Joe and Cathy Shelton run TB Friends horse rescue in Northern California. Seven days a week, Joe updates his blog. There are lots of happy endings for the horses he saves, but like any rescue.. you can't save them all. He has an excellent reputation among the horse rescue folks.
Joe takes thoroughbreds that are no longer wanted, basically destined for slaughter. He adopts them out. Many come right off the racetrack,sometimes broken down. For quite some time he's been pulling and rehoming 'foreclosure' horses as many of the TB ranches and farms have gone into foreclosure. Most of horses get a one way ticket here to Canada or Mexico, so they can be slaughtered, processed and exported for fine dining overseas.
On a positive note, Natural Meat Company (formerly Natural Valley Farms) in SK, is closed down for good..they use to kill horses for meat. http://www.defendhorsescanada.org/info.php?id=Ihsinv08.inc
Joe's blog today, is very sad. Too many greedy people, overbreeding and not responsible for their animals. People who would rather sell
their horses and make a few bucks off them at the auction, instead of paying a vet for euthanasia.
"Monday, March 30th... We have not bought horses from horse killer Wade Giles in almost a year. He refuses to deal with Tbfriends. Hates this website, hates me, and calls my ranch just so much fluff. But on Saturday horse killer Wade Giles phones to ask do we want to buy doomed thoroughbreds? He has so many horses there will be two truck loads to Canadian slaughter this week, with a bunch of thoroughbreds waiting for a third. Wade Giles tells me to come buy these horses before they are harvested.
First time I have ever heard this term used for slaughtering horses. Harvested. As if we are picking tomatoes from the little garden out back.
At the feed lot in Wilton, horse killer Manny Phelps is also making two trips to slaughter this week.
We found out about a new feed lot operating near Stockton. The owner does not speak english, and will only sell horses to fellow mexicans or slaughter houses. He refuses to talk to rescue groups.
Can you imagine? The man is not legal in our county, yet he comes here and kills American horses. Not even enough courtesy to allow a rescue ranch first dibs.
Just so you know, horse killers making a fortune in Northern California are Manny Phelps. Brent Sanchez. James Capers. Kevin Lewis. Marc Valdez. Hector Too Tall. Wade Giles. Leland Griffin. Foxy Pony. We have no idea what her real name is, she is only called Foxy Pony. One thing I can tell you for sure.. she is 55 at least, chain smokes, and is hardly foxy.
Feed lots which we know about include Wilton, Vallejo, Pittsburgh, Turlock, sometimes Lincoln, sometimes Petaluma.
An e-mail from Megan in Wyoming. Megan writes: We have two feed lots here, and they are always filled with quarter horses. Now they are talking about making slaughter legal in Wyoming. I am in high school. I tell my friends we must do something about all these horses who are killed for their meat. My friends eat beef, and fail to see the difference between cows and horses. I tell my friends we must respect all living things, but they laugh at me. Being the minority sucks. How do you handle being the minority?
At the feed lot in Wilton I met a young dark bay thoroughbred filly with racing shoes. No tattoo though, which means she was only in training, but never raced. It was windy, and her eyes were filled with gunk. She lowered her head and allowed me to clean her eyes.
The dark bay filly was with a group of thoroughbreds. Some young, some ancient, some bossy. There was a beautiful gray filly who continued to fire at other horses. Strong hard kicks, and you could hear grunts and moans when she connected.
I knew I was bringing the dark bay filly home. Told her so. 40 cents a pound, plus shipping, which came to $470.00.
Being the minority I never thought about. Never really realized I was.
But leaving the other horses behind. The beautiful bossy gray filly. An ancient old mare who appeared to have recently given birth. A black yearling colt with white legs who stayed in a corner, fearful of other horses. A plain bay filly with huge eyes, also wearing racing shoes. A young dark bay mare, maybe 5 or 6, and before she was sold to slaughter someone braided her mane.
Cathy and I are old and facing our golden years. Maybe bingo every Friday night. An early bird special at the diner. Things have got to change. It is ridiculous to put horses through the painful torture of slaughter. As a country we should be embarrassed. All those faces. I suppose I am in the minority. But if you saw those faces the minority would soon be majority. How could it not? In a corner the black yearling colt. So handsome. Someone created him. Probably went oooh and awww when he was born. Cleaned him with a towel. Made sure he stood and nursed. Now, within the next few days, he will hang from a hook. An American tragedy. Ridiculous.
Joe"