If you recall, on Monday we talked about the 34 horses seized in Nevada that belonged to a PSA. I promised I would update as it became available and we seem to have a lot of ground to cover today. First off, I want people to take a look at this YouTube video that was taken by Dorothy Robertson a year ago at her old farm. These are her mares and I want to point out that while they all appear to be in good weight, the feet are starting to get a little long and there is at least one horse in the video with severe blistering sunburn and the hide falling off it about 25 seconds in. Again, this video was from LAST year. They are also eating out of the sand and there does not appear to be any shelter from the sun or elements for them. At the 1:20 mark, you will note a horse in the background that appears to have some paralysis on the right side of her face. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHIydGccvyM)
Mare “19” at rescue
The rescue is beginning to post some pictures of the horses as they are triaged and the one thing I do notice is that there hasn’t been anything horrifically skinny shown yet. However, the condition of their feet and other injuries are really bad. The mare pictured above can be seen on the video as well and she has lost some condition. Please note her back feet in the picture….there will be other closer views of them in a bit. For now, let’s hear from Dorothy herself, as she has managed to get back online tonight.
“Finally on-line. The house I am in has no power hooked up due to damage to wiring done by previous people….using generator to run well for water. Had to buy new computer and just getting the hang of it.”
– Did you catch that? This is the woman who could not afford to have her emaciated older stallion euthanized, has no power, yet she can afford to go out and buy a brand new computer. Judging by how many message boards she is a member of, it would seem the majority of her life is spent online. Priorities…..
“Yes…financial issues for the last year plus. Had renters in second house who didn’t pay rent/electric (one meter for entire place) for 7 months, did approx $5K in damages and hay prices went sky high….fed horses and lost the ranch eventually this last spring. NO mares bred for this year or next (unless they got preg with stalllion/yearling colts running with mares….posting photo of them in a minute). Offered horses for sale lots of places including local radio classifieds (for as low as $250 for registerable…all paperwork completed….4 year old with all ground work done, saddled, bridled, ground driven, trailers, ties, bathes, clips etc……so please don’t tell me I didn’t have reasonable prices…chihauhau pups sell for more than that!), craigslist, Dreamhorse etc. Do you really think it smart to just give away horses to anyone who walks up and wants them? Aren’t we told that this is dangerous for the horses? Besides, I could always negotiate down if it seemed like a good home….and did in a couple of cases…not sure I’m required to post any horse I sell and what I sold it for out there for the general public to discuss.”
– By several accounts, when people came out to buy horses from Dorothy, she would raise the price or back out of the deals. Now she is all concerned about what would have been best for the horses. She says no mares have been bred and I guess we’ll find out in the coming weeks whether or not that statement is true, although she had this to say in April: “I’ve had the mares listed for on-site leases and got three looking like that will work…which will help…they will at least be bringing in enough to cover their costs. The youngsters will likely go to the NRCHA Snaffle Bit sales in the fall as well as possibly a couple of the mares (will be bred for 2 in 1 packages….one possible three in one….with foals by HZ son of res world champion/double bred Delta O’Lena/Nu Bar for guaranteed tobi foals)….”
Yearling colt getting his elf boots trimmed off
“Old stallion had health issues off/on for almost a year….strangles in late summer, pigeon fever in late fall with last abscesses draining in Jan. Move here in late May was tough on him….had to pen and separate from bachelor herd…..paced and hollered for almost 2 weeks. Then sand colic and possible founder. On bute, SMZ, omeprazole (for possible ulcers),epsom salt soaks, 30 lbs alfalfa a day plus sr feed, calf manna….just kept loosing wt…eating eagerly and interested in everything. Blew out two foot abscesses during the summer. Drinking 30-35 gallons a day and peeing the same.”
– Founder, excessive drinking and peeing, advanced age? Sounds to me like this horse went metabolic on her and was in kidney failure. If that was the case, a high protein diet like alfalfa was probably adding to his issues. At any rate, if he was the downed horse in the news link posted on Monday, he was allowed to suffer far beyond what would have been considered humane.
