Dreamin' and Trust

        Our pony Diamond lays down five or six times a day. He curls into what we call “a little sleeping dragon position”. All of our male horses sleep like this, I have never seen any of the mares do it, they all sleep flat on their sides.

        As he lay there his friend Rhia groomed and braided his mane (she is human-). With his little nose smoonched in the ground he fell into REM sleep and began to nicker quiety! He was out cold but talking in his sleep, with a little human child right beside him touching him. Horses are, for the most part, terrified of being helpless and unable to escape. They have a strong flight or fight instinct. Horses don't ever lay down to sleep unless they feel safe. We will often see four or five of our of horses down while a few are standing and watching out for “predators”. The sleepers feel safe, then they swap around.

        Diamond had grown up from a very early age with a family who loved him. Though he was a bit of a leader himself in that family, he knew what love was. He hung out with his humans. He would go under the fence in the morning to eat breakfast with them and was generally a beloved family member. He spent that part of his life with an old mare and lived with out conflict from others. He learned to trust that humans and other horses were good and that he was safe in his space in time.

         He came to us when his beloved family lost their home. His ancient mare friend was euthanized, rather than moving her away from her life long home as she was blind and very ill with age related problems. This was a supreme act of kindness on the part of her family. The choice was difficult but she was given the last gift, a peaceful end of life in the loving arms of her friends.

         Diamond is a young pony and it seemed that he might be happier with a new family, as our horses are all geriatric, blind, crippled or mentally damaged. Not a lot of fun for such a guy. He was not getting much attention at EOTS either as the healthy ones are less demanding and tend to need less time from us humans.

So he was placed with a trusted friend who has three huge geldings. To make a long story short – geldings are not very nice to each other. They constantly spar for dominance, the lead horse bullies the others. There is a pecking order and the low man out is constantly pounded on by the others. Our little diamond was second to last in the order, and though he got in some good kicks on the bottom dude, it was a bad situation. In the end, I believe because he never got to sleep, he became grumpy and exhausted. When asked to do anything for humans, he rebelled, he began to bite when asked to do pony rides for the children. The one leading him had to constantly avoid his teeth. After one last act of violence to a human, he was returned to us. Labeled a “bad spoiled pony”, he will never leave again.

         At first we were very cautious around hm, waiting for him to be “bad” again. But after dealing with Moon and Gabriel and our two other resident “bad boys”, Diamond was a walk in the park. We found that he was pretty beat up from his time away from us. A lot of places on his body were sore to the touch and a hoof shaped indentation in his rib cage told the story.

         At EOTS we have determined that good fences make good neighbors. Horses should never be allowed to fight – not ever.

         Our horses groom each other over the fence, but except for those who prove they can get along as a group, they have their own little turn outs where they do very well. Their own little territory where they eat in peace, and nap when necessary, with out being pounded on by others. They each have their own stall which is cleaned daily, with food and water readily available and no controversy from others, they are a very happy bunch.

          Even though our farm is a ramshackelly little place, no where near as beautiful as his temporary foster home, Diamond is content with the simple little things in life. He shares a two-stall barn with Jessica's premarin “foal” Tank and they are good friends. He comes and goes in his own little area and socializes with the others who are turned out around him in the day time. Horses are simple- they really don't need much- but sleep is terribly important.

         If your horse seems grumpy, maybe he's just tired. Mare sure he has a place to sleep undisturbed, where he feels safe. We have some horses that never lay down in the presence of humans, so you may never actually see them sleep. The tell tale signs though is bedding in their hair or manure stains. You may find though, that your horse is much happier after a good night's sleep. Just like us, it is easier to work when we're not exhausted.

           So Diamond will spend his life with us as he is now considered a liability and can not be “trusted” out in the world. That is not a problem with us – he can just join the ranks of the rest of us damaged souls at EOTS.

Our Dry Season

Hello friends! We at Eye of the Storm would like to say thank you all for your continued support – but this is our dry season. We are officially out of money with just enough supplies for a few days. We recently spent our last tiny windfall on getting Tim's feet trimmed again! He is doing SO well!

Thank you all!

More Thoughts

     Consider this as just one of hundreds of potential scenarios. Your child has outgrown his/her pony. You think passing the pony, we'll call Truffle, on to another child would be the right think to do. After all, the pony is young, well trained and could be a fine ride for someone of the correct size. So you give/sell Truffle to a trusted friend, after all your child can still visit and hop on for a little ride. As the trailer containing Truffle pulls away your child cries inconsolably and begs you to her her keep her. You lovingly hug and hush the child and tell her you will be getting her another to take Truffle's place. She can progress in her riding skills on a more suitable horse.

