I have a better idea: Let’s shoot HIM
Jan 22 2011
One of my readers posted this link. Warning, dead horse pic at link:
450 Horses Starving to Death in Montana
James Leachman is blaming the farm managers. “He said Friday evening that he expects to be vindicated. He said Turk Stovall, who is managing the Home Place Ranch with his wife, Jenny, has been interfering with the horses…Leachman said the Stovalls are jealous of his skills with genetics and for years have been out to get his ranch and his Crow tribal leases.”
It’s like a broken record. They’re JEALOUS because I’m SUCH AN AMAZING HORSE BREEDER. They’re making it all up to get my horses!
I know you will all be shocked to see that he doesn’t have these SUPER VALUABLE horses papered. Read this Complaints Board. See, AQHA, THIS is your problem. This is the kind of person you NEED to kick out – permanently.
Oh, and Leachman flatly denies his horses are being neglected.
At this point, the police have decided to deal with it by shooting the horses who seem to be in the worst shape. “On Jan. 15, Peila, along with a deputy county attorney, two sheriff’s deputies and a Montana Department of Livestock manager, returned to the ranch with legal authority to deal with the worst of the horses. The vet had Yellowstone County Sheriff Lt. Kent O’Donnell mercy shoot an old bay mare that Peila called a “sack of bones.” The mare lies in a prairie dog town in the Fighter pasture, but the body hadn’t been touched yet — the coyotes, cougars and magpies were apparently spooked off by the hum of the high-voltage power lines overhead.
O’Donnell also shot a mare that had been walking on her ankle bone for a year or more after apparently breaking her leg as a baby.”
And of course, Dickweed thinks his horses are worth SO MUCH MONEY…even though they’re in Three Strikes Ranch condition. He was supposed to sell them off last year, when his ranch got foreclosed, but he wouldn’t. “After telling a bankruptcy judge last winter that he had no income after the collapse of the Leachman Cattle Co., and a price collapse in the horse markets, Leachman said he would hold his annual fall Hairpin Cavvy sale.
That didn’t happen.
“I planned on having a sale this fall, I just couldn’t have it. Sure, I could have it if I wanted to sell my horses for 200 bucks,” he said in December.”
I don’t care what you WANT. You lost your right to a vote when they started starving, you miserable piece of shit! And $200 is wishful thinking given their condition.
Four hundred and fifty horses. How many do you suppose have papers, or have ever been handled at all? Uh-huh. I’m sorry, at this point, Lt. O’Donnell, you need to shoot Mr. Leachman and make it look like an accident. THAT would be a constructive way of dealing with this situation!
I’m sorry. I believe in personal freedom about 95% of the time. But I want you to have to submit proof of financial responsibility if you want to own more than 50 horses. I don’t see any way that we can continue to clean up these large-scale train wrecks. Who can afford it?
Don’t want your business nosed into? Keep your numbers down. Simple.
If you’re near Nevada and looking for something cute with spots, check out Lobo at Shiloh Horse Rescue. He is just coming four and they have started him under saddle after rescuing him from the kill pen last year and gelding him (hooray!) As you can see, he is quiet and doing very well. I’m sure he was bred by some Krazy Kolor breeder who thought he was going to be worth money because of the spots (Shiloh saved him for $260, so that’s what spotted young stallions are worth at auction, even chunky ones). Now he is well on his way to a future and a loving home. Contact Shiloh for more info!
219 comments to “I have a better idea: Let’s shoot HIM”
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I can’t even wrap my head around this one.
I’ve been following this blog for quite a while now, and I’ve seen the posts about horrible neglect to 1 or 2 or even 10 horses. There was a case of neglect to about 15 horses from a “high quality trainer” (sarcasm noted, please) that was letting her horses starve and still hoping to get $8,000 + for them.
I’ve read about your posts with 100 or 150 horses being neglect.
BUT FOUR HUNDRED AND FIFTY HORSES???????
How can ANYONE possibly think they could manage that number of horses????? And in order to make them sale-able for anything more than $20 each, they need to be handled, haltered, trained to at least be touchable, and maybe even broke to ride…
After reading all the stuff about this guy, I’m betting there is no way not even 1 of those horses can be haltered.
Those poor horses. Walking around on an exposed bone for over a year. Who knows what else.
This is beyond cruelty. It’s not even irresponsibility. There are no words to quantify what this guy was doing.
Awful.
http://www.kshai1715.wordpress.com
A Barrel Horse Learns to Jump
His quotes show how arrogant he is. He doesn’t think he did ANYTHING wrong. He thinks he’s some kind of master breeding expert. What a douchebag.
Douchebag does NOT cover it.
Colostomy bag is more like it! That ass wipe ought to be required to go out and walk the property (on foot, with no food or water) and put down any horse that requires it. Or I dunno FEED them so they don’t have to be shot! *head desk* *head desk* *head desk*
That was petty much what was on my mind too..
I’m with you FUGS, let’s shoot the son of a bitch! Hell I’ll even volunteer for it
I’m in. I’d fly from Canada for it. Total firing squad!!!
5 animals is only 1% of 450 animals. Mr. Leachman is a rancher, not some hobby horseman or wannabe. He ranches as eastern Montana allows. When you have live stock you have dead stock, it happens – it is part of the life on the range. You may have a hard time understanding 450 horses just as I have a hard time understanding your city life.
The pictures of multiple horses does not get in close enough to show the condition of the horses, I guess there may be a reason for it. That is open range country, cattle and horses run the range year round, some years it works out better than others. It is the way it is out here.
You should call Mr. Leachman to see what you can do to help. His phone number is listed, if you want to help, call him and offer some assistance.
Um… what? Are you confusing horses with cattle? Unless Mr. Leachman is breeding his horses for the meat market, why would he have 450? I doubt even the big producers who have those ‘buy a colt’ sales have that many. And they sell them cheap, which Mr. Leachman clearly disdains. I am a city dweller but I could picture 450 head of cattle. Horses, absolutely not!
No confusion here, horses and cows are livestock, raised as livestock. On the range. This problem is much farther reaching than you would like to think. No one attacked Mr. Leachman when he was on the top of the game and his horses were in good condition but when troubled times come, you are fast to burn him. Glad you did not live in the time of the witch hunts – you would have burned them all!
OK, this made me angry enough to reply without reading all the comments, so I’m not sure if anyone has shot this line of reasoning down yet:
“5 animals is only 1% of 450 animals. Mr. Leachman is a rancher, not some hobby horseman or wannabe. He ranches as eastern Montana allows. When you have live stock you have dead stock, it happens – it is part of the life on the range. You may have a hard time understanding 450 horses just as I have a hard time understanding your city life.”
Please. It’s not the “loss” of livestock that’s the problem here. The most caring, experienced, responsible horse owners in the world lose horses. The problem here is the REASON for that loss. Livestock becomes dead stock pretty quickly if you fail to look after it appropriately, which is something a rancher should know even better than a “hobby horseman or wannabe”. Had he lost 100% of his horses because strangles rampaged through half the herd, and he had made a swift decision to have them all humanely put down because he couldn’t treat and look after that many horses, this wouldn’t be a story about animal neglect. We’d be talking about how sad it all was, and how tough it must have been to have to make that decision, but respect to him for not letting the horses suffer and stopping the disease from spreading outside of his herd… and we’d take the opportunity to point out that this was a good reason to not keep that many horses in the first place.
As it is, we’re talking about some fetid sack of shit who doesn’t give a rat’s arse about the suffering he is putting his horses through by simply ignoring them, and would rather see them die miserably than sell them for a small amount of money. Or maybe the believes his unhandled, wormy, randomly-bred horses that have gone without hoofcare all their lives will increase in value if they’re just thin and lame enough. Bastard.
I have to agree with catwhisperer here Ladoux. I have lived on a ranch, worked on a ranch, have friends who ranch and the losses should never be due to neglect. It cuts into the profit margin, which is marginal in the first place in any agricultural endeavor.
Oh, for fuck’s sake. This is the same kind of blameless “just the way it is” folksy bullshit you, and every other Real American Cowboy ™ pulls out of your ass to explain why you choose not to take responsibility for the welfare of your animals. File their demise under Act of God, bad winter, or some other complete horseshit some measure of planning and intervention could have avoided.
This jackass MADE those horses, and he’s responsible for them, no matter the economy, the winter, the heat, the drought – what have you. He fucking made them, hundreds and hundreds of them, under the delusion 1.) it’s his right to create them and let them suffer, and 2.) the world needs more perfectly mediocre horses. Lots more. Gobs more.
Lemme guess, us city folk horse owners can’t wrap our head around “rancher’s mentality”? Believe me, I have, and it fucking sucks. What you people think is a “lifestyle,” reasonable people attribute to Malevolent Narcissism. It’s cruel abusive, inexcusable, and is completely detached from reality. And you can take that independence you yap about, and shove it straight up your ass with barbed wire, because leaving other people to clean up a mess of this magnitude cuts the legs right out from under being “independent.”
This blog is full of the most hateful, foul mouthed people that have ever assembled into one place. I suspect that most of you are women and hateful ones at that. Someday when you get over yourself and would like to enter the human race, let us know.
We hate people who cause needless pain and suffering to animals…and we’re proud of that!
BTW I think you should try to live on snow as your only form of liquid intake for a week or so. Let me know how that goes, douchebag!
Oh and “Someday when you get over yourself and would like to enter the human race, let us know.“??? Let WHO know? The men? So you men will allow us in the human race if we “get over ourselves”?
How sweet of you to let us know what it takes for you to allow us into the human race.
Awww… poor baby is feeling attacked. We’re sorry.
And why is it ok for men to swear and not women? Why the double-standard?
I guess us little women should just shut up, quit all the book learnin’ and stay barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen where we belong, huh?
What, exactly, is wrong with being a woman?
You misspelled your name. It should be Le Douche.
Alliecat04 FOR THE WIN!
I wonder if Ledoux is Mr Leachman. You don’t seem to have a response to the fact that the the horses’ suffering and deaths were the fault of the “rancher.” Just some slams against foul mouthed women. Is all that is wrong in the world because we weak, stupid women are allowed to speak? I bet you wish our husbands would “get us under control.”
First, I would like to say that I am a woman, and I wish some of your husbands would get you under control.
There is absolutely no reason to be name calling, or slinging nasty terms. Unless you’ve been there, or have the means to provide for these horses yourselves, I figure at best you should bite your tongue.
According to laws, neither party (Mr. Leachman and the Sutton family) were allowed to take measures into their hands. Mr. Leachman is not allowed on the property, and Mr. Sutton is not allowed to feed the animals.
What it would take to solve the problem is that Mr. Sutton and Mr. Leachman would have to get together with authorities to gather the horses in a manner satisfactory to both parties, then have them transported to another location.
Do you honestly think that a cattleman who raises prized ranching Horses would be able to sleep at night knowing he was deliberately starving his precious stock? The very thing he has to provide for himself? The biggest investment he has? Let it suffer to the point of death on PURPOSE? I don’t.
Yes, it sucks he hasn’t been able to afford them as of late. With foreclosure, your house’s locks are changed, and you are banned from the property. You are not allowed, by any measure to be at the property. How do you expect him to get them? If Mr. Sutton volunteered or paid to have them all gathered up, where do you expect Mr. Leachman to put them? Sell them, you say. Who do you expect to buy them? Killer buyers? That’s who would be interested with the condition they’re in.
In my opinion, I first believe we should be supporting our fellow rancher, understanding that when it comes to foreclosure, bankruptcy is usually associated. When it comes to choosing to feed yourself and family versus making a house payment… Which would we naturally choose? Food. And if it were you in Mr. Leachman’s shoes, and the 450 horses were yours, your human-ness would settle in, and you’d be tempted to take advantage of the fact your own horses have a place to stay, for the time being, and trust that the new owners would leave them with access to water out of compassion for the animals. If you bought a fenced property with brumbies on it, you would be responsible for their welfare! Even if they had previously belonged to the former owners!
Secondly, where would Mr. Leachman’s statement about the Sutton’s being jealous come from if it weren’t true? Where would a statement like that get him if it weren’t true, besides more eye-rolling and snide remarks?
Let’s assume for a minute that Mr. Leachman is sensible, that he just can’t afford to buy his property back. Wouldn’t it be reasonable to believe that if enough money were raised to buy the property back that Mr. Leachman would make every effort to repair what he has, in essence, broken?
Having lived west of Sidney, myself, on a 35 section property, I know firsthand the jealousy between neighboring ranches, and can see this being very true. And honestly, the best horses we have ever had have been no-name, non-registered horses, so whether or not his horses are registered has little affect on how much his horses are valued at. A horse is worth whatever a person is willing to pay for it.
So I say we all gather collectively to adopt the healthier of the herd, or foster them, at least until Mr. Leachman can prove he can provide for these amazing, deserving animals.
When you sell or otherwise lose ownership of a property, you are expected to MOVE YOUR SHIT OUT.
In this case, that included a ridiculous number of horses. It was Mr. Leachman’s responsibility to MOVE the horses to where he COULD feed them. And get them the hell off of property WHICH WAS NO LONGER HIS.
What part of this common-sense answer do you find offensive?
I would rather be a “foul mouthed” woman than a crap bagged douche like yourself. REAL men care for thier livestock/animals, real men take responsibility for thier actions, real men stand up for what is right, real men take care of bussiness, you, loser assed, pig nosed, cock sucking (oooo I cursed) blown up, fly food, peice of dog shit are no where near a man. No matter how high you try to hitch your pants up you’re still just a speck of nothingness under my shoe.
Just because it’s normal there doesn’t make it right, sorry. It’s normal here to let your dogs run loose in packs with zero training, free to terrorize neighbors, get run over, and get shot by aforementioned terrified neighbors.
As to his being a “rancher” — What good is a feral horse? Unlike cattle, horses have no value unless they are trained extensively or exceptionally well-bred. Leachman’s breeding operations are not up to par with the horse world’s standards, no matter what he says, and he makes no claim to having worked most of the horses at all. He’s no rancher – I’m pretty sure ranchers actually use and train their horses. He is in fact more of a wannabe than most of the people here, thinking that a chunk of land and a lot of animals make him a “rancher!”