“Was on new place less than 5 weeks when deputy came saying there was anonymous complaint…..only person who could see pens/mare field is neighbor to the south (wife works dispatch for sheriffs office and he openly told me he wanted the runoff/excess water from the irrigation system that feeds the pond on my back field….neither piece of land has irrigation rights so this would not be a legal move on his part). Sheriff’s deputy at that visit said “no evidence of neglect…several issues, not serious, being addressed with plans and treatment”…he did two more drive by checks and testified last week that he didn’t think anything had changed for the worse.”
– I’m wondering how he did two drive by checks on her horses when she clearly states nobody could see her pens or field from the road.
“Told him that if the old horse didn’t show improvement by Aug 1 I would be making decision to put him down. Several mares that had sand colicked (place is 10 acres and at least 12 feet deep in fine sand) were pulled from the field, treated, put in separate pens and given more feed to help gain back what they had lost. Vet testified last week that they could dramatically loose wt with sand and it could take a long time to regain…stated gain rate of 1 to 1.5 lbs a day so even a 75 lb wt loss could take more than 2 months to gain back. He also testified that if that was the case with these horses it was not an indication of neglect.”
– Again, go back to the video posted at the beginning of this entry. Why would you allow your horses to grub around in the sand for their feed? You’re asking for trouble! Also, 1 to 1.5lbs of grain a day is supposed to help them gain weight? My at rest horse gets more than that for his LUNCH. She states her place was only 10 acres and we know for a fact that 34 horses were on that property. Think about that for a minute….
“Regarding foals (long yearlings)….they boarded out for winter/early spring in exchange for two breedings to perlino stud to a couple mustang mares…gal had river bottom land. Got the mares covered early spring and then the boyfriend of the gal called to say they had had a big fight and split and she’d left, leaving horses. Got them back late April (don’t remember exact date) with pot bellies, bad feet, no handling, no worming, thick, matted coats with burrs etc. Moved here immediately after that bringing foals with. Spent some time getting them haltered and treated for worms and feeding. Used Safeguard first..not much effect. Then used a generic Ivermectin and two had really nasty photosensitive sunburns within a couple days…progressed to peeling, cracking, bleeding on legs. Since they weren’t broke to stand tied yet and handling caused severe pain reactions I elected to let legs heal before grabbing and holding feet for trims. Treated legs with sprayed on diluted aloe vera and they were gradually healing.”
– She clearly states she got her horses back in April. It is now nearly October and they still have infected cuts on their legs, blistered skin and elf boots.
Infected laceration on mare’s leg taken at rescue
“Meanwhile, sand colicked horses were doing better (and all horses were on feeders….got a few from some nice people by way of local radio classified ads….to keep them from eating on sand). Old stallion continued to go downhill and I called vet regarding putting him down….was told price and that it would be required to be paid in full at the time including disposal fee if done at the clinic. I had just put almost $1500 into getting a new pump, pressure tank, generator to get water on the place (other than pond for the mares)….was hauling about 1000 gallons a day for the penned horses for the first two months I was there.”
– I do not know of a single vet that wouldn’t put the horse down if it was suffering. I’m wondering if there was an issue with outstanding bills Even so, why not call a neighbor, animal control, or rescue for assistance doing the right thing for this horse?
“Should have had $ for putting him down early Aug….and then my sister died….colon cancer and went downhill much more rapidly than anticipated. Put horses, tack, harnessing, carts, blankets, etc for sale, begged for work, had fliers around town, even put them on Craigslist. I had $ for feed (buying 40 or more bales of 105-115 lbs each every week) but not for additional things that all came at one time.”
– I really have no comment on this. I don’t live anywhere near Nevada so not sure if any of this was done. All I do know is that the people that came forward since this happened, have said she wanted to put her prices up on the horses as soon as anybody showed interest.
“Lots of things very wrong with this whole thing. Nevada brand inspectors actually taking part in seizure (head inspector said this was not to be done) and one (Deveny Nelson) posted within an hour of leaving my place to the “rescue” that she had a big bunch (can’t remember exact wording…have a screen shot saved) for the rescue…using her position as brand inspector to hustle for a rescue? She belongs to several animal rights groups.”
