Fugly Horse of the Day » auction reports

Auction Alert – for the SoCal folks!

Snugly & Snarkly — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 02:41:52 +0000

Caroline Betts of SoCal TB Rescue is down at Mike’s Auction in Pomona and I wanted to share the three OTTB’s that are down there hoping to be rescued. Caroline does NOT have space so we are praying for private parties to step up and help these guys!

This is Golden Award, a 2002 unraced mare. I would say we can describe that pedigree as “bred to death.” Caroline reports she is thin, super sweet and needs hoof care.

This cutie pie is Sherry’s Topper. I wonder who Sherry is and if she knows he is here? He is only four years old so a lot of years of life left in this guy if he gets rescued.

And finally, this is Watercraft, a 1997 mare. Raced only once, had at least one foal.

So how about it? If you’re here in the L.A. area and been thinking about rescuing one, there is no time like the present. Last time I was at Mike’s, all the TB’s went for $150 or $175. It was ugly. All three of these deserve better, don’t you think?

Mike’s will let you pick up tomorrow between 10-2 if you buy today. SCTR does have have people at the sale that can bid if you paypal them. If you’d like to do that, E-mail me and I’ll hook you up.

So, Karin Struck, exactly WHY are your two old broodies in the kill pen?

Snugly & Snarkly — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 08:01:05 +0000

You know, the ones that are still listed for sale on your web site? MHR Eunizara and Red Sonia. Why are they in Ron’s kill pen at the Enumclaw sale, scared and afraid to be separated?

For that matter, what the hell happened to the chestnut mare’s leg? Here’s her thread on Auction Horses. Please go to Auction Horses for information on how to help the mares.

Karin, you have been showing like nuts last year. It’s obvious from your web site that you are not hurting for cash. Nice statue, douchebags. What did THAT cost, yet you cannot possibly keep your old mares that produced baby after baby for you, and you know, RETIRE them? Instead you dump them at the auction?

In case you were thinking Karin might actually be innocent, and that someone might have scammed her out of her two old mares, nope! She helpfully left this note when she dumped her old mares!

Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with you, Karin? You’re pathetic. Money can buy many things but apparently it can’t buy a conscience or any sense of fair and decent behavior.

If you show Arabian horses, I really hope you won’t do business with someone with as little love for horses as Karin and her family have shown. There are too many good people to give your business to instead.

Bite me, stupid, selfish bitch…if you think no one in the Arabian world cares that you did this, I’m guessing you’re in for a surprise.

The Nine Lives of Sugar Ray San 073

Snugly & Snarkly — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 14:15:47 +0000

At this point, I’m pretty much convinced he’s part cat.

I’m going to show you a picture of a stallion called Sugar Ray San 073. I think most of you will agree that this is a pretty nice horse. His breeders should be proud – they brought something into the world that was nicely put together and that had a pedigree that made sense and pointed to a specific use. He had a lot of potential for success.

And you will all be pleased to hear that someone did a good job training him — such a good job that two years ago, he was being ridden by a 12 year old girl. From all accounts, he is exactly the sort of stallion I like — kind, sweet and knows to stay on his “gelding manners” unless it’s time to breed.

What will shock you, if you haven’t already read the story, is where he wound up. Yeah, that’s the Enumclaw auction and he was in the kill pen.

Somewhere between February 2010 and the present, things went horribly wrong for “Handsome,” as we discovered was his barn name. He was sold at the Hermiston Auction for $900. Well, there is your first problem. As I’ve noted before, if you care at all about a horse, the auction is not the place to sell him. Even though he went for well above kill price, $900, and was not in danger that time, within months he was in the hands of a dealer named Porter, who resold him to — speak of the devil — Chuck Walker in Zillah. Yes, Chuck of CBER fame. HOW $am didn’t see this animal and ransom him to the gullible public for enough money to buy herself a Birkin bag is quite beyond me, but somehow he escaped her attention and got sold, instead, to some guy named Jake who took him to Enumclaw. And there he sat in that kill pen, his papers not having been transferred by ANY of these people (he is still registered to his owner from 2004), no history, no one even knowing he was broke to ride, shaggy and sad and with an old leg injury.

I am sure he was wondering just what the fuck happened. And his skittishness now shows that he’s been handled in the past year by fucktards who think that you have to be rough with a stallion to keep them under control, or some such horseshit. Fortunately for Handsome, he escaped death one more time – Auction Horses publicized him and Katie Merwick of Second Chance Ranch got him bailed out and to safety at a wonderful foster home.

So what have we learned today, FHOTD students?

