Recaps and Big Asks…Yup, It’s Friday!

Happy Friday!  I reckon it’s time to fire off a post even though our last blog entry was a bit of a mic drop.  Thanks again to Ann and all our past and future guest posters.  Your experiences and insights are important to hear even if the truth is inconvenient for the village idiots.  Because I certainly can’t add to or top the firsthand accounts, I’m just going to do the usual today with some updates, recaps and attempts to untangle a few lies.  I’ve also got a few inner sanctum things to share because that’s always fun to watch the fallout from those too. *cue howling and turd flinging from the village idiots*.  For now though, let’s start off where we kinda left off on my last post.  Milk carton horses…

So the last time I posted (not counting the guest post), I mentioned Anne and Cotton.  I get several emails each week asking after particular horses and these two are ones that nobody I asked seemed to have any memory of as far as their fates.  So, rather than jumping to conclusions I put it out there and guess what?  It worked!  Within one day, I had a few emails on each horse, all saying the same things.  Anne turned out to have gender ID issues.  Romney Faye Baker failed to recognize that Anne had a penis, which was super strange considering all the peen cancer diagnostics we’ve seen at auction in the past.  At any rate, Anne became `Glaze’ and Glaze turns out to be a branded mustang.  Cotton’s story was a bit stranger.  It seems a private buyer had wanted Cotton but was too late or something so, Cotton was fund raised for, purchased and brought back to HiCaliber.  The PB was still interested so, they paid the purchase fee and also for his vetting and got the horse within a few days leaving the original funds raised (purchase plus responsible rescue fees)  for the eyelash fund.  There was no adoption contract for Cotton despite what Manson is now claiming.  It seems her hard and fast rule about once horses arrive at the ranch they only leave with their contracts is actually a fluid rule depending on who you are.  I’m sure the PB that got screwed over the sushi foals will be thrilled to know that.  At least we found out the fate of `Anne’ and Cotton.  Keep asking questions.  Milk cartons work!

I’m not going to get too deep into the auction recap this week because there is so much else to cover.  As per usual, it was a major shell game by Manson made worse by the fact that she was operating under the misguided notion that she was `unsupervised’ this week.  Pinholed pupils and all, she lied every which way she could resulting in 5 poor souls being dragged back to the feed lot to face their fate, one already being on very thin ice due to a popped knee and melanomas.  Thankfully one was super skinny so they managed to wedge all 5 of them into a 4 horse trailer, thinking nobody would notice that on the live feed.  I’m not sure if it’s because Manson isn’t very likable or what was going on, but the donations weren’t flowing even though there was a number of horses at auction this week. So, when they only had enough money for one, it was time to dust off the `out of state kill buyer’ strategy and create a sense of urgency in the village idiots.  To up the ante even more, the kill buyer would only sell all his load or nothing and they just happened to be the 4 best looking horses at auction.  All this because a private buyer wanted the magical dancing horse.  Dancing horses are another sympathy strategy at auction.  Even though the PB stated after the fact that HiCaliber had been asked to bid on that horse before he went in the ring, HiCaliber went with the story that because one person wanted one horse they had to buy all of them or they were going to Mexico.  We’ll get to the Mexican vacation part in a bit.  This meant that the sorry looking horses that Misner bought couldn’t be sold to HiCaliber although Manson assured her idiots that they’d get another crack at those (and they will and they will pay large once again). The village loves urgency, or `exigency’ as Manson likes to call it, so they raised the funds and sealed the fate of the poor horses the mysterious out of state KB ended up with.  They did need a little nudge with Manson tugging at their heart-strings telling them about having to `look’ horses in the eye that were on their way to Mexico.  She was referring to Doughboy in Louisiana’s clip she used a few days prior so I’m still kinda scratching my head at how she managed to look them all in the eye all the way from Southern California, but I’m still kinda confused at how they were 3 hours into their trip to Mexico while they were still on his lot, so color me confused all the way around.  All joking aside, the fact is it was all another bunch of lies.  IF there even was a kill buyer, he would have a contract and contracts must be filled.  That means that he wouldn’t be selling horses in the parking lot after the fact because he would still have a contract to fill.  However, there was no kill buyer because kill buyers don’t pay $300 and up per horse and make any money at all. They also don’t generally have loads of only 4 horses because that isn’t even worth the gas money to take them south.  In fact, they would lose money buying horses for that much and then factor in a gray horse with visible melanomas, that wouldn’t make it across the border because they do not slaughter those for consumption.  Even Mexico has rules and standards.  It’s not a free for all across the border no matter what Manson tells people.  What the boogie man likely was, was a trader that is smart enough to know these crazy heifers from HiCaliber will buy anything and everything and everybody makes out like bandits on Tuesday at Ontario.

So this happened recently.  I guess when The Cannabis Queen’s offer of lessons failed to raise any interest, it was time for the big gun to be brought out.  Let’s just set the absolutely ridiculous price of all this aside because I can’t even with that,  and talk about what is on offer here.  We’ve all seen Amanda on various live feeds.  Only last evening she was on live feed merrily cantering around the arena on the wrong lead and not only did she not correct it, but Manson didn’t even pick up on it.  These are the people who are going to teach neophytes to ride.  I’m not exactly sure what `classically’ trained even means.  Is that the kind of muzak that was playing in the mall as she plugged quarters into her mount?  Who does one go to in order to perfect the unintentional counter-canter?  Who is the master of the elbows out, dig at the crotch hand positioning?  So many questions, but in all seriousness,  ANYBODY can take a clinic if they have the cash.  George Morris gives clinics all over the place and if you have thick enough skin, you can put your money down and take a lesson or two from him.  Hell, I bet he wouldn’t even waste his time insulting somebody like Amanda or The Cannabis Queen.  Tell me these big name trainers paid you to get on horse for them and then maybe I’ll stop squinting. Maybe.  Then we have the added issue that she’s going to be using the HiCaliber horses and facility to give lessons on and only kicking back 10% to HiCal.  Knowing Manson’s extreme greed, I’m surprised she’s not in for a cut unless the 10% goes to the eyelash fund, but it’s not even ok for them to be doing this on any level.  I posted a handy little screenshot from their own incorporation papers to clear that up.  Not ok, not cool.

Remember Percy?  Percy the poor horse that anybody and everybody licked because they all wanted him so badly when he was first purchased at auction back in January? Since then poor Percy has been through many different diagnosis and spendy treatments as the 30% vet has had her way with him.  Poor guy was lame and he got progressively more lame the longer he spent confined to the smallest stalls and pens at the feed lot.  First they decided he had suspensory issues so they had to fund raise for the world’s most expensive ultrasound, although we were never given the results or told if he even had that done.  Then he was still lame so after some diagnostics by a 100% vet, they decided to perform a heel neurectomy which required even more fundraising. Finally, after it was decided his surgery was moderately successful and his fundraising use was exhausted, they let him go to the volunteer that was always going to get him for the grand total of $1.  That’s right, the village just funded six months worth of diagnostics and procedures for a horse that got given away for $1.  I’m not sure what the 83 cents was for.  Maybe that was the paypal fees on the $1.  What say we check in on how Percy is making out now?

So this is Percy these days.  I’m not sure how far apart these video clips were or what, if any, meds were involved but jumping a heel nerved horse isn’t usually the best idea if longterm soundness is your goal.  Even if those jumps are just little cavellettis, why do it?  Then you come to Percy being ridden by the `classically trained’ Amanda.  What, the actual fuck?  Does nobody involved with HiCaliber know how to properly fit tack or own a proper saddle pad?  Why must they dangle off their withers and then flop down on their back like a load of poo?  This poor horse, even if he wasn’t already hurtingm, and he is hurting, he’d likely be body sore at the very least after that performance.  He scuttles and wobbles around that round pen like he’s walking on rusty nails.  I found it painful to watch.  I actually feel sorry for the girl who adopted him and I always have.  She’s clearly new to horses and being lead by these gunsels is just sad.  It’s even sadder when Percy seems to be the one paying the ultimate price.  Poor horse.

