# Here I go again!



## aoconnor1 (Jun 19, 2014)

I should never, ever look at anything on Craigslist. Ever. I did though, and danged if they didn't have a stupid kill buyer holding pen ranch trying to move a few horses before 5 pm today when the truck arrived to take them to Mexico. And it was near where I live. And so I texted, and then got into a conversation with the lady trying desperately to move a few sad cases. So now tomorrow morning I will go pick up my new mare that is hugely pregnant and already bagged up. She at least is in good physical shape if not mental shape. The little 2 year old colt, I don't know if he will even make it through tonight, he is sick and emaciated, but if he does survive the night, he has a good stay at the vet ahead of him to get well and strong before we geld him and I bring him home. Poor little guy, he is a desperate case for sure, and I am just dumb enough to care enough to try and right the wrongs done to these two horses. 

It is balm to my soul though, knowing they are safe and will be home as soon as I can get them here. The mare actually has a current coggins, imagine that. So I am hopeful she also has her current vaccines, if not Pneumabort. (Not positive how thats spelled!) Anyway, pics to follow. I was too busy trying to get the little guy cooled off and up that I didn't bother taking any pictures. He would have been gone if I had stopped to snap a few quick pics. It was a tough one, but we got him cooled off and standing, and this afternoon later he was eating a little hay.

I only hope and pray the others that were able to be saved were so lucky. I was so heartsick when I saw the herd...one had a compound fracture of his right hind cannon bone, it was sticking out the front of his leg. Why, oh why...I cried over him...


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## RideBarefoot (Jun 29, 2008)

Why? Because you have a very giving heart.


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## aoconnor1 (Jun 19, 2014)

Thanks RideBarefoot....I love horses


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## goodhors (Sep 6, 2011)

Can't find the article, but I understood that the Mexican kill plant had been shut because no one in Europe would buy from them now. Only the Canadians were buying horses now. So you might want to check that out, if buyer was just selling horses she was unable to get gone any other way.

A couple reputable Forums were quite happy (some people anyway) that the plant was closed.

Perhaps some research is needed to find out the truth of the closing or not.


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## Teej (Jan 14, 2012)

I've been right where you are aoconnor, sometimes we just can't help ourselves. 

This was my 2 year old stud colt I couldn't say no to after he walked up to me and buried his head in my chest.



Nothing but a bag of bones. The picture doesn't show how emaciated he really was because his whole body had a layer of burrs over it. Poor thing stood and let me comb every one of them out even though it left raw spots on him.

6 weeks later starting to look like a real horse although still no muscle on him.



And 2 years after that as a 4 year old.



Today at 6 he's actually an easy keeper. I unfortunately don't have current pictures of him available on the computer.

Just as a note to you, my vet (a very good equine vet and horseman) wanted to geld him at the condition he was in at the 6 week mark. His reasoning was because it wasn't unusual for them to retain their testicles when they are emaciated and stunted and he wanted to get them out while he could still find them. 

Then there was the time I bought 2, too skinny older mares with their skinny 2 month old foals and were also rebred to foal that next spring because I felt sorry for them when I already had 4 of my own mares in foal. LOL That was an exhausting spring for sure.


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## wr (Aug 10, 2003)

aoconnor1 said:


> I should never, ever look at anything on Craigslist. Ever. I did though, and danged if they didn't have a stupid kill buyer holding pen ranch trying to move a few horses before 5 pm today when the truck arrived to take them to Mexico. And it was near where I live. And so I texted, and then got into a conversation with the lady trying desperately to move a few sad cases. So now tomorrow morning I will go pick up my new mare that is hugely pregnant and already bagged up. She at least is in good physical shape if not mental shape. The little 2 year old colt, I don't know if he will even make it through tonight, he is sick and emaciated, but if he does survive the night, he has a good stay at the vet ahead of him to get well and strong before we geld him and I bring him home. Poor little guy, he is a desperate case for sure, and I am just dumb enough to care enough to try and right the wrongs done to these two horses.
> 
> It is balm to my soul though, knowing they are safe and will be home as soon as I can get them here. The mare actually has a current coggins, imagine that. So I am hopeful she also has her current vaccines, if not Pneumabort. (Not positive how thats spelled!) Anyway, pics to follow. I was too busy trying to get the little guy cooled off and up that I didn't bother taking any pictures. He would have been gone if I had stopped to snap a few quick pics. It was a tough one, but we got him cooled off and standing, and this afternoon later he was eating a little hay.
> 
> I only hope and pray the others that were able to be saved were so lucky. I was so heartsick when I saw the herd...one had a compound fracture of his right hind cannon bone, it was sticking out the front of his leg. Why, oh why...I cried over him...


