On Wednesday April 2nd 2008 Hope For Horses, a horse rescue in Woodinville Wa transferred this stallion to the veterinary offices of Linda Hagerman for a vet check. He was being turned over to Rose Corey to avoid a potential lawsuit with Pierce County.This photo was taken about 10 minutes before a commercial horse transporter picked him up. He loaded easily, trailered well and unloaded easily.
On Wednesday April 9 2008 the Dispatch News, a small weekly paper in Pierce County printed this article that began with this picture. The article says it was taken on April 3rd 2008, the day after the first picture and just hours after the article says he had an almost catastrophic medical emergency while being transported by Corey from the vet to her farm.
The article states that after the vet check, on the way to Rose Corey's farm the stallion choked, went into convulsions and required emergency treatment. The suggested cause was "a handful of loose hay". The article has many errors in fact and incorrectly leaves the impression that Hope For Horses might be responsible.
Here he is a week before being sent to Corey The difference in the two pictures at HFH and the picture in the article is shocking. How can a horse go from healthy and active to bony and thin in one day? An uninformed guess might be that this is a horse that is severely dehydrated because of the choking incident while being trailered by Corey. My photographer friend tells me it's primarily lighting and angles. I have no idea! The problem is that the picture was used to accuse HFH of mishandling the stallion.
This horse was in the care of Corey from Dec 31 to Jan 20 when Pierce County transfered him to Hope For Horses. He is one of 15 horses alledgedly neglected and starved by Donna and Lisa Gale in Spanaway Washington. Hope For Horses was responsible for his overall health and recovery.
This is a gradual process that can take much longer than the 2 1/2 months that he was in their care. He was very thin when he came in to HFH and he was gaining weight slowly. He was still thin when he left but even so he was an extremely healthy and very active stallion.
Here is a list of related links for those who can't get enough
Original Youtube Video === News Report after Impound
Negative News Article === Rebuttal News Article
A few choice photos
Sadly there was another horse involved.
This little guy was removed from the field at the same time as the stallion You can see them both in the YouTube video. The words used were that he was "deformed". That deformity appears to be garden variety cow hocks that were made worse by the muddy conditions and the colts and his mothers poor nutrition.
He too was originally sent to Rose Corey and cared for from Dec 31 07 to Jan 19 08. He came back at the same time as the stallion and was reunited with his mother. Amazingly they rebonded, she started producing a little milk and he started nursing again.
As HFH suspected the deformity was just early growth problems that are slowly sorting themselves out as he gets stronger and plays with another weanling/yearling filly from the same group. All three get turned out together.
Rose Corey however wanted him transported to her "Immediately". HFH asked the county to give him some more time to mature and get stronger in familiar surroundings with his mother and then let them do a gradual weaning in adjacent stalls and turnouts. Maybe 2 months total
You would think they were the devil himself. She went ballistic. Her lawyer (G Paul Mabry who defended the convicted abuser Anita Miller) worked overtime accusing Hope For Horses of deliberately stalling. HFH cannot stop the transfer, he belongs to the county. They just want him in the best shape possible and after what happened with the stallion HFH documented like crazy people.
The ultimate transfer of this little guy resulted in this article: 3rd Dispatchnews article
The tragedy of all this is the waste of precious time. Hope For Horses has 35 horses in their care. they are fully occupied. Yet days have been taken up dealing with the nasty accusations, untruthful newspaper articles, drafting replies etc.. All things that take away from horses that need their attention. Even now they still don't know what motivates these people.
In the end though it all may not matter. HFH and all other rescues are full. Fosters and adopters are fewer due to the incredible price increases in hay, grain and bedding. Pierce County is close to broke so Animal Control has less money just when they need much more. Good luck to us all in the coming months.
www.Hope For Horses.net is where you can go to offer your support. They need it more than ever right now.
Here he is a week before being sent to Corey The difference in the two pictures at HFH and the picture in the article is shocking. How can a horse go from healthy and active to bony and thin in one day? An uninformed guess might be that this is a horse that is severely dehydrated because of the choking incident while being trailered by Corey. My photographer friend tells me it's primarily lighting and angles. I have no idea! The problem is that the picture was used to accuse HFH of mishandling the stallion.This horse was in the care of Corey from Dec 31 to Jan 20 when Pierce County transfered him to Hope For Horses. He is one of 15 horses alledgedly neglected and starved by Donna and Lisa Gale in Spanaway Washington. Hope For Horses was responsible for his overall health and recovery.
This is a gradual process that can take much longer than the 2 1/2 months that he was in their care. He was very thin when he came in to HFH and he was gaining weight slowly. He was still thin when he left but even so he was an extremely healthy and very active stallion.
Here is a list of related links for those who can't get enough
Original Youtube Video === News Report after Impound
Negative News Article === Rebuttal News Article
A few choice photos
Sadly there was another horse involved.
This little guy was removed from the field at the same time as the stallion You can see them both in the YouTube video. The words used were that he was "deformed". That deformity appears to be garden variety cow hocks that were made worse by the muddy conditions and the colts and his mothers poor nutrition.He too was originally sent to Rose Corey and cared for from Dec 31 07 to Jan 19 08. He came back at the same time as the stallion and was reunited with his mother. Amazingly they rebonded, she started producing a little milk and he started nursing again.
As HFH suspected the deformity was just early growth problems that are slowly sorting themselves out as he gets stronger and plays with another weanling/yearling filly from the same group. All three get turned out together.
Rose Corey however wanted him transported to her "Immediately". HFH asked the county to give him some more time to mature and get stronger in familiar surroundings with his mother and then let them do a gradual weaning in adjacent stalls and turnouts. Maybe 2 months totalYou would think they were the devil himself. She went ballistic. Her lawyer (G Paul Mabry who defended the convicted abuser Anita Miller) worked overtime accusing Hope For Horses of deliberately stalling. HFH cannot stop the transfer, he belongs to the county. They just want him in the best shape possible and after what happened with the stallion HFH documented like crazy people.
The ultimate transfer of this little guy resulted in this article: 3rd Dispatchnews article
The tragedy of all this is the waste of precious time. Hope For Horses has 35 horses in their care. they are fully occupied. Yet days have been taken up dealing with the nasty accusations, untruthful newspaper articles, drafting replies etc.. All things that take away from horses that need their attention. Even now they still don't know what motivates these people.
In the end though it all may not matter. HFH and all other rescues are full. Fosters and adopters are fewer due to the incredible price increases in hay, grain and bedding. Pierce County is close to broke so Animal Control has less money just when they need much more. Good luck to us all in the coming months.
www.Hope For Horses.net is where you can go to offer your support. They need it more than ever right now.
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