Happenings
> Expo Update
> Other Happenings
 March
13-15: Horses Forever and the American
Saddlebred attended the Rocky
Mountain Horse Expo at the National
Western Complex in Denver Colorado.
Our booth encompassed Saddlebred Versatility
- Saddle Seat to barrel racing and everything in-between.
We had many forms available from the ASHA - registration,
(Saddlebred and Half-Saddlebred), DNA application,
Stallion reporting forms, Saddlebred "CH", Select, Grand National
and Sport Horse Awards program. The Versatile Saddlebred
was well represented
along with the National Show Horse (local and national).
The Rocky Mountain
Carriage Club attracted a great deal of attention
with it's attractive
display of photographs, including Saddlebreds. And,
most importantly, Horses Forever attracted lots of
attention with individual hand-out pages on each
and every foundation horse available in Colorado
and flyers on every horse that is currently available,
in the foundation, around the United States. As the
weekend moved on we acquired several other rescues
and various and sundry other informational brochures.
We showed Sandy Rabinowitz
and her Saddlebred Sequoia in one
of their training videos - everyone loved it
and some were just down right amazed to see
a Saddlebred do what Sequoia does!
We showed the "Image of Excellence," produced
by the ASHA - a good all-'round video depicting
Saddlebreds ineventing, dressage, carriages,
stadium jumping, Imperator vs Skywatch and
several other memorable World Championship
classes along with Captive Spirit and Tom Moore,
Betty Weldon, Art Simmons and more. We had
numerous CD slide shows and DVD's exhibiting
American Saddlebred versatility that were
produced by Chris Uhlinger, VMD.
MPH and Susan Skipper and her horse, Miss Stella,
exhibiting some unique
driving videos. With such wonderful projects
available there's no doubt
that the Saddlebred is out there, to impress!
However, the main attraction
was Lucky, our 400 pound, 15 hand,
articulated horse manikin. This year he had
a new sling, the Large
Animal Lift (LAL), which
was recently purchased by the Rocky Mountain
Horse Rescue. This is a much simpler sling
that will make immediate rescue much easier,
quicker and more efficient.
Several years ago, Rocky Mountain
Horse Rescue (www.rockymountainhorserescue.org)
and Horses Forever decided to join forces to
improve the large animal rescue equipment and
training in the State of Colorado. Rocky Mountain
Horse Rescue and a number of their donors purchased
an Anderson sling and accessories and Horses
Forever purchased Lucky, an articulated
horse manikin. The two rescues decided to
introduce Lucky and the Anderson sling to
the general public by displaying the entire
unit at the Rocky Mountain Horse Expo. The
pictures tell the rest of the story. |
The two rescues, Rocky Mountain
Horse Rescue and Horses
Forever, have decided that Lucky and
the Anderson sling are to be made available,
FREE of charge, to all large animal horse rescues
and training sessions.
This year, as in previous years, Lucky,
and the Large Animal Lift (LAL) were a popular
attraction. Many people stopped to look at the
rescue photos and talk with us about large animal
rescue. We have accepted several invitations
to take Lucky, the LAL and Horses Forever to
several meetings of local fire departments and/or
horse rescues to show folks Lucky with the newest
sling and to help in fundraising efforts for
local groups to purchase their own LAL for their
locale.
The Women of the Colorado Trail
We were very
proud to have been able to host the lectures
of a group of women who have successfully traveled
the entire length of the COLORADO TRAIL (www.coloradotrail.org).
Three mother-daughter duos, several other women,
a dog, a gun, a pack animal and even some Saddlebreds
and Half-Saddlebreds. There was lots of discussion
of do's and don'ts of high country, high profile
trail riding and tales of others' experiences,
as well.
Our booth was busy with lots of discussions,
simultaneously - carriage driving, Saddlebreds,
rescue horses, rescuing horses, trail riding
and all that involves
HORSES!
Horses
Forever had several "Special Needs" horses'
information on display. We offered that to
folks who needed to find homes for their Saddlebreds.
It was very successful as two of the Saddlebreds
found new homes that weekend.
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Other Happenings...
THE MIRACLE HORSES OF CAVEL
Several years ago, in March, HORSES FOREVER
was contacted by Keith Dane, Director
of Equine Protection of the Humane Society
of the United States (HSUS). We were told
that there was a trailer load of horses
(approximately 30, in number) that had
been sent to slaughter at the Cavel plant
in DeKalb, IL. and were currently in a
yard in Cheyenne, WY. The Illinois slaughterhouse
was closed on March 29th and all the trailers
loaded with horses were turned away. One trailer
load of horses were actually in the plant and
were then reloaded onto the trailer for a return
trip to Wyoming. HSUS was attempting to get ownership
of that group of horses and asked if we could
help with placement and volunteers in this emergency.
We contacted Floss Blackburn, Director, Denkai
Animal Sanctuary, Carr, CO, for assistance
and the next day we met Keith Dane as he arrived
from the East, at the Stockyards in Cheyenne,
WY. The horses were separated into two pens
- some were severely injured, thin and confused,
others appeared to be in fairly good shape.
http://multimedia.hsus.org/slideshow-horses-wyoming/
The Work Began
By evening of the day of our
arrival all the horses had been haltered, identified,
been through triage and evaluated, treated, had
coggins tests taken, been given initial vaccinations
and had their first worming, thanks to the
help of Darren, Steph, Stacy and more Denkai
volunteers, Dr. J D Fox, DVM, and his brother,
Owen Fox, vet tech, of Cheyenne, WY and several
HSUS folks on hand. Some of the horses that
were in more severe condition were placed in
inside stalls and one stallion was separated
from the group, to a stall of his own. The
injuries, in most cases, will heal and the
horses, many of them very young and otherwise
healthy, will go on to much greener pastures.
From that day forward work was continuous with
more HSUS personnel arriving to assist. The
work of finding appropriate places for all
the horses began right away. Local and distant
rescues were contacted to see if they could
help. I am proud to say that our Rocky Mountain
Equine Rescue Coalition rose to the occasion.
Ultimately, Denkai Animal Sanctuary (www.denkaisanctuary.org and http://denkaisanctuary.blogspot.com:80/)
took seven horses - they were close to Cheyenne
and the most logical to take a larger number.
Horse Protection League (www.cohpl.org)
went to WY and took three of the horses and
Front Range Equine Rescue (www.frontrangeequinerescue.org)
took two. HORSES FOREVER was able to assist
by providing new halters, lead ropes, marking
tags, cameras, etc. for the initial triage
work and helped find places for the horses
to reside. Horses Forever wants to thank MURDOCHS
of Longmont (www.murdochs.com/longmont)
for their assistance and donations in this
emergency. They continually help us with our
many projects.
All the horses will be placed in rescues around
the US, from CA to TX - CO and WY. From those
rescues some may find "forever" adopted
homes, some are now in sanctuaries and that
will be their "forever" home. If
you wish to help any of the above organizations
please feel free to do so.
"These are the only horses on earth who
have seen the inside of a horse slaughter plant
and lived so that their story could be told," said
Wayne Pacelle, HSUS president and CEO. "They
have been through hell and back, stuffed into
trailers, trucked for days, and led to the
very brink of slaughter, only to be rescued
at the last possible moment." http://hsus.org
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"When
you're in a pickle, you need a friend.." 
"...and
a lift. Just hang in there!"
"You'll
land on solid ground!" 
