Gosh, I’d didn’t think about how I might sound. I’m not on Facebook so I don’t have any idea what you might be seeing. I do have a big problem w the fact that she apparently took board money to fund her horse showing, and left those poor horses to starve. Shoot- elderly people share their Meals on Wheels w pets!
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No it’s fine! I think those thoughts and feelings are totally normal to have, you want Justice and some kind of contrition and that’s human nature! I’ve certainly said worse privately when venting- I also told poofy when he was pawing for a cookie the other day that if he keeps being rude I’m sending him back, and I don’t really mean that either! Where I’m struggling is you have people going on her FB wall and saying something like that directly to her and I just don’t think the harassment is cool. A couple people said they wanted to come to her hearing so they could go off on her, and I don’t think that’s really kind or likely to do anything except feed into any kind of narrative that the bullies are out to get her that would distract from the facts of the situation, ya know?
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Yep. And there are a lot of people all over the internet picking at the cheap board rate saying “well I couldn’t feed a horse for less than 600 a month, much less anything” which might be true for them and for certain show horses, but the bare minimum could have avoided this. Some mid range round bales wouldn’t have had them all looking like show horses in February in their old age, but no one is out there saying that’s the expectation. Feeding them in general is the expectation.
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Updated case info- Byrd has hired a really excellent defense attorney best known for working on prominent murder trials (of DC sniper fame, as well) and the case has been continued to 6/29-6/30 for trial.
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Bet she’s going to end up paying the lawyer more than it would have cost to, you know, feed the horses appropriate food and give them basic vet and farrier care.
I’m glad the horses are improving. It’s amazing how resilient animals can be.
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Maybe someone can send the attorney pictures of the horses anonymously. If she had to use that board money to support herself and horse showing, maybe she will be forced to sell her farm to pay said attorney.
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This attorney defended the DC snipers. Who killed 17 people, wounded 10 and created panic, anxiety and hysteria in the region for the better part of a year. Sadly I don’t think some photos of ribby horses are going to sway them from defending their client.
Amazing that she can afford a celeb defense attorney but couldn’t be bothered to feed these poor horses.
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Railbird, you’re a good, kind person.
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3 more charges filed today. I expect still more to come.
Lots of feelings about this all the time, today is just sad. I feel like I find out a new horrible skeleton in someone’s closet every day now that I am the face of the operation.
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Seconding this.
@Railbird, you’re doing so much good for these horses, and you are handling this whole thing with an incredible amount of grace and kindness.
I’m sorry today is rough. 
Maybe go give Poofy a hug and a cookie, if you can? Spending time with horses has a pretty magical way of chasing sadness away. Sending positive energy and thoughts your way!
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I know you are upset about the new discoveries, but those are their skeletons, they put them in the closet. It’s got to be discomfiting, but maybe it’s time those people aired out their skeletons and dealt with them.
You have done a wonderful thing helping those horses and their people. Don’t let the anger and whackadoodlery get you down.
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I should clarify, the Byrd case is horrible enough on its own, what is upsetting is that the more I get into it, the more I find out how NOT isolated of an incident this is. These horses lucked out in a number of ways.
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I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that she’s planning to give him a Little Debbie Oatmeal Cream Pie, a favorite snack of horses throughout the land. I know my own love them!
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That would be correct! Ideally produced from a gas station that has not had the floor or bathroom cleaned thoroughly since the Reagan administration, for peak horse show travel vibes.
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Thank y’all!
Now I want to go on a road trip. …
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Any updates on the progress of the horses rescued from this situation?
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Everyone has gained a significant amount of weight! It will be a long road I think, but you can see sweet ruby going for a little gallop here:
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Thank you for sharing that wonderful video!
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That is beyond TERRIFIC to see!! Who would have thought she’d feel like doing that so soon? Go Ruby!
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