I have been working with Scooter this past week, a damaged haflinger gelding who arrived a week ago at our farm (read “The mystery of Scooter” for more info). Scooter is healing physically but has proven very difficult to interact with; hiding in the corner of his stall, flinching when looked at, tense and scared. Actually, he has reminded me more of my wild mustang Whisper than any older trained horse. Of course I now know why; Because he is a wild horse! Scooter and Star are untrained.

I tracked down the last owner on his registration, who was happy to fill me in on the mystery of Scooter. Turns out, he owned Scooter and Star both for most of their lives. He has many haffies and they were a small part of his farm. A few months ago, an older gentleman client  wanted a driving team, but wanted them cheap. Trained driving horses aren’t cheap, so he picked out two horses from the field who were NOT trained. Scooter, a handsome 11 year old roan haffie, and Star, a sweet blonde 8 year old mare. Neither trained. Scooter was driven about five years ago a few times, but since has been living in a field, fairly wild. He bucked when they tried to ride him, so that wasn’t pursued either. Star wasn’t trained beyond halter;  altho’ apparently sweet, she wasn’t used. They were living what was probably a pretty happy horse life, in large fields with run in shelters and other horses, for many years untouched. Until sold, for $800 for the pair. Just four months ago.

So neither was trained to ride, nor were they trained to drive, either solo or as a team.  But around Christmas were sold to someone who wanted to do this with them. I am guessing it didn’t go very well, which isn’t really surprising since Scooter is now 11 years old and hadn’t been touched in the last five. It sounds like they have been passed around a few times since then, as many owners as months, people trying to ride and move them, etc, until they were sold at the New Holland auction to a kill buyer. You can imagine the stress and misery that these horses endured over the past few months, each time getting worse, and sinking quickly. The loss of their lifetime family and freedom surely came as a blow, especially to the proud Scooter. It’s not surprising that they ended up in a kill lot, ready to ship to slaughter in Canada.

This kill buyer has a relationship with a horse rescue, which helps pull horses out of the lot for ‘adoption’ fees which are not so cheap, but it is a chance to save them. Scooter and Star were about $1,400 after all fees, plus shipping.  A video was made showing the two being ridden, and told that they drove as well. It’s amazing that the two behaved as well as they did in that short video, considering they hadn’t been ridden before January! They were bareback and Scooter tried several times to bite his rider on the leg, but they did ride briefly. So with their registration and with this description as a trained pair, they were bailed out by Rosemary Farm’s friends and by Scooters breeder Kathi.

They were delayed in shipping because they got sick. All that transport, moving, living in stalls, pressure to perform, took it’s toll. When they were finally released to come to our farm they were sick, Scooter much sicker then Star, with a full blown case of strangles. Angry, confused, pressured, and mis-trustful, they got off the trailer a week ago, to begin their recovery here.

So who bears the blame for these horses sad plight? For the sick and damaged horses that got off the trailer here? The original owner seems that he was honest in his sale. I think that other horse dealers may have seen this sale as unkind or unwise for the horses, but it was legal, and to the right person it could have turned out differently. The second owner knew what he was getting; I don’t know his side of the story, but I know that he sold the horses soon after getting them. They were probably too much to handle. I don’t know who initially tagged them as ‘trained to ride and drive as a team’, but it does seem irresponsible for anyone to say that unless they know for sure. It’s irresponsible to the possible owner, and to the horses mostly. The horses who didn’t ask to be in this situation, who’s lives have become equated with dollars, and who are paying for humans greed. So I am a little angry and little upset and very sad for these two. This is another version of a sad tale being told week after week in the kill pens.

At least now I know the Scooter really is the wild horse that I perceived. And that his trust is rightfully damaged. That his training has to start right at the beginning. He was a vibrant sassy colt from all accounts and I know that horse is in there somewhere.  I can only hope to find the skills to help him.

Our few new rescues these past week turned into six new members of Rosemary Farm (plus a guest who we helped save from slaughter!). It’s been a traumatic time getting them all home from the kill pens in Pa. By far the sickest horse to date has been the handsome and mysterious hafflinger Scooter.

