Anybody still here? I know I’ve got some explaining to do and I may get that in another post, but it’s not all that exciting. Short version is that I have the attention span of a gnat and keeping up a blog is a lot of work. Keeping up one that is so close to my heart, is even more so. So, shiny objects, life, boots on the ground etc. will have to suffice for excuses for now. The other issue is, as I’m sure you all know, Ole Suey fell off her perch and Douchebag Duquette skulked off to park his head up the ass of Forrest Lucas meaning the immediate threat from them was over. I can’t claim mission accomplished, because none of that was my doing, but we kept the spotlight shining where it needed to be at the time and we got the word out. Now, another issue has finally pissed me off to the point I have felt the need to resurrect this blog and address it. It’s an issue we briefly touched on a few years ago and I fully admit, my position on certain parties has done a complete 180. Are you ready? Pull up a seat and let’s get into it.
So, while I have been busy not keeping this particular blog up to date, I haven’t exactly been living in a vacuum. I’m still involved in the anti-slaughter stuff and I’m very well versed in the rescue wars that rage on and the kill pen brokers that continue to spin their lies at the expense of horses. The more things change….However, when you have a high profile rescue with extremely questionable ethics and a notorious broker with zero ethics, joining forces, you have a perfect storm of fuckery and horses are going to suffer more than usual. Dear readers, that is exactly what is going down right now as I write this. HiCaliber Horse Rescue out of Valley Center, California has hooked up with one Tara Michelle Sanders from the Thompson Lot out of Louisiana and 20 horses are about to get royally screwed. This means HiCaliber is about to get a lot of money to pay some bills and line their pockets. Poor Tara doesn’t aim as high so she’s just going to get her regular exorbitant mark up. I’m sure she’ll be fine though because she’s just tapped into a large village of idiots who live behind their computers getting their `high’ by saving horses online. Of course they only get motivated with the last minute saves because real rescue doesn’t get them moist like faux rescue. The background to this saga is the fate of 16 OTTBs that are allegedly on the lot belonging to Tara’s boyfriend and his father. I say allegedly because only a few are tattooed and some are crossbreds. This is pretty much business as usual for Tara and Jacob except one horse came in with an ulcerated upper lip. They claimed it was a burned off tattoo from an off track TB and it may well be, but it also might not be as it looks suspiciously like the mouth ulcers a horse gets when they get into things like foxtails and there is no sign of ink between the two sores as there would be in a real tattoo. So, not saying it is or it isn’t, but the fact of the matter is that one picture created a stink and generated a lot of attention. All of a sudden a lot of people were very interested in these horses and that’s where the unholy alliance of Tara Michelle Sanders and HiCaliber Horse Rescue incubated.
HiCaliber Rescue out of southern California love nothing better than media attention. They have been trying to get a reality show happening for quite some time and never miss an opportunity to get their name in the press. They actually used to be a pretty decent rescue and this blog has even given them some credit in the past. Sadly, somewhere along the way of the last few years, HiCaliber kinda lost the plot and rather than be all about the horses, became all about the money and the numbers. They made a deal with a well known local Kill buyer, David Misner and his son Bubba and stumbled across a similar business model to Tara’s. Tell your followers that death from slaughter is imminent for the horses you want and mark up the price so you got a little for your pocket…or a lot. There are two main differences though. The first is that Tara is getting rid of horses off her feed bill, while HiCaliber keep bringing more and more in to get warehoused on their small plot of land. The other big difference is almost amusing if it wasn’t costing so many lives. HiCaliber claim to be saving horses from slaughter, but they fail to mention that shipping to slaughter in Southern California is illegal, so them knowing that Misner aka Voldy intends to do that, they are actually turning a blind eye to illegal activity. Organizations have begged them for their help in exposing Misner and the Ontario auction for covertly supplying the slaughter pipeline and they have flat out said they are not interested in shutting them down because that is their main source of horses and, as Michelle has often claimed on camera, she’s a business woman and she has to keep bringing in `product’ aka horses for her adopters or they won’t keep coming back. So yeah, that isn’t exactly rescue and they are either turning a blind eye to somebody illegally shipping to slaughter or they are lying. Take your pick. Tara, on the other hand, openly threatens that the trucks are coming and horses are shipping but neglects to tell her followers that they don’t actually have a contract to ship to slaughter, so they are low level traders at best. That’s not to say that some of their horses don’t end up at slaughter, but the trucks aren’t coming like they claim and none of them are really scheduled. That’s just high pressure tactics and that worka for the at home adrenaline junkies refreshing their pages and flicking their beans over those last minute saves. I’m sure they all need a good smoke afterwards.
