Susan Wagner leads Press Exclusive, a big-earner and broodmare who nearly died en route to slaughter, to her new home at Equine Advocates, site of a slaughter conference next month
Susan Wagner, president of Equine Advocates Rescue & Sanctuary, will host the powerful American Equine Summit next month in Chatham, N.Y., which is also home to a horse said to be the poster child of horse slaughter—Press Exclusive.
Veteran television journalist Jane Valez-Mitchell will keynote the 2014 American Equine Summit, which will feature presentations from some of the most prominent equine experts in the country, and include a videotaped message from Vice President Joseph Biden.
“I invited a group of experts to present new ideas for how to stop the slaughter of America’s equines, says Equine Advocates President Susan Wagner, who notes that guest speaker Victoria McCullough has vowed to cull information presented at the two-day conference to form a cogent case against horse slaughter, one she hopes will lead to a ban.
McCullough is an international equestrian, philanthropist and owner of Chesapeake Petroleum, who worked tirelessly in Washington to end horse slaughter, Wagner says.
This was Press Exclusive’s condition after the mare fell en route to slaughter, and was trampled by other scared horses. She was rescued and restored to health by Mindy Lovell of Transitions Thoroughbreds in Canada.
“She met with the Vice President, the Secretary of Agriculture and other members of the executive branch,” Wagner says. “The end result was the insertion of language to the 2014 Omnibus Bill by Vice President Biden to defund horse slaughter in the United States. President Obama signed it into law on January 17.”
Wagner, who agreed to give former race mare Press Exclusive permanent sanctuary after the big-earner nearly died en route to slaughter (please see related story here), is excited about the headway being made against slaughter.
Stating that she is more optimistic than ever that the end of equine slaughter is within reach, Wagner says this year’s summit will provide expert testimony from a wide range of experts, including horse advocates, veterinarians, and lawmakers.
Here is the list of speakers:
• Jane Velez Mitchell – Keynote Address
• The Honorable Joseph R. Biden, Vice President of the United States – Special Video Appearance
(In alphabetical order)
• Senator Joseph Abruzzo, Palm Beach County, FL (via video)
• Frank Biden, Former White House Legislative Director for the Clinton Administration, President of Mavericks Schools and brother of Vice President Joe Biden (via video)
• Debbie Coffey, Director of Wild Horse Affairs, Wild Horse Freedom Federation
• Vickery Eckhoff, Writer, Forbes Magazine
John Holland, president of Equine Welfare Alliance, will speak at the slaughter symposium.
• John Holland, President, Equine Welfare Alliance
• Ginger Kathrens, Executive Director, The Cloud Foundation
• Dr. Ray Kellosalmi, Retired physician and Board Member, The Canadian Horse Defence Coalition (sic)
• Dr. Kraig Kulikowski, Equine Sports Medicine, Saratoga Springs, NY and Wellington, FL
• Victoria McCullough, International equestrian, philanthropist and owner of Chesapeake Petroleum
• Allen Rutberg Ph.D., Director, The Tufts Center for Animals and Public Policy
• George Strawbridge, Jr., International horseman and owner, Augustin Stables
• Susan Wagner, President and Founder of Equine Advocates
Founded in 1996, Equine Advocates is a nonprofit equine protection organization based in Chatham, NY. Its mission is to rescue, protect and prevent the abuse of equines through education, investigation, rescue operations, the dissemination of information to the public and through the operation of a horse sanctuary for slaughter-bound, abused and neglected equines.
Equine Advocates is also home to former race mare Press Exclusive, who earned nearly half a million on the track before becoming a broodmare, and who nearly died en route to slaughter. Press fell down among other frightened horses on a truck headed to Canada and was trampled. She was rescued by Mindy Lovell of Ontario, restored to health, and now resides in Chatham.
For more information on the American Equine Summit please contact them at: equineadvocates.org or call 518-245- 1599.
Wonderful!! Susan Wagner is the most important speaker…. Press Exclusive the star with potent impact….
I’m so hopeful for the horses that there will be an end to their suffering and torture…. to being ‘disposable’ and shipped off to auction, sold as meat only to disappear forever at some slaughterhouse. I’m so hopeful that the horse racing sport will be reorganized to focus on the horse’s well being and that a tough set of health standards and rigid drug testing is initiated. That all horses must be sold with their registrations and health charts. I’m so hopeful.
The shipment of US horses to slaughter in Canada and Mexico needs to be addressed and stopped. If these people can’t get it done I don’t know who can. The US government needs to put an end to it.
This event is pivotal this year and those who are speaking are the very best voices in the movement. Mr. Strawbridge is also involved in WHOA and will be a great help in bridging the anti-slaughter and racing reform movements. So very grateful that this conference is being held again. I am hoping that some workable strategies can be formulated that will help our Canadian brethren achieve passage of their restructured anti-slaughter bill and also ways to quell the pipeline that sends our US horses to slaughter in Canada.
Everyone working together can make sure that slaughter in the US is permanently banned. The Omnibus bill is a very nicely applied band aid, but we need legislation that will actually heal the wound.
I hope that there is input too from the Canadian perspective as sadly, the end of horse slaughter in the United States does not mean the end of slaughter for American horses. This is an area that needs full discussion and disclosure. I am quite certain it will be on the agenda! Would love to attend.
Yes, Marilyn, I believe the exportation issue to Mexico and Canada is on the agenda.
I think I can say, with all certainty, that I am very grateful to have left the thoroughbred racing tracks & farms in Ocala after the birth of my second son, in 1977.
Although, at that time, we were aware that some “buzzers” were being used on smaller “bush” tracks, there was no sending horses to slaughter by the dozens in gratitude for everything they had given to the owners & or trainers. The saddest part of racing in those years, was the lack of capacity to save horses that would badly break a leg, as the very, very heartbreaking story of Ruffian which still hangs around in my soul as we all witnessed that tragedy.
I sadly realize more & more each day, that the greatest people of all, who give their souls for saving the animals, are getting swallowed up by the gigantic, heartless machine, of the almighty dollar…what an ugly, disturbing truth we need to keep on fighting!
This will be a groundbreaking event as Equine Advocates enters its third year of bringing together the very best, most eloquent, most active advocates on the anti-horse slaughter agenda. The speakers and guests from all over the country are among the most able, respected advisors on the health and well-being of horses. The Summits have already produced positive, startling progress. Good Luck on this next, major event. This gathering will surely continue to bring about even bigger change for the better.