Posts Tagged ‘animal neglect’
Dubious charities pulling at your heart strings
Maybe it’s just me and my own innate callousness, but I find myself wary of self-proclaimed rescues who try to solicit donations by telling their own personal sob stories. Something about hearing of their personal tragedies or misfortunes makes me question what, exactly, my potential donation is going to be used for.
When all the “rescue” talks about is their inability to send Pappa Billy-Joe-Bob off to get another tooth pulled because they put all of their money directly into the rescue, it makes me think that they are beyond incompetent. First and foremost, if you can’t take care of yourself (or your human responsibilities) how do you expect to cope with the high demands of abused and neglected horses?
How is it my problem that you can’t afford to take your daughter to dance class? That’s either a sacrifice you chose to make prior to starting a rescue or you’ve taken on more horses than the rescue can financially support. Which has consequently put you in the position of having to put in more of your own money than you had intended. Both scenarios indicate poor management skills and poor judgement. In the end, people like that end up hurting horses because they take on more then they can handle and eventually won’t be able to feed them or provide necessary vet and farrier care. What happens if there’s an emergency? I’d be willing to bet good money that people like this don’t have a contingency fund for such occasions. And when horses are involved, we all know an accident will happen sooner or later.
Rough Start Rescue, I’m talking about you.
When you feel the need to post a blog post on your website defending yourself about your fencing (and erroneously stating that, as a 501c3 rescue you “are not able to make improvements to other peoples land”) and the vet and farrier care you provide, well, then something ain’t right.
They actually took that blog post off their website because it apparently turned into quite the debate and they didn’t like all that negativity. It’s ok though, I saved a copy! Here are some highlights:
- “They have also questioned our financial ability to take care of these horse and to that all i have to say is 30 plus horse who need weight is a strain on anyones pocket book”
- “if anyone would like to see my vet bills I would be more than happy to show you as we have spent close to 5000 in vet care last year”
- “As for farrier care the horses who will allow us to work with their feet they have their feet done at least every 14 weeks some more often others longer depends how fast they grow.”
- “Others have been so traumatized that they need to be sedated so there feet get done approx. three times a year as giving them IV sedation more often than that just for their feet we try to avoid. ”
- “Training consists of getting them to trust people, to allow us to put a halter on them, to be able to walk behind them without getting kicked, to eat out of our hand and be brushed and bathed and to be handled enough not to be a danger to people or other horses. ”
*FACEPALM*
Sometimes you just gotta say ‘what the fudge?’ When you have 30 horses that you’re just working to halter break, not saddle break, only have their feet done every 14 weeks and spend a [warning: impending sarcasm] whoppping $5000 on them in vet care you’re doing something incredibly wrong. Sure, $5000 is a lot for one horse in a year. But for 30, it’s potentially negligent. Feet done every 14 weeks or a minimum of 3 times per year? That is negligent. These people either have no knowledge of proper horse care or are blatantly disregarding it. Horses need their feet done typically every 6-8 weeks. It’s true some can go a little bit longer, but 14 weeks? I don’t think so. If a horse won’t stand to have its feet done then you tranq it. It’s not an ideal solution but it beats the hell out of waiting for their feet to look like they’re wearing elf slippers. How dare you call yourself a rescue when this is your attitude towards caring for horses.
Next, and here’s where my opening rant comes into play, RSR wants to use your donations to help them buy a farm. They are currently asking for $50,000 for a down payment on 20 fenced acres, complete with a 20 stall barn and indoor arena! Well fuck. I’ve been doing it wrong! I should just become a hoarder rescue and get people to donate the money to me!
Psst. According to their facebook page, their last move was done on September 21, 2011… draw your own conclusions.
They published this post on their website on January 25th stating that they had 6 days to get themselves and their 30 horses off their current property and wanted to raise the $50k in those 6 days to get into their dream home. Uhuh. And what happens when they get the $50k and are all nice and cozy in their new farm…
… and all of a sudden they realize that they’ve taken on more than they can handle and have made the difficult decision to get out of the rescue business. One day you’re helping to get a roof over these poor horses heads, the next they’re being shipped off to slaughter and these people are running a profitable boarding operation. Ok ok, I know, no one makes money at a boarding operation! Oh right, and this is a bit of an extreme scenario and probably won’t happen. But what’s to prevent it? It could very well just be me, but I don’t feel right about people asking me to donate my money to buy them a fully set up property. Hay? Vet care? Farrier work? Hells yeah. But you want me to help buy you a place to live? Nope. Pass.
