Wednesday, September 22, 2010

This makes me so ANGRY!

Most of the time I'm a pretty laid back person and can take things in stride. But, there are a few things I get really, really angry about. Animal abuse and child abuse top my list.

For the past few years I've been trying to get something done about my neighbor's horses. I've reported them and I've provided hay for them (at no charge) when they were out. I've written about them previously here. This spring one of the three starving horses died after she got caught in their barbed wire fence and no one noticed she was missing for days.

This morning, the two remaining animals showed up on my farm and of course sent MY horses into a tizzy.

This is what I saw walking down my driveway:

This is Snickers, he is an Arabian cross and not older than 15. The POA in the background is Arrow, he doesn't look nearly as bad as Snickers.

There is absolutely no excuse, ever, for any animal to ever, ever look like this. None. People who are less informed may chalk this kind of condition up to age.

I've heard it more than once "You can't keep weight on old horses. They are just skinny."

Bullshit.

This isn't age. This is purely neglect and starvation and it doesn't happen over night. A body condition like this does not happen because you ran out of good hay for a week or two. This happens when you consistently don't feed quality feed or, heck, even bother to feed them at all.

Yes, older horses take more care, more calories, more hands-on maintenance and regular vet/dental care to keep them from getting to this point. Chief is 25. He looks fabulous, and is perhaps a bit on the too fat side. It takes a careful eye and adjusting of his diet to keep him healthy, but I do it because that's my responsibility. Period. I took on an aged horse knowing full well he could become expensive to maintain as he grew older.

I have dealt with horses who have a hard time holding weight. Star was one of those. I had to constantly pack the calories in her and keep the fat and protein in her diet fairly high, just to prevent her from becoming a walking rack of bones. Was it cheap? Hell no. Was it easy? Not a bit. Did I get to the point where she held her weight and looked GOOD? You betcha.

I have filed a report about these horses with the Sheriff's department and animal control. I can only hope they will do something to get these horses out of this situation. They deserve better.

7 comments:

  1. Maybe it is time to bring in the media? You've fought this for ages now, with no help from where help is SUPPOSED to come from... maybe the media pressure will light a fire under their butts?

    Or would it make things really bad with the neighbors?

    Poor horses. Sure hope a solution presents itself before its too late. Keep us posted and know we'll be thinking of them and you.

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  2. Very sad situation indeed. It is occuring more frequently with the crappy economy. Our rescues out here are overwhelmed, we just adopted an abandoned rescue mare. It is a shame that your earlier reports did not save this poor creature from this abuse. Did you keep them at your house until law and animal control came? I hope that the abusers do not get these horses back. If they can't feed them and provide care, they shouldn't have them. I also hope that they do not target you with harassment! Keep us updated.

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  3. Oh, I'm so sorry! That horse is indeed emaciated and you're right, it is a crime. What a shame that there are people in this world who care so very little about animals. There was a similar situation here with a local asshole who had 5 horses originally. It dwindled down to 3 remaining skeletons before the authorities finally stepped in and they were confiscated because of chronic neglect. No food and not even a tree for shelter. But it took years...and many, many, many calls from a lot of people to light a fire under their butts. I agree with Mrs. Mom...call the media. If it won't anger your neighbors into some sort of retaliation against you or your horses, it probably couldn't hurt. If nothing else, enlist your neighbors and keep calling. The squeaky wheel gets the grease.

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  4. That poor horse looks atrocious. Good on you for filing a report. :(

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  5. Those poor horses, hope they aren't sent back to neighbors.been left there much to long as is..

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  6. This hurts my heart. I don't know much about horses, but it's OBVIOUS this is neglect. How terribly sad!

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  7. Thanks for your post. I've just written an article about a simple technique to manage anger that you could find interesting.

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