Excuses, excuses, excuses, and MORE excuses!
Nov 15 2010
One excuse that is literally always pulled out of the hat when someone is found with starving horses is that they just rescued them that way from someone else. That is the case with the amusing, if incredibly lame, “defense” site started by Tania Herring’s mommy, who did not like that the meanies on the Interwebz had an opinion or two about her darling daughter.
Another blog with comments from locals
My Mommy Says You’re Mean and Shouldn’t Talk About Me Even Though I Starve and Neglect Horses!
As is usually the case with these kind of people, the defense tends to prove the prosecution’s side. I LOVE Mommy’s snarking about the vet in the case: “What I like the best…is the vet who was helping had never been on the place to look at horses for Tania before…In the horse world he is knowen as $100 dollar H….. this is because he won’t come to your place for less then $100.00. I won’t throw his name out there because we are taking the high ground.”
ROTFL! ROTFL! ROTFL! OMG are you serious? You really think a vet is a bad guy because OMG he might actually want a WHOLE HUNDRED DOLLARS to make a farm call? Holy shit, send him my way, I can’t recall the last time I had a vet look at a horse for a mere hundred dollars, even splitting the call with others at the barn…that simply does not happen. Vet school is expensive and you’re paying for professional services. Again, horses are expensive and that is why your kid should not have had so damn many!
More from Mommy’s blog: “The 30 Horses seized were the Horses Tania had rescued…from other horse owners. She was providing medical care under the supervision of many veterinarians… Food,(the best in the state) Shelter and Rehabilition. Of course they didn’t look Good….It takes time to get a horse healthy.”
Can I ask just who the hell takes in THIRTY horses at a time? Just assuming that was even true, here are some questions for you, Mom:
1. List the thirty horses, their details and WHO THEY WERE TAKEN IN FROM. If Tania is not responsible for their condition, name names and addresses. Where did she get them? If they are from auction, there would be records. This is very simple. If she did not starve them, and let them get rain rot all over their bodies, WHO DID and why didn’t she document that and pursue prosecutions of those individuals? That is what rescuers do.
2. Are you smoking crack? How was Tania going to rehab THIRTY horses in poor condition at one time? A conservative estimate of the cost of refeeding an emaciated horse in Oregon would be $150 per horse per month. TANIA HAS THREE THOUSAND DOLLARS A MONTH EXTRA TO DO THIS WITH? Plus money for vet, trimming, deworming, etc.? On top of caring for her own horses and her own personal expenses? NO ONE WHO HAS HORSES IS DUMB ENOUGH TO BELIEVE THAT.
By the way, showing Tania giving a “lesson” to a child with no helmet who cannot reach the stirrups is not exactly helping Tania’s reputation, Mom. It just makes her look exactly like what we already know she is – a lowlife backyard breeder, hoarder type faux rescuer, faux horse industry professional who could not get off her ass and clean her stalls or provide even basically decent care to her horses.
Of course, Tania has a lawyer (Thanks, Mommy!) who is making much about the search allegedly being illegal. Not that he can write a grammatically correct sentence, either. “I ask that you or county counsel explain to me the source of your authority to invite members of the news media to trespass Ms. Herring’s property.” Again, seriously? My boss would throw an eraser at me if I let that sentence leave our office in a letter. Good lord.
At one point, Mommy even argues that people are JUST JEALOUS because Tania wins at the shows. WTF? OK, APHA folks, has anyone actually seen Tania win at a show? Are you skeered she is gonna take your ribbons away? Yeah, I thought so.
So I guess Tania’s lawyer will drag this out for as long as possible, and I’m sure she’ll get a wrist-slap in the end. That’s pretty much how the system works. At this point, I only care that the horse community knows what she did and that you guys don’t sell her horses, no matter what. You know how they will be cared for.
And Mom, you’re not helping your kid. You’re just providing proof that the apple did not fall far from the tree!
For those of you who love Arabians, there is a new site that has been created to help rehome them if/when they get into jeopardy. Check out the Arab Rescue Database.
99 comments to “Excuses, excuses, excuses, and MORE excuses!”
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I could not tell how old Tania is, but I am guessing over 21 years old, since she is listed as an adult in all the legal proceedings. If your Mama comes running to your rescue as a grown up, you both have serious pathology, which hard to believe, can impact life far worse than being outed as a undeniably lousy horse owner. Dr. Phil, do your best!! The tone of Mama’s blog says it all, over the top, irrational, strident. Wow.
And the amount of apostrophe abuse is truly heinous.
Folks, not everything that ends in an “s” requires an apostrophe!
My english teachers husband’s business had younger guys bring their parents to work with them, and the parents asked for their child to be paid more! And one girl showed up with her mom for a job interveiw.
It seems most of my generation can’t fend for themselves anymore.
Wow…
If my mother found out that I had been starving thirty horses, she would tell me that I need help and, if I dug myself into this mess, I can dig myself back out of it. She wouldn’t help me at all with any of it, and I wouldn’t expect her to do so, nor would she try to cover my guilty ass. If you can’t, or don’t, want to do the time, don’t do the crime. Duh.
Ah, the “you’re just jealous” line. God, I HATE that with a burning passion. No one is jealous of your daughter; they’re angry that your daughter starved thirty horses and didn’t do a damn thing about it until someone got fed up with seeing the poor horses and called the authorities and now your daughter is trying to cover her guilty ass and you’re helping her go right back into the same hole she’s currently in. Clearly, that individual who reported the horses is such a jealous person. How selfish of them for thinking only of the horses well-being.
And if it’s not there already, I bet you all it’s just a matter of time before Mom says my least favorite phrase: “But her heart was in the right place!”
*** head explodes ***
Judging from the number of comments on Mommy’s defense blog, I don’t think many people are reading it. And one person who left a comment was told to watch out because they’d be next. Whew, makes me glad they’re not my inlaws! Crazy bunch in that family…
Nice. I didn’t even read the comments.
I didn’t bother with the comments either. It was enough trying to figure out her blog!
I think I found the best comment (by “Gods Beloved”): “Don’t expect to get anything either. Someone needs to set up an account to help Tania. It is not cheap to hire an Attorney for Criminal Misdemeanors. The truth is, he gets paid if He wins or loses. She will get put through the court system like cattle. (They just go to the meat market). Horses at least get respect.”
Hmmm… Yes, yes. Please tell me where I can donate to make sure she gets a good lawyer. I’ve been looking for a worthy charity all year for holiday donations!
I mean, how can anyone think that? Not only does she treat horses like a trashy old couch someone left in the yard, but someone thinks she should get donations to fight the charges. Brilliant. Next year I’ll donate to a serial rapist’s appeals fund!
You got me curious… so I went and checked out the comments. There are very few comments on her blog, but the first one is:
Jounra said…
Pictures are worth a thousand words,she always has been and always will be a backyard horse breeder puppy/horse mill.
And the response was:
Gods beloved said…
Jounra, you’d better watch out ’cause you will be next. And you won’t know what hit ya and you won’t have any fans.
Pictures are not Due Process. It is easy to be Misled by a photograph, movie, film, video.
What are the facts!? So far, facts are this person rescues horses, feeds, trains and places or sells them to good homes.
