Every so often the
stars align and mysterious things happen, as if it were fate falling into
place. This past weekend was one of those moments when I felt the stars align
for Ellie and I.
It was only a few
weeks ago when someone commented on my youtube video of Elegance, aka 'Ellie' and I had responded saying if she was ever not
wanted I would gladly take her back. Little did I know what would happen in the
weeks to follow.
Ellie was born March
28, 2003 as a Thoroughbred intended for the race track. She had some training
before they realized that Ellie really isn't a fast horse and didn't have a
heart for racing. She retired from racing, with no starts, and sound. I
purchased her from a horse trader that had a connection at the track and helped
to sell ex-race horses.
I brought her to the
placed where I boarded, Reidall Farms. There I retrained her using natural
horsemanship and we could do canter pirouettes and ride bridleless and play at
liberty. From there we moved around a bit as I tried to find a farm that had
everything I wanted... with a reasonable price. We boarded at Equine Oasis and
Bellewood Equestrian Centre. It was along this journey that I also
purchased Thetis. Thetis and Ellie became best friends.
Thetis and Ellie
showed together and trained together. They were very similar, but Ellie was
easier to ride because I'd had her longer so she was better trained, and also Ellie
is naturally more of a pokey/slow horse which makes her easier.
I made the decision to
sell Ellie because I needed to sell one of my horses to help keep paying the
bills.... if you didn't know this already, horses are expensive! One of the
ways I would both help cover my horsey expenses and help horses was to
own a couple horses at a time, one of which would be a project to
train, and when they could be safely sold I would sell... and then repeat the
process.
I sold Elegance to
Larissa, who wanted a calm show horse to gain her confidence on. Larissa
enjoyed her for a year, and then contacted me when she wanted to sell Elegance
and move on to a different horse. I was boarding at West Ridge Farm at the
time, and already owned a few horses so I couldn’t take her back - instead I
helped Larissa sell Elegance and find her a new home.
She was sold to a lady
named Melanie, who with her coach Diane seemed to really know their stuff. I
was convinced Elegance would have a happy life.
It wasn't until Friday
January 18th first thing in the morning, when a former student and part boarder
of Elegance saw her photo posted on Need
You Now Equine (NYNE).
NYNE is headed up by Tracey.
Basically Tracey takes
pictures of some of the horses that come to the Ottawa Sales Barn for slaughter
in the hopes of finding them new homes – if they aren’t rescued then they do go
for slaughter.
Tracey posts the
pictures to facebook with as much information as she can find out – some of these
horses literally have days before they go for slaughter, so if you see a horse
on NYNE you have to act fast if you want to save them. Tracey helps coordinate
the sale of the horse - she helps you buy the horse from the 'kill buyer'. He
charges the 'meat price'. All of the horses I have seen on NYNE are priced
fairly cheap, with Elegance being the most expensive at $800.
When I saw Elegance
posted on NYNE I acted fast. I restrained myself from texting Tracey every
minute, but that was difficult... I wanted answers and I wanted to save Ellie
immediately. I knew time was of the essence.
The picture and
description mentioned Ellie was injured with a puncture wound to her hip and
that she wasn’t sound right now.
Between texting, and
emailing I was able to find out the information I needed. Tracey
also told me about another person, Marina, looking to save a horse she
knew, Moro Moo. I got in touch with Marina and we worked it out that we would
drive down to the feed lot together to save our horses. I emailed the $800
money transfer to Tracey to pay for Elegance, and our plans were set.
Sunday, January
20th was windy and frigid cold. I was lucky to have my assistant
coach Marcie to cover my lessons for the day so I could leave first thing
in the morning (although bad weather meant they were canceled anyway). Marina
arrived bright and early with Thoroughbred racing trainer, Marko.
We hitched up
and rolled out of the driveway at 8:30am. The roads were actually
pretty good until we got near Ottawa, then there were some ice patches
and I literally was driving about 20km/hr. Surprisingly we only saw one
truck in the ditch!
