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Dear Friends and Patrons:
** Status on "Rescue" - threat of Animal Control
** New Tenant - Falcon - Kit paying for all his expenses; his
disabilities; taking Falcon
instead of horse in Murietta whose people won’t pay for him.
** Georgia, Max and Steve come for a visit
** CBS2-Desert news spot
** Donation of 1989 Honda Civic - anyone want a good little car?
** Thanksgiving approaches
Rescue Effort - Cinnabar and Angel
You may recall that I’ve been driven away from continuing care of
Cinnabar and Angel. (See the website page Events under Cinnabar’s Rescue for a verbatim
transcription of the brush-off letter sent to me by the woman who owns Cinnabar.
Http://home.earthlink.net/~cocarrot
) Although it’s been ‘on-again, off-again’, the owners of these horses have been feeding more
regularly (as far as we can tell, it’s the daughter who feeds, never the woman who claims to love
Angel as her ‘pet’).
I had to get very ugly with Animal Control, as they continued to be
indifferent to the situation. On 10/11/02, I called again to advise that there was again no food on
the property, and after raising Cain, finally spoke with a Supervisor White, who made the following
interesting observations: 1. Animal Control has a "daily presence" in my part of the world - coming
by this property every day would not be the burden I thought it was. They just don’t feel it is
necessary. Asked how they would know if the horses were being fed, he stated "if there is feed on
the property, they are being fed." In fact, for 5 months, these people fed their horses exactly
twice, despite hay right next to the horses. 2. Animal Control
does not want
my photos of the condition of Cinnabar and Angel in April, and my daily log of what I
found when I went to feed morning and night for 4.5 months, and the affidavits of 3 individuals (a
neighbor of the horses, a neighbor of mine who fed several times, and one person from out-of-town
who witnessed their condition and the lack of food and water). 3. White observed that "many things
that should have been done were not done" in looking at his records. In addition, we determined
that more than ½ of my calls never were logged in any way. No follow up was done by officers who
allegedly went to the premises, but found no one home. No notices were given about the horses, just
the dogs. 4. He
demanded
that I stop feeding the horses. He
insisted
that Animal Control could not deal with the problem if I continued to feed them, because
they couldn’t prove that it was me, and not the owners, doing the feeding. I advised him that he
could check with the neighbors who saw me do it; that I would swear under penalty of perjury that I
was doing it; and at least from April until early September, the owners would be unable to prove
they had ever purchased any feed at all. None of that matters. He
insisted
that the horses "have to be showing ribs and hips". Asked how long they had to do without
water before he would act, he accused me of being hysterical.
I insisted this was too on-going of a problem to be so ignored; that
the horses should not suffer because I couldn’t get his department to act, and that if I had to go
to the media to get some attention, I would. The upshot was that he promised Supervisor Sisler from
my area would call me on 10/15/02 (during which 4 day period the horses would apparently be without
food ....). Of course, Supervisor Sisler never called me. On 10/17/02, at 8:30 in the morning, I
heard from Senior Officer Stevens again, who asked me "how are things". This question was more
peculiar than you think in light of his statement that he’d just been on the property the day
before. After assuring me that there was a bale of hay there, and that he’d spoken to them about
the water, he proceeded to ask me if I was the owner of the horse rescue on Terwilliger. When I
agreed that was me, he asked me if I was in compliance with the appropriate codes. He was concerned
I might be in violation of zoning ordinances. TGC is on 27 acres, with a zoning which allows 4
horses per acre without any permits required. If this was an appropriate area of inquiry, you’d
think the guy would know just by looking and counting .... Of course, it’s not appropriate. It was
a threat. With a documented, witnessed case of abuse handed to them, they refuse to act. Instead,
they threaten the person who reported it.
Rita and I keep an eye on the horses. I am preparing a package with a
letter documenting my many calls to Animal Control, their response (or lack thereof), their stated
positions, and enclosing copies of the photographs, and my log. The very next time there is no food
on the property, I will call, yes, but that’s not all I will do. Animal Control does not care and
refuses to deal with these problems. Talk is cheap - their lack of action speaks much more loudly.
I will send my package both to Animal Control, and to any newspaper and TV station I can find. I
guess a public forum will have to decide.
