Sunday, July 28, 2013

A Tale of Two Alydar Descendants, Part One: The $25 Stallion Rescued from New Holland

All right, I'm back on my AC4h/AC$h soapbox today, this time about two different OTTBs, one that was bought directly from the notorious New Holland auction, and the other that was bailed from Brian Moore's broker lot by The Exceller Fund.

I just came across an article this weekend that resoundingly bolsters my contention (and that of many of my friends who are in the know) that the best way to rescue a horse in danger of going to slaughter is by going to the auction and bidding against the kill buyers instead of lining Christy Sheidy's pockets with your hard-earned $$$.

Tomtomjim, a ten-year-old OTTB stallion, was rescued by a lady at  New Holland last Thanksgiving for just $25. YES, you read that right! TWENTY-FIVE dollars for an off-track TB stallion, and one that turned out to be a great horse under saddle right from the get-go. This grandson of Mr. Prospector also has the great Seattle Slew as his maternal great grandsire, while Alydar is his great-great grandsire, also on the maternal side. Here is the full story on this beautiful horse:  


http://offtrackthoroughbreds.com/2013/07/19/25-new-holland-stallion-granted-new-life/

Just think how many horses you could save with just, say, $100-250 in your pocket directly from New Holland or any other horse auction (Sugar Creek and Shipshewana, for example). That is a lot of horses that could be given a new lease on life, and more often than not, they're in far better shape than the sorry-looking animals passing through Christy Sheidy's filthy clutches.

Remember, she does NOT spend any of that money on even the most basic care for the broker horses--no vet care, no hay or feed. She claimed $27,000 in expenses for vet care on her 2010 IRS return, yet people got horses that were deathly ill, lame and severely emaciated--animals they ransomed for several hundred dollars. Many of those had to be euthanized because they were too far gone to save upon arrival.

That's mucho moolah down the drain--money that will NEVER be recovered, since it is virtually unheard of for Christy to issue refunds if something goes awry with the adoption. You've already lost the infamous $80 "vetting fee" from the get-go. The vast majority of people never get the health certificate and Coggins they paid for, so why would it be any different if you bailed a horse through Another Chance 4 Hucksterism yourself?


That $80 alone could have saved at least ONE horse directly, and maybe two, from New Holland. Think about that! More food for thought about that vetting fee: the actual cost of a health certificate and Coggins, respectively, is just $20 through NH. Soo, what is the extra $40 for, and where does it go? I would bet you the money is an "administrative fee" that goes straight into Christy's very deep pockets.

All right. I'm stepping down from my soapbox for the time being, but there's more to come. I ain't done yet! 


Stay tuned for Part 2 about Double Platinum, the 18-year-old OTTB gelding that was ransomed from AC4h by The Exceller Fund, with assistance from the ASPCA........

Sunday, July 7, 2013

How High is the Body Count Now? Another Chance 4 Horror Strikes Again

In my next to last post, "Are There No Limits to Christy's Cruelty?" I told you all about a black mare in the broker lot that was being forced to 'perform' under rider for AC4h's much-vaunted "evaluation" video with a horrific injury to her right hind foot that was clearly causing her excruciating pain. What's more, this poor animal was heavy with foal.

Viewers watching it were told that 2-27-14-980, as she was known then, "moved sound has a motor lots of energy likes to go and will stand still but but when she does she will dance or lift up one of her front legs to show her impatience". Excuse me while I reach for the barf bag, but all of what dear Christy said is a description of a horse that is in agony and clearly not wanting to be ridden.

I posted a close up photo of that hind foot which is (pardon the pun; this is anything but funny) extremely painful to look at; it looked as though a hole had been punched into the upper part of her hoof just below the pastern and it was caked with mud, manure and debris-- a perfect breeding ground for a massive infection to take root and invade her system and endanger not only her life, but also that of her unborn foal. Christy, bless her dear heart, explained the injury away as nothing more serious than a "wire cut". Excuse me again while I make a beeline for the bathroom; she has that effect on me every single time I read such flippant remarks from her or one of her equally morally corrupt and callous associates.

