BE…People suck a lot….
All I would like to know is, what is that person’s name?
They deserve so much more than a piece of nylon slapped across their face.
ME TOO.
I want the name.
Here’s my question: just because the colt was euthanized doesn’t preclude a cruelty investigation, does it? Will the video be enough evidence for a necropsy/look at the body or will the video be enough to put her up on cruelty charges?
Would anyone have been able to do anything for him, even if the halter had been surgically removed? I would think that with that level of damage his sinus cavity would be all jacked up for the rest of his life, etc?
I HATE the “Well the other horses look fine” bit. HATE IT with a passion. There was a horse at the first barn I boarded at that had untreated melanomas for YEARS. Second horse in my life that I have ever seen not care if it lived or died (if you haven’t seen it, it’s beyond heartbreaking and pray you never do!) but because “the rest of the horses were fine” and “she’s old” it was okay. She wound up laying down in the field several years later and dying.
You’d think if the dumbass was going to leave her horses in the field for a “month” she would have taken the halter OFF.
You can fix that. I had one like that 20 some years ago…and he was fine WITH VETERINARY ATTENTION AND PROPER CARE. He only had a small dent in his nose later.
Um, what exactly would you do to treat a melanoma? Pray tell, because the vet says there is nothing we can do for our old Arab Pony Gelding who has them everywhere..? Vet says ‘Wait till he tells you that he is uncomfortable and then put him down’ as there IS NO known treatment as far as we know?
So I would love some hints as to how to treat melanoma… Because this guy’s anus is going to be what will probably have us make that call.. A melanoma is slowly closing it up :S
Google “Nublada’s Cure.” I bought my old mare a number of extra years of life with that before she started to use the use of a back leg. It works!
It’s been a while since I read this and I haven’t had personal experience with this but this person has.
http://www.miravalandalusians.com/garbosa/melanoma.htm
Wow, madness! Is it real? Lol, I’ll have to talk to my vet about it as I am guessing that stuff is not just available to the public, or is it?
We are definitely going to try that
Cimetidine is actually available OTC for humans; the brand name is Tagamet. Its used for acid reflux and such, and is easy to find. I don’t know what the dose conversions are from human to horse, but I am thinking I remember talking to my vet about Tagamet several years ago. Its used off label for tons of things, but it would be worth a shot for sure!
Although now I’m giggling, because I just imagined going through the Wal Mart checkout lane with my cart filled with bottle of antacid, and explaining “No, its for my horse!” Hehehe
Wow. I have a very strong stomach, and have even been accused of being un-empathetic on more than one occasion, and I came very close to vomiting. I don’t think I can even imagine (nor do I really want to imagine) the pain that would come along with this kind of torturous neglect. I leave catch halters on my foals but ONLY those thin leather figure 8 foal halters. I have to let them out a hole a week to keep up with growth. That poor suffering animal had that halter embedded in his face for much longer than a month, more like 3 from the amount of growth.
Wow! What an ASS!! How completely unbelievable, preventable and so many other adjectives!! I need to go give my guy a bunch of hugs and kisses after reading that story. Why, why, why do people leave horses in a pasture with halters on? Nylon halters at that. When I was boarding at a government run boarding stable in the south the management tried to enforce a rule that all horses had to be turned out with halters. They said it was in case one was to get lose so they could catch it. We (the boarders) put up a huge stink but for about three weeks they wouldn’t change the rule. I didn’t have a breakaway halter at the time so until I was able to get one I would put the halter on so lose that every night I would have to go halter hunting out in the pasture to find it. It still scared me silly thinking about all the horrible things that could happen if Ghazal got his foot stuck in it trying to scratch or caught on something else. For the couple of days that he had to wear it I was literally dragging my kids out to the barn to check on him several times a day. I finally got a rope halter at least but even so I still had to go find his halter out in the pasture every night. (I can’t keep fly masks on him either.) It was a relief when they finally gave up on that idiotic rule but as far as I know they still throw the government owned horses out with halters.
Sorry – this even sounds like a stupid question to me, but:
The government owns horses? What are they used for?
I’m guessing police horses…or maybe horses being used by park rangers to do their rounds or something.
How many people know that the ‘government’ in Alaska actually owns a sled dog breeding kennel? It’s in Denali National Park and the rangers don’t have an exemption from the snowmobile ban in large areas of the park. So, they do it the old fashioned way.
Nope, they are used for guided trail riding. I don’t know how it works exactly as far as who pays for what and it has been a couple years since I’ve been there but last time I was there some of the horses were way too skinny to be hauling around a mouse let alone full grown adults. This is entirely gossip so I don’t know how much truth there is to it but when I first got there I was told that someone did try to call the local animal control but they were told that b/c it was on government property they had no authority to do anything. I was also told that after a bunch of people made complaints the skinny horses were loaded up and taken to auction. Again, I don’t know how much truth there is to that. I just know that some of the horses were pretty skinny. Not so emaciated that people with no horse knowledge would necessarily notice (especially with saddles on) but skinny enough. The person who managed the barn very proudly told me when we first arrived that this was the only government owned stable that was operating in the black.
Where was this, asharri? Sounds familiar. I boarded at several military stables growing up and it seems like one of them tried the same thing. Seemed like it was always people in charge of the outdoor recreation center, who really knew nothing about horses, making up these rules for the stables. None of us ever complied
Sounds like you are thinking of the right place. The person in charge of the major decisions is employed by MWR (Moral, Wellfare and Recreation) and has no horse background or knowledge (or so I was told). For now I prefer not to name the place for a couple of reasons: 1. A lot of what I’ve said is gossip b/c it is unsubstantiated. I don’t have any pictures, etc. 2. A lot of people want to blame the manager for all the problems but this person pretty much has to follow the rules as dictated from the higher ups 3. And probably most important is that the military is closing a lot of their stables. They are expensive and a pain to run. The post stables out here on Fort Lewis are now run privately as are so many others and these are the lucky ones. A lot of the military stables such as the one that was located at Wright Patt AFB have just simply been abandoned all together. I’d hate to see yet another stable closed. Not that I wouldn’t want to speak up if there was something truly wrong but my information is a couple years out of date and mostly hearsay to begin with.
Quite a few military installations have government-run boarding stables, and government owned horses for lessons and trailriding. In addition, the army owns a good number of horses to participate in ceremonies and such.
Some government bases have stables for service personnel. It’s a boarding stables for service men/women’s horses. Offut AFB use to have one…I was the manager for a while…Elmendorf AFB is another one….they provide a less expensive boarding place…you could call it a perk.
OT but there was a huge seizure of a herd of unhandled, not even halter broke horses (including foals, pregnant mares and 3 stallions) in My town of Fredericton NB Canada. You should hear some of the shit these two wastes of space are spewing in their pathetic excuse for a defense!
Here’s the url to the original article: http://dailygleaner.canadaeast.com/front/article/1135961 (I’m barely computer literate
)
Oh look, I know more than I think I do! lol
Yeah, it never ends, does it?
Excuses, excuses, excuses.
It’s really very simple: You do not have to own horses. You definitely do not have to BREED horses. If you take on that responsibility OF YOUR OWN CHOICE, then be prepared to be held to a standard of care.
One person interviewed suggested they build the barn, chase this one 25 year old mare (probably in foal considering they were in a field with 3 stallions, oi!) wrangle a halter on her, tie her up and call someone to do her feet. I really hope that this is not a horseperson in the community, I don’t know of anyone in the horse community thinking that that is a legitimate way to do anything to a horse.
I am amazed at the ratings on the comments following this article! (Thumbs up/Thumbs down) Lots of very nice responses have a majority of “Thumbs down” ratings. Did someone send a horde of trolls over???
Rule #1 for maintaining your sanity on the internet: NEVER READ THE COMMENTS
Yeah, they have no idea why all there horses were taken from them..you know..being great animal owners..considering they had (I think) 100+ dogs siezed from them in Ontario with a lifetime ban of owning dogs(just in Ont though)..same old story..scummy people just moved their abuse from 1 province to another…
No, you are correct, 100 dogs. Here is the link http://www.markdalestandard.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2531378. And less than a year later, over 30 horses.
First of all, thank god the colt was put down. I know that sounds harsh, but it is very very clear from the pictures that he had probably never been handled. No idea how they managed to get a halter on him anyway– and probably that is why it grew into his face– he probably took off in the middle of haltering. Can you imagine the misery of treating such a horrible injury on a broke horse, let alone a half wild yearling? He’d never have understood all the painful experiences people would be putting him through.
That said… the owner is a loser, and a liar. I currently own three horses, and a small farm. I would bet all three plus the farm that the colt did NOT have a properly fitting halter one month ago. I have seen halters left on babies for a month– the end result was an ugly raw line across the nose with a clear ‘nipple’ of skin trying to grow over the top. That was on a one month old colt– the difference between one and two months is big in a foal. The difference between 10 and 11 months isn’t nearly so huge. That halter is a weanling halter, at best– just look at the length of the cheek pieces. She probably left that halter on all winter– at least all spring and summer. His entire head was growing incorrectly. Ignore the swelling and just concentrate on his cheekbones, jawline, and jowls. Focus on the natural bone line that should have been there on a normally growing horse. His entire bone structure was skewed. That doesn’t happen in a month.
A professional vet or someone versed in equine physiology should easily be able to give testimony regarding the growth patterns evidenced in the pictures that were taken. Such a professional can easily state, beyond any doubt, that such changes could not take place in a month without severe trauma. They can also testify that the growth rate of a yearling is NOT that extreme. I don’t know if anyone will bother to prosecute this lazy loser who calls themselves an owner, but it could so easily be proven that she is lying, and fully culpable for the condition of that colt.
Want to take bets on how she had him ‘put down’? I’m betting it wasn’t a licensed vet and a needle.
Sadly, I keep picturing knife to throat.
-Cyg
“First of all, thank god the colt was put down. I know that sounds harsh, but it is very very clear from the pictures that he had probably never been handled. No idea how they managed to get a halter on him anyway– and probably that is why it grew into his face– he probably took off in the middle of haltering. Can you imagine the misery of treating such a horrible injury on a broke horse, let alone a half wild yearling? He’d never have understood all the painful experiences people would be putting him through. ”
With all due respect, I do believe this could have been handled properly without permanently damaging this colt’s mind, but the operative term here is properly. It would have taken more than one person, probably several, and some time/patience working with him but I believe it could have been done.
To bad someone didn’t put a necklace on her when she was an infant….
I see this sooooo many times with puppies and collars.
People make me sick sometimes.
A note here about sizes: My horse is 16 years old. His head has been the same size since he was, oh, TWO. However, the Horse size masks and halters I have always bought are now too small because I think “in these tough economic times,” manufacturers are cutting items smaller to get more units per bolt. Horse size used to fit nicely, now it doesn’t.
I ordered an oversized nylon halter for him recently because he wears a nylon halter when I bathe him, and they will also shrink (actually, the fabric that lines the nylon halter shrinks) and after awhile the halters start looking a bit tired so it’s time for an upgrade. But the last two I bought — one flat nylon, the other a soft nylon rope with hooky thing rather than buckle — were both too snug from the getgo.
The LAST thing I need is a struggle putting on or taking off something he wears daily. HE doesn’t struggle. I have to.
I’ve noticed the same thing with fly masks. Farnam Supermasks are cut smaller.
Not an excuse for what happened to that poor colt.
