Cool Checkers, front, and Nature’s Fancy were spotted at New Holland by CANTER Mid Atlantic’s Allie Conrad. She took their pictures, posted them to Facebook, and the horses were purchased by Foxie G Foundation from the meat buyer who had them. Photo by Allie Conrad
How two chestnut Thoroughbreds escaped certain death at a Canadian slaughterhouse after they were sold to a meat buyer Aug. 19 came down to a fluke, a photo, and a frenzy to save them.
The horses— 11-year-old gelding Cool Checkers and 10-year-old mare Nature’s Fancy— were run through the New Holland Auction and purchased by a meat buyer so fast that it was almost a miracle that Thoroughbred advocate Allie Conrad caught a look at them, and better than that, managed to take pictures including their lip tattoos, and put out an alert on Facebook page OTTB Connect.
“I hadn’t been to New Holland in 15 years, not since I bought my horse Phinny there, and started CANTER Mid Atlantic because of my experience,” Conrad says. “The reason I stopped by was that I wanted to see the impact we’ve had” with the widespread Thoroughbred re-homing efforts “because when I got Phinny all those years ago, there were about 40 percent Thoroughbreds at New Holland, racing fit, and wearing their racing plates.”
Cool Checkers
Sire: Rubiyat
Dam: Number One Cool
Foal date: Feb. 13, 2003
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Nature’s Fancy
Sire: Valiant Nature
Dam: Flemish Fancy
Foal date: April 22, 2004On this return visit, a fluke trip, she walked up and down the aisles and noticed the regal Thoroughbred heads of Cool Checkers and Nature’s Fancy, scared but noble, huddled together.
She approached the frightened horses, flipped their lips, took a picture of their tattoos, and posted it to Facebook. And though it seemed all hope was lost as Conrad snapped that final picture of Nature’s Fancy, who appeared terrified as she was paraded past auctioneers and finally sold, the photos caused an immediate outcry as it made its’ was through social media and beyond.
And to those it reached and touched, the response was overwhelming as they pulled out all stops to save the horses.
“People returned the information immediately!” Conrad says, explaining that as soon as she posted photos of their lip tattoos on Facebook, the horse’s names were found and also posted to Facebook.
Once the names were known, help came out of the woodwork.
Nature’s Fancy walks into the auction. Photo by Allie Conrad
Laurie Calhoun, cofounder of Thoroughbred charity Foxie G Foundation, which had actually re-homed the gelding Cool Checkers as a yearling for breeders Joan and Dale Everett, stepped into the fray immediately. Shocked to learn via a phone call from Maryland horseman Andi Puckett that the chestnut gelding, who had a nice home for 10 years, had been sold at New Holland, she hopped on the phone.
First she notified the Everetts, who urged her to “get the horse back at any cost,” she says. Next, she called a local dealer, who has done yeoman’s work tracking horses and obtaining them from kill buyers, for Foxie G.
“This local dealer has done incredible work for us. He made some calls for me, and at one point we had the incorrect hip number, but he eventually found Cool Checkers with the mare. He asked if we wanted her too and I said of course,” she says.
Hip Number 272 and 271 were worn by the two Thoroughbreds who were saved. The rest of the horses in this group, which were not Thoroughbreds, went to slaughter, according to Allie Conrad.
Calhoun adds, “It was really intense. At one point I tried to find out if the horses had shipped to Canada already” and she feared the worst. Then, when the local dealer found the horses alive, and shipped them to her at no profit to him, she let out a deep sigh of relief.
Both horses are now in quarantine at a Foxie G Foundation barn, where they will be assessed and cared for until a decision is made about their futures.
Foxie G recently enacted strict contractual guidelines prohibiting adopters from transferring ownership to anyone, Calhoun says, noting that Foxie G insists on taking back any horse who does not work out, no questions asked.
Calhoun adds that she is eternally grateful that Allie Conrad decided to drop by New Holland Auction that day. And Conrad, who has re-homed many ex-racehorse Thoroughbreds for CANTER Mid Atlantic says the experience of Foxie G and Cool Checkers shows that even the best re-homing situation can go wrong.
“This can happen to any of us,” Conrad says. —This story was originally published on Aug. 29, 2014.
Great story! It is SO important that rescues add a clause to their adoption contracts to include a high monetary consequence if a horse is sold or given away after being adopted. The fee can be any number under $5000 (to keep it in small claims court). In a case where that contract is broken- which is rare since it’s high enough to discourage breaking the contract in most cases, a judge can award that judgement in a simple hearing that’s only a few minutes long. That’s a judgement that no horse adopter wants on public record, not wants pulled from their bank account. Without a monetary consequence, adoption contracts are of very little value.
(While offering certified equine appraiser services in years past, I was sometimes retained to assist in writing iron clad contracts for sellers and rescues.)
Thank you for saving them! I have an OTTB that I got from a rescue in NC. She was bred by Dale and Joan Everette also. It sounds like they are trying to help when they can but this is not the first horse from their farm that ended up at an auction like that!
70% of the race horses born this year will be sent to slaughter. No one checks, no one cares or enforces any laws. Quarter horses the same. Many of these end up with the Amish who are BIG contributors to this auction.
The kill pens in Louisiana are not even showing the tattooed horses anymore. This needs addressed.
Of course the SAFE ACT could help a lot
There is a video on utube with a dealer in Louisiana explaining why they changed their policy with TBs. If the SAFE ACT is the thing prohibiting shipment of horses intended for slaughter? I hope someone has figured out what to do with 200,000 + horses next year. Banning U.S. slaughter only made it worse for the horses, so far. It would be great if everyone changed their system so all horses have permanent homes, but until they do, enacting these laws increases the horse’s suffering .
can we now start saving the chickens, cows, goats, sheep and pigs because they are livestock also!!!!!!!!!
So happy for these lucky two.
Does anyone know if TB’s are still being rejected by Bouvry and the other one, or did they ever stop?
I have been to NH. It is no place for any animal, especially horses. It will be a good day when it is shuttered forever.
I am just also sorry for the other horses with unlucky hip numbers and could not be saved. I would just hope to save them all from such a fate.
Well, I am confused. The date at the beginning of the story is 9/7/15 ??
It’s amazing how we can use technology to help in situations such as this!
Your so right Christine.
It sounds like a bunch of helpful people got together and did something good in a good way. Assuming this is from this year, not last year, I’d like to know how much the horses brought in the ring. Knowing the market allows for $$ to go much further in getting horses out of harm’s way.
I remember this story from last year and followed it closely. I’d love to see an update on them!
These are 2 lucky horses to of gotten out of there alive, thank you for finding them, saving them and caring. No horse should have to go through this hell .