I'm going to point out that for 2010, AC4h reported $27,000 in vet expenses on its 990 return to the IRS. "Vet expenses", I'm sorry to say, is a total joke. In the 3+ years that I've been warring with Christy and her compadres, I have never heard of her calling out a vet to treat any of the broker horses that needed it and she has always passed the poor animal and its issues, as well as the accompanying expenses, on to its unsuspecting new owner. It's her way of giving her generous adopters and donors the finger while laughing all the way to the bank and it, unfortunately,  has happened many, many times.

The pregnant mare, now named "Pearl" in the meantime, was bailed and sent to Lily Pond Foal Rescue in Maryland to be quarantined and treated for her injury while awaiting the birth of her foal. She did have surgery on her foot according to LPFR, but needed another one after foaling. Here's a photo of that foot at the time of her pickup to go to QT. Warning: this is a graphic injury and not for the weak or faint of heart.

Pearl's foot at time of pick up for  QT


She foaled a TWH cross colt in April, "Dandy" who was born healthy. Unfortunately, it was ultimately determined that her foot could not be saved. Lily Pond posted on their Facebook wall on June 26th that she had to be euthanized the day before because "The foot was worsening -- smelled of rot, she was dragging it and it had maggots in it. The vets determined her foot was not fixable."


AGAIN, it's all because of Christy's callous refusal to spend any of her ill-gotten gains to treat injuries  and illnesses that are clearly in dire need of immediate and intensive veterinary care. God only knows just how long Pearl languished in the broker lot before she was bailed and sent to LPFR. Under such circumstances, any length of time, even just one day, spent lingering in the broker lot is way too long.

This is totally unconscionable for a 501c3 organization that has the audacity to call itself a "rescue", which it most certainly is not. Reputable rescues like Brenda Lewis's ACE Rescue and Jo Deibel's Angel Acres Horse Haven have and will always go all out to get their horses in need taken care of when they need it, and in a timely fashion too. Vet and farrier care, quarantine, rehabilitation, training on the ground and under saddle--the whole nine yards and then some before the animal is ever deemed ready for adoption. 

Jo and Brenda are just a few of the truly caring horse lovers I am proud to call my friends,  who lay it all on the line and sacrifice their money (much of it out of pocket), time (they rarely ever take vacations--yet Christy takes her family on trips to Disney World and buys expensive computer equipment and cellphones for herself and the girls) and sweat and tears to make life better for their animals, who, if it were not for them, would be starving silently in a lonely dry lot or crammed into a trailer with others without food or water on a horrendous journey to one of the slaughterhouses in Canada or Mexico. Now that is real rescue for you!

In the meantime, Christy & Co. continues to brazenly carry on business as usual on Facebook and elsewhere while scores of sick, lame, injured and elderly horses languish in the broker lot without adequate care. She even has the audacity to party it up with her fellow scammer Lorraine Smith (Sundew Saves, another shady rescue cozying up with a kill buyer just as Christy cozies up with her kill buyer buddy, Brian Moore) and others. No doubt she is celebrating having netted and cleaned yet another dozen or more 'fish'!


So, just how high is the total body count when it comes to AC4h? Your guess is as good as mine, but there have been many horses that lost their lives because of Christy's cruelty and the number just continues to climb.

  • Pearl, the black TWH mare
  • Party Boy
  • Faith the grulla mare with extremely severe laminitis
  • Possibly Hero, the little gray ex-Amish gelding with a bad hind leg who disappeared completely from the broker lot following an uproar over his condition and lack of treatment
  • the 30+-year-old mare represented by Christy as being much younger, that died of a stroke just days after Joe Renner hauled her out of the broker lot
  • Two pregnant mares and their foals, plus a third foal whose dam survived thanks to immediate veterinary intervention, that all had been bailed by Rosemary Farms;
  • The mare that had been bailed by a former AC4h supporter, only to go down in the trailer and ending up being euthanized at Days' End Rescue
These are just a handful but I know there are many more sad and unfortunate cases of horses losing their lives no thanks to the lack of care while in Christy's filthy, money-grubbing clutches. As many of you are aware, she is currently under investigation by the Feds following an April 30 raid by the FBI. Without a doubt, many more stories such as these will surface during her trial in federal court.

Stay tuned.