Ok, let’s get back to the OTTBs that aren’t actually all OTTBs. They have been and remain available to private buyers. They are not ONLY available to HiCaliber as they are claiming to their followers. As I type this, they are listed with videos and individual prices on the Thompson FB page. Some are listed as sold and some are listed as sale pending. They are not advertised as a lot and so far, Jacob and Tara have been quite amiable to selling to private no drama buyers. I know this because I called them. However, somewhere along the line, HiCaliber got involved and are telling people that they have been told they MUST purchase all 16 horses and now there are actually 20 horses, so all or nothing. This is despite the fact that HiCaliber was asked to stand down on their involvement as local groups and individuals were working behind the scenes to hold Evangeline Downs, the local racetrack, accountable in enforcing their no slaughter policy and getting these horses identified. What good is saving 16 when so many more will continue to be in trouble because people continue to get away with this stuff? Sadly, Hicaliber decided to get involved anyhow even though they know none of the players or anything of the situation in Louisiana. Ironically, earlier in the day HiCaliber founder, Michelle, was on live feed talking about how financially strapped they were and she has been begging for a few weeks for somebody to cosign or donate a new truck to her personally. Apparently the BMW she managed to get from rescue dollars is not good enough for her or something or her live in girlfriend’s truck is too good to haul the new trailer she also manifested a few months ago after whining about needing one. She often says that you have to `go for the no’, meaning keep asking for everything until people refuse, and the village idiots are so invested in their interactive soap opera with them, that they are giving up their rent money in record numbers. I find it pretty easy to connect some dots here, but maybe that’s just me. Whatever.
Hopefully you can see the screen shots I posted above here. These are from the Hicaliber Gofundme page asking for 40k to bail these horses. Normally, I would go through line by line and break it all down for you, but I don’t have the energy. I’m rusty with this stuff, so cut me some slack. I will address some of the bigger lies they have in there though. The biggest being that they are trying to lead people to believe they all have their tattoos burned off. No, maybe one does, but only one. Another horse apparently has his blacked out which is just a tattoo on top of the old one. So no, not many, not several, maybe ONE. ONE. Ok, then they go on to say they are were all raced and tortured. No, not even half of them have tattoos or were raced and certainly the preggo mare about to pop wasn’t recently raced and fresh off the track. As far as the `kill buyer’ goes, that is convicted felon Jacob Thompson currently serving something like 10 years probation for cattle theft among other things, so not exactly a stand up guy or all that familiar with the truth. Jacob will also sell to anybody and the first person that hands him the cash. He has restitution payments to make and he doesn’t care where the money comes from. That’s why he demanded, and got a non-refundable $2000 deposit plus fees from HiCaliber. Bills to pay and he found a new mark. In doing all this HiCaliber has agreed to pay 20k for the horses and the rest is to ship them to southern California and keep them for a few months. That’s what they say. They never like to show actual invoices or bills so you’re just going to have to take their word for it that they need a nice round number like 20k to cover the rest of the costs. This isn’t counting the money they already pulled in from their crying on live feed last night which was upwards of 10k. I’m certainly not mathlete but 20 +20 + 10 = 50 to me. Ironically, they were complaining about being in arrears to their hay supplier for 40k a few months ago and were cut off. Things that make you go hmmm.
