MEET ATTY
Atty had severe laminitis when we bought her. She was so lame she could hardly walk. Even though she was in severe pain she was still trying to please the people who were asking her to walk around that day at the livestock auction. Will spotted her from a few isles away. The man who brought her to sell, didn't care the kill buyers wanted her. Will tried to get her safe and offered to buy her directly from the owner. We were hoping she wouldn't have to do any more walking than necessary, and wanted to get her to our veterinarian immediately. Sadly he didn't agree. So we waited, and there she was in the sale ring. Will bid against three kill buyers that day... but we won the bid! Since we were actually there looking for tack, we didn't even have a trailer with us. Will drove two hours while Lisa waited in the pen with Atty.
"It was an errie feeling as Lisa recalls, the pen Atty was placed in had previously been full with "run-in horses" that were no longer there. (Run-ins are the ones that do not come to the auction with their owners. The owners, either are naive about the fate of their horses when they hire someone, or ask someone to sell them, or they simply may not care. The horses are immediately loaded into group pens and their halters are taken off. Some of these horses are wild. Some are highly trained. It doesn't matter, all that matters now is the number on your hip, and a miracle that someone would pull you from that pen). The pen immediatley to the right of us was crammed full of slaughter bound horses that had been sold already. It was purley heartbreaking know those horses fates were not as possitive as Atty's. I knew even if the vet suggested to humanely put her down, it would be kind and compassionate, we felt she deserved that. From watching her that day we knew how big her personality and heart were. As I stood in the pen that day with Atty untagling her knotted and matted mane and trying to scrub off the layered poo from her body, the sights, sounds and smells of the auction barn overwhelmed me. Then it got worse, the auction workers entered the pen next to us with hot shoots, rounding up the slaughter bound horses they made a huge ruckus. They were loading them all on the semi. It was if time stood still that day. Atty and I both knew what was happening. She was upset by the whinnies, and the scared horses running by. Several minutes and several semi's later, it was over. It took Will two hours to come back with the trailer. It seemed like forever.."
She was overweight due to Insullin Resistance,
which caused major problems with her hooves. Since she was overweight and couldn't walk she was about to meet a horible fate...the kill buyers were the only ones interested in her.
She had long toes, heals, and also part of her inside hoof had "blown out". Once we got her home, she went to our awesome vet Dr. Shirey in Camden, MI. After a full exam and ex-rays we decided she could one day be sound with a lot of care and work. We had a specialty trimmer another state away that worked on her for many months, he only took the tough cases and she surely qualified for that. We didn't know when we would ever be able to ride her, the best guess was at least a year. That would make it close to Lisa's birthday. Will insisted she would be his horse since Lisa already had one. Lisa feel in love with her and tried to be logical, but had a soft spot for her. Once Will saw them together, he relented and gave her to Lisa.
*She still needs special hoof care, and will always stay at HHH as a personal horse for Lisa.*
This video shows where Atty was headed, the Canadian slaughter pipeline for unwanted horses. Watch this video to learn more about horse slaughter
Where she ended up..she is loved, more than words can describe.
Atty's transformation
You can clearly see the difference in this unwanted horse. She is truly amazing. Her owner neglected her medical condition, being insluin resistant, which made her unridable and in pain.
The solution they sought, was the easy way out for them. If she would have ended up on that fateful truck, surely she would not have made the journey, this I am certain of. There is no way she could have stood for such a journey. Then to end up like the hundreds of thousands of unwanted horses at the slaughterhouse....well, it turns my stomach to talk about things as this, but we can not turn a blind heart to what is happening.