When we first arrived we walked through the aisles of horses and began our search for the horses that would become part of the Project Sage family. I was overwhelmed as we walked through the horses, how could I ever pick 4 horses out of this mess? There were about 100 horses lined up of all different ages, shapes, and sizes. I found two nice thoroughbred geldings both with tattoos indicating they had probably raced in their lifetime. Marion jotted down their numbers and we continued to walk through the auction. They are lined up so close it is hard to evaluate and see their faces. Standing in the next aisle of horses was a big paint gelding and a small quarter horse gelding. I was drawn to both of them and we were able to watch them both get ridden. The paint was supposed to be a child’s horse that was given to a dealer. He was sweet and rode perfect. I wondered to myself how he ever ended up at the auction. He was nicer then most of the horses I see listed for sale for $5000.00 on Long Island. His face stuck with me as we walked through and I kept peaking over to get a glimpse of his face.
I noted that there was a pregnant Belgian, a pregnant quarter horse, many yearlings, tons of horses under the age of 5, perfectly sound quarter horses, and some thoroughbreds. Whoever said only lame horses end up at the auction needs to take a trip to New Holland.
We found a few other horses that we liked and wandered over to a pen packed with about 17 horses. They were a mixture of every type of horse I could think of and they were packed in like sardines. It could have been one of the most inhumane things I have ever seen. Ray informed us that these horses would probably not run through the auction and it was referred to as the “killer pen”. All of these horses would be shipping to slaughter. I pet an older chestnut thoroughbred. He looked me dead in the eye and my heart sank for him. They didn’t even bother to put halters on these horses and let them run through the ring. They were not even given a shot at finding someone to love them. Marion wrote down several of their numbers incase they decided to run them through. We were all very fond of a pony mare that was jammed in their. She let us rub her all over and Ray determined she was about 4. Her face will forever be engrained in my mind. This whole pen sold for 27 cents a pound. These horses were not sick or old and they are now on their way to Canada in Mexico due to owners who didn’t care where they ended up. Next time you give away or sell your horse I want you to think about this pen full of horses. This should remind all of us to use a contract so your horse doesn’t end up in this pen full of horses that had given up hope. This Christmas rescue is in honor of that chestnut thoroughbred and that pony mare that I could not help. They will forever be in my memory and in my heart.
We saw a nice pony in the back of the auction being ridden and Marion approached the owner to find out about the adorable pony. She said her daughter lost interest and they had to sell the pony. She informed us she was too embarrassed to bring the pony to Camelot because “she knew too many people”. I would love to have gotten her name and shared it with the world but she kept it confidential. A pony that had won tons of ribbons for her daughter was now at New Holland. She looked scared and confused. She was the first horse to run through the auction and sold for $625.00. I suspect she sold to a dealer. After she was sold the women’s daughter tied her up with the rest of the horses, pulled her tack off, and walked away. The pony screamed and tried to pull out of her halter to follow her old owners. I will never understand how that mother and daughter walked away from their pony at New Holland.
The auction started to move very quickly. It all went so fast and I was overwhelmed trying to watch them go through. I saw my favorite paint standing in line waiting to go through. I told Ray this was the one and he started to bid. We were bidding against a well known dealer and in the end we won. I had rescued my first horse of the day. Marion ran over to snap some pictures of this gorgeous horse. There is no feeling in the world that will match the feeling I got when he walked out of the ring and looked at me. I swear he looked thankful and understood he was safe.
Ray spotted another horse in line waiting to go through. It was a young grey and white paint with a man riding him bareback. The man was about 6 foot tall and the horse was about 14 hh it seemed. When it was his turn to be run through the man kicked him and the horse trotted along like a gentlemen not really understanding why he was being kicked so hard. Ray said his color was very unique and we started bidding. It started at $50 and then started going up. I noticed we were bidding against a well known kill buyer for this poor little horse. In the end we outbid him and paid $140 for this little guy. Marion went to meet our new horse and to snap some pictures of him. When she returned she told me he was about 3 and was very sweet.
