Let’s be realistic here and say it is quite unlikely that teeth are the culprit for a hrose being so thin that the localanimal control had to seize them. It doesn’t take much other than quality feed to keep a horse healthy, shiney and in relatively good weight. Quality of forage is everything and lets be honest with ourselves and look at the big picture: we know how Jill Burnell lives, we’ve seen the pictures of her previous house, we’ve seen how her dogs and horses are currently living.
It’s not exactly pretty and it’s not what we should be expecting from someone who paints a picture to the industry that she’s operating a stand-up breeding operation of top quality warmbloods. Because of the reputation she’s created for herself; it’s highly unlikely that she is doing “well” financially in her business and therefore it’s highly, highly unlikely that the horses are recieving the quality feed and care they should be recieving. Actually; we already have proof of that with the condition of the horses who were siezed.
We already know there is no buildings on the property and therfore there is no dry storage for grain or hay. This leads me to the conclusion that it’s going to require a LOT of work just to physically bring feed to the horses in the amount and quality that they require to stay in good condition. Because of this excessive amount of work; this leads me to believe that the horses are not recieving adequate care and feed to maintain body condition.
I’m not one to jump to conclusions but I can see her trucking in the cheapest hay/round bales she can find and setting them in paddocks to rot and get rained on for weeks until it’s been “consumed”. We all know that horses are not cattle; they are finicky about hay quality and they will not maintain body condition on rotten, straw-like, or rain-soaked hay that’s been sitting outside in a feeder for weeks. Horses, especially warmbloods (in my experience) would much rather not eat than attempt to consume less than stellar quality forage with zero nutritional quality at all.
In addition, forage hay is only as nutritional as the soil it is in grown in. If a soil is not regularly maintained; the forage is going to lack the nutrients in the soil. In our part of the country;the soil is severely lacking selenium which is one major nutrient missing in the hay (which must be supplimented for elsewhere). Hay, especially low quality or mediocre quality (we all can see that Jill is not spending the money to buy quality stuff), is not a sufficent source of nutrients for a horse, especially a warmblood, to sustain off of. A grain is a necessity to make up for what is lacking and adds the necessary energies needed to sustain body condition for a horse of that size. This is much more than a “teeth” issue.
There has been many personal complaints from buyers, visitors to her farm, etc about the care her animals recieve. One look at the pictures of her house/lab/etc is a major clue into how Jill operates; there is no emotional attachments to her broodmares or stallions. They are machines for her to make major income off of inflated prices for foals and offspring because of other’s success in the showring with her stallions’ offpspring. It’s like a puppy mill for top quality show horses (thats the only comparison I have right now).
She does not care about her lab cleanliness or the fact that she put many, many mares at risk for infections and disease; the only thing she cared about was the fact that she was able to collect the product; process it with little investment and care, and collect the huge stud fee to profit from. If she actually cared about the customer and their mare; we all know her lab and the conditions of her stallions would not be in the condition notedmy photographs.
Same goes for the foals: personal accounts from buyers who have recieved foals/horses in poor health, extremely lacking nutrients and quality care, became sick upon arrival- these accounts from buyers are numerous (some have been posted here). In all reality; do you think, judging by everything we know right now) that she really cares about the broodmares she has or the foals they produce every year? Like I noted above; lets look at how puppy mill’s operate and look at how many comparisons we have here. The only thing she cares about is keeping it alive until she can collect an astronimical sales price for it and move it along. Then she profits from the success that the new owner’s have after all of the work they put into the animal to get it on the right track and into the show ring.
Jill Burnell has NOT become well-known and developed a profitable (but shady) business because she, herself, grew the foals, trained them, conditioned them, and showed them at the shows. She profited from everyone else’s success with foals by her stallions and she did this through stealing professional pictures and illegally posting them all over her websites for her own profits (and not removing them when requested multiple times).
The entire scenario is really sad and when I see how her business is currently being operated (photographic evidence) I can’t help but shake my head in absolute dispicable shame. My heart aches for those horses because in all honesty; she does not care, and she fails to realize and care about the type of quality animals living under her care. The photo of the dogs makes me cringe with anger. Why wern’t the dogs removed from the property?
It’s sad stuff but everyone, including Marin Humane needs to, hopefully, get their ducks in a row and be ready to state their case. Going over the details, even as much as the nutritional stuff I went over above, is a necessity. Non-animal folks really don’t have the knowledge for that type of information and what it takes in care to maintain proper, acceptable body condition and this is why; when in a court of law for these cases; all of the bases need to be covered to educate and strain the importance of quality care. Horses don’t need to live in a million dollar barn with 20 grooms, daily baths, and 50.00 bales of hay to recieve quality care; that’s not the point; at all.
Any person owning horses should have the above knowledge to properly care for the animals you own; this isn’t rocket science: it’s the basic guidelines for caring for livestock. If you can’t follow those details; then you shouldn’t own animals: you’re not caring for them the way that’s necessary for them to LIVE. That is the bottom line.
