Out of the frying pan into the fire, and so on…
Dec 25 2009
I’d like to know more about this story. I just found out a farrier in Oklahoma, Dawn M. Hahler, has been charged with animal cruelty and the locals are telling me there are 50 or more dead horses on her property? Whoa, if that is true, that’s almost another Three Strikes. It hasn’t hit the media yet, apparently, but click on the documents and read them. Check out the part about how she burned a dog in a trash barrel… I’m not sure if it was dead or alive at the time. She’s a real winner, apparently.
Here’s the case information.
I found her myspace. My mood would be “weird” too if I had 50 dead horses lying out back! She tells us “i also have an animal rescue and i take in all animals as you can also tell by the 2 wolves who i use to educate children.” Boy, sometimes you can show the world you’re most likely a nut case with one simple sentence and that would be a good example!
She is also a farrier and has tried to portray herself as a miniature horse specialist, apparently by pretending to be employed by farms that didn’t use her. Read all about it here.
But here’s what I really want to talk about in connection with this case: How someone can get so damn many animals that 50 starve to death out back, and ultimately, where the blame lies. This was the classic faux rescuer – she acquired a great deal of animals, from a variety of surrounding states and it sounds like most were acquired in a short period of time, with of course no thought given as to how expensive they were going to be to feed and care for. I don’t think she can blame the economy – my farrier still has more business than he can keep up with, and I’m betting yours does too.
For example, she got two horses at this 2008 Arabian Auction. You know when I tell you that no auction is really safe, not even registered horse auctions? Especially when you let them go for a whopping $100 and $200? This is why. I am sure no one wanted PA High Expectations and PA Rainbeau to wind up with a person like Ms. Hahler. ‘Course, it sounds like the Passion Arabians dispersal was it’s own special kind of train wreck. Yeah, Bank of America auctioned the horses after everybody involved with PA discovered – wait for it – most people don’t make money breeding horses.
(I know that you have all fallen over in shock at this revelation)
You know when I yell at people for breeding a gazillion horses while being on shaky financial ground? This is why. From someone on that thread “A friend of mine is there right now and she said what a mess. They are kicked up , bit up , and thin. She said the yearlings look stunted and the weanlings are off their Moms and they shouldn’t be. She said mares with foals on their sides and they don’t know who the mares are let alone the sire. Very sad.” Yeah, you let things get like that, and some wind up with Hoarding Crazy Beyotch…no, really? Shocker!
There’s a post about those horses from Passion Arabians that I think is extremely educational, so I’m going to paste it here, but it was the work of ABH member “Cassie.”
“I found a two page ad from Passion Arabians from the AHT in Dec. ‘04.
Lot #/Name/Advertised price/[Eventual]Auction Price
1 PA Nickelodeon $7500 $100
2 PA Karisma $15000 $200
3 Azah $10000 $700
4 MD Willow Bae $8000 $100
6 Aieshah $15000 $500
7 Preciousmoment PA PT $1900
9 Psonia VF $30000 $4500
12 PA Country Afire $10000 $5600
15 Kaelin Amon Khan $10000 $100
16 Mi Khismet(IFT Marwan) $15000 $5900
18 Jasmyne VF $15000 $2600
20 Alada Majic $15000 $3400
30 PA Fury $7500 $1000
32 PA Cylebrity $6500 $475
34 PA Hi-Spirit $8000 $350
35 PA Hi-Expectations $8000 $200
36 PA Hi-Chrome Finish $7500 $500
37 PA Pshahmadre $5000 $225
38 PA Hi-Fashion Bey $5500 $775
40 PA Jorhas Legacy $10000 $4500
42 WR Miss Beyhavin PT $1200
49 PA Master Khopy $10000 $300
52 PA Mark Me Famous $7500 $1500
Granted these horses are nearly four years older and the market is down, but wow! What a difference. “
OK FOLKS. ARE YOU READING THAT? ARE YOU? ARE YOU?
This isn’t about the market. This is about what happens when you overbreed and you let the current condition go to shit. I am so very tired of seeing the ads where the person wants (insert high dollar amount) for the horse and shows you the horse’s show ring pictures from five years ago. Then, when you go look at the horse it is skinny and it desperately needs remedial farrier and veterinary/dental care. So it DOES NOT MATTER that the current owner paid $10K for it or it won $200K on the track or whatever, their lack of care has rendered it a $200 horse. You know, I can buy a Mercedes and then whack it 36 times with a hammer and bang it into a couple of solid objects and throw out the alignment and break the windshield and it’s not going to be worth $60K anymore, either. The difference with the car is that I can most likely fix for sure, whereas a horse may never come back 100% from neglect and lack of normal basic care like hoof trims and dewormings.
Of course, the current owners never want to accept the responsibility for the dramatic decrease in the animal’s value. They argue that people are “trying to take advantage of them” while they’re down and out, that those eeevil buyers and rescuers are trying to “cherry pick” the good ones and pay nothing for them, and that there’s nothing wrong with the horse a $35 hoof trim won’t fix. They argue, and they stomp their feet and they stubbornly refuse to sell until the choice is taken out of their hands. They lose their property, or the animals get seized and auctioned by the sheriff, or their creditors order a sale, and then the skinny, long-footed, once-nice horses go on the block.
That was exactly the case here. They tried to have their own production sale in 2005 and then stopped it, having a hissy fit because the prices did not go high enough to suit them. Of course, they did not stop making more horses at that point! NOPE! Breed, breed, breed away, no idea who the mares were even bred to! Thank heavens for DNA or no one would ever have known.
So, once everything totally deteriorates, what kind of person buys a horse in that condition? Well, it’s a total crap shoot. Sometimes it’s a decent person who has the funds to fix them up and is willing to take the gamble, and sometimes it’s someone like Hoarder Hahler. But one thing is for sure – their odds of a good home have dramatically decreased from the days when they were worth $10,000 – or even $1500! Someone who has $1500 in hand to spend on a horse is a lot better risk in terms of coming up with $200 a month in care than someone who has $100 to spend. Don’t ever think your stock can’t sell that low. Anybody’s stock, no matter how nice, can sell that low if the condition goes downhill far enough.
So if you know things are heading south financially, and a home you can verify as a decent one makes you an offer on a horse – take it. Don’t stomp your foot and sit on the horses, letting them starve and go without care. Disperse sooner than later, and your horses will have a much better chance of a successful future. I cannot think of one single case I’ve ever seen where someone who was in financial trouble decided to hold firm on a price that ended up with them receiving that price. It’s inevitable – the animal(s) can’t be maintained and things go from bad to worse. Stop thinking you’re going to win the lottery or things will turn around and place them early, while you still have some control over where they go.
Now it’s going to bug me until I find out if those two horses are still among the living. Anybody local to Tuskahoma, Oklahoma know anything more about this case or which horses made it out alive?
118 comments to “Out of the frying pan into the fire, and so on…”
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I just saw a formerly abused (but cute) Paso for 5k here in Palm Beach who needs someone “experienced.” I think some of these people are f-ing nuts. I can get a child’s horse for less than that.
I seriously think that if I knew I was responsible for 50 animals starving to death, and did nothing to stop it, I would literally kill myself! Really~how do these people lay down and sleep at night? I will never understand, it makes me so sick to hear this happening over and over…..why do people think they just HAVE to have horses when they know damn well they can’t feed them, much less pay for any vet care, farrier care, etc. Boggles my mind! :-/
http://horsefilleddays.blogspot.com/
I don’t get that, either. I could never lay down and sleep if everything wasn’t taken care of for one day. I have crawled out of bed with pneumonia to do chores and I’m sure most people reading this blog have a similar story.
But that’s it – a mentally normal person can’t stand by and watch their animals suffer. That’s why they classify hoarding as a disorder…if you can stand by and watch them starve and die, something really is wrong with you.
The one thing I have noticed about just about ALL these people is that not one of them, not a single one, appears to have missed a meal themselves.
So, they sat there, feeding their faces, whilst their animals starved to death outside the window.
What sort of a person can do that?
It is an insult to the genuinely incompetent to call them “insane”!!!
In regards to Dawn feeding her face while her horses were starving, kind of chuckles me. I know it sounds weird to laugh at that statment but while she was on the road trimming horses feet she would eat at Sonic at least twice a day. When I first moved out there she had over 20 dogs, two cats, 17 large horses, and 3 mini’s. By the time we left she had acquired two more dogs, 7 more cats, and 12 mini’s. When I saw the amount of animals she was being charged with, i was shocked and dismayed, and wondering what happened to the rest. I could only think the worst, considering her lack of judgement. People seriously need to feed their animals, if they want that many, before they feed themselves.
She is also a farrier and has tried to portray herself as a miniature horse specialist, apparently by pretending to be employed by farms that didn’t use her. Read all about it here.
Actually, the CMHR is not a ranch but the Chances Miniature Horse Rescue! That, to me, is WORSE than playing off a farm name, as these people are a highly respected rescue!!
Those poor horses… hopefully justice will be done.
She honestly did work for some reputable clients, that are widely known. I know this because I have spoken with them over the phone and set up appointments with them while I was working with her. I will not mention their names because I know some of them are trying to get their animals back from her. I hope justice is served, and quickly.
The idea of trying to explain to someone that lack of care decreases a horse’s value — I think I will be soon having that conversation with an in-law. They haven’t mistreated their horse, per se, but he’s been running wild and hasn’t been ridden more than a handful of times in the last several years — and was only greenbroke when they bought him. I see in my future a conversation about why they can’t sell him as a fully trained horse…
WOW…some people never cease to amaze me…
May you burn in hell with the rest of them Dawn Hahler
her quote from the Riding-Room Forums: ” ok im the mini farrier specialist that has been talked about on this board in the past and trying to set up clinics in NZ
guilty as charged lol ”
………..yes, GUILTY AS CHARGED as you should be……….
DEFENDANT DAWN MARIE HAHLER WAS CHARGED WITH COUNT #1,#2 AND #3 CRUELTY TO ANIMALS IN VIOLATION OF 21 O.S. 1685-1719.1
My question is why were there only 3 charges against her if there were so many dead on her property??
Merry Christmas Dawn Hahler, may you rot in hell.
It was probably a strategic decision.
Not every dead animal is a case of animal cruelty, and each count has to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. If the county brought charges for every animal, not only do they have to prepare an individual case for each count, her defense gets to focus on the iffy ones and use phrases like ‘overzealous prosecution’, which in turn clouds the stronger cases, especially in front of jurors.
Also, if she’s facing 50 charges instead of 3, a judge might be tempted to lessen the sentencing by low-balling the fines or letting jail time run concurrently instead of consecutively. The judge might anyway, but no one wants to be the guy who sentenced someone who didn’t feed their pets for longer than a rapist.
I’m not trying to say whether that’s a good or a bad thing, just that most people will always consider harm to animals a lower order crime that harm to humans, even if the animal harm shows more willfulness, cruelty, or any other indicators that the perpetrator has no place in society.
