Hay for 34 Pregnant Mares & Foals
Donation protected
The journey started with a phone call asking if we could take 34 horses. Several pregnant mares a bunch of foals, yearlings and a bunch of stud colts. The owners of the herd had turned studs out with a bunch of mares and were now being evicted because the property they had had the horses on sold. The horses owners had known for several month about the need to find a new place to keep the horses but had failed to move them.
Unfortunately the owner had also had some bad information/science behind his breeding program. He was under the impression that if you bred a curly stud with any other horse the foal would be a hyperallergenic horse, ( like breeding a poodle to a lab). So for two years he just bred and bred these mare many honestly to young to have babies.
We had been contacted by the property owner and when we showed up that day the owner of the horses had originally refused to let the horses go. He was going to let the horses go to the auction yard, after a while of talking to him he agreed to sign over all the stud colts and pregnant mares and nursing babies. That gave us 25 horses. The other 9 horses went to the Auction Yard. These horses were like trying to load 1200lb puppies that weren't leash trained. The owners who insisted they were trained had not done these horses any favors as the only thing they were trained to do was eat treats from your hand. So what we basically have is a wild herd that is not afraid of people and we quickly found out that they would go through us and over whatever is in their way.
It took us 4 days to get these horses loaded and transported to a holding pen at our Ford location. In those 4 days we ended up with bumps, bruises, concussions, and a few broken ribs. Now about 15 days latter we got a call from the auction yard saying they don't have room to hold them any longer and can we take the other 9. We agree as we don't want to see the horses go to slaughter. However these 34 horses now more than double our herd. It takes us to 64 horses with at least 8 more foals to drop between now and Febuary.
We hate to ask for money but with winter quickly approaching we do not have enough time to do fundraising to get the amount of hay that is going to be needed to feed these extra horses through the winter. So we are asking the community to help us and donate to the hay fund. Every little bit helps , We think of it this way every $5 dollars is a bale of hay. Thanks for your time and if you can't afford to donate please share this with your friends and family so we can get the word out.
Thank You
Rough Start Horse Rescue Horses and Volunteers
Unfortunately the owner had also had some bad information/science behind his breeding program. He was under the impression that if you bred a curly stud with any other horse the foal would be a hyperallergenic horse, ( like breeding a poodle to a lab). So for two years he just bred and bred these mare many honestly to young to have babies.
We had been contacted by the property owner and when we showed up that day the owner of the horses had originally refused to let the horses go. He was going to let the horses go to the auction yard, after a while of talking to him he agreed to sign over all the stud colts and pregnant mares and nursing babies. That gave us 25 horses. The other 9 horses went to the Auction Yard. These horses were like trying to load 1200lb puppies that weren't leash trained. The owners who insisted they were trained had not done these horses any favors as the only thing they were trained to do was eat treats from your hand. So what we basically have is a wild herd that is not afraid of people and we quickly found out that they would go through us and over whatever is in their way.
It took us 4 days to get these horses loaded and transported to a holding pen at our Ford location. In those 4 days we ended up with bumps, bruises, concussions, and a few broken ribs. Now about 15 days latter we got a call from the auction yard saying they don't have room to hold them any longer and can we take the other 9. We agree as we don't want to see the horses go to slaughter. However these 34 horses now more than double our herd. It takes us to 64 horses with at least 8 more foals to drop between now and Febuary.
We hate to ask for money but with winter quickly approaching we do not have enough time to do fundraising to get the amount of hay that is going to be needed to feed these extra horses through the winter. So we are asking the community to help us and donate to the hay fund. Every little bit helps , We think of it this way every $5 dollars is a bale of hay. Thanks for your time and if you can't afford to donate please share this with your friends and family so we can get the word out.
Thank You
Rough Start Horse Rescue Horses and Volunteers
Organizer
Kelly Freeman
Organizer
Bluestem, WA
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