Comments on the Day to day post.... - Midwest Horse Welfare Foundation, Inc. ----Discussion Forum

I'm not sure how you guys take in the horses and then find homes. I'm sorry if I sound rude, I don't mean to be. I was searching on Craigslist and found a horse from the same people I got Spirit. The filly looks just like her. Spirit was a paint pony I got for my son's. She was in rough shape to say the least (I'll post a pic). She ended up having a stroke, thats why they got rid of her. As soon as I saw her I knew we had to take her home.
Well we did. Last fall. She died a month later. She was so thin. I tried everything I could to get weight on her but with her stroke she didn't eat the best. We ended up one evening lifting her (carefully) because she laid down and couldn't get back up. My "horsey" neighbors, my sister, husband and kids were all out getting her up. It took Tom with the tractor with the bucket and a harness fashioned out of cinches and leadropes to get her up enought so he could take her very carefully in the barn. We got her to stand on her own, piled blankets on and walked and walked her. For an hour to get her bowels and bladder moving. I called the vet, he couldn't make it out. He told me what to do. She came around but was still thin. We nursed her until one day I went out to do chores and found her dead in her stall.
I was so heartbroken. So was my son. If Spirit heard Devon's she would whinny for him until he lead her up to the barn for her grain. He would always go get her and just walk with her until they reached the barn. He hand fed her grain.
sorry about that...Now these people have another horse "for sale". She looks just like Spirit. They have deplorable conditions for the animals. Their hooves are long, skinny, ect... So what should I do? Should I buy this filly and brave the hubbys eventual crabbing or just do nothing.
A friend told me "no more fix-er upper horses." I don't want to do nothing but not sure what I can do. I have enough hay (45 rounds) for winter. I haven't started feeding hay as the horses are still eating grass. (My grass in the pasture gets about 2 ft tall, they can't keep up during the summer, but eat it down somewhat in the fall.) Not sure if I'll have enough if I get another one. These people are only worried about money and how much they make. Advice...

Karen

Karen-MHWF

10/31/09 at 08:00 AM

#157

Hi Karen, and welcome to the forum. I'm so sorry to hear about the horse that did not make it, what a tough loss.

I'd like to answer your comment "I'm not sure how you guys take in the horses and then find homes.", but I'm not exactly sure what you mean by that.

As far as these people with deplorable conditions/neglect, I would turn them in to the proper authorities (sheriff's dept., humane officer if there is one), and since I'm taking a guess that this is Clark County that might be a long road to haul, but keep at it and be persistent. After all, the horses have no voice of their own and if they are in a neglectful situation they need help. To just get one horse out sure does not help the rest of them, and as tough as this may sound, supporting their breeding program and sales program by buying horses from them is just going to "keep them in business".

I wish you luck, let us know how it goes.

If you want to discuss this particular case maybe you could start a new thread regarding it since this thread is designed for comments on the day-to-day thread.
Thanks Karen, best of luck.

Karen F

10/31/09 at 11:12 AM

#158

I didn't mean to sound rude Karen. I was just wondering how you guys go through everything of bringing them back around then giving them to someone again. If I get this filly then I don't think I could give her to anyone. That wouldn't be a good thing. I would always wonder how she's doing. I would like to get this filly and try to save her but I agree with you that if I buy her I will just keep them in business. We don't have a humane officer in our county. I spent a week chasing Amish horses because they wouldn't keep up their fence. The guy got a hefty ticket though. We had to help the sherrifs dept. how do you say no when its possible horses could get hurt.
Sorry I posted it wrong. I'm kinda new to this. It just tore me up today when I saw the filly, she looks just like Spirit right down to the brown spot on her lip.

Karen-MHWF

10/31/09 at 12:15 PM

#159

Not a problem Karen, I did not mean to imply that you sounded rude, I just had no idea what you meant by that comment and I wanted to be able to understand it in order to address it.

