[Today we went to the New Holland auction for the fourth time. Since Mark, my husband, had the day off it was his first experience. As many of you know our ASHA chapter has decided to help older Saddlebreds going through the sales, like New Holland, to maybe have a new lease on life as opposed to going to the kill. Our youth group is also getting involved in rehabbing and learning to take care of these horses. Today we went to the sale for a couple of reasons. First, to see if any Saddlebreds that were very thin or old show horses were going through the sale and secondly was to see if the sale office could help us track down papers of other Saddlebreds recently purchased. Even though this was our fourth visit we are still new to this weekly sale. There is one person managing the sale that I have known of for many years even when I was in the Chicago area. This person is Chris Z. Stoltzfus. I had met Chris many years earlier at Tattersalls and had seen him there just about every time I went to the sale after that. I never knew him well but I did talk to him on several occasions and he was always very friendly and interesting to talk to. I knew he bought horses and took them to PA. for resale. I have even sold him horses in the past. He seemed to care about how I had worked the horse, what shots he had, and other info that would help with the horse. I have always felt that Chris was a horseman.
At the sale today Chris asked Pat Johnson to have me come by and talk to him after the sale which I did even though Pat said he was upset. When I did talk to him, he was concerned about two things. The major concern was the image of the sale as it had been portrayed by some of the people that are known as horse rescuers. Second, he was upset about the continuous remarks about how all the Amish abuse their horses. What prompted this was a recent phone call from a lady about a horse that had gone through New Holland earlier. He stated she was very upset and jumped him because the horse went through the sale very thin and looked as if it had been abused. Someone tracked her down and called her about the horse that she had sold years earlier, as she was listed as the owner on the papers. This lady seemed to think the problems regarding her horse were New Holland's fault. Chris said over the last 5 years operating this sale they have made important changes and improvements. He said they even felt that they were a place where some horses in a bad situation could find and be placed in better care. Chris has always been very supportive of our group’s new mission and has gone to great lengths to help us find papers on horses.
One example that can be very vivid to many people and that I have seen on the internet is about the dead pile out back. It is easy to be judgmental when focusing on one side effect of a sale. It’s another thing to understand how the sale operates and what could contribute to the dead pile. I have been told by the rescue people that they will sometimes buy old thin horses at the sale and put them down at the sale instead of taking them home. They felt it was kinder for the horse and it is a cheaper way than if you haul the horse home and put them to sleep as the vets on the grounds offer special rates. Maybe this would help explain the dead pile. Also if an owner is told they cannot put their horse through the sale, because it does not meet the minimum health requirements, they could always opt to put the horse down at the sale as it would be cheaper for them as well. I have walked around the sale barns and have never seen a dead pile. Of course I haven't been there very many times.
Many of us sometimes forget that an auction like New Holland is a public sale. They do not own the horses that are brought there to sell. They do not make the horses thin, they do not ship the horses to the sale and they do not ship them out. The sale at New Holland that I have seen is clean and there is hay and water available for the horses. Today was an exceptionally well-attended sale, given that many people were off work. Despite the high number of horses and participants the owners cared for their horses in the aisles and the sale was executed in an orderly fashion. The sale has a vet who is paid to be there to check the horses and make sure that they meet a minimum body condition and they are not without some sort of use. If they are too thin, lame or injured they will not be allowed to go through the sale according to Chris. This policy by New Holland was confirmed to us in an earlier conversation with the SPCA. Yes, in our first visit to the sale we bought 2 thin Saddlebreds and we have rarely seen horses in this shape since. When I bought them I never felt the sale itself had anything to do with these horses being thin. If fact if they turned away every thin horse that goes through the sale the people like me would never have a chance to buy them. Not all conditions will be perfect at every weekly sale and if we have to place blame remember where the animals are coming from and what the fate of some of these animals would be if there were no public sales.
This brings me to another point, The Amish. Yes there are some Amish people who are hard on their horses, but then there are horse show people who mistreat their horses in various ways.(whipping, soring, bleeding, caning, hanging, hot shots, drugs and the list goes on) We all know this happens because the USEF has rules against these things. They would not put a rule in place unless there has been a problem with it. I personally do not like to see the horses owned by the Amish worked as hard as they sometimes are, but I also do not want to physically work as hard as the Amish people do themselves. (which by the way is why I am the weight I am and they are the weight they are.) There are good and bad horse people on every side of the horse industry. If I have made any statements in the past about all the Amish being too hard on their horses then I sincerely apologize. I am the first one to stand up and take offense when someone from another breed talks about the Saddlebred people breaking their horses' tails, about how we sore our horses, or how mean we are for putting weight on our horses' feet. I do not abuse my horses and most Saddlebred people do not either. We need to put what divides us among the many varied disciplines within the Saddlebred industry aside and work for the betterment of the breed and the overall care of these four legged companions. Let’s not play the Blame Game as it will ultimately be the horses who suffer when everyone stops cooperating with each other.
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