Posts Tagged ‘money money money’
Just say no…and keep the horses out of it!
First of all, welcome to 2011! I hope you all had a great and safe NYE’s celebration.
The NY Times had this article out the other day:
Abandoned Horses are a Toll of Mexican Drug Trade
Apparently, drug traffickers are using horses to pack bales of drugs north as part of the route into the United States. Much like those two asshats from Georgia, they are basically working them to death, providing no feed and certainly no veterinary attention. Rescues in the Southwest are busy trying to clean up the mess – if they can jump through the requisite hoops to get the rescued horses into the U.S.
(I love how it’s hard to get them INTO the U.S. to safety, but double deckers full of them go into Mexico all the time, no problem!)
As with a great deal of horse abuse, this is happening because of money. And much like my Michael Vick remarks the other day, you have to ask yourself who is really funding this horrific abuse. The answer would be: Americans who buy the drugs. I’m glad this story is out there because maybe it will make some of you who are in high school and college think about what you may be paying for and encouraging if you “just try it once” or “use it socially.” Think about horses being worked nearly to death and then let loose in the desert with no possible way to even find a drink of water. If that does not convince you to stick to a drug-free life, I don’t know what will!
Oh, and for those of you who think horses are being abandoned because we don’t have American slaughterhouses anymore…give me a break! These horses are being abandoned in a country that does have slaughterhouses. Horses are abandoned because people are jerks who choose to walk away from their responsibilities. It is not any more complicated than that.
Now for some cool news – check out the Angel Acres Blog to see their new billboards! Angel Acres is fighting to make the general public aware that horses really do still go to slaughter (I constantly encounter people who are STUNNED to learn about it) and you can help! Please consider a donation – each billboard is $300 and you can donate all or part of one. Let’s get the word out in 2011!
It’s not better than starving, and they’re starving anyway!
One of the lines I always have to hear from the pro-slaughter crowd is that slaughter is better than starving to death. While I myself consider this to be a questionable argument (somewhat akin to asking whether you’d rather die of pancreatic cancer or get stabbed to death by a serial killer in a dark alley), I also think that the availability of slaughter does not in the slightest affect the likelihood of starvation.
We have a classic example of that in the news this week – almost a hundred horses (some reports say as high as 117) being starved BY a kill buyer. Hey, no one has more access to slaughter than Rodney Kankey — he IS a slaughter buyer. No one obligated Rodney and his wife Teri to hang on to horses one minute longer than they had money to feed them. Yet they did so, with the exact same disregard for the pain and suffering of the animals as any misguided hoarder or backyard breeder.
And you know the other problem with kill buyers? They’re such classy individuals in general. From the story: “Rodney Kankey, 49, is currently being held in the Fulton County jail on a $250,000 bond not related to the alleged abuse of the animals. He has been incarcerated since Thanksgiving for terroristic threatening and being a felon in possession of a weapon.” Terroristic threatening? NICE. There’s a member of society we’d all like to live next door to. Of course he’s a felon. Killing horses is a great way for a felon to make a living — you sure as hell don’t have to pass a background check to get THAT job. And as Joe at TB Friends has often noticed, you don’t have to be in this country legally, either. You can be a bottom-feeding felonious illegal immigrant and VOILA, horse slaughter puts six figures a year in your pocket. Yep, that is a GREAT industry we need more of, one that provides money-making opportunities to the scummiest segments of our society.
Maybe he can move next door to Sue WalrusWallis…I’m sure she’d love him hanging around with her family!
In case you think I’m exaggerating, here are more details on Mr. Kankey. Dude is PSYCHO. A gun-toting nutbag!
Horse slaughter has never been anything but an easy way out for people to escape the financial burden of horses that they can’t ride, mares who dare to come up barren, show and competition horses who get injured showing and competing and horses who got old. It exists for no reason other than the desire of some horse owners to save money at their horses’ expense. That’s not a good enough reason to keep supporting an industry that causes untold pain and suffering, and showers money upon people as scummy as Rodney Kankey. Enough already.
For the Mustang lovers, how cute is this little mare to put under your tree? She’s at Shiloh Horse Rescue in Nevada. CUTE!
If at first you get caught, switch breeds and try, try again!
So guess who won the Men’s Western Pleasure at the Appaloosa World Show? Yes, it’s our favorite arrogant, famous, horse-beating cretin, Cleve Wells.
For those of you unfamiliar with Mr. Wells, here is my previous blog entry on him:
Here is a video about him. No graphic pictures, but graphic descriptions so watch with caution. He is “famous trainer.”
Cleve’s response to the lawsuit referenced in my blog is too funny not to print again, mostly because he appears to have the I.Q. of a turnip: “Good morning — customers suggested to continue silence an let everyone bury themselves then they will move in…i have to support there decision because they support me as i said i have a very loyal and wealth set of clients… That speaks for my integrity honesty and loyalty. Thank u for ur respect and i do believe u will do what is rightâ€
Well, the AQHA did do what was right, they suspended his ass. Amazing, I know. News article So what did Cleve do? Well, he showed NSBA, because they of course didn’t give a shit what he did as most of them were doing it, too.
And now apparently he has moved on to the poor Appaloosas. Some asshat from Minnesota named Gary Raak decided he had to win at any cost, so he hired Cleve to win at any cost. And win he did. And now everybody is whispering about it because apparently they are skeered of Gary and his money and his lawyers. (And can I just say, dude, what is WITH the orange spray tan? That doesn’t look good on Snooki, and it doesn’t look good on an old fart from Minnesota. Seriously.)