Scooter finally arrived with his teammate, Star, with a full blown case of strangles. This is serious but I quickly learned not as serious as his major mistrust of humans. It’s still a mystery what happened to him or how ‘deep’ it is, but I know that underneath is a friendly and honorable horse. I know this not from osmosis, but from some amazing information shared by his original breeder. This generous woman is no longer able to breed, but when she did, she did so with thought for temperment and beauty both. When she heard that Scooter was in a kill pen, she put up most of his bail, which allowed me to fundraise for Star and keep them together. Soon after, she sent me an email that I want to share here. It is a priceless gift. If I only had this kind of information on all of the rescues. Thank you Kathi, for being the kind of breeder that we all wish to know. I hope to take good care of your boy.

“Dear Dawn, My name is Kathi R. I own T. W. Farm in C., PA. I sponsored “Mean Motor Scooter, TWF” after being contacted by Lisa from “Another Chance 4 Horses”. I am his breeder. I understand that he and his partner “Lite Star Dake” will be coming to live with you and I wanted to thank you for giving him and his buddy a home. I couldn’t stand the thought of him going to slaughter. I had to give up breeding and showing five years ago because I have become disabled. I miss it, but I can also say that I saw the “signs” and felt it was a good time to stop breeding anyway because of the down turn in the economy and horse market. I was always so careful about whom I sold my horses to, it’s scary that one of them could still wind up in a situation like “Scooter” did. In case you wanted to know something about him for yourself or if you were going to adopt him out, His mom, “Luwina” was my first broodmare. I bought her in 1990. She was well broke to ride and drive in pleasure or work harness and was quiet, gentle and steady as a rock. Although she wasn’t used as a work horse, she did a few things around the farm now and then like help me harrow the garden or spread lime with a partner. I had a sleigh and she seemed to love to go for sleigh rides when it snowed. She was the best trail horse I ever rode.

She was a great mom and she seemed to love her filly foals, but her stud foals were ornary and mischevious. I had a special foaling field for my mares and the night they foaled, I kept an eye on them from a distance then brought them into a box stall for the first night after the baby was up. Whenever she had a stud, she would just stand there and look exasperated like “here we go again”. “Scooter’ was a little Dennis the Menace. He was always pulling on his mom’s tail, taking her halter off her head or stealing milk from the other broodmares. He would sneak up behind them when they were grazing and he could snake his way around their rear end and twist his neck so that he could get a little drink before she discovered he wasn’t her foal. No one believed me until one day my vet witnessed it. That’s how he got his name. I remembered this song from when I was in my twenties. I can’t remember the band or the name of the song, but there was a line in it that said “I’m a mean motor scooter and a bad go getter”. I’d see him run from a standing start and kick up dirt like he was spinning his wheels, and that song would come to mind. I believed he was not yet a yearling when I sold him, but no older.

His mom later developed a back problem that left her unable to move her tail back and forth, and sometimes she would have trouble getting up from lying down. I retired her from breeding and she had her own small pasture next to the other horses’ field so she could still be with them and she did well with her medication for quite some time, but one day she decided she was tired and didn’t want to get up. She’d lay there and munch her hay, but when my boyfriend and I tried to lift her with a big belt and his high lift, she would seem to go into a trance and not even try to stand. When we let her back down, she’d resume munching her hay. After three tries, I knew she was telling me she was done and ready to go. I was still working as a vet tech and I had one of my vet friends come out. I sat down at her head and when Dr. Becky put the catheter in her vein, she laid over and put her head in my lap and seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, and I let her go to heaven. She’s buried in a place of honor by the stable next to my wonderful stallion that I lost a year ago.

Scooter’s dad is McIntire 4DA whom I sold to my neighbor many years ago when I put my new stallion into service. He is getting up in years, but he was gorgeous. After I sold him, they had me show him for them at the county fair and every year, he won the Grand Championship. He is a big baby. They stopped showing him a couple years ago. I have photos of Scooter’s mom and dad if you would like them. When I became disabled, I sold all of my young broodmares to one local family. They were an answer to my prayers as it broke my heart to sell them. I had bred them all, starting with their grand mothers and great grand mothers. They were like my kids, but I didn’t want them to waste away in the field. I have my three old broodmares and two older geldings and we live in happy retirement together with two rescued cats, one dog and 16 chickens. My boyfriend calls my farm “The Country Club”.

