Blonde Fever's "intake photo" this morning.
The broodmares deserve to be pensioned as much as the stallions do. But instead of that, in 2010, when she was 21 years old, Blonde Fever was auctioned by her breeders and racehorse owners of 15 years. At the time, she was swaybacked and pregnant (to one of their flashy stallions). Many of the mares sold at that dispersal sale ended up in bad hands, nearly shipped to slaughter -- and that's just the ones we've found. It's more than likely many more did make it across the Mexican border.
Yet....the breeder that "dispersed" Blonde Fever, Blonde Bounty, and Jessakar,(among others), continues to breed. We're thankful for the people at EA Ranches for providing Blonde Fever with a retirement, and we're thankful for Valerie's family for caring for Blonde Bounty and Linda's adoption of Jessakar. But....what about the original breeder's responsibility?
And what about any breeder's responsibility, for their aging stock? Just because a swaybacked mare can conceive, should she? And should she be sold in that condition, knowing full well this will likely be her last foal? Then what? Are we to believe everyone isn't aware slaughter won't be the outcome, when her new owners find their new purchase to be infertile?
Plenty of even self-perceived "ethical" breeders will "ship out" a mare who fails to produce "at least one good foal" on their property. So what was going to happen to Blonde Fever and Blonde Bounty but this?
Again, thankfully we were there to find both mares and rescue them in time. But it took insane amounts of detective work mixed with equal parts luck and timing.
But we ask, where is the care, concern, and accountability from the original breeder that dispersed these horses in the first place - and yet, continue to breed?
Blonde Fever, Blonde Bounty, and Jessakar were the lucky ones. Grandmother, daughter, granddaughter. I will never look at dam lines the same way again -- assuming quality bloodlines equals safety and retirement. Instead, I will only see generations sent to slaughter and forgotten, one by one. All the credit goes to the stallions. The mares, they are disposable.
Into the trash heap, Blonde Fever almost went, too.
The broodmares deserve to be pensioned as much as the stallions do. But instead of that, in 2010, when she was 21 years old, Blonde Fever was auctioned by her breeders and racehorse owners of 15 years. At the time, she was swaybacked and pregnant (to one of their flashy stallions). Many of the mares sold at that dispersal sale ended up in bad hands, nearly shipped to slaughter -- and that's just the ones we've found. It's more than likely many more did make it across the Mexican border.
Yet....the breeder that "dispersed" Blonde Fever, Blonde Bounty, and Jessakar,(among others), continues to breed. We're thankful for the people at EA Ranches for providing Blonde Fever with a retirement, and we're thankful for Valerie's family for caring for Blonde Bounty and Linda's adoption of Jessakar. But....what about the original breeder's responsibility?
And what about any breeder's responsibility, for their aging stock? Just because a swaybacked mare can conceive, should she? And should she be sold in that condition, knowing full well this will likely be her last foal? Then what? Are we to believe everyone isn't aware slaughter won't be the outcome, when her new owners find their new purchase to be infertile?
Plenty of even self-perceived "ethical" breeders will "ship out" a mare who fails to produce "at least one good foal" on their property. So what was going to happen to Blonde Fever and Blonde Bounty but this?
Again, thankfully we were there to find both mares and rescue them in time. But it took insane amounts of detective work mixed with equal parts luck and timing.
But we ask, where is the care, concern, and accountability from the original breeder that dispersed these horses in the first place - and yet, continue to breed?
Blonde Fever, Blonde Bounty, and Jessakar were the lucky ones. Grandmother, daughter, granddaughter. I will never look at dam lines the same way again -- assuming quality bloodlines equals safety and retirement. Instead, I will only see generations sent to slaughter and forgotten, one by one. All the credit goes to the stallions. The mares, they are disposable.
Into the trash heap, Blonde Fever almost went, too.
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