We here at the Fugly Blog continue to not be skeered of asshat show people who think it’s ok to rip horses’ sides open with spurs, tie horses’ heads up overnight, stick the tongue IN BETWEEN the two twisted wire bits (my trainer told me she’d seen that one done, I about puked) block tails and whatever else evil shit they are doing these days. Gary, you are a shitty human being for letting Cleve Wells touch your horse. Cleve, you’re a shitty human being for being you and I really wish you’d get into a job that does not involve living creatures that feel pain. Rock My Style, shit, I feel really sorry for you and I hope someone buys you and is nice to you before your brain is completely blown and/or your body and you hate all humans. Appaloosa Horse Club, WTF, you HAVE in IN YOUR RULEBOOK that people who are suspended in other orgs can’t show at your shows! Disciplinary Reciprocity, Rule 20H1b! Cleve is still suspended because he refuses to pay his $10,000 fine to AQHA. Do you READ your own rulebook, or are your eyes too close to Cleve and Gary’s asses while you’re kissing them? I tell you what, if I owned the 2nd place horse, I’d be talking to lawyers right now, because that person got ROBBED.
Oh, and P.S., folks, please don’t patronize Gary’s company, Twin Cities Featherlite Trailers. Buy your horse trailers from someone who does not put that money into the hands of a known horse abuser. It is not that damn hard to find a trainer who isn’t, like, the #1 most well known abusive show trainer in the whole fricken’ USA! Better yet, buy yourself a nice Four Star (they’re better anyway, IMNSHO) and then call Featherlite and tell them why you bought from their competitor! Money talks, folks…let yours speak for those poor horses.
What happened to that core value of responsibility?
I know that I have taken this topic up before, but I like to revisit it from time to time as I know that some of you may still believe that donating your horse to your college is a great thing for the horse. You believe that an institution of higher learning will act more responsibly than a backyard breeder whose unemployment just ran out.
Wrong. In the vast majority of cases, totally wrong.
Oregon State University Dumping Horses
Yes, as you can see, the research horses are being dumped right alongside other prized items like trucks that don’t run. They seem to have made an effort to evaluate them, but of course it never occurred to them to simply put them into an on-site program where students could train them to ride, and then have a show at the school to show off what they learned and place them at that event. You know, make a big deal out of it, like the mustang challenge. I came up with that idea within, like, 30 seconds. This school is FULL OF kids who did OHSET and are completely capable of putting some training on horses, and I’m betting they’d absolutely love to get involved in such an event.
But no. Heaven forbid. And I don’t want to hear about your budget, jackasses. If you told your alumni that you needed sponsorships to keep these mares long enough to train them and participate in an event, you’d get the money. You are just being lazy and dumping them. Most do not appear to have papers and most are untrained. Who do you think is going to get them, with your minimum bid of $150?
If your alma mater has an equestrian program or does research on horses, give them a call. Find out how they place horses they are no longer able to use. Ask that question before you write any more checks, or recommend that school to anyone else. If you don’t like the answer you get, make sure to note that you will not be writing any more checks, or recommending any students to their institution. Money talks with people like these, and it is the only thing that talks.
And remember – when you donate a horse, unless you put something very specific in the contract to prevent this, you lose ALL CONTROL of the horse. Some of the entities that we have found letting horses go to kill include colleges, therapeutic riding programs, kids’ camps (yep, even the “Christian” ones), Girl Scout programs, and 4-H leaders. Ask questions before you donate, and edit the contract, if necessary, to ensure that the horse must be returned to you if he does not work out for their program. Conduct follow up visits. If they don’t want to let you visit, don’t give them your horse. Your horse deserves to be safe and you are the only person with the power to ensure he gets it.
Now, if you’re near OSU and want to save a horse, I would note that I think #3 is really a nice mare. Wonder whose “I had the money to buy them but not the money to feed them” Arabian breeding program she came out of?
Hooray Law Enforcement: You finally got her!
They finally, really, no more false alarms, got Trina Kenney.
If you don’t know who this is, and I’ll be surprised if you don’t as much as this has been discussed literally for years and years and YEARS on every message board in the horse world, Trina was pretty much the #1 con artist of the equine world. Her specialty was crippled but pretty horses that she sold to naive beginners. I never met Trina, but clearly she is one of those people who has so charming a facade that it was easy for her to make people believe in her and hand over their money. The only really amazing thing to me is that she did not get into “rescue” and start scamming all the people on ABR!
From the news article:Â “In the agreement, Kenney admitted that she lied about some horses being safe for children and beginning riders, and that she delivered starved horses that were covered in sores and cuts, had strangles, or had hooves that had been untrimmed for so long the horses couldn’t walk.”
Kenney also did things like dye horses different colors, switch papers around on horses, and all the usual scummy-horse-dealer tricks. I have no doubt she sent horses to kill. Everything she did showed that she had no conscience whatsoever, not for horses and not for humans. Her entire goal was to make money without really working, and I have no doubt she made a lot of it. Let’s hope they lock her up for a long, long time and send a clear message that fraud will not be tolerated in the horse world. It also sounds like they should be able to get her on neglect/cruelty – I hope that does not get overlooked merely because fraud is a more significant charge. I’m going to keep looking for more information on this and I’ll post it when I know it.
