Posts Tagged ‘faux rescues’
Guest Post: Buying vs. Rescuing
This guest post is by a regular reader; you may know her from the comments section as “Charm”.
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The Rescue Fetish
I recently traded for a new horse. Believe me, I really tried to turn Sugar into a forever horse; she just wasn’t the one for me. She needed someone younger, who didn’t mind the dancing, prancing, and sometimes manic behavior of an 11 year old mare who consistently wanted to GOOOOO…
Yes, I traded her away. In her place is a much quieter, more laid back little mare who is already squirming her way into my heart. Sugar’s new owner seems very happy so far, I’m happy, and the other people involved are happy. Of course there are a few grumbles, elsewhere—just a few little whispers on the wind—why didn’t I rescue instead of buying? Why didn’t I SAVE A HORSE?
Oh believe me, I considered rescue. I’ve actually rescued horses before. I thought about getting something from Camelot, or one of the hundred other venues that are popping up like Orville Redenbacher in a high powered microwave. So I looked online, and I looked at what was out there. The pressure to rescue instead of purchasing is huge; shopping for a horse is like trying to watch a PBS special during their fund raising period; I try to enjoy the show, but all around are voices demanding that I donate. So I looked at the rescue posts. I looked at the brokered horses. Unfortunately, I discovered that I was far too picky. My list of demands is just too…well… demanding.
- I would like a sound horse. Yes, I know it; it’s really unreasonable for me to want a horse I can ride. And because I want the horse to be sound longer than a week or a month, I’m also demanding a horse without a structural defect that is going to turn into lameness soon.
- I would like to try out the horse first. I get it—the truck is coming! Someone is going to buy her first! I can’t go to the feedlot or babies in Africa will starve to death! That doesn’t change the fact that I want to try the horse out. Otherwise it’s like buying clothing at Walmart without trying it on first—it might fit nicely, or it might not. At least at Walmart my purchase is $3 on the clearance rack, instead of hundreds. Besides, I can return items at Walmart.
- Papers that are up to date would be nice. I don’t need to breed or show, nor do I get a kick out of waving my papers in random strangers’ faces screaming, “Look! Her great granddaddy is Northern Dancer!” However, I do like knowing where my horse came from, who handled her, and whether she has ever actually been ridden outside of a barn aisle in an auction lot. Unfortunately, in this modern day world of genetic diseases, I won’t even look at a stock horse anymore without a set of papers; HYPP is too heartbreaking.
- I want to pay what the horse is worth. I just read a Facebook post that was trying desperately to find this lovely nice Tennessee Walking Horse mare a nice new home. She deserved it! She was in terrible danger! She was going to slaughter! She was ON THE FEED LOT! And for the low low reasonable price of $600 plus Coggins plus shots plus quarantine plus shipping she could be mine.
~insert announcer’s voice~ “Now taking all major credit cards and wire transfers and first born sons”
Folks, that is not rescue. You are buying a horse off of a feed lot from a seller who is checking to see if he can make a lot more money by selling his horses to private buyers like us. We want to save them all, and instead we have created a fake industry in which horses at certain auctions are sold for a higher price, just so a dealer can spin the ‘rescue’ angle and make a few hundred dollars. Think about it; they have companies that will ship anywhere in the U.S., they have people who will quarantine your horse for you (for a price of course), and they can pull blood for a little bit of nothing, almost any day of the week. It’s an entire industry, in existence because we are desperate as an equine society to ‘save them all’.
Some of these organizations are truly legitimate. Some of them truly care about the horses. That isn’t my point. My point is actually this: Why buy a horse like that when you can take your money and go to a quality breeding or training farm and purchase a horse that has been well treated, well trained, and well kept? Imagine what kind of world we would have if we personally visited the farm of the horse we wished to purchase? You go there, and you see happy, healthy horses, owners and trainers and breeders who know how to care for horses, and a facility that is clearly safe and healthy. THIS is where you should spend your money. There may not be that horrid tug on your heartstrings—you know, the one you get when your prospective purchase is standing knee deep in muck, with dingle berries hanging from his belly and hips, nibbling old straw—but this way your money is going to someone who will spend it wisely.
There are great rescues out there, places that carefully vet, feed, and retrain their horses and then offer such horses for a reasonable adoption fee to the RIGHT new owner. Such places take their time to make sure the horse matches the new owner. There is no pressure on the buyer/adopter, and like the better farms in the world, the owners of these facilities are trying to create a long term home for the horse. So tell me, where have you been that deserves a shout out? What farm has well cared for horses? Which people in our industry deserve to get that money you were going to spend bailing out some unknown skinny mistreated wreck? Wouldn’t it be lovely if we changed society so that you received maximum credit for purchasing your horses from a quality caring organization, instead of getting credit for buying a horse sight-unseen from the other side of the country so you could save it?
Hoarders with Hummers!