I’m sure some of you are sitting there thinking, `what does it matter as long as the horses are safe’?. How safe are they? HiCaliber wants you to believe that they are all emaciated and dying, which isn’t exactly true. A few are in pretty rough shape, but some are in really nice shape. But say they are all in really terrible shape. How wise is it to cram 20 horses onto one truck and ship them in the heat straight through to Arizona, which is their designated pick up spot. For anybody keeping track, that’s over 1000 miles they will be onboard without food or water and, allegedly one is so pregnant she’s going to pop. Why would you want to do that to these poor souls when there are several extremely legitimate rescues closer to those horses that could and would take them if you weren’t just a huge attention whore that needed to grab a big headline like you attempted to do with the last `big save’ that wasn’t really a save at all. More on that anon. Much, much more. Why would you even want to import horses off a feed lot all the way from Louisiana when your friendly neighborhood kill buyer and close friend, Misner, has 60 horses standing on his lot that he’d happily sell you for half of that? Why aren’t those horses right in your back yard good enough to save? Geeze, how many local horse would 40k save? The mind boggles. Oh and while I’m on the subject of feedlots, the Louisiana lot these horses are coming from is said to have been ground zero for the EVH-1 outbreak over there this year. Go watch any of the Thompson videos and you can also hear horses hacking away in the background. Way to bring more disease into HiCaliber gals! I’m sure your neighbors love you. The picture below is Misner’s lot. I guess they aren’t as media friendly as the big cross country save. Sad times.
In closing, I’d like to say welcome back to anybody that is still following along or checks in here. The analytics suggest I have some pretty dedicated creepers even after all this time and that Buckaroo post is still pissing people off years after the fact. I feel like I just skimmed the surface on this stuff. Things are still developing and there are major back stories to be told. I hope to get to that all in good time until I get distracted again, but keep coming back. We have some horses to save!
Holy hell you are back!!
WELCOME BACK!!
I’ve totally missed you and for a coming out of hibernation post, this couldn’t have been better. As always, you are providing true, unbiased information with the touch of sarcasm we all appreciate and love.
This needs to be shared…EVERYWHERE!!
I second the welcome back!
Wow, we missed you.
Welcome back in the game. You’ve been missed. I shared this to our new American-Canadian Horse Warrior FB group, which should expand your readership since we have a lot of newbies to our issues on board. Hope to resuscitate my own blog, “What Would The Horse Say?”, soon also. Getting a little tired for being a diplomat like you have to while I’ve been lobbying for a horse slaughter ban law here in Washington and getting back to calling em like I sees em.
These sad desperate criminals are going down and we know it !
Shedrow rocks!!!!🤣🤣🤣
Welcome back, you were missed
Missed you, you heifer…lol..Glad to see this blog..
Iamshedrow…lol
Doin’ that dance the kids do when the good times start to roll. In ma head, of course. Don’t wanna break a hip…
Welcome Back!
Please keep telling it like it is!
Missed you sweetie.
Preach on!
Welcome back !!!
Sadly, I stopped reading this particular blog at the point you began mocking and insulting people you call idiots who are getting high and moist! I’m sure you can imagine their feeling good when they believe they ARE saving horses’ lives and some horses TRULY get saved through the broker programs. However, you catch more flies with honey then you do with vinegar, and I think your educating them – without insults, name-calling, and the like – would further your cause.
I’m sure I’ll survive without you reading here. Bye Felicia.
YESSSSS!!!
Welcome back!
This is the first time I have read your blog and you kept my attention till the end. You have hit the nail on the head!!!!! The only thing that I want to add is how in he hell do they think they are going to get a trailer full of sick and contagious horses passed through the Agricultural Inspection Station and enter into California. Falsify the vet records? These horses are going to need more than a Coggins.
They’re not sick nor contagious. Just underfed and neglected. They are getting more than just their coggins, as stated in many of their posts.
Sami, take your koolaid and go away. You clearly have no clue what Thompsons are about.
Sami, are you not aware of the fact that pretty much EVERY horse coming out of that hell hole gets sick? Some of them even die. They pretty much stop feeding them after someone sends in money, their immune systems get compromised and they pick up contagious diseases like Strangles easily. You must also have forgotten they sold two horses that were carrying EHV-1. I can’t wait until this disgusting place gets shut down.
Run at night the stations are closed
I used to buy gaited horse’s from Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri
We had Coggins and HC on all 17 horse’s
And the shippers were never asked to show them..
I was banned from the Thompson FB page months ago ( well, one of my accounts was , LOL) for calling them out on their crap. I’m also extremely interested in whether or not their “fund raising ” antics aren’t in fact, interstate fraud . I really would
Love to see them all penniless and in jail.
