I hate this...

[tracerace]

I met a friend in Shipshewana today...for those of you not familiar, there is a notoriously EVIL horse auction there each and every Friday. She wanted to go to the auction just to "peek" as a friend is going there in th next couple of weeks so she wanted to get the lay of the place and see how it works. Ugh. I try not to go - but at the same time, I do hope to sneak some secret footage of the crap that goes on there and turn it into a documentary (I'm slowly gathering emotional strength while I'm learning how to use the cameras and equipment).............anyway...

I know where the kill pens are. I know exactly where they are, and my friend wandered in - I started to say something but decided I wanted to see too. There were all men in there so we sort of stuck out. There were 2 mini's - one a little appy that was just gelded (his would was still seeping) in with some Belgians - they sold for $40 each. The men moved on and out and started to usher 16 horses down the aisle out to the waiting truck. Thats when I notced the Belgians lunging at the minis and biting and kicking them. I hollered "Knock it off!" and growled at the big horse everytime he started - buying the minis some time to get away. Finally a guy that worked there came over and helped me move the minis into another pen.

I feel so horrible. I don't know what the fate of those 2 were...why in the world would they be in there? We watched the entire auction afterward and the mini's did NOT come through.

I'm heart broke and hate myself for not bringing a trailer. But I really don't have room right now. I swear I won't be able to sleep. I hate to think that for maybe $100 I could have spared those 2 minis a terrible trailer ride to the slaughterhouse.

Ugh. I hope I can sleep tonight. I'm just so disappointed that these mere babies went through the loose pens with all those big horses. Why would they? I'm hoping the meat man resells them at the very least. But that still means a trailer ride with those awfully big horses.

Sorry to whine. I'm just bummed.

 

[crponies]

That is so strange too that someone would pay to have a horse gelded to almost immediately take it to the auction and get so little for it. Hmmm, that would be a hard thing to see.

 

[Reijel's Mom]

I can identify

I do go to auctions on occasion, and I do pay special attention to any minis there. Now that I have my own acerage, I just know that if I thought one was in big trouble that it'd be coming home with me. I'd like to do the same for the "bigs", but I can sneak a mini past my husband a bit easier. I don't have any business getting more horses, and you can't save them all, but I know where you are coming from.

 

[SHANA]

I went to a auction a few times here in Quebec. At one I almost bought a arabian stallion for cheap, the meat buyer was the only bidder and I was about to raise my bid number when one guy yelled $1000, later talked with that man and he was the original owner and did not want his horse sold for meat. I later helped him sell his horse to a carrying family who had him gelded. Then at another auction I bought a arabian mare after outbidding the meat buyer, had the mare 2 years and resold her. She is now in a forever home. I know a very nice registered Quarter Horse sold for $250 with papers at this auction, not for meat thankfully. My friend bought her. Only 4 years old at the time, has become a great broodmare and show horse. I would take any unwanted horses in a heartbeat. My barn is always open. :aktion033:

 

[Watcheye]

:no: Its heart wrenching that this happens. I wish that I was in a position to do more. I know that if my mom and I were, niether of us would heasitate. As for you who have, I applaud you :aktion033:

 

[Leeana]

I have been to the shipshewana auction 3 times. I know where the kill pens are and it is just heartbreaking, i know the feeling. We use to go to allot of auctions but i just cannot go anymore, it hurts so much to see what goes on. Especially 20 horses being ran down a concrete path about 6ft wide with a whip cracking them in the butt i just cannot go anymore. Mostly because sometimes i cannot control what comes out of my mouth and second because it hurts to see this whole other side of the horse world ..the evil filthy side.

I know exactly what goes on in shipshewana, i also now know what goes on at sugarcreek here in Ohio too. We go to the BIG sale in the winter/fall/spring at shipshewana and generally those are nice sales ..its the friday ones that we went to once and NEVER EVER agian can i go back there ...NEVER. I know that sleepless feeling all to well.

Best thing you can do instead of trying to rescue everyone of them is just rescue one or two of them and knowing what you did for those one or two is heart warming, i know becaue i have one of them and he become my little angel.

{{{HUGS}}}

 

[hhpminis]

I cant go. Heck, I cant even go to the pound to get a barn cat without crying because I cant take them all. It just makes me physically ill to see it. :no:

 

[Paige]

I've been going to Shipshewana for years and still have a hard time with seeing the horses in the kill pen. As for the miniatures, I would think they will have a good chance of being resold. My girlfriend's uncle is a dealer/meat buyer who frequents Shipshewana and if he can make more money selling the horse to a individual he will. He always has the "perfect" horse and if those miniatures ended up on his truck, by tomorrow morning they will be "good broke kid's ponies." Also in the future don't let not having a trailer stop you from buying if the situation is right for you. There are always people there willing to haul for a fee and they will also let you stable the horse overnight if you ask. Also remember you can't save them all and you did the best you could to help them today!

Are you going to the Good Friday sale in a few weeks? There will still be meat horses but not as dramatic as the regular sales. It's also possible you may see the same miniatures that sold today sell with the ponies at this sale as they bring a better price at the special sales.

 

[horselover161]

I have been to auctions all over the country and the worst one I have ever been to was at Shipshewana. I walked into one a few years back during the fall and it still brings tears to my eyes when I think about it. They had those walkways over the tops of the corrals where you could look down on the horses and they had the huge Belgians stuffed into the stalls so that they couldn't move- each stall had four draft horses and there wasn't an inch to spare. This was in the fall and for some reason they had 2 rings going and they were selling each draft horse very fast and then herding it out onto the kill trailers. I have never before in my life gotten physically sick, but I started dry heaving and had to run out of the barn. There were just so many horses there. I am sure they were just the old Amish work horses that weren't worth feeding over the winter.