1) Selling at auction is a really good way to up the odds that some moron will wind up with your horse. Remember that you have NO CONTROL AT ALL when you sell at auction. Those folks I featured yesterday? They can buy your horse. So can the horse tripping people, the freaky-having-sex-with-animals people, and the methed-out-and-living-on-welfare-with-a-barbed-wire-pen people.

2) Failing to show your (broke, sweet, good looking) stallion is a really good way to up the odds that he will slip through the cracks at some point. Think about it. If one of the top stallions in your favorite breed wound up at a local sale ten years later, a horse you’d seen shown many times, that name would jump right out at you, wouldn’t it? Even if you hadn’t heard it in a while? Showing creates name recognition. Name recognition is often the only thing that stands between a horse and death. Think about it, those of you who like to argue that showing isn’t everything. Nope, it isn’t, but it sure as hell does create some life insurance for a horse in case the unexpected happens and you are not able to keep him in your ownership his entire life.

3) TRANSFER THE DAMN PAPERS WHEN YOU GET A HORSE. Katie has managed to assemble the history on this horse but it took a while. She had to rescue first and research later. She pulled him not knowing if he was broke — a big deal given that he is about to be a gelding. Up to date papers would have made a big difference to this horse when his neck was on the chopping block.

4) I don’t care how nice it is, someone can fuck it up in a hurry and render it damn near unrecognizable and the next thing you know, it is a steak. We all need to be responsible and do our very best to keep that from happening. This horse could have had a tune-up to be show ready and been sold for a heck of a lot more than $900. Yeah, it would have been more work than just running him to Hermiston — but it was the right thing to do.

As Katie said, “Every person who has known him during his life (other than the horse trader), has emphatically stated what a NICE horse this is. He is described as “special”, “amazing”, wonderful, kind… and YET he landed at FOUR feedlots (Cathy in: or auctions), nearly going to slaughter every time in about a year’s time.” Yep. This can and does happen to VERY nice horses. You are the person who has the power to keep it from happening very nice horses that used to be yours. Please put in that effort to sell to a real, quality home and don’t use the auction as a dumping ground for what doesn’t quite fit in to your breeding program. I know it’s the easy way to have it off the feed bill, but you have to live with yourself and I do believe the former owners on this horse regret that they didn’t do more to ensure his safety.

Handsome is safe now and being gelded. If you’d like to make a donation to help him, the paypal is info@secondchanceranch.org and your donations are tax-deductible and very much appreciated. I hear there are a few adopters interested already. Personally, I’m really hoping he gets a little girl of his own. If he was good enough to pack one around as a stallion, he’s going to make a rock star of a gelding!

But what can I do?

Snugly & Snarkly — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 07:27:31 +0000

I hear this question all the time from people who (wisely!) realize they do not have the time or money to rescue a horse themselves right now. Some of you are in school, some of you have little kids, some of you are out of work. You live in the city, you don’t have a car, and going out to volunteer at an existing rescue is not an option. So, today I want to tell you a story about something that any of you can do, something that someone did with ten minutes of their time that made all the difference in the world.

At this last Enumclaw Auction, a tall chestnut Thoroughbred was dumped off. The tail tag read “Abby Chill” so this is most likely the person who dumped him. He was one of six horses she dumped, but she bought four, so she most likely fancies herself a horse trader. Too bad she cannot also master feeding them or having their feet trimmed! He was thin and sad and his hooves were terrible. Thoroughbreds don’t do well at auction in general — most “real” buyers at auctions are looking for quiet, family horses, and this guy was not only “too” tall, he was plenty stressed and scared. He went to kill, of course, and while he was sitting there in the pen, someone took ten minutes of their time to post him and the other horses on Craigslist, with pictures. I haven’t heard who did it, but probably someone from the Auction Horses board.

Many years ago, this horse had a wonderful home but his owner married Mr. Wrong (most of us can totally sympathize). Mr. Wrong said the horse had to go. She found a home for him that checked out and seemed good.

Years passed and she divested herself of Mr. Wrong, so she was free to pursue her horsey dreams once more. She kept looking, but the trail had gone cold. Late one night, she was surfing Craigslist, as so many of us do, and there he was…her horse. She had the meltdown you can all imagine at his condition, but he was there! He was still alive! She got in touch with Katie at Second Chance Ranch and they got Sunny quickly snatched off the lot. Within days, he headed back to Portland and back to his loving former and now once again owner, Amy. Here he is, this week.

Sunny has his own Facebook Group – check it out.

