What You Should Consider When Rescuing a Horse from an Auction Lot

The Second Race from time to time assists with the purchase of auction/feed lot horses. These are horses that could be destined for slaughter to Canada or Mexico for European plates if they are not purchased. Our mission is to work directly with owner, trainers, and breeders at the race tracks, but with constant pleas and pictures that are hard to resist, we have assisted in the rescue of 12 horses to date via our designated 'Quarter Pole Fund'. Our latest assistance was to "Dan" a grey gelding orchestrated by Kara V. in New York. To learn more about this particular program go to http://www.thesecondrace.com/quarterpolefund.htm
Photo by Patti Walker

Here is a post we received and thought it was worth sharing from Helping Hearts Equine Rescue, that monitors an auction lot on the East Coast.


Bringing Home a "Direct from the Feed Lot" Horseby Helping Hearts Equine Rescue on Tuesday, August 24, 2010 at 6:20am

Please, be aware that horse ownership is not something to be taken lightly. Especially taking on the responsibility of a direct-from-the-pen-rescue-horse. We strongly recommend quarantine, as these horses have been exposed to a number of pathogens during a stressful time. Liken it to sending a child to school for the first time. They ALL get sick from other children's germs. Illness and vet bills is a fact of life when purchasing a Feed Lot horse. Horsekeeping expenses vary from region to region, but all experienced horsepersons will tell you that the purchase price is the cheapest part of horse purchase/ownership. With a direct-rescue, expect those up-front expenses to be higher than the norm.

I always get a little mental- twitch when I see a post offering to take in a horse if the bail, etc. are raised for it. I'm hoping that the person is aware of the EXPENSE and COMMITMENT of taking in a horse, and can afford it, especially with a directly-rescued horse. Sadly, lately, a few situations hve come to light of horses that need rescuing from their rescuers. When this sort of thing happens, terribly-- the horses suffer and the whole rescue-effort is looked upon with suspicion--accusations and mis-trust quickly follow behind that.

Please note that we do our best to post accurate info on each horse, but each horse spends less than 2 minutes being run thru the sale-ring, often the actual time is even less than that. Therefore, we cannot guarantee the accuracy of info about the horses temperament, soundness or training, as our notes are based on what is announced about each horse and our observations in a very short window of time--we are looking at dozens of horses every week in a very short period of time. The majority of these horses are WONDERFUL, and just need a bit of time to settle in. A few though, will need some work, may have been mis-represented by their sellers in regard to training and temperment. And sadly too, there have been a few cases of horses being much more "up" when they arrived at their new homes than they were in the ring. (sadly, some sellers "medicate" horses they offer for sale--If I think a horse at the sale may have been tranquilized, I mention it, I don't want anyone getting hurt). A question to ask yourself: Are you competent/confident to work thru these issues; or have the resources to work with a professional to assist in teaching your horse to be a solid citizen for you. Just because he's a low-priced rescue doesn't mean he's not worth the cost of professional assistance or training. (Sadly, I've heard that. "He was only $300, I'm not paying a trainer to work with him! It's not worth it!" -- makes me want to smack them)

Be realistic and be patient. I receive contact several times a week from Camelot-Feed-Lot-Purchasers whose horsers 'aren't working out'. I've helped network and rehome a good number of them. I've taken in a few who wound up being fine, the problem never materializing here. In a couple of recent situations where I was networking the horse, I later got calls back saying "never mind", that the issue resolved. The horse settled in, and became (1) less dominant in the pasture, (2), stopped banging at feeding time; (3) ground manners improved, etc. Horses are very social animals, they need structure, they need to know/understand where they stand in the social hierarchy. In the cases of social hierarchy/aggression in turnout----they've often had to protect themselves thru a series of pens and trailers packed wtih strange horses jockeying for position; In the case of bad-manners/aggression at feeding time, starved horses need to realize that they will be fed--every day--every time -- when that happens, they often become less anxious at feeding time and stop banging, screaming, kicking, lunging at the stall door, etc. But it takes time, sometimes weeks or months.

If you are unsure about purchasing an 'unknown quantity" from the sale list, please do consider adopting a horse that's been pulled by a rescue. Rescues get them in, QT them, vet them, evaluate them for training and temperament, often put training into them and the adoption contracts give you a safety net, should the horse NOT work out. Adopting from a rescue allows the rescue the resources to save another and repeat the process. YES, the adoption fee is more than the pull fee, but it is LESS than what YOU would spend to get a horse out of the Pen and up to that point.

