Eight Belles is dead. This one, not yet.

What a day it has been. That's all I can say. Edited Tues. afternoon to add: The horse has been ID'd as Petersburg Knight, a well bred 2001 gelding. Waiting on race record/further info now. Edited again - horse sold for $15,000 at a WTBA sale in 2002. Much more info coming!

My original post (most of it anyway):

All right, Fugly blog readers. Remember my comments this weekend about how I'm more upset about all of the no-name OTTB's going to slaughter than the TB who happened to break down on national TV? Well, we have a classic story that took place here in the Seattle area this weekend.

Two Thoroughbred horses were offered free on Craigslist to a good home. The owner was in the military and had been deployed. A "nice lady" came out to get them, promising a 4-H home.

"Nice lady" took them straight to the Enumclaw auction, where the blaze faced one was purchased by a known killer buyer. Now, he is not only a killer buyer, but he has told me personally what his riding market is looking for - and it's not OTTB's. He will let us buy the horse from him for $400 and the horse is still at the auction yard.

Here's more of the story along with the LOTS OF PICS you all demanded! One thing that is very cool about this story is that rescuers worked together to get this guy safe. Rescuers who don't always agree about everything put the horse FIRST and I am going to acknowledge all of them by name here.

At 8:00 this morning, I was at work when I got the following e-mail from Tasha. Tasha has Hard Luck Horses Rescue. She knows I love Thoroughbreds.

"there is a craigslist post right now that someone picked up two TBs for free from Elma (I believe they were on the SAFE board too) and said they were a 4-Her who was desperate for them. Those two were sent through the auction yesterday. The one with the white blaze went to the KB."

I asked her which KB and got the phone number from her. I wasn't free to talk so I called fellow independent rescuer Rosemary and she called the KB and found out the horse was still in Enumclaw and could be saved for $400. Nice $250 profit for him, but from what I was told, the horse had been ridden through and was reportedly sound and sane. While Rosemary was on the phone, I assumed the horses might be in Eastern WA already and asked Shawna of SOS Equines if she could pick up the horse and board him til the weekend if he was. She quickly agreed. Then I talked to Rosemary again and found out he hadn't left the west side - but I greatly appreciate the offer.

Now we had to verify the horse was the horse, and the KB wanted the butt tag #. I messaged independent rescuer Liz who lives in Enumclaw and she dropped everything and went out to the auction yard to photograph him!

That was when I posted. We got the money collected in record time, and Juliane of Serenity Training agreed to drop everything and go pick him up, which she did. When I came home tonight, there was a happy Thoroughbred there with a pile of good hay in front of him, looking very relaxed and pleased with himself indeed! Meanwhile the former owner, who was extremely disgusted at what happened, was e-mailing us all of the information on the worthless piece of shit woman who picked up the horse from him and what happened.

I left all the info on my work computer so I will have to update this post further in the morning. (Yeah, I know you are dying but I simply don't have it all here, and I want to put it all up.) Basically, she e-mailed him and said she wanted the horses for 4-H. She came out with her kid and acted all sweet to get the horses. Here's what is going to freak you out. She looks like Mrs. Claus. Seriously. I found her pic online and the former owner verified it was her. Who does this? Seriously. What a PIG.

Edited Tuesday morning: OK I have all of the info now on the POS who picked up these horses. From the former owner: "The woman and her "kid" another woman appeared at the house with a "My Son is in 4-H story".The woman who was "MeSue" was white, Grey Hair,appeared to be late 50s early 60s, size 18 - 20. Glasses, No Makeup, was handy with horses knew how to handle them.The second woman "the kid" was white, 5'8" to 5'9"long light brown hair, Missing tooth on left side of mouth, thin like a size 9. The vehicle was an older pickup truck (maybe white did not really pay that close attention to it)with a camper white with a brown stripe probably brown and the horse trailer was white Double axle, in good repair. No ramp low to ground. My wife asked for a receipt for taxes they did NOT sign - said it was strictly for personal use not officially 4-H but that was what it was for."

Folks, here's the unholy bitch herself. You know, when your picture is online, maybe you shouldn't do evil shit you can outed for! We have confirmed with the former owner that this is indeed the same woman who picked up the horses - MeSue Babcock, aka MeSue Kinsman. With a name like that, it's not that hard to accurately track down info on her. She went to Eatonville High School and she graduated in 1973 so I assume that means she is approximately 53 years old. She had some kind of non-traffic infraction in Eatonville in 2004 so I'm guessing she is still living in that general area. Her e-mail is mesue_lynn@msn.com.

Here is an e-mail she sent to the seller on Saturday (the day before the auction)

Sat, 3 May 2008 19:29:44 -0700

Hello (former owner),

I would like to come and pick them up early tomorrow as I have to work on Monday in Seattle, I get home really late during the week, I will be going to a High School Equestrian Meet the next two> weekends so that is the only time I have free. Thank you Mesue Babcock

Is this woman REALLY involved in H.S. equestrian stuff in Washington? If you are, I am sure you wil have a few things to say to her the next time you meet up at an event! Have to work, bullshit...she had to pick them up Sunday morning to get them to the auction on Sunday afternoon at three!

OK, now I have to fill you in on the BACK history on the horse. This poor horse has been through hell. He was at Dean's to begin with!

"I have a little bit more info on the gelding. He got to PEC more or less a year ago. He came in with the name "Peter Knight". I looked him up on TB pedigree site and found nothing. Is he tattooed? He was thrown out in the gelding pasture at PEC, aka concentration camp for horses, where the other horses kicked the crap out of him and didn't let him eat what little food there was to go around.

A few weeks later he got Strangles and was moved into the QT barn. I don't know if you have ever been in there, but its not habitable for anyone but Dean herself. Stalls are never cleaned, horses live in the dark, the stench is undescribable, food is scarce, horses are never handled or turned out. They only thing they do get is water.

After a few months in there a friend of mine pawned Peter Knight and the other horse off on (former owner). He was skin and bones with wounds and scars all over. I was told (former owner) has had them for about 6 months and Peter has gained about 200 -300 pounds in that time, although he is still thin."

Yes, Peter (although we may change his name - we started calling him Colin) does have a lip tattoo but he didn't really want to show it us and I didn't feel like having a huge fight with him. He has had a bad weekend and a worse year.

He is safe tonight. I thank you all, so much more than I can ever say. I hope to have a "forever home" announcement on him very soon. And yes, more info to come, tomorrow. Oh, and if you're a Seattle area racing person and recognize him and want to save me $36 and ID him, let me know!

Finally, if you have any idea where the other horse is that came in with this one, please let us know. The former owner just wants to know he is safe. He did not go to a known KB but we do not know who got him.