Hey look! Barbed wire! Just what we all want to see at a rescue! And this guy is listed as a “stud cold” not available for adoption…
Oh and yup, another stud.
WHY were their balls not chopped off ASAP?! There’s nothing about these horses that warrants them keeping their man-berries (sorry guys, nothing personal).
Ugh. I want to believe RSR has their hearts in the right place but they seriously need to check themselves before they wreck themselves and those poor horses! Get your shit together. Downsize the herd. Concentrate on doing what you can to find those horses quality, permanent homes – and yes, that includes breaking them to ride (I find it sad that that needed to be said). And for gawdsakes get the damned farrier out more often than ever 14 weeks!
A chance to be proactive
One of the Fugly Blog readers recently emailed us about a case in Huntington, Indiana. We took a look at the news story and the accompanying video and thought to ourselves: who the fuck hired this woman as an animal control officer? Don’t you have to at least like horses to work there? Her attitude and body language, to our admittedly untrained eyes, say that she is not happy to be there. She appears to be annoyed with the interview and all the fuss made over the deteriorating health of these horses. Not to mention her incorrect assessment of the overabundance of cribbing due to boredom. [be sure to watch the video before continuing to read]
So we decided to offer our two cents to the investigating reporter. Last night we sent the following email to Drew Blair.
Dear Ms. Blair,
One of our readers forwarded us a link to your article (http://www.wane.com/dpp/news/local/neighbor-concerned-over-horses-care-dbl). Now, I don’t know if anyone has already contacted you about “cribbing” in horses and the erroneous statements made by Ms. Vanover but in case no one has, here are a few facts about horses.
-Cribbing is a behavior associated with boredom (she was correct there), but it is almost exclusively seen in stabled horses. Horses with grass to eat will not engage in this behavior.
-I have never, in over 15 years of experience, seen a horse crib on a tree, branch or side of a building. In fact, I think it may be impossible – here’s a description of cribbing from horse-cribbing.com “Typically when a horse cribs, he sets his upper teeth on an object (usually about chest level), presses down, opens his mouth, arches his neck, and pulls back” while sucking in air (hence why cribbing is also called “wind sucking”). In fact, if nothing else, it is easier for a horse to crib from a horizontal fence (as seen behind Ms. Vanover – which showed no evidence of cribbing) than a tree, branch or building. Certainly a horse could chew the trees and the side of the building but they would only do this if grass was not available (as in if they were in a sand enclosure rather than a field) or they’re trying to prevent starvation.
-The trees and branches in your video were stripped of bark – that is not indicative of cribbing – there should have been a groove/indentation for the horse to get a foothold (for lack of a better word) with their teeth, allowing them to pull back and suck in more air.
-If the horses had sufficient food in their field, they wouldn’t be leaning so hard on a fence as to almost collapse it, just to get at a few blades of grass. If horses have adequate food, they are not concerned with whether or not the “grass is greener on the other side”
Grass alone is not enough to keep a horse at a healthy weight, especially in the winter – and especially if there are too many horses on too small a piece of land (there are other factors to consider, but aren’t strictly relevant here).
I don’t know if you’re familiar with the rescue efforts that recently occurred on a farm in Many, La. – that was a hell of a lot worse than this case but these horses were starving and fed from trees. Some of them suffered from impaction colic due to the in-digestibility of the bark they ate from trees.
I don’t know what Ms. Vanover’s education or experience with horses is, but it is clear that she does not have their best interests at heart. Hopefully this helps clear up her statements. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
COME ON! For once abuse is being reported before the horses reach a Henneke body scale of 1 and they’re going to do nothing?!
Ok, ok, mini outburst done. We understand that if an animal control officer shows up and the horses have proper food and water there’s probably nothing they can do. But show a little compassion – or at least pretend to while being video taped – and promise to come back and check up on them. Otherwise, the next time you hear about these horses (in a few months time) they will be in “grave danger”, or in the grave itself.
The ArkLaTex Fuck up
Fair warning: this post contains coarse language and links to disturbing pictures.
First the facts: On January 6, 2012 approx. 60 horses were seized from O’l Home Place in Many, Louisiana. Not all of those are still alive and certainly none of them are well. According to one article, rescuers have so far found the bodies of 25 dead horses on the farm. The owner of the horses, Charles Ford, was arrested but is already out on bail.
