Change the name already - since on a plate is where they're just as likely to end up!
Oh yeah. It happened again. $am and her cronies put another lovely little "rescued" horse back on the truck to slaughter. If you get upset by the unhappy endings, hit your back button now and come back tomorrow and I'll try to write about something a little less sad.
Friday, late afternoon, I got a call that a gorgeous Thoroughbred filly named Make Rmine, CBER name "Dixie," had been traded back to Chuck, the CBER kill buyer, for a couple hundred dollars' credit on a bill CBER owed to him. I was told the filly was on the lot, so I set to work networking her and by early Saturday morning, we had a home (and a backup offer). Petra Lewin, who owns her sire, Makors Mark, eagerly stepped up to give the filly a home - horrified that one of her stallion's get was in danger.
We called Chuck. He had no problem telling us that he remembered the filly we were looking for and that he'd shipped her to slaughter two weeks ago. We all know Chuck's about as honest as Bernie Madoff, so I asked a friend who is local to go and see if the filly truly wasn't there. Chuck's lot is open - there's no place to hide a horse if it's there. She confirmed the bad news - the filly was gone.
So here's what happened:
On January 13th, the filly raced for the last time at Portland Meadows. The trainer was Robby Baze and the owner was John T. Parker. I'm reliably informed that Parker is a good guy and that it's highly unlikely that he knew where his filly was heading so most likely Baze is to blame here. Just four days later, on January 17th, CBER posted this filly for adoption on their web site. Here's the description: "3-4 year old. 16h. Liver Chestnut TB mare. The footing was terrible and the assessment was very hard. The ground was either frozen or thick and boggy. This mare rode nice but is only track broke. She split reined but did not respond to leg." Adoption Fee $500, Quarantine $300, Hauling $30, Check Total $830, Total Paypal $854.90.
She was "adopted" by longtime CBER supporter/sometimes Board member Kay McBean (aka Kay McKee, she's used both names - I think the latter is the legal name). (You can bet Kay did not pay $854.90 like a kind-hearted CBER victim would have been asked to do!) And of course everybody on the CBER Bullshit Board posted and told Kay how wonderful she was to save her! (Where is that puking smiley when I need it?) You may recall Kay's name as she has screwed up and gotten caught before.
Dixie was quarantined for several weeks at Camelot Farms. Kay then sent her to Kristine Williams, a trainer in Ellensburg (Heaven forbid we let the poor thing down after the track like somebody with an IQ above 75 would have done) and after some riding time she was listed on Dreamhorse for sale on March 4, 2009 - for $1800. She was also posted on EquineHits, I assume a bit later, for $1200. My understand is that the filly was not consistently sound in training and that is why she went up for grabs.
Someone on the CBER message board noticed the Dreamhorse ad on March 21st, and questioned why she was again being offered up for sale. CBER cheerfully claimed the filly was just another successful rehab! "In the world of horses, the person who feeds the horse owns the horse. We have no policies against people rehoming their CBER horses," said the LATEST CBER President (it changes more often than Paris Hilton changes boyfriends), Diane Repp, on March 26th. Yeah, who needs contracts? Why even try to make sure horses that you rescue go into good homes and stay there?
(Insert major eye rolling here. When I got my CBER horse, back in 2006 when I was still out of state and thought they were the good guys, they didn't have a contract. I pointed out that this was a bad idea - that in my own case, had I been a jerk, I could have shipped the half-blind mare they sent me to kill as soon as I discovered her disability. I was assured that, down the road, they had started using them and that CBER was trying to clean up its act. Yeah. Right.)
On the same day, Karan Kees posted that Dixie "has found a new home." Completely with a fucking smiley face.
YES, ON A PLATE!
Saturday, April 4th, Chuck Walker confirmed on the phone that he indeed had Make Rmine...and had shipped her to kill two weeks previously. Y'all have got to get your lies straight. You are really bad at this. You are right up there with the folks who were bragging about their successful shoplifting on Dr. Phil. You get caught like every time that you do this. And yet, the $cam continues. They still have their 501(c)(3). How I'll never know. What part of "returning a lame filly to the lot to ship to slaughter" did you include in your rescue's intended actions in your 501(c)(3) filing?
The ads are still up. http://www.equinenow.com/horse-ad-156451
http://www.dreamhorse.com/show_horse.php?form_horse_id=1366540&share_this=Y
CBER apparently caught wind that this blog was coming and posted that the filly had been adopted to a "home local to Yakima who is not involved in rescue drama." Ha. Yeah, because you asshats couldn't produce that filly alive and breathing if I offered up a million dollars for her.
R.I.P. Make Rmine. What a disgusting and unnecessary waste of a beautiful and well bred filly. The only silver lining here is that I met another good breeder, Petra Lewin, who will take back any of her homebreds if they are in jeopardy. As for everybody else involved...you all know what I think of you. Special place in Hell.
Now, Portland Meadows, what are you going to do about this? Anything? Other tracks have banned trainers who ship horses to slaughter. Isn't it time you (and Emerald Downs, he trains there too!) bounced Robby Baze out the door for good? And yeah, I know he's from a "famous" family and I don't care. Let's hope the rest of the family is as ashamed of him as they should be today.
