I am the owner of the minis in Texas that were featured on the news and I wanted to set the record straight on the minis that were taken in by Safe Haven in Texas. This is what happened and what is happening now.
First of all the minis were NOT seized. The minis were voluntarily given to Safe Haven and here is the how ,what ,where and why.
The drought has done me in. In Texas round bales are between 75 and 100 dollars per bale and square bales are going for at least 9 dollars. Anything cheaper is not good quality horse hay. When hay was reasonable i was doing just fine. We have looked high and low for hay. Last year we went out of state to get it. Our truck cant do any more trips to haul hay due to transmission issues, and delivery costs are unreal in price thanks to fuel costs and supply and demand for hay.There was someone at a certain vet's office that i had talked to about buying some minis and when she changed her mind on me before ever even coming out to look at any, i made the remark to her in an offhand way that well i hope she will be able to buy some soon and to spread the word that i had some cheap because if i cant find some hay they are going to starve to death. What i MEANT was that if i dont find some hay somewhere within a couple of months then we are going to have horses with no hay. I simply used a poor choice of words. So be careful what you say and where you say it. Your words could be turned around on you too. My horses have never gone without a meal and are in no danger now or before of going without feed. If you live in Texas or anywhere in the southern states you know that the drought has been horrible for at least 2 years. This is hurting everyone here , not just me. There are people who live near me that once had 100s of cows that now have about 20 because they just couldnt get hay or afford to but it at these unreal prices. So they took cows to slaughter. I refuse to take horses to slaughter or to an auction house for 10 cents per pound.
At any rate i suspect this is the person who called Safe Haven. Someone did. Safe Haven contacted me and asked if they could help me with hay or feed or take some off my hands so that it would be more manageable for me. Had i known that Safe Haven had changed owners and now had a whole lot more room i would have called them myself. As far as i knew it was the same as before and i assumed they were bursting at the seams with horses because of the hay problem here. I was going to call anyway and see if they could find someone to take them in a couple of weeks if i could not get enough hay on this property. ( For the record the horses have not gone without hay yet, nor will they. ) I INVITED Safe Haven to come and take a lot of my minis and my large horses and my mules. I did this of my own free will. These horses were NOT seized or taken from me against my will. As a matter of fact at one point i was crying because i am upset that i cant afford to care for all of them any more and i am heart broken that the drought has put me in the position to need to give them up . Richard from Safe Haven told me at that point, and i quote " we can stop this right now if you want to and you can keep them and we will help you any way we can". I said no go ahead and take these certain ones so i can lower my numbers and get out of the financial bind i am in. So Safe Haven took unpapered horses home with them.
Now as far as horses in HORRIBLE shape...my horses are NOT in horrible shape. Here are the facts and numbers on the horses.
Safe Haven was allowed to take my 4 large horses. They were a little thin but not skinny or unhealthy. The hay has had to be rationed a little off and on this summer and with the 108 degree temps they tend to drop some fat anyway. If you dont believe that heat can make them lose some weight ask your vet. They were allowed to take my 3 mammoth mules. And the amount of miniature horses they were allowed to take was 18. There were 2 large geldings and 2 large mares. There were two large male mules and 1 large female mule.
I had 2 mares go that are minis that were thin. TWO. They were left on their babies for too long by my helper that i pay to feed and care for my horses. I have been having health problems and have not been out there to mess with the horses and trusted them to him entirely. The only ones i have seen regularly since foaling season were the ones that are closer to my house. The ones closer to my house look WONDERFUL. Naturally i assumed the rest of them did as well.The ones further down that i can not see unless i make a trip down there were not taken as good of care of as i would like. Therefore the mares were left on their babies too long. I had asked my helper to remove them from their babies and he had not done it yet and left them longer than i knew.I assumed he moved them when i told him the first time. I made a trip around to look at everyone and saw that these girls were getting thin and one was real thin so i had a fit and told him to get those babies off them and seperate them out NOW. And he did. 2 of the mares which went to safe haven had already gotten their weight back on before safe haven even came out. If anyone goes out to look at the minis they will see that some of them are actually FAT. So it stands to reason that if some are fat and some are just right that the ones that need some weight were not being mistreated by me.
There are not 20 stallions on this property . The stallions that i do have are not in bad shape. Most are fat and the rest are just right. I have one on the thin side because he has been picked on and run off of his food by his pasture mates , again i did not know this until i went down there to check on those below to make sure my helper was doing as good of a job as he has the last few years. Unfortunately i found that he was not. My health allowing i would have known this sooner. But things sometimes just dont work out right. Anyway,this mini is getting his own area alone where he can get spoiled rotten and he will be gelded soon. With the extra room i have now the horses will have it made. I have one stallion that i rescued myself that has bad feet. They were bad when i got him. He is under a farrier's care and had his feet worked on this past weekend actually. I do have one stallion who is not tame. He is one i rescued from a horse trader. No one had ever messed with him and if they had it wasnt with kindness. He is being worked with but he is having trouble learning to trust. He is near my house where i can mess with him regularly. He does come up and smell my hand and i make progress little by little. He now lets me touch his nose.