Donna Keen, who took part in the rescue efforts, wrote this account of conditions on her blog:
On January 7th and 8th 2012 Remember Me Racehorse Rescue and the Louisiana Horse Rescue assisted the Sabine Humane Society in conducting a 60 horse seizure at a thoroughbred breeding and training farm in Many, Louisiana. There were originally reported to be about 120 horses on the property but by the time the case was built and the seizure was conducted half of them were either missing or deceased.
Not only were the horses at Charles Ford’s farm in horrid condition there was a large dog kennel full of hungry barking dogs with deceased dogs only feet away. There were also pigs and goats on the property that looked like staggering skeletons.
As this is an ongoing rescue effort, there really aren’t that many facts to report on. Of the articles we were able to find, they each quoted slightly different numbers. What is clear is that this was supposed to be professional Thoroughbred breeding and training farm.
O’l Home Farm LLC (Suzanne Ford listed as the owner) was still running horses at Louisiana Downs as recently as this past September. William R. Young is listed as the trainer in the track’s racing form. According to Remember Me Horse Rescue Mr. Young was on the property during rescue efforts and was commenting on the condition of some of the horses. In his eyes, the following emaciated grey mare was “not too bad” and he “laughed when she was being difficult to catch stating she couldn’t be too bad if she could still get away from” the woman trying to catch her.
Grey Mare (You’ll have to click; it’s refusing to embed. Grrrr.)
Apparently the trainer also told volunteers that “the owner will try and retain ownership of some of these horses. The Humane Society representative did tell us that this was his understanding and that in the end the Judge would make the final decision.” Unfortunately, and here’s where the law sucks, according to this article, Ford “has 15 days to post bond on all animals he wants to retain.” That bond is set at $1,500 per horse. Although if he’s hoping to claim multiple horses, than at least that amount is slightly more substantial than what bail was set at for Ford himself.
After all, you might be asking yourself, as we certainly were, how did this monster make bail when he can’t even afford to feed his goddamned horses? Naturally, we had assumed that since the DA is charging for each horse that bail would somehow reflect the number of charges. Nope. It was just $2,500. That’s it. The bastard wouldn’t shell out for edible hay, but bail he managed in a heartbeat! Of course, $2500 doesn’t go far when you’re talking about this many horses, especially in their current condition. According to the Louisiana Horse Rescue Association it’s going to cost around $450/day to maintain the remaining herd. That bail is worth just over 5 days to these horses.
From a TB Champions forum: “Louisiana Horse Rescue Association recently posted this list of dead/alive broodmares, given to them by Charles Ford, owner of the farm. Obviously, many yet remain to be verified. I’d heard that previous owners of Crossed Wire were actually going to go to Sabine Parish, LA, hoping to find her alive and to take her into their care. Unfortunately, it appears that that will not be possible.
ALIVE:
Auto B A Pro
Beautiful Lyrics
Beep Beep
Brassie Road
Bunny Cat
Cayla’s Playmate (euthanized during rescue))
Da Vinna
Dance Recital
Daring Tru (found dead horse with this collar)
Dillydalydeed
Fabulous Gamble
Formal Blossom
Galorious
I Dream of Jeanie D
Jewelry Talks
Le Big Time (claims to have given away)
Maggie’s Missy
Monita’s High Stepper (claims to have given away)
Moonlight Mango
Nassau Bound
Radcliff (claims to have given away)
Salty Cowgirl
Sattidy’s Girl
Sheikra
Tactical Vixen
DEAD:
Algebra
Ambitt’s Bullet
Anti Versay
Avie’s Trick
Bemybabytonite
Beyers Fortune
Call Me Eppi
Claudcat
Crossed Wire
Flattermeforever
George Sand
Great Aunt Alice
I Had To Laugh
Invalidate
Lady Di’s Kipper
Lissanisky
Miss Salty Gift
Notice
Ohnoitsmotherinlaw
O’Nora
Party Dreams
Pewter Power
Ralina
Samuri Dancer
Smokin Bonnie
Tiff’s Problem
Winterland”
In case you’re wondering, that’s 27 dead mares that the owner himself admits to. What possible defense can he come up with? Money issues aren’t going to cut it, especially considering the farm was still breeding and racing horses within the past year!
There are two things in particular that we find especially disturbing about this case.
