Marcia Hancock : rescue

Need a Speaker? Contact Bluebonnet Equine Humane Society

Marcia Hancock — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 00:01:00 GMT

If you are involved with a horse club, riding group, school group, service organization or other organization/club that needs speakers in Texas, drop Jennifer Williams, Executive Director, an email to jenn@bluebonnetequine.org or contact by phone to (888) 542-5163 if you would be interested in having someone from Bluebonnet Equine Humane Society come speak about who we are and what we do.

Dr. Williams recently provided two presentations for the local community including one to a group of 4th and 5th graders about the rescue. The other is to be presented to Texas Unites for Animals and will be about managing abused and neglected horses in the animal shelter environment.

Giving talks helps educate people about horse rescue and helps Bluebonnet find new people to get involved!

A Daughter's Remembrance

Marcia Hancock — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 13:09:00 GMT

February marks the twentieth anniversary of my father’s death. A kind, gentle man, he was known for his wit, his love of family and generous nature.

My father loved his grandchildren. I remember the broad smile on his face when little Sarah would help him in and out of his hospice bed. He would smile down at her as she lifted his feet from the floor into the bed, the pain leaving his face if only for a moment, replaced with love and joy. Only three, she did not realize how important this one small act of helpfulness was to a dying man.

And Josh, his smile widening the moment he saw his abolito. He would rush in after school to sit by his grandfather’s bedside and begin to recount the day’s events. My father’s final days were filled with love and enjoyment with his grandchildren!

My father loved his children but in a quiet, indemonstrable way. Like many men of his time, he was not sure how to be a father not knowing loving us was enough. He was always there for my brother and me although we did not realize it at the time.

My father and I did not get along for many years most likely because we did not understand or know how to relate to one another. We also were too much alike. Strong, determined to the point of being stubborn, creative and kind, yet often contentious.

I remember my mother often complaining she could not stand the two of us in the house at the same time! We did not learn to understand one another until the end-stage of my father’s life, but those final

few precious years are the most important in my life to date.

So what made a difference in our lives and our father/daughter relationship?

Enter Snoops, an aging Tobiano paint horse. My father loved this horse. They shared an affection that is uncommon for horse and man. And Snoops helped to forge a bond between my father and myself that has withstood time and my father’s passing.

There was never a dull moment once Snoops entered our lives! I remember the day Snoops broke out of the pasture several mares escaping with him! He was there at the recommendation of the Barn Manager to gain weight after almost succumbing to starvation. Apparently the sudden intake of high energy feed gave him dreams of being a stallion with his own herd to rule! It took several men on horseback many hours to catch Snoops and his harem!

I remember how my father loved to spend time with his horse, how happy it made him, helping him to regain his health. We would take long trail rides together in the local hills and talk about everything, an activity we infrequently engaged in before Snoops came into our lives. Snoops and my mare seemed to listen to our conversation, their ears moving forward or backward in sync with our vocal intonations.

Snoops would run to the paddock fence when he heard my dad’s car arrive. There he would stand, waiting for my father, stomping his back legs in rhythm with the flicking of his tail! His behavior seemed more like a canine companion than a horse.

I suspect my mother was jealous of Snoops. I remember my father saying to her one morning as he left for the ranch, that his life was now ‘…complete…’ now that he had Snoops. Time devoted to his horse could have been spent painting or renovating the house, landscaping the garden, paying the bills, or some such activity. Perhaps time to take mom to lunch, shopping, the theatre or a movie. Instead there was a trail of horse manure throughout the house, and a husband too tired from riding to be of much use! And the money!

Snoops’ departure from our lives was a heartbreaking event-he seemed to know his death was imminent. My dad and I watched him say goodbye to my mare with a muzzle ‘kiss’ as the vet walked him to the pasteur. She walked to the back of her paddock and whinnied to Snoops as he was led one last time to the pasteur he loved so much! Snoops was a proud horse, and even in pain, he knowingly walked to his death with his head high and a firm step on the ground. My dad and I bade Snoops a loving farewell. Then the vet took away his pain.

When Snoops was put down for untreatable colic, a part of my father died with him. After Snoops’ death, my dad’s health declined rapidly. The decrease in physical activity and with time now passing slowly, my dad lost interest in just about everything. He was never the same.

Because of Snoops, I have very fond memories of my father and the short time we had together as father and daughter. I learned to love my dad, to care for him during his last days because of a horse. Both live in my heart forever!

Where Have All The Horses Gone? The Plight of Texas Horses

Marcia Hancock — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 12:31:00 GMT

Texas. A state we associate with wide open spaces, lush grazing lands, independence and pride, of rugged individualism-the ‘Lone Star’ state. Our imaginations stir with accounts of The Alamo and chronicles of early Texas in Lonesome Dove and Giant. Men on horseback taming the Wild West and harnessing/subduing nature! Horses, an American tradition, our partners in history and the link to Texas’ colorful past!