– Yup, it’s always the fault of AR people. Nevermind the neglect and abuse, it’s a conspiracy by the AR people…
“She’s also posted that the place was a dump, that there were a lot of feral cats (not one seen in any sheriffs dept photos and unlikely to live well with the high coyote population around here)….yes….weedy and lots of trash…had been vacant/abandoned for almost 2 years with racoons, a single cat (one was all I saw) and some birds living in the open house when I took the place. Perimeter fence good but cross fencing/pens a joke…..I’ve raked and burned almost 4 acres, put up my pens (smallest 12 x 12…”too small”….with others ranging from 12 x 16 to 18 x24 for single horses and 32 x 46 for a couple of mares penned together).”
– I just want to remind everybody that there were THIRTY FOUR horses on this small place. Now she says that the house was open and had no electricity. I’m wondering why social services haven’t intervened on her behalf? This clearly does not sound like a place fit to live for any living creature. She also does have a lot of cats. She breeds and sells rag doll cats. She even has a Facebook page for that operation.
“Deputies approached with “concern about old stallion”….had my permission, request that he be put down as they told me they had resources to help out owners. Took him and kept him from Friday to at least Tues and possibly to Wed of the next week (I’ve not been told when he was put down and vet testified that he didn’t know when or which of the vets in his clinic did the deed). Dr David Faught of Lahontan Valley Vet Clinic (which which I had a client relationship and an earlier billing dispute this last spring) “assessed” the horses…..did not put a hand on a single one, was there maybe 20-25 minutes, testified a week ago that he didn’t need to touch to do a BCS, that visual was enough and that there were no horses above a 3 on the place. When asked about specific horses he said he couldn’t remember without a photo (which I had been prevented from taking once they were off the place).”
– Admits to the billing dispute with vet here. The following is a picture she took of the horses after they were seized from a distance. They don’t appear to be skeletal, but you also can’t see their feet or legs from the distance either. She has since taken her website down, but the pictures always cut the feet off the horses.
“Mares/fillies were hauled together with stallion(s) and brand inspector said they were separated at the sales yard…..not true as there are photos of 3.5 year old stallion and 1.5 year old colts with the mares and fillies in one pen. Horses were immediately free fed high quality alfalfa (sales yard feeds mostly cattle so much of the hay is probably dairy quality)….if the horses were truly in a starvation condition this would likely have killed at least several of them.”
– I would appear that starvation was not the primary reason for seizure, although that does not mean they weren’t headed that way. Should the authorities waited until they were actually dropping dead?
“NV law says clearly that a horse sold to cover a board bill must go through a board lien foreclosure process…..bill to the owner with 30 days to pay it, certified letter to notify of intent to foreclose, publication in three places in the county for 10 days plus one publication in local paper and sale to be held not less than 10 days nor more than 15 days after publication. No more horses can be sold than to cover the board bill…any oversale money goes to the owner (for example…10 horses, board bill of $450, 5 horses selling for $100 would be the max allowed to be sold with remainder of horses and $50 oversale to go to the owner). Owner also has option of having independent appraisal and the lien holder to take horses based on that appraisal to cover the bill with remaining horses to go back to the owner. “
– I’m not exactly sure what Nevada law is as far as horses that have been confiscated or seized. Although, there is board and vet bills accumulating on these horses daily so it’s probably digging a hole she’s never going to get out of.
“Now add in the legal obligation of the DA’s office and the sheriffs office to maintain “evidence” and to make the evidence available to the defence in a criminal matter to be examined directly…..and the horses are no longer available.”
– Which may also explain why the rescue is unable to field any adoption offers for these horses right now?
Hind foot of Mare “19” after two inches were taken off
As of right now, all the mares and babies are at Northeastern Nevada Equine Rescue in Wells. I believe the colts and stallions will be moved by tomorrow. I’ve read a lot of people trashing this rescue and it’s chair. From what I understand this is a relatively new rescue. Personally, I’ve never heard of them good or bad. I’ve seen accusations that they’re breeding horses, they can’t handle the numbers, adoption fees are too high etc. I guess, I’m of a wait and see attitude about it. There has certainly been enough publicity around these horses that people will be watching closely. I can’t see that they’ve done anything wrong to this point as the horses were released to them. I have no problem with them asking for donations. Anybody that ends up with over 30 extra mouths to feed almost overnight would do the same. There are virtually no rescues sitting around with the capacity to take on that many horses. They have a huge task ahead of them given the condition of some of the horses and I certainly wish them the very best. If people truly care about the animals involved, I would think they would either step up and donate or get out of the way and let these people try to save these horses. Prior to NNER stepping up, they were headed nowhere good and they certainly were not being properly cared for with Dorothy Robertson. Remember, Dorothy was a very vocal supporter of slaughter. I’ll leave you with a quote she made back in March:
“It would be just devastating to me but I think also to the Paint performance world if these mares were to go to slaughter.”