       Time passes your child does well as a rider, horses come and go, but there is never another Truffle. Some night she dreams of Truffle who comes and takes her for rides.

Truffle is passed from hand to hand as each child outgrows her until she is lost in the world. But your child, now a grown woman still remembers the pony who dried her tears in her mane. The one she sat with (or on) in the field as she did her homework, read a book, or just day dreamed. The one who was her constant, her very best friend.

        Where Truffle ends up, no one knows.

        As an adult, your child starts to search for Truffle. She wants to bring her home, no matter what the cost, she wants her best friend to live in peace with her for the rest of her life. You never outgrow your first pony/horse. There will never be another that you love like that.

The chances of finding Truffle are slim. But if you had the forethought of micro-chipping her before you sent her away, perhaps that might increase the odds.

        I believe that the possibility of a very lucrative business could be on the horizon. If someone found Truffle anywhere, I believe your child would pay any price to get her back. You see love and loyalty is priceless.

A buyer strolling through a sale barn with a micro-chip reader could contact a person, name his price and deliver the beloved one to your door. They would be much more valuable to the finder than the few hundred they would get from a slaughter house. That person would be a hero, not a murderer.

       What do you think people? Perhaps that is the way to go. We aren't going to stop people who have historically eaten horses, but at least we may be able to save our family members.

  

More About Microchips

     I have been thinking about horse slaughter, and I wonder why some groups of horses bothers me more than others. As I thought of the Premarin industry and their throw aways, I realized why they bother me less than thoroughbreds and other used up riding or working horses. For years I wondered why, on 3/26/2012 I found the answer. Foals born to the Premarin group, if they aren't rescued, for the most part, are probably turned out in a pasture to live out their short lives. They eat they play, they hang out – until the day they reach the proper size. Then they are gathered and sent off to die. Their meat consumed by the horse eating humans on earth somewhere. They are the same as the beef cattle burgers that we eat in our beef eating USA. No one ever loves them, they are never halter broken or ridden. They are never slaves to humans. They have value as food animals and are treated accordingly.

       The others, those who have been loved, nurtured, cared for, ridden and partners to humans, it is almost like cannibalism. Now that seems like a bit much, but think about it. It is a betrayal beyond measure. I have had and do have now, horses that are almost extensions of myself. With Faith and Fancy, I don't know where they end and I begin. The thought of my never loving them again, to send them off to be murdered and eaten, is beyond my ability to grasp. How can such a thing be allowed to happen?

      These horses are like children. They depend on us for everything, food, shelter, comfort, and yes,love. They respond to love, return it to us, and become our friends and family members. They have daily schedules that they instinctively keep track of, and always know what time it is, such as feeding time (ask Faith about that, she always knows). They recognize us as their very own human. I was at a horse show once and left Stormy in the care of a friend. From the other side of the show ground she heard me talking to someone - I'm pretty loud, being Italian and deaf. She managed to escape from my friend and very carefully, without anyone noticing she was a loose horse, she gently nudged her way through the crowd to stand at my side. With a soft nicker she said “Hi, I'm here”.

       The loss of Stormy, the best friend, next to Jehovah God, that I have ever known, was so profound that after thirty-four years I still miss her. Stormy loved me so much that nothing on earth mattered more to her. I still can't believe she is dead. This was a partnership that has continued beyond death. She is the reason that EOTS exists. I know exactly where she is. She is safely dead. She never was away from me. She was never entrusted to anyone else. She was never lost in the world to end up in some horrible murder factory to be eaten by humans or as pet food.

       She died too young. I still don't know what killed her. The pain I felt at her loss, the empty place that was her spirit joined to mine, is still there.

       All horses are capable of this kind of relationship. When I think of all the horses who were slaves or partners to us, I see betrayed children. I think of the, possibly, one person that loved each, until, under whatever circumstance they were lost to each other in the world. I think of the many humans who so loved their first horse, ones who would move mountains to bring that one home to live out his/her last days. Why can't we make that possible? If these horses were micro-chipped we would always know where they are. You can be sure of one absolute fact, the horse will remember you!They never forget their friends.

And so, there is a difference. Maybe the term cannibalism is extreme. But that's how I feel about my family members. Imagine Stormy waiting in line in a horror murder parlor. Looking over the heads of the other condemned souls – looking for me to come and save her. Picture your own horse, your child's first pony – wouldn't you perhaps agree that I am not that far from the truth?

