About SOS Equines
7/13/2008 - TriCity Herald
Skyrocketing hay and grain prices, coupled with a struggling economy that's forcing people to dig deeper into their pockets, are taking a toll on the horse industry.
More horses are ending up in sale rings, where they often are purchased to be sold to slaughterhouses in Canada or Mexico. Some people are giving horses away, just to make sure they get a good home. And some are turning them loose on public lands or abandoning them at sale yards.
"What was an affordable hobby is no longer is hobby for a lot of people," said Dean Jolley, a Kennewick farrier. "I've been in the horse business for 20 years and never seen it like this. I heard one large thoroughbred breeder had 20 head euthanized."
It's affecting everyone, from the backyard horse owner to breeders and trainers who depend on the animals for their income, he said.
More than 27,200 horses have been shipped to Mexico for slaughter this year, 10,000 more than at this time last year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. No numbers are available for Washington.
And although there's no way to know how many horses are being sold or abandoned by owners who no longer can afford them, many folks within the horse industry fear it will get worse.
Laurie Tufford, president of the Franklin County Saddle Club, gave away a 3-year-old quarter horse buckskin gelding last week. It was a horse she bought as a pasture pal for her pregnant mare.
But after spending more than $1,000 to put 45 days of professional training on him, she still couldn't sell the horse.
"I listed him for six months and had no takers," she said. "And he was a really nice little horse."
Jeff Wiersma, president of the Toppenish Livestock Commission, said more horses are showing up at the horse sale each Saturday. And many are low- quality horses that don't sell.
"Some we can't even get a bid on," he said. "We've gone from getting two to five a week to 20-25, and 10 to 20 percent of those leave with no bid."
In addition, loose horses found in Yakima County often are taken to the Toppenish Livestock Commission, which keeps them impounded for 11 days under state law.
If the owner is found, he or she must pay for the upkeep of the animal. If not, the horse is sold at auction and the proceeds are used to pay the bill -- if it brings in enough, said Leslie Alexander, a brand inspector for the Washington State Department of Agriculture.
So-called "kill" buyers, who buy horses and truck them to slaughterhouses, will take many, but even that market has changed, he added.
When the U.S. banned horse slaughter for human consumption last year, closing down three American plants, horses had to be hauled to Canada or Mexico. With skyrocketing diesel prices, that has become far more expensive.
"When the other plants were open, you could still get $150 for a pretty rough horse," Wiersma said.
More horses in the livestock rings means more work for Shawna Byington of Kennewick, who tries to save as many horses as she can from being loaded onto those trucks.
Byington and a friend, Hillarie Singer, started Save our Slaughterbound Equines, a Kennewick-based horse rescue early this year. Byington's corrals are constantly filled. For each horse adopted out, there's several that could take its place. And buying them, feeding and placing them isn't cheap or easy.
"It's easier to get donations than to find adopters," said Byington.
This week, she has 32 rescue horses on her ranch -- 26 of them still need homes. There are retired rodeo horses and a few senior horses with deep swaybacks who approach cautiously and curiously. And in a big corral are more than a dozen colorful, but thin, small young horses rescued from a feedlot.
"A few of these I was able to look up and found out they had been seized from a place in Idaho, where they were being abused -- then they end up in a feedlot less than a year later," she said. "How does that happen?"
Byington also said more and more often, she's seeing good horses bound for slaughter -- like Cappucino Kid, a racing thoroughbred she discovered at an auction in March.
The 10-year-old gelding had earned nearly $250,000 in his career, which included 10 wins, seven second-place and eight third-place finishes out of 44 starts on West Coast tracks that included Golden Gate Fields, Hollywood Park and Bay Meadows.
In March 2007, he was claimed for $10,000 at Bay Meadows and his last start was in July 2007 at Grants Pass Downs.
After finding him, Byington adopted the horse out to a racing fan in Maine for $425. Cappucino Kid later was passed on to an organization called Old Friends, a thoroughbred retirement facility in Georgetown, Ky.
Lucky, a leggy, curious, 7-week-old sorrel colt, is another of Byington's success stories. The colt was just five days old when his dam was bought by a kill buyer.
"He never would have even survived the trip in the trailer -- he would have been crushed," Byington said.
