09/21/2008
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Staff Photo by Joe Phelanfrom the Kennebec Journal
QUESTIONS REMAIN
No complaints from those who switched to Somerset County center
Vote on 1 may hurt some in election
Steeple at center of debate in Whitefield
VETERANS REQUIRE ASSISTANCE: Homelessness takes center stage
J.P. DEVINE: Overcome sadness with hope
BASKETBALL: NBA Hall of Famer Barry doles out advice at Thomas College
HIGH SCHOOL CROSS COUNTRY: Maranacook sophomore Mace dominates Class B field
All of today's:
News | Sports
from the Kennebec Journal
from the Morning Sentinel
A year later, families await answers on fatalities
Owner of topless coffee shop on the comeback trail
Officials report cheaper, better service after switch
Two people in critical condition
Young Marines stick to program
Issue of homeless veterans at center stage
GIRLS SOCCER STATE CHAMPIONSHIP: Winslow falls to York in Class B
Bard hits her marathon stride
All of today's:
News | Sports
from the Morning Sentinel
SIDNEY -- Herbie Love Bug stood patiently by his new adopted mother and waited his turn in the ring.
The 10-year-old snow-white miniature appaloosa was a rescued horse competing on Saturday in the first annual Maine Horse Rescue Alumni Benefit Horse Show.
The show featured equine "alumni" that have graduated from horse rescues and shelters.
Sponsored by the Spirit of Hope Farm Equine Shelter & Rescue in Winterport and Open Gates Equine Rescue in New Gloucester, the event took place at the Silver Spur Riding Club on the West River Road in Sidney.
Rose Stansfield, 43, of New Gloucester, a volunteer at the Open Gates Equine Rescue, said she has been working with Herbie for two years.
Stansfield said it was their first time as a team when they competed in the show ring. They were entered in four classes -- showmanship, halter, miniature horse and costume.
"When he came to the rescue, I volunteered. He was starving and never handled ... he was completely out of control," Stansfield said before they walked into the ring. "But I fell in love with him."
The show was open to all horses, but also had jackpot-payout classes limited to horses that have been adopted from approved shelters or rescues.
In addition, there was a Parade of Hope in which shelters and rescues exhibited horses they currently have available for adoption.
Deb Hutchins, who operates Open Gates, said people think all rescued horses are old or lame or have behavioral problems, which isn't true.
"A lot of people don't think they're worth anything and this horse show can show them that they still have life and can still be shown and ridden."
Hutchins said it costs about $45,000 to feed and care for the 15 rescue horses at her certified shelter. And, with the economy, hay has jumped from $3 a bale to $5.
Jen Winchester, who operates Spirit of Hope Farm Equine Shelter & Rescue, said costs have gone through the roof.
"Horse rescuers are calling it the perfect storm," Winchester said. "The breeding hasn't stopped, so you still have this glut of horses. It costs between $3,000 and $4,000 a year to keep a horse. If you have to choose to fill your oil tank or feed your horse, the horse isn't going to fare very well."
She said many of the rescued horses were once career racers and former show horses that had outlived their usefulness. Rescued horses are perfectly nice horses, she said.
"They've just met unfortunate circumstances," she said. "So this show will show them compete side by side with regular horses. We're hoping to make this an annual event."
At 10:30 a.m. Saturday, 17 people had signed up to compete with their horses in the different classes, and more were expected.
Winchester said there were 35 rescues in the state.
Pauline and Richard Knowles, of Searsport, brought along Bell, a mare they adopted when she was pregnant, and her daughter, four-year-old Rain.
The Knowleses went all the way to Alberta, Canada to adopt the 19-year-old quarter horse and Belgian cross.
Bell was on her way to being slaughtered because she wasn't producing, Pauline Knowles said.
"She was on a breeding farm where they keep the horses pregnant all the time to produce premarin," she said. "She's just a wonderful horse and we didn't want to see her go to slaughter. People from all over the country go up to Canada to rescue these horses."
Hutchins said premarin is prescribed by doctors to treat the symptoms of menopause. Premarin is extracted from the urine of pregnant mares.
Because so much of the drug is prescribed, she said its production requires the operation of around 700 farms in which around 80,000 horses live their entire lives penned in tiny stalls, deprived of water so the urine can be more concentrated, repeatedly impregnated and continuously connected to plumbing to collect the urine.
"Sixty thousand babies a year get sent to the slaughterhouses," Hutchins said. "They're looked at as a by-product of the premarin industry."
Mechele Cooper -- 623-3811,
Ext. 408
mcooper@centralmaine.com
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