 

 

I’m sure by now that most of you have heard about the latest `big ask’.  Once again Manson’s lack of planning has become everybody else’s emergency.  She has known about this for over a year.  Let that sink in.  Over a year, yet she only comes to the village last night with it when time is almost up.  Why?  Well that’s anybody’s guess but my guess is she knows that the village idiots get off on deadlines, so throw in the threat of doors closing (bullshit) and that they are being unfairly picked on and everybody is digging in the sofa for every spare penny they can find.  It’s textbook and it’s working.  The thing is they aren’t going to get their doors shut, they’ll incur some fines and to the village idiot that is wondering how many horses could be saved with the 17k instead?  Well first off the permit is not 17k it’s just under 9k and second off, that’s still not even close to how much donated money went into those china chompers and big lips Manson is sporting.  She lives for free at HiCaliber along with her personal herd of horses (yes, they are trickling back in again), but how much money has she actually donated lately? Don’t get me started on time.  She goes days without walking across the driveway to the barn and she never lowers herself to actually feed.  Seems to me she just takes and asks everybody else to go without.  But that’s not enough for Manson, she not only allows threats to carry on, she’s encouraging them.  I know this is probably too much reality for the village idiots, but Manson would have a notice with fees and costs in her possession.  She could totally post it and be transparent , but why bother when you can plump up the ask and make a bit of pocket-money on top?

For about the millionth time, the writer of this blog, aka me, is not who they think it is.  The person they are harassing is not me, but even if it was, is it even remotely ok to offer up her address and sick the village on her knowing how unstable some of them are?  Here’s a newsflash for the village, the permit thing is a cost of doing business.  Despite Manson’s claims of it being `complaint based’ it’s not.  Think about it.  If that was the case hardly anybody would ever bother with permits.  It’s just a responsible thing you do when you are adulting and the fact that Manson ignored her responsibilities doesn’t make anybody else evil or wrong.  She’s got a big problem with manure and vector control there and that becomes all her surrounding neighbor’s issue too.  With all the histrionics and pearl clutching the bean flickers were doing, not a single one of them noticed that the picture they chose for their campaign is of 5 babies stuffed in a tiny stud pen surrounded by manure piles.  Time for Manson to grow up, own her part in things and handle her business.  As for the rest of the village idiots, I’m not even bothering to cover up the names involved in this douchebaggery.  If you’re dumb enough to make threats on a public page, I’m going to post them.

The above screen shots are from one of their inner sanctums and are exactly the type of thing that makes people call code enforcement.  They know they have way too many horses and mountains of manure with nary a removal bin in sight.  Their answer to the situation is to edit it out of pictures so all those $5 donors that give up their lunch money every time they ask, can continue to live secure in their delusions that all is well at the feed lot.  I find it somewhat telling that the one suggesting they hide the poop  and overcrowding issue is their resident animal control officer/board member.  Rather than telling them to deal with their numbers and manure for the health of the animals, she suggest hiding it to keep the dollars flowing instead.  What else is there to say?

I think I’ll finish up with this oldie but goodie.  Don’t worry, Trently is still off having baby talk and tarp training , but I’m not sure they ever did find the needle.  I sure hope some poor horse didn’t end up shot in the face because of stepping on it or something.  You never know.  Just to be clear, it is the horses I do worry about.  Yup, Manson and her cohorts annoy the piss out of me, but they’d fall off my radar in a hurry if they got out of the horse business.  That’s where I’m different from the village idiots too.  I don’t think it is about the horses for most of them.  If it was, they would maybe show more concern for horses that were rescue transfers like Sully/Willie, Moose/Deacon, Cannon/Little Dude, Saban and so many others.  Horses that were on euth lists at HiCaliber and are now thriving but you know what I see?  I see village idiots trolling those pages only to insert praise for HiCaliber any time those horses are mentioned or pick fights if people praise the new rescues for their good work.  I see them actually try to block funding efforts for those animals and laugh they don’t raise as much as the mighty village.  It’s a foreign concept to them that other rescues have grants and other sustainable funding sources so they don’t have to beg for every roll of duct tape and cup of coffee.  The village idiots are good at picking fights too.  Anything to keep that drama going.  They certainly don’t support those animals after they leave HiCaliber so we know it’s not about the animals for them.  They’re paying to keep their drama fix going.  Period.  How do you combat that?  You really don’t.  We can keep putting the truth out there.  Despite the threats that is within our rights to comment on what a public organization puts out there and opinions are still legal too.  There is no law on the books that say you have to keep silent when somebody lies in order to raise money.  We can keep supporting the rescues doing it right, as there are many.  We’re going to need them robust and healthy when this all comes tumbling down one day.  Doing the right thing is never easy or even all that much fun, but trust me, it sure feels good when karma comes around and karma always comes around eventually.  For now, hug some horses, spread some truth and stay the course!  Have a great weekend!

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Where Do Naughty Horses Go?

Happy Friday everybody!  At least it’s Friday when I’m starting to write this.  What day I actually get it posted is anybody’s guess but my intentions are good.  Charles Manson Michelle is still busy begging online, but at this point she is trying manifest a laptop for herself, presumably so she can spend time making even more fake Facebook accounts to see if she can become her own mole.  Michelle Booboo, don’t waste your time.  There are other venues than Facebook to exchange information and, while you’re at it,  please stop trying to figure out the password to my email.  I can’t even remember it half the time, so it’s a major pain in my ass to locate the exact post-it note I wrote it down on when I have to verify my log in.  Speaking of Charles Manson Michelle, let’s start off with a small recap before we get into the bulk of today’s post.

A very basic written `tell’ when somebody is lying is if they constantly remind you they are being honest  `If I’m honest’…`To be completely honest’… Do you see a pattern here?  That’s not to say that everybody that writes those words is lying, but they do send up a red flag when somebody is saying that in defense of something they are accused of.  So, when you can’t see Charles Manson Michelle touching her nose and fidgeting, look for those words.  She’s straight up lying her ass off about Flloyd.  How that lie looks is up to you, but you know she watched those loads and was constantly on the phone to Romney Faye Baker while they were loaded.  Nice of her to throw Romney Faye and her `trainer’ Maloree under the bus like that, but why send them if they were not competent to make the calls?  I happen to agree that neither Romney Faye or her sidekick knew WTF they were doing, but guess what?  Neither does Charles Manson Michelle.  Everybody saw that horse couldn’t walk and anybody that has spent more than a month actually paying attention to horses would know that a simple little check ligament surgery wasn’t going to fix him even if they didn’t know what a check ligament was.  I doesn’t take even a 30% vet to diagnose that horse as fuct.  At the least, at the VERY least, it wouldn’t have taken a knowledgeable horseman to realize that horse needed to see a real vet for a real check up and not get stuck on a 1700 mile haul.  Hell, a person with a shred of compassion and no horse knowledge probably would have figured that out.  Fuck.  The DNA screen shot just further shows what a lying sack of crap she really is because she had informed us they had `pulled blood’ before these horses ever shipped.  How nice that the medical miracle that is Charles Manson Michelle is personally going to rise up out of her sick bed to pull the hair samples that she told everybody she had done a month ago.   Expect for a new fundraising campaign when she figures out it isn’t free.

