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Arabian Professional and Amateur Horsemen’s Association Issues Illogical Pro-Slaughter Missive

Those of you who know me from other sites or in real life (and I assume that’s anyone reading this blog, since I don’t promote it outside my other online profiles) know that I own a Thoroughbred gelding and an Arabian mare, both rescued from slaughter, and that they’re one reason I call myself a cowgirl.

I define “cowboy” or “cowgirl” pretty narrowly: A person who lives a lifestyle that includes owning and/or enjoying horses; appreciating wide open spaces; supporting an independent, traditionally “western” lifestyle; and believing in the humane treatment of animals, including those used for food, work, and other purposes. I proudly wear my “cowgirl” label because, to many of those who share my passions and beliefs, it conveys a great deal. It’s also my way of showing respect to the men and women in the equestrian community who have mentored and influenced me throughout my lifetime.

I’ve met some wonderful people who support equine slaughter. I’ve heard some rational arguments in favor, from people I gladly count as fellow cowgirls or as cowboys.

The Arabian Professional and Amateur Horsemen’s Association does not, apparently, employ any real cowgirls/boys in its policy or PR departments. Instead of iterating any reasonable arguments in favor of slaughter, they recently put out an email release giving some of the worst reasons for equine slaughter I’ve heard. The quoted portions are from their email, as posted here. The other bits are my comments.

Dear Friends,
The Arabian Professional and Amateur Horsemen’s Association voted, with unanimous approval, to thank the AHA Board for continuing your support for the re-opening of the equine terminal marketplace, and to join with the AHA in support of the reinstatement of equine processing in the United States.

Weasel words like “equine terminal marketplace” reek of doublespeak.

While we appreciate that this subject can be a sensitive one to those who are not intimately involved in the horse industry,

I’m the owner of an AHA registered Arabian horse, who is the third such animal I’ve owned. I’ve been riding since my eighth birthday. I spent eight years volunteering at least twice a week for a horse rescue, including a little more than two years on its Board of Directors. I worked for five years for various equestrian businesses, and my dollars support a boarding stable, trainers, registries, farriers, and equestrian supply companies. I’d say I’m intimately involved, and yet, equine slaughter is a touchy subject for me.

there is no question that it is an integral component for the continuation of the horse’s survival into the 21st century, as well as to any and all breed associations.

If one asserts that there is “no question” that something is true, the statement being so staunchly supported should be connected to a source. I have personally found that my horses, who live in the 21st century, are most apt to survive when they are not killed and eaten.

The simple fact of the matter is that for the horse to continue to survive and contribute to mankind, as it has done for the last 5000 years, the equine terminal marketplace must be reestablished in the United States. Equine slaughter for rendering and consumption is a necessity in the equine livestock industry, in order to allow horses at the bottom of the pyramid a humane, dignified, and contributing end. The bold words are the important points of this referendum, not the emotionally exploited ones of slaughter, rendering, or human consumption. Without a terminal marketplace, horses today are left trying to survive, for the first time ever, after their usefulness as a work-mate to man has passed. Regardless of whether you like the idea of equine slaughter, the vast, documented increase in equine suffering throughout the US since the close of the slaughter houses should be enough in and of itself for all people who truly care about horses to stand up and demand that those of us who have invested our lives in horses be the ones responsible for making the decisions about the marketplace that surrounds them.

Extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence. A short list of unsourced claims from APAHA in this paragraph:

• Slaughter is “necessary” for equine survival. What studies suggest that Equus ferus callus will become extinct if it is not slaughtered for human consumption?
• Horses sent to slaughter are at the “bottom of the pyramid.” What pyramid? By whose definition?
• Slaughter is “humane” and “dignified.” Concerns about the lack of a humane slaughter process for equines are central to arguments against equine slaughter, and cannot be pithily dismissed simply because an industry association declares slaughter “humane.”
• Horses have never survived past their usefulness to man in the past. Please provide me with citations that invalidate the eight years I spent caring for rescued horses who, by and large, were not especially useful to mankind.
• “Vast, documented increase in equine suffering” — again, source? Studies? Numbers? Definition of the subjective “suffering?”

Some people were affronted when the AHA stepped up last year to support the reopening of the equine processing plants. We contend that as breeders and current caretakers of the world’s oldest breed of horse, we have an obligation to our Arabian horses to support the reopening as well. It affects breeders and the breed in a singularly unassailable way; simply, that the free and low price market for the “pet quality” horses, if you will, is simply no longer available. The bottom tier of every breed and breeder’s marketplace, that for family riding horses, has been eaten up by the “rehoming” of over 300,000 horses since 2007, many of whom have huge medical issues, training issues, psychological issues, and on and on. Often, the people who take on these horses are novice horse lovers whose heart-strings have been played by emotional, fact-less advertising paid for by lobbying groups that never invest in shelters and rehoming at all. Once saddled with an adopted horse that by contract cannot be sold or bred, these horse lovers find the difficulty of dealing with the myriad of issues draining financially and mentally. Needless to say, these experiences are not good at building repeat, long-term business for the horse industry.