Just sayin’.
Good point and BTW, anybody got a good link to buy halters that are warmblood sized, NOT draft sized?
I need some big ones to fit over the polo bridles when the horses are tacked up at polo…draft is way too big but horse size is too snug.
http://www.raraequus.com/productcart/pc/viewcategories.asp?idCategory=37
This site actually offers Warmblood sizes. Unfortunately, it’s hard to find halters in that size without costing a fortune.
Has anyone ordered from http://www.ronmarindustries.com/ ?
I love RonMar nylon tack! I have several halters, bridles and breast collars from them. Both English and Western. Very well made and last forever with proper care. The halters all have rounded buckles and the nylon is very soft. And you can have the stuff customized! My old black gelding wears warmblood size and theirs always fit. My Morgan gelding wears regular horse size and it always fits the same. The bridles and breast collars fit true to size with one exception. The Arab size tends to run a little big on the English style hunt breast plates. I have a complete set of black with Renaissance trim and gold piping and a complete set of brown with the same trim.
And the English style bridles are great for trail riding! Add snaps to the reins and you can safely tie a bridled horse for a short time with the ring on the noseband. The nose bands have nice wide crown straps that don’t cut into a hurses head.
If you’re looking for padded nylon halters try here:
http://www.jeffersequine.com/ssc/product.asp?CID=1&mscssid=8LPA2GXM7CDS9L12X4K8CTAXU4A030Q5
They also have leather warmblood sized halters, but they are expensive.
The Jeffers halters are nice, but the padded ones are also lined and they do shrink. So, if you wash your horse, use a different halter.
They also get stiff and are hard to unbuckle/adjust after awhile. My shoer doesn’t use the snap at the side, he buckles and unbuckles the crown piece. He has stronger hands than I do, and when he puts the halter back after he’s finished, it’s often not buckled where it was before and it’s tough for me to fix.
I just ordered a Hamilton Large Horse (size) halter from Smart Pak. It is adjustable (like, a LOT) and is not lined, so I’m thinking it will be easier to adjust.
And last but not least, consider contacting an Amish artisan with specific measurements of each strap– they can zip together custom halters very easily, very reasonably, exactly to your size requirements. Might be ideal for going over bridles, since you will especially want a larger noseband to go around the bit and bridle, without ending up with a long halter that drags at the bit corners all the time.
Dover has a lot of different styles/sizes… here’s a link to an oversized leather halter for $29.90 if you wanted something in that price range?
http://www.doversaddlery.com/suffolk-stable-and-turnout-leather-halter/p/X1-0532/cn/136/
Or they have breakaway O/S halters for $19.90.
http://www.doversaddlery.com/breakaway-halter/p/X1-0593/cn/136/
Oooh, get the REALLY nice $35 leather ones from SmartPak- they say they only come in “horse” size but they run really large. Biff and Footy both have one, and they are both adjusted to the smallest holes on the halter, and I am even debating punching another hole- and you know how huge and clunky their heads are! Footloose needs everything in Warmblood size! And quite honestly, the leather quality is *superb* for the price. I got them around Christmas and have cleaned them… um.. once (hehe) and they are super-soft and supple despite my neglectful ways! LOVE them!
This is the halter I bought for MBG several years ago, and can’t recommend it enough. It wears like iron and always looks good.
http://www.smartpakequine.com/ProductClass.aspx?productclassid=3155&cm_mmc=paidfeeds-_-froogle-_-NA-_-13155
Thank you for saying that about the size difference. I thought I was going crazy. The Arabian fly mask makes my Arab rub her eyes on her knees constantly, so I had to go a size up. My Yearling is wearing the arab size…. Now if I could only find a bridle that didn’t have to have 4″ of leather dangling on both sides of her face…
I don’t remember who pointed it out, but when I first saw the colts pic this morning my first thought was a minimum of 3 months to get that much damage. I can count the number of horse checks per hour, no per year… Besides I like looking at them…. a lot…. How can you just not check them???? Especially a baby?
You know, I was wondering that myself about the fly masks. I have always bought the same sizes for years, and this year the mask I got for my clunky-headed mare is a touch too small, and I’m considering going up a size. her head couldn’t have grown- she’s 9 and I’m pretty sure her head didn’t magically grow (even if she does think she’s hot stuff since getting back into work!)
I have noticed that with fly masks too but just the opposite with halters. I have had to buy yearling sizes to fit my full-sized horses. I am wondering if it is because they are made in China and don’t seem to have as good of sizing standards as products made in the US.
Tell me she didn’t put the foal down to hide evidence…sure…UH-HUH….
A month????? No, no, no, no, no……not even close. A year? Maybe more like it. I know people who still leave halters on their colts with drag lines so they can catch them easier. Those halters stay on a good long time, but I’ve NEVER NEVER NEVER seen anything like this. (Not that I condone that – it’s just a point of reference.)
Let’s see…..what would be a human comparison…..A tight ponytail for a year straight? Not good enough. A set of braces that are ill-fitting until you have a hole through your cheek? Not good enough. An untreated staph infection under a fingernail or toenail? Still not good enough.
I am a tough mother bear and I’ve seen a lot of disgusting things. This one made me vomit in my mouth.
I would guess that lots of people saw that baby suffering long before the person who actually reported it and did NOTHING. I was riding with a friend who has a neighbor who had a young filly. Same story…a halter goes on, filly grows, halter doesn’t. These people were absolutely clueless. We had ridden by there several times saw the filly (no damage had been done yet but the filly was still growing) we figured surely the people will notice and remove the halter. At the first hint of a raw spot we stopped and knocked on their door and told the young man that answered the door what we saw and what the out come would be if he didn’t remove the halter at once. He was apalled! He had no idea and went out to the field immediately and removed the halter. The filly only had a small raw spot on her face that, once healed up, disappeared. I’m convinced that the outcome would have been far different if we hadn’t knocked on the door that day.
How great that you got a positive reaction. It doesn’t always go that way, which is why people are hesitant to stop.
In the past few years, I’ve stopped to let someone know a horse was loose (got out of falling-down barbed wire, and RIGHT next to a busy road) and the person seemed irritated that I had bothered her so early in the morning. I offered to help catch the mare and was shrugged off. She basically closed the door in my face. I have no idea when she finally waddled her butt out to do something.
My trainer stopped to let someone know a horse was caught in the fence and got her head bitten off and told it was none of her business.
Unfortunately, these reactions are very common.
Unreal…
I would be kissing the ground the person walked on if they found something awry with one of my animals and let me know.
I am with you 100%. Several years ago, apparently someone stopped by the barn where I boarded my horse and they told the manager they just saw my horse drop in the feild. Not roll, DROP. The manger looked out the door, saw my horse on his feet, and never mentioned it to me. Three days later I was putting him down b/c he had twisted his gut. Always speak up, you have nothing to lose.
Oh I’m so sorry…that really sucks, to find out that you could have caught it early.
I had a horse do that, pretty much just fell down and got back up, and fortunately I was told about it. She was fine but I GREATLY appreciated the warning so that I could keep an extra close eye on her the next few days.
That is terrible. Absolutely terrible, and I’m so so sorry you weren’t able to catch it sooner.
I always always ALWAYS tell my coach (also the owner/manager of the barn), as well as the horse’s owner (if they’re around at the time) if I notice ANYTHING more than a tiny scratch on ANY of the horses. Anything funny in the walking, anything different about the behaviour, anything bleeding or raw. ANYTHING. And she always checks it out, even though 99% it’s just me being overly concerned and it’s nothing to be worried about, or is something that I can easily take care of myself (once she’s shown me how). I can’t even bear to think that someone would be told a horse had just “dropped” out in the field and not go check on the horse, even if they were standing on their feet again. Just out and out dropping to the ground for no reason is not something to be taken lightely, even if the information is coming from a stranger who may or may not have any horse knowledge.
People suck. I might be embarrassed, but I would totally want to know if someone had something valuable to say about my animal care. Unfortunately, a large portion of the population is extremely defensive. To wit, the lady down the street, who when asked what breed her new puppies were, told my kids, “They’re Cocker Spaniels, and I got them at Petland, but THEY DIDN’T COME FROM A PUPPY MILL.” The kids were like (trust me, they have been well-indoctrinated by their mother), oh, really. Wethinks you may protest too much, lady.
I hate to say it, but I have definitely hesitated to say things to pet/horse owners in the past because I have feared their reaction. I am not large, have no clue how to fight physically, and never can think of good retorts on the spot, so I suck at confrontation. I have, however, reported people to A/C and will continue to do that. I’ve learned the hard way that I’m better off hiding behind the law (even if they don’t always do what I’d hoped).
This one still bothers me. I returned a loose dog to his owner one time (he was a mile from home), and got an unbelievably casual reaction: “Oh, yeah, we were leaving a few hours ago and he was outside. We couldn’t find him, but no big deal, he runs off all the time.” So these people A) let their dog out without supervision B) let their dog out knowing he might very well take off C) seem to have done nothing to deter the latter and D) LEAVE without knowing where the dog is. OMFG!! I would D -I-E die before I’d leave with my dog missing. I don’t care if I was on the way to my own wedding, life would be dropped to find her. But then, she’s never allowed outside unsupervised, either. Someone is always aware she’s out and will call her if she doesn’t reappear in a timely manner (we have an electric fence on a 1/2 acre).
I don’t think the a**hole ever even told me thanks… still pisses me off.
I had something like the dog thing happen a few years ago. I found the cutest, sweetest dog running around the block, almost getting hit a few times before I finally caught her. I brought her home and mom was like “…..” but let me keep her until we found her owner.
We had her for a few days, put ads in the newspaper, called around, etc. Finally I decided to take her for a walk to see if someone would be like “umm..that’s my dog” and sure enough, some woman came running at us, screaming saying I stole her dog. Turns out she had NO IDEA her dog had been missing for three days!! I’d take that dog if I could, but they got rid of her about a year ago because she barked too much…
*sigh* I’m the same way with confronting people, I’m shy, have issues speaking, especially when I’m nervous so I just end up stumbling over my tongue and giving in. I still try…but I wish I did more often
It’s a goal of mine for sure, be more outspoken, even though people around me get violent and defensive, which isn’t needed. Especially when it comes to horses. It’s like, just because I don’t have one I must know NOTHING. Well, because I don’t have one I’m stuck reading about everything regarding them, so give me a little credit. But nooo I just get a “STFU, I KNOW BEST!!1!” Okay, /rant.
I am pretty shy myself about confronting people, but as I get older, I have a much more “give a shat” what they think. Someday I will be able to speak without stuttering, dry mouth, and such. Alway fun to have the tongue stuck to the top of the mouth…
Sad about the dog. My hubs was once given a Dalmatian as a “confirmed runner”…. Turns out he was running away because the woman’s 2 year old daughter was yanking his tail…. It was a year before I could touch it without snapping and growling… But he never ran from our house….
I totally agree, people suck big time. Most are not worth the air that they breathe.
comm-xdhew-1854487920@craigslist.org
In case the post disappears:
“Please help me find my 10 year old yellow lab named Kona. She has been missing since July 17. She lives on Tsawwassen Beach. If anyone knows anything about her whereabouts please call 604 312 7621, email nhl_saretsky@hotmail.com, or return her to Tsawwassen Beach, she will find her way home. $500 reward for her safe return
Thank you”
FYI Washington readers, Tsawwassen is right up against your border, sort of. Far southern BC. It’s where the big ferry terminal sits.