I think most of us here have done that Cathy. I remember one year I had the flu, and was so weak I could barely stand up, but I still drug my butt out to feed. I remember carrying the bucket a little ways, stopping to rest and having to literally sit on the bucket until I could get up, and go a little further. Our horses depend on us, and we have to do whatever it takes to make sure they are taken care of. If you’re not willing to do that, then you shouldn’t have horses (or any animals), in my opinion!
http://horsefilleddays.blogspot.com/
AMEN!!!
Good for you!
I’ve done that before. I had a cold a couple months ago and I still dragged myself out to feed the 14 horses. I was exhausted and wheezing like a sick moose by the time I was done, the the little horsies need to eat.
Me too! I was sick in bed with pneumonia, shoulda been in the hospital. I couldn’t stand up for more than 5 minutes without vomiting or falling down. It took several tries and was late morning by the time I was able to drag my sick butt out to the barn to feed but, damn it, they got fed. My husband fed the evening meal though…I was whooped! I was sick in bed for 4 solid days and I’m no weenie, only getting up to feed the horses when hubby wasn’t available. It took me 6 weeks to fully recover, that’s how sick I was but not once did my animals go without feed.
Cathy, this is off topic from this post but I’d really like to see you do a post about people who keep horses alone. I mean really alone, like not even a goat for company. This is one of those things I really hate to see and since your blog is fairly high profile I was thinking you could take a shot at it.
Well, I keep my horse alone because I can not afford another horse nor another animal of any kind. If I bought a goat I would have to change my fencing, which I don’t have money for. I know my horse is lonely and hope in the future to buy her a companion, but not until I have funds available. I did have another horse with her for a year, but she had to be put to sleep. Some people simply can not afford two.
I agree with you – it is better to have one horse that you can take care of than to have two who will stretch your resources beyond their limits. Yes, they are herd animals, but they adjust to their solo life.
I have a neighbor with one horse. He can see and “talk” to others who are about half a mile away, and he is fine being alone. We frequently have bear and coyotes and the occasional cougar in our fields and he has suffered no ill affects.
that’s a really good point. An aspect of horsecare that I think a lot of novice owners may not know about, either.
Horses being herd animals, it’s really unacceptable for them to live totally alone. Most horses will develop sleep deprivation because as a prey animal, their instincts tell them it’s not safe to go into deep sleep without some kind of a buddy around to keep watch. And sleep deprived horses can be dangerous to the owner, as their fatigue can cause them to drag their feet and trip when ridden.
IMHO, it depends on the horse and the situation. Companionship is low on the health and safety priorities for many horses. Yes, some will fret themselves to pieces with anxiety when alone; others take it in stride and thrive. Most of the starved horses in this story would have been fine in a devoted one-horse home with feed, health care, a job, and attention. My 26 year-old proud cut gelding spent much of his life alone and was closer to me and better behaved when he didn’t have a herd of other geldings to ‘manage’. He was less wary, less edgy, more compliant and kept weight on better when alone, although he has been healthy his entire life. A lone horse might never had known any better, or have had a bad large herd experience and appreciate the comforts of their home. It’s just not a survival need.
I completely agree — it depends on the horse and the situation. I think your phrase “devoted one-horse home” says it all. Hubby and I were recently considering horse property, but we would have had to keep my horse alone. Since I work from home and tend to spend a lot of time with him, I think he would have missed other horses, but not to the point that it would have caused him a lot of anxiety. Certainly he would have been more dependent on me for companionship, but that would be okay, because I’m in a position to provide it. Sleep deprivation also shouldn’t have been a problem, since there was a small barn on the property and I would have stalled him at night. All in all, I would rather keep him alone and be able to afford the best care for him, than have two and be at risk for not being able to afford an emergency.
Does anyone else find it alarming that her full SSN and other info are up there for the world to see?? I mean, she deserves to be thrown in jail forever, but to have her ID stolen because the court was too lazy to scribble it out before scanning the documents is pretty crappy, especially if that were to happen to someone who was actually innocent.
I didn’t even notice it but that is inappropriate and I’m shocked that it happened. Someone at the court was VERY much asleep at the wheel if things got uploaded with her SSN!
What happens to the horses who don’t have homes? What happens to all those fifty dollar horses? What happens when rescues are overwhelmed? When animal control can’t place them? Where do they go?
The number of these cases seems to be on the rise. Yet despite this fact, no one is talking about why hoarders have so many more horses than they can afford. Everyone must assume its the economy. It’s an easy scape goat, what do you think will happen when the economy does improve? Will the price of horses really go up. Will there be more hoarders or fewer? Why?
What is the base value of a horse these days? This is a trick question, because their isn’t one. When websites like dream horse has added a desk top link to “free horses” isn’t that saying something?
Fugly believes with faith reserved on to the fanatic that horses ending slaughter would improve the lives of horses. I don’t which is why I’d be shocked if you ever see this. (I have posted many times and every comment censored ) But I don’t write this for all I eyes, I write this to the coward who runs this blog.
Wake up fugly. You scream and throw temper tantrums about how “tired” this makes you. This only the beginning. As the economy its going to get worse. Set your jaw, let that voice scream “you’re wrong!” But ask yourself this, what happens when people have more money? What happens who people feel more secure and you can still buy a horse for fifty-bucks? Do you really thing fewer people will buy these horses?
“But when the economy improves so will the price of horses?”
I ask you why is that? Think about it. Will a better economy really increase the number of knowledgeable homes to provide for these horses? Hows your war against back yard breeders going? Has there been a measurable drop in equine births since you started this one man war? Or have the numbers risen because everybody can afford to buy a horse?
What of these fifty dead horses? How many months did they suffer? How long did it take them to die?
Starvation
Starvation results from the inadequate intake of nutrients or the inability to metabolize or absorb nutrients. Itconsists of three phases. The events of the first two phases occur even during relatively short periods of fasting, but the third phase occurs only in prolonged starvation and can end in death.
During the first phase of starvation, blood glucose levels are maintained through the production of glucose from glycogen, proteins, and fats. At first glycogen is broken down into glucose. However, only enough glycogen is stored in the liver to last a few hours. Thereafter, blood glucose levels are maintained by the breakdown of proteins and fats. Fats are decomposed into fatty acids and glycerol. Fatty acids can be used as a source of energy, especially by skeletal muscle, thus decreasing the use of glucose by tissues other than the brain. Glycerol can be used to make a small amount of glucose, but most of the glucose is formed from the amino acids of proteins. In addition, some amino acids can be used directly for energy.
In the second stage, which can last for several weeks, fats are the primary energy source. The liver metabolizes fatty acids into ketone bodies that can be used as a source of energy. After about a week of fasting, the brain begins to use ketone bodies, as wells as glucose, for energy. This usage decrease the demand for glucose, and the rate of protein breakdown diminishes but does not stop. In addition, the proteins not essential for survival are used first.
The third stage of starvation begins when the fat reserves are depleted and there is a switch to proteins as the major energy source. Muscles, the largest source of protein in the body, are rapidly depleted. At the end of this stage, proteins, essential for cellular functions are broken down, and cell function degenerates.
In addition to weigh loss, symptoms of starvation include apathy, listlessness, withdrawal, and increased susceptibility to infectious disease. Few creatures die directly from starvation-they usually die of some infectious disease first. Atrophy (wasting away) of the stomach weakens the perception of hunger, since the perception is controlled by the percentage of the stomach that is empty. Victims of starvation are often too weak to sense thirst, and therefore become dehydrated.
All movements become painful due to atrophy of the muscles, and due to dry, cracked skin caused by severe dehydration. With a weakened body, diseases are commonplace. Fungi, for example, often grow under the esophagus, making swallowing unbearably painful.
The energy deficiency inherent in starvation causes fatigue and renders the victim more apathetic over time. As the starving horse becomes too weak to move or even eat, his or her interaction with the surroundings diminishes.
Foods high in bulk but low in protein content often cannot reverse the process of starvation, thus hay (assuming the horse can eat) is not an adequate food source for horses one starvation has begun.
The second stage of starvation can be prolonged indefinitely, but once the third stage is reached, horses can suffer up to fifty days before dying.
Do you still deny that this is happening to more horses? On a larger scale than previously? The economy is your excuse but its theirs too and don’t they use it to effectively, retaining horses longer because the “economy did it.”
What happens when you can’t blame the economy.
Must we bring back slaughter? No. Not if someone mounts a campaign among the rescues with an effective euthazation program. And we’re not talking ten horses, or twenty. Approximately one hundred thousand a year. Such a program will force the price of low end horses back up to six or seven hundred dollars. I fear the day when horses were worth 1000 just because they’re a horse is over. But the low end market needs shoring up because it protects horses from danger. Sure there will always be hoarders. It cannot be stopped, but it can be mitigated. For this to happen you either need a massive ethanzation program, or a massive “catch and release” where tens of thousands of horses are bought then gelded or spayed, and resold into the general population- rescue horses regardless of quality are spayed and neutered. Obviously these animals will no be desirable to breeders, but that alone will drive the price of breeding stock up and out of reach for many to most back yard breeders. The result will be volatile as back yard breeders scream for their rights.
Of course this solution isn’t good for people addicted to the high of “rescuing.” Instead it would have to be someone who really cares about horses. Who here really cares about horses? Who here really wants to end the suffering? Who here can step up to the plate?
The way I see it Fugly is in a unique position to actually change things better for horses. Instead she is weak, concerned only with the high of making fun, the feel good of rescue, and indignation of being “tired of this shit.” But she is not about solution. She is about rhetoric.
Her rhetoric did not help these horses. Oh many of you will step in to “help” now, but that’s after fifty died. And there are so many cases out there- I know here mailbox is full- that the suffering of one is forgotten because the hundred is better news, will get more outrage, and ultimately fugly more attention.
What scares you so much about my words fugly?
“(I have posted many times and every comment censored ) ”
That is a flat out lie. I have never censored a comment of yours. EVERYBODY’S comments are moderated. That does not mean they are censored or changed in any way. It merely means that I read them first and if two bickering posters get down to the “I know where you live!” level, then that goes bye-bye.
And I can’t figure out from your post how you think we have some major disagreement. I want euthanasia programs. I want gelding vouchers. I’ve talked about these things many times. You might want to read more before you comment. Ideally, I want them government funded. The people of America created this problem by overbreeding and not having a plan for how it would be trained and fed and shod and whatever – so their taxes can help solve the problem by subsidizing euthanasia. Considering how unpopular that will be, it will have a side benefit of making breeding horses you can’t care for EXTREMELY socially unacceptable.
“Has there been a measurable drop in equine births since you started this one man war? ”
Ask the registries. They’re all having shit fits because registrations are down. I’m not saying I caused that single-handedly, of course not, but do I think I’ve been a contributing factor? Sure. I get regular e-mails from people who say they did not breed their mare because of this blog. I don’t believe there are any kind of accurate stats on grade horses, so of course there’s really no way to tell there.
The things I say did not help these horses – you’re right. But YOU have no way of knowing how many POTENTIAL situations like this have been avoided because someone came here and learned that you don’t make money breeding low-end horses, or learned how expensive horses really are to keep, and never created the mess in the first place. That’s not just people who read the blog. It’s people who KNOW people who read the blog. People who tell their family and friends not to breed, and explain the benefits of buying one that is already here.
