a horse named Rex

First off I want to say that everything in this blog is MY PERSONAL OPINION and I have the right to write what ever the heck I please on my blog...

On Monday I attended the New Holland Horse Auction in PA to rescue a few needy horses.  While I was at the auction I was very drawn to two OTTB's that both seemed very sweet.  The first one ran through and we were able to purchase him through the ring.  The second one, a large dark bay gelding, ran through but we missed him.  He sold to Jesse Austin.  The Seattle Times included him in an article stating "Jesse Austin, a horse dealer whose business includes selling to a Canadian slaughterhouse, views it as responsible recycling.
"I go to maybe four sales a week," Austin said in Front Royal, about one hour west of Washington, D.C. Austin bought four horses for $1,865; he figured two probably would end up at the slaughterhouse".  You can make your own conclusions at to what type of person Jesse is.

Let me add in that Billy Bang Bang, a Long Island dealer, bought both these horses to the sale, he spoke about the big bay as he went through the ring stating "he was from the Thomas School on Long Island and did best with a bute in the morning".  I later had my hauler talk to Billy to find out more information and he did indeed state he picked the horse up from Thomas'.  The chestnut he was unwilling to provide information on.

I had my hauler and his daughter track down Jesse and offer cash for the horse, he added on $100 to the price he bought him for just 30 minutes before and sold us the horse.  Thankfully we were able to successfully purchase the big bay.  Within minutes I posted pictures to my facebook to figure out exactly who this horse was and how he ended up at New Holland.  Many students from TSH quickly e-mailed me pictues of a horse named Rex that was a school horse for over a year at Thomas School of Horsemanship.  We compared pictures and indeed the horse in our trailer was Rex, a TB gelding that had worked hard being a school horse.

Now Thomas School of Horsemanship is claiming he was sold through the sale to someone who was going to put him on a big grass pasture.  You can do your own research on Jesse Austin and quickly learn that he is pro slaughter for horses.  Jesse is quoted saying "I see crippled horses at two or three different auctions a week, the same ones jockeying around. A lot of them are drugged and doctored up so they look good in the ring, then someone who bought them thinking they got a nice riding horse gets home and discovers that the horse is lame, or 30 years old, not 15".  Well, Rex would have been one of those horses that was sent from auction to auction if not for Project Sage.  Jesse would have brought him back to his farm and in a short time Rex probably would have found himself back at another auction or worse, at a slaughter house with a captive bolt through his skull.  During further investigation you can easily find that Jesse is involved with Brian Moore and AC4H, a rescue that scams people on a weekly basis selling them "broker owned horses" that are sick are misrepresented.  This is the man that bought Rex when he was sold at New Holland, a low life broker who makes a living buying and selling horses.

So believe who you want to believe but this is my story and I will stick to it for Rex who has no voice.  I'm sure if he could talk he would tell you he wonders why he was given to a Billy, a low end dealer, to be disposed of in a cruel way.  Sadly Rex's story is not uncommon, every week Billy brings horses to New Holland from Long Island barns that are lame or old.  This is the easiest way for our local barns to dispose of their unwanted horses.  Why are these horses not retired?  Why is this the ending that they get?  These are questions for the people who own these barns that send their horses to the sales.  The owners of the barns might not be driving the horses to the horse auctions themselves but they certainly know where they are going when they give their horses to Billy.

In my opinion when you give a horse to a man named "Billy Bang Bang" you damn well know it will not end up in the hands of a good person.  It's an out that many barns take and it needs to come to and end, the lesson and camp horses need a voice and people need to wake up and stop covering up for people like Nancy Thomas, the owner of Thomas School of Horsemanship.  Is this what we want to teach our children?  That its okay to dispose of a horse that has worked hard just because its banged up a little?  Our children are the future and teaching them that this is okay is just not acceptable.  I was raised with the morals that all living things need to be treated with respect.  Why was not Rex treated with respect? 

So now you have the story, from the mouth of the person that saw it all first hand, from the mouth of someone who gets up everyday and cares for 30 rescue horses and donkeys that have no one else to turn to.  I don't get anything out of sharing this story, I feel it needs to shared to EDUCATE the people on Long Island and all over the United States.  Please share Rex's story so we can change the way things are done for other school horses.

I will continue to stand up for the horses and let my voice be heard that this is unacceptable.

From lessons to an auction...