April 19, 2022 - 50 Shades of Rescue (first three images are injuries sustained due to treatment from initial adopter and the final image is his release in a sanctuary next to a mustang in good body condition that was the same size as he was before leaving the BLM facility)
For those who pour their hearts, hands, pocketbooks and souls into it that’s probably the most simple sentence that could ever be written about the reality of what rescue looks like. Every animal is different, every rescue is different and every relinquishing owner is different. Sometimes the relinquishment is voluntary, sometimes the animal has already been abandoned and sometimes it’s somewhere in between.
This story, as shocking as it is, unfortunately is true. It is the story of one Onaqui horse who by no fault of its own wound up in the wrong hands and what that rescue then looked like over the next two weeks. The horse’s given name and location have been changed, but the chronological events are all recounted as they occurred.
The 12 year old black gelding, who for purposes of this story will be referred to as “Jackson,” was rounded up from the north Onaqui HMA in July of 2021. He was a powerful and well-built band stallion who took vigilant care of his band of 9. He then found himself in the Delta, Utah holding facility for the next 8 months where he was gelded, vaccinated and finally transported to a private adopter several states away.
Jackson arrived to his new “home” in early March of 2022 where he was immediately forced into a rope halter with an 8 foot lead attached. He lived in a small round pen which bordered another round pen housing a second Onaqui gelding adopted by the same individual. The property was owned by a TIP trainer, however this trainer had no faith in Jackson.
The trainer told the owner within a week of him being on the property he should be taken to a sales barn. Anyone in the horse world knows what “sales barns” in border towns really mean. Those barns sell these horses by the pound to kill buyers who then transport them across the border to Mexico to be slaughtered for consumption.
So after one week in a small pen, wearing a non-breakable halter and dragging a rope, after 8 months in a crowded government pen, after being chased by helicopters the trainer decided this horse should be sold for meat. Because he was over 10, he was purchased by the “adopter” outright therefore he was titled and it was legal to sell him. He no longer had Federal protection. He’d spent 12 years of his life in the wild, yet within one week a trainer recommend he be thrown away and after 3 weeks the owner agreed.
It was decided he was a dangerous horse because neither the adopter or the trainer could enter his pen without the horse displaying an adverse reaction.
He was being fed nothing but grain. Grain to mustangs is basically like horse crack. The claim was that he wouldn’t eat hay. Only grain. This is absurd. This same horse who ate nothing but grass in the wild, who ate nothing but hay in the BLM facility now wouldn’t eat hay?
Apparently he wasn’t eating grain either because in only a month this horse lost close to 150 pounds. The images taken upon arrival compared to images taken at the time of his rescue are nothing short of shocking.
The bridge of his nose was now scared from having the halter and lead constantly rubbing on it. The adopter got it on, but said it wasn’t possible to get it off.
A plea went out on social media that horse needed to go to a sanctuary – he was a dangerous horse – he wouldn’t eat hay – he simply couldn’t be trained. Red flags went up. Already another adopted Onaqui had died in this same adopters care after being home for less than a day. Now this.
A sanctuary with 20,000 acres for rescued wild horses to roam immediately came to the rescue. It seemed like the problem was solved, but it was only beginning.
The trainer decided that the horse would only be give a week more on their property to be picked up by the sanctuary several states away or else it would go to the sales barn to be auctioned off. He wanted that pen empty. Wanted more room to move more mustangs through he said. Yes, the adopter paid full board but it didn’t matter. No he wouldn’t lose any sleep if that horse wound up dead.
So now 6 days were left to get Jackson out.
But not without a cost. A horse that was purchased for $25 now had a price tag. He wasn’t going to be released for free. The adopter demanded $300, but that quickly turned to $500. They’d get a minimum of $500 at the Sales Barn so they wouldn’t let Jackson go for any less. Not to a sanctuary, not to anyone.
So what started out as a plea for help quickly morphed into a demand for payment. Payment for a life.
No, they weren’t willing to talk with a Brand Inspector to ensure ease of transport across state lines. No they weren’t willing to have a vet out. No they can’t take his halter or lead off which was now rubbing on the most sensitive part of his nostrils 24x7.
You can’t get anywhere near that horse they said. He’s going to kill someone they said.
The day of the arranged pickup more threats were made. Time limits set. Be here within 2 hours to get the horse or it’s going to the sales barn. The pickup location then moved from the TIP trainers property to the sales barn itself. Jackson had been loaded and transported then unloaded and put into a chute to try to cut his halter off.
The right side of his face was bloodied. His right knee was swollen. He had cuts new and old all over his front legs. The adopter said a “skid steer” tractor was used on him while he was in the chute. They said the barn owner said to just kill him if they couldn’t get him out of the chute safely.
What was a $500 demand for payment turned to $525. The owner wanted payment for using the barn for removal of the halter and lead. So a detour to find an ATM in rural middle of nowhere began.
The hauler showed up 2 hours after the confirmation was sent that the halter was now off. And the horse was soaking wet. Completely lathered with sweat and sunken in. So in the two hours after he was put in a chute, handled with a skid steer tractor, cut up and hurt his knee he was then run without water to the point he was dripping.
Jackson simply walked without incident into the trailer. All the way to the back and waited. The hauler entered the trailer with him and shut the compartment while he calmly watched her the whole time. No reaction, no threat, nothing.
Through state lines he rode. He drained one bucket of water after another. Very dehydrated and beat up. He arrived to the sanctuary where a vet immediately did an assessment. His scrapes, gashes and injured knee should heal. He needed time in the medical pen, but would eventually be released with the rest of the Onaqui who called this sprawling acreage home.
The trailer was opened and once again Jackson calmly took in the sites of yet another new home. He stepped off without incident. Slowly he wandered away to be greeted by 3 other Onaqui horses calling the med pen their temporary home.
The size difference between Jackson and the black band stallion living here at the sanctuary was staggering. Once happy and healthy in the wild, then fed very well in the BLM facility, they now looked like polar opposites. One full of forage and muscles, the other with a belly sunken up and his structure looking weak at best.
What had begun a plea for help on Social Media turned into a weeklong rollercoaster of demands for payment, statements that no, they didn’t care if the horse went to slaughter, scrapes, slices and injuries to Jackson’s legs and face and a horse that was basically starved for the month he was in their care. How else is that much weight loss to be explained?
All because they said they wanted the money to buy another mustang to replace him. So a $25 horse now went for $525 in a month. Because someone didn’t care if he lived and others very much did.
One horse had already died under their care, one has been abused and now they are in search of more.
With rescue, owner surrenders are just that. Someone surrendering an animal because they no longer have the ability or the means to care for them. I have never seen a surrender turn into escalating demands for payment and threats to sell the animal off to a sales barn – halter and all. I hope I never do again.
Jackson is now safe and he always will be. He is reunited with Onaqui family he knew from the range and he can rest and gain his weight back and let his wounds heal. He is safe because a generous donor covered the cost of his ransom and because a sanctuary plunged in with both feet and arranged and paid for transportation to get a hauler committed to getting him out safely in very short order.
Not many people are privy to the day to day of the rescue world and it can be brutal. It can also be very rewarding.
*** We are very grateful that Bureau of Land Management and Mustang Heritage Foundation take situations like these seriously and are open to receipt of reports from individuals and organizations to help them with internal investigations and proper care and placement of our beloved mustangs.***