So, the next time you are wondering what you can do, how about contacting former owners when you see a horse in jeopardy, whether that’s in a kill pen or being given away for free or scary cheap. You can easily find this information on registered horses online at most breed registry sites. You can also check Horse Reunions and Net Posse to see if someone is looking for the horse. Or just google the registered name. If it’s a grade horse, try posting the pictures to Craigslist’s Farm & Garden section in the area. I’m not saying harrass anyone but a simple note saying “hey, I see that you used to own Horsey Name, and wanted to let you know s/he is currently in the kill pen/being given away/whatever in case you are interested in helping or taking her back. Here is the contact information (or the link to the ad) if you want to help.” So, all you are doing is doing a favor and of course that may be ignored, but you have tried. And any of you can do it. Maybe the next happy ending will be because of you!

My nominees for Asshats of the Year: Bill and Joanie Dinsdale!

Snugly & Snarkly — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 23:19:35 +0000

Few things annoy me more than people who clearly are NOT in major financial distress dumping horses at auction and letting them go to the kill buyer. While I don’t think there is ever an excuse for dumping horses at auction and letting them go to kill, I can at least understand how people who are out of work and losing their homes may be having a hard time coming up with euthanasia money and may think there is no other option and therefore may make a terrible choice like taking an old horse to an auction run by a kill buyer.

But not when you are showing at the goddamn breed shows!

Yes, today’s asshats, Bill andÂ Joanie Dinsdale of Kentwood Farm in Kent, Washington, Â have, shall we say, rather interesting priorities. They do not have any problem whatsoever shelling out money for training and campaigning some of their horses on the APHA circuit. They are all over these show results, with a BUNCH of different horses!

We show a LOT! And we WIN!

Back at the ranch, things are not quite so sunny, and they haven’t been for a long time. One farm visitor I know described their Kentwood Farm as follows: “those people were NUTS!!! They had pastures full of yearlings and 2 year olds that were like schools of fish – unhandled and wild as march hares. They never had any bedding in their stalls…..literally like 50 stalls with mares and BABIES covered in poo because he had enough money to breed everything on the place but was too cheap for bedding. What a bunch of jackasses!”

But hey, unless you visited the ranch and saw this stuff for yourself, you had no idea. After all, they sure looked good at the horseshows, didn’t they? Until they decided to dump a whole ton of super nice old broodmares at the !$&$!Y Enumclaw auction. Where the hell did you think your old mares were gonna go? Good homes? Don’t even start. You’re not THAT stupid. You’ve lived in the area a LONG time. You know EXACTLY who Ron Mariotti is and what he does with horses he can buy for $50 at the sale.

Let’s start with Rainbow Bright. Rainbow Bright is TWENTY FIVE YEARS OLD. She has a very good record as a broodmare.Â Three of her foals earned APHA ROM’s and one of those has five Superiors.Â Another foal has been kicking butt at the open shows.Â And it turns out the mare herself had a long and successful show career.

What did she get as a reward? The kill pen.

Oh, and that mare you see hiding behind her is from the Dinsdales, too.Â She is a daughter of Sucha Smoothie.Â They sold for $100 each to the kill buyer.Â Yes, they both got bailed out – no thanks to the Dinsdales who put her in that kill pen.Â Of course it cost $400 a piece to bail them out.Â (One wonders if Ron promised to kick back some portion of the profit to the Dinsdales?Â You know, we’ll hold the ax over these super awesome well bred old mares and these bleeding hearts will give me 4x as much, and we’ll split the profit.Â Wouldn’t surprise me a bit.)

Now let’s move on to I’m Sonny’s Angel.Â This is a DAUGHTER of Sonny Dee Bar.Â I found someone who has a son of hers and she filled me in:Â “She has produced a 2x world champion western pleasure and trail horse, a youth world champion with multiple top tens at the youth world, and along with [my] gelding who has many points to his name and a big show career.”Â Again, you’d think that record would earn you something more than sitting in a pasture emaciated and suffering from DSLD and then taken to the auction in that condition.Â But no.Â Here’s I’m Sonny’s Angel at the sale yard.

Nope.Â She sold for fifty bucks, straight to kill.Â And yes, she got bailed outÂ too, by someone who was appropriately horrified, and she is now knee deep in good grass enjoying what will probably be that “last, good summer” before she gets put to sleep by a vet – you know, instead of hanging from a hook with her throat cut which the Dinsdales were apparently just fine with!

Finally, let’s talk about (not that she’s the last or there weren’t a dozen more, but I don’t want to write a book here) the one I ended up getting, Highfalutin Fox. Foxy, who is a daughter of Barlink Macho Man,Â showed up ribby, with terrible teeth and a weeping eye. Why, you ask? Why, because while Bill and Joanie were busy buying light-oil saddles and paying trainers, they could not stick a crowbar into their checkbook and pry out $250 (yeah that’s what it cost me) to have the tumor removed from this poor mare’s third eyelid. So she just sat and suffered with it ’til last Friday.Â Can you imagine how it feels to have a tumor inside your EYELID?