To Ledoux – You say that it’s just the way it is ‘out there’. What the hell is Mr Leachman ranching? He admitted to having no income and not enough sense to auction those horses off so what is he ranching, death? Are you saying that blatently breeding large numbers of HORSES only to allow them a slow cruel death of starvation is the way it is ‘out there’? Yes I agree if you ‘ranch’ live stock on vast amount of land you will have dead stock too and that is a harsh reality of ranching. ‘Here in the US’, horses are bred to work, perform or do some kind of job so we’re not talking about a herd of cattle that you would not bother to touch or domesticate because they are going to be driven in for butchering. So how do you defend then, Mr Leachmans’ herd again? It’s just the way it is out there? Bullshit!!!! Maybe for cattle, sheep, goats, hell even a herd of freakin’ Emus, but NOT HORSES. He bred a large herd of HORSES to do what??? Die a slow painful death of starvation. Now defend the way it is out there again? And as for offering assistance to this idiot, he has had MULTIPLE chances in time and he wastes his energy on his own ego. He would not take assistance from me or anyone on this blog. What right does he have to create such a mess and then sit back and wait for people to come to him to clean it up? That IS NOT just the way it is ‘out there’ or anywhere. Horses vs cattle ranching…..apples and oranges….2 very different purposes. Your defense has been shot full holes…because that’s just the way it is ‘over here’.
Would those “wannabes” or “hobby horsemen” be the people who actually MAKE MONEY breeding animals that someone WANTS TO PAY FOR?
Because it seems to me that Leachman is the wannabe. He’s created a very expensive useless mess.
I have a hard time understanding why you would think “part of life on the range” is being an idiot who bleeds money. I wasn’t aware that people in Montana hadn’t invented the idea of income yet.
Yeah, but if we’re calling them stock in that sense, then they’re worth meat price, no more, and Leachman (great, appropriate name since it also sounds like he’s leeching off land someone is in the process of purchasing) is being a hypocrite. He has invested no training, no effort, no supplements, no farrier (if we go by your description of how free range stock are treated). How the hell does he have the gall to expect to get the same price as someone with a trained, sound, sensible horse that has been handled all its life and has registration papers?? By his own admission, he could have sold them for about $200 a piece — the fact he didn’t shows to me that he’s lazy, greedy and delusional, a bad combination. The value of these horses is only going to go down, not up, whatever the horse market does.
Horses are worth something when they have been invested in — time, training, breeding foreplanning, etc. These ones are worthless except at meat stock prices. I’m anti-slaughter, myself, but if we’re going to think in stock terms, then he can’t have it both ways. If you’re free ranching grade horses in this economy — well, we know what you’re free ranching them for and it’s not a 4-H or family home. Being a traditional rancher doesn’t exempt the man from having to make sound business decisions. My sympathy is with Stovall on this one.
I see some of your point — but helping Leachman isn’t actually going to help the horses, based on the way he has dealt with them so far. I think they might realistically be beyond help.
@ Ledoux
I don’t know much about ranching but there are few things here that stick out to me. First off is you’re totaling the numbers up wrong. Yes 5 are dead, but according to the vet in a short time it’ll be more like 350 dead horses. Says so here:
Peila, who examined the horses Dec. 29 at the request of investigators, said about 350 of the horses in the 2,600-acre Tschirgi pasture hadn’t eaten much for a month.
“It’s horrible. They’re all starving to death,” Peila said Wednesday. “The first time I was up there Dec. 29, (the horses) were running the fence. They wanted out. They had nothing to eat then, and their condition has really deteriorated.”
Personally I’d like to emphasize on those words, ‘Starving to Death’.
And the last thing I just want to point out is if it’s okay to have 5 dead horses just because you’re a rancher, then why is he being charged by the LAW with animal neglect?
I don’t know how his cattle ranching business failed, but how is it common sense to think that having 450 unbroken and starving horses is going to suddenly fix his financial problems? What profit could he possibly hoped to have gotten out of this? If you know so much about ranching, I would definitely like to know the answer to that.
Oh, fugs, I think we need a dislike button as well as a like.
I bet this comment would be -100.
Ranchman or not ,this was his doing all the way. He had many ways to solve it including selling but chose not to. leaving others to do his dirty work. 4 or 450 if you cant look after them or feed them …sell them. Cruelty is cruelty no matter who you are.
Aaaand the apologists have arrived!
What a load of old cobblers!!
A hobby horseman is exactly what he is. A rancher yes but also a wannabe horseman clearly without any sense of humanity or common sense. His ‘horse breeding company Hairpin Cavvy’ (who has a ‘horse breeding company’?) is proof of that and while he might be a great breeder of cows that doesn’t automatically make him great with horses and his clueless approach to it appears to have been borne out by this issue.
When did living “out on the range” make it acceptable to neglect any animal? If you’re purporting to breed high end horses for sale in fancy catalogues then you do more than breed hundreds of them and leave them feral “on the range” to fend for themselves.
No, I’m sorry but there is absolutely no justification for his actions and it makes no difference whether you live in the city or “out on the range” – if you condone his actions you are no better than he is.
P.S. I can’t help thinking ledoux is stirring the pot with these comments because it’s hard to imagine anyone genuinely siding with such an arrogant and apparently demented individual.
Ledoux could BE him for all I know. Wouldn’t be the first time.
Fugs, I wish you could change his user name for him… Ledoux is French for “the sweet” or “the gentle.” I think Lebâtard would suit him much, much better.
I think he thinks he is Chris LeDoux, a famous country singer
He’s not.
“Ledoux”-BWAHAHAH a username from the real American West. I am impressed NOT.
Ledoux, first of all, it offends me that you are using the name of a real cowboy. Secondly, as someone who worked out west on cattle ranches and now raises cattle in Florida, I know damn well no real cattle rancher would let his stock starve out on the range when he knew he was in deep shit financially. This worthless sack of rat droppings has been bankrupt since 2002 and his first move, had he been a real cowboy or cattleman, should have been to sell his stock while they were in their best condition. If we were talking about cattle, you are damn right a real rancher would have sent them to the first auction to get the money out of them long before winter. No one overwinters stock they cannot afford to feed! You obviously know absolutely nothing about livestock, cattle or horses, so shove head back up your ass and suck hard to keep it there.
Just delusional. How sad for the horses.
Here’s a good WTF. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQtolpWeK08
That is one big WTF…
OK… I have no idea how the fuck did they pull that one off but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t with “the power of focus” (add sarcastic tone here).
How is that a WTF? I don’t agree with Parelli methods generally, but it seems like the situation is ok here. The little girl has a helmet and is in a round pen with sand base. The horse seems dead broke and she has a good seat. She seems to be having fun and loves her time with the mare! The horse is in nice shape and seems well taken care of. There is no saddle or bridle but the horse seems to be behaving and taking care of the girl and a good mount for her. Would I send her on the trail like that? NO WAY but in the pen I don’t see a problem. If this horse is in fact trained to this level by Parelli methods, she is the only one I have ever seen it work well on. I WISH my horse could behave that well, and she was a kids school horse before I bought her.
What`s not to be WTF about?
Its a 3 YEAR OLD kid, wearing a BICYCLE helmet (my old barn specifically said no bike helmets- they are not designed for falls off horses and will not adequately protect you.) Also, NO sane adult nearby! The only adult around is the one praising the damn horse for looking miserable whilst standing on a pedestal. That does not make her sane, in my books.
But on the bright side, at least there’s one horse that Parelli didn’t screw up. Put up your hand if you think this horse was dead-broke pre-Parelli! But he has a face to die for, I’m in love. The extent of NH methods I will do is the join-up technique (featured on Heartland, the CBC TV show). You pretty much chase the horse away, showing them that you are the alpha in a round pen, and after a while they aknowledge that and turn into the middle, showing that they know who’s boss. Heck, I won’t do that with my 5yo TB who was trained to race but never did, but I do do it with my 16yo QH pony who has an insane fear of noises.
Anyways fugs, I love your blog. Gotta love these WTF moments!
Not only is the kid wearing a bike helmet, it is not fitted properly. An improperly fitted, loose helmet can actually do a significant amount of damage in the event of an accident.
As a trainer I once had used to say: “The horse you think won’t hurt you is the horse that’ll kill you.”
I’ve seen riding helmets at the tack shop, for children and adults, that look more and more like bike helmets (but are riding helmets). I couldn’t tell for sure by the video which it was. Just sayin’
I see your point and wanted to agree until I watched the video. Sure, it is a lot safer than many of the overmounted kids that I see at shows riding ill-trained horses, but I just can’t get past that TINY tot without someone holding the horse by a halter and lead rope. I think that this situation is way too dangerous.
She’s awfully small. The problem is that such a tiny person is so very fragile. A knock from a hoof that would make you or me get a bad bruise could kill her.
It looks like a riding helmet to me? But it’s not fitted correctly to be safe, regardless.
Anyway, on a horse trained to neck-rein and respond to voice commands, that rope around the neck arrangement isn’t as out-of-control as it seems. I can’t vouch for this as a safe or correct way to ride, but when I was a crazy teenager I used to ride my horse out in the pasture with nothing but a piece of baling twine around his neck. Considering that if a horse really wants to freak out, no bridle or leadline in the world can stop it, I’d rather see good training on a horse with inadequate equipment than bad training and an abundance of equipment.
I would add that a 3 yr old can’t make the decision to risk ending their life. This could be the safest horse in the world, but it’s still a horse.
OMG four hundred and fifty horses. It takes a lot to blow my mind but this come close.
And I thought 3 Strikes Ranch was a nightmare situation. There are a plethora of terms for this guy, none of which are severe enough. I’ll start with Scrote.
As my husband said, “He’s (Leachman) certainly not starving!
Oh God. “The worst neglect case in Montana” – scratch that and make it “The worst (horse) neglect case in the U.S.”
But Leachman is not the only issue here. Sure, he started it, but it has now become everyone’s problem, and it shouldn’t be about Leachman being left to exclusively take care of the problem because, obviously, the bastard can’t and won’t. “The reality is that multiple law enforcement agencies are players on the reservation.” And resolution does not seem to be taking any form. “‘In my opinion, the BIA has the easy power to snap to it, but nobody wants to pay the bill to feed those horses and to deal with Leachman,’” Peila said.” Other players include the Stovalls: “We’ve done about everything we can think of.” –> BULLSHIT. Or, they as halfwit as Leachman is arrogant.
I am not a proponent of helping the stupid and egocentric, but this problem long ago became more about the horses, and less about the guy who began this downward spiral. I don’t care who done it. Number 1: take care of the f-ing horses and get the GD government out of the way of their safety and survival. This didn’t just happen, and it didn’t just happen in the last month. There were obvious signs that this was coming. Take care of those that are suffering. Number 2: Make sure bastard Leachman pays for all that was done to help the horses. Throw him in jail for as long as possible and work his ASS OFF in order to pay off his debt that he will owe to the organizations involved with rescuing the horses. If he gets out, monitor him and prevent him from forming any business that is built on the back of animals.
But, in the meantime, since no one can get their shit together out there, I guess we’ll just sit around and watch the horses die.
Ya… it really looks like they’re just going to sit there and watch them all starve to death doesn’t it. How bad is that that they KNOW that they’re going to get worse and that they will suffer and starve to death but they won’t do anything… Is there anyone that could step in.. like HSUS or something? anyone? failure on soooo many levels
I’m with FC about the patchwork quilt of law enforcement there, it’s just not that simple. Your remedies make sense.
“Because the Crow Tribe is a sovereign nation, county, state and federal officials have limited authority on lease lands.
“The sheriff won’t come, the Crow tribal police won’t come, the BIA won’t come and the brand inspector won’t come, but the FBI will come if you die,” the joke goes.”
when you scroll through the comments on the complaints board it appears at one time there was 1000 horses…
after reading through all that I think those Stovalls are equally to blame…they bought the property at the bankruptcy sale. If they weren’t going to care for the horses they should have told him to pack them all up and get them off the land
They did, apparently. From the article: “The Stovalls can’t feed the horses because they don’t own them, are wary of getting sued, and need the hay and land for their own livestock. Leachman was supposed to remove his horses six months ago when he lost the ranch, Stovall said, a point Leachman disputes.” Which doesn’t entirely make sense to me – surely six months of not caring for the horses constitutes abandonment? But Leachman sure sounds like the lawsuit happy type.
This is one of those occasions where I’d be okay with mass euthanization, sadly. It sounds like cleanup would take $300,000 – $500,000, and nobody’s got the money to do it. Leachman should pay, but he’s already bankrupt, and we sadly don’t do debtor’s prison any more. The Stovalls might have that kind of money, but they might very well not. $2 million of land was probably a pretty serious investment for them, and right now they can’t even use it because the horses are on it, and have probably destroyed all the viable grazing land.
This sucks.
Actually they did: “The Stovall Holding Co., bought the Home Place. Turk and Jenny Stovall, who manage the ranch now, said Leachman was supposed to take his horses off their land last summer. But Leachman has one year until July to redeem his property, which he said he intends to do, and last fall he took out an ad asking for financial partners.”
While I don’t care for their handling of the situation either, Leachman was informed that he would have to get his horses off their land after they purchased the ranch at the bankruptcy sale. Reading through all the info, he hasn’t raised a finger to do so, because he wants to concentrate on getting his ranch back. *eyeroll*
To be honest, I’d be pretty pissed off if I purchased a property with the former owner’s animals running wild on it and the former owner just left the animals there. It sounds like the Stovalls have been trying to get the courts to do something and legally they can’t care for them because of the proceedings.
Personally, I have a very short fuse for being yanked around like Leachman is doing to everyone. I would have given former owner a date to remove the animals by. If they weren’t removed by then I’d start charging him for boarding – feed, vet, farrier, training and every other cost I could think of. Then I’d keep a nice paper trail showing I was billing him and not being renumerated. After a couple months, I’d do whatever is necessary legally to sue him either for all payment of his unpaid bills & removal of his animals, or to receive ownership of the animals. Since he probably still wouldn’t pay, I’d start gelding, halter breaking and selling them off to recoup my costs. }:-) But that’s just me.
That is big country out there. Do you think you can just walk out and catch those horses anytime you want? I suspect you would not be able to pull it off. This is the west my friends and things are not as “rosy” as you would like to believe it to be.
He raised some fine animals in his day and seeing his legacy spiral out of control is unfortunate. His cattle dynasty still holds its mark with sires like Leachman BodyBuilder and Rob Roy.
If the damn slaughterhouses would be opened back up, this would not be near the problem that it is because we would have a market for the old, tired, crippled and unwanted.
If people would grow the fuck up and take responsibility for their animals, we wouldn’t have a problem, period. By the way, there’s just as much slaughter as there ever was — it’s just now the kill buyers are making the lion’s share of the profits instead of the irresponsible owners.
