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Here are the stories of some of the equines we have helped so far…….
Wilbur
Locked up for 6 months in a barn with terribly overgrown feet.
Wilbur has a shower
Nanette, Lena and Belle
A gorgeous trio of jennies on their way to the slaughter house. Nanette has slipper feet in need of intensive farrier & vet care, Lena and Belle are two of her foals. Unfortunately we have been unable to find out the fate of their two companions.
Ruby & Ebony
Saved from the meat man at St Yrieix Horse sale
Titos
This little 2yr old donkey was just days away from being transported off for meat. Sadly we were too late for the other 3 donkeys as they had left the day before. Titos will be rehabilitated before ERF trys to find him a family.
Hugo
When we first heard about Hugo he had been shut in a dark cell of a stable with no light,water,food or bedding.The winter before his donkey companion had died from neglect…we were determined to get Hugo out, and so with the help of our loyal supporters we rescued Hugo and rehabilitated him back to health. His full story can be read here.
Noisette
A young Breton mare destined for the slaughterhouse after she failed to reproduce. We rescued her from a fattening farm and were surprised to find out that she was in the early stages of pregnancy – her foal is was born in April 08.
Cindy
Cindy has been a broodmare all her life, her foals usually ended up in the meat trade before the age of 2 yrs old.
ERF founder members Trina and Jon first saw Cindy at a mushroom farm that was shutting down. Her condition shocked us especially as she was feeding a foal at foot. She was surviving on stale bread and the field was just weed. The farm was shutting down and selling all the horses to the butcher…Cindy and the other pregnant mare that was there, Sunrise, were heading for the abattoir before we stepped in and saved them. Trina saving Cindy and and her foal Cola, and the Dobsons saving pregnant Sunrise and foal Tequila.
Both mares have really improved and are looking like horses again instead of skeletons. Cindy is only 12 yrs old but looked more like a horse in her 30′s!
Cindy has a wonderful loving nature and adores people. Her foal, Cola, is now weaned from her and lives with Sunrises foal, Tequila in their new home.
Zurito
Rescued from a fattening farm after being bought up from Spain. See his story here…
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oh my god i cried so much when i watched that video, what a gorgeous, brave talanted horse!
Dear colleagues!
I am writing on behalf of EquiHelp – the Russian Society for Protection of Horses, as well as of many Russian horse lovers. We very much need your help with the following problem:
There are two Russian guys, Valerii Popov and Ruslan Menschikov, who on March 22nd started a horseback endurance ride from the middle of Russia (Urals) to Paris which will last 157 days in total. There is a seemingly charitable idea behind the voyage – to promote hippotherapy and the Russian breeds of horses. While the idea certainly deserves respect, there are big problems with the horses and the organisation of this trip.
One of the horses is a !!! 3-year old mare called Neposeda. Two weeks ago, when the voyagers reached Moscow, we had a chance to look at her and see that she is in a very bad condition. She was exhausted and had definite pains in her back and loins. After about 500 km from the start point she also had a bad leg injury while crossing a river, which only was cared for after several days, when she appeared to have high temperature. Her rider in a private talk admitted that she might not make it to Paris and that he personnaly is ashamed of riding her but can not do anything about it.
Here are her photos, made in the middle of May
http://photofile.ru/photo/osh/115100791/large/118024779.jpg
http://photofile.ru/photo/osh/115100791/large/118024799.jpg
http://photofile.ru/photo/osh/115100791/large/118024821.jpg
The other horse, a stallion called Kombat, was in a better condition but his hooves, for example, haven’t been cared for about 6 months – this is the opinion of a farrier who looked at them.
The riders do not carry any food for the horses with them, there is no car to accompany them, they rely on stables which they meet on their way for food and shelter, but many stables don’t risk to let them in as the horses look really sick.
By now the horses and their riders are already in Poland. Their further route will be through Drezden and Stutgard to Paris (They are moving along the road which connects Moscow-Minsk-Warsaw-Drezden-Stutgard-Paris. In Stutgard there is planned to be an award ceremony for them by the National Award Academy which will be held in the residence of a Russian-German Society named after Ekaterina Pavlovna, the Queen of Württemberg (that’s what was announced here in Russia).
Somewhere on the way after that the mare will be left in one of German orphan home for children with disabilities, while the stallion will move to Paris to finish the journey at Eifel Tower and then get back to Russia…
We have tried to stop them here, but didn’t succeed, as, unfortunately, the problem of animal welfare is not at all a priority for the Russian government and society. Mass media here presents this journey as a noble deed. We do not have many opportunities to track the situation further, while they are in Europe. We can now only hope that some of the European horse welfare organisations could do something to help the horses and stop this mindless cruelty. We don’t think that making horses suffer is an appropriate way to promote Russian horses or to help children with disabilities.
The sponsor of the whole event is a Russian meat-processing plant “Veles”… Hopefully the horses do not end up there after this journey!
If you could somehow trace the situation and raise the issue if you find the conditions of this event as unappropriate as they look to us – may be it will make some people in Russia understand that this is not the way of treating horses and obtain popularity!
Thank you very much for your attention!
Sincerely,
Ekaterina Lomeiko
The Society for Protection of Horses “EquiHelp”
Moscow, Russia
http://www.equihelp.ru
May God smile on this horse and all the others that have to endure the sheer cruelty of ‘man’ May he live a long, happy and painfree life and may they all learn that not all humans are vile/
What a magnificent horse, none of the equines deserve to be treat in this way. Its so heart rendering to watch the video, but a happy ending.
May he find happiness and a long life in his new home.
Hi, we have Hugo now and he is wonderful. We all adore him. Every single day we silently thank ERF for making such a huge effort to save him from the same fate as his donkey companion. Hugo neighs loudly when we go into the field and races the other horses to see us. No longer is he the frightened agressive little man we first met.
I cannot believe that Hugo has forgiven human kind for his evil treatment and trusts us enough, to do anything and go anywhere we ask.
Hugo’s not a horse… he’s a hero.