Certainly everyone has seen this article posted on
Lancasteronline.com yesterday calling into question the legitimacy of the “danger”
the horses AC4H peddles for Brian and Jen Moore are actually in. It’s what we’ve been saying all along. While Jen Moore unabashedly proclaims they
send over 6000 horses to a violent death each year as way to make a living, and
she also admits that many of the horses are “unusable.” In other words, they aren’t good candidates
for shipping, but they will tug at your heart strings.
“What isn't clear is
if the horses are truly in imminent danger or if they are being selected and
sold on the basis of whether they can make money for the organization, not
whether they are the most needy. Also, what happens to the horses that have no
one to pay their "bail," as the organization calls it? What becomes
of them?
Six phone calls and
two emails to Christy Sheidy, of Bernville, who heads the organization, were
not returned.”
(Note we’ve corrected
the misspelling of Scheidy to the correct “Sheidy.”)
We’ve been saying all along that these horses are very
unlikely to ship, and Jen Moore even confirms that in her comment about the
horses “may” go to other auctions.
We’d like the writer to also ask what happens to the bail money
for horses that are bailed over and over again?
What about the horses being posted on multiple sites, including
Craigslist? There is no transparency in the
financial end of the bailing process.
Well, there’s no transparency in anything going on in this saga.
Of course AC4H has made the news repeatedly of late, with
the FBI raid in late April and ongoing allegations of conspiracy and wire
fraud, and anecdotal evidence being shared by those who have dealt with the controversial
rescue. What was of note particularly is
that Ray Paulick, of the Paulick Report picked up the story and posted it as
front page news. He has an international following in the racing industry.
The article talks about a breeder who was called with
chilling information by one of the out of state volunteers for AC4H. How many times have we heard that story from
breeders, trainers and former owners?
“The caller told her
she needed to come up with several hundred dollars fast, or her former horse
was a goner.
Eerily reminiscent of another AC4H story that made the very
popular Fugly Horse of the Day Blog. It’s
lengthy, but you’ll see that scare tactics have been alleged used by this group
for years now.
Also of interest is Christy’s assertion to Ann and Billie
that LuckyAllMyLife was owned by AC4H, yet they now state on their FB
page: “The horses listed through the broker program are owned by kill buyers
and brokers not Another Chance 4 Horses.”
So which way is it?
What is really heartbreaking is the story of Granville,
owned by Melissa Martin. Can you imagine
the horror of being told your horse was sent to slaughter?
“"I sold him to a
show barn. Apparently in 2011 the show barn went belly up and he ended up at
New Holland," Martin wrote in an email. "He was sold to Brian Moore,
and AC4H was trying to raise money for him to be saved. Through many people, we
made offers up to $4,000 but they wanted $6,000 and refused to release
him."
Martin said she and
other donors got frustrated because, although AC4H threatened that the horse
was going to slaughter if the full $6,000 wasn't raised, she knew the horse was
really too valuable to send there.
"Shortly after,
all his information was taken off the AC4H website and they told me he went to
slaughter to fill the truck," Martin remembered. "I recently found
out he went to a resale barn but I have still yet to be able to find him
anywhere."
Martin said people who
buy and sell horses have a right to make money, but added, "Don't use the
emotions of people to make a buck."
Certainly both the Moores and AC4H recognized this horse was
valuable. He was almost certainly one of
the horses the Moore’s buy for resale.
It’s been clearly shown that horses in excess of $350 are rarely bought
as meat horses. The dealers simply can’t
make money on a horse priced above that.
And very clearly, the Moores weren’t going to deny an offer of $4,000
and put a horse on a truck just to fill a load.
That’s just isn’t smart business.
Somebody offered them a little bit more and Granville was sold to them.
Cutting to the chase, what kind of a rescuer would prevent a
horse from being reunited with its previous owner and tell her that he had died
horribly?
It’s also been shown clearly that ponies don’t ship to
slaughter. We’ve been told that Brian
Moore himself will tell you it doesn’t happen, and we’ve presented shipping
records that show it to be true. Yet
minis and ponies are still being presented as “owned by a kill buyer” and in
danger of shipping, even today.
Check out this “slippery” pony. He’s a really good horse!
A mini:
Moore has been proven to not ship grays:
In fact, the AC4H broker pages are loaded with ponies and
minis, all horses Moore doesn’t ship to slaughter.
Shamefully, this isn’t the only rescue who is partnering
with a kill buyer to sell unshippable horses.
Seeing the clearly profitable connection, at least three other
organizations in Pennsylvania and one just across the border in New Jersey have
jumped on the same bandwagon. With the
New Holland Sales Stable in such close proximity it’s become a quick way to
make an easy buck preying on the emotions of big hearted people who don’t
understand how the system really works.
Thanks, Susan Baldridge for having the courage to write this
article. You will certainly experience a
backlash from the angry minions that come scurrying out whenever the program(s)
are questioned. It’s important to raise
the level of public awareness about the true intentions of some organizations
who pose as rescuers of horses. We can only hope you'll continue to expose the broker owned and placement programs for what they really are.
It’s also important to note that there are many wonderful
rescues that do rescue horses the right way without partnering with kill buyers
or being dealers themselves. We thank
them heartily for not perpetuating the kill buyer’s way of life and for
righting the wrongs done to our beloved equines.
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And then there’s the rebuttal from AC4H, complete with
childlike multi-colored text and varying fonts and font sizes. We won’t dignify the ridiculousness of the
comments by linking it here, but if you do read it you’ll quickly note that the
hot links to the email addresses for Mrs. Moore and Susan Baldridge have been omitted
or deleted. Manufactured? We can only know for sure if we see the
emails and their headers.
Can you hear John Cougar Mellencamp playing in the
background?
“When the walls come tumblin' down, When the walls come
crumblin' crumblin', When the walls come tumblin' tumblin' downnnnnnnnnn.”
