Did you read @Sistersiouxz 's post as saying New Holland was a rescue? I read it as saying horse rescues are needed to hopefully cut out the auction middleman.
Sadly, there simply aren’t enough rescues to deal with the terrible terrible choices many horse owners make. Some fall on hard times, but many rush right into a disaster–often with full warning. Just read some of the threads on this site.
New Holland is a place where horses end up for either rescue or slaughter. IT IS NOT, ITSELF, ANYTHING APPROACHING A RESCUE.
It’s the end of the line. The lesson stable that has horses it can’t use ends up selling them, on the cheap, to an un-researched buyer, who then takes them to New Holland to hopefully flip for a higher price. Maybe kill buyer is there because the prices are low. At any rate, it’s always been known as the last ditch before slaughter.
-----MY THOUGHTS ON AN ALTERNATIVE TO NEW HOLLAND----------------
Instead of selling one’s horse cheap to “anybody,” and instead of having an auction location like New Holland, I’d suggest people list their horses online for, say, $1,000 and put in big letters that the horse will be euthanized in such and such many days if he does not sell.
Maybe these listings can be all together on one website, organized by the same people who man the New Holland Facebook page.
For farmers who don’t use internet or can’t take the time, there can be a well-advertised phone number to call. Hopefully farmer can at least take a picture of the horse and send to these people who are “Agents” for the New Holland Page. If not, someone living near them can be entreated, also via the online site, to go get a picture.
If owners want to give their horses a chance to be rescued, this is the way to do it.
As stated before, the ones who are now acting as animal activists/agents can do the legwork of posting pictures on the website and specifying how long the horses have before being euthanized.
Also – euthanization services need to be made available to the owners. It’s possible some of these owners can’t afford the cost or inconvenience of euthanization, and this is why they send the horse away.
(Provided by volunteers like the one who did it at New Holland. And there may be veterinarians local to the animal who can be enlisted).
This way there is no needless suffering* for the horses in danger.
[INDENT]There’s no question the horses know as soon as they’re loaded into a truck from their last workplace that it’s the end of the line for them.
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[INDENT]Add on top of this they then need to stand in shame in the “Place Full of Sickness and Fear” called New Holland Auction while people decide whether or not they should be rescued.
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[INDENT]Add to this that when they are not rescued, they get loaded into a truck, again, for a horrifyingly long trip from southeast PA to CANADA.
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[INDENT]Can we possibly think of any MORE ways to torture horses?
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[INDENT]I know, once they get to Canada, we can have ANOTHER auction barn. Or a gas chamber they get herded into. Oh yeah, that’s probably what does happen.
[/INDENT]
[INDENT]OMG. :no: :no:[/INDENT]
Again, where do you think anyone is saying New Holland is a rescue? Can you quote the post(s) you are referring to? Because I think you may be confused or misunderstanding.
Don’t individuals and groups do this all the time? I don’t think it has served as a solution thus far. And when it does, the horses in question are often sold to people utterly and completely unequipped to deal with horses who require emotional blackmail to rehome.
Sorry if I wasn’t clear on my post. New Holland is not a rescue. What I was suggesting is advertise for people willing to take a horse at a moments notice so these horses do not go to slaughter auctions. It would take a fair bit of coordinating. It would be the last stop before slaughter auction, so people would realize the urgency. Horses would need to be culled unforunately, only healthy adoptible animals and eliminating the middleman, would make them more affordable. Price would need to be on the hoof prices for obvious reasons. I am in a hurry right now so I hope I make sense.
I don’t suppose that it has occurred to anyone that many of these auction houses serve the Amish community, and members of said community do not believe in graven images and therefore don’t want THEIR pictures taken. Every time I go to Amish country there is always at least one uninformed “English” who wants to take pictures of the Amish. The auction is going to go to some lengths to satisfy their regulars’ opinions.
Sounds like Craigslist to me. Oh… woe is me, I have to sell my horse fast for $$ or he’ll be euthanized (or at least so it says).
Again, good idea but someone has to eat the cost of the euthanasia and disposal of said bodies. Who is stepping up to do that? I’m not even sure if all the zoos in the country would be prepared to take in and humanely euthanize all the equines and use them for food for their big cats and other predators.
I suspect many who let their horses go to kill buyers, regardless of how the horses end up there, don’t want to deal with much other than getting the horse off their property and out of their checkbooks. Dealing with some internet listing site may be more than some are interested in.
I don’t like New Holland, kill buyers, transportation to slaughterhouses and slaughterhouses. I also don’t have a cost effective solution either. At least if it was a slaughterhouse designed by Temple Grandin for horses it might be humane and less stressful than most.
I don’t think this extends to their animals though? I assume the photos that were causing a stir were of the LIVESTOCK not the sellers?
Unfortunately there were both. One of the videos that most likely caused the final ban was of an Amishman’s horse that had died at the hitch rail. The person videotaping even taped the Amish man and the veterinarian going to attend the animal.
Certain groups trying to assist with sales were careful and one only filmed horses with permission of the seller, but many others were not and were filming general scenes of the auction and the barns, including the horses and their opinion of the animal and the owner. Then they’d post to Facebook.
That’s a shame. I think there’s some public interest in what goes on there, but I do think filming a person who has expressly told you it’s against his/her religion is pretty over-the-line.