I’ve made my point about this email’s use of the logical fallacy “appeal to authority” as a substitute for scholarly citations, so I won’t go through this paragraph and point out the same. However, it’s important to note the registry’s condescending tone toward “novice” horse lovers whose “heart-strings” motivate them to care for horses. If you were a first-time horse owner reading this paragraph, would you describe the Arabian Professional and Amateur Horsemen’s Association as welcoming to novices?

We spoke recently with four different breed associations in order to research registrations since the ban, and discovered that every one is down by over one third in new registrations from 2006 to 2010. Quarter Horse registrations dropped from 150,000 in 2006 to less than 90,000 last year. Paints fell from 39,357 in 2006 to 17,835 in 2010. The Morgan Horse Association registered 3461 horses in 2006, with only 1835 in 2010. We are all aware of our own registration decline, from 10,311 in 2006 to 6660 in 2010. All these breeds weathered a similar economic downturn in the ‘80′s without this kind of drop in registrations, and rebounded accordingly, the difference being that when economically strapped owners could no longer afford feed for their horses, they had a way to reduce numbers until the economy changed, after which their breeding business could rebound.

Here’s the only fully transparent part of this message. Forget “humane” and “dignified.” The problem with a reduction in slaughter, for the AHA and other registries, is that it leads to a drop in registrations. Registries make their money from registrations and from show fees paid only by the owners of registered horses competing in registry-sanctioned events. If the slaughter pipeline contracts, people breed (and register) fewer horses, lacking an easy disposal method for unwanted horses.

But let’s think about that for a moment: APAHA itself points out that an economic downturn in the 1980s did not lead to the same drop in registration. However, they consider only one variable–ease of slaughtering unwanted horses–in comparing the two downturns. After 30 years, a few other things have changed:

• Animal adoption is a much more popular option for pet parents; this has trickled down to the horse world in that many people now seek to give an unwanted animal a home rather than purchasing a registered animal from a breeder.
• It is more expensive to keep a horse. Fewer people can or choose to make that expenditure.
• The AHA has spent 30 years promoting halter competitions that produce pretty horses who are, by and large, of no use for pleasure and performance riding.
• The AHA has developed a reputation for condoning the abuse of horses, particularly in the halter ring.
• The Arabian horse has developed a serious PR problem.
• The APAHA is too busy looking down its nose at soft-hearted first time owners to welcome them into the equestrian world, acknowledge their needs, and envelop them in a warm, supportive Arabian horse community that would inspire them to purchase, register, and exhibit Arabian horses.

By reopening the equine processing plants, we are simply restoring to horse owners and breeders the option that all other livestock breeders and owners have, and that horse owners and breeders had until the last four years. We will still retain the option to care for our horses after their usefulness is done, and we will still retain the option to rescue horses from the terminal marketplace. And people will still have the option to make horse meat available to some of the 25,000 people on earth per day who are dying of starvation, allowing horses a chance to give back and be useful to humans, as they have done for centuries, even after they have passed.

Let’s be real here: Nobody is proposing feeding starving children with horsemeat. If they were, it would be dismaying, since horsemeat from American companion and performance horses is loaded with drugs like “bute” that are labeled “not for use in animals intended for human consumption.” But they’re not. There is no nonprofit organization volunteering to construct and operate an equine slaughterhouse that would exist exclusively to donate horsemeat to the hungry. If our goal is to feed the starving, the grain our horses eat would be a more efficient donation.

Secondly, did anyone bother to ask the horses if they want to “give back” by being killed and eaten? No, we don’t ask that question of cattle or poultry, but nobody is using the desire of steer or hens to “be useful to humans” as an argument in favor of eating them. Mostly, we just argue that they’re pretty delicious.

There are issues to address, certainly, and many different options available to improve the terminal marketplace, among them mobile slaughter units and live web monitoring of plants. As horsemen, breeders, and horse lovers, we are the ones responsible for dealing with these issues, making sure that the terminal marketplace becomes ever more humane, with a quick and dignified passing, without undue stress, and where the horse can go on to be useful to man after his demise, just as he has been for the last 5000 years. This is not a job for politicians, lobbyists and animal rights people to define; it’s a job for us, so that the horse that has brought so much to our lives will survive and evolve to bring much needed help to the people coming after us.
In closing, APAHA would again like to commend the board of AHA for joining horse-industry leaders in the fight to protect the future of the Arabian horse breed and the horse in general.

Sincerely,
The Arabian Professional and Amateur Horsemen’s Association Board of Directors

Oh, there are issues to address, all right, APAHABoD. There are definitely issues.

Let’s start with why you think that my registered Arabian mare would be more useful to an organization promoting the Arabian horse had she been killed and eaten–as she would have been before I had a chance to save her, had her death not been delayed by the necessity of exporting her to Mexico for “processing”– than as a living ambassador for the breed who will, after recovering from her ordeal, have a career either as a performance horse, therapy animal, pet, or breeding animal.

Let’s start with why you think my “heart-strings” make me a novice, because I choose to rescue horses in need rather than buy horses produced by the equine equivalent of puppy mills, the breeders with hundreds of horses who keep you in registration fees while causing immense suffering by flooding a contracted market with a supply for which there is currently little demand.