Besides, this jackass stated that he wasn’t going to sell them for 200 dollars each… which is about the price he’d get for slaughter! So don’t tell me this has anything to do with slaughter being legal or not.
Oh here we go! The closing of the slaughter houses is what caused this whole mess.
What’s next? Oh, wait, here are the pro-slaughter “rules” (I’ve only added the ones it sounds like ledoux will use):
Rule #1: Never admit responsibility for producing the excess horses going to slaughter.
Rule #2: Call horses “unwanted†so you can blame the horse. Call slaughter harvesting or processing so that it is more palatable.
Rule #3: Never take responsibility for horses you choose to buy or breed and transfer all blame to the “radical vegan tree huggers†that oppose slaughter.
Rule #4: Blame the rescues.
Rule #5: Blame the legislators.
Rule #11: Ignore that slaughter is still very much available and blame all horse woes on the closure of the plants. To fully utilize this rule, under no circumstance, mention or blame the economy. The impact of the economy does not play a role in the horse industry. That is the only industry in America that would not have been impacted by the economy if the slaughter plants had remained opened.
Rule #12: Ignore the horrific investigations and FOIAs and always state that slaughter is a good thing. After all, it allows irresponsible breeders to breed and dump so they can breed more. It allows owners that are abusing and neglecting their horses to hide their crimes by having the horse slaughtered. Then, chuckle and whisper under your breath, America’s Dirty Little Secret.
Rule#15: Never mention the largest case of neglect in the US occurred in 2005 when all three plants were operating.
Rule #16: Ignore all studies and data on abuse and neglect.
Rule #17: Be sure to always interject the slippery slope. It is your greatest weapon to scare farmers and ranchers into believing that ending the slaughter of a non-food animal will bring down livestock slaughter.
and the two most important rules…
Rule #20: Never directly answer a question, especially when facts are requested. Doubletalk and then change the subject. It is imperative this rule be invoked when asked to discuss the drug issue and how unsafe US horses are for human consumption.
Rule #21: Learn the art of spinning. Always accuse the pro-horse advocates of being emotional, attack their credibility and spin the facts. This is especially important when indisputable facts are provided. When footage or photos are provided, be sure to state with authority they are fake or have been altered. Always state that because they are against slaughter that they are responsible for the horses suffering.
Rule #25: Keep referring to and posting false stories of abandoned horses even after they have been proven false by the local authorities.
Thank you RT.
Thank you. That’s about the best takedown I’ve ever heard.
So, it’s big country out there and we’re supposed to forgive Jimbob for his arrogance? HE bred these horses, HE owns them, HE knows slaughter is illegal, HE knows he left them behind, HE knows they’re dying. I really don’t care how many top bulls (I assume Rob Roy?) he bred in his lifetime, we are at the here and now. Maybe he’s lost his marbles or most likely he’s just an arrogant cattle farmer who’s wounded pride in wanting his land back takes priority over anything and everything. Fact is – horses are suffering and need help. Someone or some agency needs to take legal possession of these animals and humanely euthanize those that can’t be adopted out. Maybe an online auction after a roundup would cover the cost of feeding them until the auction could be arranged. Throw it on RFD and stream it through a website. I’d bet some locals would volunteer to try to sort out some of the lineage of the horses and AQHA could offer free or reduced parentage verification. (Hey, a girl can dream) Then leave Jimbob responsible for any costs that the proceeds of the sale don’t recover. Some of those horses are nice looking animals and with papers might actually be worth $1000…for those who aren’t put off by the fact that training will begin with ‘how to wear a halter’. I’d take one in a heartbeat for $50 if I wasn’t 3,000 miles away. And Jimbob could wear a pair of those rubber bands that they use on young, male sheep as his penalty until mother nature takes its course.
spellcheck “whose” not ‘who’s’
If he can’t catch the horses to relocate them off of the property, how would he be able to take them to slaughter? Your logic lacks any sense. When the property sold at sale, there should have been a plan in place for him to remove the horses and since it sounds like he was given a deadline to remove them he should be responsible for their care, period. It got to the point where he was over his head and I thoroughly believe if he was at least trying to do something to help these horses then people would be more willing to step in and help. Doing nothing and threatening those who do is unacceptable. Wild mustangs get rounded up all the time on lands like this so it can be done. Bring in some panels, set up some pens, and offer them feed and water. From one of the articles, the horses had to be beat off the water troughs they were so thirsty.
“If he can’t catch the horses to relocate them off of the property, how would he be able to take them to slaughter?”
ROTFL, logic! I love it!
“Do you think you can just walk out and catch those horses anytime you want? I suspect you would not be able to pull it off…If the damn slaughterhouses would be opened back up, this would not be near the problem that it is because we would have a market for the old, tired, crippled and unwanted.”
And here is THE problem. The problem arises in treating a horse breeding operation similarly to cattle. And this is where it’s time to get real and be honest. Cattle are bred for meat production. They are bred, produced, and raised to be slaughtered for consumption. That is what they are. In the U.S. horses are not viewed as a meat producing animal. Horses are animals to be used for 1) pleasure, 2) sport, and 3) work. Regardless of which three avenues a horse is to take, the animal is going to need a certain amount of training. And this is where the idea of having hundreds of horses living on free range, rounded up in groups and sold at auction (like cattle) does not align with any purported future use of the horses.
Unhandled horses are inherently going to be worth less than a trained counterpart. Bloodlines alone do not make a valuable horse. Since there are few individuals who have the skill, time, and facilities to be able to create a usable horse out of an unhandled youngster, there’s going to be few realistic buyers. And so this guy has basically decided to get involved in a niche market. Because niche markets are so small, the market will easily collapse when there is oversupply combined with lack of demand.
So, the argument that slaughter is needed is misdirected. Obviously this individual was not making money at his business. He did not make money in the cattle business – a business where there IS a market for mass produced, unhandled, range bred and born animals. He turned to horses and eventually did not make any money. Because there IS NO market for mass produced, unhandled, range bred and born horses. A smart businessperson needs to realize that mass producing horses is just not a sound business operation. Without producing a horse that MOST PEOPLE can use, essentially this guy was breeding unwanted horses as his product. Well, eliminate this guy and every other irresponsible breeder and the unwanted horse population decreases. Who’s going to do that and how is definitely a problem. Still, horse slaughter should not be the way out for stupid, irresponsible purported businessmen who can’t realize the futility of their horse breeding operations.
I cannot fathom why people think the horse industry is a money making machine. Between the unstable economy, unemployment, urban sprawl encroaching on previously rural areas, and the diminishing view of horses as a part of a way of life, it shouldn’t come as a surprise when there are few buyers.
Really? There is a slaughter house that slaughters horses not far across the border from his place (and horses ship there every day)-so your point is?
If people like Leachman didn’t breed more crappy horses than there is a market for, none of this would happen.
Oh, brother! So it’s impossible to catch them to take care of them but it would be a walk in the park to catch them to send them to slaughter.
Since Leachman refuses to sell them for “only” $200 apiece however, I don’t think blaming the slaughter ban advances your (hilariously convoluted) argument much.
Us city folks may not know much about ranching but we can run rings ’round you logically.
And who’s fault is it that these people are unable to walk out there and just catch the horses? OH yeah, the breeder, Who bred so many horses he cannot hope to get all of the used to people. Not halter broke, that would be an investment, just used to people.
My dear little ledoux,
I would bet you four of your best horses (which probably isn’t saying much..) that I could catch a “range” horse “out there” as you put it. Not bad for being a “city” person. Would it be easy, hell no. But really, there are plenty of city folk who have a hell of a time catching a horse in an acre plot. Sorry hun, but just because I don’t live in the “west”, doesn’t mean I’m a tree-hugging don’t touch your horse if he don’t like it, son of a bitch. I can bet just about all I have I could train the fuck out of you and all your wild-wild-west buddies, for good, hard working ranch type horses. In fact, I am so sure of that fact that I would take any “un-trainable” reject you have and make a good horse. No, you can’t just walk out and catch an unhandled horse in that kind of range, but they can be fed and cared for. I’m not talking massages and stalls and treats, I’m saying basic care, meaning enough food to sustain normal body weight and free choice water. And really, it’s not just that that all these people are upset about. It’s the fact that he had no plan, at ALL. You can’t just cover 400+ mares a year and *hope* to sell the babies next year at an auction, especially when he seems to think that the horse world is the exact same as the cattle world. They better be damn good, high quality horses if you are breeding in those numbers. In this time & day, you can drag your fat ass to the nearest auction and buy an honest horse for next to nothing. If you are looking to get big bucks for unhandled babies, you better be breeding the shit out of other farms. Sure, I wouldn’t mind picking up a basically wild well bred 1-3yo, but if I had to bet, I’m guessing most of his horses there aren’t youngsters that can be easily turned around.
Really, my challenge stands.
This country fuck has been put on an altar by all the salt-of-the-earther foundation [horse] freaks for years. Collectively, the goal seems to be to keep producing substandard horses of average conformation and various colors, see how many survive, and have a production sale every year where they talk about such-and-such colt bein’ outta so-an’-so’s good usin’ mare, because not one in their entire program has a show or produce record to boast about.
These Real Authentic Cowboys ™ feel this is their birthright, their heritage, and their source of pride, though they can’t be bothered to provide even the most minimum of care for their animals, and spending money to keep them alive is utter blasphemy. It’s a sick form of dominionism practiced by the same braindead fucking jackasses that preach personal responsibility, rage about God and freedom, and love to wave their flags around.
They might as well be formed in a mold, because there is no deviation. In short, yeah, Leachman is a cocksucker of the highest order.
You’ve obviously traveled in the same circles I have-AND YOU NAILED IT! These are not horsemen and they are not good agriculturists. They are dipshits.
I totally agree with both of you. The only thing I would add is that it is a pity that truly rugged, ranch-useful quarter horses are becoming so few and far between, and the kind of publicity that this type of “rancher” (I could think of some other, more colorful adjectives to describe this guy, but I don’t think they’d be appropriate for a public blog) definitely don’t help to preserve this line of horses. Are they useful? Yes, for certain people, who are certainly far from the majority of horse buying people in the US. Should they continue to be bred? Sure, this is part of American culture and heritage. Should there be massive breeding farms like this? Absolutely not. If people who are attached to the American Quarter Horse as America’s history and ranching heritage want to preserve this line, then it needs to be done very selectively, so that even if these horses aren’t show champions, their qualitites and usefulness can really be showcased and valuable.
To be honest, if I were still living in the US, I’d make the drive to Montana to go adopt a couple of these horses. Sure, they’ll probably be a handful to work with for a good long while, but I’d be willing to bet that these horses are just about indestructible; perfect for trail riding, no matter what the terrain, and probably able to keep working much longer than most quarter horses I’ve known.
I’m sorry, but you’re use of the term cowboy is offensive to me. Shall we lump every homosexual, every llama or dog breeder, republican or democrat (u get my meaning) into the same spewing vat of ugliness? C’mon. There is no question that this particular human being is a complete scum of the earth but we need to have a little less hate in our country and this would be a good place to start. Thank you.
That Lobo is sure cute! I don’t understand the rein situation she has going on there, though. What is the extra part hanging off either side?
It looks like they took long split reins, doubled them over and knotted them close to the end of each. I assume this is because if they simply knotted them without doubling it would drag.
But I agree, he is cute.
I haven’t ridden for years, so maybe I’ve lost my eye, but I thought that Lobo had that “cat like” walk, and a nice even trot that would give him some potential as a horse that you could do a little dressage with. Nothing Olympic, but someone could have some fun with him.
I agree… he looks like he’d make an awesome all arounder! He kind of reminds me of my big pony… small, so very practical, but still nice “horse” gaits and not that bumpy pony trot. He looks FUN!
Ok, so according to the story a small band of mares took off running when they saw a pickup approach a mile away. So are we pretty much dealing with wild/feral horses here or what?? Im just wondering what the real solution could even be with that many horses. Seems to be pretty much a meat buyers dream…round em up, truck them to a feedlot for a month or two and strait up to Canada. Certainly no need to worry about drug residue in these animals.
I mean seriously, WHAT can be done with them?? Who/what/how is any rescue group, or multiple rescue groups going to help that many animals and give them what they need to become useful adoptable horses?? I just cant even wrap my mind around it.
I hate to say this, but rather than letting them starve might it not be better to try and pull the best ones and shoot the rest??
Wow….what a lot of buckpassing going on as far as taking action for the horses goes. Sounds like this could have been averted earlier, without the lame excuses and finger pointing. Leachman needs to be tethered to one of those poor horses’ carcasses when the coyotes come around to feed, he’d make a good meal. The people who took on the ranch with the horses still there needed to act right away, not months down the road after knowingly putting them on lands without water or grazing. None of this was their fault….asshats is way too nice of a word for any of them.
Redcolt I have only heard of Parelli in passing and on this blog, and did not research it, I like my way of training horses just fine. No one I know practices it. WHAT is the point of it? It just looks like weird circus tricks to me…..
“Redcolt I have only heard of Parelli in passing and on this blog, and did not research it, I like my way of training horses just fine. No one I know practices it. WHAT is the point of it? It just looks like weird circus tricks to me…..”
I don’t practice it either, so I don’t know what the point is. It does look like weird circus tricks, but they’ve put a 3 yr old child on the horse, no saddle. No matter how good the horse is, I don’t consider that safe.
So, he failed as a cattleman and thought that he could succeed as a horseman?
And, at some point in time he had approximately 900 horses. 900 which, according to his brochure, were “born to be free”. Is one to assume from this that these horses were not touched at all? Was he treating his horse breeding operation like a cattle breeding operation? Did he not understand that despite bloodlines — what were these horses that “buyers from around the country paid top prices for”? There’s lots of “Registered quarter horses” out there — people want socialized, handled, and at least to some degree trained horses?
Really, it would be interesting to know who exactly was buying these horses. But I think we probably already know that….
O-M-G That makes me sick.
The photo of the mare who they had to shoot is HORRIBLE. Her front right looks like it was hanging (and it looks like an old injury, not one that is a result of wild animals.) She had to live with that? How do people live with themselves? I just don’t get it.
His photo…well, he obviously could skip a meal or two, and I enjoy that he’s counting money in the pictures. Jerk.