Sorry, there is no way in hell am I paying $1000 for the kind of horses who have hit the end of the line. Also, people shouldn’t GET $1000 for a horse that they let hit the end of the line. That’s emotional blackmail and all people are going to do is acquire and breed more $1000 horses that they can list on the internet. They’re also never going to euthanize a horse that they can get some poor rube to pay $1000 for after not feeding it or trimming its feet for the winter.
Interesting note though, a friend of mine and I went to a low-end sale a few months ago. Rescues and private buyers were snapping up horses and excited about their “saves” (confirmed by later posts in local FB groups). Problem was they had NO idea what kind of horse was being purchased for kill. The kill buyers weren’t touching anything under 1000lbs, so no, you didn’t really “save” that 600lb arabian. Meanwhile, we ended up buying a horse from a kill buyer (confirmed in conversation) for a touch over his sale price… the kill buyer was the only bidder. He’s a 1200lb teenage quarter horse who turned out to be a finished roping horse. In good weight with trimmed feet, he wasn’t an interesting enough story to capture the hearts of a rescuer but he was literally going straight to Mexico.
Exactly. I think anyone who believes this is a thing that would work, as well as anyone who says “rescues can just rescue more” doesn’t really understand the scope of the problem, or honestly how money works. This is why police officers had to be stationed at new holland, so people couldn’t just abandon those 600lb arabs and 30 year old founder ponies that don’t sell. Because THAT was a thing that was happening.
Rescues are full. Good rescues are full and running on fumes. Sh!tty hoarder rescues will hoard until they are murdering enough horses to people to notice. A needle is less cruel. Hell, a slide bolt to the head is less cruel.
I simply do not grasp how anyone in any way involved with horses doesn’t understand where the low end of the industry is
EXCEPT maybe it’s like my boss, who isn’t rich, but his family is. So he doesn’t pay his bills on time and then his vendors come complain to me and I have to explain that it’s not that he is trying to get out of paying, it’s just that he exists in a world where money just…is, and can’t conceive of people who need particular money at a particular time because don’t they have money?
Like rescues can just rescue because they’re rescues. People will just buy any broken down nag for a grand, because, what is that? like a dollar? And surely no other expenses can be associated with that simple, inexpensive purchase.
And now I’m ranting, but it’s really frustrating.
It can be very expensive to rescue a horse - not sure anyone is going to rescue a horse that they can’t see - as far as cats - well - at least tnr is sterilizing them. Cats kill a LOT of birds and baby rabbits - and so I’m not fond of that. I’m not a big fan of placing cats in barns as barn cats. Alot of them run away - they kill baby birds during the season which is RIGHT NOW. I have three cats and I keep their nails clipped and they stay in during baby bird/rabbit season and they always sleep inside at night. We really have too many cats and dogs in the World. It would be really easy to fix - its called Legislation. Mandatory spay. Breeders license. Must study genetics. No dogs or cats roaming . Tax for every animal that you own. You are paying taxes now for stray unwanted animals - make the owners pay up front. That goes for horses too. Breed for temperment. Breeders should breed such great animals that there is a waiting list for them. Okay - so back to the New Holland sale…
I posted on this forum on April 3 about a horse that was at New Holland the week of February 27 (or possibly the week of February 20). Her Coggins is dated the 27th and when I saw her picture it was on the Cranbury Rescue Site. I bought her and she is finally over the respiratory sickness she came with and I’m hoping to have her as my lifetime trail horse.
I would love to know if anyone saw her either at New Holland or Cranbury and if anyone knows anything about her. She is supposed to be 12 yr and a Qtr cross, chestnut mare, 14.3H with 2 hind stockings and a large star shaped like a kite with an offset tail.
Besides just being curious about her past, I’m interested in figuring out why she is so resistant to having her feet picked up, especially the hind. My blacksmith says she had laminitis from neglect because of the shape of feet now and how wide the white line is. But maybe she had some other problem. Guess you never know when you buy “a pig in a poke” but I love her anyways.
Mary in western NY
Please have a veterinarian examine her feet, and the rest. Farriers are great, but they aren’t vets.
I hope you are working with a good trainer who can help you with any training issues or holes you may encounter.
Good luck.
Good advice. I think this mare is in good hands with Mary at Black Points Farm. She has loads of experience with bringing horses along. We’re also in a good area for expert veterinary clinics.
Mary, you might try the Horses of New Holland page on Facebook - admin is Melissa Harper. It’s possible someone in that network might recognize the mare or recognize her from New Holland or another sale. Cranbury purchases a lot from the Carolina Horse Company sale, too.
I don’t know who or what photos caused the ban, but the Amish will complain about pictures being taken with them in the pictures.
I don’t know there, but our local auction facilities have had a no picture taking policy for at least 30 years.
It is because of privacy reasons, the whole auction industry does that, for what I hear, since taking pictures every place became common.
There was a lot of bashing going on associated with the photographs, with people sharing and re-sharing and giving their opinion about the condition of the horses, the Amish, the sale, the dealers, the sellers and the buyers.
From what I read on various Facebook pages it was an assortment of people that contacted New Holland to complain that didn’t want their information posted or shared and that included photos, tag numbers and the price paid. Dealers were complaining that their purchase prices were being posted and that it affected potential sales, private buyers were not happy that their purchases were publicized and shared. It was a lot of things.
As Bluey noted, it’s a common thing in the industry not to have photos. The Chambers sale up her in NY at Unadilla has an enforced no photos policy - and always has.
What amazed me was that after the ban was announced at New Holland, were the number of people saying, “screw them, take the photos and videos anyway.” And they wonder why the auction house ‘won’t work with them.’
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