Horse sent to Mill Creek farm Retirement not doing well!

[fivehorses]

[QUOTE=Lynnwood;7211566]
I can tell you that the whole ordeal is so trying for me.

All I want is for a horse that I literally grew up with I was 14 when we bought him. To be given the best care possible or a dignified end.

When I found out he was abandoned by someone we trusted I felt like we(my family failed) the glimmer was that it appeared that Judy had a found a good place for him and if he wasn’t returned to us it was the best case scenario.

Getting Judy’s phone call last weekend and then opening up the emailed photo’s made me physically sick.

I can’t bring to words how this all leaves me feeling. Despondent and helpless might come close.[/QUOTE]

This is the time to take action. Its human nature to just want to feel helpless, but think of Max.

Take some action. Hire a lawyer. Call the tv stations.

If you need financial help with the lawyer, tell us.

If you need help with contacting the tv, radio, hsus, etc, let us know…someone will help you. Already uphill and lauraky and maybe others have offered to help and have done some things.

Seize the moment…you can crumble up later.

[Frizzle]

Well, now I see why the email that I wrote to the South Florida SPCA about this case wasn’t answered: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151988939184258&set=a.75185259257.101438.73461569257&type=1&theater
:no:

[Lynnwood]

Ok Whoosa deep breath.

Nashfad; some media has already been contacted. Getting anyone to run a story when they contact the Deptuty and the Vet and they both say the horse has only lost 50lbs and is a body score of 3 is an up hill battle at this point. Mr. Gregory as LauraKy stated is a big fan of saying the horse came to them “neurotic” and stem full of issues. He’s half right he did come with issues ones he was made aware of and has neglected to provide for. Instead he things tossing him in a field and letting time “heal” him is the answer. As some posters have already chimed in the place has a good reputation. They take in A LOT of horses. Since most of them are from out of state or abandoned I doubt very much anyone ever check up on the horses and frankly looking at the place you would assume they are well cared for.

D BaldStockings. I don’t know why you assume his vet learned he was going to /sent to Mill Creek in advance of it happening. Our conversation was very much “Did you know XYZ has happened with Max”. I never questioned that he’d was aware the horse was abandoned unless he was out at the barn to see the horse during that time frame or it was brought to him in conversation. They told him Max was no longer there and why and where he went.

As per my feelings on the subject of the horse being sent there. I did not find out any of this until AFTER he’d been sent there and had been a resident for about 3 weeks. I was not pleased after my initial contact with Mr. Gregory but keeping tabs on the horse and seeing how things unfolded was the best I could do. I had NO idea that if the horse didn’t thrive there …the Gregory’s would be so opposed to returning the horse or rebuking offers of help.

They have as of late 135 plus or minus horses. Who helps them as far as I can tell are a bunch of volunteers that like to feed horsies carrots.

A lawyer has been contacted. The BO is the only one who can file any legal recourse or injuction and even it most likely will not have recourse. She followed legal precedence in acquiring the horse via boarders lien. She also signed away her ownership rights when she sent him to Mill Creek. They have no obligation to her legally and she has no legal ties to the horse. Nor do I as much as I wish I did.

Nobody is crumbling other then a general feeling of helplessness. Nobody was more shocked then I that when the authorities were contacted they would claim the horse was not that thin or not being cared for properly.

[js]

I don’t get the premise behind the retirement farm never allowing a horse to leave there. I don’t see how two 80 yr olds can run it, physically (even with volunteers) or financially and why they would want to keep every single horse that comes there unless it is financially beneficial to, i.e. they are getting some kind of state funding? That is a boat load of work to maintain all that acreage, even in FL, heck DH and I find keeping up with our 4 horses on 10 acres a boat load of work. I saw on their web site that they depend on an equine dentist from way up North to come down annually with students to do the horses teeth? No equine dentists in FL that would willing volunteer time? Do they get state funding for running this place, I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t be managing just on donations. What would happen to the horses should they no longer be able to continue? I’m sure the place is what it says but it all seems a bit too good to be true?

[Lynnwood]

[QUOTE=js;7213969]
I don’t get the premise behind the retirement farm never allowing a horse to leave there. I don’t see how two 80 yr olds can run it, physically (even with volunteers) or financially and why they would want to keep every single horse that comes there unless it is financially beneficial to, i.e. they are getting some kind of state funding? That is a boat load of work to maintain all that acreage, even in FL, heck DH and I find keeping up with our 4 horses on 10 acres a boat load of work. I saw on their web site that they depend on an equine dentist from way up North to come down annually with students to do the horses teeth? No equine dentists in FL that would willing volunteer time? Do they get state funding for running this place, I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t be managing just on donations. What would happen to the horses should they no longer be able to continue? I’m sure the place is what it says but it all seems a bit too good to be true?[/QUOTE]

It is all just hearsay but based on what interactions I’ve had I believe it. I have been told they have run through almost every large animal vet in Alachua because they don’t pay their bills and more so do not follow veterinary advice. They very much so will ask volunteers to not come any longer if they do not drink their koolaide and ask to many questions or disagree with their choices.

As for where the money comes from the Deputy told me they were former millionares who have sunk their savings etc into the place. I don’t know about state funding.

They have the advantage of being a group that takes old and often unwanted animals. Attempting to prove a horse suffered because of bad care vs old age without the a case from the authorities is impossible. Old horses die…its a good cover.

I have no idea about their funding other then the statement at the bottom of their webpage
Retirement Home For Horses, Inc. is a Not-For-Profit Florida Corporation determined by the IRS to be an organization described in section 501 © (3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Federal Identification Number 59-2995523.

[Whoanellie]

According to their 990 filing for 2011 via Guidestar, Retirement Home for Horses, Inc. has a vet listed as a Vice President.

