Posts Tagged ‘news stories’
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.
The good, the bad, and the angry
We were torn on the title of this post. The runner up was “These are a few of our favorite things”. Fingers crossed we made the right call!
I (Snugly) am currently sitting in front of my computer, electric fireplace on, hot chocolate laden with Bailey’s in hand, and the likes of Frank and Bing crooning Christmas tunes like no one’s business (they really could sing!). I was going through the writing applications from Fugly hopefuls and, as I’m sure you could guess, there are quite a few. A few comments have been made noting people’s interest in reading some of the better and worse submissions. Your wish is our command! Some of these have been edited for length, none have been edited for content or grammar. Enjoy!
———
Alright, here we go. I am mouthy and an avid animal rights advocate. I hate backyard breeders, they are a bunch of dumb asses. I despise backyard trainers!!! (but that is another story).
the book to not ride their horse or even when they do start riding the
slight shiver of their horse makes them get off and go back to the
barn. On the other side we have the obnoxious stage mom pushing her
kid to ride horses because it was always her dream to watching her kid
grow up to be an “Olympic Champion.”
I hate riding with and I hate teaching these kind of people. They
really make me want to smack them with a horse whip and tell them to
get over themselves.
who has the balls to tell that person that horses might not be for
them?
Submission 3:
It’s always amazed me how people think that just because the way THEY
do something, it’s the ONLY way to do something. Horse people are no
different, in fact we can be the worst offenders. I’ve read the Fugly
blog for a long time, and I loved how it started off picking apart the
asshats who bred awful looking horses, never gave them any training
and left them to an uncertain fate all while happily breeding more sad
little future-less foals.
Then it changed, it became less about the rescue work and the pointing
out of the bad-seeds, and became all about how the only worthwhile
horses to breed at all are TB’s and WB’s and anyone who breeds
anything else, or decides to compete in anything other than the show
ring, or, GOD FORBID, not compete at all, just ride the trails with
their beloved pet horse, was the WORST PERSON IN THE WHOLE WIDE
WORLD!!!!
And it’s time we brought back the NAME AND SHAME aspect!
Enough with the “oh god why would you buy a cob when you could have a
THOROUGHBRED” rubbish, enough with the “you bred a Paint, clearly you
have no idea what a REAL horse is meant to be coloured like”. Bring on
the “you’ve starved these horses”, “you bred these 15 TB colts for
racing and now you’re sending them to slaughter just because they are
slow”, “you abused this animal and the SPCA are unable to get the
voices to get the power to stop you, guess what here are those voices,
you are going DOWN”
BRING IT ON!
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Huh. I guess those were mostly just angry! Oh well… there’s definitely a lot to be angry about in the horse world. Which brings us to a story that most of you have already heard about, but that hasn’t been properly discussed here.
You guessed it, I’m talking about Credit Card and the little psycho who arranged his death. There’s a decent story here with a link to the legal affidavit; the basic gist is that a female college student was having some romantic problems and thought a good solution would be to steal five horses and kill one of them. Not sure what the thought process was there, but she clearly did think about it; she made sure to scout ahead and even took notes in her little pink notebook!
So what do you think of the current laws for horse theft? Because these horses had a high monetary value, the potential punishment is more severe. Should that really make a difference? My horse isn’t worth much, but I think I’d be equally devastated if something similar were to happen to him! And how do you go about protecting your horse from theft? Or protecting yourself from the crazies out there? Not too long ago we had to deal with a rather explosive situation that was caused by a barn manager’s ex losing it. Thankfully, no harm came to any of the horses, but to say there were a few tense days would be a gross understatement!
Hmmm… in hindsight, “These are a few of our favorite things” would have been a really inappropriate title for this post!
Where are you on the AR/AW scale?
I just thought of a question I’ve always wanted to ask…how involved in animal rights or animal welfare are you as a horseperson? For example:
1) Are you a vegetarian or vegan?
