Bulletin E-Edition:
John Nelson, an office contractor with the Crook County Sheriff’s Office, feeds several rescued mares Wednesday in a corral at the Crook County Fairgrounds. The mares are part of a group seized March 28 from a Powell Butte ranch.
Pete Erickson / The Bulletin
Hay is for horses, but it costs
By Nicole Santa Cruz / The Bulletin
Published: April 17. 2009 4:00AM PSTEmber, a quarter horse, is colored like a burnt sienna crayon.
Instead of sporting a shiny healthy coat, Ember’s fur is matted, and he’s got some bald patches, which expose his light skin.
A white stripe treks down his face to the nose, and he’s so skinny his backbone protrudes.
Yet he’s better off than a month ago. When he arrived at Equine Outreach with three other horses, he was covered in lice.
The owner of the horses couldn’t afford to take care of them anymore, so they wound up at Equine Outreach, a horse rescue organization located near the Bend Municipal Airport.
Ember is one of many horses who are becoming too burdensome for owners to take care of due to the economic downturn, overbreeding and the high cost of hay, which is overwhelming local equine rescue organizations who fear they’ll run out of hay.
Homeless horses are also overwhelming the Crook County Sheriff’s Office, which recently seized 13 of 80 horses that were neglected on a Powell Butte Ranch, said Russ Wright, an operations commander with the Sheriff’s Office.
At Equine Outreach, owner Joan Steelhammer said she’s seeing more horses coming into her care who are “almost on death’s door.”
She said her staff of 60 volunteers isn’t shocked anymore when fragile, malnourished horses come to the ranch, which is currently home to 95 horses — well over her original set capacity of 35. More than half of those horses are from cases of abuse or neglect, or simply from owners who, for one reason or another, cannot care for the animals anymore.
Steelhammer, who has an anonymous phone line set up to report suspected cases of abuse or neglect, has gone to residences where people cannot care for horses anymore and taken the animals in. Recently she’s taken in 10 local horses, Ember being among the pack.
At Blissful Acres Rescue Reserve near Equine Outreach, Owner Ed Bartz said he’s also well over capacity. He’s currently housing 23 horses, five goats, five chickens, four rabbits, four dogs and three cats.
Bartz said he’s running out of hay. So is Steelhammer.
“I don’t know where I’m going to get the money — I just don’t,” Steelhammer said. “If you do the right thing, maybe it’ll just work.”
Bartz said he’s seeing more abandonment incidents popping up. He said either people can’t feed their horses due to finances or they simply don’t know how to take care of the majestic mammals. More people are not feeding their horses due to finances or ignorance, and sheriff’s officials are having to intervene.
But, Bartz said, horse seizures are complicated. And there’s no system to track them.
“It’s hard to do the seizures,” he said. “It’s expensive to prosecute.”
Bartz and Steelhammer said they’ve been fielding calls from people wanting to give up horses daily.
“Everybody is full,” Steelhammer said. “Everybody is over the top. Everybody is broken up against the wall.”
Crook County case
Thirteen of the 80 horses found on a Powell Butte ranch March 28 were the “worst of the worst,” Wright said.
The horses had injuries that had gone untreated, some were infested with body lice and others have issues with their teeth or feet.
Crook County has spent an unbudgeted $15,000 to care for the animals, many of which are suspected to come from pristine bloodlines.
“We believe there are some high bloodlines out here,” Wright said. “They haven’t been identified at this point.”
There are still 67 horses left out at the ranch, which Crook County is caring for with the help of Crook County Search and Rescue volunteers.
Crook County officials have contacted a Madras attorney who represents Robert Gruntz, the ranch owner, and have charged three people with varying counts of animal neglect in the first and second degree. Robert Albring Jr., 35, is charged with 11 counts of animal neglect in the second degree and one count of animal neglect in the first degree. On April 9, Christopher Hooks, 19, and Kyle Mann, 18, both employees of the ranch, were charged with 13 counts of animal neglect in the second degree and one count of animal neglect in the first degree.
“We don’t know what we’re going to do with them,” Wright said.
The unprecedented costs are too much for the county to deal with, especially in a time of suffocatingly tight budgets.
“Crook County can’t continue to be managing this ranch in the fashion that it needs to be managed,” Wright said.
Crook County also seized two horses a week ago in Prineville. The horses are at a private facility.
“We are receiving more horse complaints with regard to whether or not the animal is receiving proper care,” Wright said.
Deschutes, Jefferson spared so far
But Deschutes and Jefferson counties aren’t seeing any more horse seizures than usual, if any.
Lt. Gary Decker with the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office said he hasn’t seized a horse since January 2008. But the Sheriff’s Office is receiving more calls from residents concerned about horses they see on other people’s property, he said.
“Everyone has heard about the struggles,” he said.
Decker said the office is monitoring about two or three cases to make sure the owners maintain their horses’ health.
Scott Beckstead, the senior Oregon director for the Humane Society of the United States, said statewide, there’s a greater instance of people not being able to feed their horses. He’s also part of an organization called the Oregon Horse Welfare Council, which started late last year to help people care for and save horses.
The council also runs a hay bank for people that can’t afford it.
“This isn’t the first time this has happened,” he said. “Whenever there’s an economic downturn, animals tend to suffer.”
Beckstead said horses are also being overbred.
“I would say it’s a combination of the bad economy and years of overbreeding,” he said.
Many don’t realize that owning a horse is a big responsibility, said Bartz, with Blissful Acres. It’s a 20- to 30-year commitment.
Horses also cost an average of $85 a month for food and upkeep.
“The cute little pony turns into a money pit,” Bartz said.
Nicole Santa
Cruz
can be reached at 541-617-7818 or at nsantacruz@bendbulletin.com.
ARTICLE ACCESS: This article is among those available to all readers. Many more articles are available only to E-Edition members. Sign up today!
blog comments powered by Disqus