So, of course, it’s “Gods beloved” that has to respond with hatred and threats. Looks like they opened a blog account just for this purpose.
This made me giggle:
“What are the facts!? So far, facts are this person rescues horses, feeds, trains and places or sells them to good homes.”
Um, so far the facts are that her horses had to be rescued, they weren’t being fed, and she was keeping way too many of them. I haven’t seen much evidence for her training anything recently either.
Wow. I’m glad her mommy loves her. At least now we know where she gets it from.
Two things about mommy’s blog jumped out at me… First off, that’s a “fugly” blog. All these blogging spots have templates that are soooo easy to set up. Who the hell can’t make a simple blog??? And yeah, the “everyone’s just jealous” comment. God, get a GRIP.
Also, she commented that maybe another “rescue” is jealous so trying to shut her down! Yeah, because rescues make soooo much money that they don’t want the competition! Baah ha ha. Idiot.
Sorry, but I am wondering if there is any truth to the mother’s claims that the sheriff’s people and other law enorcement people did not return papers taken from MS. Herring in a timely manner. And as for the apparently “strident” tone on her posts– well, I guess you’ve never been a school teacher– parents today get very “strident” and defensive today if their “children” are questioned or corrected in any manner.
I have “children” in quotes because I taught high school seniors, many of whom were 18 or 19 by the time they graduated. Any time there was a question of their having cheated on a test or having acted inappropriately in class so that I had to write them a referral to the office, I faced accusations from parents that I was “targeting” their child.
In the 15 years that I tought school, I NEVER once had a parent admit that their child could ever have done anything “wrong.” I’m not surprised that Herring’s mother would defend her– I saw this behavior all the time– even when kids were involved in activities that bordered on law-breaking. As for the allegations of abuse, etc. I would rather let the courts handle this because I know from personal experience that if you own horses today, you are bound at one time or another to come in for accusations of abuse– even if you ARE innocent– not that I’m saying Ms. Herring is innocent or guilty– that is a matter for the courts.
I have just had a situation arise where I was visited by a sheriff’s deputy because a “passer-by” reported that there was an “abused or neglected” horse down in my pasture. (Interestingly, the pasture is located on a deadend road, so I use the term “passer-by” very loosly.) The horse in question was poor old Barney- an aged Percheron gelding who arrived here about 500 pounds underweight last October. He was supposed to be 18 years old according to the Coggins paper his last owner received from the horse trader she bought him through.
Barney suffered a stroke. He was euthanized by a vet and buried within 15 minutes of his demise. But while waiting for the vet to arrive, Barney was in my pasture, covered with a blanket to keep him warm, etc. and I remained at his side. While he was down, someone apparently called the sheriff to report that I had a neglected horse becasue the horse was down. It turned out that Barney was closer to being 28 yewars old than being the 18 his previous owner thought he was. While here, Barney was seen by my vet three times during the year, and received appropriate care and attention.
Did he look 100% great?– no. Despite all our efforts, he was still about a hundred or so pounds shy of an “ideal” weight. But considering his real age, the condition of his teeth when he first arrived (required two floatings in just this one year- work could not be all done in one sitting), and the severe case of “summer sores” he had under his belly as well as the “rain rot” on his face– and his being about 500 pounds underweight when he arrived, he had improved vastly. When he was euthanized – due to a stroke- which had nothing to do with his previous health/ teeth issues, he was able to eat without any trouble and had a nice pretty shiny hair coat– except for one two-inch scar under his belly where the hair didn’t grow back .
But anyway, just hours after I had dealt with losing him, a deputy arrived to check out the allegation of neglect that some “passer-by” had made. I was immediately questioned about why I had buried him “so fast” etc. etc. I was asked to to allow the deputy to examine the other horses– all without a warrant, mind you. I refused, and was threatened with a warrant for my refusal. I told that deputy to go tell the “concerned citizen” to file a formal complaint, and for him to get a warrant- and I would be glad to comply with my attorney present.
I have nothing to hide, but I’m not going to let my rights as a citizen be trampled on either. I live in a very small town. I am not from here originally, and I reported a possible hate crime at the school where I worked– for which I was terminated almost two years ago. Subsequently, I was unable to find any full-time employment– and I have taken early seni-retirement. I work part-time in a nearby city, and I operate a small wedding carriage service.
I am well aware that there are people in this town who will stoop to any tactic to “get back at me” so I always stand my legal ground. It has now been more than a week– and I haven’t heard a peep from the “authorities” much less seen a warrant. But I have all my documentation ready– and have forewarned my vet– so she is ready, too.
That’s why I just have to wonder about some of the actions that are taken by “authorities” in many of these “abuse cases” that people get so fired up about. I now know from experience that while there are cases of abuse and neglect and cases where well-meaning people get in over their heads, etc. There are also instances where there really isn’t concern about abuse or neglect, but a vendetta against the horse owner that really triggers the complaints. I submit my experience as proof that this does happen.
Now, I’m going to don my flame suit.
Oh, I totally believe they didn’t return her papers in a timely manner. I’m sure that did happen.
But I also believe she had 116 or 117 horses in crappy condition and that the place was a sty. Pictures don’t lie.
Photoshop? The denial is strong in that one…
Are you so sure? Seems to me, this may be something which would be submitted as evidence. Evidence is not normally released until the case has been adjudicated, or the District Attorney allows it’s release. I also noted although she posted the motion to suppress; I did not see whether it was denied or accepted, which means more then likely it was denied.
I knew Tania years ago, she was a dishonest horse trader then, picking up auction horses and reselling them at a profit. She is no rescuer. It is sad the number of people who were stuck with a sick or thin horse bought from Tania who said nothing, until the case went public. She used the same rescue excuse. The Willamette Valley Horse Owners Facebook page recently had a comment she had been seen at the Woodburn and Eugene auctions.
I love mommy’s hit at the rescue, which took in all the horses. It is a non-profit, and the certificate is an accredidation for non profit horse rescues requiring proof of their status, an inspection, and adherence to their standards.
The jail Tania hopefully will be going to also is accredited.
You sound way too defensive to me.
Unfortunately you always get people who will report horse owners, despite the animal being clearly under care. They are the same type of people who remove grazing muzzles because it’s ‘cruel’ to muzzle a horse (yet Laminitis clearly isn’t cruel?).
We had the SSPCA called on us for a badly laminitic pony, she was on a bare paddock attached to a stable, no grass, heavily foundered but mobile. Vet wanted her up and about and able to wander as she saw fit. She had a deep straw bed, water, haynet. She was rugged with a lightweight rug and being given bute twice a day. She also at that point had the vet out DAILY (because he passed by our field on his way to take his child to nursery). And we got reported for animal cruelty. Thankfully, I had been working with the SSPCA as a volunteer and they knew me, and knew of our stupidly expensive laminitic pony (same pony who had never done a day’s work, having foundered the first time at 3 and permanently retired herself). The SSPCA did nothing, they told me a complaint had been made, but informed the person who complained that they were aware of the situation and happy that the animal was being well cared for, and despite looking pooly, would recover. True to their word, the pony did recover, lived another few years before breaking her foot and costing another few grand before we lost her.