Perhaps, before you complain about your financial decline and blame it on too few horses being killed and eaten, you should consider how communications like this affect experienced amateur owners as they choose where to show, which horses to purchase, and which organizations to support.

Give the doublespeak a rest and try looking inward for solutions to your decline. If you don’t, your best case scenario is one in which more Arabian horses are slaughtered as registrations continue to drop year after year after year.

PS. I’ll share pictures of my horses in another post sometime soon. Didn’t put them here because they’re cute and fuzzy and obviously nobody wants to kill cute, fuzzy horses. That’s not what this is about. This is about an organization that is supposed to represent Arabian horse owners wasting their time and money spewing logical fallacies and condescension at their own clientele.

PPS. To reiterate: I love my rescued horses, but if you are a horse person who is pro-slaughter, I do not dislike you or consider that opinion invalid. I do, however, hope that you are able to do a better job than the APAHA of making a fact-based argument to support that opinion. Since, you know, most avocados could do a better job of that than the APAHA.

Since reading all the submissions, instead we’re going to throw this one out to the other writers who were hoping to contribute to Fugly. There were a lot of well written articles submitted. From those we’ve chosen two that we feel took an original approach to the topic.

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This first piece is by The Naughty Tobiano.

The Black Market Horse Meat Industry—Could Domestic Slaughter STOP this Atrocity?

While the debate of should horses be slaughtered has been a very hot, hot topic since the late 1990s; and it’s heating up even more with Obama’s signing of a bill that would repeal the ban on USDA inspectors essentially making it legal to slaughter horses again the U.S. except for in CA and IL. Both sides are vehemently arguing their points.

The anti-slaughter side argues that slaughtering a horse is inhumane and cruel as horses have souls and feelings; and that they should be considered pets or companion animals—not livestock. They point fingers at the breeding industry, back yard breeders, incentive programs offered by registries, and the money hungry horse dealers who only see $$$$$. They demand more laws, in some cases suggesting restrictions on who gets to own a horse is the answer. Others state a “foal tax” is the answer.

However, many of the horses standing in kill pens waiting to die are in the prime of their life: 8-15 yr olds, born BEFORE the ban on USDA inspectors went into effect. It is this point as well as some of the suffering slaughter bound horses face that have many pro-slaughter advocates suggesting Obama’s signature was a good thing. They argue the horses are suffering in Canadian and Mexican slaughter houses where the method of slaughter is NOT regulated. Evidence suggests horses’ throats are slit and the butchering begins before they are dead. The pro-slaughter side argues they want to lessen the suffering of horses that are presently bound for slaughter by tightly controlling the manner in which horses are treated at the new “equine processing plants” and ensure the slaughter is humane. They further cite how re-opening slaughter will reduce the unwanted horse population and restore the once lucrative economic market that the horse industry brought to all parts of the U.S.

Some people worry about the BLM mustangs. Some people worry about the race horses.

There is another argument that has little to do with the welfare of horses but instead focuses on the human consumption element of horse slaughter.

One anti-slaughter argument points to repeated European bans on U.S. horse meat (http://www.pennsylvaniaequestrian.com/news/EU-ban-1009.php ; http://www.foodproductiondaily.com/Quality-Safety/Tainted-US-horse-meat-puts-world-consumers-at-risk-welfare-body ) and state that it is ethically wrong for the U.S. to slaughter horses and export the meat when many American horses have been treated with medicines that clearly state on the label “not intended for use in horses for human consumption”. On the flip side, reports are showing there is little evidence that bute , ivemectrin, pyrantel, and other equine drugs stay in the horse’s system long enough to cause harm to humans. The paleo diet movement actually encourages horse meat, stating that humans were meant to eat horse: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/horse-meat/

But there is a much, much darker side to the unavailability of domestically processed and inspected meat: the black market for horse meat.

The following links are actual news stories concerning a growing problem in Southern Florida. Horses are being STOLEN and butchered on the side of the road, often while still alive, to supply meat for the black horsemeat market.

WARNING…….The videos are graphic and photos horrific.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61rD3rBC2L4&feature=related
http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=6478115
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7VMcna1PAE

Though presently focused on a trend in Florida only, is black market horse meat reaching other ethnic communities around the U.S.? Though it appears the killers for this market are sticking to a small locality of Florida, what makes people think the horse meat is not traveling through the underground market to other states with heavy populations of Hispanic communities. Furthermore, is the desire for horsemeat reserved for the Hispanic culture or are other ethnic groups also feeding the greed of the black market.

Having said that, is it reasonable to believe that if the USDA began offering inspected, legal, domestic horse meat would the black market disappear?

This same argument has been made for the legalization of marijuana.

But….it was also made long before that in another still heated Pro Vs. Anti fight: Abortion. Prior to the legalization of abortion, thousands of women died while having an illegal abortion. But, once legalized, the back alley, black market diminished and women could safely make the choice concerning their own body.

Could this rationale not be applied to the black market for horse meat? Is it not reasonable to assume that IF people who wanted to eat horse meat due to their culture or their own personal health beliefs had access to a safe, legal source the black market would essentially disappear?