Shedrow Confessions 
so you think she is a bad person because she had 34 horses on “10 arc”… but yet how come i never hear any bad mouthing one of your own with his 30+ head of hores on LESS THEN 3arc???????
One of MY own? I’m not aware of one of MY own having anywhere near this trainwreck going on. I’m glad that is the only thing you see wrong with this situation. Speaks volumes about your mentality. Dorothy is clearly in need of assistance herself and is nowhere physically, financially or mentally capable of even looking after herself at this point. Why don’t you go help her out?
And you think just because she is pro-slaughter she is in the right? Why didn’t she just slap her horses on a trailer and send them to slaughter? Most pro-slaughter people think it’s a grand idea and the perfect solution for taking care of those pesky, unwanted horses.
geez. a mean one didnt know you ‘owned’ people. . i see the UHies trying to offer ‘moral’ support and misplaced outrage. they must think there is left-wing AR conspiracy to steal their hoards. why was she still breeding horses when she had to many to look after?
Why isn’t anyone helping HER? Clearly she is not thinking straight and is admittedly living in deplorable conditions. All they are worried about is that she got busted for neglecting her horses and it looks bad. SHE needs help, not to get her horses back. It’s just so frustrating!
I love the complaint above. It’s clear to them that they can kiss, coddle and pat an abuser as long as they are pro-slaughter, but if someone who happened to be in the same shoes was against it, they’d tear them a new one. Gee, sounds suspiciously close to what you were just accused of doing, SR. But again, they ARE close friends with hypocrisy.
I wonder if they will continue to turn a blind eye to the people who came forward and said how she’d hike up the price once someone was interested. I guess psa’s don’t like to price per pound if it’s their own horses…
Notice how she mentions that the Paint performance world wouldn’t want these horses to go to slaughter. Then how come they didn’t step up? Inflated opinion on her breeding `program’? I do think there are some nice looking horses in that bunch. I hope they can be rehabbed and find loving homes. Rest assured, I’d be equally disgusted if an anti pulled off something like this. However, I haven’t noticed one shouting from the roof tops about their self created problems lately…..
This is an extremely sad situation all around. This woman shouldn’t be living in her current conditions, she shouldn’t have animals, and nobody seems to care about anything other than trashing AR groups who really haven’t said bugger all about it yet. Seems the only thing the PSAs are concerned about is trashing this rescue who took the horses and they haven’t done anything wrong yet.
I agree 100% SR. If they can trash AR’s and “Anti’s”, yet lift not a finger to help out someone in need who is supposedly on their side, then nothing they say will ever hold weight with me. There ARE some nice horses in that bunch, but I wouldn’t pay the price she was asking for them. Paints have been out since the early 90’s, haven’t they? I haven’t kept up with the paint world in a long time, but when I lost interest, it seemed a lot of other people were too.
I’ve been reading the SrC posts and comment thread on this situation. As SrC says over and over again….this woman is not well and the authorities ignore her personal situation. It is so sad that mental illness is not recognized as the medical condition that it really is. If she had open, visible wounds the sheriff would have called paramedics or social services, right? There is a fine line between loner eccentric and flat ass crazy. I draw the line when anything living is in obvious jeopardy or peril because of it. You know why it is ignored? Money and our pathetic healthcare system.
Aside from her personal situation, there are the animals. I’m NOT a fan of breeding for color, but it is a recognized breed. Why hasn’t the Paint Assoc of NV stepped up?….how about the fucking useless state chapter of the Horse Council? Those asswipes seem to only talk taxes, accelerated depreciation, trails for pleasure riders and slaughter.