At this point I noticed about 40 more horses had filled the auction that were not there when we walked through this morning. I looked around a bit and found a black and white paint mare with the sweetest eyes. She licked my hand and I noticed she looked very well cared for. Her mane and tail were brushed and you could smell the show sheen on her. I wandered back to Ray and pointed her out to him. We both decided she was a nice looking horse. Ten minutes later she was in line to be run through. Her owners didn’t even bother to hire a catch rider to ride her so she was walked through. This is basically a death sentence to the horse at New Holland. Not many people will buy a horse that is walked through with no history. We started bidding on her and rescued her for $285.00. Again we outbid the same kill buyer for her.
The auction was coming to an end and we noticed that two very nice thoroughbreds that Marion had seen did not run through. They would be the last two to go through the auction. It was apparent that they were very attached and screamed for each other when they were separated. They had no choice but to walk them in together. At this point not many people were left. It seemed that only us and two or three kill buyers were still standing by the ring. We had only come for four horses and I now had to choose who lived and who died. Ray handed me the bidding number and told me to go for it. I have never bid at New Holland and honestly did not have a clue what I was doing. I raised my number and started bidding. I finally won and when the auctioneer asked me which one I wanted I froze. That could have been the hardest moment in my rescue career. I yelled chestnut and they quickly started auctioning off the grey. Marion, Ray, and I all exchanged glances and in that moment we made a joint decision to go for him as well. I again started bidding and in a brief moment got him as well. If we had not stayed till the end these two buddies would have made their last journey together to a slaughter house.
After we looked over our 5 new horses, got coggins drawn, and paid for the horses we loaded them up and they got to head to our friend Kim’s for quarantine. I watched them load up the horses that were bought for kill and heard the screams of horses being separated from their buddies. One horse collapsed and was lying down from complete exhaustion. I watched one of the pregnant mares get loaded for slaughter along with a handful of yearlings, paints, thoroughbreds, standardbreds, and tons of other horses. An older black horse tried to get on our trailer and I had to hand him back to someone who worked at the auction. Many of their faces will stick with me forever. I remember a Belgian who was sold for $10 and watched her get loaded onto the kill buyer’s truck along with a handful of bays and chestnuts that were all sold for under $50. They all looked scared and were screaming as they were forced onto the stock trailer.
To my knowledge not one other rescue was in attendance at the auction. Ray explained that many people are scared to come to New Holland. For every person that pretends that this does not happen every Monday there is a horse tied up waiting for someone to rescue them. I hope to return to New Holland in the next few months to rescue 5 more horses that have been tossed away by careless owners. My hope is in by sharing my story more rescues will show up at this awful auction and more people will donate to help. Our five new horses now have names, Cowboy, Sugar, Flint, Ruby, and Max. I thank everyone who donated or sponsored a horse for this trip to New Holland. I thank Ray for helping me at the auction and showing me a world that not many people have ever seen. I thank Marion for making this trip with me and helping me pick five amazing horses. I thank Kim for quarantining them and watching over them until they can make their final trip to our farm in Northport. This was an amazing experience and I have decided to keep rescuing from New Holland since it seems these horses have no one else to turn to. For many of these horses New Holland is their last stop and I hope to change that for many horses in the future. If you would like to make a donation for our next New Holland rescue which I hope will be in February you can either pay pal to projectsagehorserescue@gmail.com or mail a check to 63 S. Waldinger St. Valley Stream, NY, 11580. A donation of $500.00 fully sponsors a horse and a donation of $250.00 half sponsors a horse. No matter the size of your donation it will help us reach our goal of $3000.00 to cover all of our expenses for another trip. Consider making a donation to Project Sage, one of the only rescues that shows up at New Holland Horse Auction and pulls horses that have no one else to turn to.
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