Obviously the current situation is grim as there are repeated reports of horses being stolen and simply disappearing. The anti-slaughter side points their fingers to the current “kill buyers” but I sincerely have my doubts that the dealers who sell to the feed lots are all running around Southern Florida snatching up family’s beloved horses? Why would they when there is a myriad of FREE ones on craigslist just a short trailer ride from many auction houses and feed lots.

So…..would the black market crumble if horse meat were domestically available? No matter how many videos of a captive bolt coming down on a horse I see, I cannot compare it to the terror and pain a horse like Geronimo suffered at the hands of the butchers who took him from his barn and tortured him just a half a mile from his family.

It may be a very distasteful thing to think about; but, under tightly regulated USDA supervised situations, could humane slaughter stop this atrocity?

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Check back tomorrow for another submission on this issue.

Sam Milbredt

Cathy Atkinson, the originator of this blog waged  a long, hard campaign to raise public awareness of these scumbags and their horse flipping business, which they successfully hid under the guise of a legitimate horse rescue for many years.

The intention behind “The Truck is Coming!” and many other scare tactics was to push potential, well-intentioned, marks, I mean buyers, into rushing to “rescue”
a horse from CBER, which would otherwise end up Mexico bound. In reality, the horses had usually been picked up at the auction for pennies, and then offered up as an urgent rescue, at a much higher price of course, sometimes within hours of purchase.

As Cathy eventually proved, Milbredt (affectionately known as $am) used CBER as a sales barn of the worst kind.

$am was known to sell unsound, ill horses to trusting buyers who thought they were helping CBER continue to rescue, not stuffing her pockets. These animals were advertised  as healthy riding animals and when complaints came back to CBER  from adopters she would replace the horse and immediately send them to slaughter. She took donations for horses she no longer owned and didn’t worry herself about feed, or veterinarian and hoof care.

Horses were adopted out to buyers without background checks, site checks or contracts. All they needed was to pay her inflated prices, sometimes more than once. In other words, she proved herself to be nothing more than a scum sucking equine KB.

She had a notorious liaison with convicted animal hoarder, Dean Solomon, which ended up with a lot of screaming, finger pointing and the eventual demise of CBER. At one point in time, the pair was fighting each other, FHOTD and local authorities all at the same time.

While hrowing threats of lawsuits hither and yon, they were hiding horses in every available place they could find. Since word of their unsavory business practices was spreading rapidly, it was becoming difficult to find volunteers to take on the unhealthy, neglected animals.

$am decided to give ten head to Mandy Strothers, who with minimum research by Cathy, turned up on an Internet
bestiality site. Either $am was continuing her practice of doing absolutely no research on prospective
horse owners, or she was OK with Mandy’s particular tastes.

Between this little tidbit of information and written reports from former CBER volunteers stating $am had admitted to eating horsemeat and didn’t see a problem with it, the supposed no-kill rescue had used up its credibility…

Cathy legally documented this information on FHOTD, and the story of their self-destruction was detailed as well. You would hope that would be the end of
it.

Unfortunately, an alert reader wrote to tell me Sam has slithered out of the snake pit yet again, this time on Horses for the Soul (http://horsesforthesoul.org/horse-rescue-network/).

The sharp cookie that spotted $am’s trademark sales pitch wrote, “Too many red flags went off and I found photos with the watermark ‘Samantha Milbredt’ on
it… I’m in California, got two horses from $AM and CBER back in 2006…still have one of them.  I have no issues with the horses, but I do with $AM. I found the photos and enclosed the link at the bottom of this email.”

$am is now a horse photographer (www.hotshotz.biz). I’ve got to hand it to her, it’s a great way to scout out potential victims, both human and equine. She
is selling the horses she calls rescues through Another Sunshine Equine Network on Facebook.

Several horses were listed with her name and phone # as the seller.

Here are some of her “hurry and adopt, pay me quick and don’t look too close,” phrases:

“12 new photos to the album Toppenish Kill Pen Horses (Slaughter Bound Mexico), this group has until Sunday the 6^th.

“We are fundraising in an attempt to save some of these slaughter bound horses. They are scheduled to ship to slaughter soon.
Donations needed now or it will be too late to make arrangements for them.

“PLEASE help if you can and share this information with anyone else you know who may be able to donate or purchase one of these…horses themselves. Any horses we are able to purchase will be placed in suitable homes or foster situations if we are lucky enough to receive the funding necessary to purchase them.”

It seems hoarder Dean is pretty much out of the picture, but a crazy hoarder is not as cold and calculating as a horse dealer who cares nothing for the damage she causes to good-hearted people and the horses they are trying to help.

The best way to fight a sneaky snake like $am? Keep her in the public eye. If she is outed every time she crawls out of her hole she will have to give up eventually, won’t she?

I just want to make sure you are all sitting down now, because I know you are all going to be shocked and stunned that a bunch of grade Quarter Horse-Percheron mixes just went to kill. In fact, allow me to put on my Madame Cleo hat and psychically determine that they weren’t ridden through the auction. I am gonna bet you the “culls” were halter broke at best and presented themselves pretty much like a herd of wild, fugly buffalo at the auction. And they went to kill…NO SHIT, REALLY??? OMG! What will happen next, Lindsey Lohan getting caught with drugs or something???

