12/18 and of the remaining 6 with in state owners, 5 were from other parts of the state. Even the “local” owner was over an hour away. Her farm is not particularly close to a whole lot.
3 Likes
@Railbird, how are all the horses doing? I know it has not been very long, but wondering if things are starting to look up for them.
2 Likes
I think most of them are really picking up quickly just being fed. That is happy and sad both, happy that they are recovering so well but sad that all that it took for major improvements was just feeding them. Most of them will have some form of long term damage that needs to be managed or monitored, but it’s impossible to sort out what’s going to stay around once their bodies can operate normally with being fed adequate calories and what is just damage from the horses essentially digesting themselves for as long as they have been. It seems that when their bodies are breaking down muscle and other tissues for survival, it throws the whole system pretty out of whack and you have to just refeed them slowly and wait and see how much of it gets better. Poofy’s blood work was pretty normal as far as major organ function, thankfully.
14 Likes
Article this morning about prior animal control calls
15 Likes
It’s infuriating that the animal control people are claiming they never received any complaints prior to this year.
15 Likes
It’s also infuriating that animal control looked at the horses there, and conflated “old” with “skinny”. THAT. IS. NOT. NORMAL!!! It’s such a stupid mindset that needs to be eliminated in animal control officers.
23 Likes
I would wish that AC that sees a skinny horse(s), in a pasture, at a farm with other plump horses, asks what is up with the skinny(s), what’s been done, document and then stop by in a couple weeks to monitor.
A horse starving to death for whatever reason, including because its old, isn’t humane. Ever.
15 Likes
Yes - and not only one random skinny, retired horse - but a whole pasture full of them! 
8 Likes
Exactly.
2 Likes
I believe @APirateLooksAtForty was commenting on the tangent discussion about euthanizing a horse that you could no longer afford to retire, not the discussion of these owners. @APirateLooksAtForty can correct me if I’m wrong here.
2 Likes
Very well stated. Blaming these owners is like a blaming a botched surgery on the patient by telling them “You should have choses a better surgeon, it’s on you in the end.”
It’s called VICTIM BLAMING and it needs to stop.
If someone is representing themselves as a competent professional, the blame ALWAYS lies with them when they don’t perform to standard.
15 Likes
As an aside to this. Stop assuming cheaper means shit care. I work for ACC and have had cases of people paying $$$ boarding rates in South Florida and have their horses end up in the same situation. Stop blaming the owners who paid for a service they didn’t receive!
15 Likes