Translation: “Yep, I love my dog soooo much, I’m offering a big reward. But I don’t love her enough to actually GIVE you the reward. I’d really rather you just dropped her on the public beach. Where she disappeared from in the first place.”
WTF does, “She lives on the beach,” mean? The dog has probably gone to one of the islands with a tourist who felt sorry for her. Digging for clams is no life for a dog.
This reminds me of a situation we were in with a neighbour’s dog a few years ago. We had properties that backed onto a public trail and for some reason the fences along the trail had to me mesh, while the fencing between properties was all wood, and apparently none of the builders/original owners in the area actually attached the mesh to the ends of the wood fences. 2 properties down was a very “love me hug me pet me” personality pit bull who LOVED our dog. She (the pit, her name was Dixie) would squeeze between the wood and mesh into the neighbour’s yard and then (the first time, we fixed it promptly) again into our yard. Dixie never meant any harm, but she played very rough, so naturally we were concerned for the small children living on the property between us and Dixie’s owners. Whenever we caught Dixie (she’d dig under her fence and wind up in our front yard too) we would leash her and bring her home. Every time, same scenario. The wife would answer the door holding her yappy Pomeranian (which was usually wearing something pink), see Dixie and call to her husband, who would come out and scream at the dog for getting out and put it in the back yard again. Neither Dixie’s owners or the neighbours between us with the small children would fix the fence between their yards. We even called animal control and got no response the first time,. but evidently someone did, because one day Dixie was just gone.
Oh, this so reminds me of an incident that happened about 30 years ago to me, before the days of the internets.
We lived across from a cemetery in the city, next to a 4-lane highway, and yes, we did have a lot of dumped critters.
We had a neutered spaniel mix, and I was playing outside with him the Saturday before Easter Sunday. Along comes a very pretty German Shepherd bitch, who is in very serious heat, as well as a purebred male Husky and a male Collie mix, both intact. Both of the boys had a turn with the bitch before I could corral everyone.
We lived in a SMALL apartment, which we fortunately owned.
So….the bitch went in the basement of our apartment. The husky went into the garage. The collie was tied outside. And I had to explain why all these dogs were there when my husband arrived home. So Sunday we walked and fed all these guys, avoided fights between intact males, and waited until Monday to call the local shelter and animal services.
Monday comes. I call the shelter. Yes, they know the husky…this was not his first offense and he has an owner who’s reported him missing…I even remember that his name was Jake. They know nothing of the Collie mix or the Shepherd. I call animal services. They take my report and say they’ll get back to me. I bring Jake to the shelter, which is only a couple of blocks from my office, and they contact his owner.
Two hours later, I get a call at my office. I have a crazy woman SCREAMING at me, the owner of the Collie mix, telling me that she’s going to report me for stealing her dog!!
I tell her, in no uncertain terms, that I did NOT lure her dog to my house, that I have absolutely NO interest in keeping her dog, and that she really needs to be a little more careful about keeping track of her unneutered male. I told her that her dog had been tied outside, gave her my address, and he was gone when I came home.
I never did find out if the bitch had a home. She stayed with me for a week, was an absolute sweetie, even when I took her to the vet for a *wee shot* which took care of her activities from the prior weekend, and waited until the shelter had an opening for her.
A few years ago, we had a mare and her yearling colt abandoned in the middle of the downtown area in my home town. When we got the call at 4am, none of us were prepared for what we were about to see…Both the mare and the colt had severely embedded halters, the colt moreso than his dam. The mare (a 16Hh Quarterhorse) was wearing a pony-sized halter that left open and raw wounds all over her face, and the colt’s halter was so deep in his face that you couldn’t see parts of it. We were all absolutely horrified at the sight, and my heart broke for these two. We took both of them to the rescue and called some of best vets in the state to come down and offer their advice, hoping and praying that we could save these two.
The mare was easier to fix up than her poor little son. She underwent 4 different surgeries to repair the damage the halter had done, and it left her permanently scarred with an odd dent in her nose. Her colt had a series of 10 different surgeries, most of which to repair the damage done to the still-growing bones in his face. He ended up getting seriously ill from the sheer amount of infected and dying tissue, and we nearly lost him a few times during his recovery. We kept the two of them for two years and some change to allow them to fully recover from their trauma, and one of the rescuers ended up adopting them. Sadly, the mare was put down from complications from colic, but her colt is alive and well. He won’t win any beauty contests, but he’s happy, healthy, and spoiled.
My point? The people that dropped them off knew what they had done, and they tried to cover it up by dropping these poor horses off in the middle of the night. We ended up finding the owners because the mare was registered and someone had recognized her…and they ended up paying for their actions. When they were brought before the judge, they tried to give him this sob story of “how they didn’t know”, and you better believe he called them out on their bullshit. On top of giving them one hell of a lecture, he gave them the maximum sentence he could and fined them for the cost of the care the two horses received. They are also banned from owning animals in the state of South Carolina. And I quote, “If there is so much as a fly in a glass in your possession, you are going back to jail.”
These people know full well what they did and did not do, and I don’t believe for a second that they tried to do a damned thing to get that halter off. They need to be outed for their behavior, banned from owning anything with a pulse, and given the maximum sentence possible for their crimes against those horses. The consequences for animal cruelty is far too lax, and this slap-on-the-wrist bullshit isn’t deterring anyone from harming animals in the future.
“If there is so much as a fly in a glass in your possession, you are going back to jail.â€
I don’t suppose he is single and looking? I could totally get into hero worshiping a judge like that.
Oh, me too! I’ll fight you for him.
LOL! He recently retired from the bench after serving for 30 something years (I believe he’s in his late 60′s), and he will be sorely missed. All of our cruelty cases went to him, and he didn’t tolerate the bullshit people would try to shove down his throat. He would see through it before they’d even open their mouths, and he’d give them the maximum sentence possible…and God help you if the animal died because of cruelty or neglect because he’d make your life a living hell. He was one of those “eye for an eye” judges when it came to animal cruelty. We absolutely LOVED him.
OH! One of my absolute favorite cases was this asshat who decided that he’d make his own bits out of wire…and in this case, barbed wire. The man’s own children called the rescue on him, and he just refused to understand why what he was doing was wrong. So the judge decided that the only way he could understand was to be shown. Do you have any idea how hard it is to not laugh hysterically at the poetic justice and the craziness of it all when the judge orders him to put one of the wire bits in his mouth with a makeshift shoestring bridle? The look on the man’s face? PRICELESS.
A lot of people questioned him when it came to how “out of the box” he could be with his punishments, but his answer was always this: “If it don’t hurt their pride, their wallet, or their own flesh, they won’t learn a damned thing.”
60 is not so old…….
He really sounds fantastic.
I wouldn’t ever turn out in a halter. I emphatically would not turn a FOAL out in a halter…foals, even more than grown horses, WILL find ways to injure themselves.
If your horse is hard to catch…fix it. Hard to catch is a training problem and is solved by training. It’s amazing how many hard to catch horses stop being hard to catch when they realize the person catching them is holding a nice big carrot.
Oh, amen. I hate seeing horses turned out in halters and I HATE, HATE, cannot find words to express how much I HATE, drag ropes on foals.
Here’s an idea, get off your butt and SOCIALIZE YOUR FOALS…it is not that damn hard.
A friend of mine just raised her first baby (unplanned, she was sold and turned out to have an OOPS baby). She said she couldn’t get over how she got him totally trained (leading, clipping, baths, etc.) in 15 minutes a day. I said, yeah, now you see how lazy people are to not do it.
At one of the local rescues the weanlings are turned out in the arena with breakaway halters and a foot-long length of leadrope attached so handlers can get hold of the short piece and attach a full lead to bring the babies back to the barn. Very safe, no damage done and no trauma or drama — unless you’ve got a little snert that isn’t wearing its halter because it “broke away” and now is king or queen of the place because “You can’t catch ME!!”
(Been there, done THAT ;o) Some of them don’t CARE that everyone else is in the barn. They are FREE!!!
;-D
A foot long, sure, no problem. When I say drag rope, I mean DRAG rope…i.e. it is dragging on the ground, tangling in their legs, etc.
Fifteen minutes a day is about perfect… foals don’t have long attention spans. But it needs to be every day. Don’t know why people think they can ignore young horses and have them turn out fine. You wouldn’t ignore a young child and expect everything to turn out fine.
So true. 15 minutes, 10 even, of leading, stopping and moving the haunches and shoulders and you will have a halter broke baby in a couple weeks. It really isn’t difficult or rocket science. Babies are surprisingly receptive to their people. Espsecially if, you know, you feed them.
!t is relatively easy to halter break a colt in about 15 minutes daily workout. My Chico took longer than two weeks because his door-knob mother thought that humans ate colts, so he was over a month old by the time I first handled him… but it still didn’t take long once Princess got over herself.
He did wear a drag rope though, both as a colt, and as a yearling. Partly it was to teach him to ground tie, so that if I drop the lead shank he knows he is supposed to stay put (Not at first, only starting this year). He doesn’t very well, but he does know.
He would wear the rope, loosely supervised, (I was working around the barn-yard or in the garden next to it) for even a couple hours at first. I found that letting him get a little tangled taught him to not freak out when, for example, the rope brushed against his back pasterns. Also, when he stepped on it, he learned it was okay to have his head stopped, and didn’t freak out about that anymore either. Instead of panicking when his nose got blocked, he learned to lift his feet up until he could move again. Same if he ducked under it accidently and it fell over his head and ears. I would even throw it over his neck on purpose so it would fall off his head.
He never got hurt or even badly scared, but the other day when Joe dragged in front of him on the lead line, Chico was okay with the resultant mess. Joe had a little educational moment for that brain fart… It was like “Whoa? What’s whoa?” Not the funnest with four horses in hand.
I agree. I NEVER turn my horses out with halters. When I first, first got my guy, I forgot to take the halter off ONE freakin’ night, and the next morning it was hanging on a tree broken and he had scuff marks on his face. I’ve never forgotten again.
I have a concern right now. About 20 minutes from my place there is a single lonely mare in a huge pasture all alone. I feel so sorry for her! Oh, and of course EVERY single time I drive by she’s standing near the fence, in a total daze… wearing her halter. Ask my husband, every single time we drive by there I start cursing! So, do I stop by and tell these people that (a) they should never turn a horse out with a halter on and (b) she seems pretty lonely out there???
I couldn’t imagine putting any of my horses out with a halter ever! I had a arabian mare that was extremely hard to catch once she saw the halter. It didn’t matter what you tried. Treats, grain…nothing would help. I don’t chase horses. Ever. So I just put a piece of twine in my pocket and since she didn’t see halter, I could walk up to her whenever I wanted to. I’d pet her for a second and bring out the twine and loop it around her neck and we would walk back to the barn. I just quit fighting. Something must have happened in her past to make her not want to be caught. I found a solution. It worked. Even if it hadn’t…I still wouldn’t put a halter on a horse and just leave it. I see it at boarding barns too. People put their horses in a stall with their halters on and come back the next morning to a dead horse because they went to scratch and got their hoof caught in the halter. It doesn’t have to be loose for that to happen. It’s bad enough when people leave nylon halters on but I’ve seen people put thier horses out to pasture or in stalls with rope halters…that is scary.