 

Meanwhile, Romney Faye Baker has worked herself into a state of moisture and mania over some get rich scheme she’s peddling that is basically a virtual coupon book. You know those kind the schools convince you to buy for $25 that guarantee you a year’s worth of savings to the tune of thousands if you choose to read the fine print and exclusively shop and dine at coupon supported places.  The same book that  you use about $4 worth of discounts out of and then figure out what a pain in the ass it is and forget about it?  This is the online version so extra confusing.  I found the clip art she chose for her post to be super appropriate for once.  This latest scam scheme is so user-friendly that it took her 2 full hours to show people how it worked and the response so far has been underwhelming.  Why can’t she just sell chocolate almonds like everybody else?  Those are delicious and everybody likes them.  Given the short attention spans of the village idiots, I don’t see this as the road to riches for them, but whatever.  If people want to hand over their money for these ridiculous marketing schemes, it ain’t no concern of mine.  Let’s get into talking about the reason most of us are here.  Let’s catch up with some former HiCaliber Horses.

HiCaliber Jelly

HiCaliber Saban

HiCaliber Dylan

HiCaliber Mercy

HiCaliber Pina

HiCaliber Rojas

See all those horses above?  They  all have a few things in common besides having the misfortune to end up at HiCaliber.  I’m going to do things a little bit differently and try to break this down a bit more than usual in order to keep things as simple as possible.  Who knows?  Maybe the odd village idiot will even have a lightbulb moment, but I won’t hold my breath.  Anyhow…

~

The first horse pictured is HiCaliber Jelly.  He was purchased at auction the end of June last year.  He became internet famous when Charles Manson Michelle decided to cook up his balls for friends, family and herself to chow down on after he was gelded.  Still, Jelly was adopted by August and promptly renamed Rhubarb.  Flash forward to December, and he was returned with the reason given as he had not only started rearing and bucking, but had become aggressive on the ground.   Another thing Jelly is not so famous for, because Manson won’t admit it is he is the horse that nearly ripped off Strategist’s face causing the bromance between Strategist and Engineer to be broken up as Strategist had to go up to the barn while his top lip had to grow back on or something.

Next up is Saban.  He was bought at auction on January 10th and other than a few volunteer postings there was never really much information given on him before last month when Charles Manson Michelle casually mentioned on a live feed that he had recently become aggressive with people and was biting or something.  What she didn’t mention and what will become obvious later in this post is that he also hadn’t gained a single pound.

Our next victim horse is Dylan.  Dylan was also bought at auction (seeing a pattern here?) as a young cryptorchid stud back in July of last year.  I’ve always been a pretty big fan of Dylan because he booted Romney Faye Baker at auction.  By September he was sent into SLREH to be gelded and found himself on the infamous $1 menu by January of this year being advertised as a `clean slate’.  Because he’s young and handsome, he was obviously snapped right up within a few weeks and sent off to Lakeside, Ca to begin his new life.  That lasted all of about six weeks, if that, when Dylan was evicted from the ranch he was being boarded at because he was still interested in the ladies and nobody thought to not house him right next to mares that were pissing in his face or maybe put a belly brush on him.  Apparently, it was a child friendly ranch and Dylan showing off his Dylanness wasn’t quite what they were ready for, so back to HiCaliber as an adoption failure he went.  No word on whether or not they refunded the $1.  The video below was taken prior to him being gelded but is vintage Charles Manson Michelle, bragging about their money and redirecting funds in all her spandexed glory and making light of quarantine procedures.

 

Moving right along to Mercy, the pretty gray mare.  She was bought at auction back around the end of October last year.  They said she was preggers at the time, but that turned out to be not true.  Keep in mind that Charles Manson Michelle has been known to diagnose such things by taking a cursory glance at their titties.   At the end of the day, she was not preggers and it turned out she was somewhat mare-ish.  In the original intake video, Manson mentions that she was very Jekyll and Hyde and `tried to kill a bunch of people’ that day.  By April of this year, when they finally got around to attempting a test ride, there was no mention of aggressive behavior but Manson decided she was not broke and decide to move her to the $1 Menu.  I’m going to post the intake video (she is the last horse done) for her and the $1 menu video to show how the horse that tried to kill them became a `super sweet on the ground’ horse who was `super cool’.

 

Our other gal in the group is Pina.  Pina’s back story is a bit different from the others as she was actually rescued and rehabbed  back in early 2016 by Hollister Animal control and a foster through them after she was found down with a six month old foal by her side.  Allegedly there were charges laid due to her condition but the foal was left behind.  Since Pina was not to be returned to the owners she was transferred to HiCaliber in September in hopes they could get her adopted into a proper home.  She was never a horse that they did many updates on, but last week she was being offered up for to any `trainer’ that would take her and labelled as a horse with a buck.

Last, but certainly not least is the handsome Rojas. He was purchased back in May of 2016 at auction.  No doubt the fact that he was `sexy’ had a lot to do with it as Romney Faye Baker tends to care more about that than anything else.  He had a test ride that didn’t go so great about a month later and was eventually sent in to SLREH for surgery to remove his undescended testicle.  The riding video posted below seems to show a rather calm horse but somehow he ended up a feature on Manson’s `Fuckhead Friday’ because he started to `bronc’.  I’m going to post his riding, another one and some screen shots which should kinda put some context around the rest of this post.

 

Now that I’ve introduced you to this unfortunate group of horses, has anybody guessed what they have in common besides having the misfortune to end up at HiCaliber?  No?  Well the last Rojas video dropped a hint.  Besides all these horses managing to get on the wrong side of Charles Manson Michelle aka not putting up with her shit, all of them, every single one, has gotten sent off to Andrew Fice for `training’.

Horsemanship with Fice

Perhaps the source of discomfort?

I have no idea where Manson dug up Fice, but she seems to have an affinity for convicted felons as Fice’s record is pages long, including being on probation for beating the shit out of his girlfriend.  I only bring that up because Charles Manson Michelle, loves to play the role of the battered wife, even taking her act onto the Dr. Phil show once upon a time ( Dr. Phil ).  Knowing that the Dr. Phil Show does their research, I’m going to go ahead and assume that was before she was the one that actually got arrested for assaulting her spouse and not the other way around.  Still, Charles Manson Michelle, when she is seeking sympathy and/or donations, likes to remind everybody that she survived domestic abuse and how women should support each other.  Given all this, I find it somewhat odd that of all the trainers out there, Manson would choose somebody with a history of violence towards women.  Even if she did go diving for the nearest muff after her marriage, you would think that a survivor of assault would never endorse an abuser.  Fice’s temper issues are not limited to women.  By his own words, he got a bit too rough on a horse during the Norco Colt Breaking challenge and was kicked out.  Naturally, like all good gunsels, he blamed the horse.

The horse in the above video wasn’t a HiCaliber horse, but another poor soul subjected to his abuse.  HiCaliber originally sent a mare called Novalee and they were so jazzed with her abuse, that they promptly sent Rojas.  We already know from Manson’s write-up what she really felt about Rojas.  Despite being shredded on various Facebook groups and even having some villagers openly question the decision to use Fice, Charles Manson Michelle’s defiant explanation boiled down to the horses needing `their asses handed to them’, because nothing says compassion and rescue like beating an animal into submission.  As a result, Fice got Rojas, but it did not go quite as smoothly for either Rojas or Fice.   Rojas is currently being advertised for sale by Fice for $1000.  Hopefully, he lands softly in a home that takes the time to start him over and treat him with some respect.

