"Rescuing" horses from auctions

Also, have they never been to an auction before? I've never bought a horse at auction yet I do know that they are sold in guineas and there are additional costs on top of bidding value.

I also think that anyone even remotely horsey would know that Suffolk Punch fillies would be megabucks....
 
I am not really understanding why there is such a pile on. As others have said, it is obvious who they are and what they are asking for. If you don't want to donate, then you don't.
 
sky1000 said:
I am not really understanding why there is such a pile on. As others have said, it is obvious who they are and what they are asking for. If you don't want to donate, then you don't.
Click to expand...

Firstly, no one should buy a horse unless they're in a position to fund it's upkeep, in sickness and in health and secondly, they're quite possibly libeling the former owners/sellers by claiming the horses have been neglected and abused.
 
I’ve just seen this immediately realised who it must be, they paid good money those horses wouldn’t be going for meat at that money, feels very wrong on all counts. My auction purchase of £300 eleven years ago is still with me, it was a gamble with my money I would never expect other people to pay towards him.
 
sky1000 said:
I am not really understanding why there is such a pile on. As others have said, it is obvious who they are and what they are asking for. If you don't want to donate, then you don't.
Click to expand...
It might be obvious to you who they are, to many others it might not be especially given the emotive, designed-to-tug-at-heartstrings language they are using
 
sky1000 said:
I am not really understanding why there is such a pile on. As others have said, it is obvious who they are and what they are asking for. If you don't want to donate, then you don't.
Click to expand...

Personally, I've commented because I don't like dishonesty.
The word 'rescue' should not be used in relation to either of these horses. They are described as 'the horses I couldn't leave behind', which gives the impression that they were completely unwanted - but we know that other people were bidding for the horses, close to the price they ended up going for.
I also feel that they are not being honest about the cost of bedding, feed, etc...and I've never heard of a farrier charging £100 for a trim. (I am happy to be corrected on this!)

Of course people are allowed to do whatever they like with their money - but I just feel that they are, at best, having the wool pulled over their eyes in this case.

marmalade76 said:
Firstly, no one should buy a horse unless they're in a position to fund it's upkeep, in sickness and in health and secondly, they're quite possibly libeling the former owners/sellers by claiming the horses have been neglected and abused.
Click to expand...

Absolutely. I've been in a similar position myself, selling a perfectly fit and well pony to someone I thought was a friend. She immediately went on a public forum to complain about his 'pus filled feet' and poor condition (completely untrue); people didn't question, they believed her and sympathised with her while I was demonised for doing absolutely nothing wrong. As someone who can't bear the thought of any animal being mistreated/neglected, I found the whole episode incredibly upsetting.

Let's face it, had they bought these horses as a private sale - or even from a dealer - they probably wouldn't be doing this. The anonymity of the auction context has helped them a lot.

In the past I've donated to someone who genuinely did rescue a horse that was severely neglected and at death's door (it was local to me at the time). This is a very different situation.

A non-horsey friend has asked if buying horses and then asking for money is normal practice...
 
sky1000 said:
I am not really understanding why there is such a pile on. As others have said, it is obvious who they are and what they are asking for. If you don't want to donate, then you don't.
Click to expand...
Because some of the statements in their "ask" for money seem deliberately misleading. And that is at best morally questionable and at worst could be fraud, which is illegal.

Either side of the line it is not a great look for a supposedly respectable business.
 
They look like perfectly healthy horses, a bit on their toes having gone through a sale ring and then landing in a new home.

I strongly dislike the way they are painting them as being terribly traumatised and neglected, with talk of them needing to 'mentally heal'.

It's all very, very dishonest, and like others, I very much hope the previous owners never see it.
 
Jenko109 said:
Just watched their video of them unloading.

A pair of impressive looking horses in a seemingly good condition.

There is nothing 'rescued' about them.
Click to expand...
I saw that video too and thought the same. It annoys me when I know a rescue in the area had been given notice and are having to relocate but are struggling to get donations and are literally over run with genuine rescues that were dumped on them. It seems so unfair that people will give to a business under the guise of rescues and yet the real rescues are literally struggling .
 
The content of the local newspaper article is dire IMO.
"The owner of a horse riding and rare breed centre in the Lake District is raising money for vet treatment after rescuing two horses from auction.
A pair of abused and unwanted horses were brought to safety after they were spotted at auction."

The mare is described as a "frightened and underweight Belgian Draft." The owner says that the horses were "too big to be of interest to most people". (???)

OK, so we know they weren't unwanted (other people were bidding and prepared to pay a good price) and there's zero solid evidence of them being 'abused'.
I also wouldn't describe the mare as underweight...

It's all just completely dishonest.
 
ester said:
They probably are too big to be of interest to most people but that doesn’t mean no one wants them. As proved, as for underweight…
Click to expand...

Agreed! A minimum of two other people did want them and the bidding seemed close.