This is, seriously, one of the dumbest horse-related articles I’ve ever read. They brag about the horses’ bloodlines dating back to the 1800′s. Dude, every single horse’s bloodlines date back to fifty million years ago or so when Eohippus walked the earth. So what? Mere age or a recording of pedigree does not make bloodlines valuable. THEY’RE NOT WINE!

If anyone had done two minutes of research online, they’d have realized:

1) There was no need to breed draft crosses for prison guards to ride. AMERICA IS FULL OF THEM thanks to our overpopulation of douchebag “sport horse” breeders who think every mix between a light horse and a draft horse purchased at the local auction is Olympic bound, despite the fact that their horses’ primary skill is knocking their breeder ass-over-teakettle when s/he tries to walk through the pasture carrying a bucket.

2) Although, while we’re on the subject, why are all your prison guards 300 lbs.? It is time for Weight Watchers at Work, not bigger horses.

3) If you are sending 100 culls to auction every year, guess what, MOST are going to kill. Again, allow me to guess that you are not “culling” the ones that are rideable and usable. You’re sending off stuff you thought wasn’t good enough to train, or stuff you couldn’t get trained. Why the dramz now? Is this the first time someone noticed? Uh-oh buuuuusted. Sort of plays hell with your P.R. that this is some sort of genetically perfect herd. Puhleeese. It is a herd of a whole lot of Nothing Special. Some of them may become well broke enough to have a value as riding horses for larger people or hunting pack horses, but without the training (which, again, I doubt you put on the ones you dump at auction), they are worth about sixty cents a pound.

You need to get your heads out of your butts and look beyond the razor wire at the real world once in a while. There is no need whatsoever to produce a ton of supersized grade QH crosses. You could easily mount your guards on draft crosses from RESCUES. Truly, it is not that hard to find untrained brick shithouses with short backs and no withers if that is your ideal. I really doubt any of your inmates are that desperately in need of any lessons about the miracle of life from watching mares foal; most of them are probably way behind on their own child support. So why don’t you set a good example and STOP BREEDING GRADE CRAP instead of acting all traumatized and stunned when the low end of your grade crap breeding program very predictably winds up on the double-decker to Hell? I mean, what was wrong with making license plates…if you made too many of THOSE, nobody got hurt!

P.S. Texas taxpayers…so this is what you’re stuck funding, a backyard breeding program to produce unwanted horses that wind up going to kill? Um…I’d be pissed!

I have gotten too busy to maintain this blog.

This probably won’t come as a big shock to my regular readers; you’ve been patiently waiting longer and longer for blog entries and comments to be approved. I kept trying to scramble my schedule and find time to write, but it just isn’t happening, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon. So the blog is for sale. It sells with the domain and the rights to all content written to date, which I suspect could be quite lucrative for someone who knows what they are doing (I don’t, and I’m too busy to find out). It is selling to the public with no restrictions; it may or may not go to someone who wishes to continue doing a blog about this subject matter. If you have any desire to bid on it yourself and have your opportunity for a whole lot of horse people to read your two cents worth, here is the listing.

Will I ever do another blog? Maybe, if my schedule changed a lot. I don’t see that in the foreseeable future. Right now I am at the “can I get in a 45 minute nap before I have to do X” point.

Will I still write elsewhere? Maybe. I just did a piece in the July 2011 Horse Illustrated about planning for your horse’s future if something unexpected happened to you. I do enjoy writing the educational, snark-free stuff…truly I do…and I do welcome offers to do so.

I’ll still Tweet. I seem to do a lot of that from horseback, or while waiting in line, no problem, so I’ll do my best to keep spreading the word about the kind of topics I’ve covered here on FHOTD.

Are there stories I wish I could have gotten to? YES. Oh my God…I have so much piled up in my e-mail. But it just isn’t going to happen. I sincerely apologize for all the unread e-mails in my account and the stories I just didn’t have time to deal with. I know some of them are big stories that should have been covered. Again, one of the reasons I’m quitting is because I know I’m not really doing my job here anymore and I am missing things that should be publicized. That said, there are many other blogs and Facebook pages now that share news to the horse community — many more than existed in 2007 when I started the blog. You guys know how to spread the word when the word needs to be spread — you don’t need a particular blog or particular forum to do it.

Am I retiring in response to some threat? LOL, of course not. You all know my response to threats: I have always said, please feel free to sue me if you believe you have cause. So far, haven’t seen a single complaint. And so far, none of the people who were going to shoot me have found me. Well, either that, or they are not very good shots, because I am sitting here typing this.

Hoover is doing great and will be looking for a home soon, if anyone has the desire to have a VERY snuggly older warmblood who has had a rough life reside with them. I would like to get him out of SoCal…he hates the heat and doesn’t do well in it. He does have some fetlock lameness and he’s not quite fat enough that I’d sit on him yet but my best guess is that he’d be fine for light riding but that is all. Honestly, I’d love for him to have a pet home…he’s been through Hell and he’s so happy to be safe now. Big galoot just lays his big old head in my arms for snuggles…E-mail Katie at Second Chance Ranch if you’re interested in giving Hoover a safe spot for the rest of his life.

