Okay to post this here? 48 Saddlebreds in Carlton, Oregon, seized. Owner was offered help, took some help, refused the rest (she actually refused water for her horses, unbelievable). So the County moved in and did the necessary. I understand the woman’s daughter is a very high profile Saddlebred trainer also in Oregon. Supposedly the horses are now all under the supervision of the well known equine rescue organization in Portland. Reported on Portland area TV stations a month ago. Supposedly the owner was due to be charged with felony animal neglect however, I have my doubts. Oregon is the bottom of the heap when it comes to appropriately prosecuting horse (and dog!) abuse and neglect.
I always wonder what is going on in these people’s heads? If you aren’t going to feed them, then don’t have them. If you are struggling, then take the help. Or put them down or give them away. But why keep them and basically torture them? I hope they throw the book at this person.
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I looked this up. The woman was 85. She had been on Animal Control’s radar but they didn’t move in until her water utilities were cut off for nonpayment of bills. Sounds like a slow motion train wreck. Sometimes a situation can teeter along for quite a while before something tips it over into calamity. She has been charged with criminal offenses.
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Sounds like a lot of issues, not the least of which is hoarding. I’d guess there are some mental health issues at play.
The neighboring slumlord rents his pasture to a guy who has two horses there. One an older mid-20s Morgan and the other a McCurdy or TWH of unknown age. For three years I watched, let them run out of water, waited a day or two (sucked) before calling ACO, taking pics, and refilling. He repeatedly stated to ACO that he had just been there, that they must have just run out (my pics show them fighting over the hose in the bottom of the trough, which had teeth gouges, so um no), and that “people” need to mind their own business. I never asked to be anonymous and didn’t care if he knew I was calling. He FINALLY installed an auto waterer, but it kept getting turned off and yep, same cycle with me letting them run out, waiting to give him a chance, then photographing, calling ACO, and refilling. He told her I was trespassing and turning the water off on purpose, I told her to tell him to give me his damn number and I’ll tell HIM when they are out instead of ACO. I finally snapped a pic of one of the horses scratching his head on the spigot, turning it off, and texted it to him as a giant “eff you buddy.” No response.
Two weeks ago, the older horse is a solid 1.5 or 2. I took a pic and sent it to HIM, and not ACO. He responded that the horse looked “fine” and was old so it was “fine.” So yeah, I tattled. Now ACO has hammered him into a vet appt and must follow vet orders on the horse. It isn’t hard bud, throw some freakin hay. I’m refraining from posting the skinny pic but here’s the head scratching, which is kinda cute if you ask me - but no I can’t wait for the hedge I just planted to obscure this place.
Oops this was a small rant, sorry
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I agree, there are generally mental health issues in these cases, and this makes it even more difficult to deal with. The worst situations are often late winter or early spring.
When I was a kid the big neglect seizures tended to be things like off season dude strings turned out on fields. These days it is more likely to be someone with mental and possibly physical health issues.
We had a seizure up country where it turned out an old guy living alone had had a stroke.
One of the problems of course is that if you wanted to rehome 45 out of work horses before you got into trouble, no one would want them but the slaughter house. Once they are seized they become celebrities and everyone wants to foster adopt donate. People will pay $800 adoption fees for a crippled pasture pet from a rescue but would not buy that same horse for $500 out of a field 6 months earlier.
Of course hoarding is a real thing, and insidious. So the horses likely wouldn’t be for sale.
I agree, in my job and convo with city and county ACOs, plus having been on the board of a non-profit farm animal group, most of these are elderly or physical impairments, mental health, and financial hardship plus a dash of stubbornness or noseblindness, if you will. They don’t see the horse/cow/llama getting thin because they see it daily.
In the city recently, elderly lady for some reason stopped feeding her dobie dogfood, and would give it (as an example) some chickie nuggies and a glob of jello for food. Yes really. Dog weighed 35ish pounds when a passerby turned her in. Unknown mental issues but she was physically impaired enough that she had a caregiver who also saw what was happening and did nothing. Or the lady who was either paralyzed or a double amputee had 8 parrots from macaw to ringneck in size, never cleaned their cages obviously because she scooted around on the floor using her hands. Her roommate had been complaining about the smell and flies for months to property management, who did nothing because COVID. In the County, obviously it’s more farm animals being neglected like in the case of my neighbor. We did have several years ago a legit crazy lady who was hoarding 30+ QHs all interbreeding and running feral, she was definitely someone who had or needed a diagnoses because (for example) she also got a wild hair and used her truck to ram the power utility box for several residences but was located on her property off its cement pad for no reason that was given, but said she could do it because it was on her property. All her neighbors had restraining orders against her.
In this case, I wonder if the daughter was dumping the unsound horses on her mother? Or was mother saying “no no don’t euth, I’ll take?” Who knows. Mother/daughter relationships can be treacherous enough, but at 85 and not being able to pay her bills (or refusing) tells a story by itself.
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It’s been happening in the Morgan world, too. There have been several large-scale neglect cases in the past few years, some from breeding programs that were well-respected back in the day. Almost always there’s an owner who is elderly and not in great shape mentally or physically, or the elderly owner has died and the heirs have not been taking care of the horses. If things have gone on long enough and the owner hasn’t been registering their horses, they may not DNA to registered horses and hence be grade. It’s incredibly sad.
I feel sorry for anyone that has mental or health issues. But if someone is coming to you and saying that things aren’t right, then that’s a pretty big clue. It’s just sad all around but worse for the animals. @scribbler - I agree about the $$ thing.
UPDATE. (Reported on NW Horse Report dot com and they don’t do advertising so mods please allow this, okay?). The saddlebred owner defaulted and ASHA and the authorities are now trying to rehome the horses. Heartbreaking that some of these mares are 90’s vintage. I am personally intolerant of the claim of “mental illness” as the “excuse” for starving and neglecting animals. I frankly do not care that the insurance guides classify hoarding as a mental illness. I frankly do not give a rat’s patoot that everyone feels “sorry” for this evil old woman who did this. Nope. You can flame me if you want but I’ve seen too much of this in my decades in the equestrian community including rescue activism in another state. These people know exactly what they are doing. EXACTLY. At least this particular hoarder/abuser has by default allowed the horses to be surrendered to the authorities and hopefully thence to an upgraded life. The issue of the horses who died was not addressed by felony charges and that is as usual the typical failure of the so-called “appointed Special Prosecutor for Animal Cruelty” who ALSO failed to appropriately prosecute the Creswell, Oregon matter. You can check the KEZI.com (local tv) website for the whole ugly mess. Bottom line? Oregon may just possibly be THE WORST at appropriately handling these problems. There may be laws on the books. Those laws are simply not enforced. Period.
Mental illness, senility, Alzheimer’s, strokes, happen to many people and many elderly people become unable to care for themselves and need to be put in care. If they have animals the animals suffer. The onus really is on the family and community to step in before animals die. On the other hand, if the daughter is in another part of the country, mother is deteriorating but not being honest or is delusional or hostile and angry (as some aging folks are) then it may take a while to see the truth.
I’m not saying having dementia makes it “okay” to starve your pet or livestock. It does mean we need to be more proactive in keeping tabs on aging folks in our orbit. I can’t see the point of criminal charges agsinst an 85 year old woman who has lost the plot. I do hope she is kept from being a primary caregiver to livestock.
When I was a kid, most starvation cases were dude string or hunting guides who put their horses on winter fields and one winter, things went sideways. That’s a calculated cost saving measure needed to keep the operation proftable. These days, starvation cases are much more likely to be mental illness or dementia or other issues.
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