The local paper article seems to place a lot of emphasis on them needing a particular type of care - "the needs of heavy horses are specific...Both had issues that would require a serious knowledge base and experience with heavy horses. We have the facilities for big breeds, a normal stable wall would collapse if a horse weighing in at almost a ton scratched a bum against it!"
 
FieldOrnaments said:
Oh dear from the responses my comment on the news article hasn't been well received 😬 I wish I hadn't looked now
Click to expand...
Funny how someone seems certain that they have been abused - "They have been rescued from abusive homes put to auction because they're ill and vet care is expensive"

I suppose people just love a fairy tale. Facts/the truth just not popular here, evidently!
 
I think the reason it grates so much is my own expenditure on my animals is huge (I had to borrow some money off my mum to buy food today.... Although she will get it back as soon as I have it) and I haven't bought them, like I have 9.5yo pair of rabbits I was asked to take because the owners kid hadn't bothered with them in years, I took in 10 goldfish off someone locally when their owner died and am now building them a new pond because my current one isn't big enough, I have ten male mice who were going to be frozen because the breeder didn't want males then had to get each male mouse two multimammate companions, I have my degus (who are not exactly healthy because their previous diet was absolutely shi1te) because their breeder was terminally ill and the guy he gave them to decided degus "weren't exotic enough for him" and had been keeping them in an old fish tank 🤦 so I ended up with those and had to buy them their own liberta explorer cage and kit it out....
Not complaining!!! I love my animals more than life itself but they are bloody expensive. I knew they would be, and that's ok. They give so much back I don't mind. But I wouldn't dream ever of asking someone else to fund MY animals for me. I agreed to take them in so I foot their (considerable) costs. Again, not complaining. Like, I could seriously do with a new phone because the screen on this one is smashed to pieces but my large group of mice I want a 6ft Viv for so I will buy that first.
We've got two horses on prascend and Metformin which is about £300 every three months and I'd love to have the cheek to ask Joe public to pay that and I ended up in my overdraft to cover a £1100 bill for my chinchilla, I could've started a GFM instead but no way, my pet so my responsibility.... There's been lots I have said no to as well e.g same person the degus came from tried to persuade me to take a pair of jirds but I just do not have the space or finances for anything else right now because you always have to plan for unexpected eventualities and other people can't be relied upon to finance your decisions for you.
I'm pretty dreadful at money management but don't think appealing to the public for things you have chosen yourself to take on is sensible, what should you do for instance if you set up a GFM and nobody donated?!?

I am so gonna regret this mad little rant but good god people just take some responsibility for your impulsive screw ups, especially when there's living sentient beings in the middle of it.
 
FieldOrnaments said:
I am so gonna regret this mad little rant but good god people just take some responsibility for your impulsive screw ups, especially when there's living sentient beings in the middle of it.
Click to expand...

Couldn't agree more. At one stage we were asked to take on a Persian chinchilla cat that had seemingly been abandoned on a housing estate and was living rough. It cost a fortune to have his matted fur sorted out (he needed to have a GA) and then it turned out that he had polycystic kidney disease and needed daily medication. But at the point I agreed to take that cat on, I agreed to pay for whatever he needed. He didn't live for long due to the PKD but we have so many great memories, he was such a character.

To me, this particular case is worse than just getting a horse and expecting the public to pay. It's the fact that they can supposedly only get donations (currently over £13k) by ramping up the emotive stuff with claims that the horses are 'rescued' and have been 'abused'.
If I was donating to support an animal that I believed to be a victim of abuse only to learn that there is literally no evidence of this - and that the horse was not unwanted at all - I'd be a bit miffed.
 
I'm also certain I saw the mare on Preloved a few weeks ago, if she had been nearer I would have viewed her. Certainly not undesirable horses by any means, nor on death's door. Ironically, the actually bin-end horses would have been the ones that ended up with the meat man for a couple of hundred each :(
 
The doubling down on having ‘rescued’ these horses and accepting the plaudits (and the cash) of the deceived is getting worse.

As a prospective client of the trekking centre I knew that she has a reputation as being another rather dotty horse person, but I didn’t have her down as dishonest. I thought that her heart was in the right place. It’s most unedifying.

They made an impulse purchase of two horses that they hadn’t budgeted for and panicked about paying the bills.
 
Nancykitt said:
To me, this particular case is worse than just getting a horse and expecting the public to pay. It's the fact that they can supposedly only get donations (currently over £13k) by ramping up the emotive stuff with claims that the horses are 'rescued' and have been 'abused'.
If I was donating to support an animal that I believed to be a victim of abuse only to learn that there is literally no evidence of this - and that the horse was not unwanted at all - I'd be a bit miffed.
Click to expand...
To me, this particular case is worse than just getting a horse and expecting the public to pay because the plan is to use them in the riding school specialist trekking centre.

Not only have they acquired two horses they want the public to now pay the maintenance for, but they have acquired business assets that the public are paying for; 'investing' in the business for no return whilst thinking they're helping a mistreated animal.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top