Like many people, you seem hell-bent on opposing me without ever having thought any of it through. But hey, that’s your right. I’ll continue to post your comments. I never didn’t.
Fugly, when I first met one of my friends at the new barn where I just moved Panama, she asked me, “Do you read Fugly Horse of the Day?” I’ve been reading your blog for at least a year. When two people in Littleton, Colorado who don’t know each other discover they both read the same blog — THAT’S how you know you are getting the word out. I don’t have any doubt in my mind that you are making a difference.
First, I find it hard to believe that your comments would have been ‘censored’. JMO
Secondly, what have you done to spread the word about over breeding and the need for change? Have you reached out to people online trying to educate about what over breeding creates? Because Fugs is not on Capital Hill with a troop of supporters behind her, then she is not making a difference? **sigh** Sounds like another self-righteous spout-off to me.
I have learned more about the reality of the horse over breeding problem here then I ever did anyplace else. I am able to come here, read about the mess people have created, follow the links provided and actually make up my own mind! I don’t have to agree with any of this! But, I find that the facts are just that. Facts!
When people stop putting the lure of the all-mighty dollar first and start using the brain that each and every one of us was granted, the number of horses going to slaughter and being starved in backyards will slow down. It doesn’t take a blind man to see that.
I think you’ve done great work publicizing the problem, offering up solutions besides slaughter, etc.
On a macro level, we’re going through an inevitable contraction of the horse market caused by overbreeding running flat on into a bad economy and increased awareness of good humane horse care… There are still extra horses, and many will go to slaughter, at least for a while. I suspect that when it’s all over, the low-end horse market will be more or less gone, and horses will really be a luxury item. It will be tough for a while, but better for the horses in the end. Perhaps it will be a better world if the standard accepted option is euthanasia and horse owners are (in general) people who can afford euthanasia and would not think of running their horse through a low-end sale in hopes of making a few bucks. But we are not there yet and it may take years to get there.
Quietann, that is a perfect description of what I believe will happen. No, it won’t happen overnight and there is going to be a lot more suffering and death before it gets better. Sorry, I’m not going to tell everybody there’s a home for every horse and we shouldn’t euthanize simply because of expenses or because no appropriate home can be found. I live in the real world and I know there’s no fountain of money to solve this problem and euthanasia often IS a lot better than the alternatives. However, I also know every little bit helps. I got a Yorkie-Chihuahua out of the shelter a month ago – she’s getting spayed this week. So that’s one little designer dog that ISN’T going to spawn 40 more to die in our shelters. Every single time any of you choose to adopt from a shelter instead of funding a puppymill, or you keep an animal as a pet or, in the case of a horse, as a riding animal only, there is absolutely no telling how much impact you might be making. Every little bit adds up and pretty soon real change has been accomplished.
No one is going to fix this problem alone but if we reduced the production of horses enough, slaughter would be gone – horses would be more rare, therefore more valuable, and therefore too precious to make steak out of. And if the supply of horses were less, there would be more homes eager to jump up when a horse did fall into a bad situation. As my regulars know, I am not anti-breeding. I think quality animals should continue to be selectively bred – that goes for dogs, cats, horses, whatever. However, every single good breeder I know is either breeding less right now, or taking a short hiatus. EVERY ONE. This is just good common sense. Shame it’s so rare.
I dunno what scares FHOTD.
What scares me, and what would gain you an automatic refusal to post on any blog of mine, is your total plagiarism and lack of source citing.
http://www.mhhe.com/biosci/ap/seeleyap/digestive/reading5.mhtml
Although I supposed you will claim you write for that site. Anyway, I quit reading closely after your first two paragraphs, because I didn’t have the time to spend figuring out what you were trying to say. Something about how since there were a lot of horses starving, we should eat them. I got that part. Oh, and horses weren’t worth anything now, so we should eat them, so they would be worth more. Got that part too.
Mind you, I think you are nuts, but I got the message, anyway.
Charm, I just wanted to thank you for pointing out the plagiarism in that comment. I’m a freelance writer and I was having a hard time deciding what made me angrier, what they were saying or the fact that they copied and pasted in order to say it.
Im glad you point that out. If someone is going to copy and paste information, at least put quotations around it and put a reference to your information. I have to do that every day when writing papers for my classes, you would think a blog would have the same common courtesy.
I dont care if you sensor raybixler1 or not, but I do wish that someone would proofread for him before his post hits the air. Honestly, Ray, I don’t know if I agree with you or not as I had too much trouble following what you were trying to say because it is so poorly written. After the first paragraph I moved on. You would do much better to get your argument heard if it was layed out in an intelligent fashion.
How?! Why?!
I don’t understand how someone can have that many horses and go outside to find fifty of them dead and simply say ‘Oopsie!’ and live like nothing happened! If I couldn’t feed my horses, I would first start getting rid of things I don’t need like internet and cable. Then, if I still could not afford to take care of them, well, maybe I could lease my horse or something.
And how could you ever want to have so many animals?! I love my pets at home but even I know when enough is enough. I don’t understand how you can simply let a stallions run amok with mares and other stallions believing that everything will be okay. It only takes one stallion and one mare to create a herd of horses, it takes two horses to start a fight, but it takes one person to make a wreck out of horses.
One stallion with a mare in the front yard, and one stallion with the rest of the mares in a back pasture. Just thought I would add that tidbit in there. Unless things changed after I left, that is how she kept it. She at least knew that two stallions could not live in the same pasture together without causing a fight.
As far as I can find out, the sheriff only filed on part of the animals and plans to file further charges later so the sentences will not run concurrently.
Supposedly, the horses are in the care of the Tulsa SPCA but that is not confirmed either.
What I hate the most about cases like this, are the people who defend these idiots!! The “defenders” need to keep a few things in mind. If you let your horses get in this condition, it does not matter “what a great person you are” or “how much you love animals and were just trying to help” or “you can’t help it that you fell on hard times”. In the horse world, I have run into several scenarios. I have come across people who bought a horse a year ago without having the proper education to care for a horse, and now realize that was a big mistake and are willing to cut their losses and just find the horse a good home. I actually went to look at a TB for sale a few months ago who had been “rescued” by a lady who really didn’t know anything about horses. He was nice and fat, had a shiny coat, and was used to being handled regularly, although his ground manners were not great because she’d allowed him to be pushy. Also, he had horrendous feet because no one else at the barn ever had the balls to say “hey, you know your horse needs to have his feet done every 6 weeks, right?” It was the first thing that popped out of my mouth when I saw him, and she was disappointed that no one had offered this info to her before. His feet weren’t like some of the others we’ve seen here, but they were big flat pancake feet with rings going down them and still had his shoes clinging to the bottom. I explained to her what a healthy hoof would look like compared to her horse’s foot and she was thankful for the info. What she chose to do with it, I don’t know, but she was willing to just give me the horse at that moment because she admitted she was in over her head and felt guilty having a horse that she didn’t even know basic care for. I ended up not being able to take him because the house I was buying fell through, but I gave her a lot of good info on placing a horse and avoiding the meat man and she was really appreciative. Okay, so THAT is an example of someone who had good intentions because they love animals but just weren’t really set up to do it. THOSE people tend to realize this a few months down the road, and while they’ve done some good (he did look very healthy otherwise, and she’d kept him on individual turnout because she didn’t like him getting picked on in the pasture, and his stall was nice) they realize there is more to it than that and try to get the horse to a better situation. Luckily, they usually can, because at least this was a huge, pretty, clean, shiny, nose and feet trimmed, sporthorse type TB who, hopefully after a few corrective shoeings, would be ready to start a new career and she was willing to just GIVE him to someone to help him out with that. That’s a completely different story than someone who refuses to see that they are in over their head, unable to provide an animal’s basic needs, and allows the situation to continue even when others are willing to take over. I don’t know if it’s pride, arrogance, lack of empathy and compassion, or what, but those people need to be trading baseball cards instead of horses.
Good for that lady.
And the thing is, she knew she was in over her head but was willing to learn. Hopefuly she will be in a position to own a horse someday in the future, and when she does, she will be one of the “good owners.”
Im happy to see that lady actually understood that she needed to help the horse instead of getting to far over her head. I wish other people would realize that when they take on animals, such as Dawn. If she would have realized she couldn’t take care of the animals properly when she only had a few then a lot more lives could have been saved. I wish all people would think like the lady in the story you told us.
The old saying “Knowledge is power” is perfect for this kind of situation. I read Joe’s TBFriends blog this morning and for the second time this week have had my heart break because of his tales of horses processed to slaughter — before Christmas he didn’t have the cash in hand (and the driver wouldn’t trust him to have the money by tomorrow) and this morning a load of Quarter Horses from a ranch out of California, including several pregnant mares, was already on its way to Mexico.
If someone gets a horse and knows NOTHING about it, don’t they know about books, magazines, resources like barn owners, other horse owners, shoers, vets, the Internet?? It’s more than getting a bay horse and saying it is “brown with black stockings.” Owning a horse means understanding basic care like feed, feet, shots, etc. If your barn owner is a control freak and makes all the calls, basic care is taken care of for you — the vet and shoer show up regularly, then the owners are presented with the bills for their share, payment due immediately. If you have a barn owner that only does feeding, cleaning and maybe blanketing and turnout, then YOU are responsible for the remainder and even simple observation should show you that there are horse people who come to the barn and work from their trucks. That probably means you’ll have to have that kind of work done on YOUR horse, too.
Duh.
But I don’t understand having 50 dead horses in the back yard (oops indeed) or keeping a bunch of walking skeletons in a pasture without provisions. I don’t understand begging for money that doesn’t go toward horse care or purchase, either, but then that’s just me.
Keep up the good work, those of you who rescue or who offer advice, and keep calling if you see neglect or abuse. Some people are truly clueless, some are in denial, some are embarrassed. And some, quite frankly, belong in front of the judge. We domesticate animals, we are responsible for their health and well-being. We are their stewards and should behave as such.
Right on.
And any barn owner, even the non-pampering kind, is running a business where there’s some kind of tacit assurance that the horses in their care are getting good care. Even if that means educating or reminding boarders, especially since not keeping up-to-date with things like worming and vaccinations can put other clients’ horses at risk.
The boarding barn where my horse lives is definitely non-pampering—but the contract still includes that vet and farrier care must be kept up-to-date.
Please don’t call these monstrosity pieces of human excrement a farrier. Farrier’s are professional equine podiatrists who take their job seriously and care for the horses in the highest level . This piece of excrement is a a person who may be able to put a shoe on half ass or trim , but she definitely is not a professional farrier, because she obviously has no sense of value twords her horses nor other animals from what I have read on your blog today.
I am married to a professional farrier who takes his job seriously & cares for both his equine friends & his clientele deeply and educates them in both equine nutrition & hoof care and he highly respected in both the US and abroad.