What a nice mare, huh?Â Even in this condition, you can see that whoever bred this mare (I don’t have the papers yet or I’d give them kudos) TOTALLY knew what they were doing.Â This is a super high quality old mare.Â Now she is a super high quality old pet, instead of being a mediocre old steak which is apparently what the Dinsdales were okay with.

Sure, slaughter is legal…well, shipping them to Canada for slaughter is legal.Â On strictly legal grounds, the Dinsdales haven’t done a thing wrong.Â But it’s also totally legal for me to share this opinion with the world:

Bill and Joanie, I THINK YOU SUCK!

If I could only get all of the people who DON’T LOVE HORSES out of the horse world, I would certainly be happy.Â I’m so sick of people thinking of broodmares as some kind of production machine that you crush into a cube when it stops producing.Â That is a DISGUSTING attitude.Â Â These mares are living creatures that all deserved better than to wind up standing in a concrete yard waiting to get packed into a semi and hauled to Florence Packing (or all the way to Mexico, not sure where Ron’s taking them these days).Â Have you ever watched slaughter footage, Joanie?Â Are you REALLY okay with that?Â I swear, I’d just love a peek into the mind of someone who is completely okay with the idea that this is how their horse will die.Â I just can’t imagine it.Â And you call yourself a Christian on your Facebook.Â I call you a big fucking hypocrite.Â While we’re at it, I call you stupid.Â These mares got snapped up at $300-$500 a piece by the community.Â Why the hell didn’t you hold a decent, registered horse catalog sale, advertise it properly, put a $300 minimum on each to keep them safe, and attract that community in the first place?Â Â But no.Â You take them to Enumclaw which is the equineÂ equivalent of throwing a goldfish into the toilet.Â

Now, I know that someone will post and say that by outing people like this, people will just dump their horses without papers and that’s worse.Â Sure, some may. But do you really think the horse community won’t be able to ID a lot of them anyway?Â Â A black, twenty-something stallion got dumped too and as soon as I have good pictures, he’s going on this blog too and we will find out who he is.Â See, all of you horsepeople have got someone who doesn’t like you.Â I mean, that’s true of any of us.Â If I dumped a horse at auction, papers or not, I guarantee you someone would out me.Â Â What it comes down to is that more people than not are repulsed by this behavior and someone will out you – your farrier, your vet’s assistant, a former or even current employee.Â Sometimes your own family.Â Â Do the right thing, because you’d be amazed at how often you’ll get found out doing the wrong one!

Thanks to the Auction Horses message board for helping to coordinate the purchases of these mares.

Cremellos in the kill pen, check it out!

Snugly & Snarkly — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 20:46:11 +0000

My apologies to those of you who have nightmares every time I post these reports, but PLEASE forward this one to your ignorant friends who STILL think color will keep their foals selling well and safe.

IT’S A LIE.Â A BIG, FAT LIE.Â THEY ARE NO SAFER THAN SORRELS!

Please, please, please, do not breed your stallion this year if he does not have a solid record of accomplishment in a competitive discipline.Â I don’t care what color he is. I don’t care if he’s a fuschia and chartreuse zebra-striped sabino.Â Don’t do it!

Think of your young stallion like you’d think of your teenage son.Â Sure, he wants to breed!Â They all do.Â But I’m guessing most of you would advise your sons to delay marriage and children until after finishing school and getting a good job.Â That way, the kids will have a much better life, right?Â You don’t want your grandchildren living in a studio apartment in a crappy part of town, do you?Â That’s all I’m asking you to do with your stallions – develop the stallion and his accomplishments first.Â See if he really has what it takes, compared to others.Â I swear, if I see one more horse pimp rubbing their hands together, gleeful at the fact that 2 year old colts can breed, I’m gonna throw up.Â Your stallion has his whole life to breed mares – get that competition record on him FIRST!

Oh, and to the people who brought the adult, unbroke broodmares to the auction – congratulations.Â The fact that you were too damn lazy to put 30 days of training on them sentenced them to death.Â Good job, asshats!Â None of us can predict the future, so please, if you own unbroke broodmares, make this the year you get them started under saddle. You do not have to be trainer of the year to get them to walk-trot on trails and that is enough level of accomplishment to save many of them from the slaughterhouse if things go bad for you.Â There is no excuse for anything, stallion or mare, to only be a breeding machine and given that fertility is not endless, it’s not safe for them to only be a breeding machine.Â If they are sound get ‘em broke – just in case and before you are in money trouble and have no choice but the auction.