Woooo…even for the Fugly Blog, this lady is a piece of work! Dawn Hamill of Painted Pastures Animal Rescue & Sanctuary in Tinley Park, Illinois finally got raided the other day. About time, as Dawn had over 100 animals on three acres and, of course, had somehow neglected to feed them, care for them, or consider the fact that 100 animals might just cost money before she acquired them. Please note that the bitch has a 501(c)(3), for those of you who still believe this somehow confers legitimacy upon a rescue. Dawn seems to have had at least a vague idea she was overcrowded, noting on her web site “Now, in our fourth year, we have reached the property’s space limit. But there is still so much more room in our hearts.” Lady, I’ve got room in my heart for all the Thoroughbreds in the world, but when you don’t have room in your WALLET for them, you are not helping! So of course, here’s what happened:
Shocking Conditions at Suburban Animal Shelter – WARNING, this link has graphic pictures of dead and sick animals.
Animal Shelter Director Faces Cruelty, Neglect Charges
“During the almost five-hour raid, police, the Animal Welfare League of Chicago Ridge and Cook County Animal Control removed 63 dogs, 31 cats and six rabbits. Investigators also removed 30 horses, ponies, sheep, goats and llamas.” Several animals were found dead, including a three year old miniature horse and a Himalayan cat, and several others had to be euthanized. Dawn claims the neglect charges are a “huge misunderstanding.” Bullshit. Can you explain, you disgusting pig, why a dog kennel ever looks like this? I mean, that is just LAZINESS.
“I got a kitten from there, and it was sold at 3 weeks old. Dawn stated they already had their shots, which would have been harmful because they were so young, but wouldnt give me the records. The kitten died because it had ear mites and fleas that caused amemia. The first two days i had this kitten it was in the hospital. Over 2000 in medical bills. When I contacted dawn, she told me to F off. Told me she wouldnt give me my money back for the kitten or do anything about it. Petsmart vet told me he sees this stuff all the time from painted pastures. I hope she goes down!!!!!” Well, Dawn, on behalf of all the animals imprisoned on your property, YOU can F off. I hope you enjoy your time in jail. Maybe they will teach you how to use a fucking broom. I hear they are good at that! This will be an interesting case to follow as Dawn is a talented con woman. She had the presence of mind to thank the authorities for intervening. She will now proceed to talk about how sad she was that things got out of control and how she just looooooved her animals. And she will get a wrist-slap and some of the animals returned to her. I’m psychic about this stuff…just you watch. The only thing that will prevent this is if those of you who saw first-hand the neglect that went on for years come forward and talk to the authorities. It is in your hands now, and you need to do it or more animals will suffer in the future. This includes ex-volunteers, ex-friends and adopters. Speak now, or don’t be surprised when Dawn is still in business a year from now! Video at this link Anyone who works in law in Illinois want to explain this docket to me? It looks like Dawn & hubby were in trouble with the Housing Dept. for something? I’m curious to know what it was, if there were sanitation/health issues even that far back.
Keep it up, a whole new generation of suckers are being born!
Posted on Los Angeles Craigslist:
3 year old fancy Thoroughbred gelding – $575
Date: 2011-01-16, 9:09AM PST
Reply to: sale-5chhk-2163358861@craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?]
Rookie ~ ON THE FEEDLOT ~ $ 575 3 – 4 yr old, 16h, bay TB gelding. We were told by the FLO this horse has been started but he was pretty spooked by the saddle blanket so we opted not to ride him. He is a fancy, well put together TB that looks like he could do anything asked of him if he was trained. He is a little shy but once we spend time with him his curious nature blossomed. If you are looking for a fancy project this gelding is the perfect match.
This horse is on a feedlot in Zillah, Wa. awaiting shipment to slaughter. He is available for sale to the public for a short time after which he will be shipped to a Canadian slaughterhouse for processing.
Calls only: 509-952-3866
Many more photos here:
http://rebelsequinefeedlotsales.myfastforum.org/Available_Horses_about36.html
To give these feedlot horses the best chance of being purchased and saved from slaughter please share this information with your friends, local horse community and any online social networking sites you may use. Thank-you!!
Sound familiar? It should. It’s the infamous Samantha Milbredt of Columbia Basin Equine Rescue, now operating with two NEW names, Rebel’s Equine Feedlot Sales and Phantom Meadow Equine. The latter claims to be a nonprofit, but they are not even registered as a charity in the State of Washington! Same shit, different name…Google the phone number in quotes and you will see it is a contact number for both of these organizations AND CBER. In fact, a post about the Icelandics that were at the feedlot a month or so ago clearly states to call $am at that number, and I found it used many times as a contact number for her during the CBER days.
So, what is wrong with that, you might ask? Well, let me show you some previous blogs that might tell you a thing or two about $am and her pals, and why they are one of the worst things to ever happen to horse rescue. They are responsible for souring SO many people on the idea of EVER rescuing or even donating to a rescue. I’d go so far as to say $am is the main person responsible for making ” horse rescue” a dirty word to people in the Pacific Northwest.