It is not always easy seeing the horses go, simply because I will miss them. On the other hand there is no better feeling in the world that I can think of than seeing a horse that we rehabbed and saved from an uncertain future find that wonderful home. We have contracts in place that our lawyer prepared and the horses that leave here are under contract and a vet check form comes to us each year showing that the horse is being taken care of. We do enforce the contract if there is a problem, so we don't have to sit around and worry so much about where a horse might wind up. That is the great part of adoption and a program like ours, the horses get tracked and if something is not working out for whatever reason, they come back to us and then on to another home. That is why so many people chose to donate their horses to a program like this rather than selling them on the open market. We are a safety net for the horses.
Hope that helps you understand more about what we do. You could take a look at our application and contract some time to get an idea of what that is all about.

Again, good luck with the situation and the sheriff's department. Hopefully they will help in this situation if you are persistent with them.

mel d

11/02/09 at 08:51 AM

#160

Couldn't agree with you more, Scott, on today's "sermon".

I saw a very offensive commercial the other night in which men were renting puppies to impress girls...One used the phrase, " I rescued them from a shelter" I wanted to hurl something at the set, but will write both the sponsor and the station instead.

I have two adopted horse (one part of a sheriff's seizure) and one other that was a true rescue...life or death situation. I do see buying at an auction when the only other bid is the kill buyer's as a rescue as it could be a life or death situation, though we do know a kill buyer may also resell the same horse later without putting it on the "truck" if it is profitable.

Janis

11/02/09 at 10:52 AM

#161

Scott, get over yourself. You don't own the rights to the label, word, or definition of "Rescue". If someone helps another animal or living being, why not be glad and let it go? Who doesn't think your type of rescue is not the gold standard? MHWF is fabulous and no one is taking away from all the good work you do. Keep on keepin' on.

kathy

11/02/09 at 11:45 AM

#162

Scott, does your message today, have something to do with what I seen on another Horse Rescue site. "Our friends over at MHWF are the adoption experts and I feel that is how it should be. They will be working with us in the months ahead to help us place some of our adoptable horses through their facility. Details must be worked out of course and this should not affect anyone who has already adopted through SFHR." When will this take place?

Karen-MHWF

11/02/09 at 11:55 AM

#163

I'm sorry, Scott isn't going to be available to the forum for some time today, so I will try to answer for you Kathy.

That has absolutely NOTHING to do with Scott's post. Scott's post was referring to people who adopt a perfectly sound and healthy horse that was donated to a program and then say they "rescued" it, or other things along those lines..it just gets a little old and the word "rescue" a little bit overused, as he explained (such as someone saying they rescued a horse just because it's feet needed to be trimmed, etc., it is just a word that gets overused). Such as we got Monty, who was saved from a puppy mill situation...but we did not "rescue" him, because he was already out of the bad situation of the puppy mill from the work of the county humane officers and the humane societies....and in that situation we see many people saying that they rescued the puppy. We surely did not rescue Monty...we took him in and are giving him his lifelong home, but we are not the ones who rescued him.

I hope that helps clear up what Scott was talking about. It just seems that the word "rescue" has really gotten overused in the recent past. It gets used in place of the word "adopt" and "bought" a lot. If you (anyone) placed an animal that you had in your care with someone, whether you gave them that animal or sold it to them or adopted it to them, and then they went around telling everyone they "rescued" it, you may understand what he meant.

"Janis", you read a lot more into Scott's post than what was intended, as well as turned it into something that it was not.  We applaud anyone who helps out an animal, in any circumstance, of course! We also do a lot more behind the scenes with horses and other animals than the website even reflects in our personal lives. Almost all of our friends are animal lovers who strive to help out any animals that need it (and they also don't throw around the word rescue so loosely, but many of them have rescued many animals). We wouldn't do what we do if we felt the way you are interpreting. So sorry you read it that way.

We are going to be helping out our friends over at SFHR very, very soon with some of their adoptables, very soon. Scott's post surely had absolutely nothing to do with that.