Every horse enjoys boots dug into their spine

Mad equitation skillz

 

 

Even though Charles Manson Michelle proudly had Fice ride along side her on Novalee in the Norco parade, she decide to stop flaunting their use of him shortly afterwards. In fact, some villagers were dispatched to say that the relationship between HiCaliber and Fice was over presumably due to him deciding to make fun of mentally challenged children among other classy things.  However, it wasn’t very long before horses started quietly finding their way back to Fice’s new location and this time there was no mention on any HiCaliber social media that he they had given Dylan and Saban to him for $1 each. Coincidentally this was also around the time they started bringing truck loads of horses in from Louisiana and despite going on a killing rampage, still needed to make room.

Bleak conditions these horses are living in

Fice figured he was going to make a jumper out of Saban but he might want figure out how to get him to actually eat first.  The horse continues to lose weight and seems to have injured his head and is actually unable to chew.  He posted a video showing the horses with wound powder on his head and mouthing and spitting out food. Despite it being hastily removed from FB, enough people saw it to be concerned for the horse.  I probably don’t even want to know what happened to this poor animal to get to this point.

Dylan doesn’t seem to be having a very easy time at Fice’s place either.  Or maybe it’s Fice that isn’t have too easy of a time with Dylan?  In case anybody is wondering, I’m ‘Team Dylan. Pray this horse eventually gets into the hands of somebody with the time and money to de-fice him.

As we know, Jelly, Mercy and Pina have joined the Fice herd. So far he hasn’t really posted any updates aside from Pina’s first ride which wasn’t as dramatic as Dylan’s but given the way he hangs off their withers and the condition of his tack, it’s only a matter of time before she starts protesting the only way she knows how. While at least a few of them have been $1 purchases on his part, the rest have been paid to be in training with him by the donor dollars.  Yes village idiots, you’re paying for these horses to be mistreated.  Well done!  The main crime most of these horses committed was being too much horse for Charles Manson Michelle and not being content to stand around in a shit filled outdoor stall with no regular exercise.  That is the ones that aren’t protesting ill-fitting tack and insufficient padding.  Can nobody affiliated with HiCaliber not see that? Any horse is going to have some behavior issues in those situations eventually.  Horses are not inherently mean animals and when they are acting aggressive or start bucking, they are telling you something.  Think of it as the scream after the whisper you ignored.  It doesn’t seem right or fair that they get shipped off to Fice’s place to stand with no shade or shelter and be punished for not understanding his mixed signals.  How is this rescue?  What exactly were any of these horses saved from that is worse than what they are currently enduring?

I hope this post kinda pisses a lot of people off for the right reasons today.  I’m not sure how any of this qualifies as rescuing horses.  The horses Fice has are at high risk to end up back in the pipeline.  When you don’t put a foundation on a horse and do everything through brute force, that is never going to be a trusted partner unless they get lucky enough to fall into the right hands eventually.  The fact that the HiCaliber board is allowing Charles Manson Michelle to make these calls isn’t surprising when she has hand-picked the board to be people who won’t stand up to her.  Manson and Romney Faye Baker have been running these scams for YEARS and the feed lot is their wheelhouse.  It seems they are working their way back to their roots.  As a result they have basically created a 501c3 feed lot for themselves and the village idiots have underwritten it.

I’m going to leave you with a reminder of three horses that were mentioned a few days ago ( On Tuesdays We Cry For The Camera ).  There have been a few of you asking questions about them in the comment section so I thought I’d do a brief update.  The comments under the pictures were from the deceased owner’s daughter.  As you can see, they were all in great body condition despite their age and were from what appeared to be a very responsible breeder, having stopped breeding his champion of champions mare because she passed on dsld.  My heart hurts that they entrusted these lovelies to the trigger happy horse hell that is HiCaliber.  None of these horses were ever listed as intakes nor were they ever on the website.  The only horse that remains at HiCaliber and on the feed list is Cortesia and she currently resides in Pen 34 with Sedona and Iwai.  The departure of the other two were never announced outside of the innermost circle at HiCaliber.  Remember what Romney Faye Baker told us on her live feed the other day…they take in many more horses than they ever tell people about as owner surrenders.  Where do they end up going?  How many more need to vanish without a trace before people stop supporting this?  Enough is enough, already.

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How’s That Transparency Working Out For Y’all?

Well, here we go again…  I had hoped that things in California would have simmered down over the weekend or, at the very least, they had maxed out on bad decisions and maybe run out of bullets, but no joy.  Sadly, Charles Manson Michelle has actually topped her own past record of assholery and poor choices and once again, horses are paying a heavy price.  As a result, I feel compelled to at least recap the fuckery that passes for horsemanship at HiCaliber.  You may want to grab something a bit stronger than a coffee to wade through this mess.

 

We last left off with HiCaliber resident Dana, who puts the `high’ in HiCaliber,  headed to Louisiana, with her 4 horse stock trailer, to pick up some of the remaining horses from Satan Tara.  The village idiots were promised a `freedom walk’ and live feed of the load out and that’s where the latest round of lies began.  Unsurprisingly to everybody BUT the village idiots, the load out was not shown, not even on a hastily deleted live feed.  The official reason was that there was nobody there to help Dana and her accomplice 2nd driver, but once again, they forgot to get everybody on board with the official line of bullshit, so Satan Tara basically discredited the whole thing with one post.  I don’t think anybody really believed that Satan Tara, would allow them to wander around and load horses on their own anyhow.  There was no more video of the lot probably because the hay that had been set out for the Romney videos was no longer in situ.

So yeah, the lies started early on in this adventure and so did the fuckery because you’ll notice the mention of the animals already foaming at the seams with sweat after loading mentioned in the video posted above.  That’s kind of important because for reasons I can’t fathom, they decided to cram six horses into a four horse bumper pull.  I probably shouldn’t be all that surprised because it’s not the first time they’ve pulled that stunt.  I believe the claimed that weak horses need support when they did it with nearly disastrous results last year for the infamous `slaughter 11′.  One of the loose horses in this latest load was a stud colt and they couldn’t even get a halter on him prior to loading.  We probably don’t want to know the chaos that ensued getting him loaded in after all the others in that heat and humidity.   I think he’s the same one that Romney informed us all was `chill’ because he was in a pen with a bunch of mares and not acting studish. It probably hasn’t dawned on any of the HiCaliber brain trust that was likely because he had already settled them.  At any rate he was crammed in the trailer too tight to do much more damage and Dana informed us that the Palomino mare was `super dehydrated’ BEFORE they stuffed her in the trailer.  That’s ok though, because the 30% Vet, Michelle informed us on another live feed that they give the horses Gatorade or whatever is cheap and on sale as electrolytes.  I know some people think that’s a thing but Gatorade really doesn’t have enough electrolytes in it for a horse.  Show horse people only use it to flavor the water so horses will drink away from home and since it’s highly doubtful that Tara even fed them after Romney left, I’m willing to bet she wasn’t flavoring their water with Gatorade so that they’d drink on the way home.

I’m not really sure who all to blame this hellish trip that these poor animals were subjected to.  We already know that Dana isn’t really a professional hauler and it has been said before that she learned nearly everything she knows from Michelle.  She doesn’t even have a DOT# and is technically an illegal hauler.  I’m only guessing here, but I’m pretty certain she took all her marching orders on this trip from the alpha mare back home.  Regardless, somebody made the absolutely moronic choice to not lay these animals over and, instead,  keep them on a trailer for at least 50hrs.  We don’t have an exact time stamp because there was no loading video and there was, as expected, no unloading video.  We just know that the horses left the Thompson lot at some point before the sun went down in Louisiana on Friday, May 19th and didn’t get to HiCaliber until just before dark on Sunday, May 21st.  The reasons given were that they were stopping every hour for water along the way.  Personally, I’d have run at night with them and kept moving to get some air circulating rather than overstuffing them in a tin can and letting them bake in the sun, but that’s just me.  What is not in dispute is that those six horses suffered a ride every bit, if not more, miserable as any horse being shipped to slaughter endures courtesy of HiCaliber.  Don’t believe me?  It just so happens a concerned party encountered them along the way.