2) Do you eat meat but consciously try to buy things like free range chicken or buy from local farmers where you know how the animal lived? I also once met a girl who only ate meat she and her boyfriend hunted so they knew for sure the animal hadn’t suffered – interesting idea but certainly valid. If you are a good shot, you can ensure no suffering takes place.
3) Are you actively involved in rescue of any kind of animal (fostering, transport, networking, running fundraisers, etc.)?
4) Are your house pets rescues? Would you buy a purebred dog or cat?
5) A friend says that their mixed breed dog got pregnant, oops. Do you say something (polite or not) about the importance of spay/neuter?
6) Do you donate to rescues or animal welfare/animal rights organizations? Which ones (if you don’t mind answering)?
7) What do you teach your children (if any) about animal care, the human-animal relationship, and what our obligations are to animals (both food and pet animals)?
8 ) Do you support humane initiatives for non-pet animals? For example, would you publicly support (i.e. tell your Facebook friends to support) reasonable legislation to ensure humane treatment of rodeo bulls or whales or dairy cows?
9) A call comes in at 3 AM begging you to help with an emergency with animals you do not own (you also don’t know the owner). Do you get up and go (even if it’s going to cost you some money that you may not get reimbursed for)?
10) Have you ever gone to volunteer on a large scale animal emergency, like a seizure of many animals or a natural disaster like Hurricane Katrina?
I’m just curious. There are no right answers. It’s just food for thought and discussion and I think it’d be interesting to see what I expect will be a pretty wide range of responses. As most of you know, I’m fairly AR-ish except that I have NO problem with riding (hell, if I have to work, so do you, ponyface!), showing (if abusive training methods and drugging is avoided), racing (except 2 year old), rodeo (when all rules are observed & animals are fed/trimmed/vetted properly), etc. I am vegetarian but not vegan. I have no issue with animal ownership except that I think it should be more like the parent-child relationship, where you can absolutely lose your rights if you are abusive or neglectful.
I admit that I am not motivated enough to be one of those super-conscientious shoppers who does all that they can to avoid any product that might result from animal abuse. I want to see laws in place so that I don’t have to do all that research myself, and I think that’s a more reasonable way of attacking it, since .0001% of people have the time to do all the research themselves.
Oh, and I have no problem with buying a purebred dog or cat. I’ve done it before and will probably do it again. I will only buy from home breeders where you go to their house and the animals LIVE IN THE HOUSE and the house IS NOT a pig pen, and of course if you are buying purebreds, all papers should be in order and all testing/shots that are appropriate should be done. I do not personally buy the argument that buying a purebred causes a shelter pet to die, because if someone has their heart set on a BMW, they’re not GOING to buy a Kia no matter how cheap they are or how you try to guilt them. However, if you buy from a pet store, you are a dumb fuck who deserves $2000 in vet bills and a dead puppy…I mean, seriously, who doesn’t know about puppy mills in this day and age??? You need to see the parents and see that every animal in the house appears healthy and bright. You also need to check breeder references!
I have definitely run off to do rescue-y stuff at weird hours with no notice. I actually sort of like that stuff, I’m a bit of an adrenaline junkie…got loose horses at 3 AM on a busy road, call me, I’m in, LOL! I went to Katrina, as many of you know, and would have stayed longer if I could have afforded to.
OK, so fill me in…what do you do? What do you care about? And has that changed in recent years?
And a big RED ALERT on this story…WHAT KIND OF PIECE OF SHIT DID THIS?
Horse Missing Hours Before Competition
From the article: “Roanie has a white stripe down his face and a white sock on both back hooves and one of his front hooves.
He also has a freeze brand with the letters “RS” on his left hip.
If you know where Ryan’s horse is, please contact Chellie Mills at chellie.mills@kfor.com or (405) 478-6325.”
I know that you guys know everyone, LOL, so network the HELL out of this story and let’s get him back safe. And when we find out who did it, I will bring the rope if you find a good solid tree…what the hell. If it was a fellow competitor, I have news for you: sabotaging the winners in the world doesn’t make YOU a winner. It does, however, make you a criminal!
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.