My Crabby Old Bat mare had to be caught with the twine method for a long time. However, treats fixed her eventually. She was greedier than she was evasive!
Which is why God, in his ultimate wisdom, made a horses’ stomach bigger than his brain
How do I get my horses to eat treats! The only kind of treat I can get my guys eat is those peppermint wafers from pro manna. That is it!!! I eat a lot of fruit and watermelon when it’s around and they won’t even eat the meat of it or the rind. Carrots…nope. Apples…heck no! I would love it if my guys would eat treats.
Any suggestion? Anyone?
Try the little peppermint cookies…my horses go NUTS for them!
http://www.statelinetack.com/item/start-to-finish-horse-snacks/SLT901601/
I’ve also found that everybody likes the apple cookies shaped like crescents…I wish I could think of the brand name but my horses just love them. You kind of have to experiment to find treats they really get excited about. The VLC is a peppermint lover – nothing gets him going more than that flavor!
When I first bought my horse, I didn’t know he had an aversion to “anything new” because of all the bute paste he got on the track. Ew.
He liked carrots, and I decided to feed him an apple. He took it, spit it out, GLARED at me and then moved to the corner of his paddock, head in, butt out. Didn’t try to kick me, but NO WAY was I going to get to his head.
SO … I figured, “Hey. I eat apples. Horses eat apples. You’re a horse, you’re MY horse, and YOU are going to eat apples.” I cut them up and mixed them in his goody bucket along with carrot pieces. Did that with just about everything else.
Today he’ll lip around and get the carrots in the goody bucket, first, thank you, but he will now eat apples, watermelon rind, grapes, and every manner of horse cookie — apple smacks, apple wafers, licorice flavored, peppermint flavored, etc. Hard, soft, chewy, etc. Everything now out of my hand (and very gentlemanly, too, I might add) but we started it in the bucket ;o)
He wasn’t in Kentucky long enough to develop a taste for peppermints out of hand, but I’ve tossed some in his goody bucket and he eats them there. The rescue gelding I had for 18 months would eat ANYTHING out of hand, also like a gentleman. Peppermints got the best reaction, though. It was obvious he wasn’t used to them. He’d crunch down and sort of blink real wide, then purse his lips and suck in. Cracked me up.
Anyway, mix treats in with the goodies.
Oh man, if they think the peppermint cookies are good, try a little bit of real peppermint.
My mom grows it, but doesn’t use much. When she discovered horses like peppermint, she gave me some leaves to pass around to the other owners (after making sure it was okay, of course. We weren’t entirely sure about giving them “raw” peppermint).
One of the ex-racers literally lunged at my when he smelled it, he was so excited. He was in cross ties in the wash-stall at the time, but if his owner hadn’t been holding the lead rope as well… oh boy, he would’ve been right on top of me.
He is now my best friend for life. Along with all the other horses I gave peppermint to that day, except for the 2-year-old, who was not particularly impressed and didn’t see what all the fuss was about.
Get these:
http://www.smartpakequine.com/ProductClass.aspx?productclassid=3791&cm_vc=Search
(Ginger Ridge Harvest Hearts horse treats)
Horsey crack. Use with care, any horse I’ve ever fed these to mugs me for more (even the ones that know better). You Have Been Warned!
Only my mule likes watermelon rinds. I have some that don’t like apples. I cared for an old donkey that only liked Fuji apples, which of course she got since that’s where her medicine went. I’ve never seen an animal that doesn’t like oatmeal cookies, though. Suitable rewards vary with each animal, yours may want the good stuff: frosted mini-wheats, oatmeal or molasses cookie bits, peppermints, tic-tacs, etc.
AHAHHAHAHHAAH LMAO
“Which is why God in his ultimate wisdom made made a horse’s stomach bigger then his brain”.
You forgot to include men. Love it.
She is a piece of shit, bottom feeder. No way in hell did it grow into his face in 30 days, and even if it had she is still guilty of neglect. Go to the cage and stay there.
Another case where their children should be taken from them too. God only knows what she does to them. Who would sleep with the skank anyway. Puke.
To find the horse owner… get a copy of the police log for that weekend, since the police were called. You can obtain it- if your lucky online or by contacting the department directly. I used to get them all the time for press reporting.
Likely the halter was put on the foal not long after birth. I’ve seen an embedded halter before on a yearling- wasn’t a pretty site and unfortunetly that little guy didn’t make it.
I used to give people the benefit of doubt but as I get older and more jaded- seems most people just suck.
Oh, you rock, what a GREAT idea. This was in Onalaska, WA.
Poor little horse, never had a chance. We’ve raised 30+ foals over 40 years, all registered stock who’ve gone on to useful lives. We have a wardrobe of colt halters from tiny day-old size up through yearling , 2, 3 yr. Of course, foals aren’t left with halters on, but as they grow we could always grab the next size off the rack as we handled them (daily!)
Regarding handling colts, I currently find myself in an interesting situation: Two years ago my trainer’s nicest stallion sired a colt I adored from birth. I helped handle & gentle this colt, then he was turned out with the others at weaning for the winter. Yes, into shelter at night, bad weather, etc., but a herd situation with run-ins. Brought into stalls as yearlings to learn more manners and be gelded, little “Lucky” was somehow different. He’d gone feral, totally unapproachable. Oh, he’d sniff your hand, take a carrot or peppermint, but literally tried to go over the wall if touched behind the jawline. Hmm, what had happened? True, there was a bent Preifert panel in the colt pasture……had Lucky jumped or somersaulted over it sometime during the winter, perhaps landing on his noggin and scrambling his brain? While we cogitated on possibilities, time went by. Various people in the barn tried to work with Lucky and he kept getting the back burner…….wormed in his grain, petted about the face, but he remained panicky. Trainer was working hard with other stock and Lucky, simply, wasn’t a priority. “One of these days we’ll just rope him in the stall and treat him like a wild mustang, get his sedated & gelded, and go from there with a catch halter & rope on him.” Fall, winter, spring, and he was out in the colt pasture with the TWO-year geldings, still a colt, still untouchable.
Trainer and I had a discussion and realized we’d all let Lucky down. By now he was too big and dangerous for us old ladies to tackle, and we all knew it. Talked over using a tranquilzer dart with the vets, who said it was too loud, too explosive, and always left a big abcess. We actually discussed a bullet, as the poor horse was useless to anybody, and it wasn’t fair to him. We freely admit we let him slip through many cracks, and had to do something.
So, we called the local cowboy colt breaker (who is also a reining/cutting man), just the sort of slow drawlin’ ol’ cowpoke you’d want. He brought his stock trailer, backed it up to the barn, ran Lucky into it through a chute, and off the 2-yr stud went for his “religious conversion.” Vet put on call that as soon as he was tame enough to halter & handle, the gelding bus would pull into the station.
Happy ending: “Ol’ Cowpoke” has worked the necessary miracle. Not a mark on the colt, except, ahem, a small surgical one up where no one can see. Two months of patient work by someone who wasn’t intimidated by a rowdy young fellow. I am happily paying for the gentling training. Yes, we ALL know we messed up by not getting on top of him sooner, especially Old Trainer who admits if she’d been younger whe’d have roped him herself.
Once Lucky is deemed tame enough for routine handling, back he comes to his home farm to pick up where he should have been worked with in the first place. We hope that this gorgeous fellow, a fine typy example of his breed, and looking talented for the exact discipline I wish to pursue, will have a long useful career and be a solid citizen.
Oh, a few months ago Old Trainer said, “If you can catch him, you can have him” so she’s making good on her promise and now I will be the proud owner of this adorable guy. Life is funny, but none of us would ever have sent him to an auction. As a concensus we took responsibility for a colt who deserves a chance to uphold his heritage. If his humans failed him initially, it was up to us to try our best to fix our mistake.
So, bad things can happen to good horses even in good barns. I’ll give y’all updates once Lucky returns from his religious retreat and new-made (ahem) man.
Sometimes that is what it takes. Horses are funny and I’ve seen them “go feral” too. If anyone doesn’t believe that, go catch a 20 year old broodmare and tell her she’s going to restart life as a saddle horse. They all work out but BOY those first 48 hours, you would think you just got a mustang from the BLM.
“Yes, we ALL know we messed up”
Well now, the next time you start feeling guilty about that I want you to remember this:
The reason why you feel bad about it is because you actually *DO* care about Lucky. The better person is not the one that never regrets anything, but the one that never regrets anything without making a sincere vow to never make the same mistake again.
I’ll bet anyone a million bucks and a steak dinner that this horribly neglectful colt-killing bitch never felt a shred of regret for anything except getting caught.
I already apoligize for going so far off topic, just thought my Lucky story sort of applied, that you don’t give up on a colt because of a human-caused problem, without trying your best. I wish the girl who tried to rescue the poor haltered colt had had her chance to get him vet treatment and a chance at a life. That pretty young gal’s heart is in the right place! Kudos to her for trying!
I actually kinda think her prettiness was what got a lot of the media attention, especially because the colt was already ‘disposed off’
Duno, just a feeling, could be wrong xD
“Wander at will” is on Patricia’s property. The horses that she lets wander have never (as far as I know) gotten off the property. It’s gated and most people are good about closing the gate. Even so, for a rescue to have a standard practice of allowing horses to roam freely is asking for trouble.
Here’s a list of free-roaming horses at Serenity that I know of. Not all of them are still there:
Stormy (mini)
Shadow (mini)
Sequoia (had oops foal)
Crystal (probable oops – I’ve heard she might be pregnant)
Cowboy (mini)
Daisy Mae (mini)
Keona (Sequoia’s foal, but no sign of Sequoia in pics of Keona loose)
Lakota (gelding)
Kahmaal (privately owned)
Here’s a great example: http://twitpic.com/20lhll That’s where trailers are often parked, cars, tools left against the outside of the building, and a pile of random scraps and rubbish behind the building, etc. Oh, and unsecured storage of hay. Great place for horses to hang out.
I meant to put this in the thread about Serenity/Patricia Clark. Answering the comment about horses wandering at will and police involvement.
Crystal isn’t a probably oops, it is a definite oops! She had a foal a short time ago. The filly (Crystal) was farmed out to a different resuce, who then adpopted her out to a private party. Weren’t they all surprised to find out that Crystal had been bred at Patricia’s farm??? Of course Patricia denies any responsibility for the foal.
Let’s not forget that a mare named Lovey also had an oops foal last year…that makes 4 that I know of (Crystal, Zoey, Sequoia and Lovey).
Zoey is Pat’s personal mare, but she had no idea she was pregnant until a few weeks before she foaled. Now her baby is listed as a rescue. Isn’t that sweet? Not! I guess people are more likely to donate funds for a orphan throw-away abandonded foal .
Wait, so this lady breeds horses (accidently, of course) and then incorporates the foals into the ‘rescue’ so they are paid for? There is certainly some ethical questionability in that.
Hailey is a brave young woman for taking that initiative and showing her face and giving out her name. So many people fail to become involved bacuse of the repercussions that could follow ratting out dumb asses.
