Need You Now Equine 4.44

Many people have suggested that I set up a FB group for this project. I have thought very long and very hard about doing such a huge undertaking and what this would mean to me and my family. This project has taken up so much time already and the commitment is huge, and it has only been a week into it! The response has been amazing, people have been calling from the western provinces trying to help re-home these horses.

There have been many offers of help, we have a whole group of people willing to trailer the horses for little above gas. There are also stables that are willing to allow the use of their stables for drop off around the Toronto area so if need be a group drop can be made and people with their own trailers can pick up their horses. And there are people willing to help board short-term.

We are limiting the excuses I have heard from people about the cost of shipping amongst other things. Arrangements can be made to help anyone willing to re-home a horse, we will work with you to try and get a horse to you.

Now about this group and what I expect from people. If this project is to work everyone must be willing to help these horses! We must work together! This project is not all on me! I need all the help I can get and believe me I am not above asking for it and at times demanding it from people I trust!

I will not sugar coat this.

THESE HORSES ARE NOT GOING TO AUCTION, THEY HAVE BEEN THERE DONE THAT AND ARE NOW SITTING IN THE FEED-LOT WAITING FOR THE KILL PLANT TO TAKE THEM!

Everyone talks about "OMG what a terrible thing! What can I do! This is so wrong! Poor animals!" well guess what! You have a chance to help out now, and this isn't one of those times to procrastinate and do it tomorrow, tomorrow will be too late for some!

How can you help? If you can't give any a home then network them. We have the technology now to get information to people in a matter of seconds, if you have time to sit on FB and send pics of funny jokes to friends then take the time to click on a horse's pic and share with someone. Just because that person is not looking for a horse doesn't mean that someone they know isn't! This is life or death, you can help choose life!

I will not tolerate backstabbing or anti slaughter rants. You need to let someone know you are anti-slaughter, post on your own page, this is not the place for that. Put your efforts into helping re-home a horse and don't take up space in this group unless you can keep your anti-slaughter opinions to yourself. You will be removed! This must remain a positive group, more will get accomplished if we all spend less time being negative!

I do not want videos posted on here of the slaughter houses and how a horse is killed...people want to see that YouTube is loaded with it! Check it out there....If someone posts on here that they would like to see a video, not a problem ask and you will be overloaded on YOUR FB page with videos. But not on here!

However you can post about horses in need of homes but do not use this group for posting of horses that have a safe and happy home, there are classified FB pages for that.

Anyone feels the need to bad mouth this group and say that we are not going about re-homing horses in the right way and you have a different idea, please let us know but do not hide behind a fake internet name on another forum and put us down. I am an ADULT I will try to conduct myself in such a manner and take criticism head on. I am a big girl now....I can handle it! I expect the same from others!

Show some compassion! If there was more compassion in this world then young, sound, old horses would not be ending up in this situation. This project would not be needed!

Everyone deserves an opinion, but do not think that everyone needs to agree with you! It would be better to suggest what your opinion is than to force it on everyone!

Now the reason why this is happening, the horses.

Who they are: young, old, sound and sane, unsound, some are neglected, some are beautiful well cared for, believe me there is no discrimination here/ Every horse imaginable can end up in the feed-lot.

The horses that we will try to re-home will be the sound ones and young ones. It is not right to have to chose which ones live or die but there has to be limits, most people do not want and old lame horse or even a young lame horse. If by chance someone does wishes to re-home an unsound horse then please let me know and I will try to help. We cannot re-home every one so need to draw a line somewhere.

I cannot guarantee soundness in a horse that looks to be sound, there is a limited amount of time that I have to view these horses. I do not necessarily get to see them outside the pens of the feed-lot. I can ask to view them outside but sometimes this requires a return visit. I will do my best to make sure they are sound but with any horse there is always that risk.

Saneness: Much the same, these animals are in pens filled with other horses, all ages and sizes and ALL temperaments, You cannot begin to imagine how different a horse can act when surrounded by unknown horses. I will do my best to make sure that these horses are sane, but cannot guarantee it, they are afraid and have been through so much within a short period of time. It can blow any living thing's mind.

I myself would much rather get bucked off a $400 horse than a $15,000 horse, at least I would have money to send the $400 horse for training.

There are NO FREE HORSES here! There are the meat price horses which are unsound then there are the prices on the sound ones...I DO NOT set the prices! Do not ask if the prices are negotiable! They are not!

The prices are reasonable. Just because you think that these horses are going to kill anyway that the prices should be a lot lower, that is not the way it works. Don't ask me why...I haven't a clue, but I do understand that sound horses should be worth more than unsound horses.

Who I am dealing with...this is where it is no one's business but mine! I have given my word that I will never tell. You feel the need to ask, don't expect a response! All you need to know is that these people have given me permission to help them find homes for some horses. Yes that sounds really unbelievable, a meat dealer trying to find homes for horses...go figure has the world ended!!? They trust me to allow me into their world, a world that is hated, I will not lose this trust, the horses will be the losers in the end if I am not allowed back.

These people are not terrible rotten scum of the earth humans, this is their living, their job, not the best or easiest job in the world but they do care. If you don't think they care then let me tell you about them.

They will hire a rider to come into their feed-lot and ride the horses that appear to be sound. Yes, they pay someone to see if the horse is broke to ride and judge their temperament. If the horse appears unsound then it is deemed a kill... yes sad but do you want to buy it?

They will give every chance possible to a horse including keeping it an extra week in hopes it can be sold to a private person instead of meat, this will not always happen, there are more horses than people wanting to buy.

I will not allow any bad mouthing of the "meat man" they did not put these horses in this situation their past owners did but the "meat man" is giving the horses more of a chance than the owner did!

About me: I have been around animals my entire life. I am a dairy farmer, I work with animals every single day, I have been around sickness in animals, death anything you can imagine I have been around. I do not judge people and do not wish to judge anyone. I have had horses for the last 35 years and have been involved in different horse oriented projects. I am still not an expert and will never try to be or claim to be.

How this will work: I will go to the feed-lot and see the horses and take pictures of the ones that I think will find homes quickly. Once again, wrong to pick and choose which ones won't make it out, but I need to think clearly and I know that not every horse can be homed in a short period of time. I will post pictures and a description of each one.

What I need everyone who wants to help do is network these horse. They do not have weeks to wait for a home, some will only have days till kill.

At times I will be able to bring a few home and MAYBE get better pictures and videos and a clearer idea of their temperaments and suitability, this is time consuming as well so do not waste my time or anyone else's time. I cannot say anything more about each horse than what I have in their description. I have seen them for maybe 10 minutes.

NO ONE WILL EVER BE ALLOWED TO GO TO THE FEED-LOT. You may not even get to ride your horse till you get it home but at least that horse made it out alive!

These people do offer solutions to issues you may have with your horse, if you find the horse has issues when you do get him/her home they can be returned and you can pick another horse, might be more expensive but you get a horse, not your money back!

Now I think you have some clue about what we have set out to accomplish...not be negative, but positive that we can make a difference in a horse's life.

As 1 person I cannot do this but as a group there is really not much we can't do together.