100 Minis Confiscated and in Need of Help

[wingnut]

Based on everything that's been relayed here regarding the on-going nature of the problem with these folks, maybe there needs to be something done about the laws/regulations? If they had to SHOW PROOF of medical care/proper nutrition/farrier care in ADDITION to just having food and water "in sight", then the authorities might have a chance to shut them down for good. As long as the regulation remain so inadequate, the hands of the authorities are tied. I've run into this problem in other areas of my life (non-animal related). The people who would like to do something but because of the lack of rules/regulations or because the existing rules/regulations are ridiculous and have the opposite impact then what was intended, their options are limited.

I simply want to beat something to a pulp every time I see this kind of thing. :::: sigh ::::

 

[HGFarm]

My understanding is that they are calling this a case of hoarding, not neglect? Is this right? If so, just because she has 100 horses doesnt mean she is a hoarder. She does actively run ads and has a website with horses for sale. If she is a hoarder due to the number of animals, I could think of many other farms that have this many, or more! Does this make them hoarders too?

I have purchased horses from other farms over the years, supposedly with good reputations, and have had horses show up with worms, thin, dental work NEVER being done, one that was grossly obese due to a thyroid imbalance, etc.... Does this also make them neglectful and should they be turned in for these things?

Just kind of playing devils advocate here as many things are running through my head- there are always many sides to a story. Except for being muddy and the place could use trash pickup, I certainly didnt see any animals in bad shape like you see at many of the confiscation films on the news. Someone mentioned she had had surgery- has she had health issues that she could not keep up with things?

Again, have never been there personally, so dont know, but just throwing some thoughts out there.

 

[ohmt]

I posted this because there are 100 or so horses that have been confiscated and need to be fed. Considering how hard people have to work to get someone to take away neglected animals and prosecute, I'm going to hope that whoever made the decision to do so in this case had very good reason to. I'm giving the law the benefit of the doubt in this case, not a 1 min video.

I don't believe any are up for adoption right now, they just need help feeding and caring for these animals.

 

[Marty]

There is a legal process to all of this that has to be followed. Wether they are guilty of abuse or not, there is still a burden of proof on the authorities that has to go through the courts. They cannot put any animal up for adoption that they have not gained legal custody of. There has to be an investigation and I hope anyone who has first hand information and proof of any abuse will step up.

 

[Katiean]

IMO it would not be the condition of the "LIVING" animals. But rather the "NUMBER" of dead animals. If walking by the place just plain "STINKS OF DEATH", this would be a good reason to remove the other animals. Yes, on a working farm animals die. BUT, you do need to dispose of the bodies properly. You don't just leave them out in the field or in the pen to rot. This was one of the things I got from the video. The gentleman said that the teen boy was supposed to "take care" of the "dead animals" and "sometimes things just don't get done" placing the blame on this teen boy that didn't take care of business.

In the 1980's My family shared a barn property for commercial rabbits with a man who also raised rabbits. Some days you go to the barn and there are 2-3 dead rabbits. He would just take them out and toss them under his cages. His barn smelled sooooo bad. Not only did his barn smell bad but, he got a staff infection in the barn from the filth. The rabbits would get this big baseball sized abscess that you had to drain and then care for the wound. This infection spread from his barn to mine. When I moved my herd I quit getting the abscesses on my breeding rabbits. What I am saying is that the number of dead animals on the farm in question may have been to the point that it was a health issue that "could have made healthy animals sick" I do not see where providing "VET AND FARRIER" records would help in this case. I do not know that this is the case but I think it is the dead animals not being disposed of was the problem as I did not see malnourished animals in the video.

 

[MindyLee]

All might say not to judge from a miniute video, BUT if all you show is healthy animals and not sick, how could ya not judge?

ALSO if shown to NON ANIMAL OR MINI/HORSE FOLKS all they see is clutter and healthy animals... they will judge also that there's not neglect or abuse but only clutter....

pictures/videos tell a thousand words!

If ya want folks to see how bad something is, show the bad or worse of something, not live healthy looking animals... JMO!

Im defently sure theres more then what the eye sees, and I agree something must be done but again, if ya dont know and ya see what we all saw...thats what we judge by.

 

[Minxiesmom]

This situation is WORSE than any of you can imagine! It goes far beyond what any compasionate person can tolerate. DO NOT give this woman the benifit of the doubt. When more details come available to us, we will let the mini community know how they can help.

 

[Minimor]

I agree that what we see on the video doesn't look so bad. But--since we all know that it is very difficult to get law enforcement to confiscate animals...remember the situation in Iowa a few years back?????...I have to think that the video isn't showing the worst of things. We have descriptions of multiple dead animals lying around the property.

Think of this. I bet you that if anyone on this thread were to go to a farm and see rotting carcasses lying around in plain sight--no matter how good some of the living horses look, each and every one of you would come back here ranting about what a terrible place this is, and you would want to know who to contact to have the farm investigated and shut down. I bet not a one of you would say yes there were dead animals but...and then offer a string of excuses.

Yes, it is true that a farm with lots of animals suffers losses--I don't have 100 animals but I do know thr as well as anyone. However, it is still rare to have horses and dogs dying in numbers--a horse here, a dog there...maybe 2 or 3 at a temifbyou have some old ones and have the vet out to euthanize them all at once...but you still don't just leave them lying around to rot. Some farmers will drag a dead cow or horse out into the bush and leave it for the coyotes, but that carcass is well out of sight and smell of the yard. If visitors, passers by or neighbors can see and/or smell rotting carcasses you know there are going to be complaints.

