Sorry I haven’t posted sooner, I am not online much. I have absolutely no problem a farm visit, would welcome it. Our vet is Piedmont Equine and my SO is a farrier. I work full time all over NOVA and I can not pick her up much before Saturday. I am not comfortable shipping an elderly, possibly wobbley mare in the dark. I get home from work about 6:30 at night so if someone wants to pick her up earlier and drop her that would be fine. Unfortunately my SO will not pay the owners a dime, doesn’t want to " reward " a crappy owner. No matter how the situation came to be. I will not be able to get online until later this afternoon. But for the next hour I can monitor the thread. We have a soft spot for the older guys, we have room, food and lots of experience with these special guys. I am not afraid to make the right choices for them. It is about quality of life, and every horse deserves it.
Sorry I haven’t posted sooner, I am not online much. I have absolutely no problem a farm visit, would welcome it. Our vet is Piedmont Equine and my SO is a farrier. I work full time all over NOVA and I can not pick her up much before Saturday. I am not comfortable shipping an elderly, possibly wobbley mare in the dark. I get home from work about 6:30 at night so if someone wants to pick her up earlier and drop her that would be fine. Unfortunately my SO will not pay the owners a dime, doesn’t want to " reward " a crappy owner. No matter how the situation came to be. I will not be able to get online until later this afternoon. But for the next hour I can monitor the thread. We have a soft spot for the older guys, we have room, food and lots of experience with these special guys. I am not afraid to make the right choices for them. It is about quality of life, and every horse deserves it.[/QUOTE]
Excellent! You rock B&G! I am really hoping we can get this mare safely to you.
Carol - I’m in Fauquier County and will be happy to lend another set of hands to help in transporting. I am available pretty much anytime during the day (except for Thursdays). I can meet you at the owner’s farm to help load and accompany you to B&G’s place for unloading, and whatever help is needed. Just let me know via PM if you need/want my assistance. Thanks!
Also my offer of trailering stands if the other one can’t make it work. My trailer is in Nokesville just off 28. Just need to know where and when to go pick her up and where to take her. Can take off work to get her. No charge. Do need help with loading etc. Not comfortable loading a horse I don’t know anything about alone.
Carol, can you get in touch with C&C and then with BNG about hauling? And then of course the owner.
BNG and Carol, do you have a paypal account where we can all send our $$ once details are finalized? BNG, I assume that if we send $ your SO is not going to object about how it’s used, even if that means paying the owners something?
I am no fan of paying anyone $ that rewards their greed or ignorance, but I’m against any animal suffering because of their owner’s inhumanity. I think we can all agree they don’t really deserve the money they are asking, but if that’s the thing standing in the way of the old mare’s situation improving, then I have to let go of my frustration with how people behave, and do what I think is the right thing for her.
*Looks like everyone is moving fast - TERRIFIC! I’ll keep checking in for details/progress.
Just wanted to add, that we are not a rescue…do not associate with any and want no part of any. The mare is close by and it just pulls at my heart string. I am sitting on too much land and unused stalls. It just smacked me that there is a horse in need not to far from me. And here I sit with too much. I have been careful not to over extend, but we went in the other direction.
[QUOTE=kimball56;6189869]
Also my offer of trailering stands if the other one can’t make it work. My trailer is in Nokesville just off 28. Just need to know where and when to go pick her up and where to take her. Can take off work to get her. No charge. Do need help with loading etc. Not comfortable loading a horse I don’t know anything about alone.[/QUOTE]
My offer of assistance extends to you too. Pretty much any day this week other than Thursday. However, if Thursday turns out to be the only day that’s good, I can switch my schedule around to be there.
My SO will move heaven and earth for any horse in need. But to hand cash over to someone that won’t do the right thing he wants no part of. He will GLADLY pay our vet to go over with the shots and put the horse down, even drag over the excavator over to bury. That is the situation. So I am not sure where everything stands, but I am here with open doors.
My SO will move heaven and earth for any horse in need. But to hand cash over to someone that won’t do the right thing he wants no part of. He will GLADLY pay our vet to go over with the shots and put the horse down, even drag over the excavator over to bury. That is the situation. So I am not sure where everything stands, but I am here with open doors.
No one knows that, you or I. You speculate one way and I speculate the other way.
[QUOTE=bayou_bengal;6189641]
Get a clue- there are many, many, many people who, through NO FAULT OF THER OWN, are hanging on by a thread, especially people with older family menbers or children to care for in these hard times. [/QUOTE]
I do have a clue, I have a personal friend that has 5 children, husband the sole breadwinner (advertising) lose their home and farm. Everyone I know is struggling, though they were the worst case I saw. I have a small house and offered to take all 7 of them in, but they found a rental.
[QUOTE=bayou_bengal;6189641]
These people have reached out to try to do something about the horse. Maybe they don’t think she is struggling enough that she needs to die, or maybe they really mean they are struggling. [/QUOTE]
I don’t see as reaching out. They know and we know the horse isn’t worth a dime. We all though are willing to pay to get her out and into a better situation or euthanized.
[QUOTE=bayou_bengal;6189641]
And really maybe she is an old horse who has been remarkably healthy and lucky. So, she may have some arthritis- I have arthritis- would you suggest I be “euthanized” because my quality of life isn’t what it was before the symptoms started getting worse? Maybe this horse just needs some help and suppliments —suppliments her current owners can’t afford. [/QUOTE]
And what if she’s not? And what if she is? The fact is she is 35 years old. She will have issues. She has lived a long life and there would be NOTHING wrong with putting her down now, healthy or otherwise. You are a human being, no we wouldn’t put you down. To even compare is asinine. Good Lord, put you down, that was definately an apples to oranges comparison, did you really mean to even go there? We really don’t have that decision…to put you down.