Now Lucky's small, soft muzzle curiously greets visitors to Byington's Kennewick horse farm. He even has gone to show-and-tell with her young son.
"Historically, if a horse is in the canner pen, there's been a reason for it," said Byington. "But that's not the case in today's market at all. There's just a lot of horses out there that people just can't afford to feed."
Alfalfa acreage has dropped by 11 percent nationwide since 2003 -- and by about 13 percent in Washington, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. And much of the hay being grown here is being sent to Asia. Hay supplies were tight last year in the Mid-Columbia, and this year doesn't look any better. A cool spring slowed growth, then much of the first cutting got rained on.
Overall, one whole cutting will likely be lost, said Chep Gauntt, a Pasco hay farmer. And prices are already higher than last year, said Tufford.
"Last year, two tons cost me $320," she said. "I just bought two more tons for $414."
Stacee Connelly, another Kennewick horse owner, also is feeling the pinch.
"Hay is a huge concern for me -- I only have about 21/2 tons and I'm going to need about seven," she said.
On top of that, higher gas prices affect the price of shipping horses or going to shows.
Tufford said participation at the Franklin County Saddle Club's Springtime Open Horse Show in May was down 20 percent.
"Last year we had 102 entries -- this year there were 78," she said. "I think people are being more picky about the shows they go to."
Even the Bureau of Land Management's Wild Horse & Burro Adoption Program is suffering from the trickle-down effect of the soft horse market.
Adoptions in Washington this year are down by 50 percent, said Rick McComas, who heads the Spokane office for BLM's Wild Horse & Burro Program.
Nationwide, adoptions in the program have been falling for several years. But this is the first year, Washington state has seen a drop, he said.
At a recent mustang adoption in Pasco, 11 of the 32 available found homes.
The BLM has nearly 30,000 captured mustangs in long-term holding and many are unadoptable because of age. The cost of caring for those animals is more than $26 million this year -- about three-fourths of the $37 million BLM has to run the program for the year.
And in a single year, transportation and feed costs for the animals increased by $4 million, according to BLM documents.
Now the BLM is considering selling some of the unadopted animals to any willing buyer or euthanizing some of the wild horses and burros.
Last week, a haltered horse was discovered in a fenced area of the Hanford nuclear reservation just off Highway 240 past the Benton City turnoff. It was captured after a few days and if the owner isn't found within the 11-day impound, it will be sold at auction, Alexander said.
Byington said dumping domestic horses in open areas like that often results in them starving to death.
"They don't know how to take care of themselves," said Byington.
Wiersma said he fears he may see a steady number of unwanted horses ending up at his sale yard.
"This is just the beginning," he said. "I think in the next five years, it's just going to double."
04/04/2008
Cappucino Kid, an earner of nearly $250,000, was rescued from a feedlot in Washington State March 23 and is on his way to a new home at Old Friends, a Thoroughbred retirement facility near Georgetown, Ky.
A half-brother to grade I winner and prominent sire Medaglia D’oro, Cappucino Kid was scheduled to be shipped to a slaughterhouse, possibly in Mexico, within a few weeks. Cappucino Kid, who finished his career with a record of 10-7-8 from 44 starts, was a familiar name on the West Coast, where he competed at Bay Meadows, Golden Gate Fields, and Hollywood Park.
Discovered by SOS Equines, a Washington-based organization dedicated to saving slaughter-bound horses, Cappucino Kid was adopted for a fee of $425 by a Maine-based racing fan named Linda Madsen.
Bred in Kentucky by Albert and Joyce Bell, Cappucino Kid was claimed several times throughout his career for as much as $50,000, however, he was most recently was purchased for a $10,000 claiming tag by Roy and Steve Demarta, Cindy Olsen, and Jack Retzloff at Bay Meadows last March. The 10-year-old gelding raced three times for that partnership, after which he ran his last start in the name of James Haverty at Grants Pass Downs, a fairgrounds track in southern Oregon.
“I don’t know how he ended up (at the feedlot),” said Michael Blowen, president of Old Friends. Blowen said SOS Equines had probably discovered Cappucino Kid at a slaughter auction, after which they contacted Alex Brown, an exercise rider and founder of an anti-slaughter organization. Brown, who is a close friend of Blowen’s, approached him about taking Cappucino Kid after his adoption fee was paid.