I have also seen minis go through there. As far as being just gelded, someone had mentioned earlier that they thought it was strange that someone would pay to have the mini gelded just to run him through the ring. It is Amish country and I am sure they did it themselves- no cost there. Another auction I went to had a mini that had been turned out with the big guys and had chunks taken out of hide. He broke my heart & I would have brought him home if I had had the room. It seems like you never forget some of them. The sales are a good reminder to have your horse microchipped or other means of identification just in case they are stolen. I love the excitement of auctions and have bought some very nice horses from them, but Shipshewana is one I could never go back to (excluding the large special sales). I only keep hoping that some of the horses end up in good homes- at least some of them have a chance for a better life than the one they just came from.

 

[Paige]

Having dealt with several Amish miniature breeders in the area, I don't think it's fair to assume the Amish are all alike and those colts originated from an Amish farm. In fact the next time anyone is in the area check out M&R Miniatures and Chupp's Lil Horses instead of going to the sale. Both breeders have some of the best bloodlines in the business and take good care of there animals.

It's really hard to say where those colts could have came from as people ship in from all over and there are an abundance of miniatures breeders in the surrounding areas from all different walks of life.

 

[CRERS]

Many times when you see a horse(s) in a pen that doesn't go through the sale, it is because they were unloaded from that broker/meat buyer and are in a holding pen until he gets his horses or "quota" from that auction and heads out to the next. They know which sales to send which horses through and know which sales will bring the highest dollar amount for the kind of horse they're sending through.

*Most likely*, the Mini's could have already been sold through the ring and bought by that particular buyer/broker/killer and were in his holding pen. Another possibility is that he was heading to another sale where he knew he could get more $$ for them, or possibly had a private buyer in mind for them.

If you're ever in the position that you can do it, you can usually negotiate their ransom with the kill buyers.....most will sell to you right there on the spot for around $50 more than what they purchased the doomed horse for.

I am taking one of our teen-age volunteers and her friend to one of our local lower end auctions tomorrow night.....we are pretty full at the moment, so I am not taking the trailer with me and am trying to convice myself that I am not bringing a horse home tomorrow, however, that has never stopped me before.

:

 

[minihorseluver]

I know what you mean, I once rode in the back seat of a car with a mini to get him home. I to told myself that I wasn't coming home with another, but vwalla, there he stood in my barn, one of the best purchases I made at an auction, I don't know of any other stallion that will happily stand in a car for 45 minutes.

As for the meat pens, I don't like what they do to the individual horses, and you wouldn't think that minis would end up in them because of their size, but we need someone to control the population. My old horseguy has always told me that there is enough good horses out there, and by getting rid of the bad ones is helping the whole business. I'm noy saying that those specific minis were bad, but maybe thet were in there for a reason. I once sold a stallion to a kill pen because he was literally evil, but that auction changed him. He looked as precious as a kitten in there and coulda fooled anyone. I don't mean to get burned, and I have seen the kill pens, but I don't go there just because of that feeling. I don't believe that every horse deserves to be there, but I do know of several horses whose owners would be better off.

 

[tracerace]

mhl, I understand what you're saying....but even a TRULY evil animal doen't deserve to have the crap beat out of him by another animal that outweighs them by 1800 pounds. I believe auctions should be policed by people who know better, and that people should stand up and say something. I've seen Amish boys, with those cherub faces, beating the bejeezus out of 2 day old calves because they weren't fast enough through the shoots. Who is fast at 2 days old? It's THAT mentality - that it's "ok, they're just animals"...and worse, that it's ok because some "deserve" to be there. If an animal is SO bad that it deserves to be slaughtered, then it is also worthy of a bullet in the head - don't you think? Why not euthanize a 200 pound animal that is evil? Why send it to slaughter...where it may slip through and go to an unsuspecting home a couple of times? I believe that is irreseponsible on your part.

I am not entering the slaughter argument any time soon - it's too politically charged for me and I dispise politics. But treatment and care for live animals isn't political. It's a humanity issue. And sadly, this planet lacks a bit of that. Sadly there are too many people who have shut theat part of their brains off.

 

[TTF]

: I HATE SLAUGHTERHOUSES!! I can't understand how anyone could do that as a business!!!

:

I wonder if other people realize how magical a mini is. I know they all must say that about their breed of horse, but someone could have paid very little for them as companion animals!

I don't really understand that gelding situation either, I mean, why even bother??

BTW, were you able to talk to whoever was in charge of the pens? Tell them its wrong or unfair?? Not to do it again? (Without sounding like their mom of course

: )

.

 

[tracerace]

Triple...the guy who worked there helped me move the minis. Thats about as good as it gets. I have to admit (as others have mentioned ealrier) this was NOTHING to what goes on at this auction. This was a good day for the horses at Shipshewana, actually. I've seen much, much worse and I was grateful that the man actually paid me any mind at all. I've had a vet - Dr. King, ignore me when I pointed out injured horses that needed to be attended to. One day there was a horse whose eye had literally exploded after being kicked by a crazy horse that was in the pen with it. People were milling around and kids were goofing and playing like nothing happened. Shipshewana is an alter universe for me.

As I mentioned before I am hoping to do a story about that juxtaposition of realities in Shipsie - on the outside it isthe idealic charm of the Amish community and the flower gardens and bird feeders. But inside that auction house there are horrors...and not a DROP of water to be found.