But moral of the story – it doesn’t matter how well you look after a horse, concerned citizens always seem to want to complain. I’d be less annoyed with them if it actually looked like the animal wasn’t being cared for. Infact, the horse we lost in 2008 was lying in the field, he looked awful – again, daily vet visits, but thankfully no one reported us. Not that I would worry about reprisals – but I’d have the thought of having to deal with allegations of horse abuse at the same time as losing a horse, and I can’t imagine the suffering it put you through to lose Barney and have that in your face as well. We’ve just been ”lucky” that times when our horses looked bad enough to make do-gooders report them, they were under constant vet treatment, and we had the vet to back us up and explain exactly what was going on with the animal, why it was in that condition and an approx length of time for recovery or death (or more accurately, the point when they’d feel that the animal’s quality of life was too low and the only option was to put them to sleep).
My point has always been that those who are doing nothing wrong have nothing to fear. I’ve seen AC called on people for pure vengeance and AC went away laughing, annoyed at the caller, not the farm.
If your horses look great, you do not have anything to fear from people who think you are blindfolding them because they have fly masks on or are screaming OMG THEY’RE DEAD because they’re lying down, LOL.
Hahaha, yes somebody recently saw me putting a flyveil on my gelding and said “Why have you put that on that horse, is he blind?” I told them no, it’s just to keep flies off. They then said “Can he see out of there? Isn’t it cruel to blindfold him?” They wouldn’t listen to me explaining that looking out from black mesh you can see fine, so I had to take it off him, and let them look through it before they would accept that really, I am actually putting it on him for his sake, not because I am some weirdo who blindfolds horses to torture them!
Trying to read that woman’s blog made my head hurt….wow-just wow!
Just a quick question/comment.
I think its a great idea for the arabian rescue data base. I was looking through the website and there is an ad for stud service.
http://www.arabrescuedatabase.com/rescues/by-state/rhode-island/
Why would they allow a rescue to advertise for stud service on that site? It just seems odd to me.
@Holiday24 – Per the ad, they are trying to rehome the stallion. Because of his age, I can understand not gelding him. But listing him as an active breeding stallion is questionable to me as well. Especially coming from An Arabian rescue site.
It is actually a stallion available to be re-homed, they have advertised it as being a breeding stallion to be re-homed.. The database only tries to help Arabians have better exposure and a better search engine for those looking to rescue or adopt an Arabian in need. The database is not a rescue, simply a website to help the rescues that have Arabian horses available. At this point now that the site has just been started, I have not picked and chose who gets put on the site.. It is the rescue’s responsibility if they choose to adopt out a breeding animal. Thank you to Fugly horse for posting a link to this site. Any exposure for rescue situations and horses available for adoption is a PLUS. Horses need us to help them!
Sincerely,
Arab Rescue Database Owner
That rescue has made me go hmmmm more then once!
If this is the perp who had approx 100 horses in Mill City Oregon only 30 of whom were seized she has been seen at other local auctions recently buying horses and she STILL leases the same (nice though starting to get muddy and fences are starting to disintegrate) place in Mill City (east of Salem/Albany Oregon) – my farrier passes by her place frequently and says that there are too many horses still there in and they aren’t in very good bad shape and getting noticeably worse by the week. Also note that Herring’s lawyer has managed to keep the story pretty much out of the media entirely and that does take some considerable effort as the Albany newspaper isn’t exactly pro-animal abuse. Also assuming we are talking about the same person she has not been kicked off the Mill City farm that she is only a tenant on, which means she (or somebody acting for her) has enough money to pay the rent. If she can afford a place like that — and trust me western Oregon horse facilities are extremely expensive to rent IF you can even FIND one — she has enough to take care of these horses properly. Surprising that no one seems to have turned her in to zoning enforcement for too many horses on too small of acreage, that wouldn’t be much of an effort to shut her down, the county people hat that and can be pretty aggressive about putting a halt to it. ALSO unless she only does gaming, nobody that I know has seen her competing, much less “winning.”
Mommy is doing something else too. It’s called “enabling”.
And to the teacher that has never had a parent admit that their child may have done something wrong, I watched my dog bite my kid and disciplined the child for pulling his tail and not the dog for biting, I’m not that parent. But on the other side of the coin I got suspended for a week in high school because a substitute teacher claimed I told her to f-off and even though there were THIRTY students in the room to witness that that was not the case, I got suspended anyway. It was a great vacation – my parents knew I didn’t do it.
The other issue is that schools now tend to cater to the mean kids and the bullies. My husband was in school, had a kid walk up to him and punch him in the face. So my husband kicked his ass. My husband got expelled but even though the other kid STARTED the fight with zero provocation the principal felt he had “learned his lesson”.
Point is it’s hard sometimes when you don’t see what happened to know whether you should be protecting your offspring or disciplining them. However, 30 starving horses should be self explanatory. I hear DeNial is a great place to live tho. (My parents are the King and Queen so that makes me the Princess…)
I don’t have a problem with her Mother defending her. In fact, I would expect her to defend her daughter. Right or wrong its still her daughter. My kids have done crappy things, nothing on this scale, but I will always stand up for my kids no matter what.
Most of us have seen case after case of murder, abuse, etc where the family is sitting in court for weeks supporting their kid that is guilty as hell.
She may be a bit bat shit in her statements, but don’t think she is horrible for defending her own kid.
Elysian: I would not lose to much sleep over the warrant threat, they would have a hard time bringing any evidence to a judge to get the warrant. I am a little surprised a horse lying in a field for was sounds like a very short time would cause alarm to anyone. If I were you I would demand the records from the Sheriff’s Dept. on who called in the complaint. Open records law. See who might have an agenda against you. Sometimes people refuse to give their name when calling in a complaint, but lots of times they do, so check it out.
I don’t agree… I have six kids (four teenagers) and every one of the teens understands that if they end up in jail for any reason, I would like a phone call to let me know where they are, but don’t expect me to come and get them. If you do the crime, you do the time. And if you are in jail, it is either because you deserve to be there, or you made some really bad decisions and were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Either way, mommy is not running down to bail you out, so maybe you make better decisions next time. The same goes for school/teachers, etc. If you get in trouble, you either deserved it or you were guilty by association. Either way, you need to make better decisions. The only time I have had to go “mama bear” is when my son (in 5th grade – he’s now a sophomore) was being picked on by a teacher who was burned out and bitter and counting the days to her retirement. We spoke with the teacher more than once about issues, tried to resolve the matter, but when my son came home in tears one day, that was it. I pulled him out of her classroom. He has not had any behavioral issues in school before or since that episode.
Would I still love my kids if they did some heinous crime? You bet. Would I be terribly disappointed and heartbroken? Absolutely. Would I support them in a courtroom for some crime they committed and I knew they were guilty? Absolutely not.
And some people would say, “well, you don’t know how you’d react until it happens.” You would be wrong. This has happened to a close member of the family (granted, not one of my kids – but close), and I am heartbroken that he’s in prison. But, I will not support him or argue that he did nothing wrong and people shouldn’t be “mean” and should leave him alone. He did the crime, he’s doing the time and all that that entails.
As just out of teenager-dom, I will say I had more problems than not with high school teachers. I was very thankful for my mother’s help, and the more friends I see go into teaching, the more glad I am for it! School administrations can be pretty screwy, so I think that saying it’s always their fault if they get into trouble at school is pretty harsh.