Guidestar: http://www.guidestar.org

[uphill]

check out SPCA facebook page NOW!! and look for pictures of Max!!

[LauraKY]

I don’t see any photos of Max. Where are they?

As an aside, the vet who is a member of the BOD is Ted Yoho, you know, Congressman Yoho?

[Lynnwood]

Laura its under their announcement that they recently sent two horses to Mill Creek.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151988939184258&set=a.75185259257.101438.73461569257&type=1&theater

This is a list of their board of directors as far as I know Yoho gave up practicing vet med when he got involved in politics.

http://www.millcreekfarm.org/board.htm

[trubandloki]

Politicians like good will press. Maybe contact him and see if can turn this into a good will press moment for him and this place.

Let him have the line about ‘oh my, we did not understand fully that the previous owner was not given notice and had a buy back clause - see how great we are for letting her take her old horse back to retire there’.

[Lori_B]

Would polite thoughtful letters to each of the board members be of assistance? I would be intending to firmly ask that they investigate this situation and not simply accept the word of the couple that runs the farm. I would include the before and after photos, and note that any resulting bad publicity would redound not just to the organization, but to them as board members as well, and that I would share their failure to act with any social media, and that while I am a sensible grownup, I can’t guarantee that people concerned with equine welfare in other parts of the social media universe are nearly as sensible.

I would cheerfully be a polite a$$hole on your horse’s behalf.

[sdlbredfan]

[QUOTE=Frizzle;7213792]
Well, now I see why the email that I wrote to the South Florida SPCA about this case wasn’t answered: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151988939184258&set=a.75185259257.101438.73461569257&type=1&theater
:no:[/QUOTE]
Exactly, talk about not an arm’s length arrangement, ‘HAPPY TRAILS to our Old Gray Mare and Rhoda, officially retired today at Mill Creek Farm in Alachua! Huge thanks to our friends Peter & Mary Gregory for giving them sanctuary. Visit http://millcreekfarm.org/ to learn more about their special place.’

I just posted this as a comment on the page above. I doubt it will stay there long, but for the sake of posterity here is what I posted:
80+ year old owners, more than 130 horses on premises = inadequate ability to take care of the animals. Just look at how quickly Max lost weight. (See pictures posted below.) This horse was sent to Mill Creek with special medically necessary supplements and instructions for his care. He is getting neither. He is not going downhill as a ‘natural result of aging’ [edit] the ‘friends Peter & Mary Gregory’ who refuse to do what is in the best interests of the actual horse in question. How the South Florida SPCA - Dedicated to Horse & Animal Rescue can actually believe these people are capable of caring for horses in their care is beyond me. It is good though that the organization posted pictures of Old Gray Mare and Rhoda, as ‘before’ pictures. It would not surprise me, if after a few months, they look as emaciated as Max.

[Posting_Trot]

[QUOTE=Lynnwood;7213989]
It is all just hearsay but based on what interactions I’ve had I believe it. I have been told they have run through almost every large animal vet in Alachua because they don’t pay their bills and more so do not follow veterinary advice. They very much so will ask volunteers to not come any longer if they do not drink their koolaide and ask to many questions or disagree with their choices.

As for where the money comes from the Deputy told me they were former millionares who have sunk their savings etc into the place. I don’t know about state funding.

They have the advantage of being a group that takes old and often unwanted animals. Attempting to prove a horse suffered because of bad care vs old age without the a case from the authorities is impossible. Old horses die…its a good cover.

I have no idea about their funding other then the statement at the bottom of their webpage
Retirement Home For Horses, Inc. is a Not-For-Profit Florida Corporation determined by the IRS to be an organization described in section 501 © (3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Federal Identification Number 59-2995523.[/QUOTE]

So this is the first bit of information that makes me think that the owners actually are hoarders.

I do actually get how it might be important to some people who have really rescued a horse that is in a bad way, that they don’t want to see the facility turn around and allow someone else to adopt the horse because of the possibility that the horse will just end up in another bad situation.

But, if the person who brought the horse to the farm wants to take the horse out because an old owner was found who is willing to take responsibility for the horse (as in this case), it makes no sense to me that they won’t relinquish the horse.

[Lynnwood]

I just wanted to give a truly heartfelt Thank you to those who have stepped up to help with this unfortunate circumstance.

[CVPeg]

Here’s what I’ve added to the SPCA’s FB page, in case it gets deleted…

Evidently Mill Creek has been approached by Max’s original owners, who were not aware he had been sent to Mill Creek. Mill Creek refuses to relinquish him, although they have not kept to the protocol needed by his conditions, which would otherwise have him in fine condition for his age. It’s obvious that their accommodations are not best for every horse, but they should be willing to release a horse that is deteriorating, rather than stubbornly insist, due to his age, that he is merely dying. Max had dozens of former students in his years as a school/show horse. And dozens of horsemen on The Chronicle Forums, are following this story. It would behoove the farm to release him to those who are concerned, so that adequate care could be provided to him. Perhaps this retirement farm is a good end for many horses who are easy to maintain, but this does not seem to be the case here.

Edited as I messed up in the first posting, but have fixed it.

[LauraKY]

Hold the torches people, the SPCA seems to be working on the issue. There are others involved as well.

[CVPeg]

[QUOTE=LauraKY;7214685]
Hold the torches people, the SPCA seems to be working on the issue. There are others involved as well.[/QUOTE]

Good news!

[Lynnwood]

Well the SPCA has taken down their FB posting about their horses going to Mill Creek. Including the postings about Max.

[CVPeg]

Yes, just saw that.

[FalseImpression]

maybe their eyes are now open and they are investigating… it would be difficult to ignore the postings after the patting on the back… did anyone take a screen picture of the posts on FB?