February 27, 2010 Auction Report, Tofield, Alberta Canada

Buckskin five yr old green broke pregnant to draft 430…meat buyer

Ten year old Quarter Horse bay mare nice but a little scared.Â Ridden.Â ..400Â Â Private buyer

Shetland geldings driven and broke.Â Cute with light manes tails. Four and six yrs. 125 each. Private

Shetland gelding ran in 25 meat buyer

Mini sorrel cute ridden mare 180 private

Welsh team driven geldings seven and ten yrs grey and b/w pinto. 325 each private

Shetland black and white pinto broke ridden and going well. Four yrs.Â 200 private sale

Bay mare six thoroughbred broke with paperwork ahanahan. Ridden and went well. 370 meat buyer

Bay gelding well broke ridden jockey club reg thoroughbred. Seven yrs 700 didn’t sell him

Belgian team driven geldings 14 and 15. Going well and handsome.Â 950 ea picked up their feet.Â Private sale

Grey gelding qh registered ridden roped and cattle went well not for beginner 750 private

Black ridden gelding qh cross ten well broke anyone can ride. Calm brand on left hip XS (x on top, s below) 1050 private

Grey gelding morgan arabian gelding.Â Warned Will pull when tied, thirteen yrs.Â Went well. 550 lady rode him.Â Owner kept

Quarter horse seven sorrel mare.Â Broke but fast.Â Riddden responsive went well 500 owner kept

Buckskin gelding. Ridden and going well.Â Three yrs or so they dint say.Â Pretty head nice horse.Â Picked up hooves. 1100 owner kept

That was it for saddle horses…now saddles sold

Mexican saddles. 300 picks one..300 picks two.Â 300 all the junky Mexicans were gone 250 for the last one

Then unbroke horses

Black Quarter Horse two year old no white, registered.Â Run in scared but pretty, Â good weight 250 meat buyer

Chestnut Quarter Horse 2 Â year filly run in star marking good weight pretty 260 meat buyer

Standardbred four year old no papers not fast enough to race but broke. Let around 9DN3E brand on neck 300 meat buyer

Sorrel grade stud with halter chased around 350 meat buyer Walter â€“ straight to slaughter

Cremello tobiano yearling filly application there yearling ok weight 90 meat buyer

Palomino mare Quarter Horse papers promised Nice looking, run around yelling for foal selling as grade pretty good weight 385 meat buyer

Cremello yearling same as earlier one a little heavier meat buyer Les

Cremello tobiano mare registered seven bred. Chased around with rope halter ok weight 300 meat buyer Walter…straight

Cremello mare reg papers good weight 285 meat buyer

Palomino six year old paint mare registered run around friendly and petted led a bit 270 meat buyer straight to slaughter again

Black paint filly year old 180 registered meat buyer

Paint mare palomino pretty four year old Quarter Horse cut on knee not bad registered a little thin 270 meat buyer straight to slaughter

Pretty palomino yearling filly. Run through 140 meat buyer

And the loser is…

Snugly & Snarkly — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 18:09:12 +0000

Whenever I post a story like the one about Hercules (original blog here), I know that there are those of you in my audience who would like to believe the best in people. You think, well, maybe his owner was very poor, or sick, or died. Maybe they had no choice at all. Maybe they were young and just didn’t know. You want to believe there’s some reasonable explanation for their beautiful old horse winding up in a kill pen. Then there’s me — I’ve been in rescue long enough to know that a lot of people JUST SUCK. They’re greedy, they’re selfish, they take the easy way out and to Hell with the suffering they cause. After finding out who dumped Hercules and his little white donkey friend, I have had that belief confirmed once again.

Yep, it only took days before I was able to confirm with multiple sources who recognized the horse and were able to describe the woman and her facility perfectly that the person who’d had a big bay Thoroughbred matching Herc’s description on stall rest with a little white donkey was Wendy Hsue (formerly Wendy Jones) of Storybook Farm in Issaquah, Washington. Wendy, shown at left, is no starving teenager – she’s the wife of an affluent, albeit shady, dentist named Kuzi Hsue. Here she is riding poorly on her new toy, a Haflinger. Poor Haflinger, I hope someone else buys it before IT gets old and broken! Check out the heart bodyclipped into its butt. I guess that heart means “I love you as long as you’re sound and able to compete.”

Wendy has a lovely, leased facility called Storybook Farm (assessed last year at $1.8 million dollars) and an approved Swedish Warmblood stallion called Cinzano that she has had in dressage training and been showing (yep, Wendy – not broke!), but somehow, despite having no lack of funds or facilities, Wendy could not bring herself to provide for her old retired show jumper, Hercules, whose real name was – get this – “Tiny.” Nor could she stick a crowbar into her wallet and pry out the equivalent of one lousy designer handbag to send Tiny over the Rainbow Bridge in a quick and painless, vet-assisted way. After trying unsuccessfully to dump him on Craigslist, because after all there aren’t a lot of homes for a lame 17 hand horse that will eat you out of house and home, off to the auction he went, along with his little white companion donkey.