The first is the incredible disparity in condition of the horses at this farm. While the broodmares and the babies were being left to fend for themselves (and dying off as a consequence), the “training” horses were stalled and in relatively good condition. How can someone knowledgeable enough to get horses in race shape just look on as others starve to death? Which brings us to the second thing – these guys were supposed to be pros. As much as we get after the backyard breeders and the irresponsible ammies, it pisses us off that much more when people fuck up at this level. They’re bloody well supposed to know better.
And just in case you weren’t depressed enough, here’s another abuse story from the southern US. In this case 16 horses and 2 donkeys were recently seized from a Missouri farm. According to a neighbor, he’s been complaining about the place for four years and 42 horses had died on the property in that time period.
Gwen Stockebrand Update
Earlier this year Mugly posted a story on this blog about Gwen Stockebrand. We have an update – the former Olympian has finally been charged with a single count of animal cruelty in regards to her care (or rather, lack thereof!) of the mare Valerie.
If you’ve read the original story, you’ll know that two of Gwen’s horses wound up in the care of Lost Hearts and Souls Horse Rescue. Ironically, Sister, the mare who appeared to be in better condition, has since had to be euthanized due to exhibiting stroke-like symptoms. It was determined that she was experiencing bleeding her brain. Valerie, who was a one on the Henneke scale and had heart problems due to malnourishment when surrendered, has improved to about a three. Here’s hoping she has a long, happy and healthy life ahead of her still!
We’ve posted a little more info on our original blog and Rate My Horse Pro also has an in depth article on the story.
And Another “Justice Served” Update!
I relisted the blog for a week to see if I hit my reserve, so I guess you guys get some more blog entries in the meantime! This was in my in-box and I knew it would make everybody’s day (especially since we’re all annoyed with the legal system after the Anthony verdict yesterday). This is from a gal named Jennifer LeFevre, who helped bring this disgusting woman to justice! It is too bad Donald Kamps was not also charged, he certainly should have been.
Once in a while, the good guys still win one! On May 24, 2011, a McHenry county jury found Jamie Koy guilty of 24 counts of animal cruelty & neglect concerning five of her horses being kept at a Crystal Lake boarding stable. Two of the five horses did not survive, and their deaths were directly attributed to their starvation. (Another horse was also impounded at the same time; however, it had a different owner, whose trial has yet to begin. That horse also did not survive.)
Des Plaines woman guilty of horse abuse
Horse Owner Found Guilty of Animal Cruelty, Neglect
My partner Jill and I investigated this case on behalf of the Hooved Animal Humane Society (www.hahs.org), and Jill testified during the trial as to the condition of the horses. The photographs that Jill and I, as well as McHenry County Animal Control, took of the horses, and the scientific medical testimony provided by Dr. Sara Jacob of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Veterinary Medical School, coupled with the amazing preparation and prosecution by Assistant State’s Attorneys Matt Ciesielski and Andrew Luther, literally left the defense . . . . defenseless. Apparently, a photograph is truly worth a thousand words, given the strong reactions by the jurors to some of the photographs of the horses that were presented by the prosecution. I am happy to share a photo of the horses if you would like to decide for yourself. However, our work is not done quite yet. On Thursday, July 21, 2011 at 10 a.m. in room 301, Judge Charles Weech will pronounce sentence on Jamie Koy, with a possible maximum sentence of one year in jail and up to $2,500 in fines. I am inviting each of you to join me in the courtroom – representing horse owners, horse business owners, animal lovers and concerned citizens in general – to show that this will not be swept under the rug and forgotten about. McHenry county is home to the largest number of horses of any county in the state, and we need to silently yet clearly and respectfully send the message that this is not going to be tolerated in our county. Please feel free to pass this along to anyone else you know that might be interested in attending. We will not be speaking, or protesting, but simply be quietly present in the courtroom to represent a fraction of the concern that the case generated. I will send a reminder out two days before July 21, and one final email to let you know what sentence is handed down. I plan to be at the McHenry County Courthouse (located at 2200 North Seminary Avenue, Woodstock – on Route 47 a mile or so north of Route 120) by 9:15 a.m. on July 21. Please do let me know if you do not wish to receive any further emails regarding this case.So if you are local…please make an appearance to show your support for a HARSH sentence for this horse-starving bottom-feeding lowlife! And do NOT do business with Donald Kamps…he is just as guilty and needs to be scorned by the entire horse community for letting those horses starve on his property.