I would not call her a professional farrier, however, I did know that she cared for HER CLIENTS horses, more than she cared for her own. She loved her animals but she just did not show that in the proper way. You can’t come home and give your animals love and attention, but not take them to the vet or feed them properly and expect people to feel sorry for you when you get taken to jail for neglect. She cared for the clients horses and well being until she got over her head with her business as well. She had to many clients and kept having me call for more and more, no matter how much I kept telling her that we were overdue locally when she wanted to go further out in the country to trim. She needed to step back and take care of her own life and cut her losses and get her animals help before taking care of someone elses. She makes me sick.
Dawn Is a HORRIBLE farrier, and I would be extremely embarrassed to say I worked with her. Over the last year, we have taken over many of her clients whos horses feet she was ruining. She did not understand the concept of balance, let alone corrective shoeing, as she proclaimed herself to be an expert in.
There are many large farms that gave her horses, I know of one that gave her a horse shortly before her arrest. These farms are not completely innocent. C’mon. You can look at the woman and guess shes crazy. Have you seen her myspace pictures? It baffles me that the miniature horse world is in such shock over this. It is irresponsible to keep giving someone horses, having never seen the condition she keeps them in.
And as far as I am concerned, the people that were there and worked with her, and saw the condition of these animals, are just as much at fault as she is for not reporting her and putting a stop to it.
I can understand how you would be angry with the way things went with Dawn over the last year. I worked with her before things go this bad. When we started noticing the horrible conditions we left over a year ago. We did call the police and the sheriff department, and countless shelters in OK to find someone to take her animals. Push County would not let anyone do anything because they said “they had no one to take the animals” when many people were going to them to get her animals out of there. I do not condone what she did, I wish she would have sat in jail longer than 22 days. I wish she would still be in jail so she could NEVER hurt another animal again. Our dog was in bad shape because of her. She still owes us back-pay in wages for working for her for six months. When we first started things were great all of the animals were healthy with no problems. Then she started buying up more animals than she could monetarily take care of and tried to blame us for them getting sick when she wouldn’t take them to the vet or get one out to look at them. So we left and tried what we could to get them help. Push county didn’t do anything until now. As far as I knew her clients horses were being taken care of, at least they were for 6 months, after that I don’t know what happened. It was just her and a guy that could barely tie his shoes and he was supposed to help her trim. What a joke he is.
@raybixler1:
I wonder whether you could provide the reference for the information regarding the stages of starvation detailed in your post?
Seely, Stevens, Tate (2001) Starvation. McGraw-Hill. Accessed from http://www.mhhe.com/biosci/ap/seeleyap/digestive/reading5.mhtml
I couldn’t afford to pay someone to BURY 50 horses, let alone feed and provide for all their needs. Plus, no way could I hold up to cleaning 50 stalls. But wait….I guess she probably didn’t feed, provide the correct care, or clean the stalls for those 50 horses.
*chuckle* she didn’t have stalls. The mini’s were housed in a barn (until after we left apparently), the large horses were housed in about 15 acres of pasture with no shelter except trees. The other two large horses, out of the 17, were left to roam the front yard. The dogs, six or seven of them, were chained up in the yard; about 5 kept in the house; and the rest roamed around in the yard. I hated to chuckle but when I say “clean 50 stalls” I realized that she didn’t have that. I cleaned the mini’s “stalls” in the barn and it was pretty big barn able to keep about 6 round bales of hay. She just added a fence going out of the barn into the yard so they could get some sun on occassion.
Joe’s Morning Journal again today was about QH ranches from other states shipping all sorts of horses to Calif. to go to the kill buyers for cheap, including pregnant mares. What part of the poor horse market did those people fail to understand when they had the mares with the stallions last spring! You have to wonder how many other ranches are just letting them starve this winter.
Loosing Snubbers on Monday has really hit me hard & I haven’t been able to work with my horses this week. But I’m out there feeding & watering & checking them over twice a day. I feel guilty that I am not doing more but have needed to give myself space to grieve. I can’t even imagine the wacked out brain that lets a person just let them starve.
I sent Snubbers’ halter to Joe at TB Friends & told him to use it for his rescue horses in her memory. I got back a very nice note from him. So if you see a photo of one of Joe’s rescues w/a red halter, that just may be hers.
sagebeasties.blogspot.com
I’m sorry to hear about your loss. I’m sure Joe will put her halter on a very deserving horse.
Oh no, I’m so sorry you lost Snubbers. At least have comfort that Snubbers had care and happiness with you.
I’ll be watching for the red halter on TB friends, Snubbers’ legacy.
Doesn’t AQHA support slaughter on the one hand while touting their jillionth AQHA registration? Everyone else with a brain and an eye on proper care (and the cost thereof) is cutting down or cutting way back. Letting a broodmare go unbred for a year is not a crime. If she is older, there may be issues with getting her in foal after a year off, but it’s not a bad idea to give the poor girl a break while not overpopulating the horse world. Of course, there are some that insist a horse “earn its groceries,” thinking a foal on the ground is proof the dam/sire is paying its way. I’ve never understood the logic of that, but then I’ve also written about the woman who leased my gelding years ago and her husband refused to feed it because “geldings weren’t worth anything.”
Old Morgans, sorry about your loss. It is a difficult time whether you know it’s coming or it just happens, but I’ll be looking for that red halter ;o) I’m sure Snubbers is glad her stuff is going to a good cause, and it just doesn’t get any better than TBFriends, imho.
I just saw a news story last night on KOMO TV 4 about an unexpected horse born. The baby looked very cute, mama looked good, and the surroundings were nice, but they said the baby was totally unexpected. Now they figure out last winter during a cold spell, they put all their horses together, including stallions and mares, so they would be easier to take care of during the bad weather. These people are breeders, but they didn’t expect turning out stallions and mares that this could happen??? Just because somebody has a flashy horse, or horse farm, or seems to be experienced . . . well that does not make for a responsible horse ownder or for any common sense or intelligence. Stupid.
I know this family, they are not stupid. They may have taken the risk because of an extreme circumstance (it was a heck of a lot more than a “cold spell”, we got nearly 3 feet of snow here and that’s practically unheard of) but it’s not because they didn’t realize it couldn’t happen. Just because the news made light of the situation doesn’t mean the situation or the family is accurately portrayed. Just sayin’.
Oops, that should say “could happen”.
I just bought back my mare I sold in April. Of course I told them she had already been bred and was very showy when in heat. Therefore, she would possibly be easily bred and should be kept away from the stud, which was supposedly kept in a different pasture. I bought her back and of course she’s bred. So come May-June, I am looking at seeing a baby. Luckily I have the extra vet fund and space for one. I am still thinking about what I will do with the baby. I have plenty of time to make up my mind, but I’m afraid of putting a filly/colt that is a rocky mountain pony/grade horse cross on the market. You and I know where it would end up.
@phatpony1:
Excellent point. Neither of the two self-proclaimed farriers are listed with AFA. Legitimate farriers conduct themselves as professional businesspeople; and many if not most are professional horsemen. Like veterinarians, for example, they belong to professional organizations, which are a good source of continuing education. The AFA (American Farrier’s Association) is an example. I’ve requested a blog on this subject because it is important and many horse owners (and more importantly their horses!) could benefit from the information.
well… horses are USUALLY anestrus in the winter. They’re seasonal breeders – momnature has them breeding and foaling in the warm weather when there is plenty of food. OOPS!
Perfect example of any horse is only worth what the buyer is willing to pay. As to whom is responsible? Some people won’t even take care of their own children. A animal never has a chance with them. Sad.
redmountain, in defense of those breeders, many mares do stop ovulating during the winter months, although different studies have reported different percentages of mares that are anovulatory during that time and it is, I believe, a function of latitude, which determines day length. Back when I lived in Lexington, KY, it was very common for breeders to put mares under lights in the winter in order to get mares cycling regularly for breeding in late winter/very early spring.
So, they probably believed that it was unlikely that any mares would be bred during the time last winter when all the horses were together. I am a big believer in Murphy’s Law, so I would always figure that it would be just my luck that a mare would get bred in that situation, which is what apparently happened in this case.
No, sorry, this sort of thing should NOT happen. I have two stallions, two colts and three geldings as well as the mares. If they had to go in together the males would all go together and the females would go in another field.
If I tried putting the males in with the females, apart form the fact that I would, as these idiots did, get a foal born at Christmas, I would also have the males constantly fighting, so it is hardly worth it.
Extreme weather happens, I have had my place flooded and I have had it knee deep in snow. I coped without putting any stallions in with the mares.
If you cannot cope in an emergency, you should not have the horses, end of story!
IF, as I suspect happened, they put a stallion in with some mares knowing full well that they could get a foal, and were ready for the foal, I see no reason for the sensationalist story. Just a way of lying to get attention, and I HATE that!!
Totally OT – I just saw an ad on craigslist selling horse cookies that linked to this website. One of the pages pictures a cute horse that she lost – “he cut an artery under his jaw and died.” Looking at the picture, it’s not hard to imagine how he found something to cut an artery on. http://www.saltboxpastures.com/id37.html
aargh.
And I quote, “It’s not about what you’ve done, it’s about what God has done” (which I could barely read because the text is dark on a dark background.)
I truly sympathize with their loss, but no, it IS about what YOU’VE done. God didn’t give us free will in order for us to waste it by ignoring our responsibilities.
I live in Oklahoma and first heard about about this horrrible situation this morning. It is awful, beyond words. I am not sure where the horses have gone at this time.
I keep my 31 yo AQHA gelding alone. He does just fine. We have an occasional ‘horse’ friend who visits regularly but he seems content by himself. I have owned him for 23 years, I have owned other horses and he seems the same way whether he is alone or with another horse. Yeah, I know horses are herd animals but some probably very few might be different….that would be my old guy.
I have a retired 16 yr old quarter horse mare who is like that also. She has no interest in other horses. Does not care for most and will start snaking her head, pinning her ears and lifting her back leg a la bitchy mare. She would rather be alone with her food as long as there are humans around. She much prefers humans to other horses. Because of that, she lives 100 feet from the house where she can watch our regular comings and goings and be part of the human action. I dont think you can say anything is true across the board. There are always exceptions like this.
I don’t know if it’s been mentioned, but Joe@ TB Friends blogged about Quarter horses today. Apparently ranches from other states are dumping them into Calif. Feedlots, and they are going direcrtly to Mexican slaughter. Pregnant mares and all. I guess he missed a truckload, but will try to save another 20 , that he’s heard are coming in to his state. He mentioned all of this pointless breeding, just to have them go to Mexico.
Does anyone know what happened to PA Nickelodeon?! I know this horse and if he, by some miracle, is still alive I will find a way to assure a good life for him.
I’m an idiot… wrong Nickelodeon. I need to learn to use AHA database before I type.
@raybixler1
A few years ago (before the economic shit hit the fan) when I was looking for a young prospect, I found a breeder who had a filly and a colt that I fell in love with both of them. They were so equally enthralling that I was faced with a decision. If I were in the grocery store and couldn’t decide between Vanilla Swiss Almond or Cherry Garcia ice cream, I would buy both; but this was not an option here. So I reverted to the mantra of my upbringing, which is: fillies are better than colts because in a word, they have a uterus. I didn’t have any specific plan to breed my new dressage partner, but thought that could be an option down the road. But now after following Fugly’s blog for a couple of years, that is not going to happen for a long time, if ever. So count me as one for whom Fugly has made a difference.
