Castleton Ranch - CA - Legit?

[oldernewbie]

A few of us here in Ohio got a mass mailing from Castleton Ranch horse rescue in CA. It came with a 4 page letter in a faux handwriting font and a Priority Mail envelope in which to send the donation back.

The gist of the letter is that they took in 82 horses when they didn’t have the money on hand to take care of them. It’s an emergency. Tell us what you would have done but send money.

Someone spent a lot of money and time getting this solicitation together.

Thoughts?

(and no, I haven’t sent a donation yet)

[Sarabeth]

Yes, I got one of those, too - it came in the mail yesterday. I round-filed it while wondering who gave them my name and address - Coth? The Horse?

[Whoanellie]

Check them out via Guidestar (Their 990’s are an eye popper for me): http://www.guidestar.org/

Guidestar is helpful when trying to determine whether or not to donate to a rescue, etc.

Looks like they use Direct Mail Marketing.

[Sithly]

I got one of those, too. I plan to take full advantage of the priority mail envelope to tell them exactly where to stick it. Taking in 82 horses you can’t afford is just brutally stupid. And how much did they spend mass mailing priority mail envelopes to half the horsepeople in the country? How much hay would that have bought?

On top of all that, they can’t do math (which might explain their financial problems). In the letter, they claim $27 will feed a horse for five days; however, in the insert, the same five days’ worth of hay is $36.

Dear Horse Lover,

I don’t know how to say this except to blurt it out – Our feedbags are nearly empty, but we went ahead and rescued 82 horses!

We either rescued them, or they would have been slaughtered.

Not a fan of these melodramatic pleas to pathos, especially when backed by a complete lack of logical decision making.

Two thumbs down.

ETA: I finally registered for Guidestar so I could check their 990s – whoa! Definitely NOT the type of rescue I’d want to support. According to page 10, they spend almost three times on “postage and shipping” as they spend on “feed and supplies.”

[frugalannie]

They’re at it again

I just got the exact same letter, to the word, with priority return mail envelope.

How ARE they getting our addresses?

I wonder how many positive responses they get. I hope next to none!

[ShotenStar]

@frugalannie;6268602

How ARE they getting our addresses?

They can get your address from any retail seller who sends you a catalog / from whom you purchased something that was shipped to you; from your credit card companies, who can filter your purchase history and determine you buy lots of horse stuff; from your magazine subscriptions; from a basic geo / ZIP Code search for addresses in a specific area, etc, etc, etc.

Whenever some new mailing shows up at our house, we have a game of ‘where did they get the address’. Because of the way some of our accounts are addressed, it is fairly easy to tell which ones came from certain magazines, which ones came from the credit cards, etc. Every now and then a really random one shows up, which causes some head scratching.

If you want a nice synopsis of how companies gather and use data, I recommend:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/magazine/shopping-habits.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss&src=ig

It also shows why USDF / EF show be doing more statistical analysis and why a rider’s release of the aids is a reward for the horse.

star

[Airfern]

One of their locations is not far from me, and I never heard of it.

The Lancaster ranch is currently undergoing a makeover. We wish to replace the existing pipe corrals with larger wooden ones which will create a safer and more tranquil setting for the horses.

How is wood safer than pipe corrals? Or more tranquil for the horse??
The sponsor horse…Brook, can never be ridden again due to a bowed tendon? Really?

[casper324]

Horse rescues

I didn’t get the mailing but if I did it would have been tossed. There is so much fraud going on with animal rescue you really have to be careful where you send your dollars too. In NJ we’ve had a few rescues get caught with their hands in the donation jar. The most recent

http://www.nj.com/hunterdon-county-democrat/index.ssf/2012/03/consumer_affairs_cites_trustee.html\

They are only charged with sloppy accounting for now, I wonder how deep officials will dig. This rescue always found “herds” of horses that needed help.

[ReSomething]

They sent you a pre-paid priority mail envelope to mail your donation back? If they did that’s lunacy.

I have family near Lancaster, maybe the operational is larger wooden as opposed to small pipe, but pipe is the better alternative down there, wood just can’t take it and be as cost effective.

So far I’ve been blessed here in KY not to get one, Dover has me on their list and a couple of local groups, I do the name game as well, to track whose mailing list things came from, this could be interesting.

[nashfad]

rescue

Gee, I did not get one.

[reefy]

At least a year ago

I got the same letter. Went in the shredder.

I found some old info here on COTH about this ‘rescue’. I wouldn’t have sent them money anyway because, like you, I thought who the heck rescues 82 horses when you know you can’t afford them?

[Kwill]

I realize I am reviving this thread, but I found this EXACT mailing at my elderly mother’s yesterday, it came this month to her house. They are still using the same story and mailing! I explained to her why the entire thing was bogus. They still have a quote from Paul McCartney condemning horse slaughter in the US on the front.

I couldn’t believe how much that mailing must have cost … and yes, “Lisa” I think “saving” 82 horses when you can’t feed them is not only stupid, but just as abusive as the situation they came from.

[edit]

[happynow]

[QUOTE=Kwill;8076138]
I realize I am reviving this thread, but I found this EXACT mailing at my elderly mother’s yesterday, it came this month to her house. They are still using the same story and mailing! I explained to her why the entire thing was bogus. They still have a quote from Paul McCartney condemning horse slaughter in the US on the front.

I couldn’t believe how much that mailing must have cost … and yes, “Lisa” I think “saving” 82 horses when you can’t feed them is not only stupid, but just as abusive as the situation they came from.

[edit][/QUOTE]

[edit]We would not normally reply to such rubbish but since this is not the first time you have spoken like this it appears you are setting out to undermine a highly regarded organization and deliberately trying to harm our good standing. All you are achieving is to make yourself look very stupid.

[JustTheTicket]

[QUOTE=happynow;8125576]
[edit]We would not normally reply to such rubbish but since this is not the first time you have spoken like this it appears you are setting out to undermine a highly regarded organization and deliberately trying to harm our good standing. All you are achieving is to make yourself look very stupid.[/QUOTE]

:lol:

[Alagirl]

Time for popcorn already?

[Dispatcher]

Hmmm. After 3 years this “rescue” is still trying to beg money for the 82 horses they took in?

Maybe happynow can fill us in…

[Kwill]

Edited to use the reply I wrote below.

[Kwill]

Happynow, please tell us all about your rescue so I can stand corrected. I would love to see photos of adoptable horses, pictures of your ranch, and any evidence that money you receive is supporting the 82+ horses you have had at your place since 2008, when, as you correctly point out, I first posted about this.

I have no idea if you have a good reputation, since no one has ever heard of you other than through direct mail marketing.

It appears you are setting out to undermine a highly regarded organization and deliberately trying to harm our good standing. All you are achieving is to make yourself look very stupid.

Seriously?! I am “setting out” to do nothing of the kind. My mother received your mailing and I told her given what you had written in your brochure, I would advise her not to support an organization that took in horses they could not feed – by your own admission!

Thanks much for calling me stupid. Stay classy, Lisa.

[Alagirl]

The thread is actually 4 years old…:eek:

[Kwill]

She called me stupid today, actually.