Another rescue sent a newsletter recently discussing a recent seizure
they were able to effect. They lamented a situation where people drove by starving animals,
watching as over half of them laid down, never to get up again, and never made any effort to rescue
the starving horses. I can’t give that man any answers. Despite the rudeness and threatening,
hostile manner of the owners of Cinnabar and Angel, and the same manner from Animal Control, I can’t
be sorry I tried to help these girls. They are alive today because I tried. Their future is
uncertain, but I will keep trying.
I need to hear from you folks. Do you think this sort of thing is OK? Do you think
anyone should be allowed to starve their horses, no matter what the reason? Do you think Animal
Control can shrug its shoulders, or have a stated policy that a horse has to be starved long enough
to show ribs and hipbones, and apparently do without water as well, before they will act, and that
when they act, it’s to place a "notice" on the owners’ door? If you have opinions in this regard, I
would appreciate hearing from you in a letter or e-mail form. I can use that too, to motivate those
responsible.
New resident at TGC - Falcon flies in
...
Despite all my difficulties, I recently gave in to the pleas of Kit
Krassel, who owned a 20 year old Morgan named Falcon. Kit and I worked out a written agreement, and
she will be donating enough to support Falcon’s feed and farrier and vet expenses. Falcon comes to
me with severe ringbone, as well as a ‘locking’ stifle. Kit thinks he’ll be too feisty to use as a
lesson horse, but we’ll see. He’s sure the perfect size for a lesson horse - not too big, but
powerfully built. He’ll get his three months to adjust and then we’ll see what we’ve got. There is
a strong bond between Falcon and Kit - they were both a little down in the mouth for the first
week. Falcon has begun to meld into the herd life, and loves his goodie bucket each night - I’m not
sure about Kit yet, tho ....
Falcon’s donations will only support him - it still means more work for
me. But I don’t mind work, ladies and gentleman - I promise I’ll do the work. I just need more
money - either work I can do to earn their keep, or donations.
Because of financial problems, I had to turn down a horse in the town
of Murietta, whose owners wanted to "donate" him, because of an on-going ‘infection’ in his hind
leg. My best guess after speaking with these people is that they have never had a vet see this
horse - and treatment has been sporadic and probably not appropriate. I’d give anything to have
been able to take this horse off their hands - but they felt that in "donating" him, they’d done
enough - "isn’t that what rescues do?" she said. How does she think we afford it? Kit knows Falcon
still needs to eat. She’ll help provide for him. These other people would not. It breaks my heart.
Doesn’t it seem like the other horse needs TGC more than Falcon? No,
they all need a place like TGC to go to near the end of their lives
. And thanks to responsible and appreciative efforts like Kit’s, TGC can keep going a
little longer and help another horse to some golden years.
Max, Steve and Georgia Visit
Georgia, passing by one day on her way to visit another friend, saw TGC
and got my card from Mike. She brought her grandson Max and his friend Steve by 11/10 and 11/24 and
the boys cleaned some stalls for me, and had a riding lesson on Ladyhawk and Prophet one time, and
Sunny the next. This is VERY unusual - finding
boys interested in riding. Of course, Max wanted to know how many lessons he’d
have to have before he could jump .... sigh. I hope to have photos on the website within a couple
of weeks (first have to solve the problem of accessing my web design program; then have to get the
photos on disk).
Fame at Last
...
Alison Queen, a paralegal in West LA who is starting her own publicity
company, spent some time on the phone with me, and on my web site, and prepared a little publicity
release - I gave her the names and addresses of the local media from the phone book, and before you
know it, I had a call from CBS-2 in the Desert asking if they could come by and do a little spot on
TGC. WOW! I had about 20 minutes notice they were coming, but the reporter, Patrick Evans, did a
great little story, and I’ll just have to forgive the photographer for taking so very many
unflattering pictures of me, instead of more shots of the horses. I did in fact get a couple of
calls off that piece - one lady called expressing an interest in lessons - but she never called
again. And one lady traveling from the desert to San Diego stopped by to feed the horses some
carrots. They say there is no bad publicity ....
Car for sale ....