I definitely feel fugly has made a difference. Somebody gave me a mare and I thought what a nice cross with a Belgian. Then I started reading fugly and did not breed the mare. She is doing fine and is a real sweetheart and will never be bread. I have learned a lot here, especially how to take care of the older horse, since one of mine is 32. Now he gets soaked senior feed and any hay that he can eat. My others are also in their twenties and I feel this blog has definitely helped me learn more, even though I am in my fifties and have had horses all my life. My horses are better off for this blog and the things I have learned here, and there is 1 less fugly baby running around. So fugly, keep up the good work, because you are doing more good than you realize or will ever know.
Oops – repost – damn tags:
Here is a trainwreck of a “bad rescue” situation I came across on an aussie forum. The moron original poster was indignant that the RSPCA had paid her a visitScroll down to see pictures of this poor poor animal.
http://vichorse.com/forum/index.php?t=msg&th=106292&prevloaded=1&S=5f3faa3b460b93d5c97ba8b5e15fb4ef&start=0
And the response when a vet nurse offered to buy her:
http://vichorse.com/forum/index.php?t=msg&th=107688&start=0&S=45d499b768689eb97df523ed6dcba995
But if you keep reading, you’ll see that this vetnurse was lying to the current owner, telling her that the mare would get all kinds of advanced treatment — when clearly the vetnurse would have put the mare down immediately. Smacks of Mesue, doesn’t it? Make a bunch of promises, subject the mare to hauling, take her out of a place she’s comfortable in, and end her life in a strange place — all based on year-old photos.
Would euthanasia be the best thing for this horse? Perhaps. But no one can make that decision from a year-old photo.
No – Mesue sold on ok horses at auction to kill buyers. THis lady seems to be wanting to save a crippled, malnourished horse from a deluded individual who seems incapable of providing essentials to such an animal, such as dentistry.
BASED ON YEAR-OLD PHOTOS. At least go SEE the horse before making such a decision.
Wow, update from Joe@Tb Friends…He placed all 20 Feedlot Quarter Horses!
this is so sick!poor horses.. i could never let any animal starve they eat before we do. even if we are sick we care for them i remember one year the kids and i had pnumonia so we bought the baby goat who needed to be bottle fed every so many hours into the house and put him in a large dog crate so he could eat on time. and this economy stinks! its not just horses suffering. i also have reptiles i have one bearded dragon who the owners wanted to make a quick buck because she is a pretty color. she has metobolic bone disease and them trying to breed her resulted in her getting mauled by the male and her skull broken litterly. i took her in an now she may loose her eye all because shes a pretty yellow color. i also took in a frilled dragon whos owner starved her to the point she has no muscle left shes a rack of bones she couldent even lift her head yet her owner looked pretty well fed.vet said she would die shes too far gone. that was two weeks ago shes gained some an just started walking again. sad thing is the owner wanted $130 for her like that and if he couldent get his money he didint care if she died. i couldent let her stay with him
Where did you hear/read all the details about the 50 horses, dog, etc. if not in the media? I didn’t see those specifics in the link to the court documents.
The usual source – horrified neighbors and locals who know about this blog. That’s why I said “if that is true.” The part we know for sure is that she’s been charged with neglecting a horse and “mutilating” a dog. It’s common for the authorities to start with a few charges and add on as their investigation progresses.
I was afraid to read all the charges for fear it would give me more information (like about the dog) I couldn’t handle. I thought maybe it was gossip gotten out of control, but doesn’t look that way. I may have to avoid the whole story when it comes out.
A friend of mine was researching this for me online and wrote me the following:
“I did just find another court document that states there are 12 large horses, 5 miniature horses, 15 dogs, and 3 cats located on her property that are emaciated and in dire need of food and shelter.”
That’s 35 animals altogether…
I was quite confused when I read “50 horses dead” on the property somewhere. After we left the guy who stayed, his girlfriend, would feed me information to try and get Dawn caught. She had mentioned that animals had passed away, and had told me which ones. However, I know that Dawn has never had fifty horses on that property. She has had almost 30 dogs at one point and about 25 horses, if you include the mini’s. I still wish I knew who finally turned her in. I want to shake their hand.
Bravo to all of US (:o) who trudge out to feed the critters, even with raging fevers, hacking coughs or full body casts (half kidding). In preparation for “the worst of the worst,” we should all make the acquaintance of someone who can be called upon to top off water buckets and toss flakes of hay. This is not rocket science, though it may seem like it when we’re sick and have to do everything ourselves.
I mean, stalls can go without cleaning for a day or three, but the critters gotta eat and drink.
As to how people can feed themselves while their animals starve — they are “wired” totally differently than you and I are. Serial killers and sociopaths sleep just fine, too.
Humans are known to be selfish, so…maybe its self-preservation?
Even so, its still not right and any person who truly loves their animals would feed their animals before themselves. I know I would!
Hi ….This Dawn person, I met through the Lil beg forum.I was looking for some guidance on trimming my miniature horses as the farriers here in the sticks were making my horses dead lame. She was thrilled that I asked her some questions and then told me she was a specialist and dropped a few big breeders names and that she was doing over 80 head one weekend and again on the following …etc etc. this woman called me long distance (Switzerland ) having no clue that we are 9 hours ahead. When you live in a forign country the last thing you want is an American calling you at 4 am , thinking your family member is dead. Anywho , after the 2nd or third call , and Dawn telling me she was a rescuer with over 50 dogs , i realized she was a freak, and did not accept her calls. Dawn wanted to come to Switzerland to do a miniature horse clinic. Thank god she never followed through. 6 months later I read a topic slamming her name on the forum, not knowing she was an abuser. I usually think of abusers of being very reclussive , and quiet, she was just the opposite , so the news really surprized me. I wonder how anyone could have 50 dead animals on the property without anyone smelling the carcas and reporting it… And she lived with a man, or at least she had a man talking on the phone , along with her. so doesnt that make 2 abusers? Very sad for those animals. If I hear about any more rescue people abusing their rescued pets I will start hating them as much as I hate stupid breeders. If you want to open pandoras box , take a look at the miniature horse world. Lots of crazy shi* . Some of those people are nuts , and borderline abusers if you ask me . Certainly not all, but enough to make your head spin.
“If you want to open pandoras box , take a look at the miniature horse world. Lots of crazy shi* . Some of those people are nuts , and borderline abusers if you ask me . Certainly not all, but enough to make your head spin.”
Oh, I have.
http://www.fuglyblog.com/2008/best-of-fhotd-but-we-loooove-our-precious-little-deformed-angels/
And again, before anybody flips out, I’ve met lots of totally rational, sensible, sane people with minis. I used to board at a mini breeder’s – she was fine and her horses won a lot. But boy, that web site with the memorials to the dwarf foals makes everybody on it look like they are a few fries short of a happy meal.
The overall issue with these rescuers-gone-bad is that they somehow think starving horses is different if your heart is in the right place. I do not care about your intentions. They are irrelevant. Starvation feels the same to a horse whether you are an overwhelmed do-gooder or a meanie who is watching them starve to get your jollies. We have a tendency in the U.S. to put too much emphasis on intentions…I just don’t agree with that. For one thing, anyone can fake intentions, after they get busted. Many people are Academy-Award-level actors and actresses in their real lives. They know that “I loooove them and I was just overwhelmed and some things went wrong in my life” or “I got sick!” plays a LOT better than “I thought I’d scam some money off of people pretending to be a rescue, but the money did not come in as fast as the horse bills did.”
Yes she did/does have a man living with her. He moved out there christmas before last to be a farm hand and help with the trimming business. Dawn was trying to go to NZ to trim horses feet at clinics out there. That never worked out, as I suspected it wouldn’t. I was her secretary and took care of the animals as best I could while they were on the road. With me not having a job and living in the middle of nowhere taking care of more animals than she was actually caught with. Once the animals started to die off and she was not listening to my pleads to take them to the vet and get them proper care, my husband and I left. The man stayed behind to continue helping her with the business and got over his head. As far as I know he has split town since she was arrested and has not been seen since. I honestly think that he should be charged just as she has. Of course, most people can say that about us. However, we did not abuse them, we tried to take care of them with the means that Dawn alloted to us. I did not know that she was “burning” animals, at least she didn’t while I was living there (for the short period that I did). I helped her get a lot of clients throughout the United States and I know she did her job like she was supposed to when it came to trimming there feet. However, she did not seem to think about her own animals at home and their well being. I am disgusted at how she treated her animals, and how my own animal suffered while we were there. Fortunately, we were able to get our dog and cats out of there and get them treated and back to health once we moved.
As I said before I am not condoning her actions and I am glad that she served some jail time for her actions. I just hope she serves the maximum 15 years (5 for each count) and she is not allowed to own anymore animals. If you can’t take care of them (vet visits and proper diet, as well as physical love and contact) then you shouldn’t have them. I am glad that someone finally posted something for people to speak out about this travesty and hope that this case gets into the media soon. The people need to know that animal cruelty, neglect, and abuse IS NOT TOLERATED in society.
If anyone against her case is reading this and wants to contact me, send a reply and I will contact you. I have spoken anonymously because I fear that I will be held accountable for her actions when there was nothing I, nor my husband, could do to help the animals while we were there. Especially since we were stuck on the farm (or on the road) with her, and she had all the money. Plus any of our money that we had coming in was going to keep her bills on because she could not seem to keep enough money to pay them herself. Bitch. We worked for free, the deal was that we would live and work on the farm rent and bill free, as long as we looked after the place while she was gone. Little did I know that I was going to be “imprisoned” in the hell hole while they were on the road. God forbid i leave the property because “the loose dogs might chase the neighbors cows or run off” (quoting Dawn). So we packed up in 48 hours and left for a better life for us and our animals, as well as to try and help hers by reporting her, about a year ago.
By the way, she added herself to my “friends ” sidebar , and I noticed one day about 1 week ago when this came about she dissappeared from the side bar…meaning that the jails in Oklahoma do not have wireless internet. I believe she is behind bars now, where she belongs . Dawn was very proud of the number of horses and dogs she “rescued”, so she was the one blabbing about how many.
Nothing like a 1 1/2 year old with miles and miles logged ON her!
http://cincinnati.craigslist.org/grd/1526432932.html
Poor baby filly. I feel so sorry for gaited horses – they are the targets of this kind of idiocy more than any other kind of horse.
Way OT… Fugly?