~Nina

 

Tim

           At 12:22pm beautiful Tim lay snoozing in his stall. As I watched him, his lips and nostrils began to tremble. His dead eyes flickered around in their sockets. He nickered softly in his sleep, his legs moved gently. What could he be dreaming about? Tim has lived almost 30 years. He wasn't always blind. Where he has been and what he has done in all those years is a mystery to us. No one wants to tell us, no one responds when we ask.

          Did he herd cattle? Jump fences? Was he a show horse or just a bum with a little girl to love him? Is he dreaming about his momma in a field of grass, himself a gorgeous spotted baby? Is he calling to the friends who have died before him? He really loved Snowdrop. He fought Solomon for her and actually won her before I could break them up. Is he dreaming of his lost love? The fact of the matter is that he is dreaming. He is talking in his sleep. He, and all horses are much more than they appear to be. They know and see things that we can't even begin to imagine.

          I am so honored to know these special beings, to be their caretaker. They teach me something every single day.

I'm sure Tim is not blind in his dreams. -

Through the Years

           Sometimes they can't be fixed. Some of them are broken beyond repair. All of them are absolutely beautiful. They all want to live. Most of them can. Their infirmities are like ours. With the help of friends, they can go on living. They are so brave, so willing to go on. Love can carry them for a very long time, all the money in the world can not fix them physically – but love helps them endure.

We have a unique group of horses that have found their way to EOTS, all of which will never leave, because we don't care if they can't be fixed.

          So many who have lived and died here have taught us priceless lessons of loyalty, endurance and friendships. They have taught us compassion, about loving – and letting go.

When Snowdrop, Willie and Sun came to us, they were so broken that in any other place they would have been euthanized because of their infirmities and the inconvenience of their care. What we saw was powerful spirits in bodies that – well – weren't doing so well. They were old and completely used up. But they wanted to live! So we helped them to so – until they told us it was time to let them go. Snow and Willie lived with us for years, but Sun was just passing through – he stayed for a little while, but he was safe and loved with us until congestive heart failure ended his life. I was with him, the vet brought an end to his pain. When he came to us he was starved almost to death, he had been a school horse. When he became neurological and developed narcolepsy he was given to a teen age girl who neglected him. He was a beautiful little gaited Spanish horse. He had panic attacks which would cause him to try to run away from his terror which would cause his heart to pound. It was a vicious circle. He could not stand on three feet to get his hooves trimmed. As he lay napping I would try to trim his hooves a little at a time. If we tried to back him up or turn him too quick he would fall down. When narcolepsy struck he would fall to the ground with a crash and gallop off into REM sleep, nickering to the friends he met in his dreams. Many would think he was having a seizure, but I recognized it for what it was because beautiful Nessa also had this ailment, as well as a human friend of mine. Someone I know had a horse that developed narcolepsy after receiving a rabies shot. Not recognizing what it was, they euthanized her. Such a shame – I tried to tell them – but what did I know?

          Willie was a victim of what I believe to be “horse tripping”. The catastrophic injuries to his hind legs could only have happened by this. It is an event in Spanish style rodeos, where they get a riderless horse galloping as fast as he can in fear and they rope either both front legs or both rear legs and the horse crashes to the ground. It is a hideous cruel spectacle. Willie's hip was completely dislocated and the ligament that held the ball in the socket was torn away. The other hind leg's tendons were torn in a way that only his toe touched the ground. We did not know how badly injured he was for years. His muscles help the hip socket in place and he tottered around with his other gelding friends! He was Tim's eyes (Tim is our dear blind appaloosa). At the end of Willie's life he began to fade away. He stopped eating and we hand fed him. He laid down and couldn't get up so we helped him. When he couldn't lay down on his own to rest, we laid him down on a memory foam mattress. He fell asleep immediately. When he woke, he was afraid, we would lay with him until he felt safe. We “kept away the wolves”. When he was refreshed, we lifted him to his feet. Off he would go to hang out with his friends – and so on.

           Willie had one last wonderful summer. He was never alone – we showered him with love. He lost so much weight that his muscles were no longer able to hold his hip together. We always thought it was the other leg that was bad – we were wrong. In an x-ray we saw the truth – nothing could fix Willie.

He was very, very tired – so the next time we found him down, in his stall, we did not help him to his feet. We washed him with love. So many friends were with him on the day we let him go. In the pitch black of night we carried him to his grave to rest forever beside his friend Cassie who died the following year, another ancient beloved one.

           Our dear Shetland pony June Bug was glued to each of there ones as their lives came to the full. She covered their backs and guarded them from the “wolves” - such a friend is June Bug – she always knows who needs her help.

