I am sorry about June, I mentally just could not sit down and find the energy to let the words out. June was so much and so hard. If you were on the live last night you heard about some of it. It was just so intense in so many ways from pulling a baby, Fresca, out of her mom so she wouldn't die inside of her, to having two horses literally dying on the lot that we had to facilitate buying so we could have the onsite vet euthenize, to Tyler who was colicing for two days with the horse trader not allowing us to buy him. Everything was just hard and sad and constant. By the time I got home, I was slammed with the wave that ALWAYS comes after the auction. It is similar to a composer directing an orchestra. The song always gradually builds until the climax and the week after the auction, especially the Tuesday-Saturday post auction, are always just insanity. It is A LOT of moving parts and directing and placement and decisions that have to be made. This is all on top having to make all the normal day to day decisions regarding the normal operation. It is just a lot and I am one human and sometimes I just have to say 'I cant'. Last month, I couldnt.
This month, thank God wasnt like THAT. This month was hard, dont get me wrong, but it was hard in a diffferent way. It started out with me getting there early so that I wouldnt have to travel over the July 4th holiday. I chose to go early and had intentions to go to our one property in Weatherford when I was told that two loads were shipping out before Wednesday to clear the lot for the auction after the July 4th holiday. That made me sick and I remember calling my mom and saying I dont want to go but if I dont go they die. What choice do I have? I am the one that has to carry that weight on my shoulders and they dont have a say. They cant stand up and refuse the truck or jump the fence and run away, although I wish they would.
So I went. When I got there it was very clear the horses tagged vs not tagged for slaughter. The ones that go to Mexico have bright green tags on their manes which match the microchip placed in their necks that are scanned at the board to match the paperwork. There they all stood in the blazing heat. I walked down and immediately saw a sea of broken legs, blown knees and suffering horses. What is so insane to me and I always say this, WHO are the people who sell their horses like this when they are in this condition. Like WHO does that?! WHY? Is it people who think they are okay? Lack of education? Is it because they cannot afford vet care? Like, I just dont get it. I truly do not understand.
I knew in that moment that this was going to suck. I did the count in my head of how many would need to be put down due to the severity of the injury. If you have seen a broken leg or a blown knee on a horse, you dont need xrays to validate it. YOU KNOW. They dont come back from either of those two things. Hence my frustration at the owners who allow them to end up in a place lilke that, to only cause them more suffering by putting them on a damn semi truck to Mexico which takes 17-20 hours. It is maddening. Horses with these horrible injuries have such a massive chance to go down in the trailer, either from weakness or their own choice because they are tired and in pain, and getting trampled to death. Its disgusting and horrifying. Again, why the hell did the owners sell them like that?! It is so sick.
So, I started fundraising. For two days I worked through what I could, only fundraising for the amount to put the ones down that needed to be humanely euthenized, and then fundraising for initial intake care for the ones that deserved a chance, xrays to see what was going on that might be fixeable or treatable, etc.
We managed to save 22 horses in two days from shipping. On the second day another group of 12 horses, in addition to a pair of geldings and a palomino mare, were dropped off to tag and ship. We saved 6 of the 12, plus the two geldings, plus the palomino mare. 29 horses. I arranged with a vet to drive from Dallas to work through and validate with me the ones who I knew needed to be put down. Myself and the vet put down 11 horses that afternoon, saving them from going to Mexico.
I literally am so choked up even writing this. It is a hard reality to read. It was even harder for me to have to do that. It took all I had not to sob through it, but what choice did I have. I was doing the right thing. It killed me every time I handed a horse over to the vet. It killed the vet. I argued internally with myself over a mare I named Jenny, who had a knee the size of a volleyball who was the kindest sweetest soul. I argued about giving her the max pain meds twice to three times a day just so she could be loved. I cried and had to walk away as she was the last one I handed off. It wasnt fair. She, they, deserved so much better then what their owners allowed to happen to them and then THAT to be what their lives were and what they know it as. Life is so precious and small that she, they, didnt deserve any of this.
