Horse Spotlight: Jake

In March of 2018, I was given the privilege to go with Ashley to Sugarcreek Livestock Auction in Traci's place due to having a conflict.  We saved four horses that day and one of those horses was Jake the Belgian.  He was never supposed to come home with us but when he entered the auction ring.  He melted our hearts.  There was a certain look in his eye that will always stick with me.  When he was bought by the meat dealer, we knew that we had to buy him and Charlie gave the guy two hundred dollars in the bathroom.

So, on that day, we blindly bought a twelve year old Belgian gelding with no clue on his age, gender or personality.  We didn't know if he would fit into our barn.  What we did know was that this was a special horse.


Once back on the farm, Jake's main task was to gain weight as he was severely thin.  He started to learn how to ride and was unbelievably calm.  Months later, in July, Jake came in from the pasture limping.  We put him on stall rest and after he went down and we couldn't get him up, the vet was called.  Several x-rays later, it was determined that Jake's shoulder had been shattered by another horse's kick.  I was not very hopeful for his recovery. 

Jake sat in his sling for months and slowly regained his strength.  He finally filled out weight wise and his shoulder slowly but surely healed.  I am still in awe that he was able to heal.  His shoulder becoming injured again will always be a concern but he was still adopted quickly by one of the families who take lessons at our barn nonetheless. 

One week ago, Jake went home to his forever home with one of our minis, Rusty.  There, he will be forever loved by his three little kids, have green grass to eat and trails to ride on.

If you are interested on learning more or would like to donate, please contact Happy Tails Farm and Rescue Center.  Every donation helps us to save more horses from the auction ring, just like Jake.

Auction Trip 5/24/19

My first auction trip did not nearly prepare me for the second trip.  We arrived in Sugarcreek, Ohio a little before 11:00 and already we were seeing such horrors.  A driver was dropping off a yearling to the auction who could barely walk, let alone stand in a trailer for hours.

"This one is coming home with us."

The first horse we looked at was an older tricolor paint gelding.  He instantly caught our eye.  He was kind and patient and took the bit like a champ.  He snuggled up with us and without even sitting on his back, Ashley said, "This one is coming home with us."  There were to be no if, ands or buts about it.  He was on the top of our list and there was no doubt about it that he would be ours.


We moved on with this guy in our hearts and came across the yearling.  The image of him standing in that auction stall will be forever with me.  His spine was curved upward and his back left leg was so swollen he could barely stand.  His opposite hip was sunken in.  There were half-healed burn marks on his face and neck.  Hair was matted onto his stomach.  The only explanation we had for his condition was that he was in a barn fire.  Instead of humanely putting him down when the initial injuries occurred, here he was, in a stall being left to die a horrible death.  Why didn't they just put him out of his misery?  But through all of his pain, all he wanted to do was be with us.  He wanted us to love him and clearly starved for attention.  We all knew that if this guy came home with us, it might just be a mercy buy and there might not be anything we could do for him.  So we moved on.

Throughout the morning, we tried out several horses.  There were many riding horses to try and choose from.  We looked at the minis because we need a new one for the petting zoo and an older pony mare who was so wild, we couldn't even come near her face.  Luckily, there weren't too many horses that were in devastating shape.  Just that little black yearling who kept sticking in our minds.

The morning never really hits me as a slaughter auction.  These horses are all for grabs.  Their fates aren't sealed yet.  The actual sale is what really makes me upset.  Every time a horse we wants go through the ring, my heart feels as though it is going to pound through my chest.  They were using hard sticks this time to prod them through when a simple hand wave might have worked.  One of our choices went for $1000 to a private buyers so we weren't as upset.  All of our choices went through right in a row and the one we missed out on but we were able to buy him from the meat dealer.  We even bought that tricolored paint.

The sweet yearling

We watched a six year old girl without a helmet ride two broke mini horses in the auction ring.  One went to Baker, the meat dealer.  We can only hope that he plans to sell the mini as a riding mini which would be more profitable for him than sending her for meat.  That mother should be ashamed that she is using her daughter to promote such a horrible agenda.  What if that little girl learns of what goes on that auction? She might have to live with that for the rest of her life.

The yearling passed through and for $40, we saved his life.  We don't know what his future will hold but we couldn't leave him there to die such a horrible death.

Sometimes at auction, we have our surprise buy.  When I went the first time, it was big Jake, the Belgian.  At this auction, we bought a beautiful little chestnut mini horse mare.  She is only two years old and joined our family to go to petting zoos and to be loved on by the kids on our farm.

The one thing that gets me every time at these auctions and from reading all sorts of articles is that the meat dealers don't care.  To them, that auction is a pay day.  They have no sympathy for such beautiful living creatures.