Here’s the ad – helpfully saved by someone else who thought it was sad that Wendy was dumping him!

Goofy giant looking for retirement home. – $1 (Issaquah)

Reply to: sale-j5bzq-1251959656@craigslist.org
[Errors when replying
to ads? ]
Date: 2009-07-03, 9:15AM PDT

17.2H, bay 18yrs TB gelding, he is a total charactor and fun to be around.
Tiny was an upper level event horse (3rd/4th level dressage jumped 5+’) but
has an injury, not lame but not sound for competition. Really looking for a
pasture type retirement home for him. Only maintenance he needs is shoes and
hay in the winter. He is like a big dog comes when he is called, loves on
everyone and tries to play all the time. Good with other horses but
terrified of minis, they chase him. Email me at wmkjones@msn.com or call
425/463-8575
* Location: Issaquah
* it’s NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial
interests

PostingID: 1251959656

The story is just an endless sea of weirdness. She claimed to love this horse, and had owned him for a long time, in fact, ever since he left the track – but thought it was perfectly acceptable to end his life by taking him to Enumclaw and telling Ron she wanted him to go to kill! Â I cannot wrap my mind around how you can even BE that fucked up in the head.

Well, Wendy, from what everybody tells me, you LOVE to be the center of attention. Â So today, you get to BE the center of attention, right here on the Fugly blog! In fact, I will personally proclaim you the Asshat Queen! Â Look, you’re royalty!

So here’s what I have to say:

- Good LORD, your jumping sucks.Â This poor horse more than deserved retirement for the rest of his life for putting up with how you ride, if that pic at left is any example.Â From what I hear, you ran him into the ground, rode him lame, crashed him over jumps etc. and that’s why he’s so f’ed up now.Â Congrats.Â Good job, you waste of peroxide.

- Not everybody loves you. I know! I know, it’s just so hard to imagine for your cute little blonde self, but there are people out there who think you’re a jerk and who gleefully ran to me with all the info about how you left YOUR OLD SHOW HORSE at Enumclaw to be shoved into a double-decker and driven to Canada. Just how comfortable did you think your 17 hand horse was gonna be in a double-decker, Wendy? Did you ever think about that? I just can’t get over how someone justifies to themselves that this is an acceptable way to “dispose of” their old show horse. WTF. Did you sell your soul to the Devil in exchange for your cushy lifestyle or what?

- If you are trying to make a horse disappear quietly, taking it to the Enumclaw auction is kind of like putting it on a VH-1 reality show. EVERYBODY SEES IT THERE. Also, I hear you’ve been a frequent flyer at Enumclaw, so EVERYBODY THERE KNOWS AND RECOGNIZES YOU, TOO. Wow, wouldn’t coughing up $400 for that euth and disposal have been a heck of a lot better bargain than the damage to your reputation from this little drama? Â I don’t delude myself that I can convince people like you of the value of doing the right thing. Â If you were going to do the right thing, you would have on your own, because you could have never lived with doing what you did. I only hope to convince people like you that $400 is better than winding up on this blog.

- Kill buyers like Ron have loyalty to one thing. It’s green and has a dead President on it. When Ron tells you a horse is “kill only,” he means “unless someone else offers me more money in which case I will grab it and giggle all the way to the bank about how I scammed the silly bleeding heart rescue girl.” In any event, it’s totally irrelevant because at that point, everybody had already seen and photographed your horse in the auction pen. The story about him was on the Internet before the auction was over. Welcome to 2010 and modern technology!

Oh, and one last helpful tip, Wendy:

When you know that you are about to be featured on the Fugly blog, and don’t tell me nobody gave you the heads-up that most of the PNW was looking for the villain who dumped a huge bay gelding and a little white donkey at Enumclaw — not like THAT happens every day — you might want to move into “damage control” mode. Telling your husband to pull down his posts on the Ferrari Owner’s Message Board would have been a good start. Owning a fucking Ferrari but refusing to pay for euthanasia or continue caring for your old show horse makes you both look like bigger douchebags than Jon Gosselin.

(Isn’t it funny that I compared Herc to a Ferrari in the original blog? Ah, irony! I didn’t know you had an ACTUAL Ferrari that you cared about way more than him!)

Oh, and since I know you will run around saying the horse was crippled and you were just trying to “put him out of his misery,” I’m gonna get some video in a few weeks because we’ve got the darn horse better than 90% sound and we haven’t even given him so much as a joint supplement yet!

Who needs coffee this morning?

Snugly & Snarkly — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 13:00:24 +0000

I am sending out a $25 Starbucks gift card to whoever can solve this mystery!