The best part about doing the blog, bar none, has been the e-mails from readers thanking me for advice that helped them overcome a training problem or resolve a horse health issue, like a senior horse who needed to gain weight. I absolutely love those. I’m glad I could help. Right up there are the happy endings that I know took place for horses posted here for adoption. Some are in the most fabulous homes!

Here are some of the things I hope you have learned (if you didn’t already know them):

- Old horses are never skinny because they are old. Old horses that are skinny have a problem that can be fixed 99% of the time.
- Slaughter is never the right answer. Slaughter provides a paycheck for irresponsible ownership and irresponsible breeding. Are there more horses than homes right now? You bet. The solution is the same sort of anti-breeding campaign that has worked VERY successfully in dogs and cats. I want to see this chart for horses, don’t you?

- Stallions are never ill-behaved because they are stallions. Stallions are ill-behaved because of a human permitting them to bounce around like an orangutan on crack. Expect gelding behavior from your stallion and you will get it from most stallions, of any breed. If he’s still an idiot, that means he needs to be a gelding. Great stallions are not a threat to everyone in a 20 foot radius when led down the aisle.
- There is no miracle about birth. Mosquitos breed. A thirty year old horse that is still in a great home and receiving excellent care…THAT is a miracle and something to be heartily applauded.
- That sick feeling in your stomach is NEVER wrong. If you feel it about a trainer, barn, etc. – RUN and take your horse(s) with you.
- Breeding animals responsibly isn’t easy. It actually takes a lot of research, knowledge and money. Most people should never breed an animal.
- Horses appreciate having a kind, fair, consistent leader — not a best friend that they can plow over and push around.
- That said, temper tantrums are counterproductive in everything from horse training to the job world. Learn to have self control. Not every impulse needs to convert itself into an action. Walking away is always better than losing it.
- Every time you think “oh, I should fix that, but it’ll be fine for tonight” — it won’t be. This is like a law of nature. Fix it tonight.
- Every time you think that something might be a bad idea, it is probably a bad idea. Remember the gal who tied the lead rope to her waist…
- The reason you have to report abuse or neglect is because horses and other animals can’t type or use the telephone. You are the only chance they have. Take pictures FROM THE ROAD…NEVER trespass. Go down to animal control or the sheriff’s and file a report. Call in a few weeks and follow up. If you fear you are being ignored, and that the situation is urgent, call your local media. Post to horsey message boards and blogs with the numbers to call to demand action. Getting a prosecution is a long, difficult but very rewarding road, especially when you see the horses safe in new homes that do take care of them.
- You cannot tell a rescue is good from their web site or Facebook page. Please support GFAS Accredited Rescues or rescues that you can visit in person (ideally, on a regular basis) and verify are taking proper care of their animals. Also look for a lot of before/after pictures proving the horse improved, as well as the ability to account for the whereabouts of horses adopted out years ago.
- You will not enjoy riding and your horse more from attending clinics or watching videos. You will enjoy riding and your horse more from riding a lot and taking lessons from a good trainer so that riding becomes easier and your ability to communicate with your horse improves. The better you ride, the less equine misbehavior you will experience. If you have fear issues, the #1 most valuable thing you can do to combat them is improve your riding, because that makes scary things happen less often.
- Also, on fear issues, allow me to quote something I read on Facebook and loved: “Before you diagnose yourself with depression or low self-esteem, first make sure that you are not, in fact, just surrounded by assholes. ~ William Gibson” Stop thinking you’re a shitty rider because your trainer is an insecure asshat who has to yell at and belittle students to make him/herself feel better. GET A NEW TRAINER.
- Turn-out is NOT optional. How well would you perform if you were locked in a shower stall whenever you weren’t at work? All horses need regular turn-out.
- Colic is 99% avoidable with daily turnout, regular rotational deworming (or fecals to determine what is needed), fresh and clean water available 24/7, a low stress environment, sand treatment if you’re in the sandy part of the country, and a consistent diet. If you are having colics frequently, figure out why.
- Proper conditioning is the #1 thing you can do to lower your vet bills and extend your horse’s useful life. When you do not ride all week and then go out on hilly trails for six hours on Saturday, do not come crying to me when your horse pulls a suspensory. That is like you trying to run 20 miles once a week after sitting in your recliner eating Ding Dongs the rest of the time … let’s see you do it. And folks, when your trainer is telling you in a lesson to push your horse past what YOU know your horse’s fitness level is, you have to say no. Ask yourself who will be paying the vet bill…will it be your trainer? Uh, no. So you have to have the guts to say, he’s tired, I want to quit now and cool him out. Even if he’s being bad, do something easy that he can get right, and then quit. There’s no value to making a training “point” that results in a horse that is out of commission for six months!
- It really is true…the vast majority of equine misbehavior results from pain. Before you punish, check for a sore back or neck, lameness, or dental problems. Check saddle fit, make sure the horse hasn’t been crammed into too-small shoes.
- Parents, put a helmet on your child every time they are on a horse. It is a long way down and all it takes is landing wrong to be a quadriplegic. When you are an adult, you can do as you see fit, and assume the risks you see fit, but a 5 year old cannot make those kind of adult choices. While we’re on the topic, stop overmounting your kid…the rest of us are all tired of watching in horror to see if the child will survive the parade on the jiggy horse who looks about to explode, or the hunter round on the horse who is clearly running off, or the barrel run on the horse who is bouncing off the arena walls like the meth head stripper on “Intervention” was bouncing off her room walls.
- No one person has all the answers when it comes to horses. Any of you might come up with an amazing solution to a training or health issue (or diagnose a pesky health issue that the vet couldn’t figure out). Read, read, read, and watch the trainers in your discipline whose horses are both performing well and seem happy (i.e. bright expression, happy ears, fluid movement, a general aura of enthusiasm while performing). I highly recommend The Horse for learning more about horse health. I also highly recommend the Chronicle of the Horse message board as a resource…you’ll find excellent information there.
- Finally, when you are between that proverbial rock and a hard place, and I know those situations happen, euthanasia is (100% of the time) a better solution than the auction. Yes, it will cost a few hundred dollars, so make the call while you still can, after you have made a true good faith effort to place the horse in a checked-out, proper home, but before you are down to your last $50 and your unemployment has run out. The only one who suffers when a horse is euthanized is his owner…he just goes to sleep. I never think of euthanasia as a tragedy. I always think of a horse being shoved onto a double-decker as a tragedy.