           Snowdrop was a ballerina like Arab mare. Soft and sweet with a core of iron. She suffered silently for so many years. We paid $1,200 to rescue her from slavery. She too spent the last days of her life with June Bug. These two were joyous to find each other again! They actually came from a farm where they were together years ago! So happy they were! Happy! How can anyone believe that horses are stupid? They knew and remembered each other! The rest of Snow's life was spent with her best friend June Bug – every single day.

           When we were no longer able to manage Snow's painful laminitic hooves, she said, “please, may I go now? I an finished with my work here.”

They let us know – they just do. It is our job to care for them as best we can until then. We are all part of each other here. This is the circle of the Eye of the Storm.

           I know there stories seem sad, but they're not! Snowdrop was 27 years old, Willie in his 30s and Sun was probably in his late 20s. And they were Here, with us, among friends, not in some horrible slaughter house, not starving to death in someone's back yard, not slaving for anyone – HERE at EOTS – where we love them - “Till death do us part.” Yes what started to be a rescue has become mostly a sanctuary. All of our horses are broken beyond repaid, but so are all of us who care for them here. We find sanctuary too, among them, because, you know what? They love us too. Their loyalty, and trust just blows my mind. You can't live with them and not see it! Horses are brilliant! So what if they can't be ridden – I don't want to ride them any more, I just want to be with them. They Heal Me.

           Their friendships to each other never end and they never forget. When Snow and dear old Czardas found each other again at EOTS it was a reunion so beautiful to behold! They too had been together years and years ago in their hay days on the Arab show circuit. All of that time ago they still remembered each other. We only found out later that this was the case – but they knew!

And so among the horses at EOTS I have witnessed, love, compassion, loyalty and life-long friendships. I have seen horses dreaming in their sleep, they talk and gallop, they even have nightmares. They have memories that last all their lives – and they know how to love us humans, far better than we can love each other.

          Horses deserve to have life long partnerships with their very own human being. But at least here at EOTS we give them peace.

And in the End

          These are sweet, sad, beautiful stories about Sun, Snowdrop, and Willie. Horse slaughter for human consumption in this country is a terrible thing, but for those horses there is a great deal of humane laws in place, as well as the fact that they must arrive at the slaughter house in good flesh and undamaged. Their care and treatment falls under the European Union guidelines, which, as awful as the idea is, they have a value and must be cared for properly. But, you see Sun, Snow and Willie would not have been acceptable for human consumption. They and all the other underweight, old, sick, and seriously damaged horses go somewhere else. Somewhere that is so awful that I can't let my mind dwell on it. That would be the rendering plant for pet food. There are no laws, no guidelines, no end of life care. They don't even have to be alive. The dead ones are the lucky ones.
          No favors were done for the unwanted horses by closing the slaughter houses for human consumption. All it did was make them worthless. The outcome was starvation, neglect and abandonment, nation wide, OR the dog food slaughter plants.
It is time to STOP the over breeding of horses. People need to be responsible for the care of their horses for life – if they can't do that, they shouldn't own horses. Don't feed the breeding industry by encouraging the birth of future unwanted horses.
          I propose that all foals born from this day forward be micro-chipped. Who ever is responsible for their birth should be responsible for their end of life care. In the mean time laws must be made, where slaughter is not an option. We will know who that person is because of the micro-chips. A breeder gets a few of their horses back and he/she will be wondering is it's worth it to continue.
As nice as that would be it's probably not likely. The only way to end horse slaughter in this country is responsibility. When there are no more horses to go to slaughter, there will be no more slaughter houses.
I know the animal rights people mean well but most have no idea what's really going on. We need to police ourselves within the industry to deal with this problem. We need to come up with some solution. There needs to be a plan. There needs to be responsibility.
          There is no place left for these horses to go. The rescues are full. We are underfunded and overworked. We do our best – but these are so many!
I pray often for justice for the horses. They are so innocent. If they are never born, they will never be unwanted.


          So, in conclusion, for all who feel the need to help, make sure humane laws are in place nationally. The end of these horses lives doesn't need to be horrible. These laws must also be enforced. Lets make sure the pet food industry abides by the rules. Most of all be aware that your cats and dogs are being fed animals who have died horribly. By feeding cheap pet food we are enabling this to continue. Find out where the raw ingredients come from. Human grade food is the best.
          I don't know everything so this is where your own research is important. Pet Source in Stow and Concord, MA is extremely careful where their products come from. So maybe you could start there.
This is an ongoing issue that will be addressed more thoroughly in the future.

~Nina