If you’ve been having money problems why continue to breed? Well…I could ask a million questions, it all goes back to he just doesn’t care. I hope he gets what’s coming to him!
http://www.wildponybeast.blogspot.com
I found the banded leg picture to be the most disturbing.
Officials with the Northern International Livestock Exchange said Saturday that the group will act as an unofficial point of contact between the Yellowstone County Sheriff’s Office and people who want to provide aid for what could be hundreds of starving horses on a ranch east of Billings.
Justin Mills, NILE general manager, said Sheriff Mike Linder asked him Friday night what options were available to care for the horses and if there was anything the NILE could do to help.
While nothing official has been organized, Mills said Saturday that the NILE will put together a list of people who are willing to help and what they can offer.
“We’re not much more than discussing things to help with right now,” he said. “It’s not that we’re formally organized, but we can put a list together.”
That list of people and aid options will then be passed along to the sheriff’s office, which is in charge of the investigation.
Mills said the main focus will likely be to gather donations of hay for authorities to take to the horses.
In a Friday story in The Billings Gazette, Yellowstone County Attorney Scott Twito described the situation as possibly the largest horse abuse case in state history.
Leachman lost the ranch last year in a U.S. Marshals Service foreclosure sale. Neighboring rancher Turk Stovall and his family bought the property, but they don’t own the horses.
Stovall told a Gazette reporter that Leachman was supposed to remove the horses last summer after the foreclosure sale, but Leachman said that’s not true.
Stovall also said they don’t have the grass or hay to support the horses because of their cattle operation.
Anyone wishing to donate hay or offer assistance is asked to call the NILE offices in Billings at 256-2495.
I was in contact with Justin a few minutes ago (with NILE). They are at this time unable to do anything but make a list of people and phone numbers with the resources they are able to provide. There is a lot of legal issues going on here and also horse health issues- Such as we can’t just chuck hay over the fence or the horses without watch could choke etc. Please see my posts below. I am working on getting a Donation account set up so those who would like to could donate since the NILE is not a rescue and there are no large animal rescues around.
Once again, the perpetrator is not shy a few extra pounds, now is he?
And I thought….who gets $200 for an unregistered, untouched, quite possibly badly conformed (cos what with his sooper speshul breeding skills, he probably thinks the best way to breed them is turn them all loose and let the stallions fight it out….tru fax, I was actually told this by a horse breeder.) ungelded animals? Oh, of course I forgot….he’s different because, what…oh, yes, he’s him .
ARGH.
*headdeskheaddeskheaddesk*
That is absolutly preposterous! ANYONE with 450 horses needs some serious help. There may be huge breeding barns somewhere with that many horses, but I don’t even know what to say about his guy.
Although a vehemently disagree with requiring horse owners to “register” or something, I think that anyone with over 100 horses should be checked up on, every 3 months at LEAST. Maybe by animal control, maybe by somebody else, but this sort of thing must. be. stopped. I’m willing to bet not even one of his horses had bloodlines and confo. worth breeding.
Wow Fugly… I just cannot, cannot, wrap my head around how this guy thinks he’s doing just fine. I really don’t understand people like this, who, when confronted with a vast amount of evidence proving their incompetence, immorality and cruelty just say, “Nope, not true. In fact, I’m awesome.” Arghh!
I wish I could be there to help. I am aghast at both this guy’s behavior and the bureaucratic red tape preventing those horses from getting more help. Ugh.
Hey… speaking of things that worry me…
I’ve been looking at the website of ASAP (American Standardbred Adoption Program) here in WI. (You know how it is, window shopping rescues is always fun!) Anyway, some of the things I’m reading there are a little disturbing. Disclaimer: I’ve never been to the ASAP facility or met the lady who runs it. And of course I’m all for supporting rescues and I really, really hope that my doubts are nothing more than fanciful, unworthy suspicious. BUT her blog talks about tons of the things you say are warning signs; too many horses, not training, not paying for hay, running out of hay, poor repairs and bad management, possibly even poor adoption proceedures. The website is here: http://www.4thehorses.com/
From her blog (under “Updates”):
She has a shelter flimsy enough to keep falling down (turns out it’s a canvas and aluminium car shelter thing, picture on her blog):
“I gazed down at the lower turnout where Sadie, Kung Fu, Holly and DT are
kept, and noticed an empty spot where the shelter used to be. This is the
same shelter that blew down in the wind storm we had several months
ago….”
She has so many horses that some are being pastured away from the main facility, apparently without enough shelter:
“For every horse placed we are a bit closer to bringing home the sanctuary horses who are down in Newton
Valley. I worry about Arne and Bob Cook the most, as their arthritis flares up and the shelter there is not big enough to comfortably accommodate six horses.”
And yet can’t seem to stop taking them in:
“Due to space constraints at our farm (too many horses dropped off that we did not plan on), we have been unable to bring back the six sanctuary horses that need to be here so urgently.”
“I just want to let everyone know that as our numbers
increase here at the farm against our wishes (people just want to keep
dropping horses off regardless of how many horses are actually here), our
equipment is failing us greatly.”
She seems to habitually run totally out of hay:
2 days ago:
“More hay arrived – now to fund raise to pay for it!”
1 month ago:
“Jut two days ago I arrived home in a panic to find not one fleck of hay
left on our farm. Brandy and Race for Home and Cyd the llama were tucked
away in their private areas, calling for food. There was none.”
…and not pay for it when she does get it:
“Twenty six horses, six in lower valley = 32 horses that need hay, and none in our hay barn or arena.
We are almost afraid to call our hay supplier, since we have not yet paid the bill in full for summer and fall.”
“We now have 48 large squares in our storage building, thanks to our community’s
help. Of course, we also have a $2,400 additional bill for this hay, but
we are hoping for a miracle this holiday season.”
She’s adopted several horses out to people who obviously shouldn’t have had them, plus had some other “mishaps:”
“Race for Home and Bart were then placed in foster care with a young couple who rode Race for Home and Bart. The foster situation did not end well, and by the time Race for Home was returned to ASAP she had acquired heaves from poor quality hay while in her first foster placement. She also was emaciated.”
“I never knew that when we placed Flaunting It in her new adoptive home, it
would be the last time we would ever see her. Flaunting It had spent
years at a farm before being brought back to ASAP – and she came back thin
and tired. After an easy rehabilitation period, it was time for her to go
to a forever home. The adopter was so happy, thrilled and excited to be
bringing home such a nice quiet mare. Yet, within a week, Flaunting It
had died – aspiration and pneumonia had taken her. No one ever saw that
coming and no one ever knew it would be the last time we would see her.”
She had pet chicken which was injured and paralyzed, and which she kept for 2 years before it finally died, apparently the “fault” of a college student who forgot to bring it inside (since it couldn’t move itself) while she was on vacation (??)…
“I well up with tears as I remember the loss of my pet chicken this year
due to neglect by a college student who was interning at our farm. He
died lonely and miserable in a rain storm without shelter. He always
looked to me and called for me to help him, as he was disabled by a back
injury that left him unable to walk.”
She recently ran over her own dog…
“I think about the loss of Tigger, who I accidentally ran over with the
truck just a few short weeks ago – not sure I have forgiven myself for
that one yet.”
…and she has one particularly notable blog entry where she blames her lack of funds on no support from the harness racing industry and no support from the previous owners of the surrendered horses. Um, WHAT?
Here’s a great example of what I’m talking about in general:
“I want to cry because the horses deserve my
attention, but we are so busy caring for every one of them that the
quality time for handling and riding doesn’t happen like it should. I
want to cry because each one of our horses is so wonderful, kind, gentle,
and has so much to offer, but there are not enough people to go around. I
cry because I didn’t get those bot fly eggs off Brandy again today, like I
promised myself I would. I cry because Cricket and Taser Gun have been
waiting for me to work them and something always gets in the way. I cry
because I realize the deworming didn’t get done – again – today. I am
just plain down, hoping for a better day tomorrow.”
The further you go back, the more sketchy things become. Start here to see a good sampling:
http://asapupdates.posterous.com/?page=4
Hasty repairs, horses left untrained, accidents, more horses taken in…
This sounds like the lady is in trouble with a capitol T. She seems to be very good-hearted (she certainly seems emotional about the state of the rescue and begs God to help her alot) and her videos show fat, good-looking horses… but still, it’s worrying.
What do I do, Fugly? Should I go to this rescue and check things out, involve others, steer clear or what?
You know, there are two kinds:
- Rescuers who cry wolf A LOT because IT WORKS not because of an actual crisis
and
- Rescuers who MEAN IT…they really ARE out of hay, etc.
And yeah, checking it out first hand is probably the only way to tell which this is.
Well, I have never been able to rescue a horse, however isn’t it a red flag that they also have stallions up for adoption? I mean most places I see on the internet geld them all, or at least they say they do.
Especially racing stock, I mean they come through rescues a lot because they are bred for racing, but don’t have the chops, or are done with racing/breeding careers.
Egads… they are also adopting out STALLIONS and don’t seem to have any intention on gelding them.
“This 24 year old COAL BLACK stallion made over $800,000 during his lifetime. He has sired over 10 foals but it is time to find him a permanent home. He is easy to handle and is on turnout.”
Does the ad above sound to anyone like they have been breeding?
I also see on their facebook they have a lovely picture of an apparently blind mare, pulling a cart down the road, with a horse tied to the cart, and another loose horse following. And yet, I see NO ONE in this picture? Great idea!! Not to mention their feet don’t look too hot. And stallions for adoption? Yea, big red flags.
Well, this is a clusterfuck of epic proportions and I’m including the whole ‘tribal sovereign lands preventing anyone from actually doing anything effective to help those animals’ bit in that. Sounds a ridiculous state of affairs to me, but that’s just the view from abroad, so to speak.
Leachman is clearly an irresponsible-to-the-bone piece of shit. How many ways can you blame someone else for your own lack of foresight, responsibility and basic care for your own animals? Endless ways, it seems.
And yeah, I’m another who noted right off that yet another owner of starving animals is fat as a pig himself. Clearly he hasn’t skipped a single meal to buy those horses feed or haul them some water.
I fucking despair of my own species sometimes, you know.
I am the one the notified about this situation and live in the town where this is taking place. I am not a horse rescue nor do I have land. I board my one horse. However there are several local action groups that are getting involved and I am going to speak with my bank about getting a donation account set up to buy hay for the horses and getting water out to them. I don’t have the account set up yet but I can provide information for some of the local groups. If you would like to help, pleae email me at onixica at yahoo dot com and I can give you either my paypal info or let you know when a donation account has been set up. I would also be happy to start a yahoo group or something for those whole would like to be appraised of the situation when the horse are sent to auction and or adoptable. We don’t have any large animal rescues in the area so I am not sure what is going to happen here. Unfortunatly we do live in a town with a huge auction house that sends horses over the border frequently. These horses are destined to feed scavengers or be a steak if something isn’t done. And as you can see they aren’t really…”show” material. But I bet they would make great horses for someone that isn’t looking to win a championship in halter.
and WTF DO YOU NEED WITH 14 STALLIONS!!!!!
Working on getting a donation account set up through Wells Fargo. It will be opened Monday morning but can take a while for it to become available for donation- a couple days. But it will be “Donation Account for Leachman Horses” at Wells Fargo sometime next week.
WTF indeed. And it sounds like he doesn’t have a damn clue what bred what, either. People are DNA’ing foals they got from him in a desperate search to figure out their lineage!
They have snow, why do they need water? Horses do just fine on snow.
You’re being sarcastic…I hope?
Oh no, he’s not…
I call BS on THAT one.
Horses do NOT do well on snow.
What the hell, man!? Successful ranchers take better care of their cattle than this guy did of his horses. I have nothing against traditional ranchers, but most of them work like dogs to take care of their stock because it is an INVESTMENT. People go out in subzero weather to break ice, even for cattle. Horses can’t consume enough snow to really stay hydrated in cold weather without dangerously lowering body temperature — same as cattle. If you want to idealize traditional ranchers, you’re idealizing the wrong guy.
Obviously , they are thriving in snow, dumbass, just like they “do fine” without f-o-o-d. It’s commonly accepted science (I know, a dirty word to your niche of country folk) that mammals require water AND food AND shelter. Got any more old wives tales you want to trot out, or are you finished pulling thoroughly debunked “facts” out of your ass?
When I was in the 2nd grade, we melted snow down to see how very little water it actually contained.
Maybe he flunked out before the 2nd grade?
If you FILL a bucket with snow, when it melts it creates just a cup or water or so.
Like I said, we did that in the 2nd grade. Ledoux must have missed that day.
That is 32 mares per stallion, if he has 450 horses. That is not enough stallions for that many horses. A mare band of 32 would be too large and the stallion would not be able to manage that many horses. These are range horses, working horses, not hand bred horses. They live on the range and they reproduce on the range, in mare bands, not at the end of a lead rope. 14 stallions would be needed, actually more than 14 would be needed for an operation of this size.
‘the horses have snow, they don’t need water’
‘you’re bound to lose stock on the range’
‘he doesn’t have enough stallions’
Wow… dude, what the hell are you smokin’ and where can I get my hands on some??? You are obviously totally clueless about horses… and BTW, I live in the country.
At the very LEAST, you should read the responses to your comments. You just MIGHT learn a thing or two.
Or, since he can’t/won’t sell any of them he needs A LOT FUCKING LESS OF EVERYTHING.
BTW, who the hell are you, if you are not in fact Leachman yourself. You talk like you are a successful rancher, well, where is the link to your website? Wanna provide some proof that you have been successful, or are you all talk?
So, if he had 14 stallions, and hundreds of mares, how many of those would require f-o-o-d? Why don’t you illuminate the rest of us with your superlative math skills.
And, is there some reason you didn’t share your grasp of math with Leachman – you know – Mr. Bankruptcy?
If they are “working” horses as you’ve stated… why do none of them have a job? Why has nothing been done to promote them as “working” horses? Why have these horses been denied the very basic care required for them to be able to perform said “jobs’ to the best of their ability?
Classic case here, …If Bullshit were music, Leachman would be a Brass Band. He has ridden his reputation right into the dirt and needs to be forced out of animal agriculture and any financial dealings for the rest of his life…
“If Bullshit were music, Leachman would be a Brass Band”
I really can’t LIKE that comment enough. That’s awesome!
http://www.howrse.com
This is the only solution.
Or http://www.ponyisland.com. I play that… I like it better, you can make unicorns!
Oh, haha, http://www.ponyisland.net rather. I suck sometimes.