I could careless about those moronic PSAs and what they think…many are the same type of crazy as sad, old Dorothy or just one functional level above and one paycheck ahead of the looming trainwreck that is their horsemanship expertise.
Denise, your comments are getting caught up for moderation and I don’t know why. I haven’t done anything to flag your posts!
I’ve been reading the SrC posts and comment thread on this situation. As SrC says over and over again….this woman is not well and the authorities ignore her personal situation. It is so sad that mental illness is not recognized as the medical condition that it really is. If she had open, visible wounds the sheriff would have called paramedics or social services, right? There is a fine line between loner eccentric and flat ass crazy. I draw the line when anything living is in obvious jeopardy or peril because of it. You know why it is ignored? Money, insurance companies and our pathetic healthcare system.
Aside from her personal situation, there are the animals. I’m NOT a fan of breeding for color, but it is a recognized breed. Why hasn’t the Paint Assoc of NV stepped up?….how about the fucking useless state chapter of the Horse Council? Those asswipes seem to only talk taxes, accelerated depreciation, trails for pleasure riders and slaughter.
I could careless about those moronic PSAs and what they think…many are the same type of crazy as sad, old Dorothy or just one functional level above and one paycheck ahead of the looming trainwreck that is their horsemanship expertise.
I would think the PSAs would, yet again, hide their head’s in shame that they have not solved this problem on their own. Does hot air alone not help one of their own? Why didn’t they contact her friends or family and extend the Christian HELPING HAND instead of letting her fall down so humiliatingly and suffer such criticism and abuse? Sad, soooo sad when people turn their backs on their own. So they tried to buy the horses? Not good enough. Clearly this woman was in need of serious help and they stood back and watched instead of “helping thy neighbor.” Why not raise money for her BEFORE law enforcement intervened? Why didn’t you go out and handle her horses so you could trim their feet? Why didn’t you trim their feet? Why didn’t you help her put down the suffering stallion? Why didn’t you do that? WE ARE GETTING SICK OF CLEANING UP YOU MESSES. THE SHAME!
Oh wait, in reality it is EXTREMELY DIFFICULT AND EXPENSIVE to take care of 34 horses properly and DO THE RIGHT THING–they would rather just slaughter them and make them disappear.
I may just be showing my ignorance here (But then, I have never once claimed to know everything, so who cares.) but I would say that there was something seriously wrong with that stallion that got put down. I had a mare that contracted Pigeon Fever. It was quite a few years ago and I didn’t even know what it was at first – I had never heard of it before. At first, I thought she got into a wasp nest (we lived in the mountains) and was swollen and sore from stings. The next day, I knew it was something worse and started researching it. Pigeon Fever is so highly contagious, you have to quarantine the horse for the duration of treatment, get rid of any and all materials used to treat the abscesses, any and all bedding, all of the pus that drains from the horse, and so on. I was told to burn it. From the beginning of swelling to the end of the abscesses closing it took maybe two months total, but it was a several hour a day job to care for it. I know horses can develop abscesses internally from this illness, and that when the abscesses burst on organs, they die. But, I cannot see it taking almost six months. Epsom soaks don’t do much for Pigeon Fever. As far as I know, there is no correlation with foot abscesses and Pigeon Fever. Every time I hear about that stallion, it makes me ache. I have never heard of consecutive colic and founder, either. I have certainly never heard of a horse with Pigeon Fever going crazy with pacing and crying for the other horses – all my mare felt like doing for those two months was resting and getting loved on while she was sick (and she was a very hot-blooded horse on an average day). She didn’t agonize over the quarantine, although her pasture-mate was not too happy about being alone in the lower horse field for that time (though she never contracted it, and that was the purpose of the quarantine to begin with). I ache for all of those horses, and hope they all end up okay.
There is a correlation between abscessed feet and founder and sometimes very sick horses will founder as well. Given his alleged age, the excessive urination/drinking and the laminitis, it just sounds like he went metabolic on her and in that case the alfalfa/high protein diet she claimed to have him on was making matters far worse. I guess we’ll never really know what the entire story was though.
