A thousand times this! Anything slipping below a BCS of 4 warrants a review of the ration and a call to the vet. Not “old horses are just skinny in winter”.
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Exactly my thought seeing Sante at 22 today.
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I’m new to this website, so I apologize for any mistakes. I joined because I saw this. I boarded my horse with Byrd back in 201x. (In case this is shared and she comes after me, again.) I would in fact come by regularly. For context, I started boarding late winter. Two horses had just left. Apparently Byrd and their owners had a fallout. The owners dropped by “unannounced” (said Byrd), and saw their horses didn’t have blankets on or hay in the winter, and were furious. Byrd repeated the story to me, with the statement that a knock-out-drag out happened between her and the owners on Facebook. Whatever, I considered. I just wanted a place for my girl. Anyways, the year passed by. Another horse was removed by their owner, I never knew why. Byrd was very strange, very opinionated. She didn’t want me to call my vet or my farrier. Threw a fit when I did. But she never had her farrier or vet check my horse, despite me asking. She didn’t want me coming after dark to see my girl- even though it’s dark early in the autumn/winter, and I wasn’t out of work before then. When winter came, I stopped by one night and the water ice hadn’t been broken for them. It was under 30 degrees, and my horse and the other girl didn’t have blankets. They also didn’t have hay to give them energy to stay warm. They were miserable. My kind neighbor brought me over in his truck in the heavy snow, with hay he gave me and a blanket that’s good for absorbing water for my girl. She was soaked and very cold. Now she was not emaciated. She was fine weight wise. But I brought her and her roommate hay and broke the ice. (I had noticed the ice hadn’t been broken a couple of times before, btw.) Byrd went off on me via text. Called me names. Called me a b****. Texted my relative and went off on them. Even though my relative had very little to do with it. It was terrible. Byrd doesn’t agree with blanketing horses during winter, even though she cuts back their food. Then she told me I wasn’t allowed to see my horse anymore. I was furious. She was holding my horse hostage. She later went back and denied ever doing that. I found a new place soon after, and had a volunteer pick my horse up. I literally walked my horse off of Byrd’s property, and up the road until I got to a driveway someways down. Then the volunteer came and took my horse. Reason being, Byrd was demanding to know who was going to pick up my horse. But I wouldn’t tell her because I KNEW she would go on facebook and try to destroy the volunteer. And that person was only trying to help me. It was awful. I later found out another person boarded their horse there, and yes, they left over blanketing and food and Byrd holding their horse hostage too. I also had the privilege of fostering a very fine boy who was almost emaciated when I first saw him, because Byrd had told the owner not to feed him well. We got him back to health. He died of heart failure a year later, but I think he was very old. I’m a bit nervous posting this, she’ll know who I am and come after me. But I wanted to share what it was like with Byrd. She’s a masterful manipulator. Makes you second guess yourself and guilt trips. I think she’s not right in the head. And most people around locally don’t like her very much. I try not to find a outright mean thing to say about anyone, but I never want to see her or have anything to do with her again. I’m so sad about all of this happening years later with the 18 evacuated horses. They and their owners deserved better.
Edit for spelling error
P.S. Edit 2 for the would be blamers: I purposefully left out some pieces of the puzzle that pertain to what happened- my age, location lived, person involved, etc. The point was to show what Byrd is like as a barn manager. A lot of factors were involved.
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Please do not be afraid of her coming after you! If she does, save all communication from her (because you know it’s going to be harassing and threatening) and go after her for harassment. Block her on all forms of social media and on your phone before she has the chance to even think about contacting you. If she does contact you, post it here. Some COTH members are good at shutting people down.
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I’m sorry that happened to you.
But please know, this is why it has continued so long.
People are afraid to come forward.
Master manipulator, con artist, great salesperson, makes you second guess yourself. Yup, yup, yup and yup.
More people like you are going to come forward now that the truth is starting to come out.