So at the end of the day, we came home with six vibrant lives.  Jagger is a large 8-year-old gelding has no clue what he is doing.  Axl, the old gelding that was definitely taking a place on our trailer, has such spunk to him and was so excited to be getting back to work.  Slash, named for the sword marking on his neck, is 5 years old and is willing to learn.  Carly, covered in snots at auction, is an unfailable beginner ride.  Page, our sweet mini, will be gracing family photo albums for years to come.  And Bruce, our yearling gelding, who captured our hearts and will have a happy and comfortable ending, no matter what that ending may be.  This is why I go to auction.  This is why we save these horses. 

Auction Trip 3/23/18

On Friday March 23rd, I went to my first slaughter auction at Sugarcreek Livestock Auction in Ohio.  We left Eden, NY at 5:30 in the morning and it took over four hours for us to get there.  Once off the thruway, we drove about 15 minutes into downtown Sugarcreek, also known as Little Switzerland.  It was a very quaint down and Main Street looked as if there were little Swiss shops and houses.  Not even a mile away was the livestock auction.  It was surrounded by houses.

The interior of the auction was darkly lit and the stalls were made of wood beams.  A catwalk stretched across the stalls.  There were very few horses at Sugarcreek that Friday.  The auction could easily hold 100 horses but all of them were crammed into one tiny part.  Four horses shared a stall made for one.  The floors were made of concrete and there were no shavings in the stalls.  The horses did not have access to hay or water for the day.  There were at least 20 healthy and well-kept standardbreds who were not broke to ride.  In the back, there was a small pen for the leftovers (a cow, a black mare and a Belgian) from last week's auction that didn't sell.  Leroy Baker, the own and operator of Sugarcreek, kept his two healthy and fit horses with them.  While they did have hay and water, they were standing in a couple inches of manure.

We tried out several horses, including a middle-aged chestnut gelding named Buddy.  He was standing alone in a stall, pacing and bobbing his head.  He was chewing on the wood.  He had a cut over his left eye.  He was well-trained and rode fairly nice but his owner was there and told us not to buy him.  Apparently, Buddy had broken his foot and that he wasn't sane as he had rarely been outside previously.  While he was sweet and loving, we could not take him because of the danger he could have been to the kids at the farm.  He went to a meat dealer.

While I did not witness large displays of cruelty toward the horses, one man, however, was not afraid to whip horses or cows with his flag for little reason.  At one point, a horse was not entering a pen packed with other horses and he yelled at it and slammed the door on the horse's rear-end.  The auction was slightly dangerous as you could be in the aisle ways and they would send horses running down it.

According to a horse trader, there was a dead horse at the auction.  He was out back and had looked like he had been there was awhile.  However, when we went to look for him, his body had already been removed.

The fate of the horses didn't hit me until the actual auction.  At this point, I truly realized that most of these horses would be dead by the end of the week.

We sat down for the auction around one and they showed one or two horses at a time.  The bidding commenced and horses were going from as little as $100 to as high as $800.  I felt sick the whole time.  These men only saw these horses as money and not as companions with kind and gentle souls.  We got two out of the three that we wanted but we were outbid on another gelding.  His fate is unknown.  However, we were able to save the black mare from the leftovers from last week's auction.

During the auction, a skinny Belgian gelding entered the pen.  He was looking all around and was moving slowly.  You could see the warmth and fear in his eyes.  He broke our hearts.  We knew that we had to take him home with us.  He was sold to a meat dealer for $100.  After the auction, we found his buyer and bought the Belgian from him for an additional $100.  Next we had to find him.  We did not know his auction number so we tracked him down from sight.  He was with three other skinny Belgians but we found him based on his halter color and the look in his eye.  The worst part was that the meat dealer didn't even remember buying him or even that he bought a horse for $100.  These are lives.  These are lives that shouldn't be bought or sold as if you were buying and selling car parts.  They have feelings.  They feel pain.  Their lives aren't to be taken lightly.

So we brought home four horses.  Jasmine, the one who is left over from the week prior, was bought for $650.  She is underweight but generally healthy.  She is an older been-there-done-that kind of horse.  Layla, a middle-aged Arabian, is also a little underweight but very well-trained.  We were taken aback by her the instant we laid our eyes on her.  Something about her just clicked for us.   Charlie, a pony, wasn't our first choice as he was not broke but ended up on our trailer just the same.  He is not even 5 years old.  Jake, the Belgian, is severely underweight but is otherwise young and healthy.

As we were loading our trailer, a truck owned by a meat dealer pulled up and started to load.  It was the truck that Jake would have ended up on.  At this point, a week after the auction, he probably would have been dead if we didn't buy him.

We saved four lives last Friday.  Even though I think of Buddy often, we would not have been able to take home the four that we did if he had ended up on our trailer.  We saved four beautiful lives on Friday; four lives that would have ended if we had not been there.

