Posts Tagged ‘bad owners’
Cesar Parra: Accused of Horse Abuse (Updated)
Dr. Cesar Parra appeared in court on April 5th for charges pressed against him by the Hunterdon, New Jersey SPCA and Trudy Mirada on behalf of William PFF. According to Ms. Miranda, William PFF has permanent head tilt along with vision and hearing loss due to an accident during a training session with Cesar Parra. William PFF, a 4-year old Hanovarian Stallion, was brought to Piaffe Performance to prepare him for his Hanovarian Stallion Licensing and start to campaign him as a stallion.
Here is his story :
Dr. Parra put William PFF on the lunge with the reins from the bridle tied to the saddle and pully rein system then proceeded to work him. While in the process of lunging, William PFF got distracted by another horse whinnying outside of the arena and in the process of trying to lift his head to see the other horse he hit the end of the line, reared up and flipped over backwards, hit his head causing him to go into shock and convulsions.
Ms. Miranda’s statement reads as follows:
“The trainer tried to regain his attention by pulling on the inside pulley rein, which signaled to William to stop abruptly mid-stride, forcing his head up. Unfortunately, due to his momentum coupled with the tight physical restriction of the reins, the laws of physics took him off his feet and over backwards. Once on the ground, he struggled to get back up, but the tight rein restricted him from picking up his head and would not allow him to stand. William PFF was bleeding from the nose, convulsing and went into shock. Stable staff poured water over him to bring down his temperature, and he got a shot of Banamine, and it took nearly five hours to get the animal to his feet with the aid of several people and lunge lines.”
According to several articles he was in the presence of not only the owner but several other observers as well.
One of the spectators stated “Without warning and unpredictably, apparently in response to an outside stimulus, the horse suddenly exhibited dangerous behavior, reared, lost his balance and fell over backwards striking his head on the ground.”
Dr. Parra continues to state he “Is deeply saddened that the horse was injured, but categorically denies any allegation of cruelty, abuse, gross negligence, recklessness or any other inappropriate conduct in the handling of the horse. Sometimes horses are injured in the course of being ridden and trained because of their unpredictable behavior without any inappropriate riding or training method involved.”
Ok, I have a few issues with this story. Dr. Parra is being charged with animal abuse for doing the job he was hired to do. If the owner felt the training technique of the trainer was wrong she should have said something. Why pay massive amounts of money to someone if they are going to work your horse the way you don’t want them worked. Your horses rely on you to be their voice, their saving grace, the one person to grab the rope from an abusive handler and tell them to stop. Her story doesn’t make sense and it comes off as someone who doesn’t want to pay their vet bill so they’re going to sue the trainer for damages. I also want to know where her physics degree is because what she says doesn’t add up.
Let me get “Big Bang Theory” on ya for a minute. Newton’s Second Law (Law of Motion) : When a force acts on an object, the object accelerates in the direction of the force. If the mass of an object is held constant, increasing force will increase acceleration. If the force on an object remains constant, increasing mass will decrease acceleration. In other words, force and acceleration are directly proportional, while mass and acceleration are inversely proportional. F=MA translation Force = Mass x Acceleration. In this case Dr. Parra is the outside force pushing the horse to accelerate and the horse represents the mass. The owner claims that the horse was lifted off its feet and flipped over backwards by the force of the trainer pulling on the pully rein. Now let’s think about this logically for just one moment here. I have lunged many horses in my life time as I am sure you all have too and when I’ve had to pull on the lunge line to regain my horses attention I have never had a horse get lifted off its feet and flown over itself. I have however had them turned to the inside and had their butts go flying to the outside of the arena. My force stopped the forward motion causing the object in motion to stop and face me.
They are both at fault here. The trainer tied his head in too tight of a head set which prevented the horse freedom for forward movement which caused him to go up and over and the owner saw the trainer change from the rubber reins to the solid leather reins and still said nothing. It seems people don’t get upset and sue until something goes wrong. She could have easily prevented the accident had she spoken up and stopped the training session. Had nothing happened to her horse this wouldn’t be all over horsey news.
Keep in mind this a young unpredictable stallion and anything can happen. He could have just as easily flipped over from being crossed tied. Where are all my lawyers out there? Does this woman have a case? In my opinion she doesn’t. When it comes to training unpredictable animals anything can happen. Ms. Miranda is pretty much stating the use side reins and pully reins are abuse and if used people should be sued for anything that happens to them while being used with these training tools. And honestly is suing this trainer really going to do anything for her? Will it relieve her of her guilt to her compliance of this whole affair? For all we know she could be lying awake at night wondering “what if.”
And for the record I am not siding with either party. I just so happen to see the whole picture and to me this poor horse was a victim of wrongly used training technique and poor horse ownership.
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Post by Ride Like the Wind
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Update/Correction: While Parra was scheduled to appear in municipal court on April 5th (per this article), the good people at Rate My Horse Pro have informed us that this did not actually happen.
