A Different Sort of Rescue - - Beginning Again...........

Some of you may remember that a while back I began a series about a rescue of an Arabian stallion and a appy foal. The series began with this post, A Different Sort of Rescue Story

I stopped posting for a while when I was contacted by John Edwards from Hope for Horses, the horse rescue organization involved in this story. He'd asked me if I was interested in their side of the story. I said, "Yes," and agreed to wait for their input before continuing the series.

However, once I posted A Different Sort of Rescue Story - Thoughts and quit writing about this rescue, John Edwards didn't follow through as he'd promised. Other than a couple of phone conversations and a couple of emails not much happened.

In that first phone conversation we discussed briefly the care of the 2 horses, Valor and Teddy. Then I wrote an email asking some initial questions about those horses specifically and some general questions about the others. In response I received an email defending Hope for Horse's right to solicit funds in their rescue efforts. I confronted John Edwards about not answering my questions and why I thought those answers were important if we were ever to get to the bottom of this issue.

John Edwards called me on the phone saying he was concerned that answering my questions was nothing but "he said, she said" and we had agreed not to go down that road. I explained that "he said, she said" to me meant accepting what he might say Rose Corey had said as truth or what Rose might say that HFH had said as truth instead of getting the information straight from the "first" person. When he'd asked me if I was interested in "the Hope for Horses side of the story" that's what I thought I was going to get, John Edwards answering my questions about what had happened to Valor and Teddy while in their care so my readers could hear both sides of this story.

John Edwards agreed that made sense to him and said he would answer my questions. This all happened within the first week. I have not heard from Hope for Horses or John Edwards since. John really didn't come through as promised.

John Edwards did say he was extremely busy and it would take a little time to answer my questions. There was flooding here in January so I gave him some leeway but I think that 2 months is more than reasonable on my part. Since there have been some "new" things that have happened in this story, I thought I should continue before it gets away from me and some pertinent information gets lost.

Picking up where I left off, Hope for Horse disputed Rose's claims that the horse was not well cared for while in their care. Again the Eatonville Dispatch covered the story, Hope For Horses refutes Corey's treatment claims

There is also this blog post on Random Horse by the people from Hope for Horses.
I mean really, Rose Corey, don't you have anything better to do
Obviously the tone of the headline doesn't say much for the professionalism of the organization. In it they posted pictures they feel dispute the claim the horse was not well cared for while in their care.

I have thought about this picture situation long and hard. Hope for Horses claims they were doing what they should with this horse. According to my conversations with John Edwards, they don't know what to say about the pictures. He just said the horse didn't look like that when he left their rescue. He suggested maybe the horse was dehydrated from a stressful transport, maybe the pictures were caused by bad camera angles, who knows. John Edwards claimed the condition of the horse had nothing to do with the care the stallion received at Hope for Horses.

John Edwards did admit that the horse was not getting free choice feed as had been written on the instructions of the intake vet. Suggesting that Hope for Horses knows what starving horses need, Valor had been on a feed schedule that John referred to as "ramping up." When I asked for more specifics, John said the amount of feed the horse was getting was gradually being increased so as not to cause issues for the horse. At the time Valor left Hope for Horses (2 months time) the horse still had not achieved the goal of free choice hay.

OK let's put the pictures aside and think about what the horse looked like when he got off the trailer. He was transported to the office of a veterinarian, Linda Hagerman, in Spanaway. In attendance were the vet, Rose Corey, county officials and other interested parties. Those people ALL gasped as the horse got off the trailer.......even the county officials.

Keep in mind that Valor was under the supervision of Linda Hagerman during the period of time he was in Rose Corey's care, before he was sent off to Hope for Horses in the first place.. She had first hand experience with what the Arabian stallion looked like when he was rescued in the first place. She also knew what the horse's condition was at the time he was taken from Creekwood Farm.

According to her examination of the horse at his time of return, she found Valor to be in deplorable condition. She was appalled at the way the county and Hope for Horses had carried out their mission in the case of this rescued horse. Linda Hagerman actually stated as much at a later county council meeting.

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

The Backlash

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