On my soapbox AGAIN!!

Posted May 1st, 2010 by Nealia

I cannot believe or get used to the weather.  First it was kind of cool and today it was almost hot. We had no in-between days to get used to the heat.  The horses heated up pretty darn quick, so we took it a little easy on them today.  Everyone worked well and Dr. M has turned into a speed queen, rackin’ rider over the last few days.  Wednesday she rode 9 horses, 4 of which were gaited and each ride got more aggressive than the first.  Today while she was riding  Anne had a new student (a small girl) and her dad was out watching Dr. M.’s rides.  After about 3 horses for Dr. M, I turned to the father and said, “See how long you will be paying for lessons?” He laughed and said “I was just thinking that”.  I gave him my standard answer and said “Horses are cheaper than drugs and rehab”.  If you are wondering, he did sign his daughter up for more lessons.  The few kids that came out today got to ride a bunch of the rescues besides riding in their lessons, so needless to say there were a bunch of happy kids today!

Speaking of rescues it always amazes me on how people think. We at Saddlebred Rescue work really hard to give an accurate, professional appraisal of the rescues.  We try and have professional type photographs, and good CLEAR videos of the horses working. We have done before and after videos (case-in-point, Power Ranger). We will not and do NOT ship out sick, injured, lame or dangerous horses…. EVER!!!!  Plus we have a return policy with every horse we place.

I watch a bunch of people on a website band together and raise money, find homes and place horses that are untested in any way.  I commend you all for your effort and kind-heartedness.  What I do not understand is over the years this has been going, many, many horses that have been placed are sick when the new owners get them, lame, do not ride worth a crap and sometimes, all of the above. I read  about the failures on the same website that placed them in the first place and no one seems to even pay attention.  Plus, these horses are purchased and there is no return policy EVER!! It is a big buyer-beware pit!!!  The pictures that are taken are a joke, the video is only 30 seconds long and it is always of the horse going up a driveway (the @$$ end only) and returning back down. Sometimes the horse has on a bridle, sometimes not.  There is never a saddle and the rider is bouncing around with absolutely no form.  When I watch these videos I see horses that quit, spin, will not go forward, rear, are lame, flip their heads, will not wear a bridle and a bunch of  other training problems.  The group of do-gooders on the website makes excuses, like the rider is heavy handed, the horse is frightened, the horse is confused, and the horse has a bad shoeing job.  All of this is from a 30-second video. GIVE ME A BREAK!!!!  We (SBR) have been told we need more pictures, we need more videos, we need outside riding pictures, we need different equipment,  we need different riders, and the list goes on, in order to place our horses.  The same people that tell us they need more and more, are the same ones that jump through hoops raising money, calling friends and posting on other boards to find homes just to place the untested, unhealthy and the unknown, in homes that most have no idea who the new owners are and where they would be going.  MOST of the horses placed are never heard from again.  They will not even look at our horses because they are safe from being shipped, or not needy enough for them to care about.  Or BETTER yet, our horses may cost a couple of dollars more.  Do you know WHY our horses are not as needy looking?  That is because WE FEED THEM TOP QUALITY FEED AND HAY, WE SHOE THEM, WE WORK THEM, WE GIVE THEM SHOTS. All of this costs money;  that is why our horses cost a little more. What is wrong with people when they act so irrational?

SBR is supposed to jump through hoops so these people can entertain themselves by watching our videos and looking at our beautiful pictures showing the transformation of our rescues, and then they help place the other horses and do not help ours find homes. We have a great track record of when a horse is placed we go save another one that would be going to slaughter. We actually do not use scare tactics to get someone to adopt our horses. We actually care about our horses going to the RIGHT home, not just get shipped off to …………somewhere.

The bottom line is if these people really cared about saving horses they would stop feeding their adrenaline high that they get from feeling like a hero and they would start helping  SBR place as many SAFE, SOUND, HEALTHY AND TESTED horses to homes where we KNOW WHERE they are going.  This is the way to save the MOST HORSES in the long run.

Stepping down now!

I wish people could see the big picture with the rescues.

I wish I could do more for these horses.

I am THANKFUL that we can do what we do for the horses.