9/10/09

All rested, sorry I wasn’t back sooner. Talking about horse rescue and my mom’s story of how we were saved from slaughter is hard. It has been pretty busy around here with all the attention I am getting. It was still dark out when I was born but soon afterwards the sun started coming up over the hill. I was still wet and tired when the humans came to meet me. There was a really nice man that first touched me, it startled me a little but I soon realized I liked being touched. At about the same time a woman came running over from next door, she seemed very excited to see me too.

She and the man spent a really long time touching me and admiring how handsome I was. I couldn’t understand what all the fuss was about but they kept talking about my mom being a paint and me being an appaloosa. They said it was pretty rare this happened and my daddy must have been an appaloosa. I am not sure what that means but I think that an appaloosa is still a horse. I hope so anyway.

I saw my mom for the first time and boy was she pretty! I know all babies love their moms but I was really lucky, she was so nice to me and so beautiful. My mom licked me all over, her warm tongue felt really good on my wet hair. I was laying down resting and she kept pushing at me with her nose, I liked her touching me. The humans stood back and let mom and me get to know each other. After a while I realized that mom wanted me to stand up, that is why she kept nudging me. My legs felt so long and weak, this wasn’t going to be easy. I tried a couple of times until finally, I was on my feet! Wow, what a weird feeling that was! It took me a couple of minutes but soon I was walking. I stayed close to mom but was moving around on my own. Once I got pretty good at the standing and walking part I was hungry. Mom stood near me and I soon found my very own drinking fountain, right under mom! Wow, my mom was beautiful, loved me and had the best tasting milk ever!

Technorati Tags: adopt horse, horse abuse, horse neglect, horse rescue

Dustin’s Blog

My name is Dustin and I would like to share my story.

I almost wasn’t born, how sad would that have been? My mom Lyric, ended up in a terrible place when she was pregnant with me. She said she was sent to an auction and the only person that put a bid on her was a man that took horses to Mexico for slaughter. She said that people in other countries actually eat horses! She told me that it is not legal in our country but that doesn’t stop people from driving over the borders with truckloads of American born, innocent horses. It makes my stomach turn.

She said only a few of the horses at the auction were bought by what appeared to be nice people, most were bought by this horrible man and others doing the same thing. She said she was ran into an overcrowded trailer with other horses for the long ride to Harney county, Oregon where she was put in a field with no food or water for a very long time. She watched as her horse and cattle friends died off one by one from starvation and dehydration. She ate dirt, chewed on tumbleweeds and anything else she could find to try and survive.

I know that while I was growing inside her, it was taking a toll on her already starved body. But my mom is strong and it was her will to survive and take care of me that kept us alive. Well that and the people that saved us. In April of this year (2009) a group of people came to where we were living. From what my mom said, they had badges and shirts that said HSUS and Sheriff, they looked pretty official. They brought food and water for the others and us. My mom said she ate and ate until she could eat no more. Some of the other horses were too weak to eat on their own so they were given extra attention and a special wet kind of food. A few days later, trucks and horse trailers started showing up to where we were. Mom said all the horses were very afraid when this happened because it was horse trailers that took them to the awful place they were at. The horses were loaded into the trailers and taken away.

Some of the horses were so weak that they could hardly make the short walk to get in the trailers. Others were running scared and had to be put into chutes and loaded loose. She said there were 47 horses, including her that were still alive but 60 of her horse friends didn’t make it and were dead on the property. She said there were also 20 cows that died the same horrible death. My mom said she had a horse friend there that was close to dying, she watched as a few people stood around this horse and talked about if she could be helped or not. They decided to give her a chance and very slowly led this starving, weak, white horse to the trailer, unsure if she would even survive the ride. Mom said she never saw her friend again and was worried sick about her. It wasn’t until much later that mom over heard people talking about her friend, the white mare, and learned she was named Mercy by one of the people that saved her. From what I have heard, Mercy is fine now and even up for adoption on this website! How cool is that? My mom and most of the other horses were taken to a nearby ranch while Mercy and some of the other really sick horses were taken to Sandy Huey’s house from EVEA for special care.

What a relief mom said when she saw there was food and water for everyone at the new place! I still wasn’t born yet but mom was able to get stronger and that meant I could grow healthier too. Mom said that we stayed at this ranch for a week or two eating and resting. She said she kept seeing Sandy every couple of days or so come in and take more horses away to go to her house or foster homes. The day it was our turn to leave, Sandy took my mom and another mare that was pregnant too and brought us to a wonderful family to get better. Mom said it is there that she was named Lyric and the other horse was named Natifa. She said the people were really nice and gave them good food and lavished attention on them. Mom said she had a bit of a hard time because she really has trouble trusting humans. She said humans have not always been nice to her and it is going to take a while before she can trust them. Mom said we lived there for a couple of months getting everything we needed.

Then one day, Sandy showed up again with her truck and horse trailer. Mom said Sandy took just her that day and took her to home. Mom said it was really confusing being moved around like she was. A few weeks later, Sandy put my mom in the trailer, again. This time it was for a very long drive, all the way over the mountains. Once again, mom soon realized it was another good place to be, lots of food and care. There was grass for my mom to graze on and more really nice humans. It wasn’t long after this that I was born. Anyway, I am very tired and it’s naptime for me, going to get a snack from mom and take a rest. I promise I will tell you more soon.

To visit the rescue group that saved me go to: www.eveahr.net

Technorati Tags: abuse, horse rescue, horse slaughter, neglect, oregon