I don't think it is helpful to add a new law requiring vet and farrier records--for myself, for one example, I do my own farrier work and do much of my own vet work. I call a vet only when it's a situation I cannot deal with on my own or if I need medication I can get only from the vet clinic. That doesn't mean my horse's are any more neglected than hide of someone who has the vet out twice a week for every minor ailment.

Since every person posting on this thread and lives in the PNW region is confirming very poor conditions on this farm...well, I think they know more about it than the rest of us. They are not defending this farm, and that tells me more than any video that really shows us nothing at all.

 

[Equuisize]

It is very safe to relate that the people on the West Coast that have dealt with / had personal experience with this breeder

are not exaggerating.

The horses, that the media chose to video tape, is not indicative of the situation.

The situation needs to be remedied for the long term not as a band aid solution.

 

[Katiean]

That is the point I was trying to make. If you have dead animals lying around, you have disease. Where you have the disease from dead animals you do not have a good situation. The person we shared barn property with did get shut down. No matter how bad I hated to have to go out and do it, I always burried what died. heck we even had a 400 pound ostrich die and we still had to burry it. I have no doubt that with the filth of dead animals, this in it's self would be enough to remove the animals that were living.

 

[Snapple]

All might say not to judge from a miniute video, BUT if all you show is healthy animals and not sick, how could ya not judge?

ALSO if shown to NON ANIMAL OR MINI/HORSE FOLKS all they see is clutter and healthy animals... they will judge also that there's not neglect or abuse but only clutter....

pictures/videos tell a thousand words!

If ya want folks to see how bad something is, show the bad or worse of something, not live healthy looking animals... JMO!

Im defently sure theres more then what the eye sees, and I agree something must be done but again, if ya dont know and ya see what we all saw...thats what we judge by.

The video was made by a local news station. The purpose was to cover a story, not to convince an online forum of mini horse folks that there was indeed abuse. As I said in a previous post, it was not likely that an evening news story was going to show rotting carcasses. I'm sure that any video taken by the sheriff's office itself would look much different.

 

[wcr]

I have to say that the video can leave you confused as to why the horses were confiscated. I have first hand and very familiar information and I can well believe the horrors they found out there. Animal control had very good reason to go out there or they wouldn't have gone. They have tried to get her for years and have put enought heat on her for her to move into the boonies. It was the same horror story of what she left on her old place;dead, dying and crippled horses and she told the realtor she could have them.

I am thrilled to death that they only confiscated 100 horses. Huge pastures had been rented with 100 horses easily and they were farmed out all over the county. Several stallions in each group and a major who's your daddy. Horses are sold on breeders certificates for $375 and good luck getting papers. This is the extreme of the mini mills that is frequently discussed on here.

I have said enough but the West Coast people, and if you notice they range from California to Washington, commenting on this are being polite.

 

[frostedpineminis]

If you do a google search of that lady and the confiscation, they even say they found animals with broken legs and jaws that were starving to death and that she was actually convicted of Animal abuse in 2009, if the video doesnt do it for you then maybe read some of the articles. Hopefully she doesnt get them back.

 

[SHANA]

I am shocked as my mini stallion came from this farm and they have been really helpful concerning him. Always e-mailed me back when I had questions and seemed like nice people.

 

[HGFarm]

I will say that I purchased a horse from this farm too, many years ago. The papers were right, the horse not thin, feet were trimmed and the horse was the right size that the papers said. Horse was also pregnant and the sire and resulting foal, etc... all were correct. The mare was friendly and easy to work with.

 

[wingnut]

I think my previous post wasn't articulate enough. I believe that there is more going on than what that video showed. In fact, I'm pretty sure there has to be much more because, as others have said, it takes an awful lot to be proven before authorities are given the right to go in and confiscate as it appears they have in this case. With regards to being able to produce health records, what I was trying to say was that if you have an issue going on in your farm, you should be able to prove you are at least TRYING to remedy the situation. If you do some of your own vetting, you at least have records of things like vaccinations you've purchased to administer yourself. Or am I wrong in that regard? Since I'm so far from ever being in that position, I simply may not understand it well enough to comment. "Proof" of farrier work would simply be hooves in good overall condition. Whether you have a someone come to do it for payment or you do yourself, it will be obvious if this is something you're doing in the the care of your animal.

When my own horse was at her worst, I *was* concerned someone would see her and not realize that I wasn't simply neglecting her. She was that malnourished and looked awful. I'm sure if an animal control officer was called or happened by, I would have been asked a LOT of questions. Thankfully, I have the evidence to prove that we were trying to do something, both in terms of invoices from our mill and the vet as well as the potential "testimony" of our vet (and eventually the vets at the New Bolton Center). It could be proven in the end that we were doing what we could to help her but on first observance, eyebrows would definitely have been raised in alarm and serious questions asked.

I do believe the word of those who are from the area and know the back story as a result. In the end, I hope justice is truly served.

 

[lexischase]

Does anyone know what happened to any of these minis? I am prepared to take a couple if they are up for adoption or in need of foster care etc. Would love to help out, so if anyone knows anything please let me know!!

 

[stormy]

I had read on a facebook page of someone who had her own horses there for breeding that all horses are to be sold at auction...not sure if this is true.

 

[HGFarm]

How sad and those well bred horses will now end up as pets with no papers... sigh. It's a shame it all boiled down to that. I hope the horses find good homes where they will be cared for as they deserve.

 

[ohmt]

The person posting on fb is also a part of the investigation (Kandi's friend) and is only speculating they will go to auction. Alot of Kandi's horses had no papers anyway as she was banned by the registries.

This was a horrible situation. One of the people involved in the confiscation said there were mares laying around dead with foals hanging out of them

Breaks my heart.