Page 12 - February 2005 The Game

12 The Game, February 2005 Your Thoroughbred Racing Community Newspaper
Picture right -
a bony Solar Grey on January 16, pictured here one week after receiving care from LongRun
and the volunteers.
Thoroughbred stallion Gernas, seen here in an undated photo, died of starvation and was removed from the property days before the OSPCA arrived
at the farm.
STARVING HORSES - CONTINUED FROM PAGE 11
The following morning, a crew of 10 people, including Aline Allain, arrived at the farm to begin tending to the horses. They worked fourteen hours that first day, cleaning stalls and tending to the horses. Some of the horses were up to their knees in filth in their stalls.
LongRun purchased $675.00 worth of hay, and once word got out about the starving horses, local feed companies began donating feed. Shavings were donated and the driveway was cleared.
LongRun paid $1562.00 for the OSPCA doctor to do an initial inspection of all the horses.
There were a total of 31 horses remaining on the property. Four of the mares had slipped their foals. There were two 2-year-olds, two yearlings, two weanlings and a couple of geldings. A nine year-old standardbred stallion and a twelve year-old thoroughbred stallion, named Fort Chaffe (by Mr. Prospector, out of a Nijinsky 11 mare) were also on the farm.
With the temperature predicted to drop to well below normal for January, the horses didn’t have a protective fatty layer, and blankets were desperately needed.
An email went out to as many horsepeople as possible and the donations started flowing in. Blankets & Equipment as well as people donating their services.
Veterinarian Ross Pollock donated his services.
Local blacksmiths also donated services. The majority of the horses hadn’t been trimmed since August.
The mare, Bonnie’s Expectation, had slipper foot and foundered. She has also since been examined by a vet at her foster home who thinks she may have suffered permanent liver & kidney damage caused by starvation. Foster owner, Nicole Simon is hoping she will not have to be euthanized.
The thoroughbred horse community stepped up in every way. Jennifer Unger from the Ontario
Standardbred Adoption Society, also brought by much needed halters and donations from the standardbred industry.
Flo Ferguson, from the Woodbine backstretch food trailer, made sure that the volunteer crew got a warm meal everyday.
On January 16, due to the non-compliance of the OSPCA orders, the horses officially became the property of the OSPCA and LongRun officially took over the care & control of the horses under the umbrella of the OSPCA.
With the horses now being properly cared for, LongRun’s next task was to find them foster homes until the OSPCA investigation is complete, after such time permanent homes could be found.
Twenty horses were shipped off the farm to foster homes on January 21 and the remaining eleven were shipped to their foster homes on January 24.
There were so many people who donated and raised funds for these horses, it is truly commendable.
LongRun Thoroughbred Retirement Society, and Cathy MacLean, went above and beyond to save these horses.
The volunteer crew unselfishly worked everyday for more than two weeks. They braved the frigid weather and tended to frozen pipes and water buckets to make sure the horses received the best care.
Without the tremendous support of the horse community, those horses that were helplessly abandoned may never have survived.
A note from Cathy MacLean who wanted to mention that she could not have pulled everything together so quickly without the help of Mrs. Cocklin (HBPA’s Julia Samulak’s mother). Mrs. Cocklin “made it all happen” says Cathy when she called Julia to assist with shavings, hay etc. “She’s a very special lady.”
Pictured here is the volunteer crew who worked countless hours caring for the horses: Ltor - Catherine Duclos, Howard Pottins, LongRun’s Cathy MacLean, Flo Fergusson, Ed Dyer, Ron Wollens, Aline Allain, Rob Lindemann and Darryn Chedu. Not in the photo are Terry Levi, who had just completed chemotherapy for lung cancer and worked fourteen hours on the first day. Blaine Jeremia also worked during the first few days and Linda Reid and Wendy Gordon fed the horses in the morning before the crew arrived.
Picture left- The mare Solar Grey is seen here with one of her foals on the same farm in happier times.
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The fences surrounding the paddocks were eaten away by the starving horses
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