On Monday, the auction, that we went to Saturday night, called us to tell us a horse was missing from the sale and asked us to double check the horses we got to make sure we didn’t accidentally load it. We checked and all the horses that we brought to the shelter matched the receipts.
It was a slow day at the shelter. Most of the staff were still very tired from the long weekend of rescuing. We had 4 potential adopters come out who wanted to see the horses. They said they were interested in looking at the auction horses, but didn’t seem to see any they were interested in and left.
Later in the day we found out more of the story about the missing horse. The horse had been sold by her owner to a good home, and then somehow ended up at the auction. The original owner was able to have someone purchase the horse for her, but when she arrived to pick it up Sunday afternoon the horse was gone. We felt very sad for her and posted the information on our Facebook page. Due to rumors quickly spread on the internet that we had stolen the horse, several Sheriff departments called us to ask about the horse. We assured each Sheriff that we did not have the horse but we would be more than happy for them to come up and check. They informed us that was unnecessary.
It was nice to have a quiet day at the shelter, and as the sun was beginning to sink in the western sky the horses were all munching on their supper, looking forward to a nice peaceful night.
We had no idea how unpeaceful it would be. Some of the people, who had come earlier in the day posing as adopters, returned at about 10:00 pm, demanding to see the auction receipts and search the property for their horse. We asked if any of them were the owner of the missing horse, and one lady said she was and she wanted to see the horses for herself. We told them their group had already seen the auction horses, it was 10:00 pm at night, and we are only open to visitors during the daylight hours. We can understand that the owner of the horse wanted to verify, but due to the numerous rumors that we had stolen the horse and their behavior, they could only come on the property during business hours. If they wanted to search at night, we would only allow it with the Sheriff there as a civil standby.
So, an hour and a half later the Sheriff showed up to assist with the civil standby. He looked over the auction paperwork, and then we escorted 2 of the people to see the horses. We were surprised when we asked the horse owner to fill out a release of liability, and she stated she already had when she realized she would have to walk back to her truck to get her ID. All evening she tried to lead us to believe that she had been calling all day without being able to get a hold of anyone at our shelter, and she just wanted to come for herself. But, she had already been at the shelter! We asked her why she didn’t tell us earlier in the day that she was the owner of the missing horse. She stated that she didn’t want to cause trouble. The Sheriff watched closely as she was shown all the horses she had already seen, and she actually looked shocked her horse wasn’t there. Finally after midnight they all left, making 3 days for our staff to get done working in the middle of the night. Thankfully the next day the horse was found, it had been loaded accidentally by someone else at the auction. It is sad that people jumped to conclusions and tried to hurt our reputation by calling us horse thieves when we had nothing to do with it.
Tuesday morning, shortly after the Sheriff left, we had to head out to pick up a return adoption. This is Daisy, who was no longer able to stay with her family due to her owners failing health and the high price of hay. They loved her dearly and it was a very sad situation.
Daisy loaded right up into the trailer, no doubt a little worried that she was leaving her home.
The first time Daisy got into our trailer was in 2009 when she was part of an animal abuse seizure by the Sheriff department.
She was so incredibly skinny! You could see every bone in her body beneath her winter coat.
Daisy unloaded safely and followed Martina down to her waiting stall.
First thing she did when she got in her stall was lay down and roll. It’s nice to see that she was relaxed in her new surroundings.
You can read her rescue story by clicking here.
Those days are long behind Daisy now, you would never know that she was starved down to the point of death.
Petuna was given some news that made her smile. She wasn’t going to be the only pig at the shelter, another pig was being surrendered so she would have a buddy.
The rescue rig headed out to pick up the newest pig.
Meet Daisy, a very adorable pot belly pig. Her owner was no longer able to keep her due to poor health and grumpy neighbors, and she was afraid the neighbors were going to hurt Daisy.
With a little coaxing Daisy got into the trailer up the nice ramp and was ready to head to her new adventures.
Back at the shelter Martina was enjoying riding Countess. She is a very good girl and is so beautiful. She is looking for a wonderful new home, maybe yours? Please call or email for more information: 530-282-5565, [email protected]
Thank you all for your support, it’s what makes rescuing possible!