In my humble opinion, considerable help from Dorothy’s fellow PSAs would not help her situation if in fact, she has a mental illness, such as hoarding. Offers of hay, money, and physical labor may help temporarily, but a hoarder will continue hoarding without a medical intervention. Much like an addict, throwing money and assistance her way will only encourage her to carry on with her poor decisions (breeding program). She almost has to hit rock-bottom and lose everything before she will come to accept that she needs help – that her misfortunes are self-induced, and not the result of vast conspiracies, as she currently believes them to be. The whole situation is sad…
Her fellow PSAs should then understand that they shouldn’t cast stones and attack rescues that support law enforcement. They have mercilessly attacked legit groups and people who have tried to help solve problems in other cases. Many, many people tried to help Nancy Skakel before law enforcement stepped in. This case is like pushing the “replay” button. A person not taking responsibility for their animals and then people who clean up their messes get attacked for their hard work and good intentions. I think Dorothy should be grateful that her horses are in good hands and thanking Deanna Tierney for her hard work and her sleepless nights working to salvage their health and future. The fact that PSAs criticize this effort reinforces my view that they care not about the horses.
I absolutely agree..
Again, the PSA’s are focusing on the wrong agenda. Why is it that they cannot seem to understand that it is just not feasible that there could be this HUGE conspiracy against one horse owner without justifiable cause?? Everyone from the judges, neighbors, vet, farrier, rescues, AR’s…etc. seem to be responsible for this melee…..everyone, of course, except for the horse owner herself. Sorry, this just doesn’t wash, not even one iota of it. Daffy (again) is vocal with her “off the wall” focus and nit-picking about what should be done NOW. I have read their thread, all 131 comments, the horses themselves are just lost in their thought process. That is sad. Why is this rescue coming under the fire? It is clear to me just what Marion stated above, they simply do not care about these horses, they just care about their “rights” and to hell with the horses.
BJ Johns; if you are still reading this, I would be *forever* grateful if you could explain how Ms Robertson’s horses ended up like this, given that selling them to a kill buyer was still an available option here in the US — in fact, she even spoke about the possibility on several occasions.
Since one of your (and other slaughter supporters) biggest arguments is that horses are being “starved and neglected” because there are no slaughterhouses here (yet the option still exists); how do you explain this particular case?
Do you not understand that this is what we (who are opposed to slaughter) have been saying all along?
The “availability” of slaughter does NOT prevent people from neglecting and allowing there animals to starve. It does NOT matter where the slaughterhouses are located — they could be on every street corner, just like 7-11’s and people will STILL allow their horses to suffer neglect.
This is such a simple truth, it’s mystifying that there are people who still don’t understand it.
Maybe they don’t want to.
That BJ creature just squawks and runs. She doesn’t really comprehend that which is obvious. I’ve yet to find anything beneficial about horse slaughter and I’ve been researching it for years. The more I research it the more reasons I find to oppose it.
He is not going to answer you because there is no credible answer.
He’s a she and she jumps on here once in blue moon to dazzle us all with her insight and wisdom.
For one.. the horses were NOT starved… and I never once said that taking the horses was not a good thing.. here was a lady that asked for help.. needed to place some horses.. sale.. what ever… people came and said.. ya i will take some for you till you get on your feet… NOPE.. she would not do it.. or people came and said we will buy one or two .. but she went from 200 a head to 1,000’s a head.. because of their breeding… so no.. i will not do anything to help her.. and do i think the horses are better off now… you bet… do i believe in slaughter.. yes… have i sent any of mine to slaughter.. yes… will I do it again.. yes if i need to…. I have also shot a few that i did not feel could make the trip… do i believe that horses are pets… NOT IN THIS LIFE TIME… and as for your Anti.. with 30+ head on less then 3 arc…..Here you go…http://www.tierramadrehorsesanctuary.org/
I think you should read their `about us’ section a bit more carefully. They said they STARTED with just under 3 acres but have since expanded. I don’t know anything else about this place other than what you have linked so if you have more information please link it.
I figure the reason they have them on 3 acres is because they aren’t broke to handle. It’s much easier to catch them to treat them in a small space, than a large one. Also, reading your above comment, it’s ironic you lambasted SR for reporting the very same things you just said.
NOW I go and read their website. Yeah, “started at”, and if I had them, I’d still keep them on small acreage while I treated their wounds and taught them to handle. Much easier to deal with cleaning up that mess.