Note trailer size

Sent from just outside of Yuma

Sardines in a tin can

Hi Dana and Patti!

Yikes! That’s warm!

I know, I know, the village idiots will say that this is all a set up with the temperature reading etc.  Still pictures and all.  Way ahead of them though… Enjoy!

That’s about all we know about the trip home because there were only the two live updates and then the candid ones.  The next time we see the six victims is back at the ranch where they all appear drugged to their knees and Michelle is playing doctor with them again.  I guess calling in a real vet to assess and treat them would eat into her personal slush fund too much so she got to hang IVs on two horses that were threatening to drop even though her magical SAA machine assured her that their blood was `beautiful’.  I guess we shouldn’t be worried that they were parked in the middle of the barn aisle with other ranch horses because Michelle was wearing surgical gloves so that meant that all biosecurity issues were taken care of.  Apparently the wearing of the gloves also meant the horses standing right close by in the arena were safe from all the airborne bugs flying around from the new arrivals too and the dogs wandering all over wouldn’t ever spread disease either. We had to sit through basically all the same drawn out crap the last group of horses were subjected to.  Hitting them with enough Rompun that they couldn’t keep their heads up, blamming with dewormer and a bunch of other procedures that could wait until they were rested and stable both satisfied Michelle’s equine version of Munchausen by proxy and ensured she wouldn’t have to bother with them again until the next load comes in unless one needs to be shot in the head.  Inside information says that Michelle is adverse to lowering herself to actually doing chores regardless of how shorthanded the feed team gets, but I digress.

I really have learned some interesting things over the course of the past week or so.  For instance, thanks to Michelle, I now know that you can tell if a mare has ever had a foal just by looking at her titties!  I also never knew, until more than one HiCaliber gunsel proclaimed, that every horse with a bridle path is broke and has recently been ridden.  This came as a huge shock to my  own hay burners who always have their bridle paths trimmed and mane pulled because I prefer that they don’t wander around looking like they just got drug in off the range.  From the time they are halter broke until the time they leave this earth they are groomed and a bridle path is no indication of their training level or if the fat buggers are currently being ridden.  It didn’t dawn on any of the village idiots  that many of these horses likely weren’t emaciated until they got to stand around the Thompson shit pile for weeks with nothing to eat.   Of course it didn’t considering that Thompsons carefully staged any pens that would be shown on video strictly for the  HiCaliber cameras.  I guess all the advocates that have been tracking and gathering evidence for years, are just imagining things too.  With each new day the unholy alliance of Satan Tara and Charles Manson Michelle deepens and even more horses are at risk under the guise of saving them.

Other pearls of wisdom I picked up during the live feeds was that one does not have to worry about strangles or EHV-1, but it’s worth risking an animal’s life to make sure that no parasites are on the property.  (The recent outbreak of EHV-1 in Louisiana was traced to Thompson’s feed lot btw.)  Also don’t you know that Michelle has a VERY close relationship with the vets she uses and she’s even allowed to call them after hours and text them, which is why we don’t see much of them lately on live feeds.   Until today, I wasn’t even aware that having contact details for your vet was out of the ordinary, so thanks to Michelle I now realize how close me and my vet really are and I’ll be eagerly awaiting my invitation to Sunday dinners from now on.  I also learned that horses in Louisiana must have different teeth because they are all worn down apparently and that Banamine makes horses sleepy.  That last one was shared by a villager who must think Banamine is the horsey version of Diluadid or something.  These live feeds are really so educational AND entertaining.

 

All this having to do stuff seems to be really wearing on Michelle and it is becoming customary to get live rants after intakes.  While not as glorious as the meltdown of a few days ago, it was still fairly interesting to hear Charles Michelle rant about how unfair it is that people are disgusted with what has been going down lately (I’m paraphrasing here) and then listen to her lay the groundwork into morphing into doing what Satan Tara does instead as long as she could keep her non-profit status. When she wasn’t dropping f-bombs and trying to project everything onto her volunteers, she took the time to praise Tara  and then tells us that she is becoming `anti-rescue’ because the kill buyers are nicer and more respectful than other rescues. Hmmm, why do you think that is, Michelle?  She claims to be embarassed to be called a rescue and doesn’t want to be called that anymore.  Personally, I think I can get on board with not calling her a rescue.  To be honest, one rant tends to bleed into another and I kinda fell asleep with this last one, but she feels that somebody has infiltrated her volunteers, but that doesn’t matter because she has nothing to hide apparently.  Hmmm….

 

Embarrassed to call herself a rescue

One of the things that was said during the rant was that Michelle hopes that with as much money as they bring in every month she hopes that somebody is making sure that it is being spent right and wisely.  Ok then…let’s talk about lying some more.  Let’s talk about an earlier rant that touched on how much everything cost including the meds these horses needed and that Michelle begged for money saying that a 250ml bottle of gentamicin costs $250.  That’s the problem here.  The lies have gotten so big they are laughable and tiresome.  How are people suppose to keep overlooking this crap?

Speaking of Floyd, let’s get back to these poor animals from Louisiana.  Floyd is the one with the wrecked leg that they made ship across the country to probably end up with a bullet between the eyes all because Tara told Romney that he just needed a minor little check ligament surgery for a few hundred dollars and then he’d be good as new.  Romney, who is still learning what the different colors of horses are, just ate it right up and put this poor horse through what amounts to torture.  I don’t think you have to be too smart to realize that he was in pain and continues to be.  Then you have Hazel, another one of the first load who is emaciated.  That didn’t stop Tara from getting her ridden for the sale videos and now the poor thing is being subjected to whatever the hell this bandage job is that appears that somebody is actually trying to give her a bandage bow or worse.  The scary part is, is that the 30% vet thinks she knows so much she’s the one training her `medical team’ to do this sort of shit to horses.  It is borderline cruelty.

While we’re on the subject of the horses, and really that’s why we’re all here hopefully, let’s get back to quarantine discussion.  We already know that the horses that shipped together were all put in a pen together.  Michelle is strying to ship out a pregnant mare to spread her germs elsewhere already and the truth is, there really isn’t a proper quarantine area at HiCaliber anyhow.  At the beginning of her most recent ranty video, she tells a volunteer to put the  newly arrived stud in pen #20 and the rest in 39.   Here is a map of the pen layout at HiCaliber and pen #20 is on stud row right in with a bunch of other horses that are not in quarantine.  They are so over stuffed horses are living in round pens at the moment.

Also, because there are still something like 16 horses coming, the body count is rising with Breen, Phelps, Stanley and a couple of others getting the bullet in the head in last week or so.  HiCaliber have often stated they don’t announce all the deaths.  How is that transparent???  They also fudge some of the adoption announcements because Rhys, was adopted by a HiCaliber resident and remains on the property living in pen #17 getting fed the good stuff on the donor dollar.

The other day Michelle mentioned that a horse called Saban had gotten aggressive and started biting and that poor bastard got The Fice.  Andrew Fice was a trainer they sent their `fuckheads’ to until people started freaking out about his methods.  He has zero riding skill to the point that he was excused from the Norco Colt Breaking Challenge for being too rough on his horse.  Even so, Michelle had zero fucks to give what people thought about the Fice until he decided to make fun of autistic children and it was revealed he had done prison time for beating the shit out of his ex girlfriend.  Then, in the interest of public relations, HiCaliber appeared to withdraw their support of him and brought one of the horses home.  Novalee.  The gelding Rojas seems to be missing in action as he doesn’t appear to be at Fice’s and they never mention him although he is on their adoption list.  Hopefully, he’s alive somewhere and has found a softer landing.  My main question is why hide that Fice bought these horses for $2 for the pair if he’s so super awesome and you don’t care what peope think?

