Every year, it seems like we look to add more animals to the farm- whether it's investing in a new heritage breed or just buying more piglets to raise for sausage, it's always kind of fun and exciting to bring new animals home. One thing we've been talking about was that we wanted to get me another Morgan mare. My first horse was a wonderful little Morgan whom I helped rescue- she was part of a seizure of 30+ starving horses. Our 20 years together cemented a love of Morgans in me. I lost her about three years ago and have been ready to look for another. While Morgans are not an uncommon breed, horses that descend only from the foundation lines are actually pretty rare, and are on the Livestock Conservancy's list of endangered breeds. Sara had great old bloodlines, so it seemed a natural fit to look for a mare that shared some of those same lines and add Morgans to the list of livestock we're trying to preserve here at the farm.
The day after my birthday, I was online. I follow a variety of Morgan pages on facebook- groups, for sale, and rescues. I had such an incredibly specific horse in my mind I've felt like I would find her, but that it would take some looking. As I scrolled through my feed that morning, I saw a little Morgan mare on one of the rescue sites. Not much was known except she looked Morgan, probably foundation, she was fairly young and seemed friendly. That and she had just been run through an auction and purchased by a kill buyer who intended to load her on a trailer and truck her out of the country to be slaughtered for meat. (Butchering horses commercially is banned in the US. Unfortunately it does not stop the slaughter, they just have to endure horribly long & crowded trailer rides out of the country first.) Although a bay and not a chestnut like my little mare, something about this one struck me. I couldn't get her out of my mind as I went about my work in the greenhouse. When Dan got home that afternoon, I showed him the photos. He thought she looked like a great little horse, despite the fact we knew next to nothing about her. He asked if I'd contacted anyone at Morgan Safenet, and since he was on board, I did. That got the ball rolling. I needed to provide references, which I did, and asked some good friends if we could use their trailer for this. I sent the rescue a Paypal payment once my references were found to be acceptable (thanks ladies, you know who you are!!). then all I had to do was get up bright and early Sunday morning for the 4-hour trip down to pick her up. I'll forever be grateful to my friend who was willing to take me down and spend 8+ hours behind the wheel, not to mention give up his Father's Day, to make this rescue happen.
The day after my birthday, I was online. I follow a variety of Morgan pages on facebook- groups, for sale, and rescues. I had such an incredibly specific horse in my mind I've felt like I would find her, but that it would take some looking. As I scrolled through my feed that morning, I saw a little Morgan mare on one of the rescue sites. Not much was known except she looked Morgan, probably foundation, she was fairly young and seemed friendly. That and she had just been run through an auction and purchased by a kill buyer who intended to load her on a trailer and truck her out of the country to be slaughtered for meat. (Butchering horses commercially is banned in the US. Unfortunately it does not stop the slaughter, they just have to endure horribly long & crowded trailer rides out of the country first.) Although a bay and not a chestnut like my little mare, something about this one struck me. I couldn't get her out of my mind as I went about my work in the greenhouse. When Dan got home that afternoon, I showed him the photos. He thought she looked like a great little horse, despite the fact we knew next to nothing about her. He asked if I'd contacted anyone at Morgan Safenet, and since he was on board, I did. That got the ball rolling. I needed to provide references, which I did, and asked some good friends if we could use their trailer for this. I sent the rescue a Paypal payment once my references were found to be acceptable (thanks ladies, you know who you are!!). then all I had to do was get up bright and early Sunday morning for the 4-hour trip down to pick her up. I'll forever be grateful to my friend who was willing to take me down and spend 8+ hours behind the wheel, not to mention give up his Father's Day, to make this rescue happen.
These few photos were about all I had to go on...but she looked so much like Sara. And how could you let a horse like this die if you had it in your power to save her?
I've been to livestock auctions numerous times, never looking to buy or sell a horse, but I know how they work. I felt totally prepared to walk into wherever she was. But when we got there, it was so different, and much worse, than I had imagined. The place was tiny, and hot. Although it was 85 degrees out, I'm sure it was well over 100 inside. And there were only horses. Not a few horses amid cows, sheep and pigs as expected, just horses. The place seemed to smell, not just of manure, but somehow of despair. This was not a happy place. I went up and said I was there to pick up #3692. I had no paperwork at all to prove this, but they went to get her no problem. She was literally still in the kill pen, crowded in with 20 or more loose horses, each fighting just for space to breathe. Food and water didn't seem evident in the chaos. They led her out. She seemed smaller, and sicker, than the horse I expected to pick up- her eyes were running and her nose was too. For a moment I wondered what exactly I had gotten myself into. We checked her teeth and the consensus was she was indeed older than two, more like eight years old. That's still young for a Morgan, so it was not a problem for me, really. I asked if we could get her a drink before we loaded her onto the trailer, and the big man who had gone into the kill pen none too kindly to get her helped us out. I was impressed by and am grateful for the compassion he showed us in helping get her a nice cold drink from a clean-looking bucket. He was also very helpful in recommending what to give her, medicine-wise, to try and get her on the road to health. After that, we led her to the trailer. She handled very well, we immediately suspected she'd been handled plenty in her past. She walked right up to the trailer and stopped. My friend, who was leading her, quietly said "C'mon, girl. You don't want to stay here." We gave her a minute to think about that and she stepped right on. Once inside, she practically attacked the bag full of hay that was ready for her. I expected she had not eaten much at all in her stay there, but was very glad to see she was hungry since she obviously had come down with something at the sale barn. Loss of appetite is generally the first sign something is really wrong, but she was ready to eat. She was secured into her space, the trailer door was fastened, and we were ready to roll. At that point another trailer pulled in- a large stock trailer. I've seen these many times at auctions and on the interstate. They are heading to the slaughterhouse, this was the ride she was originally scheduled to take. I watched for traffic while my friend and pilot backed out, and we headed home. We didn't look back.