I have an account (or 20) there myself. Why? Because they’re the only horses I can handle right now.
And you know what, if I don’t feed them in a month, they die too.
Also, unicorns suck, give me a kirin or nixie any day!!!! (just kidding)
I had a leachman horse sale a catalog somewhere around 2006-2007, long before things got this out of hand. He had a handful of saddle horses but most everything else was unhandled or minimally handled. From my understanding in reading the catalog, groups of horses were run into the sale ring and a certain number of them would be sold and after that amount was reached, they were run back out and the next group brought in. Mares and offspring were branded on either side of the tailhead in a vertical line and the numbers corresponded with the year born and sire and dam. There were some decent looking horses in the catalog, many many roans and palominos. This just breaks my heart to see what is happening to these horses. I can really see that the new ranch owners are to blame, I doubt they have the extra feed for 500 head of horses, nor the money to buy feed in that volume, let alone the legal ramifications. I really wonder what has happened to the studs….
The horse sales did offer the horses as a group. Two, three or four horses are brought in and you can buy choice, he keeps the horse you don’t purchase. The marketing idea behind this is that he offers all the horses for sale and does not keep the pick of the production and leave the bottom enders for the sale. It is done this way for many horse and bull sales for a ranch’s production.
Our ranch purchased a filly from the Cavvy in 2002 – great horse, too bad those lines will be lost because of this.
You mean too bad the lines will be lost because Leachman starved his horses to death?
They aren’t bloodlines, or even “potential,” you can’t find standing in any kill pen. There is nothing about his program that contributed to the betterment of the breed in any way. Calf knees, sickle hocks, long backs, straight shoulders, and heads like bathtubs are not under the desirable list for breeders.
So, how many Leachman Hairpin Cavvy horses were on Shawn Flarida’s list for NRHA Furturity horses? Try none. How many Leachman Hairpin Cavvy horses were in Gil Galyean’s barn, being tuned for the Reichert Celebration? Try none. How many Leachman Hairpin Cavvy horses were hand-picked by Bill Freeman for his clients, getting ready for the NCHA Futurity? Try none. How many Leachman Hairpin Cavvy horses did Ted Turner lead to World Championships? None. (By the way, none of the people I mentioned happen to be those all-so-scary city folk you shun.)
These are average horses, of average conformation, of average skills, that weren’t good enough to become notable in any specialty. Fact is, you can throw a rope off just about any horse, even an OTT Thoroughbred (ooh- naughty word to you foundation freaks). Plenty of horses have the size and quiet disposition to drag calves. And a lot of horses have enough speed and brains to cart some yahoo around in the 4D. They’re as rare as cubic fucking zirconia, and they’re in feedlots and on Craiglist for next to nothing. And – here’s the juice – you can buy chinks and a Wade saddle (and God knows how much you revere them), and play cowboy on just about any one of them. There’s a surplus of average horses, not enough stalls to fill them all, with hundreds and hundreds more surplus animals created by Leachman, churning out mediocre surplus horses like chicken fried widgets. But that’s all lost on so-called horsemen like you, that probably have never seen a well built, competitive horse in your entire lives, because you’re too busy embracing some backasswards isolationist “rancher” lifestyle, trading furs and asking each other, “Fucking magnets, how do they work?”
That self-serving lardass prick Leachman couldn’t be bothered to even feed them. If they weren’t even precious enough to feed, their value is what they weighed, which wasn’t much.
Could not have said it better myself. I have blogged several times about the conformational hideousness of these horses. Here’s what they’re good for: Getting the shit ridden out of them on a ranch. They are tough and they do hold up, and they thrive on hard work. Now here’s the problem: RANCHES like FARMS of ALL KINDS have become very MOTORIZED. There are fewer ranches than there were 50 years ago and many jobs that were once done with horses are being done with ATV’s, because all you do is stick gas in them and EVERY ASSHAT can handle an ATV whereas horses are unpredictable.
Again, it is not a business if you are just producing stuff you can’t sell. That is not doing business.
City gurl, donthya know you can’t put two ATVs together and make a third ATV? How in the hell could these poor ranchers hold a production sale every year breedin’ gosh durn ATVs? Sheesh.
// sarcasm
Oh and extra credit for the Juggalo reference…LOL, those people are an ENDLESS source of hilarity to me!
PRECISELY.
*Doof’s Clueless Noobie Question #497*
If these horses have been running free on this huge tract of land, how is he selling them as pedigreed, purebred Speshul-Purpose high-quality Get-It-Now-Cuz-Them-Is-Rare expensive animals when he’s got no way of knowing who sired what?
Or did I miss something? :-/
Nope, your not missing anything.
That would be a significant part of the whole point.
No pedigree, no even remotely confirmable ancestry, (although presumably equine), no handling…
A person may as well find themself something from BLM.
My question is, how could this guy even know if all the horses there are even descended from horses that he owns?
I mean next to everyone and their cousin’s half fenced land, who knows what kind of scrub stallions got in there.
450 horses!!! Holy shit.
I am now going to say something that is going to cause an uproar: I believe mass euthanasia would be the best thing in this situation. We are talking about a lot of horses that have suffered for a very long time. We are also looking at putting a huge financial burden on the local rescues who would be taking in these horses and rehabbing them for a long time, because of the lack of handling or care. There may be a few “quality” horses that they could pull from the herd and rehab but I really do feel that it would save a bunch of heartache. I hope that who ever gets to make that call really sits back and thinks about the long term and all that will be involved in and operation of that sort.
You won’t hear a peep from me. Offer them up for adoption, do your level BEST to put horses back together with papers, but if they aren’t adopted by someone within a month, I have no problem with euthing them. You know there are a lot in that group that aren’t even handled at all and, as I’ve noted before, MAYBE 1 out of every 100 horse owners is capable of dealing with an adult unhandled horse. And that may be a generous estimate.
But I want to see that asshat pay restitution for as much of the expenses as possible. Do a judgment debtor’s exam and take the watch off his wrist and the truck he is driving.
Oh, BTW, to reference some of my old blogs – in case you were all wondering, these are all AMAZING VALUABLE ROAN HANCOCK BRED QUARTER HORSES! Which I noted a long time ago there is only a small niche market for among people who don’t mind tough minded young horses who will develop into good ranch horses IF you can stay on for the fireworks in the meantime. They are not good for a damn other thing. You don’t see them winning in most AQHA events. You might see one or two in working cowhorse, something like that. Small niche, HUGE surplus of these horses!
Yep and there are many, many ranches in Kansas, Nebraska, the Dakotas, Montana and Idaho that cannot come to grips with the fact that NO ONE WANTS THIS TYUPE OF HORSE. There is no market. They will not stop breeding many hundreds of them each year, just because they always have and their parents always did. Thjis is insanity. AQHA is totally complicit in this bullshit, because the ONLY thjing they care about is getting the $$$ for all the registrations, DNA types and HYPP tests, and all thye ancillary enrollments/reports that are required for breeding. The $$ really add up. Their cut of the money from DNA testing is around 3 million a year, and that is a drop in the bucket. There is NO incentive beyond profit operating in this organization.
Maybe they need to have an auction that is run through one, or a few, of the rescues after they have had a chance to vaccinate, identify, and tag each one of these horses. That way the rescues can still do periodic check ups on them and give them all a fair chance to get a good home. Any money raised needs to go back to the rescues, not towards this assbags debts he had his chance. If there are any horses left after the auction the rescues can asses them and either PTS or decide to rehab. They would need to keep in mind that theres a good chance of about 20% of the sold horses coming back to them within a year though and leave room for them.
I totally agree with the lack of knowledgeable people to work with total buck ass wild horses. If you think of all the horse people you know and then think of how many would be able to break a horse from total scratch its not many(if any). I wish I was closer I wouldnt mind helping cataloging and taking pictures to get the process rolling. I really do wish them all the best of luck!
An auction of 450 horses would take more than one full day. And auction houses do not work for free. Anyway, I don’t know how many of these horses can survive until an auction can be organized. I don’t know if anyone can clean up this mess. What was this guy thinking?
I keep thinking this: we have 100 head of cattle and 4 horses. 3 pastures for cattle and one for horses. We put up our own hay. If someone dumped 30 head of cattle or horses on our property, we’d be sunk. We would have to shoot them, or watch our own animals die. I just can’t imagine doing this to either the animals or another rancher. The title of this post is right on.
The Hancock horses, usually linebred, are a perfect example of horses being able to perform despite their conformational faults. Calf knees prevail. Sickle hocks prevail. Long backs prevail. Short hips prevail. Heavy necks prevail. Jugheads prevail. You know what else prevails? Roans. Damn, you take a fug horse, paint it roan, talk about its percentage of Blueberry and Roan Hancock, and some foundation aficionado is going to take that fugly horse, train it, and turn around and act as though these Hancocks are The Shit. Nevermind, they could have done the same on just about any feedlot horse, if they invested the same amount of time. They could have made a dressage washout Warmblood, an OTTB, a chunky little Morgan, a PMU draft cross, or just about any mongrel a ranch horse, and blindfolded, they’d never know the difference. And being blindfolded is probably the only way these people, who consider themselves horsemen, would rather breed color and percentages than a sounder, better built horse, with more widespread appeal than a handful of actual working cowboys the clueless fanatical breeders overcompensate for, annually. “Need more crap horses? You’re in luck – we got ‘em! See you next year, when we’ll have more!”
Beyond anything, Hancocks are tough as nails, and able to get the job done, despite being so conformationally challenged most hurt your eyes. Most horses as structurally flawed would break down, but those fug Hancocks just keep on ticking. And breeding. And concentrating the breeding. Breed, and breed, and breed some more. Never improved, just more of them.
It isn’t about preserving bloodlines, or breeding great horses – it’s a warped, unrealistic sense of nostalgia. They all drink the same Kountrified Kolor Kool-Aid. My guess is they’re still weeping over the passing tube radios and burning witches.
Spot on Fugs. I have foundation quarter horses. I personally love them. Not everyone does and I am okay with that. I don’t do Hancock horses because they are just as you said. I go for the lines that are bred to do what I need and want them to do.
thebossmare – I totally agree with you, there is absolutely no way they will find 450 GOOD homes for these horses. I shutter to think how the ones that do get sold may end up being passed around and end up in the damn kill pen anyways! In fact, I think they should start the euthanasia process ASAP, with the horses that are in the worst shape. This might sound horrible, but I think people need to be realistic here, and think of the horses first. It would be beyond horrible if they continued to suffer by ending up in undesirable homes and or being passed around until they ended up in the kill pen.
I realize this is a small rescue, but they did a great job with those pack horses in Montana:
http://www.bitterroothumane.org
Perhaps someone could contact them for help/advice/a starting point? They also are a 501c3 I think so would be able to handle donations or – again – give advice.
And would Jerry (can’t remember his last name) who helped with the Three Strikes mess be enlisted to help with this? He was the sanest person around on that fiasco, wasn’t he Fugs? I’d love to see the whole 3 Strikes crew back in action with this mess, plus about a zillion more volunteers and dollars. Those poor poor horses!
Will help with $$ as soon as method is available.
Jerry Finch is up to his damn eyes in that Montana Sanctuary train wreck…too many train wrecks at one time here!
First off I have read FUGLY for years and this is the first time I have commented. I have to say this Leachman development did not surpirse me. (This man has always made my skin crawl) I have been to several of Leachmans sales and the horses I saw were always in good condition, but, I always had a bad bad feeling about the man and his horse operation. His BS talk at his sales was so over the top. But I wanted to comment to help people understand about how they knew the parentage of any of the horses, it was because they did only turn one stallion with a band of mares. Thier horses were branded with many brands, I think the brands included the year of birth a brand for identifying the sire and a brand that identified the dam along with the Hairpin brand. (I thought the brands looked horrible,). I understand from the Billings Gazette article that they had leg bands with identification marks on the unbranded horses that were to be removed before the horses out grew the band and at that time the horse would be branded. One of the Billings Gazette photos was of a horse that was shot or died (can’t remember) that the band had been left on too long cutting off the circulation on the leg. I don’t agree with anything this man does but, some of this may aid in registering horses or in matching registration papers to horses. Even tho the man disgusts me and I would never buy a horse from him I’d gladly take 1 or 2 of these horses in to live with me if I was allowed to adopt them and if AQHA would work with the adopters on getting papers issued to the adopters. If AQHA would get involved and help with the paperwork and our law enforcement would help I really think many of these horses could find homes through free adoption. I think it would be surpising to find how many of those mares are halter broke and broke to ride , especially the ones that he bought from other people or conned from other people. ( I had a friend give him a bunch of awesome mares…my friend got sc**wed). Leachman should have done like I did, when the economy and the horse market went bad, I reduced my horse herd by 75% (I went from 40 horses to 10). I gave several broodmares away on the guarantee that they’d be sent to a trainer for 3 months and broke to ride. And yes, they were trained and its 2 yrs later and they are still being ridden by the same family. If you love horses and have quality with good dispositions and have socialized the horse well with people you can find a home but, you may have to give the horse away to find a a good home. There just any excuse for what is happening here. I don’t understand why those horses can’t be seized, and yes, they could be gathered and taken right to the BLS stock yards and fed there and given out for adoption from there or sold or what ever needs to be done. The facility is available within in a short distance.
Let’s hope the AQHA will be helpful here. With DNA typing, we CAN prove parentage (even though it looks like there are 14 options for sires). If you would take a couple, that would be awesome. I’m sure they’ll be made available soon. They have to go SOMEWHERE and now that media attention is being shined on this, local government will simply not be able to let them all starve.
Crappy looking hairpin brand? I think I put some training on a mare off this ranch. Bay roan Hancock mare, that I know was bred in Montana and unhandled until she was nearly 3 years old. One of the sweetest, smartest horses I’ve ever encountered. She’s an all-around mount for a 12 year old 4-Her these days, competing in everything under the sun. Is she AQHA-show-level material? Probably not, but she’s this little girl’s whole world.
This fat fuck is going to walk away with a slap on the wrist (5 years maximium? He might serve 11/29)…..And at what point is AQHA going to man up and do something about these cases????????
Sounds about right…hey, good for you for dealing with a wild 3 year old. And thank you! NOW she has a life.
If only we could clone the people who are capable of doing that…and actually want to do that…
“But I wanted to comment to help people understand about how they knew the parentage of any of the horses…”
Thank you for that helpful explanation!
….and a 1- to 2-year-old black-blue roan mare that had been walking on her ankle bone for a year after apparently breaking her leg.
who the fuck knew about this mare for a year and stood by letting her suffer?