Wild horse roundup drawing fierce opposition
http://www.ktnv.com/Global/story.asp?S=11735639
This is where the problems are encouraged. “I just bought a $15,000 dollar horse, (not mentioning for only $200.) let’s breed it and sell the babies for a few thousand too! To me, a quality horse; won’t kill my other horses, dogs, cats, or other animals, eat my barn, throw me off while riding, spook at a mouse looking at it wrong, I can trust to lead my kids around on in the yard (of course with helmets, fully clothed and with shoes), won’t kick or bite unless provoked, hasn’t injured a farrier, and will be a good companion, whether riding sound or not. I’ve gotten these kinds of horses for free. My mother-in-law got her hands on a 6 year old Registered TWH (Cannot find contact info on prior owner for paper transfer) that gaits like a dream and was trained in hunt seat for the price of… $0. She was a bone rack, maybe rating a one if she was lucky, and the people had to many horses. Her feet were long, heal and toe. So long that her frog wouldn’t have touched the ground… if she had one. They were rotted away and all four were infected with thrush. She even had a hole in the bottom of one foot. After 6 months of seeing a farrier every two weeks, and of course the crazy idea of feeding her, she was cleared as completely sound for riding. We don’t need to wear shoes on her at all. Frogs have grown back completely healthy. She could compete at high levels, and I’m sure she could place with the right rider. She’s priceless to us for a free horse. She’s a dead broke English horse, but still needs some work with neck reining for me to consider her western broke.
There are a few people trying to sell homes around here who are unclear on the same concept. Just because you list a house at $500K doesn’t make it a “$500K value” when the market only values it at $300K. Someone on a message board posted an excited response to a declaration that people are into 14.2 gaited ponies these days. She interpreted this as meaning there is a market for it, and you should start breeding some. I can understand why someone would make that mistake without doing further market research, but on the same board someone was looking for homes for her adorable ponies – a weanling among them – because she couldn’t afford them any more.
UGH. Sounds like another 3 Strikes.
The other day I asked a coworker what it had cost them to call a renderer type guy to haul away their dead pony. (within the past 2 years, East Central Indiana)
She had a horrible yet amusing story about how they had to drag the carcass to the road after the kids had gone to school, and the guy had told them to leave $50 in a pop bottle or Ziplock bag under the horse’s elbow. (I’m a firm believer in a body’s just a body after the life is gone, though I could understand – definitely! – being unable to haul your own pony’s body across the yard with a rope ’round its legs. Still. $50. There’s no excuse to letting any horse suffer.)
OT But please posts this.
PROTEST THE INHUMANE WINTER ROUNDUP OF NEVADA’S WILD HORSES
On Monday, Dec. 28, 2009, the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) intends to roundup approximately 2,400- 2,700 of the estimated 3,000 wild horses in the Calico Mountain wild horse complex of Northern Nevada. NO PUBLIC VIEWING ALLOWED! They will be driven by helic……opters in icy winter conditions, over rocky ground, for long distances. Some horses will be injured or die just as they have in recent BLM helicopter roundups…. TAKE ACTION: Please fax President Obama & Senator Reid today. A Free fax service is available at http://www.faxzero.com, no fax machine needed! You can fax the White House at 202-456-2461 or call 202-456-1111. Fax Senator Reid at 202-224-7327 or phone his DC office at: 202-224-3542.
Ok I am going to reply to this story because most people do not understand the REAL STORY behind Dawn Hahler and her hoarding. Do not think that I am justifying anything she has done. I do not condone what happened after we left that hell hole, and I hope justice is served. I used to live on the farm with her when everything was better and she did not have that many animals. Just a few dogs, some horses, a few cats, and she could take care of all of them with no problems. After awhile she started getting more business in other states as a Miniature Horse Farrier (which was her legitimate business and she actually did a good job doing their feet) and she started picking up more animals. She always stated she was a rescue for animals and she cared about animals more than she did people. She was a hoarder, just like most people are with collectibles when they cannot have human relationships. She got to busy and hired more “crew” to help her on the road and take care of her animals at home while she was away. No matter what we did at home there was never enough money coming in to take care of the animals at home. She never had the money to take them to the vet or feed them enough. Unfortunately, before she knew how bad it was getting it was to late and they started to die off. Why she didn’t just get rid of them and cut her losses I will never know, or understand. We left after we realized our dog and cats were in trouble. We moved over a year ago and have never looked back. Once we left we tried contacting the authorities to get help for the animals and finally someone took notice and now she is in court. I know most people say not to print anything like this because it could “jeopardize the case”, but that is crap. I am tired of people not knowing the whole story and not understanding how much she mentally loved the animals but just couldn’t take care of them properly and let it get to out of hand. No I am not condoning her actions and she should have cut her losses a long time ago and only had the amount of animals she could monetarily manage to take care of with vet visits and proper nutrition. As I said I hope she gets justice for what she has done and the court system give her more jail time than what she has had.
Thank you for posting. This is a common story – you tried to help but the cost was overwhelming. That’s why it’s such a problem – no one can reasonably care for as many animals as people like Dawn take in.
Love is being able to say “I want the animal to get the best care possible, even if that means they don’t live with me anymore.” What you’re describing is more of an obsession. It’s like having a girlfriend and not wanting her to have friends or a job or any independence. The guy who does that wants the woman with him and does not care what is best for her. He believes he loves her, too. It’s not love.
So glad you reported her. You probably saved a lot of lives by doing so!
I reported her and sent out feelers to get someone to help the animals. Unfortunately, my cries went unheard and the Push County Sheriffs Office kept putting up road blocks to anyone trying to press charges against her. They kept saying that they couldn’t arrest her because no one could take the animals. I do not know who actually went down to the police department and physically reported, but I want to buy them a bottle of Champagne for their courage.
UPDATE:
She received 4 years of probation. She cannot own any more animals during that time. What crap! She needed more jail time than what she got.
She did? So she pled guilty and got a deal?
Yeah it seems so. Check it out here :http://www.oscn.net/applications/ocisweb/GetCaseInformation.asp?submitted=true&viewtype=caseGeneral&casemasterID=17451&db=Pushmataha. However it is not all a loss. She was evicted from her apartment while she was in court. If you check out the documents online it will show that she had gone to court while she was in jail for the other charge. During that next time in court it was for back pay on rent on her property. The landlord evicted her on January 1. So now she has nowhere to go, no animals, and has to get a regular “9-to-5″ job because the probation stipulations state that she cannot own animals or take care of animals. She is still screwed. I wish she would have had more time in jail than Dec 16 – January 7.
Oh I don’t know, having to drop fries for 40 hours a week to scrimp together the huge deposit she’ll have to pay on her next apartment, all the while getting shamed in the community seems like justice to me. This way the state doesn’t have to pay for her upkeep, and she doesn’t get to grouse about being stuck in with ‘violent criminals’.
So Dawn called me this morning 8 am switzerland time. Before I knew anything about the case some people were slamming her on a forum, I told the people they shouldnt be slamming someones rep on a public forum,,,later found out what was really going on. She was calling me this morning to thank me. I was curious to hear her side of the story. The dead animals were in the back of the 180 acres she was leasing to own property. Acording to her she was living there for 1 year not in an apartment. The dead animals according to her were the carcases of cattle that had been there since before she moved onto the property, they were not her cows. She is unclear of who lived there before her , and thats iunder investigation. She had 30 or so dogs not 50 ? The floor in her home is concrete , and the photos taken of the dogs were on carpet , so she claims the photos are not of her dogs. 12 full sized horses were taken , all the dogs minis etc… everything was taken , except the shirt off her back . At the time of her call she was heading for Texas to get a job . I think all the shelters in Texas need to know who she is …. start your letters people . I am sure she will have a dog by the end of the week. She seemed very sad that the animals were taken from her. I think hoarders are about as sick and functioning as an alcoholic on a drinking binge. I dont think they even know what they are doing to the animals, I believe she loves animals more then people , but I also believe people with this mental illness need serious professional help to keep them from continuing this cycle. I also believe there are millions of “borderline” hoarders out there , the only difference between the two is 1 little screw turned is turned a little tighter on the rest of the hoarders and they realisticaly know their limitations , and have the ability to see a thin horse, even when its their own horse. I have 4 horses, Its a full time job to make sure they have enough blankets , straw, hay , bedding , water buckets , feedings 3 times a day, suppliments and the list goes on and on. I literally spend every paycheck on my animals , and sometimes treat myself to something nice when there is a little leftover. No way in Hell can you tell me that a person can take care of 20 or more animals properly , time wise and with enough money. Something will be missing….either hay, bedding , de wormers , ferrier appointments, vet checks floating, blankets ( and god the blankets …I just purchased a 350 CHF blanket for my husbands 30 year olf donkey ( he loves it , neck wrap included, blue plaid from England perfect fit) Crap what if I had 2 old donkeys…or 20 ???? Is that 7,000 CHF in blankets ( and just one for the season, who buys just one blanket…you need a fly sheet, rain sheet ,heavy blanket , stall blanket , and the artic twister, JUST TO DO IT RIGHT !!! No one needs to have more than 10 horses in my book, you cant afford it .
Let me answer your Carpet vs. Concrete stuff. She had carpet in the house and then tore it out a few months ago. That is the damage her landlord was charging her for. The pictures are legitimate. Where can you see these picture of the animals btw? I can understand the cow carcasus were out in the pastures and they were not hers, but animals did die on that property due to miscare. She did care about them in one aspect, however, she just did not get them medically treated when she did not have the funds for it. You are right that there are borderline hoarders out there. I just hope she has learned her lesson and will not get so many animals, AFTER HER PROBATION is up. Even if the pictures were taken of animals on carpet, that does not mean that someone didn’t take the pictures of the animals while she still had carpet in her house. She had carpet there when we lived there, and after we left tore the carpet out for easier clean up. If she is going to Texas I hope she gave the right information for the repayment. I hope she gets the medical help she needs to get her hoarding under control.
The carpet being torn out explains it all. and makes sense by the way. I dont know this woman, I didnt see any photos, and coulnt get any info on the case, but it sounds just awful. I would bet she will try to adopt a dog in Texas…that would be tragic. I doubt the shelters do enough background checking , but maybe I am wrong. I am definatly not siding with her, I just wanted to pass on the little information that i know of. I do think she is sick, and really should be in a therapists office, without this medical help I dont think there is hope for her. I hope all the animals are safe now and seeking medical treatment .
This is a very sad situation. I also hope she gets mental help.
If she left the state, she is already in violation of her probation. What an idiot. However, since you cannot believe anything she says, how would you know where she actually is.
Before anybody slams me for saying you cannot believe her, I was one of her clients. I have been lied to by her on more than one occasion.
I was smart enough not to allow her to remove any animal from my place. I was shocked that some of the breeders that I thought were smart enough not to be fooled by her big talk let her take animals.
Krissy3 from what you say of your conversation with this person she has learned nothing! I understand there are some wonderful people that had sold her horses. Horses never paid for. Well known farms that possibly 3 of the 7 or 8 are alive. One was shot and ravaged by her own dogs. I don’t believe she shot the horse. No money for a vet, horse died and became dog food. Another horse was run into fencing by her dogs and after it was injured and down you can just imagine what happened then. Another meal for starving animals! A well respected miniature donkey breeder in Indiana had been convinced by Dawn to sell her 2 at 1/2 price due to she was reported to him to be a search and rescue and needed the mini’s. Sold for 1/2 price with a check that bounced, and he used his gas, time, trailer to get them. I believe he gat his donkeys back as he was paid with a hot check.
What about these other farms that had animals with her? My understanding is they have lost any of the remaining animals left unless they get a lawyer and fight in court. What a crock! Horder yes! Mentally Ill yes. Going to Texas to start over I think I’m going to throw up. The horse world has a large population that this b***h won’t have a prayer in hell. That’s exactly where she be *HELL*! Dawn can run but she can’t hide!!! More later!