I am absolutely positive that some reader of this blog knows who this horse is.Â Here is what we know.

– He was rescued from the December 2009 Enumclaw Auction, so he probably came from Washington or Oregon.

– He is a true 17 hands (we sticked him) and is a tattooed Thoroughbred gelding.Â We are having trouble reading it.Â He is in his 20′s.

– He has had white line disease and his right front hoof has been resected.Â The farrier did an excellent job.

– No sign whatsoever of any abuse or neglect.Â A bit thin but we believe this horse has been living in a barn.

– We are positive he is an old show horse. You can clip his ears without a twitch and he loves being bathed and fussed over.

– He has not, however, been shown in a long time as his bridle path has been allowed to grow out fully and his whiskers were very long.

– When he arrived, he was aggressive and it seemed to be pain related/defensiveness.Â He bit Ron the kill buyer in the shoulder at the auction. What a good pony!Â Â Now, he is a SNUGGLE BUNNY.Â Someone has taught this horse to give hugs – if you hug him, he wraps his neck and head around you and squeezes. He is particularly affectionate with petite women and children.

– He has some pushy behaviors on the ground and will try to whap you around with his head if he doesn’t want to stand still.

– Even lame, he is an AMAZING mover.Â AMAZING.Â If he wasn’t an A circuit horse, it was not for lack of talent.

– Ringbone (obvious) in hind right.

– VERY playful.Â When you turn him out, he pulls stuff off the walls to play with, knocks over my trainer’s stuff, anything he can reach is fair game.

I want to know who this horse is.Â If not for Second Chance Ranch, he would have gone to kill.Â Ron marked him as “kill only” thanks to the bite.

I also suspect that he has an old owner who loves him. I just have a feeling about it.Â I also have a feeling that the other people at the barn he came from have NO idea that he went to auction.

So get your week’s worth of coffee and out the asshat(s) – extra credit for proof, i.e. pictures of him at his previous location or with whoever dumped him!Â Who the hell sent this awesome horse to die in a slaughterhouse?Â They KNEW where he was going with that hoof.Â And why?Â Sick of paying the vet?Â What?Â This is a Ferrari that was nearly crushed into a cube, and I want to know why and who was responsible.

Click below for even more pictures.

Enough doom and gloom…how about a Happy ending?

Snugly & Snarkly — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 05:40:31 +0000

There has been a lot of drama in the PNW horse rescue community over the existence of the Auctionhorses message board, which was developed to help coordinate the rescue of horses from the Enumclaw auction.Â Basically, the point that’s been made is that (a) sometimes when people save at the last minute, they don’t do so with a long term plan for how to care for the animal and (b) damn, that board is full of some of the worst known bottom-feeding horse neglecting ignoramuses that aren’t welcome anywhere else, and people are funding their idiocy.

I think (a) is true of most rescuing and it’s arrogant to assume that when person A acts on emotion, they’re going to make better judgment calls than person B. Â I’ve seen plenty of experienced rescuers who ordinarily have good judgment go off the deep end when faced with animals that ARE going to die if they don’t intervene. Â Almost everybody in rescue over-does it financially from time to time.Â It’s very hard not to.Â The pressure is always on you to save just one more, and the donors are at fault too – they donate very willingly when a horse is going on the slaughter truck tomorrow – then you can’t pry a dime out of them 3 months later, nor do they want to foster the horse or help in any way.Â Â Try to get someone to show up and clean stalls – you’re lucky if five percent of your rescue’s supporters ever pick up a manure fork.Â It’s not glamorous, and you don’t get attention for it.Â Everybody wants the rush of the Big Save and all of the attention that goes with it.Â When you start saying no, not taking any more, as I have done and several good friends have done, then you are a jerk.Â This is true in every kind of rescue. I have all but put a sign on my car saying Not Taking Any Cats Right Now and yet a day does not go by when I do not receive an e-mail begging me to take just one more.Â Anyway, I don’t know any way to fix that problem.Â Charitable donations are fueled largely by emotion and emotion often clashes wildly with common sense and good judgment!

As to (b), oh, it’s a totally valid criticism.Â But the folks there will have to live and learn and get burned just like everybody else did by those people.Â There’s no way around it. Â Let’s just say that if a half-dozen people are telling you that someone is bad news, you might want to take note of that before you buy them a rescue horse they can’t otherwise afford.

That said, and given that I’ve been criticized for publicizing the Enumclaw kill pen horses, as if somehow merely talking about it made me responsible for everything in there that might get pulled by a not-so-great home (give me a break, I talk about horses in need every week), I want to talk about an extremely happy ending from the October auction.Â Here is my original blog from that day.

