Saving Horses, More Than One Rescue at a Time

Saving Horses, More Than One Rescue at a Time

Vicki Bendure and friends.

A sad scene in a kill pen.

By Leonard Shapiro

The name of the racehorse is not especially relevant, but what happened to one Thoroughbred that had a decent career on the track speaks volumes about the ultimate fate of so many horses that have their lives ended in what are known as the “kill pen.”

When the horse retired from racing, the family of a young girl infatuated with riding purchased and re-trained it as a show horse. The girl and her mount competed for several years, but there was not much riding as she and the horse got older. The family eventually took it to a nearby horse auction, hoping someone else might get that same enjoyment.

Unbeknownst to them, it was purchased by a kill buyer and seemingly destined for a slaughterhouse in Mexico or Canada. Fortunately, because the horse had a tattoo on its upper lip from its racetrack days, it was eventually rescued and put out to pasture, a rare happy ending.

Vicki Bendure, a long-time local resident and horse lover as well as the owner of her widely-respected Middleburgbased public relations firm, recently related that story. She’s passionate speaking on those odious kill pens and volunteers with several organizations involved in horse rescue, raising funds and trying to increase public awareness of the sad fate of far too many horses.

“I wish I could win the lottery. I’d save them all if I could.”

Some 80,000 to 100,000 horses a year are estimated to be killed in this manner, and, said Bendure, “I wish I could win the lottery. I’d save them all if I could.”

But she can’t. Instead, she works with a Tryon, North Carolina-based rescue called Helping Equines Regain Dignity (HERD). The non-profit, founded by Heather Freeman and her husband Scott Homstead in 2016, relies on donations and grants to save horses, restore their health, and start a new life.

HERD has rescued hundreds bought at auction to be sent to slaughter. Many are re-trained and go on to the show circuit or are re-purposed as pleasure and trail horses.

Bendure said many horses purchased by kill buyers eager to make larger profits end up listed for sale on Facebook. For example, they may have paid $500 for the horse at auction, then put it on Facebook for $1,200, with a message that unless the horse is purchased, it will be shipped, maybe the next day, to a slaughterhouse.

It’s truly a form of extortion and, said Bendure, “It happens all the time…It’s totally legitimate for anyone to buy a horse at auction, and a lot of these auctions don’t even know there are kill buyers bidding on them…So much of the public doesn’t know about them either.”

Bendure pointed out that most of the horses she and HERD rescue are purchased at slaughter prices, meaning they’re not paying exorbitant increased fees.

“We don’t want to prop up the kill pen industry,” she said. “At the same time, it’s tough to watch a great, viable horse go to slaughter because it was marked up a few hundred dollars.”

Two kill pens call HERD when they have viable horses and they’ll sell them for the slaughter price. Mares and foals are particularly susceptible; foals must be over six months to ship so kill pens will ship the mare and let the foal die. Pregnant mares also are readily shipped, but some kill pens will hold them back to see if they can find them a home.

“Between the auction and the slaughterhouse, these animals experience unbelievable cruelty,” Bendure added. “Many die horrible deaths before they get to slaughter. It’s all heartbreaking.”

Some relief might come from pending legislation in Congress called the Safeguard American Food Exports (SAFE) Act. It reportedly has bipartisan support and would prohibit horse slaughter in the U.S. for human consumption, as well as the export of live horses for the same purpose.

Bendure has been a horse lover and owner most of her life. She grew up in New Jersey and Maryland and at age eight, she said, “I used to beg my parents to let me take riding lessons.” She still remembers her first working experience around the barn, cleaning tack and mucking out stalls. “It was the best day of my life,” she said.

Now, she works tirelessly to make certain as many horses as possible continue their own lives in a safe, healthy environment, far from those kill pens.

And a winning lottery ticket would be nice, as well.