Karen Hinshelwood, a neighbor who has donated old trailers (used as
feed sheds) to TGC in the past, recently donated a
1989 Honda Civic in just plain immaculate condition. Anyone interested in buying
it? White, with blue interior. Comes with its own snow chains. Make me an offer ...... In addition,
due to my own financial problems, I’m looking to sell my
1968 Jeep Wagoneer. It’s big and black, with large tires, 4WD - this is quite a
find for the right person. It runs well and is in current registration. I can provide photos of
both vehicles via e-mail if you’re interested. Call me at 909/763-0800; or fax me at 909/763-0808,
or e-mail me at
cocarrot@earthlink.net
Thanksgiving approaches ....
As we approach Thanksgiving 2002, I would like to take a moment to
discuss this year. Personally, it’s been a horrible year, with very little work in my field, and
rejection after rejection in my attempts to find any other work, even unskilled and menial. I am a
single person, with no family, and this year have a pre-tax income of $17,000 (part of which I have
yet to earn). That doesn’t seem too bad, until you factor in the horses. The donations so far this
year (THANK YOU!) have been $8,360. This is the best year ever for donations to the Golden Carrot,
but unfortunately, with my entire earnings so far this year, just barely covers the feed bill. And
this is the year I lost my farrier of 5 ½ years, and found out just how much of a break he was
giving me on shoeing. This explains why I have $14,000 in credit card debt, all for the feed I buy
from Kahoots and the local feed store for grass hay. I hope this helps you understand why I’m
always WHINING and WHINING about the problems here. When I took on these horses, my own earnings
were twice what they are now. My loss of income explains why I am leaning so hard on you - all
these horses ask for is "two hots and a cot" - nothing fancy, no extras, just the basics for
life.
You get my thanks, many times per year, personally, and in these
letters. But I want to suggest to you that, if they were not truly Nature’s Innocents, the horses
would be thanking you too. I believe that most of them just assume they will be fed. It’s all most
of them have known. Some of them don’t know that they were doomed to death, until a kindly vet or
horseman ‘rescued’ them, taking care of them until they ended up here. Even the ones who have known
deprivation probably don’t hold it against the abusers - I don’t know if they connect the dots.
They can’t know that just because they worked their hearts out, and damaged their bodies in our
service, they can’t expect anything in return - they just seem to expect it anyway. Under the
trusting eyes of these horses, I work to live up to their expectations, because I believe they
appreciate it, expected or not. I believe that if there was some way they could earn their keep
still, that they would do it. Every job I give them they complete to the best of their abilities.
It is not their fault that their abilities are now less than perfect. If they knew that your
contributions were saving them from a one way trip to the slaughter house, to be hung upside down
after 2 days on a truck with no food or water, their throats cut while they are still alive, until
they bleed to death, I KNOW they would be typing this newsletter and thanking you themselves. (OK,
it’d be a pretty big keyboard ...). Remember that your dollars actually provide LIFE - and know
that you are appreciated. Try to get your bosses to make a donation - get your friends to put
together a donation from ‘one less candy bar a week’ or ‘one less pack of cigarettes’. We need the
support of all of you -
I give thanks for all of you who have continued to support TGC, with
your financial donations, your old tack and spare cookies, and your good wishes. Without you, for
sure, TGC would be no more. I give thanks that except for Trilby’s tragedy, the horses have been
well. I give thanks that I was able to control my rage at the abuse long enough to bring Cinnabar
and Angel back from death’s door - I know they appreciate it, even if their owners did not. I give
thanks for all the kids who have come up for a quick visit, and those who actually cleaned stalls
or groomed horses. I give thanks for Alison Queen and her
pro bono publicity efforts for TGC that got us on the CBS-2 News in the Desert. I give
thanks for Alex and Mary, and all the work they’ve done to help winterize my stalls and maintain
the facilities, and the donations they’ve made.
It’s been a very hard year. But I do have things to give thanks for,
and I do, from my heart. I will keep plugging along - and hope that you will continue to support my
efforts. The holiday season approaches and with extra expenses and presents to buy, it may not be
the best time for me to ask yet again that you think of the horses, and send what support you can.
But remember, it’s also year’s end - check to see if you need some more tax deductions - we’re here
if you do!
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