Case in point (and a little bit OT):
Some readers here may remember my writing of my neighbor’s dog living on their back deck with no shelter or shade. No access to even sniff the grass. No regular water or food, etc… This dog lived in the elements of extreme winter to the current 100+ degrees ( it was 106 on my own deck in the shade) since it was a puppy of about 6 weeks old to it’s current age of about 7 months. I complained about it several times. First as a nuisance because of the constant barking it did because of lack of attention. Then as the temps here climbing to extreme the past several weeks I could stand it no more. I was in tears every day listening to this poor dog in such distress. Yesterday I finally went to the town office to seek ordinance info in keeping dogs in town. The town manager told me there had been a lot of complaints made concerning the AC not doing his job and that I should call when I get home. So I did. It was about 15 or 20 minutes later and I see my son out back talking to the chief of police so I went out. The chief said he received a call about a vehicle blocking the alley. (it was my truck as I had a load of sawdust on and was heading out to unload). Instead of ticketing me for it he observed an “inoperable vehicle on my property (my husband’s 69 AMX project). Of course he proceeded about the bylaws of such vehicles, blah, blah, blah! I told him it was covered until I needed the tarp to cover my sawdust and the car cover was over my tractor ready to be painted and didn’t want it to get wet if it should rain (PLEASE RAIN!!!!!). Then went on about operating a business in a residential area and more blah, blah, blah. I told him I wish it was a business then someone could pay some of the fucking bills around here besides my husband. (my kids are car hobbyist) Then I notice the AC next door in the alley and taking away the dog. The fucktards surrendered her because 1) they did not have a shot record, 2) they did not have license for it, 3) were not willing to pay a fine, 4) and if they did all the above they would still hear complaints about their dog (by me because I am apparently the only one who cared) so shows they were not willing to change the situation the dog was in. Besides, the dog had no water on the deck that day in 105 degree temps. I spoke to AC later in the evening while he was out mowing his lawn and he filled me in. My intention was not to have the dog seized but to please change the situation or (how about this!) educate those dumb asses about how to keep a dog. So he took the dog out of the God awful place and it is now in the shelter with 6 days (Sunday) left to live. How do I feel about this? Terrible. I am doing what I can to find this poor thing a home. I am willing to put $$ towards the spaying of the dog. Willing to deliver to anyone that would take this dog within 100 miles of Richmond, VA. (really depends on where south as I live south of there). She’s a sweet little dog about 35 lbs when properly fed. Scared (and I mean terrified) of people but she had warmed up to me with kisses when I had my hands on her a few months ago. She deserves to have a happy life opposed to the 7 months of hell she has endured. Any takers on here?? Please??? I want to do the right thing here as obvious I cannot take her myself or I would. I have 2 dogs (town limit ordnance) and live on a cubicle not to mention how awkward that could be.
Fugs, if anyone is interested please pass my email along. I don’t know any other way to network this poor thing with such short time constraints. I will pay her bail of $7/day. Whatever!
Now I have to keep vigil concerning the welfare of my own pets because to the POS next door wanting to blame me for losing her dog. But I know I did right by the dog….
I’m in Gloucester County, just east of Richmond by about 45 minutes. Unfortunately I CANNOT take her, I have enough of my own animals to keep fed. BUT, you may want to contact other shelters through Petfinder.com and ask questions to see if someone can foster the dog. Only allowed 6 days before euthanizing? Or 6 days so the owners can clean up their act and repossess the dog? Unless the dog is totally unadoptable I don’t understand this. The Gloucester-Mathews Humane Society will keep a young dog and rehab it through a foster home if there is any chance the dog can be adoptable. Especially if it’s a young dog. Good luck…
Good idea. I found my new dog on Petfinder and it’s a great resource. I’m on the wrong coast for you so I don’t know the rescues in your part of the world unfortunately, but please keep us posted on this girl.
In Memphis, they only get 3 days before euth. Our neighbor lost his dogs that way – they got out of his fence and were picked up, he called the place the same day and found them, they demanded a large fine (I recall almost a thousand dollars for three dogs) as ransom. He didn’t have the money on hand so the dogs were put down. Our neighbor was kind of a jerk redneck but he didn’t deserve to lose his dogs like that. He was just unlucky enough that they broke out on the very same day the animal shelter swept the neighborhood for strays.
I’m sorry that this situation worked out this way, and I hope someone’s able to rescue the dog in time.
The AC told me he NOW has an “adoption day” the third Sat of every month. The next one??? The third Sat of August. So I told him that this and all other animals he gets do not have a snowball’s chance in hell of being adopted without appropriate time to network them. He shrugged. He does not leave the shelter open and he does not work out of it on a regular schedule. There is one excuse after another. I think he just likes to kill animals, dogs in particular. He has the whole neighborhood of cats hanging around his house because he feeds them daily. Maybe he just looks for cats without collars as ones without are considered strays and he will (maybe, I don’t know) catch them and take them to the shelter to be euth’ed in 7 days. Who keeps a collar on their cat?? I don’t because of the foot through the noose thing occurring. I’m glad he lives on the other side of town from me.
I did visit the ASPCA today, not too far from me, that is a no-kill shelter. They said they do work with some of the neighboring county AC. I told them the situation and my offer to help. The director was not there and was told they would forward my phone number to her. I was told that they do quite well with re-homing dogs, especially if they are young. This dog has everything going for herself except that chance if I don’t make it happen.
If worse case scenario occurs, I will take the dog to my barn and confine her til she gets a home. That is not ideal but at least she will be given a fair shot at being happy for once in her life. The bad thing is there is a neighboring dog that hangs at the barn that is NOT neutered. Nice dog, but not mine and runs loose. I am surrounded by stupid fucktards everywhere! I can’t stand it. I just want to move back to civilization and people with common sense….if there is such a place anymore.
There’s such a thing as a breakaway collar. It should have a tag with your email, name, and phone on it. The shelter here is also required by law to scan for microchips. Every outdoor cat needs one. Better yet, unless the cat is being used as a mouser for a barn or something similar, keep your cats INDOORS! I sleep much better at night since our cats are indoors. Really. I didn’t realize how stressful it was wondering if that little furry body at the side of the road was someone I cared about, until the weight was off my shoulders.
HUGE thumbs up to this post.
Like I always tell people, they do not get run over by a car or lit on fire by a neighborhood kid in your LIVING ROOM.
My cat, Baybay, can’t get the necessary vaccines due to some allergic reaction she had when they were done years ago so she is an indoor-only. I’ve read that indoor cats can live over 20 years. I know I get stressed when she hides and I can’t find her, I am terrified of the thought of her being outside. She is the best alarm clock; 6:30am and she is batting at my face telling me to wake up. Daily.
I’ve used that type of collar and it lasts about 3 days. I have no idea how they are lost but it always happens.
My cats are pretty elusive and wary of people, especially loud people such as those in my f*#!^%ing neighborhood. They know where to go and not go. My old cat is 13 and the other is 6. They both live in and out but I also live off the main road in a residential area where people drive 25mph. (or supposed to). My cats, at this point of their lives would not tolerate living indoors, solely.
BTW~ as of 4:30 pm I have not heard from the SPCA rep. Maybe she is waiting to see if I can work miracles…only in my dreams…:-(
You might be surprised how well they transition to an indoor life! I recently yanked both my 11-year-old and my 8-and-a-half year old cats indoors, and they LOVE it. I think the elder cat really appreciates the opportunity to slow down, drool all over my arm, and block my view of the keyboard. (He also served as my alarm clock this morning when I’d forgotten to set mine. He does not have a mute button or he’d be perfect…)
I had a house feral for years…he never went near the door. His preferred spot was on my pillow. He KNEW he had it better!
I totally, 125% agree with you. I have an 8 year old cat who was a farm cat for his first 6 years, mouser extraordinaire, etc. When I moved into the city (we’re on a 25mph street, but I don’t trust him to get along with other cats when he’s used to “his” space being several acres of land), he became an indoor-only cat. He does really, really well. Loves it. When we go on vacation back home with my parents, he gets to play outside, but he loves the indoor life, and I love it for him.
I hate this but I’ve seen worse – the Animal Cops programme, based in Houston I think that one was, showed the case of another ingrown halter which was way deeper and it was succesfully treated. Definatly shouldn’t have happened and not a reason to kill the poor bugger when he was very saveable. Why is it so difficult to check your horse or dog every day and increase the size of halter or collar as necessary and how do you miss the state that poor thing was in and if you do see it how do you not get it treated? ***head desk****
Ugh, Animal Cops. I had to quit watching that show because it always makes me so sad and angry I want to puke. Well, puke and then knife some cruel shitbags to death.
Here’s your name Fugs!
News Releases – July 2010
7/21/2010 10:37:25 AM
July 21, 2010
Lewis County Prosecutor Michael Golden is waiting until investigation results are received from the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office concerning possible animal cruelty charges stemming from injuries to a horse in Onalaska. Initial reports indicate Donna Shelton put a nylon harness on the foal and left it on without adjustment until growth of the animal’s head forced the strap to wear through the flesh of its face all the way to the bone.
http://lewiscountywa.gov/news-releases-july-2010-5
According to Prosecutor Golden, “the grotesque nature of the animal’s injuries and subsequent suffering is appalling. Charging decisions will be made as soon as we determine who all is responsible for injuries sustained by the foal and if other animals are in danger.â€
Thank you for posting this scum’s name. I hope they are prosecuted.
So this means that even though she had him put down (read “killed”) she can still be held responsible for this, right?
My cousins barn is the only one i know to turn out in halters but it is on a busy road so if they managed to get out it could cause some serious problems…so I get why they leave halters on. Directly behinnd them is a 400 series highway that has a border crossing not far down the road so it gets a lot of crossing traffic both into Canada and into the USA. Directly infront of them is the road which is a main road into the city so it is also very busy. They’ve already had their very crafty colt, King, get out once or twice and had to chase him down.
To me that is one of the only cases leaving a halter on them is acceptable. The halters come off after they are locked away in their stalls.
A very dear friend of mine went through a remarkably simmilar situation. Her ex step father took all of the horses and dispersed them so that they could not get access to any of them. Well after they managed to get one mare and her colt who were registered in her mother’s name we went to rescue them. They managed to save the mare, who is now in great shape but at the time was lacking about 400+lbs. The colt, however, had his halter so imbedded in his face…it was insane. They took him straight to the vet who did all he could, but the infection had reached the bone and they decided the best thing to do would be to have him put down. Her ex stepdad also had another mare with a halter begining to cut into her face (which we removed) and my friend’s prized show horse had been bred and left in a cow pasture where she went down and could not get back up. She fractured some bones in her fetlock and of course lost the foal. She was malnourished and covered in sores. We thought she might be able to recover and at least enjoy retirement, but she ended up being put down as well.
She was totally trying to destroy evidence, end of story. Why else would she wait until the LAST MINUTE before the police arrived to put the horse down? If she sincerely thought the horse was in pain and needed to have it put to sleep, she would have done it as soon as she saw the horse. Not that any of that justifies what she did. Idiot.
Idiot’s picture is on the main page…just found all her information thanks to a blog reader finding the Lewis County Prosecutor’s report!
That is animal CRUELTY! How could it NOT BE??????
I think it is DEFINITELY destroying evidence!!!!!!
She should have ALL the animals removed! How the heck do you let it get bad? People are SICK…
How don’t you see it starting to fit tight…?
What a SICK woman!
Bless Hailey for trying to help! We need more Hailey’s in the world!!!!
OMG, worse yet she is reproducing. Quality kids coming up! Want fries with them?