Can you contact me regarding this story? I’ve been tracking this for a couple days and like you said things just aren’t adding up. I’m in California and concerned for the well being of these horses, I also run a horse racing podcast and word of this needs to get out there.
I would suggest contacting the people who are actually running the operation, and not someone who THINKS they know what they’re talking about. I’m sure HCHR would be more than happy to answer any questions you have.
Sami, HCHR lie and this is my blog. I’m going to call it as I see it. If you see things differently, by all means go start a blog and build a readership.
Love the way you put things together! I’ve been following HCHR recently and up to now, have been impressed with their passion to rescue horses. This OTTB20 story didn’t sit right with me, and you just confirmed why! Thank you for your frank and entertaining way of educating us. Now the question is how can we truly help in situations like this? Should we all just keep “thinking locally” and start a network of local rescue options for these types of situations ? It seems that high caliber is playing with our conscience.
The problem is this situation was being handled locally. What Romney is saying is a stone cold lie. Thompsons will sell to anybody with the money. As a supporter or sponsor of rescue, I would say to do your research and suggest that you support your local rescues. There is a reason the ASPCA and Homes For Horses pulled their sponsorship from HiCaliber adn that’s because they’ve moved quite far away from what rescue really is. There is so much more to come out, but yes, they do play with people’s conscience and emotions. Nobody wants to see an animal go to slaughter. The problem is they are aiding Misner to continue to break the law by shipping to slaughter and turning a blind eye. They are lying about these Louisiana horses because they were never going to slaughter. Jacob Thompson does not have a contract to sell to slaughter. That is a manipulation designed to guilt people into paying up. What would likely happen is the horses get flipped back through a sale and yes, maybe a kill buyer will get some, but certainly not all of them. The longer these types of scams are supported, the more horses will die.
Welcome back! I missed your posts!
How do I follow
Welcome back! I’ve seen that whacked out hicalibar “rescue.” What’s her name cooked horse ‘nads and ate them. That’s a desperate bid for attention if I ever saw one.
Holy shit I thought the Pro side had you silenced or something thank goodness you are ok!!!
Ha ha! NEVER!
LOL With those apes who knows! They have been awfully quiet for sure. Now it is the rescues gone to crap. Ugh Well let er rip!
Unbelievable what has become of rescue, especially in SoCal. All I can do is expose the facts and hope people can connect the dots.
Me, too. So glad you are live and well
Frankly, I do not quite get the gist of this. I pulled back a while ago because there was growing evidence that we were being jerked around and did not know who to trust.
Yayyyy..your back..
WOW….This the first time that I heard of “shadwconfessions,”
,
Report them.
Click to access divulge_all_suspected_tax_exempt_status_abuses_to_the_irs.pdf
Reporting them to the IRS is unlikely to result in anything changing. If their 990s are prepared and submitted on time, the IRS seems to turn a blind eye to other issues. I base this on Columbia Basin Equine Rescue (CBER in WA) having received many IRS complaints that didn’t elicit an IRS response. They ultimately chose to close down and reappear as Rebel’s Equine Feedlot Rescue- not a 501c3- so they can do business as they please.
Stay tuned…
Oh geez. This article.
Why is it that when someone doesn’t agree with you you immediately insult and try to banish them. By the same token it seems as though you are writing drama to pull in more readership. Your account doesn’t sound like no shit unbiased research. So, in essence, you are as deep in the shithole as everyone you are talking about. I could totally break every sentence down you wrote and play devil’s advocate but I see by your replies that it would be a fruitless effort.
Bye Felicia
Hi Michelle. Keep tuning in. I got a lot more where this came from. Enough is enough. Too many dead bodies, too much money being skimmed. Game is over.
On the dead bodies ttopic…do we ever get updates on EVERY single horse or do some just disappear? I don’t follow the fb page.
No, Michelle says people don’t always like to hear sad news so she doesn’t tell the village every time she shoots one. The most you’ll get is she may mention it in passing. They never show a vet report saying euth was needed. If you see her talking about how a horse doesn’t like her or isn’t `happy’ that usually means it’s gonna get a bullet sooner, rather than later.