So much for `failing forward’, which is one of Michelle’s favorite catch phrases when she gets caught with her proverbial ass hanging out.  I guess it wasn’t enough to subject six poor souls to baking in a tin box for 1700 miles, it looks like the Cheech n Chongmobile is going back for more.  This is despite Michelle claiming on a live feed they were sending an air-conditioned rig for the rest.  Perhaps the good ride is just for the horse she bought for herself or maybe she meant poverty A/C though, where you roll the windows down and drive really fast.  I’m sure the horses will totally appreciate that along with their frequent Gatorade stops in the boiling sun.   Given the total shit show this entire endeavor has become, don’t hold your breath for any live feeds or much information at all.  One thing is almost certain though; we aren’t likely to see any invoices or vet bills posted for any of this.  What truly sucks about this is that they know damn well this is an illegal haul, Dana knows it (confirmed by calling her dumb ass and asking her) and still they go ahead and do it.

 

 

I think this is as good a place as any to wind things up for today. I apologize for bouncing around so many different issues, but there are hardly enough hours in the day to stay on top of all the grifting going on and these bitches seem to want to live on live feed.  Despite the massive overcrowding and having no quarantine pens left with more horses still to come from Louisiana, the HiCaliber team is headed off to auction today to buy more horses from their favorite kill buyer, Misner.  Once again the village will be asked to dig deep and cough up their lunch money, college funds and rent money without ever once seeing an auction slip or invoice.  Once again, more horses will likely die to make room or get shuffled off to people like Fice for $1, never to be heard from again.  The village idiots tend to lose interest once the purchase is made.  I think the above screen grab pretty much says exactly the mentality that we’re dealing with.  I’m not sure anybody that has seen this blog, whether you hate it or not, could ever think it’s a front for the slaughter movement.  However, I guess when you’re convinced that what HiCaliber is doing is rescue and that Satan Tara Sanders is one of the good guys, it’s not so hard to get pretty upside down about which side is which.  No hunty, I’m distinctly anti and that is a big reason why this blog has put HiCaliber on blast.  The blurred lines and misinformation they spew is making the job of legitimate rescues and anti-slaughter advocates extremely difficult and enough is enough.  Until next time, folks…

In praise of Gary Thompson, horse killer

Gary Thompson and Michelle’s $1000 purchase.

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When Good Rescues Go Bad

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!

 

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Myth Busting

If you’ve been following along with the slaughter stuff for any length of time, I’m sure you’ve heard all the trumped-up reasons why we absolutely MUST start slaughtering all our horses again.  I could write forever punching holes in them.  However, one of the ones that irritate me the most is the whole `slaughter sets a base price for horses’ argument.  WTF?  Seriously!  I’m not usually given to direct responses to the petulant pony aside from the weekly recaps of the lunacy she perpetuates, but some things you just can’t let slide on by.  Misinformation pisses me off.

So, if we are to believe the slaughterphiles,  horses aren’t selling well because there is no `base’ price per pound on them.  I don’t even comprehend that line of thinking.  Horses are not raised to be food animals.  Does anybody look at the steak on your plate and wonder if it was papered or how well-trained the cow was before it was slaughtered?  I didn’t think so.  Because this is the type of horse that I’m most familiar with, I decided to pull up the stats for the recently concluded Keeneland fall sale for Thoroughbreds of all ages.  This sale is 11 days and features everything from weanlings, to race stock, to breeding stock.  The prices run from in the millions all the way down to $1000, but when averaged out over 11 days, it always gives us a pretty good indication of where our market is and how we’re doing.  Do you know what the verdict was?  The market is strong.  This is especially gratifying because everybody knows those damn thoroughbreds don’t make the best meat horses.  If you believe Holy Theresa Manzella, they cost double to feed than any other horse (complete and utter bullshit btw).

In the interest of fair reporting and full disclosure,  if you look at the hard numbers from Keeneland’s fall sale this year it was down a little.  However, last year’s sale featured once in a lifetime dispersals of some fairly high-end breeding stock which they have attributed to the higher numbers.  The late Bernard Evans holdings along with Saud bin Khaled’s Palides Investments N.V., Inc   were dispersed and brought some crazy high prices.  Included in that consignment was Royal Delta who sold for $8.5 million.  With those horses factored out of the numbers from last year, the prices are actually higher this year.  So, the `real’ numbers from this year saw the gross up 5.36% , the average up 2.74% and the median up 10%.  That doesn’t mean much to most people unless you attach the actual dollar amounts though.  So, this year’s average sales price over the 11 days was $52,248 and the median was $22,000.  Not sure about you, but those are pretty good numbers to me.  I’m not alone in that opinion.  Keeneland vice president of sales, Walt Robertson stated:

“This was a very good sale, and encouraging in that the market laid down a stable foundation for the industry, Last year’s sale was enhanced by the vintage dispersals. This year we saw a truer market. And while there was general support throughout, we definitely saw a concentration on quality with regard to all types–broodmares, weanlings and horses of racing age. There is no doubt the money is out there for a good horse.”

I think the last sentence is pretty important.  People are still paying good money for good horses.  That’s the one thing slaughterphiles like NT will never be able to wrap their minds around.  No thoroughbred breeder bases the value on their stock on meat prices.  They breed for quality and performance and meat prices neither factor into their choices nor do they set their `base’ prices.  I suppose when you sell horses that are unpapered, not finished for anything and look like the ones below, you probably can’t wrap your mind around the real horse industry and real sale prices.

Sale picture courtesy of NT

Another NT sale horse

Now, I have been accused of being elitist a time or two by the slaughterphiles.  I’m actually not all that elitist when it comes to horses.  I’m a realist.  What I keep as my personal pet horses are one thing, what I deal with for a living are another.  I’m not looking to resell my personal horses, but I’m also not breeding them.  Many of my `horsey’ friends ride grade horses or show culls and they are still great horses for what they want to do with them.  They also aren’t breeding them or looking to make a living from flipping them.  The fact is there will ALWAYS be cheap horses as long as there are idiots involved with breeding them and horse trading.  EVERY single breeder has a foal that doesn’t quite come out like you had hoped.  However, if you are breeding quality stock, raising them correctly and either training them or presenting them for sale properly, it’s far easier to find a good home for the odd cull than to keep creating them.  If you are a bottom end horse trader and the lack of slaughter is putting you out of business, I don’t feel even a little bit sorry that you can’t make a living selling horses to slaughter.  Whine and cry all you want, dead horses don’t drive the industry.  They don’t need tack, feed, veterinary care or any number of other related purchases.  If Suey and the IEBA gets their way, you still wont’ be able to afford to be in the horse trading business because it’s going to cost you more to do business with her than to put a horse down.  I won’t shed one tear if all the slaughterphiles get out of the horse business and it also won’t change my lifestyle and income one bit.  If you need meat prices to value your stock, please find another business to be in because the horse industry will be better off without you.  Just give us some time to clean up the huge mess that the slaughterphile mindset has created.