The jail one though…yeah. I can see that one.
WOW! So if one of your six kids gets in trouble, you would not go to court, you would let them go through whatever happens alone. WOW! No one is saying you have to lie for them. But showing love and support to people you put on this earth who made a bad decision or mistake is not the wrong thing to do.
Support is one thing, enabling and denial is clearly another. Good luck to your kids, they are on their own.
Well, there are two different schools of thought. My mom would have supported me through a lot of things (and did) but BOY if I had ever gotten in trouble with the law, I would have had to sit there in a cell and contemplate my poor behavior. My mother would have seen that as a very effective way of making me unlikely to repeat it.
I understand exactly what she is saying – You love and support your kids. You are there for them, no matter what stupid stuff they do. You can love your kids even when you hate the stuff they do. And when/if they screw up, they MUST suffer the consequences. We must ALL suffer the consequences of the bad decisions we make. If we are not held responsible, what keeps us from doing more stupid stuff? The same for our kids. This is one of the biggest problems with society today – people are not held accountable for their poor decisions and next thing you know, they have 100 horses in their back yard that are being starved to DEATH while their skin rots off and, mommy, who probably defended every stupid thing she did as a child, is still defending her when she has obviously made a huge error in judgement and will not accept responsibility. She screwed up. She needs to put on her big girl panties and accept responsibility for the mess she made.
You post makes me think of the time my now-adult younger brother got pulled over and had had a few beers with his buddies. He wasn’t drunk, but he was no where near the legal drinking age, so the cops brought him to the station.
When my brother called my parents, what I remember happening is basically my parents thanked the Officer for calling so that they didn’t worry about where he was, then told my brother they’d be there to pick him up the next morning. And he got one heck of a riot act when he got home.
In my family, growing up, if you were dumb enough to get yourself into trouble, then you had better figure a way out of it, and quick. And it didn’t matter how much trouble you might have gotten in at school/work etc, you were going to hear about whatever you did from Mom and Dad when you got home.
I guess I’m a bad parent. Unless I, in my head, not my heart or my delusional wonderland, knew that my child was innocent I wouldn’t argue for them. I’d try to help them get out of the mess their in, but if they killed someone or were starving animals that don’t GET to stand up and ask for help I wouldn’t be trying to keep them out of prison either.
Something about accountability…
I had a vet come to my farm to geld my colt this spring – he charged me $180 and it was worth every penny! He was on the way to visit his grandma so he “stopped by”.
Basically, this chick is a HOARDER and her mommy is an enabler and a dip shit. I love my son – he is an only child and the most important person in my life. The only time I ever spanked him was the day he got too rough with the family dog. There is never any excuse to mistreat an animal. If it was him starving animals to death in his back yard, I would turn him in myself. I raised him better and there is no excuse. The good thing is, I raised him better than that, and he would no sooner take in a gold fish he couldn’t care for than a horse.
Mommy needs to pull her head out of her ass and realize she raised her daughter to be a self indulgent and thoughtless moron who starves horses because she can’t say no or realize her own limit.
Can you say “AMEN”!
Amen!!
Are there any updates on the horses?
I know parents that are so overprotective it blows my mind. They do the homework for the kids!! I tell them, if the child doesn’t understand the work, how will the teacher know?
15 yr olds that are treated like they are 5. Everything done for them.
I guess having a self absorbed mother worked out for me. I got to have lots of unsupervised horse time but also had to do all my assignments by myself.
Good thing the Arab Rescue site doesn’t have anyone in California!!! There’s been a few on the local Craigs List. I’ve been firm so far. Not a good time in my life for the commitment.
I used to work for the humane society. It’s REAL easy to tell who is not carrying for their horses ( besides just looking at them ) – just show me the records, the receipts for the feed store, vet, farrier. It should all be there. It should all be there in black and white, as well as the dates that these thin rescue horses came to their house. Was it last week, or last year. Again, it should all be on the records. And, we can always tell who is the most guilty – they are always yelling the loudest. A person who truly doesn’t know how to care for an animal is normally willing to be educated, willing to learn and be helped. The guilty person is yelling nothing is wrong while their animal looks thin, unhealthy, and in mud up to their eyes. We’ve taken animals that were barely alive away from people while the owners ran down the driveway after us screaming that their is nothing wrong with them – their daughter ran it in barrels just last weekend. If anyone would ever turn me in – I would be more than happy to hand them my loooooong list of paid bills and then show them my fat horses. Come on over, take a look for yourselves. I would not have my mother screaming all over the net about how my “heart is in the right place”, even though my horses looked like the walking dead. Talk about people with rose colored glasses.
Well, I guess I’d be in big trouble if it all came down to recordkeeping…I never keep any receipts for anything! My farrier doesn’t give me receipts and I pay in cash, I never keep feed store receipts for anything (wormer, shots, feed, etc.), and I buy all my hay once a year and don’t get a receipt for that either! I usually do keep vet receipts, but I haven’t had any vet bills (knock on wood) for several years now, other than teeth floating which isn’t done by my usual vet. Yep, I’d be screwed if someone wanted to look at my “records”…
Now, if they just look at the horses…well, there’s nothing I have to prove there!
I don’t always have records but you can see the damages on my debit card statement and I bet yours looks the same!
Ditto. I may or may not have the last 10 receipts for farrier care, maybe I paid cash, maybe my farrier let me pay him late. Someone reported me for neglect? Okay. Go look at my horse and THEN tell me he’s neglected. He’s seen the dentist more in the last year than I have.
But I bet your farrier, vet, and hay guy would gladly let the appropriate people know that you do indeed utilize their services
I buy my hay in bulk from the grower and pay cash. I never get a receipt. I also pay my trimmer in cash – no receipt. I give my own shots and, although you would find those charges on a credit card, it would not tell you what they are for. However – my barn is always full of hay, my horses feet are never more than 6 weeks away from a trim (we go barefoot and schedule the next trim before he leaves), water is always full and everyone gets brushed AT LEAST every other day. I may not have records – but it would be obvious to even the least educated that my horses are well cared for.
Ugh, it seems I’m finding myself saying “People are stupid” more and more these days.
You’d think as a psychology student I could figure out the mentality behind these things, but some of them still baffle me.
My god, why, WHY do you need over 100 horses? Even 30 horses is a lot, let alone 30 rescues. If you own over 100 horses, you have a problem, and need help. My coach has 25 – 30 horses at any given time on her property, BUT she has more than enough room in the fields for them all, and about 16 stalls, with a large indoor arena that the “extras” can easily be moved into in an emergency, not to mention at least half of those horses belong to boarders.
People are crazy, really. Anything over 30 is too much unless it’s one of those gigantic, high-class riding academies that can hire a few dozen grooms and trainers and afford all the feed and vet bills.
I just don’t get it. I mean, well, I’d love to have a whole heard of horses, but I know that in all reality, it’s not possible, and likely never will be, for me. I’ll be happy to settle for a nice small farm where I can keep my own horse, and foster one or two from a legitimate rescue that need somewhere to go until they find a home or they’re time comes.