I've done it too and while it always seems like a great idea in the beginning, it is a lot of work but I always figure if they have some try, I have to try too. 

Hay is sitting close to $300/ton this year but I set aside some extra because I'm pretty sure there's going to be some hungry horses for sale soon.


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## aoconnor1 (Jun 19, 2014)

There is truckload after truckload going to Mexico, I have not heard about the plants down there closing? We are in Texas, there are many horses being shipped over the border every day from here. Not sure what plant, but I know they go to be slaughtered there. It is a huge business here...

The woman who had the horses, yes they all came from auctions around the Midwest and south, but the kill buyer showed up while I was there so I know they aren't hers that she purchased and now can't get rid of. I am going to investigate the issue, see what is really happening, but there are several holding facilities in Texas, though no one wants to actually know that, people pretend it isn't happening. It is tragic....


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## aoconnor1 (Jun 19, 2014)

Teej said:


> I've been right where you are aoconnor, sometimes we just can't help ourselves.
> 
> This was my 2 year old stud colt I couldn't say no to after he walked up to me and buried his head in my chest.
> 
> ...


I expect we will geld him as soon as he is strong enough to withstand the surgery. Body condition is at its worst right now, I think 6-8 weeks out is a fair guess as to when we will geld. My hope in that time frame is to have a home for him, as well as a couple of my other horses I am not going to be on. 

The mare, she will stay until the foal is weaned, then hopefully they will also find a good home. If not, both she and foal are welcome here, as is the stud colt. I know how hard it is to place an already unwanted horse....sad.


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## aoconnor1 (Jun 19, 2014)

By the way Teej, that boy is beautiful!!! Excellent job with him!!


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## Irish Pixie (May 14, 2002)

I applaud your effort to rehab slaughter bound horses. I truly do. 

However, if slaughter wasn't banned in the US in the first place, I know it's not illegal now but their was no provision for inspectors so no processing plant can open, we wouldn't have the neglect that we've seen in the last 8 years. Horse slaughter serves a valuable purpose, and as it stands the horses in the middle of the country are shipped long distances to plants in Canada and Mexico.


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## Teej (Jan 14, 2012)

aoconnor1 said:


> By the way Teej, that boy is beautiful!!! Excellent job with him!!


 Thank you but I can't take any credit. Sure, I provided him with some grub and grooming but he had the determination to thrive. I always say that when I opened that trailer door after we got home he looked at the gang all lined up to greet him and decided he was going to do whatever it took to look just like them. He was and still is just so accepting of whatever gets done to him. All his firsts for anything is a non-issue.


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## Teej (Jan 14, 2012)

Irish Pixie said:


> I applaud your effort to rehab slaughter bound horses. I truly do.
> 
> However, if slaughter wasn't banned in the US in the first place, I know it's not illegal now but their was no provision for inspectors so no processing plant can open, we wouldn't have the neglect that we've seen in the last 8 years. Horse slaughter serves a valuable purpose, and as it stands the horses in the middle of the country are shipped long distances to plants in Canada and Mexico.


 I know your comment wasn't directed to me but I wanted to comment on it.

I absolutely agree with everything you said. Slaughter serves a much needed purpose and really needs to be brought back to the US. For myself, I have no desire to save every horse that is slaughter bound but there have been times in my life that a horse crosses my path and for whatever reason I feel the need to give it a chance. I figure it's a very small tribute to a species that has played such an important part in my life. It's sure not because all of them have been as easy as the previously mentioned horse has been.


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## where I want to (Oct 28, 2008)

I don't know how you all do it. I bought one emaciated 3 year old with founder and he kept me broke for the next 13 years.


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## Lisa in WA (Oct 11, 2004)

Bless you to the generous souls who take these horses on.


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## Stonybrook (Sep 22, 2007)

aoconnor1 said:


> ...one had a compound fracture of his right hind cannon bone, it was sticking out the front of his leg. Why, oh why...I cried over him...


Someone should have bought that poor thing and put him down immediately. I would have chipped in some $$$ for that purpose.


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## aoconnor1 (Jun 19, 2014)

Irish Pixie said:


> I applaud your effort to rehab slaughter bound horses. I truly do.
> 
> However, if slaughter wasn't banned in the US in the first place, I know it's not illegal now but their was no provision for inspectors so no processing plant can open, we wouldn't have the neglect that we've seen in the last 8 years. Horse slaughter serves a valuable purpose, and as it stands the horses in the middle of the country are shipped long distances to plants in Canada and Mexico.