However, there are still thousands of horses that go for slaughter each year and the numbers aren't slowing.  If you would like to donate to save horses, please go to this link: Gofundme.com/saved

All photos are courtesy of Happy Tails Farm & Rescue Center and Thunder Ranch Horse Rescue Project.

Where Are They Now? -- Auction Trip 3/23/18

A year ago today, I was able to go with Ashley and Charlie to Sugarcreek for my first auction trip.  There, I was met with horrors that I never thought were possible from Human beings.  I watched men sell and buy horses for slaughter without blinking an eye.  I watched ten horses packed into one multiple times while most of the facility was empty.  I watched horses get shuffled through the sale pen with flags used as whips, scared out of their minds.  I watched four horses sit in manure up to their knees.  I watched a sweet horse go to his death.

However, I don't regret that experience because we saved four amazing and beautiful lives: Charlie, Jasmine, Jake and Layla.  These horses hold such a place in my heart since I was actually part of the process of saving them.  One year later, these horses are healthy and happy in their new homes.

Jasmine, who we bought for $600 right from the auction owner himself, left our care shortly after her quarantine ended.  Sweet and calm, Jasmine took care of every rider that sat upon her. 

Jake, the Belgian we bought right from the kill buyer who bought him, gained hundreds of pounds of weight, shattered his shoulder in July and then made a full recovery.  Jake is now owned and loved by a family who takes lessons at Happy Tails.  He will be moving to their property come Spring, when the barn is built.

Charlie was our challenge pony.  Young and green, Charles quickly learned to take riders for an unplanned ride, including me.  He eventually find a home with Rita, the baby who was born to one of our other rescues in May.

Layla went to her forever home today, a year exactly after we saved her.  At 25+, she has been a staple in our lesson program but it is time for her to be loved by a family.  Layla has been a great teacher and an energizer bunny.  This mare will always have a special place in my heart as she was the first horse we saved in my first auction.  I will never forget the feeling I had when she walked into that auction pen and I wasn't sure if we would be able to save her or not.

As much as we hate to see them leave and we miss them, we know that this opens up a spot in our barn to save new horses.  We wouldn't be able to continue our mission to save every horses that we can if we don't say those bittersweet good-byes.

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If you would like to help us save more horses, please donate at Gofundme.com/saved/.

If you would like to read more about this auction trip, you can read about it here: https://ascioliosaat.blogspot.com/2018/03/auction-trip-32319.html.

Horse Spotlight: Donnie

Donnie at Auction

Happy Tails and Thunder Ranch save many horses from a horrible fate every year.  However, very few actually stay with the farm.  One of those special guys is Donatello, or Donnie.

It has been over two years now since we brought our beloved Donnie home from Sugarcreek Livestock Auction in Ohio.  In February 2017, Donnie was saved from horse slaughter and brought back to Happy Tails Farm.  He was bought for less than $150.   Everyone involved knew that he was going to be a project but every now and then, we bring back one that is in rough shape.  Once back on the farm, we truly learned how big of a health project he was going to be.

He was covered head to toe in rain rot and covered in what we assume was blue coat, a medicine to help heal it.  His tail was riddled with burrs.  Our vet, Dr. Jean, determined that Donnie was a 3 on the body scale and that he was only around 3 years old.  Luckily, Donnie came to us during that 70 degree heat wave and he was able to be bathed.  Layers of rain rot was scrubbed off of him.  As the chunks came out, he would wince but never kick.

As he gained weight and started to feel better, Donnie's personality started to shine.  We discovered that he was goofy beyond belief and loved Humans.  He could have cared less where he put his feet and would trample over everything.  Nothing scared him or bothered him really. 

Three Months After the Auction

After months of eating and resting, Donnie was finally ready to ride and he broke beautifully.  He never offered a buck or a rear.  What was more, was that Donnie was comfortable and slow.  He had a Western trot that many horses and trainers strive to achieve and never actually make it happen.  When he learned how to canter, we were all shocked how lopey and smooth he was.

Now, two years later, Donnie has been a staple in our lesson program.  He is leased by one of our boarders's parents and rides three to four times a week.  On the trails and in the ring, nothing phases him.  He loves the kids and teaches them patience.  He makes us smile whenever he runs over a cone or hits a barrel.  He is one horse that you can put any rider on and he will take care of them.  Donnie has impacted the lives of many kids and it is unimaginable to think of a life where he does not exist.  Yet, he was so close to slaughter, so close to dying.  Something drew Traci and Ashley to him that day and we are all glad that they saved him.  

Donnie at Summer Camp

Too many horses go to slaughter each year and we are trying everything in our power to help.  Horses like Donnie, so young without every experiencing life, are killed without a second thought.  When looking at horses like Donnie, we can look past the heartache and struggle that comes with rescuing because at the end of the day, it is definitely worth it.

For more information, please visit the Happy Tails Farm & Rescue Center facebook page as well as our gofundme link GoFundme.com/saved