This post is not meant to discourage the purchase of a Feed Lot horse, but is meant to make sure our prospective rescuers go into their labor-of-love with their eyes open.

Thank You.

Lisa (HHER)

When Good Intentions Go Wrong....

I woke up this morning to this alarming note from Helping Hearts Equine Rescue. Two days ago, I asked our network to help with the Thoroughbred mares with foals at their sides that a NY Breeder was attempting to quickly get rid of. We initially were told that the horses would be shipped the following morning to Camelot in New Jersey (an auction lot). The man that was making the decision to eliminate his stock, had to be off his property in 10 days, and from subsequent conversations had said he had been trying to find homes for the horses since November. Whatever happened to this person to make these decisions, was not at issue. What was at issue, were the horses and trying to re-home them in less than a day, while they were still available and safe.

Well, to my dismay (NOT shock), this is the message greeting me this morning. Read on:


ALL RIGHT FOLKS - The man Donald Jones, who asked for help with his TB mares/foals, is fed up with rescue & says he'll never call a rescue again and he'll never recommend ANY rescue again. So these horses are out of our hands -- God knows where they will wind up.

WHY? BECAUSE PEOPLE, DESPITE OUR REQUESTS, CALLED THIS MAN TO HARRASS HIM AND GIVE HIM GRIEF. They also called authorities to file complaints, claiming that horses weren't cared for. Colleen S saw the horses & facilities-everything was clean & well cared for, horses were clean and well -fed, buckets were scrubbed, etc. etc. . They even called the Tb racing authority and filed unjustified complaints with them.

THIS IS HORRIBLE, THIS IS A SMACK IN THE FACE for all rescues. He's now got a story to tell, a sadly TRUE story that rescues are BAD, that they won't help people/animals in need, that they cause problems. How can you expect people to rely on us or trust us to assist horses in need????

Never mind the fact that we cannot now help these horses. Where-ever they wind up ~~~ auctions, feed lots, slaughter, it will be directly due to the irresponsible actions and the "High and Mighty Attitudes" of some individuals. THAT is NOT rescue! THAT is just causing trouble and grief, plain and simple.

WHOEVER YOU PEOPLE ARE THAT MADE THOSE CALLS -- SHAME ON YOU!!!!!!!!


The following was my exact reply to this post:


This is exactly why as of today I will NO LONGER be involved with these situations. I am TIRED of the same OUTCOME over and over and over again! It's like a bunch of religious zealots shouting "witch" (yes, that has happened to me this week), and I am OVER it!!
When I created The Second Race, it was to work directly with race tracks, not auction lots and all the craziness that goes around it. This is no different.
The efforts were made, genuine conversations were handled with this man, and everyone knew the game plan (in the beginning), and I know headway was made. THEN someone thinks they have a better plan and like a ROGUE go out on their own and mess it up. I am done, done, done!
Now what, those who wanted the horses will have to pay the BROKERS ridiculous sums of money to bail out these horses, when they were FREE!!!!!!!!!! DONE! and yes, SHAME ON WHOEVER DID THIS!

So my conclusion.....the Internet works, and it doesn't. It's only as good as the people operating the keyboards. When will people who have no idea how a rescue works learn? (and in this case it WASN'T a rescue--YET), it was a person who genuinely was working with STRANGERS to solve his IMMEDIATE problem. I have to be honest I KNEW as soon as I saw that the person had given their phone number, there was going to be trouble and I wish I had said something sooner.

If we are to help the horses, then we need to respect those that are trying to do the right thing. We need to respect the group or individuals at the helm in these instances and their requests, and we need to make educated decisions that are in the best interest of all involved.

The Second Race was created to work directly with the race tracks, et al. But, with the Internet and social networking as our main source of re-homing horses; we have to respond when appropriate to other horses and needs. I know our network has made a difference, we have galvanized many times with a positive outcome, and we will continue to do so. But a line has to be drawn, to protect the integrity of many, including The Second Race. If "rescues" go bad over and over again, those that work hard to save horses or re-home them will ultimately lose heart and turn away and that would be the saddest outcome of all.