Rescue Journal

another old horse looking for a safe place to land.

Carol  ·  Jun. 19, 2007

gosh, these old horses break my heart. once they are useless, unable to be ridden any longer and the feed/vet bills start adding up and their desperate owners cannot find anyone with a good heart and a willingness to fork out for expensive care with no personal gain....what are they to do? the auction becomes the only real alternative. at least with the auction, they can pretend that maybe their old time friend found a retirement home to finish his days. almost all of them find the slaughter house in reality. how utterly unfair is that??? it just breaks my heart.

the one thing i regret is i didn't have enough money to buy more land. i didn't know there were so many senior horses out there in desperate need. i did not know how very expensive senior horses are to keep. i did not lnow that most horse rescues have to limit the numbers of useless horses to one or two and focus on the ones that can be sold or adopted out again or there is no way financially they could survive.

i did not know that the few people who would consider fostering an old horse would look to us to give them a horse and cover all of their expenses so to have a foster horse that doesn't cost anything ever. but we cannot afford that either.

i don't know what to do. there is a rescue in the states that out and out tells people to be responsible and stand by their horse while it goes down. i think in the long run, maybe that is the most compassio nate thing that someone could do for a very senior hores who has spent his life in human service.

what sad thoughts to start the day with.

Comments

Johanna

That is so very sad, Carol,

In England where I lived for many years and where I was very involved with horses, there are many really good horse sanctuaries. Several of them are run by The International League for the Protection of Horses (ILPH) which also runs educational programmes as well as equine sanctuaries in the both the U.K.and the Third World (Donkeys, especially old ones, are also very badly treated all over the world.)

As always though, there are always more needy horses then there are places at the sanctuaries. And many of the sanctuaries have to spend far too much time on fund raising and are always strapped for funds.

Horses are very expensive. I know from experience. I own a rescued horse who lives in England. Shamus is a registered Welsh Cob who I rescued from the horse fair outside London from where he would certainly have gone into the meat market. He had outlived his usefulness at the riding school where he was nearly worked to death.

He now lives out his life in a beautiful field in the Lincolnshire countryside (Did any one see the new Pride and Prejudice with Keira Keightly? He lives near where it was filmed)with his equine friends and where he is cared for very well by my friend who is a registered equine nurse (yes, they actually have such a designation in the U.K. and it is a four year course.) I pay his monthly livery and all his expensies and he wants for nothing.

Anyway, Carol, this is a long round about way of saying that if there is a horse to whom you could give a good home at Saints or one you could foster out, then I would be happy to sponsor it.

I love horses so much and I rode for so many years that the thought of old horses in need really affects me and I would like to help in some small way.

Cheers,

Johanna