On the long journey I
heard the story of Moro Moo - Marko really is a caring trainer, and Marina a
loving former groom of 'Moo'. Marko had trained Moo and Moo had won many races,
despite being a little crooked in the legs. Marko said he had given her away to
be a broodmare, and was very shocked to find out she was headed for slaughter.
Marko loves all of the horses he trains, and he is committed to finding good
homes for them when they are done their racing career.
Marina was the former
groom of Moo, and similar to me it was someone else that had shared the
facebook photo of Moo with her. As soon as Marina recognized Moo she started
contacting friends, family, and Marko to get Moo rescued and coordinated the
whole effort.
We had a long journey
with many stories shared, but as we approached closer to our destination the
butterflies started turning in my stomach, and many questions filled my head: - What would this place look like? How injured would Ellie be? Would Ellie be able to load on the trailer because of her injury? What would we see?
As we pulled up the
road, it was easy to see the right address despite no number visible at the end
of the drive. Massive steel buildings with giant lettering spelling out
'live stock'. As we pulled in it was horrific to see just how many loading and
unloading docks there were -just how many animals are at death's doorstep at
this place?
Literally chute after
loading chute, and barn after barn. Marko said 'this is a scary place I tell
you,' and he was right.
It makes you think –
the average person goes into the grocery store and buys meat, but doesn’t
actually think about what that animal had to go through to get onto the dinner
plate.
Tracey greeted us at
the side of the building, which warmed the atmosphere a bit. We got the trailer
ready and grabbed our lead ropes and blankets and headed into the barn. To my
surprise our 2 horses were at a holding cell right at the entrance we came
through - so we didn't venture through the depths of the labyrinth of barns and
holding cells.
From what I could see,
there were no other animals in sight, and when I asked Tracey about the other
horses she said they were in the back barn. The space we were in was dark, but
with clean shavings – but who knows what it’s like in the 'back.'
Ellie looked so
defeated, injured, and so weak. Moo was the opposite - she seemed to know where
she was and wasn't having any part of it - as soon as she saw the daylight of
the entrance open she tried to dart through. Marina and Marko tried keeping her
steady as they haltered her and blanketed her.
Ellie seemed dead
inside and stood there. She still had her auction number “2589” glued to her
side, a rack of ribs, her pelvis, hip bones and spine outline completely
visible, and yet all 4 of her shoes still on. Her back legs so stocked up, and
her injured leg so swollen with the puncture wound oozing a yucky yellowish
pus.
I had to rip Ellie's
auction number off of her body - it was glued so hard to her body that I
couldn't take the number off her body without ripping off some of her fur.
Ellie was so dead she didn't even move. I tossed her blanket on her - the same
cooler I used for her when I owned her a few years ago.
I had a chance to ask
Tracey some of the questions I had been dying to know. She explained that every
Tuesday there are auctions at OLEX, an auction place in Waterloo. This past
Tuesday there were 54 horses that went through auction. Of those, 17 were
bought by the kill buyer she knows (another 25 were bought by another kill
buyer and direct shipped to the meat plant. Of the 17 horses that went to
‘Tracey’s Kill buyer’ there were 7 that seemed sound/sane and had a reasonable
chance of having a second chance so she took their pictures and posted them to
facebook.
Of those 7, Ellie and
Moo were rescued, and another Standardbred was to be picked up Monday. Tracey
said she's been doing this for a year. She has a respectful relationship with
the kill buyer - she doesn't cause problems for him, she just posts the
pictures and if someone wants the horse they pay the meat price.
Out of respect for the
relationship that Tracey has with the kill buyer, I won't disclose the address
of the kill buyer's feed lot.... because if he feels that people are coming
uninvited or causing more trouble than they are worth, then Tracey won't be
able to take pictures of these animals and save the few she can.