And Scott, stop throwing your opinion and things that happen in your life around out here on the forum!

(joking)

Emily Jane

11/02/09 at 12:32 PM

#164

I was just trying to decide if any of my animals had been truly "rescued". Scott and Karen rescued Penny (Shasta) from going to a kill buyer because the owners couldn't be bothered to pay for a coggins test. I then "adopted" Penny from her safe environment.

I would consider our newest dog "Dufus Maximus" to be an adoption, even though his owners had been trying to find him a home for weeks (lost job, moving to an apartment, new baby coming) because he still could have gone to the Southwest Michigan SPCA. He still had another option.

Thank you for all you do to rescue the animals that are out of hope and out of time. I have benefitted with Penny and also with the donkey boys, although I don't think either of them were actually 'rescues' (correct me if I'm wrong!).

Scott Bayerl

11/02/09 at 04:22 PM

#165

Hey Janice....that was pretty cowardly. At least I do not hide behind a fake name.

I think on our forum I should be able to say what I think...regardless of whether you like it or not. If you want to preach, get your own forum.

In any case, you either read what you wanted to read or could not comprehend what was said. Either way you clearly got it dead wrong.

Maybe you should get over yourself......

Mary H.

11/02/09 at 05:41 PM

#166

I totally "get" what Scott was trying to say. Everyone wants to see themselves as "rescuers" but it is usually not really the case. Anyhow - kathy - that was my quote and you can feel free to put my name on it. I meant what I said. No one matches up adopters and horses like Scott and Karen do. BUT they still do one hell of a job with rehabbing and taking in rescues. I didn't intend to leave that part out of my statement but I really thought it went without saying...so I didn't!

Sharon Potter

11/02/09 at 06:41 PM

#167

I agree with Scott...the word "rescue" gets used way too much and often when it doesn't apply. Mostly, this seems to happen because of the feeling of drama it inspires...rescue draws more attention than "gave a home to" does. Not unlike the word "abused"....I hear so often that "my dog/horse/etc. was abused before I got it"....there's a difference between an animal that hasn't had good handling and one that has truly been abused. Again, the word "abused" garners more attention than "mishandled" does.

We tend to use words that are inappropriate all the time...like spectacular or fantastic or phenomenal when "nice" or "good" would do. It's simple overkill.

Wendy W - WI

11/02/09 at 07:41 PM

#168

I have to say I may be a bit guilty as I will say I adopted my dogs from a rescue. I never say I rescued them, but they are adopted from one. Is that bad? I will tell people I have adoption horses, never say rescue, and people will ask me what is wrong with them. NOTHING!!! They generally get a good education and are probably sorry they asked! hehe

Sara

11/02/09 at 08:30 PM

#169

Wendy, that's the same problem I see with Vinny and Candy all the time. The woman who owns the barn where we board always introduces our horse to people as "rescue" horses. I always politely correct her that they are adopted, not rescued. "Rescued" implies that there would be something wrong with the horse, or had been at one time. That is absolutely not the case with either of our two horses.

If more value would be placed on "adopting" or giving an animal a good home, or even just buying one, then less animals would need rescuing. It seems that that the glamour of rescuing and animal with all it's drama and hype, many horses needing a good home other than the one they are currently in can't find one. Those horses are "safe", as has been said here often, so they somehow warrant less attention from the public and those with the space, time, and means to care for them.

It sounds terrible, but I'd love to see a lot less rescuers out there. So often those who are drawn to that label are the same ones with the hoarder or attention seeking personalities and wind up neglecting the very animals they "rescued" previously. I've personally seen this happen a lot. They need their attention fix, so they go out and rescue a horse, but they can't really afford to do it right and the horse doesn't get the feed, care, or training it neees.

Scott: MHWF

11/02/09 at 09:05 PM

#170

I couldn't agree more with your last paragraph Sara. We see that all the time.