I hope I didn’t bore you, but I always wanted to know as much about a horse as I could when I bought them. Even though I know little of Scooter after he left here, atleast you know the background from which he came. Please let me know when he arrives and how he does.”

Scooter recovering at Rosemary Farm; March 27, 2010

A month has gone by without a post as I have been sucked into facebook like crack cocaine for laptop users. I had no idea the potential to reach so many animal lovers and new horse friends. Our new page for the farm as really taken off, connecting us with other rescues around the country. So we tried our first fundraiser, for a perchie mare listed online, as In Line, to get on the big trucks to slaughter. Overnight her funding was raised. Wow! So I thought, “I’ll just add one of those poor broodmares, since the trailer is coming anyway”. Bam, money raised. Then there was the pair of haffies, surprisingly un-adopted, with time really running out. Fundraising on Thursday got them bailed by Friday, and the trailer, now for four, was set for Monday following. Whoa, that was fast.

Then the trouble began. I got a note on Saturday that the haffies weren’t coming, but no explanation why. I panicked, yes, I did panic. And was left in that state until Sunday afternoon, when I learn that not only were the haffies sick, but my poor overdue broodmare had gone into labor and had a stillborn foal.  They can’t release three of the four. A day later, she dies. Ah, no. I don’t want to recount the broodmare tragedy here, it deserves it’s own story. Suffice to say that rescue is an ugly business in ways that are both obvious and surprising.

Meanwhile our facebook fans, who rallied and raised funds for these horse rescues, are right there, keeping up with the progress, and growing. The grey mare is held for another week, the haffies are sick, and now there’s an empty space on the trailer. A fourth horse is added last minute, an older palimino gelding, Remy. He is the only good thing to come of that poor mare’s death.

OK, following monday, NOW four horses should arrive. I get a call; the haffies are still sick and can’t be released, BUT there is another pony who would like to come to our sanctuary. Can we take her in? So my trailer arrival is with three horses! The grey finally arrives, fantastic and beautiful, and lets me know how annoyed she is at being kept waiting; the palimino is a dream, and the new pony is actually pretty wonderful, full personality, friendly and engaging, despite being pretty banged up, and with the worst haircut in the world.

So care for these three begins and photos posted. How fun to share with people who care about them. They are all coughing and seem ‘off’, but hopefully it’s nothing serious. Good food, grain and peace begin to take an effect. Introductions have to happen bit by bit and I am getting used to going to the barn down the street. It’s a neighbors barn, but has sat empty for a year, and when I called them up, they were super nice and let me use it for q/t. How I would manage without this support I don’t know.

During this week we welcome another horse; Benji, the skinniest Belgian I have ever seen. I met him at the unadilla auction house, where he had sold before I arrived to the kill buyer, for a pittance. He was probably destined for zoo food he was so thin. I am there without trailer or cash, but figured I could solve that if he would sell the horse. Happy news, another kind soul had stepped in just before me, and she had a trailer. Off he went and his worst night turned into his best. By the next day, the girl and I were in discussion to have him more to the farm when serendipity played a part, and a new FB friend contacted me about,…a Belgian! A match was made, and Ben came here for a two week layover. His personality is all that I remember from that dark night and he is a pleasure to have around and to watch as he comes back to life.

Another week passes, and again I am expecting that trailer of rescue horses. During this week our rescue community has suffered more then the usual losses; aside from the two broodmares and three babies, there have been two deaths from illness, one stroke, and one horrific highway accident that claimed the life of a beautiful percheron mare. It’s tense and sad.

The haffies are supposed to ship, it’s now two weeks later. Another call, might we take another horse? This time it’s a palimino mare, just brought in, scared and shivering in the dark, with no winter coat. Brought from who knows where? Another beautiful horse in the wrong place at the wrong time, who needs sanctuary with us. The trailer is late, driving through dark and rain. And finally the haffies are now here. They are sick still, so today I will swab for infection, so I can get the gang well. And I know that our new FB fans, swelled now to nearly 600, will be there for us, asking questions, offering advice, and generally giving a damn. Can’t tell you how huge that is….