My name is Phillipe and this is my story… “He’s just an old used up Draft horse” I heard them say as I came off the trailer at the auction yard. With every step I took, I felt pain. My hoof was cracked and it was extremely painful with every step.
I was so skinny that you could see almost every bone in my body. They lead me into a small pen in the auction yard and tied me up and left me there. I didn’t know what I had done to deserve this, all I had ever done was work hard all my life plowing fields day after day. When my hoof cracked I was too lame to work any more.
I wondered what would happen to me now. There are people at the auction who buy horses specifically to be shipped for slaughter. They came and looked at me, they were trying to figure out if I could be fattened back up to bring a better price at the slaughterhouse. I begin to feel so helpless, wasn’t there anyone here who would actually care about me? One lady came up and looked at me and patted me softly, I could tell she was nice but she was only one in a huge crowd of people. After standing on my poor sore hoof for what seemed like forever I was run through the maze of alleys into the auction ring. The auctioneer was loud and I heard numbers being shouted off. Then I heard the word I dreaded most: sold! I knew what that word meant and I could only imagine that the kill buyer who was looking me over had won the bid on my life. I was put into a back pen in the auction yard, it was dark and starting to rain. I was scared but didn’t know what to do other than just stand there with my poor aching hoof. Then that nice lady came who had petted me softly earlier and told me that everything was going to be all right.
I found myself in another trailer loaded up with horses heading to Horse Plus Humane Society. When I arrived at the shelter they had a team of equine professionals waiting to help me. They gave me a full medical evaluation. They all acted surprised when they looked at my teeth to figure out how old I was, I may have looked like an old broken down draft horse at the auction, but I was only 10-12 years old. They all were surprised by my age and seem to be very happy about it. They spent a lot of time looking at my poor injured cracked hoof.
The veterinarian said I would need to be sedated and put under anesthesia so my cracked hoof could be worked on easier and it would be much more comfortable for me.
It wasn’t long and I found myself very sleepy and laying down. While I slept their farrier and veterinarian worked away on my cracked hoof.
They spent a lot of time working on my hoof to make it better again and the farrier trimmed all my other hooves while I was asleep too.
When I woke up I felt a little confused. When I finally got to my feet again I noticed that my hoof didn’t hurt so bad anymore. Before with every step I took I would feel a shooting pain, now it was just a little dull pain. I knew I was in an amazing place with lots of people that cared about me and were trying to help me. I have been at Horse Plus Humane Society for 27 days now and I’m in adoption pending to a wonderful home!
My hoof is healing and it doesn’t hurt me anymore. The people here have done nothing but love me, feed me and let me heal both physically and emotionally. I’m not as skinny as I used to be, I feel that spark of life in me again. I haven’t felt that in so long. I tried to tell these wonderful people in my own way how grateful I am but then I heard them say something that scared me. “If we had not gotten those extra donations for the last auction rescue we would not have been able to save this beautiful boy.” Those words hit me hard. There are other horses out there just like me that deserve the love and respect that I have found at Horse Plus Humane Society. The Rescue Team will be going back to the same auction where they saved me at. There will be horses there like me that desperately need their help but they cannot help them without the support from people like you.
Will you please make a donation right now, it will be the difference between life or death. The auction is tomorrow and the horses need you! Give now and share my story to help bring awareness of horses like me who were suffering in the slaughter pipeline. – Phillipe ~ Slaughter Pipeline Survivor
Watch a short two and half minute video of Phillipe’s journey with us – Click Here.
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Horse Plus Humane Society
P.O. Box 485, Hohenwald, TN 38462
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Horse Plus Humane Society is a 501(c)(3) non-profit animal welfare organization, tax ID #20-1156396.