Now I have three questions for you guys:

1) What was your favorite blog entry or topic here? For sheer entertainment, I do not think you can beat some of the Parelli stuff I had to comment on. I mean, how can you beat the Parellis telling someone to feed carrots to their biting horse? The only thing that isn’t funny about it is that, for example, a horse showed up in the Enumclaw kill pen a month or two ago that was required to go to slaughter because of how aggressive he was. Well, how do you think he got that way?

2) I also want to know what you think was THE fugliest horse ever posted here. I still say this is the winner:

3) And finally, if you have a horse that you adopted because you saw him/her on this blog, can you give us an update? Extra credit for before/after pictures!

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I got a shocking e-mail today from someone filling me in that the owner of a large Texas Arabian farm had passed away, and that the family, after making a token attempt to sell some horses, had decided they did not want the hassle and sold them all to kill buyer Bill Richardson for $200 each.

I’m going to leave it to you guys to name the farm in the comments. I want to see if the news has spread. I almost have a hard time believing it myself, looking at their (out of date) web site (still up) and seeing the beautiful horses there. Many were Straight Egyptian, many were black (which is often more marketable despite the fact that, like roan in Quarter Horses, it is a color that has been bred for without a thought to the quality of the horse that carries it). I don’t want to think of them on a double-decker to Mexico, even though I believe this person’s email that it did happen. If it did, there is a special place in hell for the family member responsible (but it also appears the deceased gentleman had a gf or wife with him, so WTF was wrong with her? Ladies, learn to take a little responsibility for the animals living on your property and stop wanting everybody else to handle your problems…THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS.)

But again…over 100 horses. Obviously no provision for them in his will or this would not have happened. Though I’m told this person wasn’t exactly Responsible Breeder of the Year, and his pastures were generally dotted with underweight horses with poor hoof care. He just took pictures of the select few that he kept fattened up and cared for.

First of all, I’m curious if you guys know what farm I’ve talking about and have details to add. EDITED: OK, the word is out. It was Ramses Arabians in Texas and the horses CAN still be saved. Here is the info: “Darlene Cruite is corresponding with Bill Richardson. She is trying to compile a list of available horses. Bill bought 150 for $20,000 ( about $150 each)He has to keep them 2 to 4 weeks to have their paper work ready for them to cross the border. We only have that much time to find homes and get them moved. Darlene’s contact info is: home; 903-893-8690, cell; 940-368-3329, e mail ; 4kuhaylan@prodigy.net. Bill is not returning Lett’s calls. His contact info is; Penncross Ranch 121 85 FM Rd., Kilgore, Texas 75662 . Phone; 903-984-3819, 903-649-1658, e mail; penncross@tyler.net The clock is ticking, get this info on all the egyptian forums ASAP”

Secondly, and this goes for ALL breeds, what do you think is the best solution to these 100, 200, 700 horse clusterfucks we seem to be seeing? Do you think there should be restrictions on how many animals you can own without showing proof of financial stability and ability to care for them? If you are the owner of a very large farm like one of these, I’m especially interested to hear from you what restrictions you think are fair and would not punish the good people.

I have been saying for years that there needs to be a $50 or $100 per foal municipal tax. The local municipalities would LOVE to enforce it as a source of income. It would not harshly affect the breeders of quality foals that are going to sell for good money. What it would discourage is the breeding of a large quantity of foals, or the breeding of foals likely to sell for $500 or less.