[QUOTE=bayou_bengal;6189641]
Ya know, they could have just stopped going out to feed her and let her starve to death, but they haven’t done that. They put an ad on craigslist. If you don’t like the situation, just walk away. But don’t judge. You don’t know what is going on in these people’s lives. But you should thank your lucky stars every day that it’s someone else and not YOU in this situation. [/QUOTE]
Who knows, that might be what IS happening, again, you nor I know. You can’t judge either, only assume like the rest of us are. They put this out on CL, a public internet site, they opened themselves up to scrutiny for that choice.
And yes, it’s obvious that I can choose to walk away I can, but I’m not. I am offering money to help either the horse find a home or put her down, whichever is best.
I get what you are trying to say, but I don’t know these people, and right now with all else that is going on in my life I can only be concerned for my friends, my family and then myself. I do thank the good Lord that so far we are blessed. It’s a struggle but we are (so far, thank you God) making the ends meet.
All I know is what they put in this ad about this horse. The horse is innocent, and right now is my concern since they are looking to get rid of her. But my fear is, no one is going to pay a dime for this mare, and so they WILL stop feeding her, because she had no value to anyone else, not even the meat man, for 200 or even 100.00. Which is so sad to me. I feel that she should be given away so that she stands a chance, whether in a new home or a few nice meals and be put down.
I saw Bayou Bengal’s point. It’s nice to sit behind a computer and castigate someone for listing the horse on Craigslist, but the fact is that you have no idea whether the horse is starving or suffering from that ad.
It sounds to me like granddaughter is trying to find a home for grandmother’s horse and neither has any money. There is clearly hay on the premises. Euthing is expensive, and so is disposal. This may well be an elderly person without all of her faculties and very limited funds, and you have no way of knowing when the granddaughter stepped in or what her involvement is.
So let’s perhaps withold the judgements and the nasty emails to the sellers about kill buyers and the sniping about how they should “never own animals.”
If you want to go get the horse, go get the horse. But this person is under absolutely no obligation to give you the animal for free. And, I might add, they’re less likely to do so if you harass them about their decision to rehome the mare.
It’s sweet that some of you have offered to take her in or put up money to buy her. I hope everything goes as smoothly as possible and the mare winds up in a soft place.
[QUOTE=Trixie;6189985]
But this person is under absolutely no obligation to give you the animal for free. And, I might add, they’re less likely to do so if you harass them about their decision to rehome the mare.[/QUOTE]
And I would say that they absolutely have a MORAL obligation to do what’s right by the horse, which is NOT trying to squeeze money out of her when she has no market value whatsoever AND they are admittedly unable to care for her themselves while acknowledging that she is “struggl[ing].”
I am actually able to hold that view while still having some sympathy for the owners, who are clearly struggling themselves.
[QUOTE=Windsor1;6190015]
And I would say that they absolutely have a MORAL obligation to do what’s right by the horse, which is NOT trying to squeeze money out of her when she has no market value whatsoever AND they are admittedly unable to care for her themselves while acknowledging that she is “struggl[ing].”…[/QUOTE]
At least they didn’t haul her to an auction to squeeze those last few dollars out of her. Too many horses end up meeting that fate.
[QUOTE=Liberty;6190032]
At least they didn’t haul her to an auction to squeeze those last few dollars out of her. Too many horses end up meeting that fate.[/QUOTE]
…at least not yet, if they don’t get any money this way.
And I would say that they absolutely have a MORAL obligation to do what’s right by the horse, which is NOT trying to squeeze money out of her when she has no market value whatsoever AND they are admittedly unable to care for her themselves while acknowledging that she is “struggling.”
I don’t care how bad they are hurting financially, they should give her to us.
I agree that they’re under a moral obligation to do right by the animal, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they should give the animal to a bunch of people that are so willing to absolutely castigate them without full knowledge of the situation. Frankly, if I were the seller, I’d be steering well clear of y’all, even if I were willing to give the horse away. Perhaps she should look into a rescue.
I agree that it wasn’t the most flattering ad, but it may not be as bad as it sounds. And by all means, take up a collection and go get the horse. But I don’t see how it benefits anyone - certainly not the mare - for folks to jump to conclusions without seeing the situation.
[QUOTE=Trixie;6190086]
I agree that they’re under a moral obligation to do right by the animal, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they should give the animal to a bunch of people that are so willing to absolutely castigate them without full knowledge of the situation.[/QUOTE]
Honestly, I don’t know how much more information you need. They stated outright that she is “struggl[ing],” apparently enough that even they acknowledge that she is a possible euthanasia case, though they don’t “have the heart” to do it themselves. Nor do they have the time or money, by their own admission, to care for her. As far as the horse’s welfare goes, any extenuating circumstances, it seems to me, are irrelevant.
I agree that going after people like this with torches and pitchforks is usually counterproductive, but posters have warned others here not to upset or anger the owners, at least until the mare is safe, so I think that base has been covered.
I would venture to guess that most of us on here love our horses (animals) very much and consider them a member of our family. However, not everyone feels this way about their animals. The situation this horse is in could go several different ways. Our old trainer thought of his horses as his income and such, they were not his pets, he did things differently that i would have done them, these people might be like him. They might be struggling…the old lady could be eating canned cat food for dinner…we don’t know, and it really doesn’t matter. if they are asking for money, and someone here wants to take the horse, then give them the money they’re asking for. Name calling isn’t going to change the situation (in a good way) so just give 'em the $100 or whatever the price is, get the horse and move on. It’s really kind of simple if you ask me!