Tracey explains that
this particular kill buyer does care about the horses – so unlike most kill
buyers, he allows Tracey to try and sell them first, but if they don’t sell
they go for meat.
Tracey then said that
Ellie got injured on the way from auction to the feed lot - which isn't
surprising based on the loading and unloading methods I've seen from auction
houses.
As we went to lead the
horses out of the loading chute to our trailer, a stock trailer with cattle was
starting to back up to unload. We had to ask the driver to wait a couple
minutes so we could take the horses out.
We led the horses out
to the trailer - Ellie barely could walk and nearly fell, and Moo was so desperate to
get out of there that Marko had to hold her tight.
As we loaded our horses
onto the trailer they positioned the stock trailer to the chute for unloading.
Moo walked right onto
the trailer, and settled - as if saying "phew, this looks like a real
horse trailer, I must be going somewhere safe now." Ellie struggled with
the trailer - she was trying but her back legs were very weak, sore, and
stocked up.
Just beside us they
started unloading the cattle by beating them with a cane and zapping them with
an electric shock stick. There was no patience or respect for the animals - and
this was all with unfamiliar and public eyes watching.
I could see Ellie
give a huge effort and she forced herself up into the trailer - luckily she
loaded.
Both horses were
attacking their hay bags - who knows if they were being fed or what sort of
conditions they were in for the last few weeks.
As we went to pull out
of the driveway another stock trailer was pulling in - that place really is
busy and deals with a lot of animals.
The experience was a
big eye opener for me – I never really thought about what my hamburger had to
go through… but perhaps I should.
The drive home was
slow, but filled with more excitement of our success and rescue mission. We
didn't arrive back to Partridge Horse Hill until 10:30pm. We unloaded carefully
and Ellie struggled her way into the barn. We put the girls into stalls where
they started eating hay right away.
We took a few photos,
exchanged some hugs and best wishes. Moo will be picked up later by a new loving
home that promises to keep her forever and treat her like a princess.
Tracey also gave me
Ellie's passport. From the passport I can see that Ellie was passed around a
couple times and was owned by Joseph, a coach/trainer, and then ended up with
one of Joseph’s students. I was able to get in touch with Kylie, Ellie’s last
listed owner on her passport.
Kylie told me that she
bought Ellie to show the hunters, but fairly soon after she purchased her,
Ellie kept going lame after jumping. Kylie said it was really inconsistent,
they could ride her and jump her and she’d be fine, but then after a couple
times she would stop, not want to go, and then be lame. They tried giving her a
couple months off, x-rays, and injecting Ellie’s hocks thinking it could be arthritic
but the vet couldn’t diagnose Ellie.
Kylie ended up giving
Ellie to her trainer, who gave Ellie to a rehabilitation centre at the end of
November, 2012. It is unclear what exactly happened after that, because the
rehab centre didn’t keep in touch about Ellie, and Kylie was just as shocked as
I was to see Ellie posted on NYNE just 2 months after Kylie gave Ellie away.
What’s worse is that Kylie says Ellie was in good health when she was given way
– she even went with her winter blanket and rain sheet, but now Ellie is
severely under weight.
Kylie said her trainer
followed up with the rehab centre after seeing Ellie posted on NYNE – she
didn’t speak to the rehab centre directly, but seems to think that they did do
some tests and found something with Ellie that couldn’t be cured so they sent
her to auction…. Apparently the rehab centre said they had a high reserve bid
of $1000 to ensure she wouldn’t go to a kill buyer…. But I guess that didn’t
happen since I bought her for $800 from the kill buyer, and the kill buyer
definitely wouldn’t sell at a loss.
I am still in the
process of finding out more from Kylie to see if I can get in touch with the
rehab centre to find out what tests they did and what they found out – I will
keep you posted!
These girls have no
idea how close they came to death's doorstep... or maybe they do.
Thank you Tracey,
Marina (former student who spotted Ellie), Marina (Moo's former groom), and
Marko!