I know this is America, and we’re the land of the free, but we genuinely can’t afford to keep cleaning up someone’s 100 or 200 or 300 horse mistakes, and I think it’s atrocious that many were deliberately created just to wind up going to slaughter. Again, if horses were more rare, your prices WOULD be back up. It has nothing to do with slaughter, it has to do with the fact that we’re still breeding more horses than the market will bear, and plenty of them aren’t getting any training. How in the world do we make breeders scale back/take a break? I know many of you are already doing that, but I don’t mean you — I mean the arrogant idiots who think their horses are more valuable than gold even though their inability to sell any contradicts that. Is there ANYTHING that you’ve seen work on these people? What do you think might?

Watch her video here.

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.

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Not such a happy horse tale

Yes, just another example where a lady who had two unrideable horses got scammed out of them by a shady dealer named Sandy Boudreau, aka Amy Adams, of Raven Rock Farm. Check out Ms. Boudreau’s pic – doesn’t she look like a nice lady? That is why you can’t go by what people look like when deciding whether to trust them with their horses. You, too, can be fooled. Ms. Boudreau seems to think she has done nothing wrong here but let’s start with, why do you even USE an alias if you are such an above-board, honest individual? Bullshit. I don’t walk around using aliases, and neither do any of you, do you, dear readers? You know who uses a fake name? People in the witness protection program … and criminals. I think it is a safe bet that Ms. Boudreau is not in the witness protection program, don’t you?

However, while I think it’s horrible that Boudreau didn’t say the following words to Mrs. Pepin BEFORE taking the horses on false pretenses, I am glad she said them in the newspaper for all to see:

“Ms. Boudreau said once the horse has been given to her, the owners can’t expect any more from her after that.

“First of all, I don’t want to be bothered,” she said. “I don’t want people hounding me over something where I am basically making no money. Why bother? If they sent the horse to rescue, they wouldn’t tell them that information, so why should I? So they can go and hound somebody else? Once they gave up the horse, they gave up the horse. If they didn’t want to do that, they shouldn’t have gone onto a public site to give it up. Not one person asked to see my farm or checked me out. They could have given it to Joe Blow or anybody else and they would be hounding that person. They never should have given their horses away if they felt so strongly. They should have kept them until they die or let them spend the money to put the horse down.”

Yeah, she sounds like a bitch but she’s not wrong. Euthanasia would have been a lot kinder than what I am sure happened to those horses. Mrs. Pepin should have checked things out. She should have gotten a written contract. But like most people, she wanted to believe in a happy ending – no matter how unrealistic the odds were of that happy ending. Now she will feel guilty the rest of her life.

It’s not worth it. Look, no one enjoys holding the horse while the vet gives the shot, but even if you can’t do that, even if you walk away and let the vet handled it, you’re being so much kinder than letting the horse go out there to any fate at all. Giving your horse away free on Craigslist? You might as well open the pasture gate and let him run out.

It should not be news to you, as an adult, that people like Ms. Boudreau exist — YOU are what’s standing between your horse and that fate. Only you. Don’t drop the ball.

P.S. If you do not want to be hounded, I recommend NOT lying to people in order to pick up their free horses from Craigslist. Because it is amazing how often those stories make it into the media, whether that’s the newspaper or the Fugly blog. Just a helpful tip – don’t DO this crap and you won’t get “hounded” by the 99.9% of Americans who think you DID do something wrong here! And those of you who buy hunter/jumpers on the East coast, as always…vote with your wallets.

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My original blog about this story, from December

First of all, I’m so glad the Telegram covered this in such depth. We can’t tell people too many times what happens to horses when we sell them to homes we did not check out thoroughly.

Second of all, while I believe Mara was just flat out clueless about who Noone was, I really do have to give her some credit for continuing to pursue legal action against Noone for his misrepresentations. I think she did get lied to. It’s par for the course for KB’s to promise a good home and nobody ever sues them for it. I wish people would. However, I would love to know why Mara didn’t return the horse to the original owner if she couldn’t afford him? Did she try and get told they wouldn’t take him back? Or did she not try? She has never answered the question (that I have found) so I have to assume she did not try, which of course puts her squarely in the wrong, particularly if she DID sign the contract Clarke alleges she signed. If she did, Clarke should sue her and I hope he does.

Third, why do none of the dates match here? Clarke says the horse was sold to Noone 5 days after he was given to Mara. Later, in the same article, it says Mara was unable to afford boarding after a couple of weeks and sold the horse. This article claims Feld listed him for sale ONE DAY after taking possession of him. And this thread seems to say that Feld owned the horse for one month. Personally, I think the latter is more likely. Would you bring a horse home and in one day, climb on him and have your picture taken in a big open field? A horse that was right off the track? I’m guessing she did have him for a month. (The more I read, the more my head hurts…no one seems to have this story 100% straight)

The only person I find credible anymore at this point is Clarke, but I will find him more credible if he sues Feld. After all, if you have a contract, prove it. File suit. Feld made more than one major error here and there is no rational explanation for “suddenly” discovering you cannot afford a horse. She has answered the questions she wanted to answer and swerved the questions she didn’t want to answer, and that alone makes her look awfully guilty in my eyes. Bottom line: poor horse. He certainly did not deserve any of this.