Wendy, no, I don't think what you are describing is the same thing at all and there is nothing wrong with saying you got an animal from a rescue. The problem I was talking about is when people call us and say I rescued this animal or I rescued that animal when in fact they did not rescue it at all. They simply aquired it or purchased it and it was not in need of rescue.

Karen-MHWF

11/02/09 at 09:09 PM

#171

If I had a dime for every time someone called or emailed and said "I rescued these horses and I can't afford to take care of them, can you take them". Although that doesn't have a lot to do with the topic, Sara's post made me think of that. It happens a lot.

Wendy, that is what so many people do...rather than saying they adopted they say they rescued their animal when it comes from a rescue or an adoption facility. You aren't guilty of that, and it makes perfect sense that you adopted from a rescue.

We are probably just a bit more sensitive to this since we run this program, the reason being there have been quite a few times that someone has referred to a horse that was donated to the program as being "rescued" when in fact the horse did not need to be rescued, it was perfectly fine and had an owner who cared a great deal about it and chose to donate rather than sell. It does seem that whenever someone has an "adoption" animal, probably most often with horses, the first question is "what is wrong with it". I'm so happy that there are so many great people out there with adoption horses to dispell that myth. It takes a long time and it can get frustrating running into so many people who do that, but the more people that realize great animals can come from adoption, the more animals that will get adopted.

Just as when someone comes to an appointment and uses the words "sell and buy" we always correct them that we do not sell horses, we adopt them out, and you aren't going to buy a horse, you will adopt one.

I think it sinks in eventually.

Denise S -WW

11/03/09 at 05:15 AM

#172

Oh good Lord! When it rains it pours...no pun intended Scott. Sorry about the basement. UGH. Been there done that & it is NO fun!!! Didn't you guys just have roof repairs to do because of wind & rain???? Hope all cleans up ok. Still looking forward to the auction even tho it will be a few days late!!

Everyone had good points about the term "rescue". Working at a vet clinic I hear it quite often.

BOP Mom

11/03/09 at 09:21 AM

#173

I've found the same exact thing - when I say that I adopted from MHWF, I get the "what's wrong with him" question. At least it's an opportunity to set people straight. And, this also gives me something else I can talk about now, the difference between truly rescuing an animal versus adopting/buying an animal. You know, I am guilty of doing that with my dogs. Both of ours are adopted from the local shelter so I do sometimes say these are our "rescues".
That's not truly correct as they were in a quality shelter receiving decent care - the rescuing had already been done! So from now on, if I say anything, it will be our "adopted" kids.....

April & Gordon

11/03/09 at 11:48 AM

#174

Sitting here trying to decide if I should respond.......... yep I should!! We also here "what's wrong with your horse" everytime we say adopted. Others try to explain our horses as rescues and we politely correct them!! I alway say we adopted our horses - no there is nothing wrong with them - we just choose to adopt and now exactly what we are getting from MHWF. Karen & Scott would let you know right away if that horse is not a good match for you. We know people who say they wouldn't adopt cause you just get some one else's problem and they go out and spend 1000+ on their horse and another 1000 to 2000 for training and they still can't do anything with them!! And then they keep breeding them! Maybe i just don't understand................ BUT ADOPTION IS THE WAY FOR US!!!!!

April & Gordon

11/05/09 at 10:17 PM

#175

Scott & Karen, my thoughts and prayers are with you. I also had 3 family members pass away last month. It's been a very sad time for me and my family. We were in Texas for 2 of the kids graduations from the military when we got the call that my grandma would not make it through the night. We started out the next morning and drove 19 hours straight back and thankfully we did make it before my grandma passed - I think she waited for us. Than 12 days later another grandma and after that a great uncle. I hope things start to look up for everyone!! Take care

Previous Thread | Next Thread

Page 7 of 8 « First < 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 >

Bookmarks

Digg

del.icio.us

StumbleUpon

Google