Saturday night was the auction. There was a heartbreaking group of 10 babies there that had been driven down from Oregon, over 550 miles. They were all so skinny, bedraggled and sad looking. Our rescuer knew that these had to be saved!
This poor horse was standing dejected looking, wondering why it had been thrown away like a worthless piece of garbage.
There were a lot of horses at the auction, but when the babies came in the bidding practically stopped. No one wanted to bid on the scrawny babies. Our rescuer put her hand in the air and all 10 were saved!
After the auction the babies were put in a pen together. They were bewildered and confused, but glad to still be together. In all we rescued 17 horses at the auction and agreed to buy another 10 babies that were part of the group that were at the auction, for a total of 27 precious lives saved from slaughter!
Our rescuer worked late into the night making sure each horse was settled in.
Early Sunday morning our staff and volunteers were driving to the shelter.
The rescue rigs were hooked up, supplies were loaded and they headed off.
The first stop was at the fuel station. Moving horses takes a lot of what is becoming more and more expensive fuel.
Arriving at the auction the horses that were saved were all very curious and friendly.
The halter had been left on this sweet stallion so long that sores were worn into his gentle face.
We were told that he was an artificial insemination baby. No doubt his breeders thought he was going to be amazing and that he would never be an “unwanted” horse. This picture was with his registration application that was never sent in. We love getting background information on the horses we rescue!
Now he is a beautiful 4 year old stallion. It’s horrible how people breed horses, neglect them, and then throw them away.
The babies were all waiting to see what would happen to them next.
In the group is an albino baby who definitely has some eye trouble going on.
The horses were all evaluated to make sure they don’t have any injuries.
This horse has the terrible habit of windsucking on panels.
This is a really beautiful paint. To give you an example of how bad off the economy has made horses, and why nobody should be breeding, this is a 2 year old registered American Paint Horse Association gelding who is nicely trained on ground work and a real sweetheart. The winning bid for his life was only $60. Don’t breed, color and training will not save a horses life!
This is a registered Thoroughbred stallion who is also very sweet with great manners, who is going to be gelded soon too. He was born on February 21, 2006. We will have to wish him Happy Birthday! His registered name is Tiz Again Roused, so we will call him Tiz.
This little pony spent the whole night in the auction ring. He is blind in one eye. He was really confused. We are not sure what is going on with him but both sides of his neck was shaved and around his eyes. We’re not sure why someone would do that. Any ideas?
It was finally time to get the horses loaded and to safety! The babies were the first to load.
They were all so happy to hop in the trailer once one of them decided to be first. As you can see in this picture the albino just doesn’t look perky.
Then it was time to load the big horses. This boy was such a dream to handle and load.
All the horses were safely loaded and ready for the trip to the shelter.
One last check of the horses and…
…they were on the road.
Yet another stop at the fuel station. Hundreds of dollars were spent in just fuel.
The babies were patiently waiting to see where they were going. They have been through so much in their short lives.
Finally the babies got to get out of the trailer and into their waiting pen. They were so happy to relax and stretch their legs. The auction rescue story will continue in the next blog…
In the mean time, while you are waiting to read the next blog, we are posting the horses on Facebook and asking for names, so if you want to help name horses, visit our Facebook wall! Click here.
