WHOA everyone!!!!
I have to say this, I do not know Vern at all, but from what I have heard he is of retirement age????
There were some posts that alarmed me and I think that way too many may be jumping to conclusions here thinking this is done on purpose. If we are going to rescue, we should do so WITHOUT judgement, even when that is very very hard. It is comments like this one that are so very bad and hurtful with any rescue operation:
If he is still alive there is NO excuse.
NONE.
Not one.
And we do NOT speak loudly and run away- if you did a search in the archive you would see for yourselves what we do.
I really do not appreciate that sort of accusation.
I say again, I, at this point, do not CARE what his excuses are.
I no longer care that he is a nice person.
Just how many nice people do you know that will starve their animals???
If he is eating then there is no excuse I want to hear for letting th3e animals starve.
Now I am not going to side with anyone. There is only one thing that is right. The horses in the photo need help... period.
But... just because a person is alive and is eating themselves doesn't mean that they are intentionally abusing animals if they are in the state that the pictures show them.
In the following quotes I bolded what made me stop and think that there MUST be something far more wrong than meets the eyes here.
(horsehug @ Sep 18 2007, 10:41 AM)
Just wanted to say I found Vern's number this morning and called him.
I was relieved to find him sounding like his old self and not ill, though he does have health problems.
He said he has some thin horses and some fat ones and that they are on pasture and also grained like they were when I first met him. He said he has wondered why the ones have gotten so thin. He also worms regularly. I mentioned that their teeth might be bad and he said he just does not know where to find an equine dentist close to him. So they have not had their teeth worked on. I definitely remember him asking me the last time I talked to him over a year ago if I knew where he could get a speculum to try to work on their teeth himself. But I didn't know where. I personally know how fast a horse can go down when their teeth need work.
I'm sure all this sounds like excuses to most of you but I do know Vern cares about his horses and has not known what to do for them.
Also he has his studs in another area separate from the mares. I knew he did not used to keep all his studs with the mares altogether when I was at his place in Colorado. And like I said they were healthy and looked great when I saw them there.
I suggested he try to get a regular vet out to see about their teeth.
He also said he had gone to Colorado for 4 days in August and when he came back a trailer load of his fattest horses were all stolen.
I think it sounds like he has tried to keep up but gotten overwhelmed and should have sold and cut down his numbers a while back. But he is not an evil person!!
I am just letting you know what I had heard from him. I am sure when whatever authorities get there they will come to their own conclusions.
Susan O.
I just spoke with the owner, I will wait to see what the vet says that is on his way out there, BUT if what he is saying is true, He has around 100 head and you are looking at the worst out of them. He admitted he has some that are skinny, the ones you see(around 12 or so) where in a pen coming in from the pasture to get their grain. He was not aware that anyone took any pictures and that this was going on until this morning when Susan O. spoke to him. I offered to come help him if he needed any help. He said they aren't showing the other 90 some horses that don't look thin. So I will wait to hear what the vet going to look at them says. You know if he is aware they are thin and making attempts to get the weight back on then we shouldn't be so quick to assume they have no food. I am not making any judgements until I either see it in person, OR hear what the vet determines.
The above bold statements, especially the one about the pictures, made me think of my grandmother whom passed away last year. She swore up and down that people were stealing things from her. She swore that she did things like take a shower that morning when in fact it had been a month since the last shower. She could feed herself if she didn't forget she was cooking and try to burn the house down. People would talk to her and she would seem normal and in good health as that is what she said. BUT! That was not the case!!! She had severe dementia for YEARS and could not remember the short term everyday type of things. She in fact didn't even think she had anything wrong with her other than being occasionally forgetful. And funny, but strangers and family that didn't live with her every day never really noticed how bad she was until close to the end. And looking back, she had it for many years BEFORE the whole family realized it as she was able to hide her "forgetfullness".
What I have to say is that I am not making excuses for the condition of the horses. They need help. BUT if Vern has dementia, then most likely he would not know that he has it and it would be VERY unfare to judge him if this is the case. He would actually think that he is perfectly normal. He would not remember people taking pictures of the horses the day before, but yet may be able to remember that someone stopped by. He could even think that a trailer load of his fat horses were stolen and that he has been feeding and deworming regularly. And looking at the feet in the photos I notice that they are trimmed. If a farrier on a set schedule comes over, Vern would not have to remember to do so.
Further, I know for a fact that a mini with bad teeth can loose this much weight even when being fed. I have a hard keeper and she looked like this 2 years ago even though we were feeding her more than the other horses. It just wasn't until the winter coat shed that we realized how bad she really was. It took the whole summer to stablize her weight and to get her to put it back on AFTER her teeth were floated. And a good vet can help the severe cases even if they have large horse tools. Our vet was able to do our tiniest mare using care.
And in one photo you could clearly see a couple of minis out in the back pasture where there is grass. Doesn't sound like someone who is withholding food on purpose.
So until we know what the full story is, EVERYONE should give Vern the benefit of the doubt. Yes it is discusting that they are in such bad shape, but I have a gut feeling that there is something happening more than meets the eye with this case and that it may not be what it appears to be.
Remember, it is not for us to judge. What we should do is help and not bash the person that requires the help, even if they don't know or want to admit they need help. And yes, it is hard to try to keep one's mouth shut as I had been there with the cases that I was involved in with being on the BOD of CMHR.
If we all want to help, write polite letters to get people to notice. And when the authorities do respond to help, make sure you are there with money in hand, time, trailers, foster homes, and equipment to donate to their care if needed.
Just my thoughts until I know more.