It’s like reading the same book again and again… and you know just how it’s going to end. *sigh* I hope they throw the book at Tania (and her mother too, would be nice, just for making me wade through such a crappy blog) but I’m not holding my breath…
http://36andsingle.blogspot.com/
This is OT but I thought folks here would get a giggle….
http://failblog.org/2010/11/12/epic-fail-photos-peek-a-boo-fail-gif/
OMG!!! Soooo dang funny! I thought she was going to get stepped on, but the actual ‘punishment’ for being such a doof was much more funny!
Looks like someone moved the tail aside and dumped a bucket of crap on her head.
But the difference is that you COULD get receipts or at least proof from your hay supplier, feed store, farrier, and vet if you HAD to. That is the difference. If you never have farrier care, it’s hard to get him to give you a receipt for past work.
When I worked for the humane society we got calls all the time from people driving passed a farm and thinking they saw an animal in distress or they’d think it was a mare foaling. We’d go out and the horse would be a fat old gelding laying down sleeping. One person reported someone for having a horse outside with no food. One quick visit cleared that up, as there was a beautiful run-shed in the pasture with hay and water inside it that could not be seen from the road. However, there are idiot AC people. A friend was turned in for having no shade for her horse in the pasture. AC went out and informed her that she had to build a shelter for her horse. My friend pointed to a large barn in which the horse was free to walk and and out from. Believe it or not, the AC agent told her that wasn’t good enough, she had to build a shelter in the pasture too. So, in other words, the AC agent wanted her to build a shelter BESIDE the shelter she already had. In that case, it was rediculous!
People call AC over no food in the paddock? I’ll be in trouble then. I feed my horses three times per day (when they’re not on pasture in summer), but there is rarely food hanging around after feeding time. My horses eat all their food – maybe once in a while they leave some hay behind because it’s not quite up to their standards…LOL.
BUT my horses are all fat! They get de-wormed, and have fat hay bellies, but they would eat until they explode if I let them! So no, there’s rarely food in the paddock. Lots in the hay shed though!
One quick and easy way to avoid trouble, for anyone who rescues on their own, is to be proactive. Call your local ACO and let them know you took in a starving horse. Invite them out to see the horse, even. It will cut down on the accusations and complaints, I promise!
When I was running a local rescue barn, I called our ACO for every horse that came in, just to let her know the situation. Then when people called about the horse, she was able to explain about the rescue and let the concerned person know that the horse was indeed in good hands. A quick 5 minute phone call saved me tons of aggravation!
Excellent idea Milo!!
As they say, and ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
I live nearby Tania’s neighborhood. I have known of her in the horse world about 12 years. When I was first referred to her by some horse friends she had a good reputation for training ponies, her father had a nice arena and barn and she had pratice sessions for playday events. Then her Dad sold his place and moved to Prineville Oregon. She tried to rent her own place and make it on her own and it has been a downhill slide ever since. Over the years I have purchased/traded several horses with her. She has had some nice horses. She has also had some that she has sold that were not anything close to what she said they were. Rumors fly she puts papers where she wants so you never know if the papers for a particular horse are actually that horses or someone elses. I have been to her place numerous times over the years and her horses are always thin to skinny, if it is winter they are up to their eyeballs in mud.(she always blankets then though) The last horse we bought from her was the skinniest horse I had ever seen. We took him straight to the vet. We bought him because we didnt have the heart to leave him at her place. We kept him long enough to get him fattened up but it turned out he had a splinter in his throat, he had surjury. He is doing well now. She breeds every mare she can and ends up every year with a new crop of babies. Right now even though she isnt sopposed to have horses, she has people around her that will buy and sell for her. She is a foster mother to a young girl that is selling at every horse auction in the area. Awhile back I was looking for a pasture pet for a friend and she answered my ad and offered my a nice blind horse for only $100.00! I know for a fact that people had been calling the police about the her horses for a least 10 years now. She knows how to do the dance so they can’t quite get her. The Sheriff in Linn County know it too, and he is trying really hard to get her this time. She is soppposedly living in Eugene Oregon now, not at the Mill City property but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a connection. She has alot of followers that think she is all that! But there is alot more folks in the area that are horrified by her these days. She was a 4-H leader for a while but I think that has quit too. Nobody that has ever talked to me about her has referred to her as a place to take a horse to be rescued so I doubt her stories on that on. Linn County has a good animal rescue (in fact her horses went to it after they were taken from her) I think that was to try and make herself look good.
I have been to her property in the past as well, and was very disgusted. Pregnant mares knee deep in shit, horses sharing 12X12 stalls, matted, wormy ponies running everywhere… It was filth. I am younger than her, yet I know how to properly care for my animals. How many horses do I have? One. Why? Because I can only afford one. If she has a problem, I have an emergency fund to see that she gets proper care.. Clearly Tania didn’t have ANY money for proper care, and definitely couldn’t afford proper vet care. Its true, she’ll breed anything. An ex friend of mine had a mare with major back end lameness issues, she had been keeping her at Tania’s place. When she went to go see the mare months later she was skin and bones, the 2 blankets she was wearing had worn her withers nearly to the bone, it was appalling. And what did Tania have to say? “She looks fine, this is all the weight she can carry because of her hind legs.” but wait, it gets better. “She also may be bred, if she is the baby is mine.” So why in gods name would you breed something that is apparently so lame it can’t hold normal body weight?! The mare was put down and donated to OSU about a month later so they could research her lameness. I have never been fond of this snake of a woman and good ‘intentions’ doesn’t mean what you’re doing is right… I hope they throw the book at her.
“How many horses do I have? One. Why? Because I can only afford one. If she has a problem, I have an emergency fund to see that she gets proper care.”
Now stop with that logical stuff! You are going to make the BYB’s feel bad!
I must salute you on your “emergency fund”! I have an emergency fund for the household AND my horse. Just a small monthly contribution gives me such peace of mind. Yep, I’ll get my mortgage paid off a bit later, and no, I’m not going to be able to afford a new car anytime soon, but if my furnace breaks down or my horse gets kicked I have a softer landing.
Re overprotective parents: Nearly 20 years ago when the evil team of Karla Homolka & Paul Bernardo raped, tortured & murdered 3 young women here in Ontario, my mother told me quite bluntly, “I love you more than anything in the world, but if ever you were to do something like this, you would be on your own and I would never speak to you again.”
It’s funny, everything that frustrates me about the world always seems to point to a lack of personal responsibility. So lovemybcs, you are my hero.
Thank you.
Same with My Husband and I we are young (24) and pretty broke as far as things go, no human children just the dogs and horse. But we’ve always made sure to put something aside each month to ensure if something were to happen (again: like when our boxer got a foxtail weed between his toes, traveled into his leg and took $600 and 4 surgerys to find it) we could cover most if not all of it. We don’t have the nicest vehicles, or fancy things but we love our little fur-kids and see they get the best lives we can give them. (Considering I’m a dog trainer and groomer- they are pretty spoiled. 
)
Uh, what’s with the comments on the black horse blog about strangles? Strangles is NOT often fatal and does not live in the ground for five years at all! I can understand being angry, but facts are a good thing.
You know, I never thought strangles was a big deal AT ALL. When I was growing up and in my 20s in the midwest, we had it pretty much every year and whoever hadn’t had it before, got it. Shot ‘em up with penicillen twice a day and they were fine in two weeks.
