Update on Starving Horses

Growing up, my Pa gave me some good advice, "Don't argue with an idiot", unfortunantly I'm gonna ignore that and respond to a couple comments dropped under the post "Starving Horses in El Paso Texas" which I wrote on February 3rd. And like I've written before, I am not against the slaughter of horses,...I'm just against the inhumane treatment of horses.

Anonymous left two comment's on the post "Starving Horses in El Paso Texas " and they are the text in BOLD TYPE FACE....someone told me this means he is shouting. Similar ranting, also in bold type face and using similar verbiage, appeared under on-line news articles about these starving horses. I'm going to re-post Anonymous' comments with my followup comments and that will be the end of it. I will not longer allow these horse abusers to post any comments to stand more than momentarily.

The good news is that after public scrutiny the horses are now being provided some care. Horse Rescue people in and around El Paso County are monitoring this situation.

Anonymous: U.S.D.A DR.WEESE, RAMOS D.V.M,TEXAS ANIMAL HEALTH COMMISSION REPRESENTATIVE AGREED THE HORSES ARE SKINNY AND MALNOURISHED. THEY ALL AGREED THE PROBLEM STARTED ELSEWHERE AND NOT AT THE MH RANCH. AND,EXTENSION PEOPLE FOR TEX A&M AND NEW MEXICO STATE REPORTED FORAGE IS ADEQUATE AND REASONABLY GOOD FOR CATTLE. THE VETS AGREED, THE FORAGE IS GREAT FOR HORSES IN THIS CONDITION.

FH: No one is saying the problem of malnourished horses started at the MH Ranch - it was just getting worse there and that's what brought passers by to alert horse rescue people and the County Sheriffs Department. Dr Weese of the U.S.D.A. never said the forage was adequate. The pasture, if you can call it that where the horses are, is nothing but mesquite, cresote and some chamisa. If the horses were moved up on top of the Mesa there would be better forage with what blue grama and indian rice grass there is up there, but still unsufficient for that number of horses.

Anonymous: THESE HORSES WERE REJECTED AT THE EL PASO AND MEXICAN BORDER DUE TO THEIR POOR CONDITION.A FEW EXAMPLES, PREGNANT MARES, SKINNY HORSES AND MALNOURISHED HORSES. THE REPS FROM THE BORDER GAVE 45 HORSES TO THE RANCH. ALL 45 HORSES WERE GOING TO THE SLAUGHTER HOUSE.THE MEAT WOULD BE SHIPPED TO EUROPE AND JAPAN FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION. TWO MEXICAN-AMERICAN MEN GAVE THE RANCH 35 HORSES TO THE RANCH.ALL THESE HORSES HAD NO HOME AFTER THEY WERE REJECTED FROM THE BORDER.MH RANCHES TOOK THE HORSES. MH RANCHES WANTED TO GIVE THE HORSES A SECOND CHANCE. OUT OF HIS POCKET, HE PAID FOR ALL MEDS,SALT,HAY,SUPPLEMENTS,VET BILLS,CITY WATER AND MOLASSES TUBS.

OUT OF 80 HORSES, 6 DIED TO STARVATION SYNDROME AND 1 DIED FROM A UNTREATABLE CONDITION . THE 45 HORSES WERE AT THE BORDER HOLDING PEN FOR OVER 3 DAYS AND FEED ALFALFA. FEEDING ALFALFA TO THESE HORSES IN STARVATION MODE , NOT GOOD! FATAL FOR HORSES THAT HAVE BEEN STARVED FROM PREVIOUS OWNERS AND GO INTO STARVATION SYNDROME. THEY HAD NO CHANCE BY THE TIME THEY REACHED THIS RANCH. THIS IS A SLOW PROCESS FOR THE HORSES TO RECOVER.THEY HAVE FRESH WATER, MINERALS, SALT AND MOLASSES TUBS. THESE HORSES LOOK GOOD.THE MH RANCHES ARE NOW SELLING THE HEALTHY HORSES TO THE PUBLIC.SOME OF THE SOUND AND BROKE HORSES WILL GO TO TRAIL RIDE BUSINESSES IN NEW MEXICO AND TEX..SOME OF THE WILD HORSES WILL BE SOLD TO RANCH RODEOS.AND, YES, THERE WILL BE HORSES GOING TO THE SALE BARN.