Oh gosh… Am I the only one who saw the picture/bumper sticker thing that said “The only difference between Obama and Osama is just a little B.S.”? That screams education. It’s not even a political matter when you are saying that the President is comparable to one of the main leaders of a terrorist organization, it’s a matter of being downright ignorant.
Not surprising, given that she’s A) a moron, and B) a psychopath.
What’s really scary is that she’s allowed to use sharp stuff around people’s heads!
I want to see the vet bill/receipt for the euthanasia and disposal of the foal.
Because she definitely looks like she can afford multiple horses, on a hairdresser’s salary, with at least two kids. We already know she hasn’t got the time or money to look at her horses more than once a month (more like, every three months).
What, no vet bill? REALLY? It was Boyfriend Billy Joe and his trusty shotgun who put the poor deformed colt out of his misery, coincidentally right before the authorities showed up?
Uh, huh. O.O
You KNOW that colt got shot. I’d bet a LOT of money on it.
Not that I have a problem with a gunshot if, say, he had a shattered leg. But this was probably fixable. She was destroying evidence, plain and simple.
Hopefully shot and not passed on to a horse dealer headed for cap bolt in Canada. I’ve heard of that happening- ACO shows up and tell them to fix problem. Owner makes quick call to a ‘buddy’ to get rid of horse asap. Next ACO visit owner claims they put horse down. ACO drops the case since there is no evidence and nothing to go on. Horse is later found in kill pen or auction…
If destroying evidence was the primary goal you can bet the poor baby took multiple head shots
- I hope the prosecuter demands to examine the body.
Is the reason why she didn’t check on him in a month because she was in jail? Any way to find out what she was in jail for? (being trash isn’t a punishable offense, or so I’ve been told)
I don’t know. The post where she SAID she was in jail was in 2009, not recent. But people do tend to be repeat offenders, so maybe she was back in. Still, no excuse.
“I want to see the vet bill/receipt for the euthanasia and disposal of the foal.”
Ooooh…yeah! I think that is a really important question! Just where IS that bill, Donna?! I thought it might be a good thing to mention that when I emailed the prosecutor just now:
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Dear Mr. Golden,
I’m writing you today to ask that you vigorously prosecute the animal cruelty case against Donna Shelton, including charges relating to destruction of evidence for the supposed euthanasia of her horse with the embedded halter. Even if she can produce receipts showing she actually did have a veterinarian humanely euthanize the horse and arrange for proper disposal of the remains, the fact that she waited until she knew law enforcement was about to investigate the accusation made by Hailey Nelson all but draws a picture of her intent to avoid criminal charges.
A great many people who truly do care about the animals they keep and who loathe cruelty, abuse and neglect of any animal feel it is high time that those who commit such horrible acts should be punished more severely than they usually are nowadays. It’s a well-known fact that a high percentage of violent criminals start off their “careers” with animal cruelty and work their way up the ladder to more and more heinous crimes. It’s often an early sign of a growing threat that way too many people miss or ignore.
Making an example of Donna Shelton and “throwing the book” at her will keep other potential victims (human and animal alike) from falling into her hands, at least for as long as she is behind bars. If it is at all possible to do so, taking the progressive step of imposing on her a court-ordered lifetime ban from having an animal in her possession could help bring about reform in animal cruelty laws that make the punishment better fit the crime. It would also send a message saying animal cruelty is no longer something to be taken lightly by the courts.
Donna Shelton’s horse endured unspeakable suffering for much of it’s short life, a life that she callously threw away with no more remorse than someone has for disposing of a used paper napkin.
She should pay dearly for what she’s done. I implore you to make sure she does.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this.
____________________________________________
http://lewiscountywa.gov/
Go there and hit up that “Contact Us” link!
Great letter! EXACTLY the type of polite, sensible letter that I hope people will write if they do contact law enforcement.
Thank you. Letter sent.
Thank you for providing contact information, I also sent a letter.
To your very good letter I would add a link to a study on the relationship between animal cruelty and violence to humans. Always good to back up strong statements with studies
This is a 45 page study by a lawyer, commissioned by the City of Dallas. Very thorough. On PDF.
http://www.dallascityhall.com/committee_briefings/briefings0310/QOL_RelationshipAnimalCruelty_030810.pdf
I highly doubt that anyone will see a vet bill. And I know that there isnt a bill for the disposal, as they had a backhoe out today. There may be a reciept for the rental of the backhoe, I know this because I am in direct contact with Hailies mother. And I recieve updates from her to pass around. Fugly, Thank you for covering this.
I highly doubt anyone here even for one second thought a vet bill actually exists! And I’m sure just as many people are surprised to hear the part about the backhoe too.
*sigh*
Well, she got that poor horse buried real fast, didn’t she? Hopefully the photos provide enough evidence to convict her. Hopefully the emails from so many people will convince the prosecutor to go for as many charges as possible, hopefully the judge will give her as long a sentence as possible. Hopefully, hopefully, hopefully…
That is disgusting. I cannot believe that she let him get in that condition. And the whole “it was fine a month ago!” bulls&*# really gets me going… HOW can you only check your horse ONCE a month!?!?!? My horses live on my property but are checked a MINIMUM of 3 times a day…EVERY DAY! Rain, shine, snow, tornadoes, whatever…*sigh* stupid people.
As for the whole halter deal, I NEVER turn out my horses in a halter. Ever. There are too many trees for them to get hung up on, and my husbands horse loves to scratch his head(with his back hoof). All it would take is once for him to get hung up. I don’t even like putting fly masks on him for this reason, and his mask is the easiest to break away out of all the ones I have. I would rather go searching for a fly mask than a dead horse.
This is one of his favorite scratch positions – http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4399536&l=8cca5e3b79&id=506653806 All it would take would be ONE time to loose him forever.
That lady should loose her horses and not be allowed to own any more. Stupid people.
Yowie, that horse is made of rubber!
That’s an excellent photo. Kudos to the photographer.
Thanks, I took that picture. I make my living traveling around the country as an equine photographer.
Fucking bitch. If there was ever a case for forced sterilization, this fine lady makes it all by herself.
Any takers on that she had the colt put down exactly to destroy the evidence? I know a dealer that does the same thing all the time.
Judging by the material in her blogs, I’d guess this lady is the type who – as a result of her own irresponsible choices and actions – finds herself in predicaments, and always tries to spin it to look like she’s the victim. No, I don’t know her personally (thank God) so it’s just a guess. But I bet she cares more about avoiding consequences for this issue than for the fact that she actually caused suffering and death to another living being.
cries~
Why is it always the single mothers? Why why?
Can you blog about single mothers who actually went to school, feed their children and horses BEFORE their current screw, and know how to care for their animals? Just to prove that some of us aren’t total morons?
Oh, and someone probably better tell the dumb .. uh… person… that I am six months from a Master’s, have a teaching degree, and can spell, read, and speak with intelligence, yet I still don’t have a job. She needs a whole lot more than a couple of college classes to move her toward her ‘dreams and desires’.
Also ask her if she might consider adding ‘check the horses once in a while’ to her list of dreams?
Yes! Yes! Yes! These were exactly my thoughts in regards to her dreams of “going back to school to get a better career.” I hate how all these commercials and internet ads make it seem as if “going back to school” automatically equals a better life, as if it were an even exchange: pay $x and receive your dream life! A Bachelor’s degree in most fields these days is worth about as much as a high school diploma used to be worth. Besides that, school is HARD WORK that requires discipline and time, and, um, intelligence. Most programs, even undergrad ones, are competitive and the job market once you’ve graduated is even more competitive. Not to mention that school loans have to be paid BACK, so you sure as hell better do well in school and GET that better job so that you’ll be able to afford your loan repayments. I am also about done with my Master’s, and I’m only doing school because I KNOW what I hope/plan to do with my degree, and I’m driven, smart, and already have a lot of experience in the field. Even so, I know that it will always be my husband (a computer programmer) who makes the most money.
Is it just me or does it look like someone has sprayed BluKote or something similar on this colt’s wounds? Was the owner actually trying to treat the face (and if so, kind of blows her “I didn’t know” defense out of the water.) Could be drainage from infection but to me it looks blue.
I think the lighting is odd and you’re seeing dried blood and corruption. It doesn’t look blue to me. What does everyone else think?
Dried blood can give off a bluish-purple tinge in certain lights.
Hard to catch….? One bag of Mother’s Iced Oatmeal Cookies and they become hard to get rid of!
“But that’s spoiling them!”. Yup, and my critters have a better recall than most dogs.
The fact that she’s wrapping herself in the God flag just adds another layer of creepiness.
No disrespect to religious folks, especially those who walk the talk.
I loooove you Marysdogs!!!!!!! Those that flaunt the God squad face of good just floor me! Show me how you treat people and animals….then I might want to listen to ya.
So, is she being prosecuted and for what? She was definitely destroying evidence.
Long time lurker/reader first time poster here! Hello everyone.
I came here to say that there is no way that his poor little face got like that in a months time. NO WAY! As most of you all know!!
She is out of her damn mind if she believes that! Well I guess she is out of her mind anyway for allowing it to get so bad in the first place. As a law enforcement officer myself I think they have a case here. There’s the picture and if it was taken with a digital camera it will show the date it was taken. If not then I can see how hard it would be to prove when that photo was taken. As for her putting the little guy down and it being legal for her to do so as long as she is not destroying/covering up evidence, then what would they consider her actions to be? I would take that as getting rid of evidence, trying to cover it up because she knows as long as they find out then BAM she’s done. Fines out the yen yang, possibly jail time, she can’t afford it and now she is scrambling to “fix†it so it does not come to that! I hope they can build a good solid case against her and prosecute her to the fullest extent that the laws there allow.
My big pet peeve is horses left in halters. The barn where mine is at turns out in halters, but requires leather or break away halters. Not my favorite practice, but better than nothing. We do have an older arab mare (mid 20s lesson horse, suprisingly fabulous for the littles) who cannot wear a halter. Why? Because at some point before she came to us, someone let her halter grow into her face. She has a distinct 2″ wide hairless indent around her face, poor thing. The hair never grew back over the bridge of the nose and a halter left on for any amount of time will rub her skin raw. So, she goes out nekkid
.
One thing I can’t figure out is how these people can afford horses. I have a college degree and two jobs and still have to eat ramen to keep the old guy in oats. I’m hoping my recent position change will allow me to consider a 2nd horse eventually, but I’ll still be stretching it. But how do these people afford to be breeding (horses and people and whatever else), when so many find one to be prohibitively expensive.
“One thing I can’t figure out is how these people can afford horses. I have a college degree and two jobs and still have to eat ramen to keep the old guy in oats. I’m hoping my recent position change will allow me to consider a 2nd horse eventually, but I’ll still be stretching it. But how do these people afford to be breeding (horses and people and whatever else), when so many find one to be prohibitively expensive.”
to answer this question, you have to realize that these people are not like us. The things that cost us money for our horse on a regular basis, they simply ignore.
Hoofcare, veterinary treatment, tack and all the other little bits and pieces we spend our money on are ‘optionals’ to them. In their opinion, once you spend the couple of hundred bucks on your horse at the auction and maybe buy a halter and rope, you’ll do just fine dumpin’ it in the unused barbed wire pasture behind the house that nobody seems to use (and who cares who owns it, anyways) and borrowing some POS tack off your great-aunty’s-uncle-inlaw that looks huge or tiny on the animal, but never seems to fit right will do just fine for the ‘riding’ part of things. Eventually, they forget they ever got the thing and just continue to breed mini-me’s until their next term in jail…
It’s not like they board at a barn where they get told off for leaving their horse without food for 6 months and someone else takes pity on it and gets their farrier to do it while he’s doing theirs or whatever. Basically, these people have ‘zero expenses’ for their horses because they provide ‘zero care’
Asshats :S
Absolutely correct. See, WE’D be horrified if our horses went without. I know people who have horses going without in their backyard, and it doesn’t bother them a bit.