But I will say, there is some extremely weird variant of strangles out here on the West coast that is scarily lethal. It seems to morph easily into bastard strangles or purpura, horses get it who should be mature, high immunity horses, and they do die.
It’s two different things…seriously.
Just saw this comment, and have to seriously disagree. Strangles is a HUGE issue. Not only is it wicked contagious, it’s very hard to get rid of. The bacteria that causes it can live anywhere from 4 to 6 weeks (meaning a MINIMUM of a 6 week isolation period after treatment and after symptoms have subsided). Bastard strangles refers to the movement of abscesses into other areas of the body (abdomen, lungs, etc), and can be fatal. Purpura hemorrhagica occurs during recovery/convalescence from the initial reaction, and can cause life-threatening edema of the entire body.
BOTH of these possibly fatal consequences of strangles arise from COMMON STRANGLES, not from any “extremely weird variant on the west coast.”
Antibiotics are also only given in the very beginning stages of a strangles outbreak. If the virus becomes at all advanced, supportive care until the abscesses rupture is the only route to go.
As always, vaccinations are the best route. They may not 100% protect against a horse getting the virus, but in every case, the horse will have a MUCH lessened reaction.
Sorry, needed to get that off my chest. Strangles, no matter where you are, is a very very very serious disease. In some states, it is even considered a reportable disease. Yes, like Rabies. That is how dangerous it is considered to be.
So please explain why I NEVER saw a horse die or even come close, and I saw DOZENS of cases of strangles 20 years ago?
Is it because we shot them up with so much penicillen back then (which now the vets tell you not to do?)
I really am curious why it is such a big deal now and we used to think of it as a pain in the ass but not anything life-threatening years ago. The first time I heard of a horse dying of strangles was in 2006 when everything coming out of CBER/Chuck’s kill pen had it, and multiple horses did die.
Strangles isn’t usually fatal to a healthy horse, but can be a huge issue for foals and pregger mares. It is a big deal because it is highly contagious, stables get quarantined in the event of an outbreak.
I think the odd west coast variant that you mentioned is Dryland Distemper (while strangles is Distemper). It is actually caused by Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis while Strangles is caused by streptococcus equi. Main difference is that Strangles can be passed by horses shedding the bacteria and Dryland Distemper is passed by flies.
FYI peeps: Pigeon Fever/Dryland Distemper is moving east… It has been reported in Colorado.
That makes perfect sense – thanks!
Also makes sense why I hadn’t seen it be a big problem before. There are no preggo mares/foals at polo clubs.
Strangles is a reportable disease in Australia.
It is also taken VERY seriously around here.
I never actually experienced it myself though, so I can’t say anything bout the rest.
Strangles is not caused by a virus and viruses have no response to antibiotics. It’s caused by a kind of streptococcus bacteria.
If I had to guess, I’m thinking the difference in dangerousness of the kind Fugly used to see and the kind today is mostly due to strep bacteria becoming much more sophisticated and immune to penicillin. Strep in general is crazy stuff – in people, a little strep throat is most likely not going to kill you, unless it does. Which it does sometimes.
Huh. Must be a 20s Midwest opinion then
Honestly though, I did not know that. Strange.
Either way, I went through finding out my mare was a silent carrier, and it does NOT stay in the ground for 5 years. If a barn continues to get outbreaks of strangles for years, it’s because one of the horses is silently shedding the bacteria. Nasty, unpleasant stuff, either way.
THANK YOU for you comment about the cost of the vet!! I can’t stand hearing people complain about the cost of veterinary services &/or medical services! I’ll be $150K + in debt by the time I finish vet school, not to mention all the blood, sweat, tears and sleep I will have lost just to get a piece of paper and three letters after my name.
Lets see Tania’s mom get off her blog, stop defending her useless daughter and try to get into & through vet school and see if she doesn’t feel she deserves compensation for her time, knowledge and expenses!!
Not to mention vets have to pay for malpractice insurance that could, excuse the pun, choke a horse.
I don’t like high vet bills any more than anyone else does, but bitching about $100 is RIDICULOUS. I start whining around the $500 mark and even then I’m not really whining at the VET, I’m whining at life, LOL.
I think $100 for a farm call is very reasonable with the high cost of fuel. Vets are getting squeezed just like everyone else in this economy- the prices of things keep climbing, but salaries and wages don’t- and then there is the high unemployment rate on top of that. We’re being told that we are in the worst recession since the great depression, but pharmacutical companies, feed companies, oil companies, etc. keep charging higher and higher prices– not that the farmer is getting any of that.
I recently had to take a horse to the vet for an emergency visit. The visit, including the exam (after a frantic call saying I was on my way, but two hours out, please wait for me!), a course of antibiotics, and some extra stuff to have on hand, was $220. This was also not a small town vet in the middle of nowhere, this was SE Portland. I don’t consider that outrageous or expensive. A good vet is worth the cost.
Growing up, we had 25 horses on 350 acres and we were taught responsibility and the consequences of not being responsible. For example, if we left the tack room a mess, we had to clean every single piece of tack we owned whether it needed it or not…and we had to do it RIGHT. Meaning, the silver was removed and polished by hand, the leather was shampooed and mink oiled until it looked brand new, we had to scrub bits, replace missing D-rings, and so on and so forth. Or if the wheel barrels, tools, and mucking forks weren’t put away in their proper place, we weren’t allowed to use them. It only takes mucking out a stall by hand ONCE to get the point across. LOL
I did showing when I was younger, but I had to EARN the right and the ability to do it. I earned every penny that paid for my show tack, fees, and training by doing extra choirs, helping my trainer, doing well in school, etc. Not only did this give me an excellent work ethic, but it gave me a sense of pride because -I- worked my butt off for the things I wanted. That has stuck with me into adulthood, and it’s something that I’m definitely teaching to my kid when he/she is born (We’re hoping for a little cowboy! We find out in December!)
My point is this: My mother would have whooped my monkey ass for treating those horses like that and acting like such a pathetic, irresponsible twit. Not only would she have ripped me a new one, she would have made sure that the only horse I’d ever own after that is a Breyer. AND I WOULD DESERVE IT. Horses were and are a part of our family, and they deserve to be treated as such. I would rather eat ramen for the rest of my life than allow my horses to go without the things they need. I feel guilty when I run out of carrots to give them, for the love of God!
And on a rather off-topic note, does anyone know of any reputable rescues in the Atchison, KS area (meaning within 100 miles of it)? My husband and I are looking for a new family member to add to our little herd on top of doing some volunteer work.
ot…. but omg feed my horses for the winter!!
http://classifieds.castanet.net/showproduct.php/product/847646/cat/14
A dressage mule. She has other videos, and they are really good. I bet this took a long time, and a lot of careful work to do:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcsuPjb6m-Y
Oh Fugly -I agree that there are WAY too many horses there– but ya know- they didn’t all get there overnight. What I’m saying is that in lots of these small burgs – law enforcement often isn’t squeaky clean either- one could ask why it took so long for the “authorities” to look into the Herring situation to begin with — and maybe they came down so heavy ’cause they know they shouldn’t have let things get this bad for the horses in the first place. Personally I can’t imagine more than 100 horses on just 13 acres. And again, this didn’t happen overnight- surely something could or should have been done BEFORE there were this many horses on THAT small a place.
