Re: Moral dilemma

["Laura Hayes" <mark@madbbs.com>]

Having been to the National Cruelty Investigator's School and having spent
four years as an animal cruelty investigator in the state of New York, I can
tell you that this is animal cruelty.  I do not believe there is a state in
the nation that does not consider intentional injury of an animal to be in
violation of the law.  In a perfect case, photos would have been taken of
the injuries, and a statement made to the authorities to investigate.  After
the fact, it is a hard case to be made.

Laura

----- Original Message -----
From: "Trevor Jones" <t.o.jones@sympatico.ca>
To: <Ridecamp@endurance.net>
Sent: Tuesday, November 20, 2001 11:46 AM
Subject: RC: Moral dilemma


> Hello everyone,
>      I've been following this site for quite awhile. I find myself in a
> position where some advice would be most welcome...here we go.
>      I bought a walking horse mare a couple of years ago, she  had a
> couple of rides on her at the time, she was really a nice gentle girl, I
> was comfortable with the idea of taking the time to work things out with
> her. I had never had a TWH before, my previous horse had been a
> Peruvian, I had hoped that I would be able to feel when my mare was
> gaiting properly as I had with my previous horse. After 2 years we were
> having some success, but not consistently. We moved from one end of the
> country to the other, into an area where walking horse trainers were as
> thick as fleas on a dog. I decide to make use of a trainer. I phoned
> around to other TWH owners for recommendations and sent my mare off for
> training.
>      I spoke at length with the trainer, stating my expectations...The
> mare was to be used for pleasure riding and CTR, therefore she was not
> required to move like a showhorse, she was barefoot and no shoes were to
> be applied to change movement, I ride in a loose ring snaffle and if he
> was unable to get her gaiting with that, in combination with his feel, I
> wasn't worried. She was only there for a month, and I spoke to the
> trainer about 5 times while she was there, he took her out on the trails
> and did some ground work as well, he said everything was going well and
> she was coming along well.
>      The last week that she was there, I drove down unannounced, what I
> found was shocking. She had open sores the size of eggs on both
> elbows(the saddle did not properly) both pasterns were bloody with
> horizontal cracks 2" long and 1/2" deep (he'd been using weighted
> bellboots and chains). She was standing in her stall with sweatmarks
> from the previous days ride, runnels down both front legs. Well,
> needless to say, I had a bit of a talk with the guy( it started with,
> What the hell have you done to my horse...)and went downhill from there.
> I brought her home, without any further conversation with the
> trainer.That was in Sept. A couple of days ago I stuck my fingers in the
> horses mouth, to check her teeth and found scars, they run from the
> corner of her lips inside a good inch , I was mortified, I felt guilty
> for sending her off to such a jerk. She's such a gentle, easy going girl
> and she tries so hard to do what I ask of her. I have been doing Parelli
> training with her, I ride more often with a halter than bridle, I just
> can't imagine how much pressure it took to rip her lips back an inch.
>      So this is where the dilemma kicks in, when I talk with other TWH
> owners, newbies in the breed like myself, who are looking for a trainer.
>  I have been relating my story without stating the trainers name or sex.
> However, the scars in her mouth, struck me so hard, I'm wondering if I
> should just tell all. What are the ramifications to me?
>      It took a month for my mare to move sound on her front end, the
> sores have pretty much closed up now, just one small one to go. Any help
> would be appreciated
>
>
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