Gifted Horses Sold to Slaughter
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NewsOk! Report(Video): http://www.newsok.tv/?titleID=1676369247
Tricky Jazz was a big beauty of a thoroughbred, Patti Deiter said. "His main problem — he was slow.”
So the Tuttle horse breeder and racing enthusiast found another home for the 3-year-old, the same place where several months earlier she had donated another horse — Boys Ranch Town, an Edmond residential boys home associated with Oklahoma Baptist Homes for Children. On June 20, Deiter's ranch hand dropped off Tricky at the boys home.
It was a move that would set Deiter on a desperate search to save the horse from what Robin Brookins calls the "slaughter pipeline abyss.”
Five days after delivering Tricky to the boys ranch, Deiter mentioned her donation to Brookins, vice president of the newly formed Oklahoma Thoroughbred Retirement Program. Brookins told Deiter that often organizations like the boys ranch sell donated horses, and the final stop for many turns out to be a slaughterhouse.
"You better check on him,” Brookins told her.
On June 30, Deiter had her ranch manager, Mike Graham, call the boys ranch to say Deiter had changed her mind, that she wanted the horse back.
Graham was told it was too late, Deiter said. The horse had been sold at an auction in Bristow three days after being left at the boys ranch.
"I was really upset,” Deiter said. "I said, ‘We have to find him.'”
Graham traced the horse to someone that Deiter said was a slaughter buyer located at a sale. The man agreed to sell Tricky to Graham for $500. Deiter paid a ranch hand $300 to pick up the horse, and the two met at a truck stop, where the slaughter buyer turned Tricky over. Deiter gave Tricky to a woman who has a 3,000-acre ranch in Barnsdall.
The incident made Deiter wonder about Rowdy Emblem, a 4-year-old thoroughbred that was the half-brother of Kentucky Derby winner War Emblem. In September, Deiter donated Rowdy, who had been injured during training, to the boys home. In June, Deiter said,
Graham called the boys ranch to check on Rowdy and was told "he went to a new home where they could handle him better.”
‘We were deceived'
After the experience with Tricky, Deiter called Tony Kennedy, president of the Oklahoma Baptist Homes for Children, to ask about Rowdy. Kennedy told her Rowdy had been sold one month after being donated.
"I feel like we were deceived and lied to,” Deiter said.
In an interview, Kennedy said he was "very, very sorry for the misunderstanding” and apologized for any inaccurate information that might have been provided about Rowdy's disposition.
He said the ranch has a form that clearly states that "when they give the horse, it no longer belongs to them.” The ranch can decide how to use the horses to benefit the ranch.
If a donated horse is better than one of the 12 to 15 horses the ranch has, it might be kept, he said. If it is dangerous around children or has other problems, it is sold.
"If it doesn't work out then we market that horse and the money we receive from the sale of the horse is used to support the horse program,” Kennedy said. Horse sales raise $20,000 to $40,000 a year to pay for feed, tack and other expenses at the ranch, he said.
"We do not sell to slaughter houses,” he said. "We sell to individuals, and we sell at public auctions.”...
Tricky Jazz was a big beauty of a thoroughbred, Patti Deiter said. "His main problem — he was slow.”
So the Tuttle horse breeder and racing enthusiast found another home for the 3-year-old, the same place where several months earlier she had donated another horse — Boys Ranch Town, an Edmond residential boys home associated with Oklahoma Baptist Homes for Children. On June 20, Deiter's ranch hand dropped off Tricky at the boys home.
It was a move that would set Deiter on a desperate search to save the horse from what Robin Brookins calls the "slaughter pipeline abyss.”
Five days after delivering Tricky to the boys ranch, Deiter mentioned her donation to Brookins, vice president of the newly formed Oklahoma Thoroughbred Retirement Program. Brookins told Deiter that often organizations like the boys ranch sell donated horses, and the final stop for many turns out to be a slaughterhouse.
"You better check on him,” Brookins told her.
On June 30, Deiter had her ranch manager, Mike Graham, call the boys ranch to say Deiter had changed her mind, that she wanted the horse back.
Graham was told it was too late, Deiter said. The horse had been sold at an auction in Bristow three days after being left at the boys ranch.
"I was really upset,” Deiter said. "I said, ‘We have to find him.'”
Graham traced the horse to someone that Deiter said was a slaughter buyer located at a sale. The man agreed to sell Tricky to Graham for $500. Deiter paid a ranch hand $300 to pick up the horse, and the two met at a truck stop, where the slaughter buyer turned Tricky over. Deiter gave Tricky to a woman who has a 3,000-acre ranch in Barnsdall.
The incident made Deiter wonder about Rowdy Emblem, a 4-year-old thoroughbred that was the half-brother of Kentucky Derby winner War Emblem. In September, Deiter donated Rowdy, who had been injured during training, to the boys home. In June, Deiter said,
Graham called the boys ranch to check on Rowdy and was told "he went to a new home where they could handle him better.”
‘We were deceived'
After the experience with Tricky, Deiter called Tony Kennedy, president of the Oklahoma Baptist Homes for Children, to ask about Rowdy. Kennedy told her Rowdy had been sold one month after being donated.
"I feel like we were deceived and lied to,” Deiter said.
In an interview, Kennedy said he was "very, very sorry for the misunderstanding” and apologized for any inaccurate information that might have been provided about Rowdy's disposition.
He said the ranch has a form that clearly states that "when they give the horse, it no longer belongs to them.” The ranch can decide how to use the horses to benefit the ranch.
If a donated horse is better than one of the 12 to 15 horses the ranch has, it might be kept, he said. If it is dangerous around children or has other problems, it is sold.
"If it doesn't work out then we market that horse and the money we receive from the sale of the horse is used to support the horse program,” Kennedy said. Horse sales raise $20,000 to $40,000 a year to pay for feed, tack and other expenses at the ranch, he said.
"We do not sell to slaughter houses,” he said. "We sell to individuals, and we sell at public auctions.”...