But it just pisses me off the way the “authorities” trample all over people’s rights ONCE they do decide to do something. Recent cases in point- the whole debacle of the Murder Hollow Bassett Hound Pack, and the situation the Cape May Carriage operator found herself in recently. An AC officer came on her place without a warrant — she allowed him because she had nothing to hide and wanted to cooperate. The AC took a bottle of fly spray without her permission, and then tried to cite her for something like 27 counts of animal cruelty because the spray she was using was no longer approved in her state- but it had been when she bought it in bulk. (State law DOES provide she can use up what she had bought.) Turns out that AC didn’t even have jurisdiction in the matter anyway– the state agriculture department is the agency with jurisdiction in this matter. Meanwhile, her reputation is trashed, and she has had the expense of having to hire a lawyer to protect her rights and interests. Whole thing was apparently instigated by a disgruntled former employee. You can read about these two cases, and several others on the COTH forums.
As for my situation, well you’ll just have to wait for my book to come out– can’t write or publish about what happened at my former place of employment for 18 more months as part of the out-of-court settlement my former employer agreed to to keep the details out of open court where EVERYONE could find out about what went on. But I can mention the bags of garbage thrown in my yard, the noose left on my feed bags in my carport, the egging of my home, the dozens of threatening phone calls (threatening not only me but my horses and dogs), the harrassing behavior of juveniles passing in front of my home– and just this last Saturday night- the vandalized horse & carriage sign that had “Leave Bitch” scrawled across it with red marker. (For good measure, they also apparently put a “For Sale” sign in the front yard of the only African-American family on our street and the knocked down or stole at least two stop signs.)
All this “mess” has been going on since May 2009, although there was the dead kitten, oppossum and armadillo left in my driveway (Nov 2008) AND the traffic cones, puzzle pieces and dog doo in condoms thrown in my yard (Feb. 2009) as well.
Oh yeah, I forgot, local law enforcement hasn’t been able to come with any leads as to who could possibly be behind all the aforementioned– but they followed up damn quick when a “passer-by” reported possible animal neglect on my part. (A friend and I were in attendance the entire time we were waiting for the vet, and the horse was blanketed- this was not just some animal down alone in a pasture.) Yeah- it seems that part was left out by the “concerned citizen” who made the call. It’s been more than a week now, and no one has returned with any kind of warrants or “official papers.” AND one of the parish officials just called to hire my carriage for use in the Christmas parade– so who knows what will happen next.
So as I posted before, I prefer to just wait for the court process when I read about these abuse and neglect cases– although I think the legal system isn’t all what it is cracked up to be either, especially if you don’t have money to burn or if you do – several recent cases make that perfectly clear as well. And yeah- I’d move — not just from here, but out of this country, if I could afford to, but I can’t– this place is bought and paid for, and my settlement check would not buy another comparable property elsewhere.
I read this blog mainly for the interesting information it contains– like dancing horses (never heard of that before), Rolkur (SP?) – didn’t know about that either, and the “sport” of horse tripping- that one had gotten past me too. I also like the upbeat stories of horses who get rescued, and go on to have good lives- though these seem few and far between.
What’s with this “emasculator” her mom goes on about in one post?
Is it legal to cut off your horse’s balls yourself? Is it so easy you can turn it into a DIY-Thing?!
I mean, OMG I would totally get one and run around gelding people’s fugly stallions by night like an anti-fugawalkaloosa-superhero if it is really that easy.
How the hell does it work?! Somebody please enlighten me
There is a tool you can do it with. This being 2010, MOST people use a vet so that the poor horse doesn’t have to feel the entire process in excruciating detail!
Here’s a link to an emasculator: http://www.premier1supplies.com/detail.php?prod_id=70&cat_id=13
An emasculator is really useful as it has a dual purpose. It has a cutting blade (that is REALLY sharp, trust me!) and has a crushing section. This makes it nice because you don’t have to fool around with two instruments to cut the testicle off and then stop the bleeding. Emasculators can also have a locking mechanism (the expensive ones do), so you don’t have to apply manual pressure until the bleeding stops, you can just lock it and prepare for the next thing you have to do.
Now the thing about castration is you CAN do it yourself, but you SHOULDN’T do it by yourself. Stallions are usually tranquilized with an anesthetic and muscle relaxer and there is usually a local anesthetic applied to the scrotum. All of these chemicals are illegal to have in your possession unless you have a pharmaceutical license. To do the procedure without these chemicals is cruel, as you will be cutting into the scrotal skin and cutting into the spermatic chord to sever the testicles.
I’ve never been too sure humans are good judges of what’s most pleasant for an animal. Currently it seems the thing to do is to lay the horse out and castrate while unconscious, which seems a lot more unpleasant for the animal than the older way of a local anesthetic shot, which I’ve seen done and apart from walking a little “wide” for about 24 hours, I’m not sure the horse noticed at any time that anything was different. My husband’s mom, who grew up in hardcore farm country, has seen it done without even local, probably using an instrument like you describe, and she says the horse barely stopped eating hay during the procedure.
A good question to my mind would be, if she has this thing, why are all these mares she can’t afford pregnant?
I found a document that describes the castration of calves and according to it, you can use an emasculator (if you know how, obviously) up until they are 6 months old without any trouble. They also describe using it to crush the cords only, which means there is no open wound (which means flies are not a problem) and the testes are simply reabsorbed.
I always thought the testicles hat to descend first, but maybe that’s only horses?
I still think it’s kinda cool, especially if the horse really barely stops eating hay like someone said…
Imagine the possibilities… Noone would ever know it was you and imagine the number of fuglies you could stop being born….
I guess I’m too squeamish to use it myself, but in itself it doesn’t sound too bad, especially if you could just crush the cords. Sure, stuff can go wrong, you don’t get the tube properly and the horse might retain the testicle, but if it DID work, nobody would even know, the scrotum stays perfectly intact and chances are, if you DO get the cord good, there won’t be any babies out of that horse. Ever ^^
OMIGOD!!!
You CANNOT I repeat CANNOT, MUST NOT, geld or attempt to geld a horse with a cattle emasculator.
Are you CRAZY????
In the calf the testicles hang way down and anyway, a calf is not going to live that long, it does not matter so much if it does not completely work.
Believe me, you use and emasculator when you have cut open the scrotum and pulled out the testicle, having humanely anaesthetised the horse first (which will prevent it’s guts falling out on the floor and killing it, btw, if it has a hernia. ) NOT instead of doing this!
If you use a cattle emasculator on a horse, in the same way you castrate a calf, you will get and animal that is “proud cut”, which, in fact, is tantamount to a rig, an animal that thinks it is a stallion. Leave even half an inch too much cord in a horse and you have a problem.
Honestly, this is why you need laws preventing people form practising medicine without a license!
Anaesthetising a horse is by far the most humane way to go, if you just stopped anthropomorphising for a moment, and thought about the horse, you would see that this is right.
Yes, yes I understand and realise all that.
Like I said, there is no way I could actually do it myself anyways (as I am much too squeamish).
