Looks like all these foals need rescue and homes ASAP. The last foal on the video likely has a broken leg/shoulder.
I don’t support auctions or kill pens in any way, but these foals will need a home and a chance at life.
Does anyone know if these foals are being sold individually, by online auction, or by live auction? Not sure of the logistics of rescuing that many at once.
Also does anyone know anything about this particular rescue?
MNick posted this on the Bowie thread. Just from what I read on their page, it looks like Bowie reached out to them specifically, and they in turn are networking to see if other rescues can help.
Several of those foals are really nice - not knowing the breeding, they look like they could be TB or warmblood crosses.
Videos in the link say these are foals off Reservation herds. Mares & Studs are shipped “to Mexico”, foals under 6mos - thus too young to be shipped - are shot.
Foals can be adopted for $280 & understanding that foal’s owner is then responsible for any & all costs.
This rescue effort can save some.
Didn’t this EXACT this happen 2 weeks ago with jt livestock having 40 something foals? Are these the same ones being passed around?
Here’s one of the posts
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1Tt5Nis8f6/
The way these “rescues” act is going to make Bowie and other auction houses stop reaching out to them to try and do the right thing. So much drama and BS on those pages, not to mention so much bad grammar and poor writing, and their insane followers seem to be harassing everyone involved.
Can a rescue even take that many foals at one time? I’m not sure most will have the capacity.
I wondered the same thing, but this is a NEW group of foals. As far as I have seen, most of the ones from the JT/BH fiasco have been adopted out already and they were at the JT facility.
These new ones are still at Bowie. A COTH’er just picked a few of them up, maybe she will pop in and share some details when she has time.
These are TOTALLY different babies. All Seated In A Barn fundraised for all of them and were honest through and through. The money is going to each baby, contracts signed showing how money will be allocated. They were FABULOUS to deal with.
They asked if I would feed while I was there and it’s heartbreaking. There is a baby that probably has a broken leg. The flies are horrible right now. We took on the smallest of the four to get them out quick. I feel certain one is about 2 weeks old.
The workers at Bowie are so fantastic. They are kind. The gentleman who helped sort and load the babies that I left with was so gentle with them. Bottom line it’s an auction house and they need out. These babies came from a Res in Utah. Moms went to slaughter and babies were given a chance. They called ONE rescue (all seated in a barn) to take them on and they did.
Last I heard all babies were fundraised for. They may still be looking for homes!
Sometimes I wonder if it would be kinder if they were just shot (was mentioned upthread). I know that sounds bad, but if it’s clean and quick…
We just don’t need more random foals out there and the stress on them from the sales yard, the injuries, sickness, and just being pulled off of their dams so young. Sure, some of these will live, go onto nice homes, and be nice horses, but still.
I respect anyone that’s able to bring any of these foals home. While my horse is oddly obsessed with foals, it’s not realistic for us.
I hope they thrive and I’m happy to see that some are getting a soft landing.
I think the focus should heavily be on breeding, breed management and penalties for the mass neglect. It’s hard for me to choose the shooting route when I’m looking at four foals 🫠 I see your point and I value a well bred horse but it needs to be addressed at the root of the problem. People breed horses who shouldn’t be bred and they end up in the pipeline. There are ways to sterilize herds in the wild. They need to prioritize that until the herds are under control. That’s a whole other debate 
Happy to have the space to help these babies out and to set them up with a good foundation.
Oh yeah, 100% it needs to be addressed at the root of the problem.
I don’t necessarily think that we only need well bred horses, but there are just too many horses out there, I think. If they survive well enough in and through the sales yard and land in a nice home, that’s great, but if they suffer there and then end up in a not so nice home, that’s worse than a bullet, IMO.
I’m not for just killing babies or any horses, but I do wonder what the point of shipping a 2 week old foal and dumping it at a sales yard is. The odds are heavily stacked against that baby. Now, horses overcome all sorts of odds everyday, especially thanks to people like you that take them on and set them up for a good life, don’t get me wrong.
There’s just no good reason as to why this many foals should just be dumped, and the fact that this isn’t the first time a huge crop of foals has been dumped somewhere means that people are indeed the problem, and are continuing to be the problem.
I reckon it’s easier to just ship adults to Mexico and pack babies in a truck/trailer and leave them at a sales yard than it is to be responsible, sterilize horses, and/or just not breed horses 
Who knows, maybe there was never any bad intentions and someone out there thought these horses would just roam free somewhere forever, but still.
So glad that some of these babies are safe though. Such a pity that they had to find themselves in such a situation in the first place.
One of my pet peeves is when rescues go to these auctions and actively bid against other rescues or private buyers, it happens a lot with the Arabians especially the registered ones in herd dumps. Multiple rescues will knowingly bid against each other for some reason. I tried to assist with a private buyer at a local sale and dropped out because it was 3 rescues duking it out driving the price up. I wish there was some organization involved so money could be used smarter, the auctions love bidding wars.
Regarding the Reservation horse herds, there is not nearly the American nostalgia about them like there is about authentic BLM mustangs.
That’s why I couldn’t get my hands on a donkey the bidders were rescues and I wasn’t willing to pay the price!
I just don’t understand it, if they didn’t bid against each other they’d have more money to take other horses.
It’s a good thing I don’t live near Bowie because if I did, I would be there with my trailer bringing home a couple foals… but I don’t think transporting them 16-18 hours would be feasible in their current state.
There are some people who own lots of land and just throw a stallion out with some mares and let nature take its course. Usually these people breed cattle as well and do not care where their horses end up, or if they go for meat.
It takes experience to properly raise an orphan foal without a nurse mare. So many of these may end up with people who don’t have the knowledge to handle them correctly.
What an awful situation. 
I’ve taken care of everything under the sun, topped with being horse obsessed my entire life they screened me and followed up with me. They are requiring everyone to get a second blood panel seven days after pickup to ensure the health of the babies. I think that’s more than a lot of people are doing.
I do agree that orphans aren’t for everyone. Fortunately I have an amazing gelding who’s going to be with them, a bit of knowledge and always searching to grow.
I don’t doubt you, but many people make big problem horses out of orphan foals. It’s the behavioral issues that I’m speaking of. Vet advice can easily be had, but people will need help knowing how to keep discipline and make them into solid equine citizens.
It can be a brutal life for the horses that run feral on tribal lands here in Arizona. And there are a lot of horses. On the Navajo Nation they number in the tens of thousands. Their plight is particularly bad during poor monsoon seasons because the stock ponds can go dry. The worst year in recent memory was 2018, when nearly 200 horses were found dead, mired in dried mud.
Better management practices have been implemented to address the over-population… allegedly. I know the idea of an organized “horse hunt” was discussed but that was considered inhumane and unsavory. Yet is the rounding up of foals and shipping mares to the slaughterhouse any better?
Of course, at the root of this problem is the insufficient access to water on tribal lands for every living creature, animal and human, but that’s the topic for another thread.
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