These horses didnt deserve this and they sure as hell didnt deserve to be on a semi truck like THAT, in pain, 17-20 hours down into Mexico to die by a bolt to the head. Thats if they even made it there without being trampled to death. It killed me. I truly think a piece of me died that day. I left and drove straight to my friends. It took me 3 hours to get there and I stress ate in silence the entire way. I spent the next day and a half with the most amazing family and people who have and show nothing but love. I prayed a lot. I drank a lot of gin. I saw dinosaurs. I asked for strength to process what I had to do, and the sad thing is the stronger I find myself getting, the weaker I get. The break downs become worse.
Friday I took one more day to breathe before picking up my sister at the airport. I needed her. We went to dinner when she landed and chatted and she made my heart feel like it could beat again. That I could breathe again. Saturday morning we woke up early, grabbed coffee, and headed to the sale barn both of us knowing without having to say a word that the next three days were going to take everything we had.
Consistently every year July is extremely hard. It is hot. VERY HOT. There are either not that many horses or there are a lot of horses with the only buyers being horse traders or the Kill Pen, or both. Donations are slow. Families and couples are taking vacations. People are off work taking in and living up their short freedom before Monday rolls around and its another 4 months before the next break.
This auction was a lot of horses and a lot of horse traders and the Kill Pen buying. The Kill Pen is always buying. It is the valve that never shuts off and always flows. The rescues that were there including myself, made our rounds documenting the horses that were there, seeing who we connected with, noting who needed urgent or medical help which thank God there werent really any this last weekend, and communicated amongst each other on who we were going to work on as to not step on each others toes. I can say that the women in rescue that I have dealth with regulary at this auction have all been some of the most incredible, kind hearted, smart, do whatever it takes for the horses humans I have ever met (cough Erin and Mariah and Miquell and Dawn and Neda). I truly dont know where I would be without them. They have become some of my best friends and I love them to death.
It is rare to meet women in this world who have the maturity to put their egos and emotions aside. I remember when I met Mariah (Sweet Mercies Rescue) at the sale barn, I was so hesitant to really engage with her. I am sure she felt the same way. Rescue people can be so two sided and hurtful. Hurt people hurt people. Over several months her and I would always talk when we saw each other, comparing tag numbers, venting to each other about the horses and donkeys and the horrible people who owned them that let them get here and to the physical condition that they were in. Little by little you let someone in. It wasnt until I shared something personal and raw and honest and it was her straight love back to me, and understanding, that got me. I knew then that she was an incredible person. I will forever be grateful to her and our friendship as I dont know if I could do this without her strength as a friend.
This brings me back to this auction. Thank God there were no dying horses. There were a couple that were colicing due to the heat that we were able to intervene with and allowed to buy and get help for. One of those was Lyle who we ended up losing because the impaction was too far gone. Tyler, the 25+ buckskin gelding, is doing great and the vet cleared him yesterday as out of the woods. The third is a handsome skinny paint named Liberty that Mariah rescued from a horse trader.
There were a lot of horses. By the end of Monday we had ended up with 60 horses rescued from shipping and out of the slaughter pipeline. Horse Industry Hell ( HIH) as I call it. That is essentially two semi truck loads saved from shipping to Mexico. It is pretty incredible. This doesnt count the 19 horses Mariah and Erin rescued making it 79 saves between the three of us. Other rescues were also bidding online ( I know Southern Twang was) so I am sure that, that number is higher which is absolutely amazing!
The ones with Orange were the horses who we lost and had to be put down by the vet. The only one who died naturlaly was Joleen who had a massive sizure and passed away in front of our caretakers.
Rescue is hard. So far we have atleast 10 saves that will have their lives documented regularly so that you can watch their progress as they heal and transform. We have almost 70 on Patreon JUST from this year whose lives are being followed, their journeys shared. It is because of you that we are able to do this and make such a massive difference and I am forever grateful and in debted to you for that. Our whole team is. I will and always do my best to provide updates as constant and frequenlty as I can.