The thing that really burns me is that he COULD have sold some of these horses at his annual sale but CHOSE not to because they wouldn’t bring in enough money! Seriously! This from the guy who “notices discomfort in his herd more than 90% of other people.” and “who would do anything to fix the problem.”
Apparently feeding or selling these horses isn’t in his solution to his own problem.
Wow. I haven’t read the comments yet, but was so disgusted by the article I had to note a few things. Namely, this asshole is obviously on crack.
The five dead horses cited as evidence include a young mare with what appeared to be a broken leg on Dec. 19 and later found dead Jan. 15; a black mare nursing a colt; an old bay mare nursing a colt that couldn’t walk because marking bands placed on her front legs strangled her circulation as she grew; a buckskin mare with a colt with a severe cut tendon; and a 1- to 2-year-old black-blue roan mare that had been walking on her ankle bone for a year after apparently breaking her leg.
An old bay mare nursing a cold that couldn’t walk because marking bands placed on her front legs strangled her circulation as she grew???????? WT(mother-loving)F is THAT???
And leaving a horse to walk on her ankle bone for a freakin’ YEAR?????????? OMG, this guy really SHOULD be shot. Take him out back, hang him, THEN shoot him – AFTER he’s dead.
It looks to me like the bank forclosed on his property, the neighbor bought it, and the guy just LEFT all 450 head of horses on the farm and walked away (while he scrambled to come up with the cash to get it back). Like, what? The new owner gets the horses in the deal? I bet the new owner was surprised when he went over and found THAT.
BUT, I have to say this… it does sound like the new owners are adding to the problem. They HAVE blocked access for the horses to more land: What is different about this winter is that these horses cannot roam freely to find grass because Leachman doesn’t control the land anymore. The Stovalls (ME: new owners) started calving heifers last week, so most of the horses are confined on the Tschirgi with no grass left. Only yucca spikes, wisps of cheat grass and sagebrush — a last meal for a horse — poke through the snow and ice. That’s the article, not the original fucktard talking.
I’m sorry, I realize you got a bit more than you bargained for when you bought the property, and you’re worried about being sued, etc. (according to the article), but fuck, seriously??? You’re just going to block the horses from pasture land and figure it’s not your problem??? I do NOT agree with that at ALL. Get on the phone, call every authority you can find, call the media, call the Humane Society, do SOMETHING.
“I planned on having a sale this fall, I just couldn’t have it. Sure, I could have it if I wanted to sell my horses for 200 bucks,” he said in December. Yeah, he should have sold them for five dollars EACH if that’s what it took to get them into new homes… Shit, he should have PAID five dollars each to get them gone!
This story just makes me SICK.
I have a question. Why is this blog so despised? I honestly don’t see a legitimate reason, unless you happen to be featured on here/act similarly to those that are.
It’s despised by those who have been featured here, and of course by much of the pro-slaughter crowd. Which is, of course, fine with me. Not everybody’s gonna love you! The e-mails I get from people who are grateful that I taught them how to feed their old horse and get him fat again, or who decided against getting rid of that old horse after reading my blog, are so much more important to me than anyone’s negativity could EVER be.
Oh my. That question was specifically in reference to the FHOTD-Review blog. They claim that here, it is a whole lot of “pot calling the kettle black”-ing. They also claim that one of the things that they dislike most is the band of self-riteous commenters. Isn’t that essentially what the demographic of commenters over there is? Only they are pro-slaughter self-riteous commenters. Which of course makes them your target. Oh, and they thought that having a palette in a horse pasture is ok. And having really really ugly broodmares is ok. And this is ok because it fuels the slaughter industry. Right.
This, to me, appears to be a whole lot of pot calling the kettle black calling the pot black. Upon point this out to them (in a polite manner) my comment was promptly deleted.
Oh, and apparently, we are supposed to be OK with horse abuse. I think I should like to let them talk to a rescue group.
Oh ya, thats quite a group over there on the FHOTD Review site isnt it??
My “favorite” comment was the person who argued that indiscriminate backyard breeding was necessary because we would otherwise have a very limited genetic pool and soon all the horses would be carrying defects and other illnesses.
Just goes to prove you cant fix stupid. And there sure is a whole lot of stupid over there that needs fixing.
I know this is off-topic but I would REALLY hate to see this mare end up in the wrong hands, especially since for some reason she’s being offered up for free. She is in the Central Texas Area, and is just wonderful (but not a beginner’s horse, and supposedly has some arthritic and back problems that may be fixed with slow, cautious training and good saddle fitting, and she weaves, so DEFINITELY not a stall horse!) wonderful mare with heart. She’s not mine, but she’s at my boarding stable and I adore her! I didn’t know how else to send this. Get the word out!
http://austin.craigslist.org/grd/2170097378.html
“It’s broken! Quick, pull up the Craigslist, Honey!”
No kidding! From what I saw as her training progressed was that she and her rider were pushed to jump too high too fast (in my opinion, as they went from crossrails to three foot within two months, but I’m not a jumper) and I have heard that that can cause a sore back, and her saddle is the same brand as the one I have owned but am getting rid of because it caused the beginnings of a sore back on my mare (thanksfully nipped it in the bud). So, once again, I do wonder if the soreness can be alleviated with some re-doing here and there.
Also, she is by Jones Hall (not out of). And she is not built as downhill as him, from what I’ve seen., but got the jumping goods.
Just a basic $25 hoof trim x 450 horses = $11,250.00 x 6 times per year =$67,500.00. ( If my quick math correct? ) No wonder he just turns them out in winter pasture and lets them fend for themselves. I have 8, and know how much time and work, not to mention money they require. Can’t imagine even a rich person being able to support 450 very long.
See, people like this don’t think they NEED to do what most of us think of as the most basic of care.
And THAT is why we call them asshats!
According to the photo, he has at least $2.00 to his name. Wonder how much hay he could buy with that.
He also has a very snazzy, undoubtedly very expensive hat – my (unscientific) observations over a lifetime tell me that those who wear super-snazzy, expensive hats have huge egos, along with huge delusions about how super-speshul and beyond criticism they are. Just sayin’.
Some other bloodlines involved besides the Blue Valentine and Hancoclk lines are:
2 stallions that are sons of Paddys Irish Whiskey bought at the John Scott Disperson Sale
1 old palomino son of Peppy San (he was leased when I saw him, sure hope he went home long ago)
The mares I really liked and was familiar with were from a Montana program
and sired by a Black stallion named Snip of Colonel and his sire is Colonel Freckles and Snip of Colonel
is out of an own daughter of Doc O Lena. He had those mares in his program for a lot of years.
The mares my other friend had that Leachmans ended up
with were all cowhorse and reining bred too. They had also bought sons and daughters of Doc O Dynamite
and Paddys Irish Whiskey, Smart Chic O Lena, and I don’t remember what all else was in the catalog. I had one of their last stallion catalogs too. I am just posting these additional bloodlines in case these horses go up for adoption, and in case these crosses are more appealing to some of you…
Very good to know! I personally really like the Colonel Freckles horses I’ve ridden. I had the coolest mare ever by a horse called Slew A Freckles.
Love those bloodlines. My husband would LOVE to get ahold of a Paddys Irish Whiskey foal. I keep telling him no more horses…maybe some day when we aren’t looking at 250.00/ton for hay again!
Cathy, I’m sorry, OT, but how can I check about a rescue in the area?
The name is Homeland Horse Rescue Ranch, they have a Facebook page. Our 4H club might volunteer if it’s legit.
There is no formal method. I’d visit, see if the horses look well cared for, see if they themselves say anything that makes you wonder. Some whining about money is normal — OMG WE DON’T HAVE HAY MONEY FOR NEXT WEEK is not normal.
Also, google the principals’ names, in quotes. And look them up in your local court records if you have free online access. It’s amazing what you can find sometimes! Obviously if it’s a common name, you have to double check by matching up addresses, etc.
wow. I have heard rumors that Leachman has had a less-than-stellar reputation in the cattle business for years; there was a magazine article about him recently expanding into more horse breeding. From what I’ve seen of the catalogs, the horses’ main selling point is supposed to be the type of bloodlines (referenced above by Fugly) – youngstock & broodmares – not any handling or training that they (haven’t) had. It might be a difficult audience to get the word out to, but I bet there are ranchers out there that would be thrilled to pick up a few “sale-priced” horses from this mess and actually put them to their “intended” use. After all, that’s (part of) what we pay cowboys 20K/yr to do, is ride out colts bred this way, right?
Amigo, speaking of registering to own a horse, anyone in Oregon seen this yet?
http://www.leg.state.or.us/11reg/measures/sb0200.dir/sb0262.intro.html
“As the 2011 Legislative session kicks off, SB 262 creates a new system that requires anyone wanting to become a horse owner in Oregon to submit an application, pay up to [$25 -] $100 and wait for the state to approve ownership. And, if you already own a horse, you will be required to register it with the state and pay the fee anyway. If you want to sell horses [as a business], you must register as an “equine trader” by paying another fee up to $100, have a notary stamp the sale document, send monthly reports to the state on your horses’ health and the state can enter your property at any time to inspect” Taken from AFP Oregon Newsletter
The bill also mandates that no horse be transported more than 8 hours without a 6 hour break out of the trailer. ”
Wonder if it’ll make it through in a useful form. (Think we can tell which side of the fence the Newsletter this came from is on?
But the jackass doesn’t want to sell them for “sale” price. That’s what’s most offensive to me in all this! ARGH.
I read that entire law, which apparently the person that wrote the piece couldn’t be bothered to. It pretty much says that horses have to registered twice: state of Oregon and breed registry (if applicable). Owners pay a transfer fee for papers (must transfer within 30 days.)
There is nothing in the law that says a person must be approved to own a horse. Someone made that up, it just isn’t there.
Horse traders are defined in the law as a person that takes horses for the express purpose of resale, it says nothing of private owners or breeders, and the permitting process is to protect the traders from 1) being wrongly fined under this law and 2) accusations of theft (reason for the notary).
The law also states that auction would have to have the ownership papers and transfer them, which would include any breed registry info.
This law would actually make dumping horses at auction harder and the rescue’s job easier as they would be able to pull owner and registry info on kill pen horses.
Yeah… I love it when people just make up their own facts! gag!
(that was not intended as a slight against you, but the newsletter)
Freaky law, sure, but there are already laws about licensing your dogs, which may already be registered with any number of breed registries. (This would make registered dogs double licensed, as well.) People register and license their cars, boats, etc. with the state. The money (taxes) collected (is supposed to!) pays for any number of things, whether it’s highway maintenance, or whatever.
Wouldn’t it be nice if the money collected actually paid for things like animal control, rescuing horses, and served to curtail clandestine backyard breeding and hoarding? You never read about animal control having a surplus of resources, and they usually cry about their lack of resources as being one major reason they can’t better respond to complaints.
Just another peice of shit trying to push the blame onto others. No one seems to be able to take responsibility for thier dumbass actions any more. We are a “not my fault” nation if I ever seen one. What the ever living fuck is going on with this country? Have ppl gone mad? Our moral progress gets worse and worse every year. Leachman needs to be shot point blank and the other responsible need to be made to clean up this mess. So Leachman would rather let the horses starve to death over selling them for a couple hundred dollars at best? What a fucked up douchbag this guy is. AQHA wont do a damned thing. IF your going to take on a large group of horses you need to have the means of caring for them and selective breeding program, not just tkuring out 14 stallions with a band of mares and hope for the best. One stallions breeds 10 mares and if all 10 mares take then the following year you have 21 horses and double the food intake, not long before you have 40 if you dont sell anything and well you get the drift. Sorry that says back yard breeder to me. I dont care if they are banded or branded if the market is so poor then why the fuck is he still allowing these stallions run in a harem and continue breeding? Hell, hand selected and bred mares with written pedigrees and promising lineage prodegy are had to sell these days. Are the younger “stallions” running amuck with the group…like the yearlings or two year olds….They are of breeding age and can father offspring? Its going to take alot of DNA testing and $$$$ for this mess.
Eating snow is NOT near enough water to properly maintain hydration in a horse that normally consumes 10 to 15 gallons of water a day. Why the hell do you think they are bombarding the water trough when someone does show up with water? DUH! Eating snow provides VERY LITTLE water to an animal that needs copioous amounts of water to sustain normal bowel function and system functions. Cows need water just as much as a horse, does one expect a cow to live off of snow also to sustain life? NO! IF the situation was reversed the cows would be bombarding the watering trough when someone has the brains to give them water. Putting the horses in a known are that has no water source with out providing any is just plain fucked up and stupid, not to mention cruel and inhumane. Lets watch Leachman starve for a while and or go with out water for a good period of time, even with snow on the ground. Stupid God Damned mornic, baboon brained, bone headed, yellow bellied, two faced, dog shit eating, asshole, Loser, miserable pile of vomitous mass, fucktard of a douchebag.
“Stupid God Damned mornic, baboon brained, bone headed, yellow bellied, two faced, dog shit eating, asshole, Loser, miserable pile of vomitous mass, fucktard of a douchebag. ”
I admire your restraint.
Wholee fuckin’ crap coated in vomit….what a human piece of garbage.
This is just beyond the “disgusting”!
Why in the hell are fucktards allowed to walk around, much more own animals.
Fugs….3 weeks into 2011 and as already mentioned….you just found your asshat of the year. And he doesn’t seem to be suffering from lack of groceries (as mentioned).
Wanna bet Douche Bag Duquette and Slaughter ‘em Sue Walrus chime in and say it’s because slaughter is unavailable in the US? This fucktard lives so slose to Bouvary/Richlieu, he could probably spit on the plant.
Any reason why this has elluded our ever vigilent, TMZ focused press?
I couldn’t read the whole post…I became physically ill visualizing the reality….in this weather and time of year.
This would be a perfect time for HSUS/ASPCA/Ms. Pickens to step in with their checkbooks and get some presstime. Who knows….maybe they are doing that as I type.
AQHA can’t do anything but FUCK….every horse it comes across! And even then, they allow for CHEAP and FROZEN FUCKS to boot! SCUM!!!!!
1) Horse slaughter is not illegal. It is only illegal for human consumption.
2) These horses are within a “sovereign state ” so, they can build a slaughter house any time they want and slaughter all these horses.
3) The idiot who owns them would, no way, allow his valuable horses to go for slaughter as he wants more than the kill price for them!