Havre De Grace — recently sold for $10 million as a broodmare prospect

 

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I Wish I Could Be All Knowing Like A PSA

Seriously, I am learning so much thanks to our PSAs.  Today I learned that people are pro slaughter because they know what they’re doing unlike the rest of us that think it’s reprehensible to slaughter a horse.  In my ongoing research into the mysterious `bad’ horses that they keep talking about I found out that the reason the rest of us have horses we enjoy is because they,the PSAs, know what they’re doing.  Don’t believe me?  Behold these pearls of wisdom:

“I was reading something on another chat last night. Someone wanted to know WHY “pro slaughter” people have a higher rate of knowing horses that have issues; mental and/or physical. I think it boils down to this: Pro slaughter folks generally do not see their horses as pets. We see them as livestock. We’ve handled MORE horses than the average “pet horse” person. We’ve probably “rescued” more horses than a “pet horse” owner and some of us have even bred (obviously) more horses than a “pet horse” owner. So, next time you’re staring at your pet horses wondering WHY our horses have an issue, think about why you chose that horse in your backyard —- because he didn’t have an issue, or was trained or fixed by someone that knows what they are doing.”

– Oh no, she did NOT just say that…..Who knew?  Who knew that one person could be THAT delusional?  Sadly, this person is not alone.  It seems this is not an uncommon stance for slaughterphiles to take.

“And don’t you think “pro slaughter” might be more knowledgable about “noticing” mental/physical issues. Not saying pet owners are less educated or dumber than the pro slaughter people, but pro industry horse people are just more knowledgible in the horse industry. But as I’m typing this, I find myself not liking grouping pet owners as anti slaughter because I would have to categorize myself more of a pet owner than a pro industry horse person, and I am pro slaughter. Feel like I’m not making any sense here!”

– Oh!  That clears up a bunch.  The rest of us just don’t `notice’ our horses are bad or crippled and live in a rainbow bubble of delusion!  Maybe that’s why they are pro slaughter….they see things that are wrong with horses that escapes the rest of us.

 

“THIS is the time to put new slaughter plants to work with the recommendations set by Temple Grandin. The slaughter process is quite humane but she had suggestions to make some plants less stressful. The one video i’ve seen that was a US slaughter plant showed horses coming in one at a time, quietly, no stress, and shot once. It was swift and instantaneous.”

– Does anybody have a link to this video?  Because the ones I have seen have all been horrific.

 

“Speaking for myself, because I don’t want to assume others feel the same, I consider my horses pets, even some of our cows as pets, but also realize they are livestock. However, I would not send my own horses to slaughter but would have them put down, if necessary. But I agree for the need for slaughter, just not for my own horses. The point being I can still love my horses and be pro slaughter at same time.”
– This may be the one common statements PSAs make that pisses me off the most . If slaughter is so `humane’, then why isn’t it good enough for their horses?  Do they think that just because they don’t own the horses at slaughter they suffer any less?  Asswads!!!

 

“In a healthy market most of the horses who end up in slaughter houses ARE the rank ones; and the lame and the spoiled rotten pasture pets etc. In this market, anything in the bottom tier that isn’t marketable will go to slaughter even if it’s not lame or rank or spoiled.

The slaughter house is necessary to filter out those horses because let’s face it, they will ALWAYS be there. In a healthy market, the vast majority of the horses there should be there. In this market, good horses end up on a plate. If we had US slaughter houses two things would happen: the horse population would eventually stabilize and recover and there would be more jobs, even if only on a small scale.”

– I know we’ve been over this about a million times, but why can’t these people pull their head out of their asses. Good horses went to slaughter prior to 2007 and will continue to go until we shut it down completely.  Opening slaughterhouses would create MORE of a problem because it gives these morons a convenient disposal option for their messes.  If we had US slaughter, backyard breeders would go back in business in a huge way and dead horses don’t create all that many jobs….

 

“When those of you that oppose humane horse slaughter are able to feed, medicate, treat, and facilitate all of the unwanted, ill, and injured horses, please let those of us that support it know so we can help you begin your quest to provide them such a happy existence. Until then, please help us keep these poor animals out of the horrific and gruesome out of country slaughterhouses you have sent them to.”

– I think there are more of us anti people trying to clean up this mess than anybody else.  Do you know what I contribute to the slaughter pipeline?  ZERO.  If every self-professed horse lover did the same, there would never be an unwanted horse.  Guess what?  The slaughter houses in Canada are not one bit different from the ones that Slaughterhouse Sue wants to open and, depending on where you live, may still be a shorter haul.

 

“I do not support horse slaughter, I support highly regulated, inspected, and HUMANE horse slaughter. Now it’s time to try to put all differences and opinions aside and do what is ultimately best for unwanted, ill, and injured horses. Right now there is nobody with the funds or any other means that is willing to take care of all of them, especially in the current economy and drought.”

– Awesome!  I support fairies and leprechauns!  I really want to know how these people think any of this will happen with the budget cuts or why taxpayers are going to be happy to fund this disgusting practice to profit foreign businesses at the expense of their domestic food supply.

 

“For those anti slaughter, are you all vegetarians??? How is a horse going to slaughter any different and in humane then cattle and hogs going to slaughter to be butchered, packaged and sold in our stores?? I love my horses dearly and would probably consider them pets but still realize they are livestock. Slaughter houses are a necessary evil and if you don’t think so then why don’t you start feeding and caring for all the unwanted horses.”

– Why don’t you stop creating unwanted horses?  I wish mandatory sterilization for morons was a `neccesary evil’ too….

 

“The whole med issue is overblown. They use the same wormers on cattle that they do on horses. Few horses being sent to slaughter were JUST wormed, and the drugs have left their system in a short time. Same with bute, despite all the hype. Someone would have to eat MASSIVE quantities of “tainted” meat before ever becoming sick.”

– Somebody needs to alert the EU and tell them `no big deal’ on all the recent discoveries of adulterated horse meat we have sent them from North America.  This PSA says so!

 

I guess I’m going to have to go to the library and check out some Black Stallion books and maybe the Pony Club Manual so I can know as much as these brain surgeons.  I, for sure, should look into self medication because I am getting sick and tired of reading and seeing all these same old tired lies being tossed around as a justification for their asshattery.  Not only is it annoying, they regurgitate them with such conviction, people believe them.  I am excessively busy and cranky this week.  PSAs consider yourself  forewarned.  I’m truly done being nice.

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Hey Mr. Buckaroo, Why Are You Such An Asshat?

I figured since you were all appropriately outraged about horse tripping and those that support it, we should take a look at buckaroos.  To be honest, I grew up thinking that `buckaroo’ was just a stupid term for cowboy that city people might use.  I certainly wouldn’t have considered calling anyone that unless I was wanting to offend them in some way.  Kind of like calling somebody a `dude’ used to be a dead insult once upon a time.  Well, it turns out I was both right and wrong.  Buckaroo is a real term and is still alive and well in the Great Basin country of northern Nevada, southern Idaho, northeast California and southeast Oregon.  A buckaroo is basically an Americanized version of Vaquero and they consider themselves to be horse and cattlemen.  I still don’t think being called a `buckaroo’ is much of a compliment.  I’m sure this entry will cause a certain amount of outrage, especially amongst the PSA crowd.  There are many of them that think buckaroos are super cool and awesome.  I mostly think that many buckaroos are just great big douchebags for the way they treat animals.  At least the ones we’re going to talk about today are.

One of the first things that comes to mind with buckaroos is their look.  They all have a very specific look for both themselves and their horses.  Flat hats, chink chaps, A-fork saddles with post horns and bucking rolls.  Many of them favor a lot of silver and adornment on their tack as well.  Their finished horses usually wear spade bits and I’ve yet to see a buckaroo or picture of one where they weren’t using some fairly sharp rowelled spurs.  They wear their gear and clothing like a uniform.  Other than their choices of spurs and bits, I don’t really have much issue if they all want to dress like that.  It sure makes it easier identify them and run the other way when you encounter one. I know many attach a certain `romance’ to the buckaroo lifestyle and look.  We all know a bit or spur is only as harsh as the user, and these guys have some fancy looking bits and spurs. Although, I still cannot wrap my mind around why anybody would ever feel the need to put a spade bit in a horse’s mouth these days, I might have been ok with them  had I not dug a little further and found what a large number of them consider entertainment.