Helmets are for sissies
Yup, this seems like a good idea…
Woohoo! Congratulations! You’ve created a three year old child who doesn’t have enough common sense to be afraid of the immense quadruped that could crush her like a bug. Good job you!
First of all, that little girl should not be “lunging” that horse (I put lunging in quotations because that really wasn’t lunging) – the rope was dragging on the ground when she was starting out simply because the girl is too small and lacks the coordinated motor skills to safely hold on to the line. Next is the issue of what would happen if the horse spooked? An almost unheard of phenomena in horses, I know, but it still bears at least a fleeting thought by someone.
Did anyone else think it a tad unfair to the horse the way the little girl yanked on the bit to get her to stop? Both while lunging and riding? Isn’t that one of the reasons to keep young children safely on lead lines? So they don’t yank unnecessarily on the horse’s mouth?
My absolute favorite part of this whole thing? The video poster’s comments: “Sianna is required to wear a helmet every time she rides. She was riding Lady right before we did this video and I missed it that she took the helmet off. It was super hot and she must have set the helmet by the gate.”
HOW DO YOU MISS THAT YOUR THREE YEAR OLD CHILD IS RIDING WITHOUT A HELMET ON?! I mean, I know the helmet is a small, innocuous piece of equipment… Most of the kids I see riding these days are required to wear eventing vests AS WELL as a helmet!
Oh no wait, it’s ok, she wears a (bike) helmet in this video of her riding a 4 year old…
(haha there was a pre-established tag for “bad parent du jour”. Sad, but still funny)
When is it ok for the authorities to NOT do their jobs?
When an approximately 1 year old filly gets buried alive, or so it seems.
It has been reported that by March 30, 2012 this filly had been starved so badly that she was no longer able to stand. It was at that point the owners decided to dig a large hole near the fallen filly, drag her into it using their truck, and proceeded to bury her alive.
Pretty unbelievable, right? Except there are pictures and even video footage of filly and her future grave, and when it gets too dark to see, the neighbors videoing this atrocity narrate the event.
The following is an excerpt from a rescue’s website, reporting on a conversation with a girl living on the property. The report has since been taken off the website, more on that later.
“There were two horses there, one bay emaciated mare, one chestnut gelding that was also horribly thin. A girl came out of the house and Valdia confronted her. She claimed that they just moved there two days before. This was obviously a lie, since she went on to divulge information about the horses and their “racing careers”. The gelding was apparently a Standardbred and the mare apparently a Thoroughbred, although it was impossible to tell the breed under the matted muddy dull coats and jutting bones underneath. The girl mentioned a lip tattoo common in Thoroughbred racehorses and motioned to the bay mare. When Valdia asked her why they hadn’t fed the horses, she shrugged and said “We don’t like horses.” As she was questioned, she slipped and said that “Someone got drunk and hurt him” motioning to the gelding. She promptly realized that she shouldn’t have said that and wouldn’t say another word.”
Moving on. So the AC is investigating – that’s awesome! Their first stop on that investigation? The horse rescue that brought hay to the starving horses. That’s right, they went there and insisted upon reviewing their nonprofit paperwork and then took copies. Does anyone know what that’s about? Neither the rescues, nor I, can make sense of it.
What do you do if your local Animal Control doesn’t seem to care? You contact the local Sheriff’s office. Except, apparently they’re not answering their phones… One lucky person who got through reported that they were told felony charges are “pending”. Which I find particularly interesting seeing as, according to an email I received from the DA, my email was the first he had heard of the issue. I had been under the impression that criminal charges were prosecuted by the District Attorney. Quick! Someone tell them there’s a breakdown in their communication system!
WHAT’S GOING ON HERE PEOPLE?! There’s a dead filly, possibly that was buried alive. There is photographic evidence of two starving horses, one of which is already dead. Is that not enough to act upon? Can’t that get you onto the property and into a position where the body of the filly could be exhumed, then a necropsy performed to see if her lungs were full of dirt? I’m not a doctor and I don’t play one on TV but that seems fairly logical to me. Or is there no room for logic in the legal system?
I understand it’s still pretty early in the process of investigation but the clock’s ticking! That filly was buried March 30th, that’s almost two weeks ago. If anything is going to happen, it needs to happen fast. Unfortunately it sounds like the Animal Control office has already dropped the ball. Why didn’t they investigate three weeks prior to April 1st when they were originally made aware of these people?
Why are the neighbors so afraid of them that they hide across the street filming and are so scared they’re hesitating to file a report with the DA? Could it perhaps have something to do with this excerpt from the original account reported by the rescue?
“The neighbors were interviewed and told us more and more horror stories about the people – apparently these horses had been the victims of beatings and God knows what else, for entertainment they would abuse and hurt them on top of starving them. The owners had been shooting at people, scaring the horses, had been running the horses into barbed wire fences on purpose when they were drunk, had tied the horses heads back with bits to their chests and left them like that for entire days.”
There is something wrong here, above and beyond the preventable deaths of those two horses. Grab your pitch forks and light your torches folks because we’ve got monsters among us!
