I started preparing for the Saturday auction on Thursday by moving panels around and making room for the new auction rescues. I knew that I would be rescuing many lives and would need the pen space. Saturday morning I got the new trailer hooked up and put some halters and lead ropes in my truck. I knew it was going to be a long night as I started down the road. The auction that I went to is about 2 hours from the shelter and the horses don’t start selling until 7pm at night. I wanted to get there while the sun was still out so I could see the horses easier. I always wonder why horse auctions start so late at night…
Every time I arrive at an auction and a large semi-truck and trailer is there, it makes it all the more real of what my mission is. To save lives, as many as I can. And there was several large trailers at the auction that night.
When I got to the auction I did a quick walk around to see how many horses, donkeys and ponies were there. At the beginning there was around 60, but by the time the auction started over 80 animals were awaiting their fate.
The auction is a very fast paced environment, but with your donations we saved 13 of them. A couple of ponies are scared of people, no doubt due to previous abuse. Peanut, one of the ponies, was rode by an adult which I am positive is too much weight for the little guy to handle. Once caught they do accept some scratches and petting. Velvet, the black mare, was simply terrified of the chute and refused to be led into the trailer. No doubt she thought this was the end for her. She was shaking all over, simply too scared to move any further. I decided to let her walk down it with some other horses freely, rather than someone she did not know asking her too. She willingly walked down with a couple of other horses and hopped into the trailer. Silver is a very sweet gelding that helped Velvet get through the chute and into the trailer. He has a pretty scary looking cut on his face, directly above his eye. I had to stop and fill up the gas tank on the way back to the shelter and did a quick video thanking everyone for helping to save these horses by donating. To see that video, click here.
I arrived back at the shelter around 2 am, got everyone unloaded and tucked into appropriate pens. I had to get a few hours of sleep as I was really tired and had to pick up the rest of the horses in a few hours.
I got back on the road at 7:15 to pick up the next load. I arrived to pick up the rest of the auction rescues at 10 am after filling up the gas tank again. I found them grouped together and immediately started loading them. I was under a time constraint as I work a full time job outside of Horse Plus and had to leave for work as soon as I got back. Once I arrived back I unloaded everyone, checked on waters and left for work.
The next morning I was able to get pictures of all of them. I would like to introduce them all to you.
Meet Valvet!
Valvet is a sweet 4 year old, mare.
Meet Honey!
Honey is a sweet and pretty Quarter Horse, mare, 14 years old. She is blind in one eye.
Meet Silver!
Silver is a 17 year old, QH, Gelding. Silver was injured at the auction, the vet has already seen him and he should be ok with time.
Meet Arrowhead aka Arrow!
Arrow has what looks like an Arrowhead on his shoulder.
Meet Walt!
Walt is a handsome, yearling, Quarter Horse.
Meet Apache!
Apache is a very pretty boy, he is a 5 years old, gelding.
Meet Romeo!
Romeo is a handsome, 3 year old, QH, gelding.
Meet Remmy
Remmy is a pretty 7 year old, mare.
Meet Peanut!
Peanut is a very cute 5 year old, mini horse, gelding.
Meet Prince!
Prince is a Cremello, QH, gelding, yearling. He is blind in one eye.
Meet Jasmine!
Jasmine is a very pretty 2 year old, filly.
Meet Novio!
Novio is a very cute 3 year old, mini donkey.
Meet Rocky!
Rocky is a very cute 5 year old, mini horse.
I want to sincerely thank every single person that donated to this auction rescue. Many of these horses are trained to ride and were once loved, that is obvious. And several have obvious health issues that we are concerned about. Their fate would have been an extremely sad, terrifying one if it wasn’t for you. So THANK YOU, you rescued them.
Shari – Oklahoma Shelter Manager
okshelter@horsehumane.org