Geez…you are one angry heifer.
Dear God… Bless the rescue and the horses on this one. Do they really believe that rescues hustle horses? NEWSFLASH: We spend more time and money NOT taking horses than taking horses!!! And when we do have to take them, it’s because we HAVE TO take them. If I had a nickle for every time people cry foul for their trainwrecks being cleaned up by good people who truly do care about the animals, I’d share my wealth with all y’all and we’d clean up the industry. Dorothy, you need to get a grip and a clue. Sadly at this stage in the game, it’s highly unlikely.
Susanne – just a small fact check…not all rescues are good ones and sadly over the years I have seen too many that had other motives beyond the welfare of the horse. And yes, I they can and do hustler horses…please check the links below for a recent seizure of horses from a “rescue” that was a living HE** for the ones taken in…
When people question rescues they are trying to be sure that said rescue is in good enough shape to take in as many as they have and are able to support them even if donations should dwindle…
These are very valid questions and should a rescue or the people supporting them take issue with the fact they have been questioned then “maybe” there is an issue with that rescue. Over the years good rescues thake no issue with questions are asked, but sadly the ones’ that make info “private” , get angry and defensive about questions, tell different stories…well check out the most recent seizure of South Alabama Equine Rescue horses that have just been taken in by Dusty Trail Rescue…
There were red flags about these (2) going back only one year ago, it is SICK to see what happened here and only confirms that people need to check out any rescue and that rescue need to be completely transparent…anything less could mean horses placed there could end up worse and that is CRIMINAL.
http://www.waka.com/home/top-stories/Rescued-Horses-Striving-Towards-Recovery-170589246.html
http://action.humanesociety.org/site/MessageViewer?em_id=47401.0&pgwrap=n
http://www.horsegroomingsupplies.com/horse-forums/celeste-had-her-baby-lots-of-pics-463644.html
http://www.horsegroomingsupplies.com/horse-forums/idiots-437090.html
1) Story of arrest
2) Pics of mare Celestee and her foal
3) pics of Celeste and her foal for bragging rights
4) First sign of huge RED FLAGS!
I would NEVER wnat to bash rescues, we need them…but in all fairness we need them to be good one’s…the horses deserve that!
Fact check. 🙂 I was talking about legitimate rescues and was generalizing, I believe the one in question is likely legit. Full disclosure, I’ve bailed out “rescues” myself and have seen the fraud, thievery, lying, catfights, trainwrecks, neglect, abuse and drama out there in the rescue world; didn’t feel the need to follow your links but do appreciate the sentiment. Forty years working with horses and the last ten of them in rescue has opened many doors to horror for me. No worries, I’m in the know, just simplified my comment for ease of use. I could go on and on into the night about bad rescues, chose not to.
Transparency is key and that’s why anyone can walk into my barn any day of the week. Anyone can ask me any questions about any horse that’s now in, or has been in, our program, any money received or spent, who the vet is, when they were trimmed, floated, vaccinated, last brushed, dewormed, etc. I often have horses in protective custody due to seizure, I wouldn’t release them right away either, regardless of who wanted them. When they’re fostered out for rehab., it’s to prescreened, trusted members of my volunteer force and only after they’ve been fully vetted, vaccinated, trimmed, coggins pulled and in hand, stabilized and monitored for the length of time I see fitting for the particular animal in question.
I’m not shocked by the behavior of this rescue in that regard. The pictures above, along with other review, reflect proper care being given to these horses, IMO. I commend their fearlessness in taking these animals on and will provide them the benefit of doubt and the room they need to work. I will probably try to send some bucks their way this month as well. Trainwrecks can happen at good rescues due to lack of support caused by undue drama and attacks. Questioning is one thing, flame throwing is another and there’s been plenty of that going on with this case…
BJ Johns; thank you for your follow up comment. You seem to understand one of the reasons why Ms Robertson’s horses fell into neglect; the owner simply refused to use the option of selling them for slaughter.
Do you understand that this is *why* slaughterhouses in this country, even if they were on every street corner, WILL NOT prevent this type of behavior?
I believe, Howard, that this is an angry woman who has difficulty being rational or compassionate.
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