Texas is no stranger to misfortune or harsh conditions, and her history is marked with historical accounts of how citizens met and overcame these challenges often at the cost of individual lives. However, Texas is now faced with the worst drought in its recorded history back to 1895 (National Weather Service.) The drought coupled with severe heat and rural wild fires has crippled the economy and devastated the cotton, farming and cattle industries. Many communities have severe water restrictions in place for all types of water usage.The parched terrain is no longer able to sustain grazing lands, or produce the hay and oats needed to support livestock. 70% of Texas farmland is in extremely bad condition with complete crop failure and no grazing land for livestock including horses. Ranchers are sending their large cattle herds to market early as hay prices skyrocket to $110 to $175 dollars per round bale and by $11-$15 per square bale, triple the regular price. In many communities, there simply is no hay. Ranchers may bring in hay from Oregon and Idaho, but with the increase in demand, the rising price of imported feed is rapidly reaching unaffordable levels. And if you have no cattle, you do not need hay and oat-eating, working cattle horses. Local Texan economies are in decline including rising unemployment. The Texas middle class which prides itself on horsemanship and once supported the pleasure horse industry is no longer able to afford to feed or care for their horses. Before the drought, the average monthly cost of feeding one horse was $150 to $200. Now it is three to four times that amount. What Happens to Texas Horses? Cattle go to market, but thousands of Texas horses are being abandoned along roadsides or sold for $30, $20 or even $10, or simply given away at auction, a sure path over the border to Mexican slaughterhouses. With the lack of affordable hay or productive pastures, many horses are left to starve on foreclosed properties and ranchettes. Enter Bluebonnet Equine Humane SocietyTexas horses are suffering neglect or abuse and being abandoned in record numbers. The causes vary from people trying to hold on, to survive job losses and decreased incomes and still care for and keep their horses. But when the drought hit, the plight of Texas horses worsened. Bluebonnet Equine Humane Society Society as a 501c3 horse rescue/welfare organization is dedicated to helping horses and Texas horse owners during this crisis. Formed in 2005, Bluebonnet works with law enforcement throughout Texas to help abused, neglected, astray, and abandoned horses and other equines. Active in equine intervention, Bluebonnet works to rehabilitate horses that have been neglected and abused and is working in concert with Texas law enforcement agencies to rescue as many horses as possible with the goal of placing them in safe, permanent homes. “We’ve worked really hard to develop relationships with law enforcement agencies, animal shelters, and other rescue groups. That allows us to be more effective, and it gets law enforcement someone with training, expertise and resources to help them. The fear is of course that we’re going to run out of resources! The drought in Texas and the tough economy mean that in addition to our normal workload, we're dealing with an increasing number of agencies asking for our assistance.” Jennifer Williams, President and Executive Director of Bluebonnet.

“The middle to lower end horses have almost no value – people are having a hard time giving them away. So we’re seeing more neglect. It isn’t intentional in those cases. For instance, we took in four horses right before Christmas. I think if we had waited even another week, those horses would all have died. As it was, two of them were in ICU and one did die. The owner got hurt and then lost his job. He was trying to feed the horses but obviously had lost the battle. When law enforcement showed up, he was relieved. He hadn’t known what to do. He signed the horses over to the rescue.

So we have a lot more cases like that going on now, and we still have the ‘normal’ neglect cases that we were always dealing with: people who bought a horse and had no clue about caring for them, people who didn’t care, people who feel the horses are their property and can be treated however they want, and the animal hoarders.”Bluebonnet is treading water in this crisis and has been able to help most of the horses about whom law enforcement agencies has reached out to the group for help. “We’ve had a few counties tell us that if we hadn’t taken the horses in they called us about, they probably would have starved to death. That’s my big fear – that if we say no, then nothing will get done and the horses will starve. But if we take in too many horses, we stretch our resources too thin and then we’re unable to do right by the horses. Talk about a catch-22! “

“However, the situation is deteriorating and financially strapped counties are now considering euthanasia programs for horses that cannot be immediately placed with an equine rescue group or individual horse owners. But because of the depth and intensity of the drought and the cost of feed, the resources available to rescue groups are stretched very thin!”

How would financially strapped counties implement equine euthanasia programs? If no money exists to feed or house these abandoned horses, how will counties pay for a lethal dose of a sedative and an equine vet to administer the dose? The cost of transporting the carcass to be disposed of would be prohibitive. Would such a euthanasia program include county participation in horse sales to traders? How You Can Help! Bluebonnet has recently been contacted by law enforcement agencies in nearby Texas communities of an upcoming impound of abused and neglected horses. There are a total of at least 45 horses including stallions, mares, geldings, colts and fillies. Law enforcement has asked Bluebonnet to be prepared to care for horses in very bad condition. Bluebonnet is asking for your help either as a foster home, financial assistance, or getting the word out to your equine friends. You may contact Bluebonnet by phone, (888) 542-5163, or by e-mail, mailto:jenn@bluebonnetequine.org. or send a tax deductible donation to

Bluebonnet Equine Humane Society - Texas Branch
P.O. Box 632
College Station, TX 77841-0632

http://bluebonnetequine.org/