Fugs, to lighten the mood a bit, you should have a Horse Ad FAIL day. I’m sure there’s some real gems out there. Like this “red roan” for sale:
http://seattle.craigslist.org/oly/grd/2175374779.html
hahahahaha
I hesitated a lot before weighing in on this one. First of all, from what I’ve read, this whole situation is a clusterfuck what with tribal lands, foreclosure issues and what amounts to a former owner abandoning his property (the horses) in the hands of the new owners. No one is coming out clean on this one. Others have commented plenty on that state of affairs and I’m in agreement that pretty much everyone invovled is an asshat. 450 starving horses is a lot of starving livestock and it’s plain to me that no one who has the power to actually do anything for them really gives a shit about them. If this Leachman guy were a serious rancher, would he let 450 cows starve to death? Good god no! A starving cow isn’t producing much in the way of beef or calves. But he lets his horses starve because he can’t get his money out of them by selling them? Doesn’t wash. This guy isn’t a rancher. He just wishes he was.
And here’s the part where I’m probably going to get crucified….*IF* this guy were indeed a real rancher, 450 head of horses is not unreasonable. A real rancher is running an operation that probably encompasses several thousand acres of land and a few hundred if not thousand head of cattle. These places still exist, folks. Just look up the AQHA’s Best Remuda Award. If you have a 20,000 (YES twenty thousand) acre cattle operation, you don’t have gas stations to gas up your ATV on the way out to check on that herd in the back 2,000. Maybe there’s some parts of your land that can’t even be accessed by modern means. What do you have? A herd of working horses. Bred on the ranch. By a ranch stallion (or two or three) out of ranch mares. Bred on the ranch, broke on the ranch and used on the ranch. And guess what? Folks like this are too busy working for a living taking acre of their animals to give a crap about going to a horse show. Besides, why would they need to? A good horse that does the job on the ranch is worth his (or her) weight in gold. These horses are checked on, fed when they need it in a hard winter, and I guarantee that a good rancher will humanely shoota horse that broke it’s ankle, not let it wandera round on the land for a freaking year.
Just like everything else in this world, it only takes one asshat to ruin things and give everyone a bad name by association. In this case, it’s ranchers with large operations who dare to own more than 50 horses.
But how many of these working ranches are content to breed and care for their horses, without making surplus horses (more than they can use) for some ridiculous production sale every year, where they only contribute to a surplus of outright admittedly non-show, average horses? Obviously and statistically, there simply aren’t enough working cowboys to absorb them. So, what are they doing? Contributing to the surplus horse problem.
Show horses or not, working horses or not, caring for them, and feeding them, is never optional. Never. A ranching lifestyle does not magically negate the need to care for them. The concept of being responsible for an animal is universal, whether you’re born and bred in Brooklyn or Bitterroot. And the concept of overbreeding is quite easy to understand. All you have to do is see all the puppies and kittens waiting to be euthanized at animal shelters, then imagine them as 1,000 animals that eat and shit a lot more. Again, a chosen “lifestyle” does not supersede cold, hard, facts, and it overbreeding ultimately impacts everyone.
450 horses is more than even the biggest ranches can support. Each cowboy will have 3-4 horses in his string. Even if you have 10 full time hired cowboys, (which most ranchers can’t afford) that’s a remuda of about 40 horses. They will probably replace the working horses at a rate of 25-30% a year. So if you have a broodmare band of about 100, you’ll still be selling a large number of foals each year. If you add more horses to your band, you have extra work, need extra feed, fencing…etc. It’s just bad business any way you look at it.
Exactly. It is bad business to make things that don’t sell, PERIOD.
This is true redcolt- No ranch has a need for 450 broodmares. None. And while I like his bloodlines, this guy PROVES that you cannot make a living out of well bred ranch horses.
Exactly. And to the apologist who commented upthread with some version of “That’s just the way it is on the range, and you city folk don’t get it…”, I call BS. I come from farmers on both sides of the family, dating back to the Civil War. People who starved/neglected their stock, *no matter how many they owned* were regarded as losers, pretenders, and generally beneath contempt. It was a glaring sign of sloth (one of the 7 deadly sins, don’tcha know), wastefulness, and incompetence. If the mare with the broken ankle had been owned by any of my relatives, action would have been taken immediately. No she would not have been euthanized by a vet and laid to rest on a bed of tulips, but she would have been put out of her misery ASAP with a bullet.
My ancestors were also farmers. In their case if a horse or other animal wasn’t pulling his weight he was put down. This included mules, dogs and even cats. They couldn’t afford to feed an animal that wasn’t helping in some way. From talking with my grandparents, cruelty from neglect wasn’t much of an issue because they didn’t have the social taboo against putting an animal down. And that was as simple as a bullet.
From this perspective, what Leachman has done makes no sense. He had no hope of ever selling that many or being able to use them. I tend to agree that most if not all of them should be put down. I doubt the current rescue resources can handle this.
If we as a society are going to think of horses as pets, we need to get used to the idea of putting them down as we do stray and unwanted cats and dogs. Horses cost way more to keep and cost more to put down but still. Give them a month or two to find a home, then put them down. And under no circumstances should anybody pay for a BYB horse. That just encourages them. If there’s nothing to do with them but put them down, hopefully eventually they’ll quit breeding them. Though extra horses aren’t as easy to be rid of as puppies and kittens.
Thought I saw in the post the the Crow Nation was somewhat involved because of “leases”.
HMMMmmmmmm……..wanna bet the Department of INterior has a bigger, yet unknown role in this tragedy???? Somehow, someway they are probably involved (let’s discuss the problems of the long term holding shitfuck that is DOI a’ la excessive-no place to go roundups (if they don’t get murdered during the roundup/processing), 3 Strikes and the ranch of the same.
OT, but I recently received an email asking for my support of a woman named Madeleine Pickens. It talked about her plans to rescue 2,000 wild horses in a sanctuary that she was planning. You can go to her website, http://www.madeleinepickens.com , and she talks about it there. If this is legitimate it would be great to have that many horses safely cared for, but 2,000? Does anyone know anything about this?
Well, she is married to a billionaire. But my feeling is that anyone can run out of money. I do not know if this lady has the foggiest clue how to handle one mustang, herself. I saw her at a party once and I am not gonna bet money she could put one into a trailer, that’s all I’m saying…
Hmm, well, being married to a billionaire WOULD help. I know the Humane Society just awarded her “Horsewoman of the Year,” but I was curious if she was actually serious. It looks like the BLM turned down her offer because her plan “wouldn’t save taxpayers money and there wasn’t enough forage or water” on the land she purchased to house her 1,000 mustangs. (Apparently, she dropped the number down 1,000 horses). However, she says on her website that the BLM had approved that same land for a similar quantity of cows. The whole thing doesn’t make sense to me- it sounds like the BLM is trying to find fault with her plan, but not for the good of the horses. She claims to have been working on this plan with them for 3 years. I smell a pile of crap somewhere, but I’m not sure whose yard it’s in.
Actually cows can graze on a lot more range than horses can since they are ruminants. They can breakdown the beta -glycosidic bonds in cellulose whereas horses can not. That’s why you can turn out cows on pasture land where horses will starve to death on it.
I follow several off-track rescue sites. I get their updates and “horses available” emails and enjoy reading stories about youngsters who are retired before they race because they show no speed or interest in racing (the term used is “not competitive”), sent for retraining by caring owners. I also enjoy reading about the retired racehorses that have done their job and are still useful for broodmare, pasture pet, trail riding or perhaps training for a discipline that could succeed at the horse shows.
In EVERY case, the TBs and SBs are described by breed, height, age, registered name, and what sort of training they have received — if, and how long, they have been under saddle, what type of movement they have, what they seem to be interested in, if there was an injury and the vet has cleared the horse for exercise, etc. Often, as with Shiloh, there is a video of them under saddle or being lunged. Then, of course, there is the adoption fee. For some the fee is almost nomimal, under $1,000. In other cases, the fee is still reasonable (considering what the horses have earned and what training they have received as well as the “down time” after the track) at several thousand dollars.
The retraining is the key, however. THAT is what perks up the interest of buyers.
I’m always amazed at people who think HAVING horses and offering them for sale “as is” will bring in the big bucks.
As a horse trader I know once said, “The only people who make money from horses are those who buy ‘em cheap Friday night after dinner and sell ‘em for more the next morning before breakfast.”
Oh BS! This guy is a total fuck twat! What a miserable POS he is.
What really annoys me is that he said he didn’t want to sell them all for $200 – NEWSFALSH, a horse is only worth what someone will pay for it. They obviously aren’t worth anymore than that, and here’s a tip for you – they sell a lot better BEFORE you starve them!
Why the 450 horses? I don’t get it. That’s like that sanctuary you recently posted about with 600 -700 llamas?! I just don’t understand how people think they can look after, handle or ride that many. How the FUCK are you meant to pay for worming paste, hoof care, vet care and food for that many horses? Surely you think about that before you actually accumulate that many? This is the kind of irresponsible retard that shouldn’t own a goldfish! Who could even think it’s acceptable to own 450 horses? Why would you WANT to own 450 horses? I have 3 atm, and I will rescue and rehome another in April this year – and 4 is PLENTY for me. I do not want, need or have enough money to pay for more than 4 and I know that. I’m 18 and I know more than this twat does about limits, responsibility and money balancing. Geez, how stupid can a person be?!
http://www.operationhorserescue.blogspot.com
Here’s a great NEW trainer, guaranteed to outdo Parelli, and all the others!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRmxcASjR5s
Ummm, don’t know about Ms Pickins but her billionaire husband tops the list for greed and land control….google what he has done in Texas regarding controlling water….goes ‘green’ in promoting wind power while amassing water rights…..made his fortune selling oil and will do the same with water….makes a person wonder what his wife’s motive is beyond ‘saving’ mustangs.
Mrs. Pickens got her first bit of the spotlight on Alex Brown Racing, oohed and aahed over by the bleeding hearts there. She seems like a nice enough lady with her own heart in the right place, but the logistics of what she wants to do seem to be overwhelming her, AND I’ve never been able to make sense of what her plan is.
Having money is nice, but any business venture needs a business plan. So many rescues start with NO plan–just a person who (to use an ABR favorite term) “lubs” animals and wants to save them all. Invariably, without a business plan, which among other things outlines sources of funds — both incoming and outgoing — for at least five years, with enough earned and in the bank before the venture starts, the rescue ends up in an epic fail.
Inadequate facilities (pictures of all these fails in the winter with the mud and ungroomed hairy horses don’t help), crappy and completely inadequate fencing, no money for things like shoers, basic veterinary care, and food are all red flags that pop up all over. And God forbid there is an injury or other emergency.
Lynn Reardon did it right: Plan, funding, support, facilities, etc. She is also a hard worker and is willing to put in the time. She knows what she is doing, and if she can’t get the job done, she knows who to call to help her. And because she can PAY HER BILLS, the help continues to come when she does call.
Rescue is not something undertaken lightly, with a full heart but nothing else. Good intentions aren’t enough. What’s that old saying about “The road to Hell …” ??
I agree with your whole post.
And I’ve taken shit here for questioning Madeline, but I feel the same way…WHAT is the plan? What are the specifics? Who is going to handle it when a sanctuary mustang is out there with an injury? Where is the staff coming from? Again, this is a single-donor scenario — JUST LIKE the Montana Sanctuary — what happens if T. Boone loses his ass somehow? Where is the backup plan?
Like it or not, put a fence around it and YOU OWN IT and are responsible, legally, for the same care as if it were a QH or a Thoroughbred.
I have a feeling that Madeleine would say that the horses do not need any worming or care as they do not get any “in the wild” and that, “in the wild” they are left to die “naturally”
Someone needs to inform this woman that “in the wild” there are never, ever 2,000 animals in any one area, nor, contrary to what they show you on Westerns, have there ever been! Also, of course, once you take ownership of them, whatever you might want to tell yourself, moraally, and legally, you are responsible for their care, and you can, and will be prosecuted if they are left to suffer. There will be a LOT more people watching her, and her little enterprise, than, unfortunately, were ever watching this toe rag.
Just a thought- the money spent on that guy’s hat to mention nothing about his clothes and the money in his fat hand, would have gone a long way to purchasing a square meal for all those horses
Easy to catch a whole herd of starving horses. Build a three-sided corral, put some hay inside every day for a week until the horses figure out where it is. Then build the fourth side, but leave it open. Station some people on horses around the corral, but kinda out of sight, if the horses are really wild. Wait til the majority of the horses go in to eat, then close the fourth side. Worked back in the old days for the mustangs (did anybody EVER ride Glen Balch’s books? He used box canyons), and they aren’t usually even starving. Don’t have to stress them out by driving them. A bunch of Nobel, Preifert or whatever kind of panels could be rounded up temporarily, then gotten back to their owners when the horses were caught and taken care of. Don’t know who might want 450 semi-wild horses, but as many fugly horses as there are out there that have been rescued, I’m sure somebody would take them. The ones in the worst shape might have to be euthanized. Just takes somebody to take initiative and organize a team. I don’t live anywhere close enough, and work full time but I’m sure there are people out there that could put the whole thing together.
As far as the fat old dude who bred them, maybe somebody ought to drop him off in the middle of nowhere with nothing but the clothes on his back and tell him to tough it out for a few years with no help and no food provided. He’s a fuckwad of the lowest order.
I was going to say, it bears noting that we caught 225 starving horses at Three Strikes, all mustangs, mostly unhandled in THREE DAYS…using mostly volunteer crew.
Oh, and not a horse or human got hurt doing it.
By no means am I a professional, but I have been apart of the horse world long enough to have a few recollections of some ‘wtf’ horsey moments.
1- I was watching one of my friends ride her horse in the arena with another girl on her own horse. This girl was young and was definitely not in control of her horse, but she never got after him during her ride, so he basically did whatever the hell he wanted. So, of course, she ends up taking off his bridle, and wrapping a string around his neck to try to guide him. “Wtf” is just running through my mind as she attempts to steer and control him (very unsuccessfully) and instead of putting back on his bridle (which I actually suggested to her as she rode by me), she removes the string and is basically just wandering around on a horse she has absolutely no control of. My friend stops by me on the rail and we both watch as a new rider comes into the arena unaware of the bridle-less horse and opens the gate. So without surprise the girl’s horse bolts through the now open gate and gallops off towards its stall with the girl clinging to his neck and literally screaming for somebody to help her. I heard her say later that she and her horse had such a strong bond and that she was all about natural horsemanship.