Safe Haven did not take ANY stallions. The only stallions that have left this property were sold by me. I had gotten the word out enough that some friends bought some horses from me and i gave some away as well to friends. The day Safe Haven was out here i sold 14 and had already sold 2 others. I had someone else come out that wanted to buy pairs and i refused to sell them because they wanted to do backyard breeding. I had someone else come out here that i could tell did not care about the horses themselves and i refused to sell to them as well. Instead i sent those with Safe Haven because Safe Haven promised me the following things...
1. The horses would be taken good care of and have plenty of hay.
2. The horses would be placed in good foster homes for now and recieve vet checks and any medical care if needed.
3. The horses would NOT go to breeders.
4. The horses would be placed in good homes that would be checked out regularly and that Safe Haven reserved the right to go onto the property of anyone who took in one of the horses ,at any time day or night unannounced to check on them and if Safe Haven did not like the conditions, they reserved the right to remove the horse from the new home at their discretion without new owner having any recourse.
The reason this was on the news was because Safe Haven and the news reporter told me these things...
1. They were showing a place where horses had been seized to show the bad side of the situation in Texas with the drought and were showing my horses in the same story to show the GOOD SIDE of the situation where someone loved their horses enough to send them to Safe Haven of their own free will so that they would be where they would not have to get in a bad situation due to the hay issues.
2. They told me that if i allowed them to put my story on the air that people would just pour in wanting to adopt and also donate hay and such and that i would get some of that hay to help me with the ones i kept. I am no dummy, i will take help when it is offered.
3. And this is the big one...They said that this will show people that they can give their horses to Safe Haven if they are having trouble finding hay and such before their horses get into bad shape like the ones that were seized from the other people that were featured in the same story with me and that it was a good thing and no one would make anything bad out of it. That i would be praised for giving them up before they wound up in bad shape.
So now i get on here and see that everything is blown way out of proportion and i am being made out to seem like a cruel and negligent owner. I have done well by giving up my horses that i couldnt care for any longer. I have my amount of horses down to a very manageable number that i can afford to buy hay for now. The horses are not now nor have they ever been in danger of not being fed pellets and/ or oats etc. My concern was that the hay was so scarce and expensive that i could not keep up with providing for as many horses as i had. Winter is coming and the grass is dead and we have had trouble finding good hay for any price , much less a reasonable price. But we have a line on some now to purchase. If i could have made it rain so we could have had plenty of hay i would have. Normally my horses have access to hay 24/7 and get an excellent diet of good quality feed. The feed has never been an issue , only the hay.
As far as the feet of the ones i still have... Some need to be trimmed and some do not. Now that i dont have to spend 10 thousand dollars on hay this year,or more , i am free to have my farrier here more frequently for ALL of the horses. Are they in horrible shape? No. Do they all have perfect foot conformation for show? Of course not. Were all of them show quality horses with perfect legs and so on? No. One of the horses that went to Safe Haven had surgery to correct ligament issues that she was born with and another had corrective farrier work to correct her stifle issues. Both of them i sent to Safe Haven. Did i breed for these horses? No i did not. One was born here but was bred somewhere else by someone else and i bought her mother in foal. The other was a foal when i bought her and within a month showed issues that required the surgery. I do not own the parents of either of these horses.
We all get in a bind sometimes. Why didnt i turn to other horse people for help? Because i knew i would be crucified even though things werent real bad yet. Just look how this has been blown out of proportion already.
Let's be nice to each other and try to be helpful to people who are having a hard time who once were doing well. The drought is not anyone's fault. The price of hay is someone's fault. I think it is sad that people are charging what they are for hay when it isnt costing them but another 80 cents or so per gallon for fuel , if that much. Supply and demand is killing the horse and cow people. I let this be put on tv as well in hopes that the Governor or someone in power would find out about how rough it is getting here and declare an emergency here in Texas and get us ALL some help with hay for both horse and cow people.
I want to thank those who called Safe Haven to get them to tell me that i did the right thing and to offer praise for this very heart breaking decision i had to make for the best interest of my horses. Several have called them to tell me i deserve praise. I would like to thank everyone for their concern for my horses. I want them to go to good loving homes and be loved and cared for and not bred. The market is flooded and people just cant afford to feed them anymore. This is why i had so much trouble selling them. People dont want to spend so much on hay.
If you can help Safe Haven with hay or feed or funds , please contact them so that they can help others in this situation and in worse situations. If you are overwhelmed with trying to buy hay for your horses call Safe Haven but dont let them put your story on TV like i did. I obviously made a mistake in doing that.They can be reached at 903-762-1432.