They don’t do regular intakes let alone horse updates. It’s a mess and about to get a lot worse.
Boom! I’m in.
I thought their cry out for 40k was shocking. By my math, assuming they dont euthanize a handful like i assume, they’re going to have a hefty balance left over to ship with. And their 90 minutes need 3k post? They had more then enough to secure the purchase and figure the rest out, and we all know they’ll post some sad photo begging for more donations for care after.
Our rescue recently developed a relationship with our county livestock division. When they have equine who are unclaimed after 18 days they must take them to auction on the first friday following the last day of hold. They will release them for free to a certified rescue. So, I am able to go and take photos prior to the end of their hold and get people to offer homes. It costs them nothing except transportation costs. We save a horse, donkey or mule, keep kill buyers from lining their pockets through the big hearts of people wanting to help, and find them homes. I do like your comment about working locally. We have an awesome livestock unit in our area. I realize some are not so good, but most are. Saving them before they get to auction is the way to go. But, there is not the drama of “will ship” today at four. It does make it harder.
I’m sure it is extremely difficult to get donations without the last minute saves, however if we ever want these kill buyers to go out of business and go away, we need to make sure that they don’t get a dime. So yes, getting the animals before they do is rescue. Buying from them isn’t really.
Welcome back Shedrow….always enjoyed reading your blog. I’m one of those who believes in saving kill pen horses….at other times, I look at the exhorbant price some are charging, and just walk on by, feeling very sad for the animals that fall into the hands of the kill buyers. I have quite a few kill pen saves here….but I can promise you, they were definitely SAVED and RESCUED. Most were bought for $200 or less. Old, crippled, pregnant, or so emaciated, they would of eventually dropped dead on either the trailer ride to hell, or on the kill lot, one. Did I give money to the kill buyer, to buy more horses with? Yes I did, and for that, I feel like a heel. But, for the money I spent, I look into the horses/donkeys eyes that are here, now healthy, and happy, and living their lives….I feel grateful to have been able to help them. They ALL deserve to be saved, but unfortunately, we can’t save them all. So, I guess in my mind, I justify it, by saving what I can…but only saving those who will otherwise, definitely die from neglect, rather than slaughter itself.
There is no easy answer to this predicament of saving horses from the kill pen. Horses are going to ship regardless of whether or not we buy from the kill buyer. I think we all know that. To simply just stop from buying them, will doom a LOT of horses….a LOT! Because the kill buyer isn’t going to keep them, and they will either eventually ship to slaughter, or die from disease on the lots.
I’ve heard that the kill buyers are now having trouble finding ‘killer’ horses to send to slaughter. Don’t know if that’s true or not, but have also heard that they are now sending less horses to slaughter because of it, and are making up the difference financially now with the broker programs.
I absolutely HATE horse slaughter. With that said, I also can’t stand Tara and Jacob, or Michelle! It is so blatantly obvious that they are making a killing (excuse the pun) and are only in it for the money. Yet, their following is probably the largest of any broker programs out there. The Stanleys, Moores, and McBarron’s are the largest kill buyers out there, and there’s no way I could afford the prices they charge. It’s extortion at it’s finest. Yet, very legal unfortunately.
The kill buyers have been outbidding private buyers at the auctions to keep the broker programs going. So, trying to save from the auctions before the kill buyer gets them isn’t working anymore either. People just can’t afford to drop $800-$900 for a horse all at once at the auction for a horse that’s only worth $300-$500, that the kill buyers ran the price up on. So, they turn to the broker programs to get half of the cost of the horse fundraised for, and they pay the other half, which turns out to be cheaper than they would of gotton it from at the auctions. The kill buyer gets richer, but they got a nice horse at a decent and reasonable price. It’s a vicious cycle.
Personally, I’m so very grateful to have been able to save the ones I have here. Otherwise, every one of them would be dead by now…but probably not from being slaughtered. Because they were in such bad condition, they would of never survived a ride to Canada or Mexico. Each one is worth more now, than what I paid for them. But, they will never see the slaughter pipeline again…EVER! But, I am filled up….I an beyond full, and can’t save anymore. This is what’s happening now. People who save kill pen horses are at their max now. People are bailing them, but then the horse doesn’t have a home offer, and nowhere to go now!