I agree completely. I am not against the slaughter, just not the way they are doing it right now. There needs to be some form of watching over it, at least for the humane handling and slaughter of the horses.


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## goodhors (Sep 6, 2011)

ac, you are correct, the plant is not closed. Here is the part I read, back in March on the Chronicle:

Excerpt:

*93 workers laid off at Empacadora de Carne de Fresnillo*

_Fresnillo, Zac. The company "Empacadora de Carne de Fresnillo" laid off 93 workers because horsemeat sales decreased by a 60%. The dismissed workforce will be hired back in case exports increase this year.

Horsemeat sales to European customers decreased due to many factors, principally because of a lower demand but particularly because the company did not comply with several quality regulations pertaining to the slaughtering process and sanitary conditions_.

_Several company executives claimed this year was one of the most difficult times for them, financially speaking, and that they were not expecting to dismiss such a number of employees.

There is another equine slaughter plant in the municipalty of Jerez de Garcia Salinas which is also on the brink of closing down because of the same reasons that Empacadora de Carnes de Fresnillo._

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/2...id=1qNE_Vqbsf8

Original source of info:

http://pagina24zacatecas.com.mx/loca...-de-fresnillo/ 


I agree that we need some slaughter facilities in the USA, to prevent the hauling nightmares horses face now. Such places serve a great need, but as mentioned, the hauling, holding and humane treatment need a lot of work to be improved. I have no problem with slaughter of horses, if the established laws would be followed and enforced to keep it humane. Don't write new laws, just enforce what we have now! I don't think the numbers of abandoned animals are correct, might be lost numbers under other titles, not counted. There were plenty around here, along with more stories from horse friends around our state. You had to lock your gates or find surprises grazing in the pastures. Even then some found horses tied to their gates some mornings. No one in the law enforcement would take them away! All qualities to be found among those abandoned. CA had lots of dead ones who had been abandoned in the wilds who starved or couldn't find water, carcasses turned up in time when they couldn't be sold for slaughter and price of hay went up so much.

Glad you folks can afford to take these guys in and bring them back to health.


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## Irish Pixie (May 14, 2002)

goodhors said:


> ac, you are correct, the plant is not closed. Here is the part I read, back in March on the Chronicle:
> 
> Excerpt:
> 
> ...


I agree, use the laws on the books. NY has some pretty tough laws governing shipping to slaughter- no near term pregnant mares, no three legged lame, no emaciated, no mixed sizes loads, no double decker trailers, no blind horses. They are enforced too, I'll see an article in the paper now and again where one of the kill buyers has been ticketed. It's not a long haul to Canada, which by the way, has much better rules and regs at processing plants than Mexico. 

The neglect in this area has gotten much better in the past few years, it was ugly three or four years after the ban. Ugly. This year there may be an increase, horrible hay year and the price has jumped dramatically. All those "free" horses that people picked up after the ban aren't really free...


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## aoconnor1 (Jun 19, 2014)

Irish Pixie, sadly, there were all of the horses you described right in those pens. One blind mare, 3 others that are bred, many were very emaciated, many had open wounds from being in with much larger horses that beat them up. One mare had twin yearling fillies with her. The mare and fillies were all emaciated. Ugly describes it well without using swear words. 

The mare I picked up came home yesterday, heavily bagged and waxing up. She isn't term, and she crashed out of two stalls I tried her in overnight, and then out of the barn. I don't even know where she is at this moment. I am heading out to find her, but with a 4 wheeler that's down, it is going to be a long walk today to find her and what I hope will be a viable foal. I am so disgusted with people right now....


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## aoconnor1 (Jun 19, 2014)

Well, turns out my mare was full ter, but because of the infections raging in her body, the filly only lived a few minutes on the ground before she died. The amniotic sac was filled with puss, and the entire umbilical cord came out when she was born, which is unusual. Sigh. Everything has a reason, but I don't understand why people do this to such beautiful animals as horses. This mare, she wouldn't leave her dead foal yesterday, she stayed by her until we could get the backhoe down and bury the baby. Then, I walked the mare back to the barn she had destroyed the night before (another long story. Suffice to say, outdoors is Where that mare will live). As soon as she had a drink and some food, she busted out of another stall and ran back to the place she left her filly, but we had already buried her. She stayed there overnight, and as long as she is ok I will just keep giving her medicine and food out there...hoping she will get well and feel like coming in with my herd someday.