First of all the minis were NOT seized. The minis were voluntarily given to Safe Haven and here is the how ,what ,where and why.
The drought has done me in. In Texas round bales are between 75 and 100 dollars per bale and square bales are going for at least 9 dollars. Anything cheaper is not good quality horse hay. When hay was reasonable i was doing just fine. We have looked high and low for hay. Last year we went out of state to get it. Our truck cant do any more trips to haul hay due to transmission issues, and delivery costs are unreal in price thanks to fuel costs and supply and demand for hay.There was someone at a certain vet's office that i had talked to about buying some minis and when she changed her mind on me before ever even coming out to look at any, i made the remark to her in an offhand way that well i hope she will be able to buy some soon and to spread the word that i had some cheap because if i cant find some hay they are going to starve to death. What i MEANT was that if i dont find some hay somewhere within a couple of months then we are going to have horses with no hay. I simply used a poor choice of words. So be careful what you say and where you say it. Your words could be turned around on you too. My horses have never gone without a meal and are in no danger now or before of going without feed. If you live in Texas or anywhere in the southern states you know that the drought has been horrible for at least 2 years. This is hurting everyone here , not just me. There are people who live near me that once had 100s of cows that now have about 20 because they just couldnt get hay or afford to but it at these unreal prices. So they took cows to slaughter. I refuse to take horses to slaughter or to an auction house for 10 cents per pound.
At any rate i suspect this is the person who called Safe Haven. Someone did. Safe Haven contacted me and asked if they could help me with hay or feed or take some off my hands so that it would be more manageable for me. Had i known that Safe Haven had changed owners and now had a whole lot more room i would have called them myself. As far as i knew it was the same as before and i assumed they were bursting at the seams with horses because of the hay problem here. I was going to call anyway and see if they could find someone to take them in a couple of weeks if i could not get enough hay on this property. ( For the record the horses have not gone without hay yet, nor will they. ) I INVITED Safe Haven to come and take a lot of my minis and my large horses and my mules. I did this of my own free will. These horses were NOT seized or taken from me against my will. As a matter of fact at one point i was crying because i am upset that i cant afford to care for all of them any more and i am heart broken that the drought has put me in the position to need to give them up . Richard from Safe Haven told me at that point, and i quote " we can stop this right now if you want to and you can keep them and we will help you any way we can". I said no go ahead and take these certain ones so i can lower my numbers and get out of the financial bind i am in. So Safe Haven took unpapered horses home with them.
Now as far as horses in HORRIBLE shape...my horses are NOT in horrible shape. Here are the facts and numbers on the horses.
Safe Haven was allowed to take my 4 large horses. They were a little thin but not skinny or unhealthy. The hay has had to be rationed a little off and on this summer and with the 108 degree temps they tend to drop some fat anyway. If you dont believe that heat can make them lose some weight ask your vet. They were allowed to take my 3 mammoth mules. And the amount of miniature horses they were allowed to take was 18. There were 2 large geldings and 2 large mares. There were two large male mules and 1 large female mule.
I had 2 mares go that are minis that were thin. TWO. They were left on their babies for too long by my helper that i pay to feed and care for my horses. I have been having health problems and have not been out there to mess with the horses and trusted them to him entirely. The only ones i have seen regularly since foaling season were the ones that are closer to my house. The ones closer to my house look WONDERFUL. Naturally i assumed the rest of them did as well.The ones further down that i can not see unless i make a trip down there were not taken as good of care of as i would like. Therefore the mares were left on their babies too long. I had asked my helper to remove them from their babies and he had not done it yet and left them longer than i knew.I assumed he moved them when i told him the first time. I made a trip around to look at everyone and saw that these girls were getting thin and one was real thin so i had a fit and told him to get those babies off them and seperate them out NOW. And he did. 2 of the mares which went to safe haven had already gotten their weight back on before safe haven even came out. If anyone goes out to look at the minis they will see that some of them are actually FAT. So it stands to reason that if some are fat and some are just right that the ones that need some weight were not being mistreated by me.
There are not 20 stallions on this property . The stallions that i do have are not in bad shape. Most are fat and the rest are just right. I have one on the thin side because he has been picked on and run off of his food by his pasture mates , again i did not know this until i went down there to check on those below to make sure my helper was doing as good of a job as he has the last few years. Unfortunately i found that he was not. My health allowing i would have known this sooner. But things sometimes just dont work out right. Anyway,this mini is getting his own area alone where he can get spoiled rotten and he will be gelded soon. With the extra room i have now the horses will have it made. I have one stallion that i rescued myself that has bad feet. They were bad when i got him. He is under a farrier's care and had his feet worked on this past weekend actually. I do have one stallion who is not tame. He is one i rescued from a horse trader. No one had ever messed with him and if they had it wasnt with kindness. He is being worked with but he is having trouble learning to trust. He is near my house where i can mess with him regularly. He does come up and smell my hand and i make progress little by little. He now lets me touch his nose.