Plus, I am not the one who had one lying around on a horse breeding farm, that was Tania and her Mum…
My vet has a $40 farm call. Guess I’m doing pretty good if other’s think a $100 farm call is low priced! LOL! She also will work with me (and other clients that have proven their trustworthiness) with a payment plan if I have an emergency call that soars. I had a $375 emergency call back in 2005 when my aged, healthy, cast-iron constitution Mustang mare suddenly and severely coliced. Didn’t overeat anything, didn’t get into anything, was drinking well, etc….nothing amiss that we could find….just a sudden and horrible bout of thrashing, painful colic. After several long, medication-filled agonizing hours she was euthanized after many options being tried, failed and tried again. Without surgery or a post-mortem (sp?) we will never actually know what happened for sure, but my vet suggested that it could have been cancerous palliops (sp?) that had grown in and around her intestines, finally cutting them off. Afterwards, she left quietly the dark of early morning with a hug and sympathetic words. Knowing I didn’t have the funds all at once, a week later, a bill arrived in the mail with a payment plan set into it.
Not off topic, but off species.
~~~~~~~~~~~
More Than 900 Pigs Found Dead on Pennsylvania Farm
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: November 16, 2010
WARFORDSBURG, Pa. (AP) — Police are investigating the deaths of more than 900 pigs inside a barn at an abandoned southcentral Pennsylvania farm.
State Police Lt. Gregory Bacher says authorities are examining the deaths of 925 pigs found Nov. 8 in a warehouse-style barn in Warfordsburg.
Bacher tells The Philadelphia Inquirer that autopsies are being conducted on some of the carcasses after they were found in various states of decay. He says he’s never seen an apparent act of cruelty like this in his career.
Authorities say the farm’s owner left the property in August. The animals appear to have been dead for several months.
~~~~~~~~~
Wonder what this scum’s excuse will be? I can’t imagine the suffering these poor animals endured.
Wow. Just wow.
http://www.kshai1715.wordpress.com
A Barrel Horse Learns to Jump
Years ago Michael Alig’s mom came to me for work. This was before his trial. (Remember the club kid in NY who chopped up his drug dealer after leaving him in the bathtub on ice for a week of “Party Monster” fame) The mom was like, “He couldn’t help it! He was high!!” She was serious. She was also a nut job. Some mothers will literally defend ANYTHING their little darlings do.
You know what, we ALL know that drugs CAN and WILL make you do crazy shit.
And it’s our decision whether or not to use. So once you made the CHOICE to use, I have no sympathy for you.
It’s very easy not to become a drug addict. DON’T EVER TRY IT. My mom rammed that through my skull early and you know what, she was right. Not trying anything works 100% of the time.
I think jr. high kids should be tied to chairs and have to watch Intervention. Let them see people puking and scratching their skin ’til it bleeds and dumpster diving for dinner. That’s what they need to see.
I agree Fugly. I DO have my high schoolers watch Intervention, even though it’s very hard for ME to stomach it sometimes. The little kids hurt by their parent’s drug abuse always get to me. Those poor children…
It just makes me sick. But, I figure that’s exactly what my kids need to see…how the abusers actions impact the entire family, even though the abuser usually can’t see that. They usually think it’s just all about them and it’s not hurting anyone else, so why should anyone else care what they do. A very hard, very good show for high schoolers. Especially in high schools where drugs are prevalent (are there any high schools anymore where drugs aren’t?).
OH.MY.GOD.
Slightly OT from disgusting animal abuser/loser Tania, but look at this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2laZJbLnfeo&feature=player_embedded
Poor little guy. One little buck that unseats his rider, and she beats him with a crop, several times???? Really, the buck wasn’t horrible, anyone with any experience could sit it. Someone ought to flog her with the same crop that she’s using on the poor pony.
Well good greif by the time she gets the whip and goes after him he has done forgot what happened. Geesh timing play s a HUGE role in disiplining the subject. And whipping him is not going to solve the problem either. He acts like he is having some sort of trouble with a person riding him physicaly not just mentaly (he doesnt reach out in front when moving likehe might have something going on in his back) Doesnt help matters that he is short strided . He is a unhappy boy thats for sure.
Wow, the best part is the grin on her face as she goes for the crop. She’s not hurt, she’s not frightened, she just gets off on abuse. This probably says something equally bad about my upbringing, but if I had done something like that at that age, my father would have broken that crop on me.
Yeah, that kid is NOT RIGHT.
As usual…the parents are where? The trainer, if any, is where? The barn manager is where?
I LOL’d at the $100 vet bill thing, our vet is £75 to call out on a normal call (so, $150?) and that’s just to say hello to them, without a horse being involved!
Who the hell needs over 100 equines? I cared for 11 horses on my own every weekend for another person and it was a job and a half I cant imagine caring for over 100 animals. Thats alot of shit, alot of mouths to feed, alot of grooming time, alot of ferrier work, deworming, vaccinations and so forth and so on. No individidual could ever possibly do that amount of work on a daily basis by themselves. I worked on a TB breeding facility that had 61 horses on the property and there were 6 stable hands 2 per barn of 3 barns with 20 stalls each (one barn could hold 21 but only had 20). All of the mares were groomed daily (curry, brushed, feet picked minor wounds treated…….), Ferrier care when needed, Vet visits often being a breeding facility and all, even the mares on 24/7 turn out pasture (good pasture not crap)during the Summer got groomed and checked on 3 times a day and fed. Not to mention all of the other stuff that goes with care of horses. BUSY place with plenty of work and yes TONS of crap daily. But the mares looked good, were healthy, and thier foals when born were also handled daily and groomed right along with mom and crusty butts cleaned daily durning that time when babies get the Hersheys (used to be called foal heat diarhea). No sense in animals being neglected and treated with diresepct and if you cant afford to hire some ppl to care for them and you cant do it yourself then GET RID OF THEM to ppl who can. Sounds like this Herring girl’s mother needs a good kick in the head, stupid enabling dip shit. Pll like this make me sick. GRRrrrrrrrrrrrrr………..
so, uh. my only question, aside from the obvious WTF, is — if she’s so innocent, why does mommy dearest feel the NEED to go and make up a site with all these supposed “facts” ?
bunch of ignorant, undeserving assfucks, i tell you.
She is complaining that the vet costs $100 for a call out? ARE YOU SERIOUS?? My horse bruised the sole of his hoof recently on a rock (frolicking in the paddock with his buddies!) and I called the vet for an immediate call out. It was an after hours emergency (even though a bruised sole is hardly life-threatening, I believe in responding quickly to injuries regardless), and he gave my boy a shot of anti-inflammatories and painkillers, and 14 sachets of bute. How much did 1 call out, 1 needle and a bit of bute cost me? $350, that’s how much. If you can’t afford vet fees, then you shouldn’t have horses!
I have one real horse because thats all I can afford (in both time and money) and I have 4 howrses lol, and even that was too many so I’m selling 2 of them!
On another semi off-topic, my mare just (as in half an hour ago) got her teeth floated for the first time! First time under sedative too, and I did the horrible mommy thing and video recorded her in her stall afterwards and posted it on my FB. I was giggling more than I did when I watched the youtube video of the little boy after the dentist lol.
Oh, and the whole shebang was $210… that was the farm call split between 2 horses, 1 shot of sedative, power float, and in depth fecal analysis. The sedative was $60 and the poo sample was $45, and i dont know what our farm call is or the floating itself