
Emergency Funds to Save Blue
Donation protected
12/21/23: Yesterday was a terrible day. I had to say goodbye to the sweet sweet cat I “inherited” from my grandmother - and not 5 minutes later I got the horrible news about Blue. I am humbly asking for your help to save him from the auction block in Lebanon Valley, PA on what will be the worst New Year’s Day ever if we aren’t successful.
Blue’s backstory: He is a Percheron/TB cross. He was a Premarin foal foaled in 1999. He bears a -B brand on his right hip as a reminder of the life he was born into. Fortunately for him, someone took a fancy to him and he was saved as a youngster. As a 4-year-old he was brought to NJ from Canada by the woman from whom I bought him. I purchased him as a 5-year-old when he failed out of her beginner lesson program.
Shortly after arriving in Rochester, the sunny Blue I had met and fallen in love with turned sullen and grumpy. Turns out he had contracted Lyme disease … followed by a diagnosis of EPM (mild thankfully). He was a trooper and emerged from treatment with a good prognosis and a renewed huggable personality. Through the years his looks and disposition have gained him many friends…I am beyond hopeful this will be his saving grace as we try to raise monies to get him home!!
I had a training accident on another horse in 2005, and the injury turned out to be the beginning of the end of my riding “career”. By 2008 I ended up having vertebrae in my neck fused and I’ve been unable to ride since. I couldn’t even pick his hooves anymore. I needed to find him a better situation.
For quite some time Blue was able to stay local and was leased by someone at Engleside Stables, which was a godsend. But when that ended and no one else stepped up to lease, with the help of Karin at Engleside we found someone in the Niagara Falls area to take him - NO CHARGE, but with the express understanding that if she couldn’t keep him for any reason, I had the right of first refusal to take him back.
So you see where this is going. That person, unbeknownst to us, sold Blue for a dollar to a friend of her friend who came highly recommended as a good person. Sadly, she did not notify us of her intent to sell him, but she did tell that buyer that she would take Blue back if ever they couldn’t keep him. Well, her trust in that person was misplaced - they apparently sold Blue last year for $12,000 … representing him as a 16-year-old when really he was 24. And THAT person who paid $12,000 for him is the one who now has him going to the auction block on January 1.
I am beyond heartsick, as I know anyone who knows Blue is too. HE DOES NOT DESERVE THIS!
Karin has been in contact with a woman named Penny who works with Horse Angels rescue. She frequently saves horses from these auctions and has agreed to bid for us … because apparently if we show up at the auction ourselves it is likely the dealers will take notice and artificially inflate the bid.
So while I have to raise these funds “for myself” - this is my pledge that all funds will be used to save Blue, and any monies left over will be donated to Horse Angels to help other deserving horses.
Penny thinks it’s likely the bidding for Blue will go up to $5,000 or more, especially because they are claiming he’s 17 and don’t care at all that I have proof he’s 25. I will pitch in every penny I possibly can but I need to remember that my money will be needed for his care after he’s safe. So raising the money to get him on New Year’s Day would be HUGE.
PLEASE, if you can donate in any amount, please help us save Blue.
BLUE WE’RE COMING FOR YOU. YOU WILL BE SAFE AND YOU WILL LIVE OUT YOUR DAYS WITH PEOPLE WHO LOVE YOU. 2024 IS GOING TO BE A GOOD YEAR.
Organizer
Karen Koscielski Pullano
Organizer
Webster, NY