Siskiyou County Animal Control
525 Foothill Drive. Yreka,CA. 96097
530-841-4028.
da@co.siskiyou.ca.us
Yreka Sheriff Department
305 Butte Street. Yreka,CA. 96097
530-842-8301.
No email listed.
da@co.siskiyou.ca.us
J Kirk Andrus (District Atty)
311 Fourth Street
Room 204
Yreka, CA 96097
For more information, check out this thread on Horse Grooming Supplies or the rescue’s facebook page.
From SR: Die a slow, horrible death
Since I don’t normally publish on Tuesday’s and this post generated a lot of comments on Snarky Rider yesterday, I thought I’d bring it over to Fugly and see what everyone here has to say. Please note that it has been reported that this filly did find a new home – no word on the quality of that new home, but we can hope, right?
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I know there’s a ongoing debate, dividing the horse world between those that think 2 years old is an acceptable age to start a horse, and those that don’t, but I’m sure we can all agree THIS IS SO VERY, VERY WRONG!
Get the fuck off that baby before I yank you off, reach out and manually remove your babymaker, you fucking ignorant hillbillies (I’m referring to the parents, not the kids – they don’t know any better and are um like 3…)
People like you make me want to maim and kill. What kind of assbackwards thinking leads you to ‘hey, she’s 10 months old! let’s ride the stuffing outta her!’?
I would love to know how the hell they broke this filly (and here I’m using the term both in the equestrian-specific way and as in “Hey Virgil! You dun broke the chair, ya good fer nuthin’ sumbitch.”). Seriously, did an adult break her or the three year old child? I honestly do not know which is worse. Well, worse for the filly would obviously be if an adult broke her…
Anyone else hoping that it’s just the photo/stride – because that appears to be one painfully tight girth.
Your three year old works the filly in the round pen? HOW?! The kid is three! Looking past the abuse you’re heaping on this poor filly, what about the danger you’re putting your own child in?
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As I was rereading this post I realized it’s not very well put together; however, it’s been four days since this ad was emailed to me and I am still so very mad at these horribly stupid people that I can’t see straight. So I’m just going to end it. There’s nothing funny here. There’s nothing to learn. Anyone who isn’t married to their cousin, in the horse world or not, knows this is beyond wrong for so many reasons. Please feel free, and encouraged, to share in my rage.
Stop. Just F*#$(ng Stop.
“7 year old bay broodmare(Has Pappers) – $200 – I have a bay broodmare for sale. Her name is Chinowa. I bought her for $250 for a riding horse but I rode her and a month later I found out she was lame. If I do not ride her then she is not lame but if I ride her then she is lame in bolth frount feet. She is good size and well taken care for. She can live in any invierment. She is papperd and healthy. She would make a great foal. She is QHPA. It hurts me so much and I love her but I cant afford to keep a horse I cant ride. If she is not sold by April 7th then she will be put down. Please save her I cant see a good horse like her go to wast. You can trailer or I can. If I trailer then there will be a cost of gas.”
Stop telling us that your horse is going to be put down unless someone with an actual beating heart comes and buys her from you. No one’s making you do that shit and it is not a valid fucking marketing ploy. People like this make me so goddamned angry! As soon as this poor mare is sold, or shot, this person is going to go out and buy another one that she can ride! “I cant afford to keep a horse I cant ride” -see? So if the mare is rideable then she’s worth something to you. Super.
How much do you want to bet that this person hasn’t even had a vet out to try to figure out why the mare goes lame under saddle? Or maybe even a farrier?
Just how is it that she “rode her and a month later I found out she was lame”. It took her a month to figure out that wasn’t the horse’s natural gait? Maybe she thought she was pacing or some such bullshit? Sweetheart, if you ride a horse for a month and then it comes up lame, you need to get a vet out and determine what’s causing it. If you’re going to own a horse you have to be willing to properly care for it. Not just shoot them at the first sign of trouble.
Tell me, what is it about this fugly little mare that would make “a great foal”? Name one thing about her that recommends her for breeding. I dares ya! She’s apparently a “good size” – what exactly defines a “good size”? I tend to lean towards the 17hh-ers but I’m one of the few who define that as a “good size”. The mare’s also apparently “well taken care for” – umm, given the little information provided in the above ad, I tend to doubt that! “She is pappered and healthy” I haven’t the foggiest what “pappered” is (ok, that’s a lie, I’m sure she meant “papered”) but this mare sure as shit isn’t healthy! SHE’S LAME! That’s not healthy! I also tend to doubt that the writer of the ad would know what a “healthy” horse was even if it bit her on the ass (and at some point I sincerely hope some horse does!). I’m assuming by QHPA, the seller meant AQHA, perhaps the “P” stood for “pappered” in her mind?
“Please save her I cant see a good horse like her go to wast.” Oh sure you can. YOU’RE THE ONE “WAST”-ING HER! You’re doing this to her. You’re the one who has put an expiry date on her, not anyone else. It’s not up to the rest of the population to save her, she’s your responsibility.
And do us all a favor, learn to spell! GOOD GAWD I wanted to claw my eyes out!
