A Different Sort of Rescue Story - Another Seizure

Part 1

You would think from here the two horses my friend had rescued were out of the woods. She was interested in keeping both horses despite their health issues. Both were responding to the great care they were getting. Certainly you would think things were going well, you would never guess where things would go from here.

With the way things did go, I can't help but have some observations and reactions of my own. So I'm going to be interjecting those along the way as I try to relate what my friend went through trying to protect these horses. I think it takes wading through ALL of the junk, to see who is interested in the horses and who has other interests. So here goes........

With the entrance of Hope for Horses in this situation is really where this whole story begins to get hinky in my book. The rest of the herd (13 horses) were rescued and whisked off to unknown places as mentioned in the news story.

I knew at the time I saw this story on the news this was the herd the Arabian stallion and the Appy foal had come from. However, as I heard the broadcast I remember thinking there appeared to be more than the usual amount of drama.

My third rescue in less than a year and this was the first time such extremes were being taken. Horses in hidden locations and blah, blah, blah. Something about it was unsettling to me. Later on I was to find out that my gut feelings were justified.

In later broadcasts, the reporter mentioned the horses were not all at the one Hope for Horses location she was reporting from. It only had limited space so the balance of the horses had been moved to still more other secret locations of volunteers for care.........As you will see later, this information is a contradiction to what was stated by Hope for Horses as being important to the "integrity" of this case.

Shortly thereafter was the Region 5 mini convention along with a Board of Director's meeting. By then everyone on the board was aware of the confiscation of the entire herd because of the press coverage. Most at the meeting, however, knew nothing of the Arabian stallion or Rose Corey's involvement with the first two horses that had been confiscated.

It was at that meeting my friend made her request for funds. She came with past and current pictures, vet reports, the works. The board gladly granted funds to help defray the cost of dressings and medications for this horse and left it open for more help in the future if necessary.





Rose went home from the meeting and with the help of the local feed store, ordered (at cost....thank you King Feed) the supplies she needed to continue caring for the stallion. In addition to the supplies from King Feed there was a special item "appropriated" and altered to safely and properly support the horse's penis, a $130 mosquito net. It had taken being resourceful to something soft enough yet strong enough to do the job.

And then out of the blue on Saturday, January 19, Animal Control informed my friend that they were coming to get the two horses. Despite Rose's objections claiming both veterinarians thought the animals should not be moved because of health issues, the county agency moved the horses anyway to a Hope for Horses designated location. The officials even threatened to arrest Rose if she didn't assist officers and relinquish the horses.

As this time these horses had been in the care of my friend, Rose Corey, and her daughter, Kelsey, for 20 days. That was more than enough time for Rose and Kelsey to have given their hearts to these horses. Having the horses jerked away in this manner broke their hearts, not to mention what kind of jeopardy it may have been for the horses. These actions just really didn't make sense to those watching this story unfold.

Bruce Smith wrote this article (his third in what turned out to be a long series) about these horses for the Eatonville Dispatch County pulls abused horses out of foster care, causing uproar The community was outraged at the treatment of these horses and the good Samaritans who had taken on the responsibility of the animals in the first place.

I missed the article in the Dispatch. The next think I knew anything was amiss was when I asked Rose for an update at the next board meeting for the Daffodil Arabian Horse Association. It was then I was told the stallion and the foal had been removed from my friend's care.

The only reason I remember being given was Hope for Horses had convinced our county officials having the horses in separate locations would jeopardize the case. The county officials not having any experience with such cases did what they thought they had to do with little regard for the welfare of the two horses. Not having horse savvy people involved in this process was obvious.

For me, considering the condition these horses had arrived in, the recommendations of the vets and the care they had gotten it really didn't make much sense. It would seem to me you wouldn't want to be stressing horses who had been through such traumatic neglect by moving them again without it being for their own health purposes.

This decision by the county made no sense to me particularly when Rose had already made it clear she was interesting in keeping these horses. Like I said, it made no sense to me............and it didn't make much sense to lots of other people either.

Having been involved, albeit second hand, with rescues, I knew that most of the time herds seized are split up. My friend, Lilly, had housed one stallion out of a herd of around 50 because she was equipped to deal with a stallion.

Finding facilities that can accommodate an entire herd just doesn't happen. It is the norm for horses to be spread out...........it sure hasn't hurt any of those cases. I know the horse with Lilly was found a new home and moved long after he had totally recovered from his neglect. Each one I have followed has ended with the owner's rights being terminated regardless of how many different places that herd went.

Then there was that broadcast where it had been mentioned those horses were not all under one roof at the Hope for Horses facility. So much for they all need to be in one location for the integrity of a court case. So what's with that? Why was the health of these two horses jeopardized and what would become of them?

To be continued.............

The top two pictures of of the stallion's feet when Rose rescued him. The third picture is most of the supplies used to treat these two horses at Rose's.

The Second Rescue

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