Thursday, March 6, 2008

Marestare: Showcasing bad breeder behavior for all to see!

Every damn year, there's some debacle on Marestare involving bad breeder behavior. Last year I believe we had dying twins because someone didn't ultrasound and whoopsy got surprised. It's so great when the public can watch your foals die live on the Internet (usually while you panic and run around like a chicken with its head cut off).

This year, an alert Fugly reader sent me
this thread from the forums about a mare who was observed to be down for most of the day. While some of the concern was, um, ill-considered (one chick wanted to "call 911" for the mare...um dumbass, that's a good way to get in a HEAP of trouble, 911 is for HUMAN emergencies!), at least the posters were concerned about the mare - more than I can say for her breeder. Someone called her and got the following update:


"Am talking to Cindy now, the mare is just crippled and on medications to help her. Cindy is watching all day at work, and is not concerned. Cindy is very appreciative of all your concerns and watchful eyes, and your messages. Thank you to individuals concerned enough to talk the time to research and call Us to contact Cindy at her place of work. Thank you Very much! This mare has somehow hurt her back or back legs and chooses at times to lay down for as long as 6 hours, so thank you, say a prayer and hope for the best, as she is due in about 1 month."


Then here comes another watchful poster, who chimes in that the mare's been like this for years!


"Oh, I wish I'd been here during all the hullaballoo. Rose is a favorite of mine, and I've watched her three years. She is crippled from an old injury (if I am remembering correctly - so many mares, so little memory!) and she spends a lot of time recumbent during late pregnancy. I think she has trouble getting up. But she does fine."


SURE she does. Here she is on the left. She looks JUST FINE to you, right? Well, if you think so, you can buy her for $1500, they've got her up for sale.

Here's another Mensa member:

"I've watched her foal out twice, and she has done just fine. They do have to get her to her feet afterwards, so that she doesn't harm the foal trying for it while in range."

What is JUST FINE about that?????????????????????????????


I predict that friends of Cindy's are gonna come here and blast me, because this isn't at a shithole farm, this is at an otherwise nice farm. They have a gorgeous halter stallion that I like very much and he's HYPP N/N. They show and do extremely well. Their horses aren't the typically "at risk" horses I normally showcase here. But people, YOU GOTTA STOP BREEDING THESE CRIPPLED MARES! It is NOT okay to have a mare who has to lie down half the time in late pregnancy because her old crippled legs will not support her. This mare, according to their web site, has punched out the following:


Open Superior Trail
Amateur Superior Showmanship
ROM Halter
ROM HUS
ROM Trail
ROM WP
ROM Horsemanship
Futurity Money Winner


MY GOD! Hasn't she done enough? Hasn't she put enough money in yours or someone else's pockets at this point?

She is eighteen and she is hurting. LET THE POOR THING BE A PASTURE PET. And if she's not even comfortable for that, do the right thing and put her to sleep.

I don't have a problem with a mildly lame mare (from a performance injury) being used for breeding, but there's a big difference between mildly lame and crippled. This one's crippled, everybody's seen her hobbling around in pain live online, she's done her time and she needs to be retired. Not re-sold to punch out more babies until she winds up dying in agony in a sling like this mare.