[CayceV]

This is for those of you that have asked me what happened with the rescue horses and why I haven't posted about them.... Sorry it's incredibly long.

As some of you know, I helped take part in rescuing a group of horses off of a feedlot in Nevada... In January. I raised some money, and donated what I could afford at the time, and I offered to take a few of the horses if they could get them up to me. Well, we managed to rescue a number of horses (sorry, can't remember exactly how many) and I picked out 2 horses that I thought would fit in well with my herd. I chose a red roan mare and a paintaloosa mare and her colt. Unfortunately, the one little mare I picked was due to foal at anytime, so I had to pick a replacement. A pregnant palomino quarter horse mare was my choice. So, we went about trying to arrange transportation and getting the paperwork done on the horses. I'm not going to go into details on that, but let me tell you, it was a struggle to get things accomplished. The horses had been moved to a rescue facility in No California and the people there had been unsuccessful at trying to get the bloodwork done on the paintaloosa mare and foal... Again I was asked to choose a replacement. This time, I chose a bay Thoroughbred mare who was in training with the rescues "trainer".

Well, after some more struggling to get things together, I finally decided to go and pick the horses up myself. It was March 3rd by the time I got to California to get the mares. The paperwork was finished for the palomino mare but not for the bay mare. I decided to get the mares on the trailer and set off anyways, asking the people to fax the paperwork to my vet when it arrived. So, we set off for Lynden, WA, where the horses were to stay until their papers were finished... 2 days later we arrived in Lynden at a temporary boarding stable. The local vet came and looked at the palominos papers and told us they had to be re-done as the california vet had missed the fact that the mare had a brand on her bum!! $140 down the drain - gee, thanks guys.

So, we got the bloodwork re-done on BOTH mares just incase the paperwork on the bay mare was wrong, too. We settled the mares into their stalls, left instructions with the guy who was to care for them (I had told him to NOT put them outside or to put them out one at a time as the mares didn't know each other), and we set off for home.

That was Monday, March 5th. Fast forward to Friday, March 9th. I was out of town because I had to be at school that weekend (which happens to be 6 hours away from me). The paperwork was all finished and my business partner, Gerard, was due to pick the mares up that morning.

That morning while I was in class, I got a phone call from the boarding stable. And also an urgent message to call home straight away. So, I ducked out of class and called home.... Only to get terrible news. My beautiful palomino mare had broken her leg and they had put her down without even consulting me. How did she break her leg? We don't know. But what we do know is that the idiot who was "looking after" my mares had put them both outside TOGETHER in the pen, after I specifically asked him not to!!! Boy was I mad, and sad, and a whole bunch of other emotions.

Gerard was there when they put Kyrene down... The vet did a palpation on her before they put her down and thankfully she ended up not being pregnant... After the vet had put her down, the guy who ran the stable shoved a boarding contract under Gerards nose and made him sign it. He didn't show any compassion, didn't apologize or anything, and still demanded his board money. Gerard, being in a terribly upset state, did as he was asked, then $620 later ($500 vet bill, $120 in boarding fees), loaded up Nailah, the other mare, and came home.

Nailah has been in quarantine since coming home; for a few reasons. The Palomino mare we picked up in CA had come from a farm where there was a small strangles outbreak and Nailah had been on the trailer with that horse. The vet said she had to be quarantined just to be "on the safe side". During that time, she developed a bacterial infection which caused her to loose 1/2 of her hair and develop a number of open sores on her body So, another vet bill, more quarantine time, and a lot of heartache later, we still have a sick horse. She is slowly healing and her hair is growing back, but good lord has this been an ordeal. I can tell you now that this mare also has issues with women (great, let's go change my gender so that she isn't afraid of me!!!!). She's slowly coming around, but come on!!

There's more to this story... Like the fact that I was NOT impressed with the "trainer" (for reasons I cannot disclose on a public forum - could get myself in some trouble for that). We've spent a lot of money on vet bills, the gas and time to go pick them up, paying for 3 sets of coggins and health papers, and oh yeah, forgot to mention, Gerard got interrogated at the border because there was apparantly a mix up with the purchase price that had been written on the bill of sale and what the rescue was telling the border people. He was held there for THREE hours. So on top of this we have a dead horse. Great. So instead of the 3 horses we were expecting (tb mare, paly mare, and palys foal), we have one.

To top off all of this, I had a mare foal yesterday and the foal didn't make it, so I'm in a bit of a state right now. What next??

[Trace]

I don;t know what to tell you but sending you a great big hug.

[SC Sonoma]

I'm so sorry you are having to go through all this. Its almost unbelievable all that you've had to endure. One thing after another .... I hope your situation improves ... I'll be keeping you in my thoughts and prayers.

[paso4ever]

OMG that is terrible!! i'm so sorry i dont know what its like to have to put horses down and w/o your permission! o man i am sooo sorry, keepin u in my thoughts

[Crazy4Apps]

Oh I'm so sorry to hear that.I hope things start to look up for you.

[CayceV]

thanks guys

[Jess!]

I am so sorry. What a horrible ordeal. *big hugs* Makes you think twice before wanting to deal with rescues.

[3WishesDun]

Good gravy! No good deed, eh?
Kudos to you for trying so hard to help out. I am sorry that so many things have gone wrong along the way. I wish you smooth sailing from here on out. And I am very sorry for loss.

[BettyBootsy]

Originally Posted by 3WishesDun

Good gravy! No good deed, eh?
Kudos to you for trying so hard to help out. I am sorry that so many things have gone wrong along the way. I wish you smooth sailing from here on out. And I am very sorry for loss.

Ditto! I am so sorry!

[SpiritSaddle]

Oh man, that is much sadder then I expected. I'm so sorry to hear that..
Good job for trying to help the horses though, and thank god you atleast have one..but it is still horrible. I'm going to PM you about something though!