2. I was riding a horse in an arena and, without looking up to see if anybody was in there riding, a person turns their horse out with me. I wish I had said something when I saw her approaching the gate, but I unfortunately thought she was just coming in to lunge her horse. Thankfully, the horse I was on was a total saint and just watched the loose horse with curiosity until I alerted the owner that I was in there.
aaaaand I totally commented on the wrong post. What a fail.
This man is not an example of “how it is out there” cause I have lived my enter life out there and this just is not how it is as a norm.
I do believe the situation must be pretty grim since the vet evaluating the horses is DR Pielia and he likes a thin horse to begin with …he always gives me a hard time because my horses are too fat.
Someone mentioned Madeline Pickens and I wish she’d turn her place into a sanctuary for domestic horses and she could start with these.
“Someone mentioned Madeline Pickens and I wish she’d turn her place into a sanctuary for domestic horses and she could start with these.”
I agree. And 450 is a more controllable number, to see if she can indeed do it properly, than any figure I’ve seen her proposing before.
I am not sure how I feel about the Stovalls. I can certainly sympathize with their anger that Leachman has not removed his horses from the ranch that they bought. I do not know how many animal they have or how much more land they have. I can understand their reluctance to buy feed for Leachman’s horses. Leachman claims that he has left them there because it is his right to do so until the redemption period is past. He would likely claim that he did not owe Stovalls for any feed they had to buy for his horses since they brought their animals onto the property.
If Stovalls weren’t going to care for the horses, they should have been reporting their neglect. Putting the horses on a pasture with no water is inexcusable, in my opinion. (Although, if they have no feed, they might die faster and suffer less if they had no water. The ‘best’ way to starve horses is just not something that I have ever considered.)
I have never owned land, so know nothing about land foreclosure laws. Someone there must, though. Why haven’t the Powers That Be determined who legally has occupancy of the land and either made Leachman take his horses away or made Stovalls keep their livestock away. Six month is way too long for this to have gone on.
Is the HSUS getting involved in this one? That would be the only way, really. Since he dId horse sales in the past, there are facilities nearby. They will need a helicopter to find the horses, I suppose.
Oh I’m sure. It’s gonna be another Three Strikes, once the legalities are ironed out.
Bitch about the HSUS all you want, but I’m telling you, they bought me and a bunch of other people a plane ticket & food & hotel rooms so that the Three Strikes horses could be competently and safely rounded up. That operation was so well done, it’s not funny. I wish there was more footage of it out there. NOBODY got hurt. We got EVERY SINGLE HORSE. In three days. From a huge property. And you know what all the local ranchers wanted to tell me the most? That THEY were not like that. That THEY didn’t want to be judged by Jason Meduna. That THEY would never let an animal suffer and starve. And I believe them.
That’s the truth. No real rancher would ever intentionally let his/her stock starve nor would they pass up an opportunity to sell before a winter when they knew they would not have the money to feed them. A real cowboy, that was like a grandfather to me, taught me about feeding your livestock before yourself. His father taught him when he was five years old (which was back in the late 1890′s). He came in for dinner one night without feeding his pony and sat down. His father asked him if his pony was fed and cared for. he told his father that he would do it after dinner. His father told him, “No, go outside and take care of your pony now.” When he came back inside, he was sent to bed without his supper. He never forgot to feed his pony first again! In those days, your horse was your only mode of transportation and, therefore, your life depended on him. The cattle, likewise, paid for your food and necessities. There was no welfare back then. If you were too stupid to care for your stock properly, your family went hungry. That’s where the real cowboy ethic about caring for animals comes from. Not some bastardization based on some macho bullshit.
BTW, I have nothing against any organization that gets things done when worthless crap sacks like this fail. Their extremist friends might piss me off, but my hat’s off to anyone willing to clean up after this SOB.
Yes, a thousand times YES! I think that’s (almost) the worst thing about the situation, he’s giving honest, hard working ranchers and cattlemen a black eye. So many of them have struggled and worked their butts off for generations just to make a living, and then they get compared to this human garbage.
Words cannot express how infuriated I am right now at this disgusting, fat, lazy piece of garbage. Instead of shooting him, we should allow him to roam the Montana range without food or water. Oh, and break his legs first.
There are many horse related practices here in Montana that I have problems with. Turning horses out on “winter range” is one of them. I have read, no first hand knowledge here, I may be wayyy off base, but outfitters will turn their strings out fo the winter. The ranges supoosedly have running water. When the humans come back in the spring, it’s a head count to see who made it. Then they get trimmed, wormed, shots, and put back to work. During bear season, they will “sacrifce ” a sick or lame horse & shoot it for bear bait, for the mighty white hunters.
Fugs, once all the legal stuff is settled, do you think there would be any way to go help out? I’m 8 hours away in Colorado, but I was just curious if they usually take volunteers for these kinds of messes or what…?
Sorry if I sound totally clueless or ridiculous or whatever, I just have never participated or anything in something like this…
Well, HSUS has a thing called NDART which is how I got on the Three Strikes thing – because I had registered for that a long time ago (and forgotten I had, LOL)
http://www.ndart.org/
Awesome! I’ve started filling it out, but every time I try to submit it, it says I haven’t completed the references section…I’ll have to figure out what’s going on…
I hope I get a chance to help with this, I’d be so grateful to that I wouldn’t be able to put it in words!
Thanks Fugs, love your blog bunches, even if I don’t comment much
Fugs, this 450-horse thing is insanity. On a happier topic, I’d take that little paint, Shiloh, in a heartbeat if I lived closer. Nice square mover, cute butt…I’ve got one of those who might be a hair bigger and he’s so cute and smart he wound up being worth a ton of money. Tiny event horse, you betcha.
I have a donation account set up at Wells Fargo is anyone wants to donate. It’s called “Donation Account for Leachman Horses” also the NILE (Northern International Livestock Expo) is accepting donations and they are licensed non-profit. So far I am impressed with their coordination efforts. They are needing more water troughs and I am hoping to get enough money donated that I can get one purchased from them.
Also we don’t have any large animal rescues so that is a problem.
I think the idea of building a temp corral and baiting it with food and water is an excellent idea. I am going to try to get an update tomorrow from the NILE. I’ll let you all know as I find out more info.
Did anyone else notice the two different stories about having an “auction”? First he says “All the horses were meticulously sorted for a fall sale, he said, but the Stovalls mixed them up again and they keep moving his horses around without his permission, so he doesn’t know where they all are to feed or doctor them”. Then, further in the article is this: “”I planned on having a sale this fall, I just couldn’t have it. Sure, I could have it if I wanted to sell my horses for 200 bucks,” he said in December”. So, which is it?
I grew up on a 275 acre cattle farm (granted its not close to over 2,000 acres) but a large farm none the less. Grain and hay was grown on the farm to feed the cattle for the winter months. (tobacco was also a big crop back then as well.)
How come ranchers dont partition off part of thier lands to grow grains or hay to feed thier stock during the winter? This sounds logical to me. I remember seeing the farm hands out busting water holes in the ponds of the feilds. I remember going out with my dad to break open watering holes for the cows. Most of the cows ran from the the farm truck also keeping thier distance except for a hand full of the more docile ones. Yes a couple cows would die from time to time, thats life, but it wasnt due to starvation. I remember a cow having a hard time delivering her baby and a tractor was used to pull out the calf. The process broke the calve’s front leg, but instead of discarding the calf for dead a cast was put on its leg and was kept with its mother seperate from the herd so it could be cared for. My sisters and i would sneak down to the catch pen area to look at the calf and try to get it to come to us….we named it “Halo” for some reason I dont remember. But like the rest of the the steers and young bulls off to market they went when the time came. They were live stock, for human consumption but they were treated and cared for when the need arose for it. I’m sure a few cows were shot or put down (though I dont recall but then again its been several years). I thought good “ranchers” did the same, for every dead animal means the loss of income and though you should calculate loss in terms of income for sales you will still want to ensure the minimal amount of loss possible by caring for your animals. But again cows are sold for human consumption not horses (at least not here in the US) They are also more efficcient food processors (being ruminants) than horses. THey can survive on less than par forage and can eat more scrub type forage and live fair……not horses. How come a supposedly experienced (know it aLL) rancher doesnt know this fact? How did this Leachman ever think that breeding horses in mass quantities was a good sound financial idea? MIght explain why his cattle ranch went bankrupt…….no? GOing from one unsound financial endevor into and even more financially unsound endevor, well…. thats just plain STUPID.
You know… I think thats part of the P***off, This prick inherited something you and I could only dream of and squandered it away to nothing.
I can’t understand why people do this. Let me get this straight, besides being absolutely illegal and ethically wrong, who would want a bunch of hard to handle, stallion wrangling, foal catching, bad mare-a-tude fixers, and colt breaking women (and men!) being crazy pissed off at you? Wouldn’t that be enough to not do something like that?
You said it: “No one attacked Mr. Leachman… when his horses were in good condition.” Now that he let 450 of them suffer and starve, people are attacking him for it. What part of that do you find unreasonable?
By Laura Zuckerman Laura Zuckerman – Wed Jan 26, 9:56 pm ET
SALMON, Idaho (Reuters) – Stockmen will begin airlifting hay to hundreds of horses left to starve in Montana after their owner’s prestigious breeding operation went out of business, authorities said on Wednesday.
The target of the airdrop and an ongoing effort to truck tons of hay to a 2,000-acre fenced enclosure near Billings in south central Montana are roughly 350 horses whose condition has been steadily deteriorating since the onset of winter and in the absence of food and water.
The 350 horses are part of a larger herd estimated from 500 to 700 head. Hunger forced the other animals to break through fenced pastures and onto the rest of the 40,000 owned and leased acres that once made up the Home Place Ranch operated by James Leachman of Billings.
Law enforcement officials have charged Leachman, 68, with five counts of animal cruelty in what they say is a continuing investigation that may produce more charges.
The accusations against Leachman stem from the discovery in December and January of horses that endured such neglect and abuse that two of the five were killed to relieve their suffering and another three died of injuries shortly after authorities had evaluated them, according to legal documents.
The evidence pinned to the five dead horses included a mare that had been hobbling on the exposed bone of its ankle on a leg that a veterinarian determined had been broken for as long as a year, authorities said.
“These animals were mistreated,” said Yellowstone County Attorney Scott Twito.
Leachman, whose specialty was quarter horses favored by ranchers and whose stock was prized in the area for its champion bloodlines, had not been seen since early November on the ranch property he lost last year in foreclosure, according to a report by the Yellowstone County Sheriff’s Office.
“It’s a very complex and confusing incident,” Twito said.
Justin Mills, head of the Northern International Livestock Exposition, the trade association in Billings coordinating the feeding operation for the starving horses, said he has fieldedcalls from as far away as Florida from people who want to buy hay or otherwise help fund the feeding program.
The group expects its collection of hay will grow to 200 tons by Saturday, which will supply the 350 pastured horses for three weeks.
Mills said the fenced animals are the focus of immediate aid since they are in the worst condition. Government agencies have yet to decide how to round up the rest of the herd.
A telephone listing for Leachman was out of service on Wednesday. An attorney who has represented Leachman on other matters did not respond to telephone and email requests for comment.
Court records show Leachman’s legal troubles, including failure of a cow-calf operation known as Leachman Cattle Co., came to a head last July when his ranch was auctioned for $2.6 million by U.S. marshals.
The ranch’s new owners said Leachman left hundreds of horses on the property, finally forcing them to alert officials about the declining health of the animals, according to a sworn statement by a Yellowstone County investigator.
Leachman is scheduled for an initial court appearance in Billings on Friday. Each of the five misdemeanor charges carries a maximum penalty of one year in jail and a maximum fine of $1,000.
That is the latest news I have gotten. I thought I would share it for those that missed it.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110127/us_nm/us_montana_horses
Stocking rates vary depending on what part of the country you live in. Out west, especially where so much sagebrush grows, your stocking rates, or how many acres are required to feed one cow, could be as high as one cow per ten acres. Horses, because they are hind gut fermentors rather than ruminants are less efficient than cattle so they may require fifteen acres per horse on the same piece of land. Out here in Florida, our sandy soil only supports forage with low protein so we need to supplement our cattle and horses with concentrates to get them the required protein levels. Our area can support one cow per two acres or one horse per four acres. We raise a smaller breed of cattle, hence the wider range between horses and cattle requirements. When I lived in Virginia, our stocking rate was closer to one horse per one acre. BTW, stocking rates only apply if you are properly managing your land. IE rotating pastures, fertilizing and mowing at appropriate times and when unusual conditions do not exist, such as the long drought that the west has been experiencing for the last fifteen years.
Mr Leachman is a sociopath. He is not a typical rancher (to the contrary) and is no kind of stockman. Ranchers out in this country do not like Mr Leachman, and do not like how he does business. They know what Mr Leachman is, and have known for a long time. He used to bring in “dudes” that he charmed from all over, and sold them great numbers of stock (cattle and horses) every year at overinflated prices, advertised in beautiful glossy color catalogs, and the stock he sold ranged from low to mediocre to very good quality. Mr Leachman is a horrid excuse for a rancher, but he is a very good salesman and marketer (BS’er). That is all he is good at. And recently he’s started reaping some of what he’s been sowing for so long. The worst thing about this deal is, good folks (many are ranchers by the way) are unfortunately actually helping Mr Leachman, by helping those horses. Not that I have a better solution. Most all horse owners out west firmly believe the restrictions on horse slaughter helps lead to this kind of situation. However, Mr Leachman would have found another way to show his true colors, if not for this outcome. I certainly am not defending him. I do hope all the horses are taken away from him, and all are sold with every possible effort & chance of bloodtyping & establishing their pedigrees & AQHA papers. That would be the best possible outcome. Whether a man (or woman) has character or not, does not necessarily have to do with whether he is a city or a western person, although I have noticed some tendencies.
I think you said it all. Leachman IS NOT a rancher and he’s a shitty businessman. The only thing he’s good at is conning people, and I’d say he’s about run out of aces in that department.
The asshat pled not guilty [http://www.thehorse.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=17678&src=LN].
“Leachman also said he would seek the case’s dismissal on grounds that authorities lack proof the horses died due to unacceptable agricultural practices “and for jurisdictional questions since the horses were largely on Indian Trust land on the Crow Indian Reservation.” †I am wondering what sort of acceptable agricultural practices would lead to horses looking like those.