It seems our little buckaroo buddies are a bit like their charro counterparts in what they consider entertainment.  Of course, it comes at the expense of horses and of course they are all mostly slaughter advocates.  It seems that buckaroos like to host ranch rodeos when they aren’t out ripping the mouth out of their horses or punching holes in their sides. Ranch rodeos aren’t exactly what you see when you go to the Calgary Stampede or the NFR.  Sure, they have the usual events like team roping, calf roping, barrel racing, bull riding, bronc riding, etc.  Depending on how you feel about those sports, nothing out of the ordinary for a rodeo.  However, they also have an event called Big Loop Horse Roping and it is truly disgusting.

Big loop horse roping shares a lot in common with Mexican rodeo.  Probably not so surprising considering that the buckaroos evolved out of the vaquero culture.  Where big loop roping differs from horse tripping is there are two ropers on horses.  It’s a bit like an extremely barbaric version of team roping.   They do the horse the courtesy of throwing a neck loop on it and slowing it down before the second roper fore-foots it and jerks the legs out from under it.  I suppose this is how they get away from calling it tripping.  The end result for the horse isn’t a bunch different from tripping though.  Check out these videos of big loop roping:  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2v7djtzbckE) The next video has some extremely graphic scenes and was shot at the Jordan Valley Rodeo this year. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmp8pkbU03I)The buckaroos call this `laying them down’ rather than tripping.  That’s supposed to make us feel better about what they’re doing.  Here are the words from a PSA who pretty much lives and breathes this stuff:

“For untouched horses like this, the *real* buckaroo’s do a neck rope, ride along with the horse a bit until it slows, then throw a front footer. It’s safer and lays the horse down easy. Plus these horses were 3 year old’s that were in their 2nd and 3rd year of roping … NOT easy ropers! LOL They won more than the ropers did. I know of ranches that do this with their young stock to brand and geld them all the time.”

– Are we clear on this?  These horses are used for nothing but roping?  Nice life they have.  Also, that’s how they handle their `young stock anyhow’.  I’m taking that to mean they hog tie them to geld them rather than do it the humane way.

“Trust me, the big loop ropers do this in real life and if you rope a back foot of an unhandled horse, you will likely kill it. Or break a leg. You have to use the appropriate type of rope as well. Most of the ones I know use soft hand made rawhide riata’s.“

– Go ahead and watch the videos I posted links for.  Tell me that front-footing them is any better….It should be noted that this PSA actually eats horses from time to time.

Here’s an interesting quote I found on a message board from somebody that has first hand knowledge about Mexican rodeos and horses that get used for these sorts of events:

“When I used to go to the horse and tack auctions in S. Cali. I could easily spot all the busted and broken charro horses. When the horse meat trade was stopped and auction prices hit the dirt for good quality saddle horses, they were simply letting the really damaged ones loose in the hills to forage for theirselves. You can’t bury dead horses on your property in California. You’ll get a fine. You have to pay $80 bucks to have them hauled off to the rendering plant. Guess they can’t afford to constantly pay to have their dead animals hauled off since there are so many eh? A couple hour ride in the hills and you could usually spot one of the loosed charro horses – sometimes alive (barely) sometimes dead and partially eaten by coyotes.”

Interesting, no?  Abandoned and abused horses being turned loose in the hills.  I know this does happen because I have a good friend in California that is a rancher.  He’s found these horses on his grazing lease and has had to put them down.  The condition they are in is appalling.  I’m sure Slaughterhouse Sue and D-bag will say this is exactly why we need slaughter back.  Bringing back slaughter isn’t going to stop these assholes from doing this.  In fact, if we give them that outlet, they’ll just do it more.  Banning this practice everywhere and ENFORCING that law will fix this problem.

Notice the knee and ankle on this horse. She was found tethered to a tree in the wilderness in California….

So, how do they get away with this?  Enter Slaughterhouse Sue and D-bag Duquette.  They take credit for the Oregon Senate Committee on Environment and Natural Resources nixing Senate Bill 613 last February.  Known as the `horse tripping’ bill, it would have outlawed roping horses by the front legs and tripping.  Sadly, the bill became all wrapped up with other roping events and that is likely what killed it rather than anybody actually giving a single crap about Suey and D-bag had to say.

“”No rodeo event in Oregon condones, or conducts, horse tripping. Oregon has comprehensive laws in place to protect animals. This bill was totally unnecessary. It was nothing more than a first step by HSUS to ban all roping of all animals in our state.  Horses are livestock, and if this bill had become law, it would have set the precedent for making it illegal to rope a cow. After all, they’re both livestock – what’s the difference between horses’ legs and cows’ legs?”

– That quote is from D-bag Duquette. Like their idol Crazyass Steve King, they will fight any proposed legislation that may protect animals from cruel and barbaric asstards.  Considering he lives in Oregon, consorts with some of the people that do this type of thing, and the video footage is from THIS year, he’s just a big fat liar.

“The HSUS goal is to gradually pick away at owners’ rights to decide what is best for our horses and livestock,  They hide their agenda behind pretty language about protecting animals. But we are finally starting to educate the public about what is behind the curtain. Oregonians are too smart to fall for the misleading HSUS rhetoric. Those of us who love horses, livestock and the Western lifestyle need to work together to preserve our heritage and the right to decide what is best for our animals.”

– naturally D-bag made this all about his mission against the HSUS.  NOBODY that loves horses think this is cool to do and if this your way of life and heritage, you are an abusive shit.  The reason we have to put laws in place is because people that do this type of thing have zero compassion or ability to know `what is best for our animals’.  I guess we shouldn’t be surprised he says things like this considering he likes to host horse barbeques for his clients.

It is expected that Oregon lawmakers will be bringing this issue to the table in the next session and work towards a ban on this brutal `sport’.  The PRCA has long outlawed it from their rodeos.  Other than the underground charro circuit, it seems we have a small pockets of asstard hold-outs in the buckaroo community that need to find a better way of entertaining themselves.  Keep checking in with the Animal Law Coalition for updates.  (http://www.animallawcoalition.com/animal-cruelty/article/2042)

 

I grew up on a ranch and I do understand how ranch life works. I’ve participated in more brandings than I care to count.  I can half-assed throw a loop if I’m pressed too.   I come from a long line of horsemen, none of whom have ever been pro-slaughter.  In fact, my great-grandfather could have been considered a buckaroo at least by the equipment he used, not by mentality.  Don’t believe me?  Meet Gramps…(pssst….his horse isn’t skinny either as NT would have you believe all the old-time ones were)

That picture was taken in the late 1800’s.  He was actually a pretty well-known guy and is in many books. The bit and spurs are still in the family, but haven’t been used in my lifetime.  They are probably too valuable to use for one thing, plus we don’t do things the old way anymore even though that particular bit does not have a cathedral port in it.  That’s my point.  My great-grandfather was a working cowboy if there ever was one.  He was also a well-known horseman.  Whatever it was he passed down through our family, it was to respect your animals, especially your horses.  I sure don’t recall anybody ever throwing a rope at a horse, let alone tripping one.  Before I was able to do so on my own, I saw countless horses started and never once did I see one thrown or laid down.  I guess not all buckaroos would consider big loop roping part of their heritage.  Times have changed and so has the way we handle our livestock.  There is no reason to stress and traumatize any animal anymore.  We have the means to be kinder.  Here’s another `family’ picture of mine.  My grandmother and her father engaging in something we don’t do anymore either.  While I appreciate my heritage, I know that some things are better left in the past.  Thankfully, most sane people do as well.

 

 

 

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