Safe Haven did not take ANY stallions. The only stallions that have left this property were sold by me. I had gotten the word out enough that some friends bought some horses from me and i gave some away as well to friends. The day Safe Haven was out here i sold 14 and had already sold 2 others. I had someone else come out that wanted to buy pairs and i refused to sell them because they wanted to do backyard breeding. I had someone else come out here that i could tell did not care about the horses themselves and i refused to sell to them as well. Instead i sent those with Safe Haven because Safe Haven promised me the following things...
1. The horses would be taken good care of and have plenty of hay.
2. The horses would be placed in good foster homes for now and recieve vet checks and any medical care if needed.
3. The horses would NOT go to breeders.
4. The horses would be placed in good homes that would be checked out regularly and that Safe Haven reserved the right to go onto the property of anyone who took in one of the horses ,at any time day or night unannounced to check on them and if Safe Haven did not like the conditions, they reserved the right to remove the horse from the new home at their discretion without new owner having any recourse.
The reason this was on the news was because Safe Haven and the news reporter told me these things...
1. They were showing a place where horses had been seized to show the bad side of the situation in Texas with the drought and were showing my horses in the same story to show the GOOD SIDE of the situation where someone loved their horses enough to send them to Safe Haven of their own free will so that they would be where they would not have to get in a bad situation due to the hay issues.
2. They told me that if i allowed them to put my story on the air that people would just pour in wanting to adopt and also donate hay and such and that i would get some of that hay to help me with the ones i kept. I am no dummy, i will take help when it is offered.
3. And this is the big one...They said that this will show people that they can give their horses to Safe Haven if they are having trouble finding hay and such before their horses get into bad shape like the ones that were seized from the other people that were featured in the same story with me and that it was a good thing and no one would make anything bad out of it. That i would be praised for giving them up before they wound up in bad shape.
So now i get on here and see that everything is blown way out of proportion and i am being made out to seem like a cruel and negligent owner. I have done well by giving up my horses that i couldnt care for any longer. I have my amount of horses down to a very manageable number that i can afford to buy hay for now. The horses are not now nor have they ever been in danger of not being fed pellets and/ or oats etc. My concern was that the hay was so scarce and expensive that i could not keep up with providing for as many horses as i had. Winter is coming and the grass is dead and we have had trouble finding good hay for any price , much less a reasonable price. But we have a line on some now to purchase. If i could have made it rain so we could have had plenty of hay i would have. Normally my horses have access to hay 24/7 and get an excellent diet of good quality feed. The feed has never been an issue , only the hay.
As far as the feet of the ones i still have... Some need to be trimmed and some do not. Now that i dont have to spend 10 thousand dollars on hay this year,or more , i am free to have my farrier here more frequently for ALL of the horses. Are they in horrible shape? No. Do they all have perfect foot conformation for show? Of course not. Were all of them show quality horses with perfect legs and so on? No. One of the horses that went to Safe Haven had surgery to correct ligament issues that she was born with and another had corrective farrier work to correct her stifle issues. Both of them i sent to Safe Haven. Did i breed for these horses? No i did not. One was born here but was bred somewhere else by someone else and i bought her mother in foal. The other was a foal when i bought her and within a month showed issues that required the surgery. I do not own the parents of either of these horses.
We all get in a bind sometimes. Why didnt i turn to other horse people for help? Because i knew i would be crucified even though things werent real bad yet. Just look how this has been blown out of proportion already.
Let's be nice to each other and try to be helpful to people who are having a hard time who once were doing well. The drought is not anyone's fault. The price of hay is someone's fault. I think it is sad that people are charging what they are for hay when it isnt costing them but another 80 cents or so per gallon for fuel , if that much. Supply and demand is killing the horse and cow people. I let this be put on tv as well in hopes that the Governor or someone in power would find out about how rough it is getting here and declare an emergency here in Texas and get us ALL some help with hay for both horse and cow people.
I want to thank those who called Safe Haven to get them to tell me that i did the right thing and to offer praise for this very heart breaking decision i had to make for the best interest of my horses. Several have called them to tell me i deserve praise. I would like to thank everyone for their concern for my horses. I want them to go to good loving homes and be loved and cared for and not bred. The market is flooded and people just cant afford to feed them anymore. This is why i had so much trouble selling them. People dont want to spend so much on hay.
If you can help Safe Haven with hay or feed or funds , please contact them so that they can help others in this situation and in worse situations. If you are overwhelmed with trying to buy hay for your horses call Safe Haven but dont let them put your story on TV like i did. I obviously made a mistake in doing that.They can be reached at 903-762-1432.