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At the time of the events, I was her last boarder. There was nothing really to come out about. She never starved my horse. There wasn’t a reason for me to do anything except stay away from her. All she did was control, and once I took that away from her, it was over. She took very good care of her own horses there. I wasn’t “afraid” to come forward, there wasn’t anything more that needed to be said. I’m only saying something now not as an accusation against her, but because so many people here are blaming owners without knowing the situation fully. I happened to be there regularly to keep an eye on my horse, as is my duty. When people asked me, I would tell them what happened. I just don’t go on facebook to blast people if nothing outright illegal happened. And bear in mind, I’m purposefully being vague about my age when this all happened. It’s easy for you all to victim blame by saying “you should have done x”, but if nothing outright illegal happened, you’re branded a gossip/drama queen, etc for talking. I hate drama, and avoid conflict at all costs. What happened years later is different, it was illegal. The owners are not the enemies here, and people are forgetting that.
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I’m sorry this happened to you- if you want to send me a PM, I have a spreadsheet I’m keeping if victims who are willing to tell their story to law enforcement to establish a pattern that this is NOT just an isolated incident that she got in over her head or had some kind of one time episode. You do not have to speak publicly and I will keep your name private, there are many many whose stories I’ve been asked not to share. And it’s heartbreaking.
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I’m not sure how to private message here yet, but I’m happy to anon speak/report, etc. once I figure this website out. I can also have my relative involved say something, if you wish. Thank you for your kindness and willingness to help the owners and horses. Thankfully I got out and my girl is very happy now. It’s just tragic what happened after all this time.
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You story brought tears to my eyes. I’m so glad you were able to get your horse out, and am grateful to those who are helping now.
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Absolutely! Hopefully the horses and owners will be ok. It’s a lot for them, to say the least. I will say my horse is very happy where she is now, so us leaving was meant to be. The whole thing was more confusing and downright bizarre than anything else. But I thank you for your kindness, it’s much appreciated.
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For Railbird:
Apparently I can’t private message, as this forum has a trust based rank system. I’m at level 0 “trust.” Very interesting. Anyways, if you have a non-personal email I can send an email to, or the like, that would work I suppose.
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Please do not be intimidated. The local population that comes to her defense can be handled by the rest of us here. Some major players are disgusted by this.
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You can maybe find me on FB? Grace Wilkins Maxwell
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I’m so sorry to hear you went through that but commend you for looking out for your horse and sharing your story with us.
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So an update on ole poofy which I am sure will lead me to countless hours of rabbit hole threads on here:
- 2/9 BCS
- Some kind of chronic recurrent abscess situation
- Seems to colic about twice a year per vet records
- Incisors all worn down to the gums
- “Hay belly” which made him initially look less thin than he is. Negative fecal so not really sure what the dealio is there.
- Some kind of suspected tick illness in the past, wasn’t really diagnosed just hit with antibiotics but sounded rough
- Grade 3/4 heart murmur
Have been advised to avoid moving him if possible for the next 30 days to allow him to regain strength, no vaccines, dewormer, etc for a while since any additional stress wouldn’t be wise, refeeding program, so on and so forth. He has an absolute PELT of hair which I am sure saved him, but I eagerly await being able to give him a good bath and an oatmeal cream pie.
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Bless those that are helping these horses. I hope she ends up in some kind of trouble for doing this to animals that can’t speak for themselves. It’s horrific.
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Can someone please explain to me why local rescues have remained so silent or posted stories that appear to be defending this woman?
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Hang in there, Poofy. Things will get better now. Just ask Bo about life @Heinz_57’s house. Having followed Bo’s story, I’m curious if Poofy’s hay belly doesn’t turn out to be something like Bo’s dirt/rock belly. It sounds like he could easily have had to resort to the same drastic measures and would explain his worn teeth. Thank you @Railbird for taking him on and hugs to both of you!
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I’m not aware of local rescues defending her?
A couple of boarders with horses still there, and Animal Control didn’t find reason to take action, but I missed rescues defending her?
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I assume they also starve horses, or they’re upset not to be included for the donation money. They could also have legitimate beef that there’s all this outcry for this situation but perhaps less public interest in the day to day BS they deal with, but that wouldn’t really require posting pics of your own very thing horses with justifications.