You can sign up to join Patreon for $12/year, or $1/month by clicking this link: patreon.com/allseatedinabarn
We use various platforms including Patreon, Meta, personal replies, Youtube, TikTOk etc. We have a part time photographer in Texas and also in California that helps me with getting the photos and videos I need in order to make sure that I can stay updated, but most importantly, YOU can be updated. WE are a team, and I am fully comitted to doing whatever I need to do to make sure that we all work together so that we can build something that can hopefully help spread enough awareness, get enough people involved that the days of Kill Pens, shipping horses to Mexico, and the mistreatment of horses can come to an end.
1 | 354 | Belgian | Chesnut | Ethan |
1 | 3330 | Mini Cow | Silver | Scruffaluff |
1 | 5300 | QH | Paint | Ramona |
1 | 5712 | QH | Sorrel | Fabian |
1 | 5723 | QH | Grey | Penelope |
1 | 5738 | QH | Bay | need Name |
1 | 5739 | Rez | Grey | Need Name |
1 | 5742 | QH | Bay | Pepper |
1 | 5743 | Buckskin | Filly | Tiki |
1 | 5776 | QH | Rhone | Need Name |
1 | 5789 | Paint | Paint | Motley- Paul |
1 | 5807 | QH | Sorrel | Tiffany |
1 | 5808 | Filly | Dun | Sascha |
1 | 5812 | QH | Grey | Unicorn |
1 | 7365 | Donkey | Grey | Joleen |
1 | 7383 | Donkey | Rhone | Thelma |
1 | 7384 | Donkey | Brown | Louise |
1 | 9302 | Paint | Paint | Thomas |
1 | 9304 | Paint | Paint | Chisolm |
1 | 9309 | QH | Sorrel | Bonny |
1 | 9318 | QH | Sorrel | Damen |
1 | 9322 | QH- Papered | Sorrel | Need Name |
1 | 9335 | QH | Gruella | Buck |
1 | 9336 | MP | Paint | Helen |
1 | 9341 | QH | Buckskin | Tyler |
1 | Ty 1 | OTTB | Bay | Lyle |
1 | DS 6418 | Draft Mule | Belgian | Tobey |
1 | DS 6431 | QH | Appy | Kerry |
1 | DS 6429 | OTTB | Chesnut | Leo |
1 | DS 6433 | QH | Chesnut | Lucy |
1 | DS 6381 | OTTB | Chesnut | Need Name |
1 | DS 6424 | QH | Dun | Lucille |
1 | DS 6417 | QH | Bay | Cindy |
1 | DS 6380 | OTTB | Chesnut | Need Name |
1 | DS 6413 | Saddlebred | Black | Ty |
1 | DS 6414 | Saddlebred | Black | Tamara |
1 | DS 6317 | QH | Black | Need Name |
1 | DS 6328 | Ex Bucker | Chesnut | Need Name |
1 | DS 6415 | Belgian | Belgian | Leo |
1 | DS 1324 | QH | Palomino |
|
1 | DS Stud | QH | Sorrel |
|
1 | DS Stud | QH | Sorrel |
|
1 | DS 6432 | Pony | Bay |
|
1 | DS 6420 | QH | Bay |
|
1 | DS 6422 | QH | Bay |
|
1 | DS 6421 | Saddlebred | Bay |
|
1 | DS 6330 | QH | Chesnut |
|
1 | DS 6416 | Saddlebred | Bay |
|
1 | DS 6325 | QH | Chesnut | Jenny |
1 | DS 6440 | OTTB | Chesnut |
|
1 | DS 6395 | QH | Chesnut |
|
1 | DS 6397 | QH | Sorrel |
|
1 | DS 6434 | QH | Bay |
|
1 | DS 6396 | QH | Palomino | Richard |
1 | DS 6400 | QH | Grey | Megan |
1 | DS 6398 | QH | Grey | Need Name |
1 | DS 6399 | QH | Bay | Need Name |
1 | DS 6393 | QH | Dun | Need Name |
1 | DS 6394 | QH | Sorre | Need NAme |
1 | DS 8053 | QH | Chesnut | Shania Twain |
Comments