Eeyore was lot #408, a skinny and sad looking Thoroughbred gelding originally identified as a mare.Â He had a big ankle and a sad look.Â There was a handwritten note on his stall suggesting he would make a good hunter/jumper.Â Maybe with a leg transplant!Â Eeyore sold for a whopping $85.Â I sure hope the asshat who dumped him enjoyed the $20 profit they pocketed after their gasoline and the auction listing fee.Â They walked away, and Eeyore was left where most old Thoroughbreds with a big ankle are left – in the auction pen awaiting the truck that would have taken him to Florence Packing, where he would have been quarantined for a few weeks before going to Canada and ending his life in a slaughterhouse.

This is the kind of horse that frequently does not get rescued because people believe that horses this old are unadoptable, especially ones that have an obvious injury. Â I have seen many people argue that we should only use our resources to rescue young, healthy horses, but this story is a good example of why I disagree with that.

I liked Eeyore and I raved about Eeyore to a friend of mine here in Los Angeles.Â She decided to bail him out for Second Chance Ranch, and even sent him a brand new plaid waterproof blanket to help him stay warm and gain his weight back.Â Katie at SCR had Eeyore for just two months.Â By Christmas he was not only fat and happy – and renamed Mr. Happy in testament to his outstanding disposition – but he was home safe with his new owner.

This is the ex-lot-408 with his new Mom, who loves him very much – precisely because he is old, sweet, sane and predictable! Â As you can see, he is living very well and has regained every bit of lost weight.Â He turned out to be completely sound despite the old, fused ankle, and since all she does is light riding, it is a perfect placement for him.Â He lives at a lovely boarding barn that has many other Thoroughbreds and is just the light of his new owner’s life.

So, here’s my take on things like the auctionhorses board…proceed with caution, always, and use a little common sense and check people out before you blindly send money. Â Sending money to a reputable rescue with an overall good track record is always going to be a safer use of your money than sending it to a private individual with iffy facilities and a questionable reputation.Â Whether you’re in Washington, Georgia or Arizona, just use a little common sense about where you send your money.Â Â Look for someone who has a proven track record of success in rehabilitation, and who can show that they make good placement choices.Â The happy endings DO happen, and it’s totally worth trying to make them happen!

Just ask Mr. Happy!

Do you have a recent happy ending of your own for a rescue horse – particularly one that many people would have called unadoptable? Feel free to post about them – leave me the direct link with no tags and I’ll make it into an image – we still haven’t figured out how to make your images show up.

Auction Report: British Columbia

Snugly & Snarkly — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 21:03:38 +0000

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

3 year old reg QH filly, BRED for a may baby.Â Partly bagged up, HUGE belly, dropped, looked close to foaling p/o #$300

QH/Percheron gelding, kids’ lesson horse, rode through, very skinny, in his 20′s body score of 2 sold for $25

Grade quiet gaited gelding.Â Rode through, body score 3, start of DSLD? sold to trail riding outfit

Quiet reg QH dun mare, 2 year old. Cute, good weight. No sale

Monty, teeth floated Swollen sheath TB/Morgan, bcs of 3 $175 KB

Reg QH bay mare, 8 year old, nice looking been used as broodmare $325 rode through

4 year old sorrel reg QH mare.Â Used on ranch, well broke, swung a rope off it, $1000 to trail riding outfit

6 year old paint, rides good, good weight no sale @ $1000

2 year old Reg QH filly no sale @ 450

10 year old Morgan cross, rode through, good weight $450 kb?

Cute cute older white pony, kid rode through $300

Grade 11 year old rode through, good shape $350 kb?

3 year old roan Hancock bred, used on ranch, very nice, no sale at $1050

4 year old, huge build rode through, good weight no sale $900

Tall 10 year old 16.1hh appy geld.Â Sold for $350

Jet black geld. Kid rode through, older horse $350 sold to trail riding outfit

Fjord 12 year old rode through $550

Lead through grade $300 kb

Rode through reg QH, real quiet 3 year old no sale @ $275

ancient grey draft x, kid rode $150 didnt see who bought

blind in one eye appy, rode through, used on dude ranch, was rode in a halter, real quiet mare no sale @ 350

22 year old body score of 2 QH geld. Lady bought him for $75

Bay mare, rode through, 19 years no sale @375

13 year old stocky reg QH geld, rode through, looked like a hot horse. Sold $750

Black mini mare, bites $250

15 year old Standardbred gelding, raced and sound but had huge scar on inside hock. Rode through $500

Skinny gelding bcs of 2, bites, sire Couer de Lion.Â Reg. sporthorse. (took video) $150 to kb

17 year old rode through grade gelding $350 KB

Extremely skinny $25 (see video)

Appy, thin, 20′s, used for gymkhana $350