Yeah, those are usually the same ppl whose kids wear belly-free t-shirts with holes at the elbows ‘coz Mommy spent the clothes budget on grog instead *barf*
Right there, you hit the nail on the head! It kills me to see horses that don’t get groomed b/c the owners never show up. The very sweet gelding at our boarding barn whose owner hasn’t been seen in over a year spent the fall with so many cockle burrs in his forelock, mane and tail it made my gut twist and then the whole winter he was covered in mud. One day this spring two other boarders and I finally couldn’t take it any more and gave him a spa day. It took three of us over an hour just to get the burrs out of his forelock, mane and tail. We picked his hooves, brushed, brushed, and brushed him some more and then he got a bath. The BO/BM told us he’d just get in that shape again but …well just stamp the word “Sucker” on my forehead!
Wow. I’m pretty good at reading people, but I don’t even need to see her to know she is a LYING FUCKING LIAR.
“Checked the halter a month ago.”
Okay, now, I know that foals grow fast. I know that some foals grow REALLY freaking fast so that one day they’re this cute little adorable thing and it seems like the next day they’re a monster towering over your head. It’s hard to tell from the video, but it looked, to me, like the halter was embedded at least a good inch or two into the face, if not more. Now, I’m sorry, but barring some freakishly fast growth spurt (which I really doubt), I’m having a hard time believing he grew THAT MUCH in ONE MONTH.
And how DARE that bitch put the colt down, and say it was because he “lashed out” (which, geeze, you didn’t expect that? Aside from the fact that it probably hurt like a bitch, I doubt he had ever been handled). I would not be at all surprised to find out she had him shot as soon as she heard what was going on without any attempt whatsoever to remove the halter or fix the problem. At least have the decency to let the girl rescue him and get him looked after. I’m not an expert, so someone else might have a better opinion, but it looked to me, aside from the obvious issue, that that colt was relatively healthy, and would not have taken an unreasonable amount of care to live a long happy life. Anyone who is so fucking GREEDY that they will willingly sacrifice a living thing like that for no reason other than to try to salvage their reputation… it’s dispicable. Hell, she made herself look worse for doing. She may have at least been able to save some tiny modicum of respect if she’d cooperated and handed the colt over.
And I have to wonder, why did the colt even have a halter? I noticed none of the others had halters on, and obviously she’s not doing anything with them, so there was absolutely no reason to put one on in the first place.
Honestly, I would not be surprised to learn that she FORGOT she had those horses, I really wouldn’t, and suddenly went “Oh shit, I should do something about them” when confronted.
Thank the heavens those horses were in that pasture with plenty to eat, or there would’ve been four dead horses instead of one.
I was absolutely disgusted when I read her Myspace, Blog, and Twitter. All this talk about going back to school (um…WTF?) and being excited about the future, and not one mention of how she was in JAIL. Not one single post about that poor creature who endured so much suffering for so long.
I had the same reaction when the anchors said the horse lashed at her when she tried to remove it. And, no, the “only option” was not putting the poor foal down. She could actually have kept it alive by spending a little more money PUTTING IT INTO SURGERY! And I love how the anchors say that its okay because she wasn’t destroying evidence. Well, she kinda destroyed the evidence, didn’t she? And I love the nylon halter with BARBWIRE FENCING! If you’re really out for a good way to kill you horse, barbwire fencing and keeping a halter on while the horse is in the pasture with the barbwire fencing is a sure way to do it! Common f**kin’ sense!
Yes, pure class. Making plans in jail. Why didn’t you do that BEFORE you went to jail? “I love what I do (What is it she does?) but just don’t make enough money to to be a single mommy and have all the stuff I want out of life.” Yeah, you also don’t have enough money to get your now dead foal taken care of or get that God awful fence replaced. And that’s what happens when you have kids, at least that’s how I was always taught by my own parents; you sacrifice everything to make sure they have, including all the things you want out of life. And I fear for future horses to come in that weed-covered field barricaded by barbwire fencing…
Lutalyse is a hormone shot used to induce ovulation…. To prevent pregnancy, ideally 6 days after exposure. Basically short cycles the mare, much as we do when trying to get them in foal. Can also be used up to something like 20-25 days, but don’t quote me on that part. I have used it twice at 6-8 days. Yearlings!!! That womans a wench!!!!! I hate her already. Please, please, ;et the judge take away her pretty mares.
Someone look at how long she was in jail. I’m betting she last checked her horses before then. And, of course, she been too busy to check on them since she got out.
I hope that nice young lady who called the media doesn’t go to that woman’s house alone when she asks for the other horses. Wouldn’t it be nice if she actually was able to buy the other horses? Take them to a place where they don’t have to worry about their babies being impaled on a barbed wire fence. It’s highly unlikely that this idiot would do the right thing, but it would be nice.
I really don’t understand how someone could be so neglectful! Is it that hard to take off a halter? And why check on them only a month at a time, what about their water source, or health? I saw something similar to this once, but it wasn’t as severe of a case. I was at a doctor’s office with my Mom for my nephew. We were on the second floor and out the window I could see a horse pasture. There was a small gray pony and I knew something wasn’t right because the pony couldn’t lift it’s head though it tried. I was afraid of getting in trouble of trespassing, but I went outside anyway, climbed the fence to find that the pony’s halter had broken and it’s foot was in the halter so the pony couldn’t lift it’s head. (I say ‘it’ because I can’t remember the gender) It took some hard work to get the halter off because it was a very old crusty halter and the metal had rusted. After a minute of tugging I got it off and the pony was much happier shaking it’s head with relief.
I don’t want to jump to any conclusions that the pony was neglected, it could have happened within that day after the owners had fed, but I just had a feeling that no one was going to be getting the halter off of that pony for a long time.
Been reading for a few weeks, first time posting though.
She goes by Donna Haskins too.
http://whitepages.anywho.com/results.php?ReportType=34&qc=&qf=donna&qn=haskins&qs=WA
Almost O/T — anyone in Tennessee/KY/AL interested in a draft horse rescue? Please email me ASAP for contact information – pair of Belgians for KB price ($750) – they need 200lb each, one is blind in 1 eye and very pigeon toed, the yonger brother hasn’t ever been away from the older brother but they are not “old” – maybe 10-12?? They are located right off I-40 outside Nashville. Guy supposedly picked them up off an Amish farm but I’ve never seen Amish work horses look this horrible. They are VERY sweet, come when called, pick up their feed and lead, he says they are broke to drive….I can’t afford to rehab or they’d be on their way to my field right now……. deserthawkfan at hotmail dot com.
Please contact http://www.lazyhorserescue.org/. I know she has rescued horses from across the country, she has a great source for transportation. Also, if you Google draft horse rescue there are several others that pop up. Good luck! I hope these guys get saved!
Definitely sounds like destroying evidence to me. If ever she reads this blog, I’d like to say a big thank you and good for you to Hailey for doing what she could. That takes courage. I hope the law there will allow for the other horses to be taken off this whack job’s hands, and that she never owns another animal again. That poor foal
As for her being so darned proud of herself… being a hairdresser is great. In my opinion, hairdressing is a form of art, and it takes all kinds to make different clients happy, just like different people will like different art styles. But, my personal policy is that if the hairdresser looks like Frankenstein’s bride, no way am I letting her get anywhere close to my head, and all I ever do is have my hair trimmed at the ends.
ALTERNATIVE HORSE TREATS: Well, peppermints, of course, but those have been mentioned. My 28-year old gelding, whose teeth are not quite able to crunch on hard stuff (even carrots can be too much for him now) loves, loves, loves gingersnap cookies. Also, oatmeal and sugar cookies. I buy the cheap ones at the grocery store and he couldn’t be happier.
STUPID PEOPLE: As for this particular “person” who had the colt with the in-grown halter, WHY? Good grief, I am astounded by the examples of stupidity posted on this blog. Where are these people keeping their brains?
And another thing, I am sick and tired of these so-called “Christians” acting like such freaking idiots! I am a Christian, and I’m so frustrated with these numbskulls giving my faith a bad name.
Hey folks, guess what – no where in the Bible does it say you are to neglect and abuse your animals! On the contrary, the Bible tells us over and over that we are to be good stewards of ALL that God has given us! Oh, wait, what’s that? You’ve not taken the time to read your Bible? Duh, that appears pretty obvious. If you actually “practiced what you preach,” you’d see that neglect and abuse of animals is NOT a Christ-like behavior!
***Grrrr….arrrghhh….grinding teeth and suffering from general angst caused by morons****
This is why I get annoyed at the religions that believe you are saved by grace and not by works. That idea allows people like this to screw up time and time again, hurting animals, children, and anyone else in their orbit, and still think they are going to Heaven. Forget THAT. I like the religions that say, uh-uh, you have to be good and do the right things or you’re toast.
In a nutshell, here is one of the basic tenents of Christianity…… Ephesians 2, vs. 8-9. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
In general, people are dopes. Seriously, is anyone on this planet “good?” Only the grace of God is sufficient to save an imperfect human being.
HOWEVER….just because a person is “saved” or “dedicated” or “baptized” or “confirmed” or any other word you want to insert there, it absolutely, positively, DOES NOT give that person a free pass to act like a dumb-ass! And yet, we keep running into these fools similar to the lack-wit featured in today’s Fugly blog. They think because they are good little church folks, they can behave however they want. WRONG, WRONG, WRONG
In fact, the complete opposite holds true!! If a person has made the decision to accept the grace of God, then that person needs to hold her/himself to a HIGHER standard, not a lower one! Think about it…if you claim to believe in God, then don’t you think your actions should reflect that belief? What does it look like if you go traipsing about the country-side, singing church hymns, but then continue to act in a bad and evil manner?
Arrgh…arrgh… arrgh. This is basic Sunday school stuff, not to mention simple common sense. Why do these dolts have so much trouble understanding it? Want to call yourself a Christian? Fine! Then start acting like one! God has given you numerous gifts – be a good steward, respect what you’ve been given, (including your kids and animals!!), and don’t be wasteful or abusive or neglectful.
I can only assume that people like today’s doofus blog subject are very, very, very stupid, or their “churches” are really, really, really bad, and teaching all the wrong stuff.
“I can only assume that people like today’s doofus blog subject are very, very, very stupid, or their “churches†are really, really, really bad, and teaching all the wrong stuff.”
But see, that is the problem. Churches can’t “teach” someone to have a Christian-like heart, it is something much deeper than that. You can teach religion (which is man-made), but you can’t teach true faith.
That is very well put.
I do myself justice to not associate with the “Christians” that try to speak so loudly of their perfect lives. As an observer I can clearly see what belies your wholesome ways…do as God would do. Anything else is just poppycock.
I usually know better than to even comment on religion, but just thought I’d say– in my dream world, no one would be able to declare their religion in public. I’m very tired of hearing people tell me ‘when’ they were saved and ‘how’ they were saved. I’m tired of having people talk about what they did with their church group, and how many times a week they go to church.