Repost: $150 for a bullet and other CBER fairy tales
Columbia Basin Equine Restaurant strikes again!
Part Two of As The Rescue Implodes
I was being too kind just calling him an ignorant cowboy
If you don’t want to read the links, I’ll make it very simple: $am and friends marked up horses far beyond kill price, splitting the profits with Chuck Walker, who owns the feedlot, and laughing all the way to the bank. They misrepresented age, soundness and condition to sell horses, and frequently sent desperately ill horses off to new homes at which they either died or infected otherwise healthy horses. They dodged questions, banned anyone who dared to ask them from their message board, deleted posts, flatly refused to take back horses that proved dangerous, sent horses to homes they’d NEVER checked out — homes full of barbed wire, junk, no money for feed, and in one memorable instance, a psycho who had sex with horses — collected money to “bail” horses and then collected money AGAIN from adopters without ever having so much as done the horse’s feet while in their care, let other rescues clean up their mess a ZILLION times (I know rescues that STILL have ex-CBER horses), allowed horses to go to slaughter that HAD been paid for, allowed horses to go to slaughter that they were sick of feeding, shot at least two old Arabian mares without ever once informing the donors who had paid for them that they needed a place to go, refused to provide status updates on horses that donors had paid for, flat out lied to donors about whether horses were even alive, and I could go on forever but it all leads to this…
…to keep people from being scammed out of their hard-earned cash and having a terrible experience with rescue and to prevent horses from winding up in an even worse situation than they were already in, please share this information with your friends, local horse community and any online social networking sites you may use.
It’s up to you folks…they are running around on Craigslist everywhere, just like they used to, assuming we’ve all forgotten about them. Spread the word.
FIFTEEN DOLLARS A DAY FOR QUARANTINE BOARD AT YOUR YAKIMA FARM, $AM? What the fuck are you smoking?
On a happier topic, you guys all know how much I love the rescued ex-broodmares! The one I posted for MAHR found a home – now let’s see if we can find one for Nike, who is over at Shiloh Horse Rescue in Nevada. Nike is 15, and despite having a belly that says she put a bunch of little racehorses in someone’s field, she was dumped and is looking for a riding home. She’s sound and shiny and just needs the right person who isn’t scared of a light-sided and forward Thoroughbred to work on fine-tuning her after-the-track riding.
Well, I guess we know who the liar is now!
Many of you are already aware of the “rescue war” going on between NorCal/aka HorsePlus and AAA Equine Rescue in California. AAA went running around the web crying that those meanies at NorCal had unfairly harassed them and had somehow effected an illegal seizure of their horses. When I went to the AAA web site, my comment was that I saw things that made me think all was not golden over there. Like this idiot getting on what I assume is a very green horse given that it’s shown on the “training” page … wearing a mechanical hackamore and a chain over the nose? REALLY?
And their complete and miserable failure to successfully rehab old horses, although that does not keep them from riding them (you can find plenty of pics of helmetless kids on scrawny horses all over their site). Turns out that was an accurate observation — here’s a video of the AAA chick, Christina Villalobos, chatting merrily away about what a shitty faux rescuer she is.
You know what, I am a pretty reasonable person. I wouldn’t fault a rescuer for saying they can’t afford to put, say, a $5000 colic surgery into a 24 year old. But saying you will not FEED them properly because you can’t adopt them out? Um, feeding them properly is not that expensive, and from the looks of your ass, you do not scrimp on your own groceries. Nobody held a gun to your head and forced you to take in a 24 year old mare that was going to cost extra to feed. You did it because you’re an attention whore who wants to run around having people say how awesome she is. Oh, and by the way, plenty of us have no problem adopting out horses in their 20s…the fact that ours don’t look like scarecrows does probably help with that!
I have seen rescue wars. I have seen a LOT of rescue wars. And yes, MANY of them are DUMB and have nothing to do with any legitimate complaint but merely stem from the Presidents’ differences of opinion about topics like horse care, choice of trainers, whether or not X horse being euthanized was justified, how to handle returns and of course who is talking shit about who on the Interwebz. But in this case, I think it’s safe to say that NorCal/HorsePlus has been soundly proven to be the innocent party, and that Butte County’s seizure of horses from Christina’s faux rescue was 100% justifiable. Christina needs to STFU now, because bashing another rescue simply isn’t going to distract anyone from her absolute and miserable failure to help horses which culminated in their seizure by authorities. Another one bites the dust, and let’s hope people start getting the message that faux rescuing is NOT a good way to make a buck!
I am one of those people that thinks there is NOTHING in the whole world as cute as a three year old Thoroughbred, and this guy is seriously one of the cutest!
This is Chief, and he’s over at Mid-Atlantic Horse Rescue in Maryland. He’s recently off the track and learning about his new life (and that yes, he CAN put his cute little face down). If you are looking for a very cute pocket-pony prospect to work on over the winter, check him out for sure!