Krissy,
I am appaled to think that my husband and I lived there as long as we did. Fortunately, we realized what was going on and left to try and get help for the animals that were still there. When I found out she had otained more animals after we left I tried harder to get more help for the animals. I cannot believe that someone else finally got them help, I hope that the shelters know she is coming (wherever she goes). She does need menal help and from what you said it s she not learn her lesson. She took care of the clients horses (while she was trimming them) and I hope she will get a 9to5 job and learn the value of money. I just hope if she ever gets another animal (after the probation is over) that she will now know how to take care of at least one. I do not feel sorry for her that they took everything from her, especially the animals. She wasn’t getting them the help they need, so someone else is caring for them
I havnt heard a word…I think she is under a rock somewhere, and will rear her ugly head in no time…That being said , i will write to the animal rescues in texas and aske them to help pass the word. If letting people know who she is ,,maybe , just maybe one less animal will be in the wrong hands. She dropped a few big names with me too, its unreal how easily people can make themselves a new person on the internet. She is the last person i would have believed to be an abuser. Well, maybe she will be pulled over for a traffic violation and put in jail for violating her parrole. * weeks was not enough time , especially without some therapy.
I talked to her old landlord today, trying to aquire some of our belongings, and he said that he has not heard anything yet. He said the DA hasn’t heard from her either since she left the county jail. He has to make sure he can touch her things before he takes them from the house she was renting from him. He knows she will NEVER pay him the money he owes her. According to the court records she set up a payment plan to pay $50 a month – yeah right- no one will ever see that money. I know that if you are on probation and get approval form your PO you can move out of state. Maybe she moved back home, I doubt it, but maybe she did. I will update you guys more once I find out more information. I think I am closer to this case than most people (sad to say) and I wish the animals would have gotten help sooner. I really want to know where they are at, unfortunately, I have not been able to find them.
I choose to post a comment here and not hide my name, so I will tell you all – my name is Samantha Miller.
I dated the guy that was living with Dawn for 8 months. In fact when him and I split in October, he was told if he contacted me what-so-ever I would file harassment charges, him and I have not spoken since.
However, I was witness to a lot of bad things that happened at this house. I was also witness to a few phone calls made to krissy as well I believe, as there were a few nights I was speaking to my “boyfriend” and they were both drinking and Dawn would come out of the house and say “Hey let’s call our out of country friends”. *Rolls eyes* I honestly was so glad to get rid of those two people!
My first visit to the house was in Feb of 09, I have to tell you I am an animal lover, and had I had a place for these animals I would have taken them on the spot. There were puppies running around, looked no older than 5 weeks old, scratching and crying the entire time because of the mange they had. The horses were so skinny, and I felt horrible about seeing them like that, being raised in southeast Oklahoma you know what a horse is supposed to look like – especially if they were getting the care they needed. Which by the way, Dawn made it a point to tell me and my friend that was with me about 10 times before we left that day “I do not abuse my animals, if my animals were abused, would they follow me around like this?” Not much I could say to her, honestly, she looked fairly scary.
The bigger dogs were fighting each other over the hoofs the two guys were trimming off of the horses feet .. I mean a big fight broke out between 4 and 5 dogs at a time, and the way to settle the fight (by my “boyfriend”) was to kick them all in the head as they got close enough .. that’s abuse in itself!
There were cats there, but I didn’t see them at this point. They had 5 dogs on chains only 2 had houses to get into out of the weather – the other 3 were just left to fend for themselves I suppose. They had some mini’s in a pen, and Dawn and another girl had just returned from the vet with 2 of them in the mini van. Dawn often bad mouthed the vet here in my town, saying he didn’t know what he was talking about, or what he was doing. But yet he is the BEST vet around! He knows his stuff!
So, my friend and I talked about our visit down there the next day, and he said “I can not believe you have not done anything about those animals, I wanted to cry.” I then told him, I have already contacted Push Co. about getting those animals removed – they told me there was no place to put the animals, no one that can take that amount of animals. So, me, being no one, picked up the phone and called ASPCA in Houston (Yeah you know the Animal Cops on Animal Planet), and gave them the contact info at the Sheriff’s dept, thinking they might be able to do something. That didn’t work! 2 weeks went by and I had heard nothing, so I called the Sheriff’s dept again and spoke with one of the officers, and he said “They were willing to help with the investigation, but can not take the animals if we were to remove them.” So my quest continued!
Anyways .. The more this guy and I saw of each other, the more I went down there. The first time I had been in the house was around the middle of March I guess, and I had taken my son down for the day, so he could see the horses and it was good to get out of the house for a day .. but when we got there, wow, that’s all I can say. Dawn had carpet in the house, all through the house as a matter of fact except for the kitchen area. The guy I was seeing and welchlover were there, and had been stuck there for more than 2 weeks at this point. The house was in horrible condition, there was no dog feces in the floor, but you could smell it, it was in the carpet, the walls, the couch, their clothing .. it was horrible! The two there had done what they could, but still .. I don’t know how they had lived there for months without getting seriously ill!
I did not go back down again until May, which is after welchlover and her husband had moved out, and I was conned into staying there and taking care of the animals and the house while Dawn and my boyfriend .. Rick Brooks, decided to go on the road to do some clients .. I was in charge of setting appts, giving Dawn and Rick the routes, and feeding and caring for the animals. That few days turned into a week alone .. in the country, with hardly any dog food or horse feed .. and not knowing what to do with the animals! When Dawn and Rick returned home, I MADE Dawn go to the store and buy dog food and horse feed .. enough was enough! The next time they left I was there for 3 weeks .. I fed and watered the animals daily .. I made sure THEY ate before I did .. the dogs were putting on weight, and all seemed to be alright. Until Dawn and Rick came back home, then it was back to not feeding them or if they did feed them, it was 1 sack of dog food on the ground, where the horses were stomping the dogs trying to eat the food, and the dogs biting the horses because that was their food .. It was truly a mess!
Dawn got mad at me after that visit and I refused to go back – and ended up with a $300 emergency room visit to get rid of the Scabies I had gotten while I was down there! I did NOT go back! Still to this day, I have not set foot on that property!
Anyways, Dawn and I had a talk once, and I told her, Dawn some of those dogs need to be put down, and the rest of them need good homes, I sat there and watched 2 litters of puppies DIE right before my eyes .. and their way of getting rid of them was burning them in a barrel, yes, they were dead, but still ……
I don’t know, that whole place down there has given me nightmares honestly .. and I would suggest anyone that has anything to do with Dawn Hahler get the hell away and stay the hell away .. she will ruin someone’s life, that’s for sure!
I’m still not 100% sure who had anything to do with the final push for the Sheriff’s dept to take action, but I would love to find out, and I would like to say a big thank you! My phone calls once a week for 8 months did no good …. glad to see someone’s actions did!
And by the way .. I have some photos of some of the horses .. even offered to testify against Dawn in court .. Push Co never called me back .. maybe had there been more proof against her, she might have gotten a stiffer sentence?
Hey Sam,
Thanks for posting. I remember when I left and she made you here “secretary” and had you do the jobs I used to do. Being stuck, literaly, on the property with nowhere to go and having to feed the dogs, cats, and horses with little to no food. With absolutely no food in the house for yourself eiather. Having to eat beans and bread so you could feed the animals, or beans and bread because Dawn refused to send you money. I guess when you are around it all the time it doesn’t seem as bad because you don’t really notice they are getting skinnier. I know before we left we started to really notice because we opened up our eyes and realized it. Plus the five litters of puppies that were born around the same time and died within a few weeks of each other just kind of put us over the top and we said “okay we are done, enough is enough”. If she wasn’t going to listen to US maybe she would listen to the COPS.
I love the vet in wilburton, he is the best vet around and I remember that day when we took the mini to the vet. He told her that the horse was sick and gave her medicine for it. She used that medicine on all of the mini’s thinking they all had the same issue. What an idiot! She never liked that vet and thought she knew it all, i agree with you there. Thanks for posting. I hope one day she reads all of this and realizes just how much damage she has done. I have nightmares, as you do, about living there for as long as we did (especially with what we saw around the end). She needs to be put in a place where she only gets one meal a day, water, and maybe some shelter. Where she cannot move from that one spot (like the dogs that were tied up) and see how she likes it. BTW James and I had not lived there very long before you came by that first day. Rick had just moved there from NC, right after Christmas, and we had moved in earlier in the month of December (I think). Once I was alone with the animals I did the same thing you did—make sure they ate before I did—-and tried to make them shelter or move them where they would have shelter. The whole thing makes me sick and I hope she is NEVER EVER able to do it again.
according to an unnamed source, the animals are with animalallianceok. The Tulsa SPCA also may have some information. Are you going to try to adopt the welsh mare and her foal?
I remember that welch mare. Dawn actually bought her for me before we moved out. Once the foal was born, and because my husbands fathers health was failing we had to leave. Unfortunately, Dawn refused to let us take the welch mare and her baby with us. She stated “if you are leaving then you can’t have them, they stay here”. Yeah I pretty much said fine and started calling around like Sam. Coco was a beautiful horse when we first got her. I am afraid to see what she looks like now. I hope the baby is doing good and hope they both go to wonderful homes.
Remember, if the police or the regular media didn’t want to feature your pics, I’d LOVE to! Send them or post them. They’re very welcome here. If you were ignored, I’d like to know why and I’m happy to ask that question.
I posted the photos .. but will you please not approve the first one lol, as it did not post the links .. had I paid attention, I would have noticed the “Allowed tags” at the bottom of this window!
Also, here is the link to the album of mine that I uploaded them to – http://s239.photobucket.com/albums/ff239/sammie_evans/Dawn/
You don’t have to approve this one either .. just couldn’t figure out a way to send you a message! lol
FHOTD in: I’ll just approve this one so they get the link to the pics
Cocoa and her baby were both sold to someone by Dawn, that was between my last May visit and October – I just do not know when exactly. Rick and Dawn both told me that they had sold her, thought that would get to Kristi and James more than anything .. that they had sold them … the point Rick and Dawn didn’t understand is .. They went to better homes, and Kristi was happy they were out of the mess!
I will post the photos, I am not afraid to do so .. I am in the process of pulling the photos of the big horses off of my cell phone right now, but have minis and some dog photos now that I can post and am going to do so at the end of this one.
I just want to add a few things in here from my earlier post – as my emotions got the best of me and I wasn’t able to remember everything I wanted to say.
The horse (or cow) remains that were in the back part of the acreage Dawn was leasing – were her horses! No question about it, the day my son and I had gone down to visit, Rick had taken us out there to walk around, as we were taking photos of the big horses with my cell .. and when we reached that part of the land, Rick said “I wouldn’t walk back there, there are a few horse bones there.” When I rounded that corner, and saw what looked like something from a movie .. there was no skin or meat left, just the bones, most still in tact .. I wanted to cry. I even told the sheriff’s department to send someone back there to look for themselves, now if they did or not is a different story.