“There are a lot of great groups that go to these auctions and find Thoroughbreds--they’re the ones that deserve all the credit because they’re on the front lines,” Blowen said.
He added that horses are often picked up by “killer trucks” that claim they will take retired runners to a riding academy. Instead, they are sent to slaughter auctions.
Blowen said Cappucino Kid would be kept at the nearby Cedar Springs farm owned by Dr. Doug Byars, who recently agreed to lease some paddock space for Old Friends geldings and mares. Because of Cappucino Kid’s name, Blowen said he’s trying to get some coffee companies interested in sponsoring the gelding.
“Whole Foods in Louisville found out about (Cappucino Kid), and they’re going to do a little fundraiser for us on April 18 at their store,” said Blowen, who noted Holly Hill Inn in Midway, Ky., had also agreed to host a cappuccino festival in honor of the gelding.
Blowen said he is anticipating a future fundraising collaboration to benefit retired racehorses with Stonewall Stallions near Versailles, Ky., where Medaglia D’oro stands. Details will be announced later.
3/29/2008
Cappucino Kid, a half-brother to popular freshman sire Medaglia d'Oro, has been rescued from a Washington state feedlot, where he was awaiting shipment to slaughter. He's now safely on his way to the Old Friends equine retirement haven in Georgetown, Ky., thanks to the helping hands of the horse rescue operation Save Our Slaughterbound Equines and a group of horse lovers who met on the Internet.
"We're still working on all the details," said Old Friends founder Michael Blowen. "SOS Equines in Washington found him and contacted us, and we're working on transporting him now."
When SOS Equines found Cappucino Kid at the feedlot, they quickly raised $570 in donations from members of Alex Brown Racing, a website that has become a forum for anti-slaughter racing fans, Barbaro followers, and horse lovers. The rescue group purchased Cappucino Kid for $425 and is applying the balance toward his care until he ships to Kentucky.
Cappucino Kid, a 10-year-old Pioneering gelding out of Cappucino Bay, won 10 of 44 starts and earned $248,951. He won his debut at Fairplex Park in 2000 and finished fourth in the Sunny Slope Stakes at Santa Anita in his next start, but he spent most of the rest of his career the claiming ranks. He ran throughout California and finally competed in his last race at Grants Pass Downs in Oregon, where he finished second for a $2,500 tag.
The bulk of Cappucino Kid's "bail money," $425, came from Linda Madsen of Portland, Me., who also has her own adopted ex-racehorse, Moyo Simba.
"I'm a big, big fan of Medaglia d'Oro," she explained. "I've visited Medaglia d'Oro many times and loved him when he was running. I just felt compelled to save his brother. He was due to go to Mexico to be slaughtered on March 27. I just couldn't let that happen."
*The Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association has announced it will hold its annual awards dinner on Sept. 6 at the Lexington Convention Center in Lexington.
by Jeff Lowe (3/31/2008 - Thoroughbred Times)
SOS Equines, a rescue organization in the state of Washington, recently bought Cappucino Kid for $425 from a feed lot. The half brother to multiple Grade 1 winner and freshman sire Medaglia d’Oro will join the Old Friends Equine retirement facility in Georgetown, Kentucky.
Cappucino Kid, a ten-year-old Pioneering gelding, earned $248,951 in a 44-race career that included ten wins, primarily in Northern California. He finished fourth in the 2000 Sunny Slope Stakes at Santa Anita Park and drifted through the claiming ranks in Southern and Northern California before ending up at Grants Pass Downs in Oregon for his final start, a second-place finish in a $2,500 claiming race on June 17 for owner James Haverty and trainer Karen Haverty.
Old Friends founder Michael Blowen said Linda Madsen from Maine paid the $425 for Cappucino Kid, who will arrive at Old Friends later this week.
Blowen said Holly Hill Inn, a restaurant in Midway, Kentucky, owned by Chris and Ouita Michel, is organizing a cappuccino festival in the gelding’s honor.
“We’ll probably raise the transportation costs fairly quickly,” Blowen said.
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