FH: U.S.D.A. Doc Weese got involved, not because of the violation of Texas Revised Code 42.09 (Animal Cruelty) but because of the inter-state movement of horses not only without health certificates, but the movement of horses who had strangles, which is contagious. It is a slow process bringing horses back to health,....what was slower, was the process of getting feed and water out to these horses when they were first turned out at the ranch, when the original idea of taking them to Mexico for slaughter became an non-option.

Anonymous: SHOWING AERIAL FOOTAGE OF THESE DEAD HORSES ARE FOR SHOCK VALUE FOR TV AND WEB VIEWERS. GET THE FACTS BEFORE YOU START POINTING FINGERS. ANIMAL ACTIVIST, AVERY AND SAGE AND SOMMERS DID NOT DO A COMPLETE INVESTIGATION ON THIS MATTER. THE TAHC TOURED THE RANCH ON THE 13TH AND EVALUATED ALL THE HORSES AND GAVE THE RANCH A RELEASE TO CONTINUE BUSINESS AS USUAL. I BELIEVE, MS. SAGE, AVERY AND SOMMERS ARE MISLEADING THE VIEWERS.THIS IS NOT DISNEYLAND, THE
STARVED HORSES FROM PREVIOUS OWNERS NEED 4 TO 6 MONTHS OR MORE TO GET WELL. SAGE, AVERY,SOMMERS AND STARR WANT RESULTS IN A SNAP OF THE FINGERS..NOT REALISTIC GOALS. AVERY SHOULD KNOW ITS A SLOW PROCESS, SHE HAD A FEW HORSES DIE ON HER IN THE SAME CONDITION..SHAME ON HER TO POINT FINGERS! GET THE FACTS, BEFORE YOU JUDGE.

FH: From your earlier comments under the on-line news articles, you claim that the law was violated flying over the ranch taking pictures of the horses. But someone must have explained to you the "right to be, right to see" doctrine. Now you claim the aerial photos are just for shock value. No, it was for investigative and evidentiary reasons. The Sheriffs Department, as fine an organization as they are, are not trained in animal abuse investigation and that came straight from the Sheriff. Besides, the County is not interested in confiscating these horses as the costs for transport, vet care and feed would be enormous. They just want this problem to go away. 300,000 non-horse owning tax payers would be pretty mad.

Diane Avery has been saving horses for a long, long time. She has taken in horses in terrible condition and may have lost one or two. She is well respected for her efforts. Any failure of horses to survive under her are the fault of those who neglected those horses before she took them in.

It is true that there is now some feed, stock tanks with water and salt blocks out for the horses,...too bad it took the negatively publicity to force that to happen. Glad someone paid for those brand new stock tanks.

Anonymous: TO GET THE REAL STORY. Read: THE EL PASO TIMES AND EL PASO INC. ISSUED ON THE 11TH OF FEB. EL PASO TIMES, TITLE: 2ND CHANCE FOR HORSES.THEY BOTH HAD ACCESS TO THE RANCH AND TOURED THE WHOLE RANCH. KFOX14 DID NOT TOUR THE WHOLE RANCH. KFOX STAYED AT THE HEADQUARTERS FOR 99% OF THE TIME. EL PASO TIMES AND EL PASO INC. LOOKED AT COGGINS, MEDICAL REPORTS, INTERVIEWED THE VET.,VIEWED THE HORSES AND GOT THE FACTS FROM THE OTHER DOCTORS AND SPECIALISTS. MS. AVERY AND MS. SAGE HAVE A HISTORY IN EL PASO FOR NOT GETTING THE FACTS.

FH: I did read the follow up article in the El Paso Times, from February 11th. It was a feel good article and not very good investigative journalism as it only contained the story from the MH ranch perspective. It looks to me as an attempt to mitigate the bad publicity of horse abuse. I have over 7,000 readers a month on this site, so your comments seemed oriented towards mitigation of the exposure from my first article. This is probably the same reason a lawyer and another gentleman (and I use that word loosely) claiming to represent the ranch owners have visited a least one feed store and tried to intimidate the owners. As far as you’re derisive comments concerning Diane Avery, Constable Angie Sommers, and Doctor Starr, you either don't know them or are straight up lying. They are all well thought of and have very favorable reputations in the area horse community. Can't say that about horse abusers.....nobody has much use for them.