Four Corners Equine Rescue

It began in the first part of December 2004 with a front page story about our rescue in the local paper.  That led to a phone call from a man saying he knew where there were 8 starving horses in Flora Vista.  Sure enough, he was right.  Four Morgan stallions are literally walking skeletons, and one of them has hooves so bad that he can’t stand more than 5 minutes.  Two Morgan mares and an Arab gelding are in somewhat better shape.  This is due to having been in pasture from August through part of December, but the pasture owner evicted them for lack of payment.  These seven horses are at the owner’s house, and there is one bale of hay on the property.  The owner asks FCER to help her get her remaining Morgan mare from the pasture.  She is unable to do so because she has no money for gas, she explains.  Attempts by a representative for FCER to convince the owner to surrender the horses to the rescue are futile.  They only need a little food she says, and we are just after her stallions (the youngest was 19 at the time).   Contact was made with the Livestock Inspector for a possible confiscation.  The night before the inspector was scheduled to arrive, FCER (Four Corners Equine Rescue) gets another phone call saying that the horses are all gone.  Sure enough, he’s right again.  Then an amazing thing happens.  The phone rings again.  This time it’s the owners neighbor.  She explains that she has arranged a deal between her (ex?) stepdaughter and the owner, and the horses are on their way to Grants.  The only horse that didn’t get transported is the mare Gypsy, who was still uncatchable in the pasture. 

She explains that the horses are going to a good place, and gives Debbie the name and phone number of the woman in Grants. 

The next morning (Tuesday) Debbie’s off to Grants.  The woman who has them tells Debbie she will feed and water them, and if they make it, they do, and if they don’t, they don’t. The three stallions in the worst shape are in the round pen.  They have no access to shelter. Chon Abel, a 28-year-old stallion, is down.  He’s been down since they got him out of the trailer.  El Don is also down, but that seems to be more because of the feet than exhaustion. One stallion, General, who has an eye wound, remains in the stock trailer, as Kathy has no more room.  The mares and the gelding are in other pens.  The stable owner has her vet come out.  He looks at them, actually touches 2 of them, and is gone in 20 minutes or less.  His verdict - put down the 2 stallions that are down, give penicillin injections to the stallion with the eye injury, and the rest will be okay.  When asked why the vet left without euthanizing the 2 stallions, she explains that she will shoot them in the afternoon.  Soon after, the livestock inspector arrives, thank God.   He informs Kathy that these animals are evidence and she can’t destroy them.  He takes pictures and leaves.  On Thursday 2 livestock inspectors return, and FCER misses them by 5 minutes. There had been a snow storm earlier that day, and Chon Abel was wet.  Attempts by FCER to get Kathy to take action to support Chon Abel were futile.  No straw was given, no wind break made (Grants can be VERY windy), nothing was done to dry him off.  That night it got very cold.  Chon Abel was dead in the morning. Randy Nelson, our Livestock Inspector, calls that evening and tells Debbie that he will go before the judge in the morning to get a seizure warrant, and FCER should step up to the plate and take the horses.  (note - rescues receive NO MONEY from the state for care of seized horses.)