So, now what?? There are so many variables to this problem, and it’s a very complex problem with no easy solution to it. Just stopping from buying them won’t help those horses….sending them to slaughter won’t help those horses….continuing to buy them doesn’t help the horses who still ship. So, what’s the answer? I sure wish someone had an answer to all of it. **sighs**
The horses didn’t make the decision to end up in the kill buyers hands. They have been the victims in the past…they are the victims now, and with or without slaughter, they will continue to be the victims in the future.
This is just my thoughts about all of it. Again, welcome back Shedrow. Hope to get to read more of your blogs in the future.
Thanks shelly, I needed that. I am a small scale nobody who rescued from shelters or private persons who no longer could care for their animal; BUT full up, I started sending money to different groups who were supposedly raising funds to use at auction. It became apparent that I was suckered in by some and the argument that I was helping the KBs indirectly which turned my desire to save some, anyway I could, into quiet despair and a feeling of helplessness smothered in a feeling of self blame. I could not decipher who the good guys are or even if any of these equine were saved.
It is so hard to know who to trust and it is very complicated. The saving of our wild horses from slaughter or PZP sterilization is equally full of deception and corruption. If Shedrow can lead me to solutions which are not like burning my money and knowledge as to saving any or all, I would venture forth once again- – yet fullup, I can only offer my efforts and donations……
Never underestimate sweat equity as a means to help. Yes, legitimate rescues need money, but most also need help of all different kinds. Everybody has a talent. Some people are good fundraisers, some are great stall cleaners or groomers. It all counts. I just suggest you work close to home so you can actually see with your own eyes how donation money is being sent. When the Founder, who claims they have zero income, drives a lives rent free in huge house with a pool and boards six horses for free at the rescue, that adds up to way more than minimum wage. Who is paying for all of that? Donors. Follow your heart and keep your eyes open for red flags. People shouldn’t getting rich rescuing horses nor should they be making sure they have `product’ and refusing to work towards shutting down slaughter and other abuses so their revenue stream keeps flowing. That’s shady and that’s not rescue.
So the Drama Queens of California are flying out to meet the Drama Queen of Louisiana and her POS boyfriend. I see them all being fast friends. Get the popcorn ready folks. This is about to get real interesting.
Here is another example, this equine rescue being held accountable Founder-director on trial for EXTORTION & FRAUD
http://public-access.riverside.courts.ca.gov/OpenAccess/logon.asp
Here is another example, this equine rescue being held accountable Founder-director on trial.
http://public-access.riverside.courts.ca.gov/OpenAccess/Civil/CivilCaseReport.asp?CourtCode=A&RivInd=RIV&CaseType=MCC&CaseNumber=1700177
[…] You can read more on the blog “Shedrow Confessions” at: https://shedrowconfessions.wordpress.com/2017/05/13/when-good-rescues-go-bad/ […]
Great to see you back shedrow just thought I’d check the site and wow what a shock I got. Keep up the good work of calling these people out.
Welcome back yourself! We’ve been having ourselves a time with these fools.
[…] May 2017. That’s when I dusted off this blog after a 3 1/2 year hiatus. Little did I know, I was grabbing a tiger by the tail with that post. There wasn’t really a mission or master plan, but it also wasn’t out of nowhere. HiCaliber had been a rescue I’d loosely followed over the years. I’d even given them a shout out once upon a time and featured Manson’s videos on the Starlight Sanctuary train wreck way back then. (Manson wasn’t the one that sent them to me. I’ve never had contact with her as far as I know). Yes, I kinda thought Manson was rough around the edges and a little bit of a gunsel but without looking too deeply at her, I figured she was doing more good than harm and maybe that actually was the case way back when. Then, HiCaliber started popping up on my newsfeed more and more. I’m guessing this was due to their algorithm bumps and her paying to boost her posts, but I can’t be sure. I’m not that tech savvy and anything computer related I still attribute to magic and try not to apply reason to it. At any rate, the more they came across my newsfeed, the more squinty eyed I became. Aside from the weekly cry seshes, what struck me was the constant state of crisis. It just didn’t ring right for me and my spidey senses started tingling. […]