Also, while I was there for that few weeks, two of the dogs that had previously been on chains outside were brought into the house – one of them had passed away in the “back room”. Now granted, I can stomach a lot of stuff .. but this dog died a horrible death, not two days after Dawn and Rick had left, she had been starved to death. The first two days she was eating, then she just couldn’t eat anymore. I started softening her food up for her, because she had no teeth .. when I went out the next morning “Jerri” was gone. She had laid down sometime in the middle of the night, at the end of the steps and never woke up. Dawn had the nerve to tell me to move her .. Me, someone who loves animals, and hates to see them die, the same person that babied 2 litters of puppies and cried as each one passed away .. sometimes in my own hands. All the while I am telling Dawn and Rick both – GET THESE PUPPIES OUT OF THIS MESS, FIX THE DOGS! STOP BRINGING MORE INTO THE HOUSE! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?!
They were both sick people, they allowed more animals to be brought into the house, and yet continued to not feed them.
Rick had called me one day, they were on the way home from a clients house and was coming through my town, so I went out to meet them at the store .. they had 4 mini horses and 1 mini donkey in the mini van … I can see hauling 1 or 2 .. but 5?! They were packed in there like sardine’s … I pulled all of them out at the store and let them walk around .. I told them both, “Like you need more f’n animals, don’t you realize you can’t feed/shelter/care for the ones you already have?” It wasn’t two minutes later, they loaded them in the van, and went on their way .. I didn’t talk to Rick for a few days, and when Dawn finally spoke to me – it was to tell me that she was looking for a new place to live. So she wanted me to look around for her some places and give her the names and phone numbers .. Which I did, but when I got off of the phone with her, I called each place and reported that she would be calling and if they were smart at all, they would not allow her to even SEE a place, much less entertain the idea of letting her purchase one (which by the way, she has no money, she spends everything she made on the road .. pfft whatever).
There was a litter of kittens there at the house, and I called one of my friends that I was adopting a Scottish Fold from, and said – look I need to find these babies homes, they are so loving and sweet and they need a better home than they are in. I took the litter of kittens with me when I went to pick up my “Miss Poo”. They were all adopted out after being treated for ring worms, fleas, malnourishment and a lack of true loving they needed. I hear all the kitties are doing well in their new homes, which makes me so very happy!
A few months after I had adopted Miss Poo though, I came home from Rick’s .. and noticed my cat was losing her hair on her tail, my other cat I have had a few spots too, but nothing like Miss Poo’s .. so I took her out to the vet that next morning and to my surprise his response shocked me “This looks like a case of rain rot on a horse.” When I looked at him sort of shocked he had asked if I had been around any horses with rain rot, when I told him yes that I had been to Dawn’s .. he said “That woman really doesn’t know what she’s talking about, everytime she comes in here with a horse, she argues with me .. why waste the money?” I told him that day, I was working on a plan to get her animals taken away from her and at this stage Push Co needed a vet to go out and physically examine all of the animals, and the lady I had been speaking to with the Oklahoma Humane Society said that she had told them that herself, but they were unable to find a vet. The vet here said he would rather not get involved in something like that, merely because it was HIS understanding Dawn had power and pull with some very big names in the horse business .. well needless to say, he was very shocked himself that she knows NO ONE!
Anyways, I am sorry my posts are so long, I just think the entire world needs to hear about her and know that she is NOT the type of person that should EVER own ANOTHER animal again – for the rest of her life! And trust me, I am seriously considering a trip down to the DA’s office in Push Co and speaking with them myself, with my photos in hand … let’s see them deny me now!
These photos were taken in April 09
This was Cocoa and the baby – this photo was taken after James and Kristi had moved out, which was about 2 months after the baby was born .. at least I think.
This is a closer view of the baby.
He was so cute .. I am glad they both found a good home though!
This is 1 of the mini’s she had at the time, this baby died about 1 month after this photo was taken – her name was Strarbright. Not sure how she died, other than the fact Dawn and Rick both kept telling me their teeth needed to be floated – yet she never had the time to find someone to take care of that ….
This was Bird – she was new to the area, had only been there about 1 month. And was wild as could be. But in Dawn’s words “fat” and needed to be thinned down – these horses photos were taken while they were eating the 2 cups of food given to them a day. 2 cups .. yet Dawn always filled her plate full .. I don’t think any of these horses were fat by no means, in fact, I think they were skinny! Of course you can not tell that by looking at these photos, but all the “fat” you can see .. was hair!
This is Peetie, this is how he lived, only twice did he come in the house – and when he did .. he was a huge love bug! He did not like other animals so much, but wouldn’t hurt them while I was there with him, though I had heard stories of puppies barely 8 weeks old walking through his area and getting their necks broke by him.
This is Bug and Heeler, you can not see it in this photo, but Bug had some major issues. She was suffering from mange just like the other dogs, and was always scratching and whining .. sad .. that is the only word I can use to describe it.
This is Dawn, after feeding the minis that day .. during a “talk” she was having about how she could not see why people thought she abused her animals …. Any of my friends that I have shown this photo to have all said the same thing .. That’s a she?
This is Rick, arguing with me about the fact the mini’s needed MORE food than 2 cups ..
This was Butch – he belonged to Rick, and these photos of him were taken because Rick wanted to find him a good home, little did Rick realize – these are NOT photos you should be sending out to people, so the people were not interested, and even blocked Dawn’s phone number from calling anymore. Butch was killed by the other dogs so Rick told me, sometime in August. I can bet the entire pack of dogs ganged up on him to kill him too, as he was a feisty pit bull ..
This picture is of Kristi and James' dog Buck (on the left) and a dog they "rescued" off of the side of the road Brinks (on the right). Buck has been to the vet religiously since they moved out – which makes me happy, I have seen recent photos of him, his mange is cleared up and he looked so happy and fat!! Yes, I said FAT Dawn .. FAT ANIMALS ARE GOOD!
Brinks again.
This was "Sweetheart", a miniature horse that Dawn had "rescued" (so she states). These photos of her show nothing really, this was just two days after being there ..
These are the start of the pictures of the big horses that were located in the back of the property – this is where the other horse remains were, but no photos of that. These horses never received feed, they were left to eat the grass that was on the ground … which looking through these pictures you can see – there wasn't much of that! Only after I said something did she start giving them hay.
Looking at the pictures now it makes me feel bad that I did not notice how bad off the large horses were getting. When Dawn would go on the road and I had to stay behind and be trapped on the farm. I would feed all of the mini’s, the dogs, the cats, and large horses that were in the front yard. I would check and make sure the ones in the back field still had plenty of food (meaning grass) and water and that was about it. I listened to everything she said about horses and how horses were supposed to be cared for because I did not know any better. She always told me that horses don’t need feed they just need grass and hay. She would only get hay when the Sheriffs department would come out and tell her they had a complaint that they did not have any hay. She would only get two large round bales. One for the front yard (two horses) and one for the back field (15 large horses). I did not grow up on a farm or near horses. I lived on the coast for god’s sake. I thought she knew it all, boy was I wrong. I realized they were “not healthy” when I started to see their rib cages, and their coats were not shiny anymore. The dogs were a different matter because I was feeding them as much food as I had on hand — mainly due to the fact that Dawn wouldn’t send any money unless the cable, internet, electricity, or gas, was turned off. Which BTW I normally had to use James’s VA check to pay for her stuff to keep it on. I go to school online so I needed the internet and electricity. Which is why on lilbeginnings her signature says “proud employer of Iraq Veterans”. He was her ONLY veteran that worked for her. Which she screwed up his body more than the Military did with him trimming most of the clients horses while they were on the road.
She didn’t care about anyone but herself. For gods sake she bought a Jukebox while on the road instead of a bed for one of her “new” employees. This was after we left but I heard that bit from Sam. A Jukebox, why not buy f’n food for your dogs, horses, and cats! The way she spent all of her money on the road was because she would sleep in a hotel, reasonably priced, and eat Sonic whilst on the road. They ate it so much that James can’t even look at a Sonic without getting sick. I kept telling her to hit up the McD’s Dollar Menu and save money. She taught me how to trim the mini’s feet (I only did one) and I understand being a farrier can be a trying job, especially when you are trimming 80-100 head at a time. However, she could have made a cooler full of sandwhiches and save some money so she could feed her animals properly. Sam has given me the courage to open up more about Dawn and the horrible things that happened on that farm. I do not care if Dawn reads this, we are not slandering her we are telling the TRUTH about what happened. BTW: If I ever own a horse I will get a licensed farrier to come out and trim their feet. I would never do it myself, only because I know that I cannot do it properly and I do not want to hurt them in the process.
Dawn said that she rescued pit bulls and rehabilitated them. One of them was the one that had passed away in the back room (one of Sam’s next posts). That same dog, Gerry, bit me at one time because she was going after a cat. We had brought Gerry in because she had no hair and it was very cold outside. She was running around the living room with the other dogs, no problem, then the cat got in the way (as did my arm) and I got bit. Dawn came home off the road and just said “oh your arm will be fine, Gerry didn’t mean it” and left it at that. I had no idea if Gerry had had a rabies shot recently or anything else. My arm healed up fine but I have a scar as a reminder of the horrible things that went wrong at that place. The horses that did die on Dawns property (for one reason or another) would be put in the back of her van and taken to the far reaches on the 40 acres of land and dumped out there. No burial. Nothing, just dumped. Then we would see a dog running up a day later and be fatter than they ever have been before, they were hungry and ate the freshest meat possible. That was about the time I started feeding them four times a day while Dawn was on the road.
The house being disgusting comment that Sam made is very true. When James and I first showed up there to start working for her the house was covered, and I mean covered, in feces. You could not even tell the kitchen floor was supposed to be white. ICK!. We should have cut and run at that time but we moved from Ada to Tuskahoma and had nowhere else to go. We cleaned the house and I kept it clean while they were on the road. I even potty trained the dogs that were in the house so they would actually wait until I woke up to go to the bathroom instead of doing it all over the carpet at nighttime. Then Dawn would come home off the road and it would all go back to hell because she would get pissed off that I was feeding them four times a day–instead of once a day as she wanted. She wouldn’t take the dogs out regularly like I did and you would have to wear shoes to the bathroom, take them off while you were getting in the shower, and put them back on as you stepped out of the shower so you wouldn’t step in dog poop. I cleaned that back room numerous times. The dogs kept breaking windows to get into the house because they wanted a warm dry place to sleep. Granted most of them could sleep in the barns, or on the back porch. However, we did not want them in the pony pin, anyone want to guess why?
Ok this has gotten long enough. I will stop writing now. More later if I can think of anything. I feel a weight being lifted off my shoulders actually being able to tell someone (other than the police) what happened during the short time we lived there. I know most of you are probably thinking, “how in the world could you see all that and say nothing?”. Dawn is a scary person, and people turn up missing in that part of OK quite often. We were to scared to go against her, until we left. I wanted the animals safe, I didn’t care what she did. Which BTW, she had Rick call my work and get me fired after we left the farm. She blamed all of the animals dieing on me or Sam when we were the only ones at the farm. WTF??? She didn’t give us the right provisions to take care of the animals, what the hell were we supposed to do? Magically grow money so we could buy more supplies?