It’s like listening to someone in a perpetual pissing match– some people (No, not all, but a lot!) can only manage to be Christians if they get to toot their own horn. I do understand that proselytizing is part of Christianity, but frankly, people aren’t doing their religion any favors by trying so hard to SHOW their divine perfection. I have FAR more respect for truly good, truly caring, truly faithful people who can manage to negotiate a conversation without putting in a plug for their own ‘faith’. If you are traveling a religious path with quiet faith and determination, walking barefoot, then I love and respect that. If you are wearing tap shoes and a sequined outfit just to make sure people notice your ‘path’, then please keep in mind that those who don’t watch where they are walking are liable to fall off the path.
Yes. The Christians I respect are the ones who actually DO GOOD and are fair in their dealings with people. Then, I think it’s great even if I don’t share their particular set of beliefs – it doesn’t matter. Anything that encourages you to be kind and fair in life is a good thing, no matter the reason why.
I’m not Christian. I also don’t go around announcing my religion to all and sundry. Or asking random people what church they go to.
I really do think some of these people think they can commit any sin they want, and its fine, because God will forgive them. I don’t think it works like that, somehow.
True, many people who are “religious” take the ‘saved by grace, not by works’ the wrong way (I think there is a huge difference between man-made religion, and true faith). Personally, I think being saved by grace is humbling; a reminder that you are at the mercy of a higher power, you do not have sole control of you ultimate demise. But because you have been shown that mercy and kindness, it is your responsibility to continue that kindness and merciful nature AND TREAT OTHERS AND YOUR ANIMALS WITH RESPECT.
**Off my soap box**
That POOR colt. Awful that he was “put to sleep,” probably by bullet or some other fast, cheap method. I am thankful that he is no longer in pain, but what a waste! I just hope that justice will be done. I mean seriously, what is wrong with people? Selfish, selfish, me-me-me attitude. I just can’t understand how someone can be so cruel. People who harm animals are especially sick, the animals can’t choose…
Honestly, the horses are not half bad looking… could have been a decent gelding with a different owner.
Hey, now that you guys have her real name and links to her social networking sites, and she’s given everyone in the world a reason to hate her, you should really team up with 4chan’s infamous /b/ boards and destroy her life. She’s a perfect candidate for a 4chan raid.
Unfortunately, Anonymous is not our personal army, and requests are generally mocked and insulted. Now, if she was a Scientologist, and a good target for Project Chanology…
I wonder how badly that halter deformed the colt’s skull. Maybe it could be exhumed and used as evidence? I’d love to see the judge’s face when that’s put on his desk. But as someone else pointed out, the unspeakable cretin could have shot the foal multiple times to destroy the evidence – but that in itself would make good evidence too.
The best retribution that comes to mind would be locking the owner into a pair of very uncomfortable heels for six months straight. But even that doesn’t seem quite right. Maybe plastic surgery to put a huge dent in HER nose, so she’ll remember every time she looks in the mirror to go check her damn horses.
Hey all,
OT but I am really curious — there is a racehorse posted on dreamhorse, interspersed with the usual good, bad, ugly and downright freakish. I’ve never seen an actual racehorse advertised as such there before, wondered if it’s usual at all:
http://www.dreamhorse.com/show_horse.php?form_horse_id=1577003&share_this=Y
Anyway, sucks that he’s not being advertised for anything other than racing, since I’d think that being sold on so the guy can start his two year olds would be a great chance to sell him to a non-racing home. But wouldn’t it actually be cheaper overall for a rescue to get him now and rehab and retrain to a nice hunter or eventer home before he breaks down and ends up at the bottom? He’s overpriced, yes, but looks in decent shape … He’s cute, something about him totally calls to me, and sadly I am totally unequipped and unqualified to retrain an OTTB.
So yeah, partly a philosophical question, partly curious about what your experiences are with the best intervention points for OTTBs that have a hope in hell of a long productive lives. Is it already too late for a guy like this whose feet have been pounded for five years?
My horse raced five TIMES and had the hell beat out of his feet because of racehorse trim — long toes — so they can “grab ground” to run faster. However, in many instances, the damage done to the feet and joints is FIXABLE. Correct trimming, corrective shoeing (get yourself a veterinarian that knows about shoeing and a shoer that will follow his directions), joint injections, and joint supplements have all worked wonders for my OTTB, who is 16 now (I got him when he was 4 and a half) and he’s sound, happy, and spoiled rotten.
In his case, my biggest challenge was figuring out his emotional issues. He had “buttons” that needed to be “pushed gently.” I had to figure out which ones they were and then how to proceed. He worries, still, but he trust me now.
He is very anxious to please, but he is afraid to be pushed too fast — like someone is going to ask him to do something new and if he doesn’t do it right, he’ll be punished. I have to ask softly and proceed quietly. I can push him a bit now, but he’s pretty much got it figured out. If I’m there, it’s going to be okay.
There are plenty of blogs for people who work with OTTBs and an article in the August Horse & Rider about adopting from a rescue (which, if you shop Craigslist, is sort of the same thing). All I know is, if I had to do this all over again, I would not hesitate. I’d get another OTTB in a heartbeat.
Yeah, the way they trim them on the track is horrendous. Just awful. But it can be fixed!
The poor thing is 7 years old!!!!!! And he is still sound! Why don’t they just retire him so he can become a nice pleasure mount for someone….God! help the helpless. I can only imagine someone will run him to death, literally.
Is there no end to people’s stupidity and selfessness?? This makes me so sick to my stomach! What the hell is wrong with people? Of course she was purposely destroying evidence! And of course that poor poor colt took a bullet or more likely bullets to the head! So my question is, where is the BODY?? I want to take a backhoe to that pasture until I find it! And dump it on the judges bench! Once again I am disgusted with the human race! Though Hailey gives me hope that there are good people on this planet. Wow, she deserves a medal!
I finally got the guts to click the link. I looked at the photo only. I really don’t think I could stomach the video. Absolutely terrible. I think the
bitchowner should be shot. End of story. Well, end of comment.This disgusting and terrible excuse for a human does NOT deserve to live. The stupid whore needs the death penalty, how dare she or anyone treat an animal in such a way and then trying to hide it by putting the poor thing down. This makes me so very very very angry.
This is so dead on. It reminds me of my favorite part of the movie Tombstone. Check this clip – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMgp97cODCA and watch from 7:25 to 8:00.
Hurts don’t it.
Goodness! I just looked at her MYSPACE site and saw the picture of that very baby when it was just that: a baby. How creepy is that to look at that poor little picture and then see the now (or rather last living picture). Poor little fella. Poor animals have no choices in life, do they. Especially to who they belong to. Just so sad for the little guy.
No, they don’t have any choices. I feel so sorry for them.
I saw this on a different forum and thought I’d post here in case someone can help. I cannot do anything myself other than pass on the info. I cannot take on another horse.
I hope this is ok to post.
http://www.themanestreet.com/forums/showthread.php?t=61716
Sorry for not putting this in the classified section, but I wanted people to be able to post questions and other info they aquire regarding these horses. Here is what I have:
I just got a call from a friend who works at a local feed store that there is a farm in Chase BC that has gone bankrupt and his 30 horses HAVE to go by Sunday, or they are off for meat. I guess the bank has sold his farm, so this really is a time sensative situation. The horses are looking for homes, and he will pretty much give them away to keep them from going for meat. I tried to call him to find out the bloodlines, but just got his answering machine. Apparently the horses are well bred, young and should be heading for the track. Obviously they aren’t and I have no idea on ages or training.
Here is his info, and since he has it out everywhere anyways, what is one more place. T Bar Ranch in Chase BC, owner Lee Oakford 250-679-5404.
If anyone can help these horses out, that would be awesome!! I will post more info as I get it.
__________________
I wonder if his Woodman son is placed yet…Woodman son out of a Ribot daughter, not too shabby!
Post this to the pedigreequery.com forum. Lots of Thoroughbred people there.
Well this is the worst asshat I have seen on Fugly yet. Cruelty to animals is horrific enough. But there is a special ring of asshat hell for those who are cruel to baby animals. So she is responsible for this baby being born, tortures the poor baby during the few months it is alive and then kills it. How stupid do you have to be to try and take that halter off? That thing was going to require major surgery. There isn’t a jail sentence long enough for this sub-human.
All this talk about “destroying evidence” isn’t entirely true when you take into consideration that someone took pictures of said colt, and posted them on the internet. Hopefully someone in the area of this abuse will give pictures etc to the prosecuting attorney?
OT, but I read on Norcal Equine Rescues blog earlier this week that a kill buyer they get horses from has told them that he expects the entire slaughter industry in Canada will shut down within the next few weeks due to the new EU regulations. He expects that horses will continue to go to Mexico and the paperwork will just be faked….
Anyone else heard anything regarding this??
That is absolutely horrendous. I cannot imagine the pain that horse must have endured. I really, truly hope this woman gets charged with animal abuse! Some people should not own animals… >:/
On a completely unrelated note, my friend has an appendix quarter horse that apparently raced when he was younger. We looked under his lip and he has a tattoo! it’s really faded but it appears to read: 14271 and his registered name is Ben Swift Treasure, I believe. Does anyone know if there’s any data bases out there with race records that we could find? Any help would be really appreciated!
I totally agree that when you find someone trustworthy to care for your animals you don’t have to check on them everyday but in the case of the first woman she has only been to the facility three times–once for a tour, once to drop the horse off and once for a twenty minute ride in the arena. Is three visits enough to tell you that a barn is well run and horses are being fed, given water, brought in from pasture when needed etc.?
Thank you for staying on this. Please, please follow through and charge her Lewis County. Just because the horse was destroyed FOR SOMETHING THAT WASN’T HIS FAULT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Doesn’t mean that he didn’t suffer in a HORRIBLE WAY and wasn’t neglected terribly. She BROKE the law. String her up!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is unacceptable.
Thank goodness for fugly giving us a forum to vent
Off Topic but really important! PLEASE READ.
There is a throughbred breeder in Southern BC, Canada who is being forced to get rid of all his horses before July 26th, 2010. He is trying to sell them off to good homes for meat prices, but on the 26th they will be going for meat. He has no where to keep them after date. This is what was posted on the Horse Council of BC Forums:
Young thoroughbreds 2 – 5 years old & brood mares need homes before Monday July 26!. Good breeding, many by Diamond Sword. 25 horses…Owner has apparently run into some issues and is forced to disperse or ship the animals by Monday, July 26th. The horses are available at meat price…and if not sold will become just that. All horses have a price tag of $500. Most of his broodmares are Kentucky bred, valuable horses. All horses that are of training age have been track started, so even the broodies are broke. Bonus! He said that his horses are not massive, but more the 15.2-16hh range. BUT they are well built, have great bone and are more of a QH build than the super long, overly racey type. I spoke with someone else in area as I was passing along the info and they saw his heard a few years ago and said that he does in fact have some nice animals, and grabbing one for $500 is an unbelievable deal. She is an eventer. Many are Mr. Prospector bred.
Yes, any horses left come monday will be unfortunately loaded up and shipped out. I believe the bank has sold his farm and so these horses literally have no more time and no where to live.
Oh, and he gave me his cell phone number, probably faster to get in contact with him: 250-318-0392.
PLEASE HELP THESE GUYS OUT! Thanks Fugly.