The paint colt is doing well, eating and relaxing. Will post pics later.


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## Teej (Jan 14, 2012)

That's so sad. I hope that mare doesn't pine away. Is she eating her food?


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## Irish Pixie (May 14, 2002)

Well, crap. I'm so sorry.

I had a mare lose a foal during birth (he was alive) even tho I was helping her. We let her mourn over him for most of the afternoon, brought her into the barn, and buried the foal. It took her her awhile, maybe 3 or 4 days, but she stopped looking and calling for him.


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## RideBarefoot (Jun 29, 2008)

How heartbreaking. Hope she settles in and realizes she's in a good spot now.

Pics of the boy are required, ya know.


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## CountryMom22 (Nov 27, 2014)

So sorry to hear about the filly. My heart breaks for that poor mare, wanting to be a momma to her baby even though she herself is barely alive. Bless you for what you are doing for these beautiful animals.

I wish their previous "owners" and I use that term loosely, could see what they have done.


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## aoconnor1 (Jun 19, 2014)

I am saddened by the loss, but mostly I am thankful the mare survived. She is still very sick, as is the paint colt I grabbed that day. Both just need time, meds, and groceries to be ok. I am going down to bring Bella home again, see if she will pasture out with the 2 yr old colt. Maybe they can be pals...


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## aoconnor1 (Jun 19, 2014)

Colt pics...


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## Alder (Aug 18, 2014)

Jeepers, poor guy. There's a nice looking animal in there under all that skinny. Best of luck with his rehabilitation.


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## Teej (Jan 14, 2012)

That sad look on his face just breaks my heart. No wonder you had to snatch him up.


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## aoconnor1 (Jun 19, 2014)

Alder and Teej, yes, that is going to be one seriously pretty horse when he fills out and grows up. He is actually quite tall for a 2 year old, it is hard to tell by his emaciation though. He has long legs, long cannons...I hope he will be tall! At least come up to 15 hands, which isn't a stretch from what I see right now...

And yep, his eyes caught my heart. He has very, very soft eyes Getting to know him even a little bit the past couple of days has drawn me even more to him, he is gentle and kind, and so friendly with me, my grand daughters, and the mare he is allowed to be near. (The rescue mare)... She doesn't like him, but tolerates his young antics. Both are on my top pasture and are grazing what there is, plus eating a little Bermuda too. Hopefully both will being to heal and get healthy. Both are lovely


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## CountryMom22 (Nov 27, 2014)

Oh that poor colt! Those pictures make me angry! Thank goodness they found you. I think you're right though, he will be beautiful with some time and groceries. And when his eyes light up instead of looking so sad, he will turn heads to be sure.

Bless you for caring...
Sue


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## TerryR (May 20, 2012)

Fully, fully commend you! My very first colt, 5 mos, looked the same. Ribs, back bones showing, lice, and massive worms. 50.00 saved him. He turned out beautiful!
Looking at your colts eyes, he is saying "thank you"! I'm so LUCKY!
And so are you! I believe he'll be a keeper!


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## aoconnor1 (Jun 19, 2014)

Both are doing well at this time. Here is a picture of Bella, the mare.


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## HorsesNGoats (Feb 5, 2015)

This is how I ended up with Cinder, a pony I bought at a local kill auction. She was broke to ride and drive if you can believe that. She's now in the best home I could ask for, about an hour away!! You are amazing for taking those horses in, and not saying: not my horse, not my problem. Hope and pray all goes well.


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## aoconnor1 (Jun 19, 2014)

HorsesNGoats said:


> This is how I ended up with Cinder, a pony I bought at a local kill auction. She was broke to ride and drive if you can believe that. She's now in the best home I could ask for, about an hour away!! You are amazing for taking those horses in, and not saying: not my horse, not my problem. Hope and pray all goes well.


Thanks! I think these two will be here for a long time. The mare, Bella, is a really, really nice mare. She is quiet and calm, is very forgiving, and is going to be superb when she fills out and heals up. The 2 yr old colt, who will be a 2 yr old gelding next week, is a real nut. I love that boy, he has a huge heart and a silly personality. He is lovely to look at, takes care of his mare friend, and does a whole lot of licking and chewing every time I handle him! Smart little cookie

I can't have that attitude you mention, the "it's not mine, not my problem" thing. When they are abused, neglected, or abandoned, they ARE my problem if I am able to do something about it.


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