08/14/2024
There is so much that i need to post about....things like vitamin E, sarcoids, new location, herd dynamics, updates on all the horses here and around the state, new homes needed, all of this is on a list that i try to whittle off each morning. But this morning i wont cross anything off because today - 6 years ago today - That is when our lives truly changed and I have never looked back. Before reading the book below I want each and every one of you to know that I did not do this alone. The first 6 years of BRER happened because of Mary, my mother and every single one of you that are reading this today. From 3 sad horses waiting to load onto a slaughter bound trailer to 62 horses, thousands of followers, support from across the country. Never in a hundred years could I have predicted where this passion would take me, where my love for horses would lead. Our official birthday (when we became a 501c3 non profit) isnt until November but i consider today the day that BRER was born.
Following are the words that I wrote 6 years ago and I could not say them better today so grab a cup of coffee and enjoy the book
At the beginning of June, Blossom and I had a talk; we were both getting a bit lonely. The barn was quiet after losing Honey and I decided to check the website of the kill pen that Blossom and Honey both came from.
Kaufman kill pen, located in Texas, is the end of the line for horses and donkeys that find themselves here. Forgotten by humans, thrown out for many different reasons, these horses (and donkeys) are big and small, thin and fat; they are old and young, healthy and dying. Every color, breed, personality and temperament, the one thing they have in common is they are all on their way to Mexico to face a horrible end to their lives.
As I sadly scanned through the faces of the horses that were on death row, I realized I had to try to save one of them. Not having a clue what buying a horse from a Texas kill pen entails, I contacted a person that had done it before, and she said she would help me. She gave me a quote on transport, OK that’s doable. Scrolling through the sad eyes (they give you no information so it’s only on a picture that a horse is chosen. According the the kill pen, they are all gentle and ridable – Hmmm) A deathly thin bay Arab came onto the screen. She was turned, looking at the camera that was callously taking generic pictures of all the horses that were available. Most wore the same halter, a purple rope that was thrown on one horse, a picture taken and then thrown on the next. Snap snap snap.
I clicked the button and Birdie was safe (or so I thought). As I continued to scroll through the horses that were leaving for Mexico the next day, I came across a little chestnut gelding that had obviously been with Birdie on her journey through hell. How could I save her and not him? Click! Meet Chester!
At this point I was sweating hahahah what the hell had I done! Now comes the part where I can understand why people do drugs: I was addicted to saving these faces, I would make it happen but right now, their time was limited. The next picture that came up was an older gelding (or so we thought) with the sweetest, most trusting face I could imagine. This one I checked with my mother, was I crazy? I guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. She said I bet your father would do it = Tommy was coming to Maine.
The easy part was done. The days that followed were out of my control, I needed help. What do I do now? A wonderful woman that would become my friend, Linda Simpson, who runs Grey Oaks Equine Sanctuary, a mustang rescue in Oklahoma, came to MY rescue. She helped raise the funds to bail out the Arabs minutes before they were to load on the truck headed to Mexico. My rescue friend from Maine assured me that her friend had picked up all 3 horses and they were safe at her ranch in Texas, waiting for transport to Maine on Monday. OK… sigh… just gotta wait now. Funny how things turn in a minute….. I got a message on facebook saying, are you the lady that got the Arabs from Kaufman, hope you are happy, they are going to die because you haven’t picked them up. My heart sank, my mind went blank, I almost couldn’t breathe…. What the hell are you talking about? I called my rescue friend from Maine and I called Linda from Oklahoma…. It is a scary thing to trust people you don’t know, sometimes it works, sometimes you get burned but I had no alternative but to have the 2 of them work together, using their resources (that I didn’t have) and get my 3 horses to safety. I didn’t know where they were, who had them, if they were ok or still in the pens at Kaufman. After hours of calls, messages and quite a bit of money given to a lady who never picked them up in the first place, the Texas trio were at quarantine, safe and sound. These 2 ladies were amazing. I got pictures of them at the facility and finally I could breath.
Once at the Quarantine facility, the Texas trio were fed, watered and their wounds treated. For the first time in months they had full bellies, they weren’t thirsty, they weren’t scared, they slept. At Kaufman, horses don’t sleep, they survive. If they aren’t fighting for food and water, they are defending themselves against the stronger horses that are trying to survive too. It is an awful place to be a horse but enough about that place now, they were safe. The QT told me they weren’t sure the Arabs would survive. If they came down with infections caught at the pen, it might be too much for their system. After seeing the vet on week 4, I was told he believed they had already had every infection possible and lived through it, he said they were healthy but needed weight. Birdie was anemic which was going to delay her wt. gain and Tommy came down with strangles, an infection that is extremely contagious.
The days and weeks passed and after 8 ½ weeks, I was ready to bring them home. The QT said they weren’t ready but I believed they were so the original transport was contacted and I was hopeful they would be home within a few days. Little did I know that the girl who had helped me so much before was having a life crisis of her own and that transport was not going to happen (after I had paid for it ugh! I was at a total loss, I felt all defeated and once again had no idea of what to do. So I called Linda Simpson (see why I consider her a friend now ? ) She had me contact a transport that was close to the QT, Bobby Cross from B-H Livestock Transport in Decatur TX. Bobby too is another person I consider a friend that I have made during this trip. He was so reassuring, confident and great with the horses. He said, “Don’t worry, I will get them from the QT barn, bring them to my place, get travel papers and be on our way by the weekend.” I was at a loss for words and ready to trust one more time (I really didn’t have a choice.) I had priced the cost of renting a trailer and going to Texas myself and if there had only been 2 horses, I might have but 3 was too much for me to handle. Bobby came through and on August 12th the Texas trio headed out on a 2000 mile ride north. Bobby and his wife were in contact the whole way, keeping me updated on the horses and their location. On Aug. 14th, at midnight, on a very foggy Night they came home.
On the first morning, it was so foggy and the horses were so tired after their 36 hour trailer ride. They slept and ate all day. I had made them a small pasture out back where it was quiet and they could slowly start the rest of their lives. Blossom was very interested in what was happening in her world.
When I look in the eyes of any of these animals, I think of what they have seen in their lives, what they have had to endure. I think how scared they must have been at the kill pen just trying to survive. And then I think of Birdie leaning into a neck rub, running like an Arabian princess across the desert; I think of Chester running in the field, being a horse for maybe the first time; and I think of Tommy, not needing to pretend to be brave, not needing to worry about where his next drink might be, of him leaning into the brush, picking his head out of his grain bucket and closing his eyes.
I have no idea what the next 6 months will bring these 3 but I do know they will never have to fight to survive, they will never feel the pangs of hunger in their bellies, they will never wonder if they will be forgotten again.
Well the next 6 months led to the next 6 years. Birdie, Chester and Tommy are still living on the hill where they unloaded on that foggy night. Here forever, along with Blossom, these 3 are my heroes and I can not imagine life without them.
Heres to the next chapter in our lives and again, thank you all for being a part of the BRER family
