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Saturday, June 21, 2008

Excessive Horse

posted by on June 21 at 12:05 PM

Posted by news intern Chris Kissel

A month ago, John and Jenny Edwards, contributers to Charles Mudede’s horse-sex anti-documentary “Zoo” and the “horse rescuers” in charge of a non profit called Hope for Horses, sent Charles a frantic e-mail. They said an incident that occurred down in Pierce County was starting to seriously interfere with their ability to take care of neglected horses. In fact, John said he “expect(ed) long trenches filled with dead horses by the end of the summer.”

It all started back in January when officials investigated frequent complaints from neighbors in rural Pierce County regarding 15 horses in a nearby pasture. The woman who owned the pasture was apparently was buying up horses in order to breed them, then neglecting them to stumble around underfed and injured in her yard, the Edwardses say.

Here’s video taken of the injured horses by concerned neighbors (you might want to put down that hot dog).

A veterinarian, among others, showed up at the pasture on December 31 to see what was going on with the horses. Because Hope for Horses, which usually adopts horses in these situations, was dealing with another emergency, the vet recommended that the two injured horses be given to one of the neighbors. Later, Hope for Horses, working with Pierce County, came in for the rest of the horses. When the county demanded that all horses be returned to HFH, the problems began, the Edwardses say.

The neighbor who claimed the first two horses had become attached to them and didn’t want to give them back. She eventually got to keep them, despite the fact that her case for keeping them, according to the Edwardses, had no legal grounding. Additionally, the fallout from the disagreement, including this article, caused the horse rescuers to lose many of their donations and has given them something of a bad reputation in the area.

The furor may have died down somewhat, but John Edwards is still livid. “We’re just here trying to do the county a favor,” he said. “If they don’t want us to do it, that’s fine.” Meanwhile, Jenny said Donna Gale, the woman who owned the pasture filled with the neglected horses, is now facing charges of drug trafficking in Pierce County. The neighbor couldn’t be reached for comment.

You can pick up your hot dog now.

RSS icon Comments

1

Thanks god here we're not stupid, corrupt and backward -- like all those rubes in West Virginia. HA!

Posted by PC | June 21, 2008 1:41 PM
2

#1, bitter much?

Posted by w7ngman | June 21, 2008 2:08 PM
3

Chris, you probably know this blog post is not exactly good writing. After reading it 3 times I'm still not sure who did what and who said what about whom. Who the fuck is Jenny? Who is the neighbor? Bah. I give up. I hope the P-I covers this.

Parentheses bad. Sticking videos in the middle Tarnatino-flashback style is bad. Filling in backstory in the process of trying to tell what happened? Bad.

If you're just experimenting today, or getting drunk in Fremont today, that's cool. Carry on.

Posted by elenchos | June 21, 2008 3:09 PM
4

Agreed w/Elenchos, whose comment saved me from a 3rd reading. Mud track.

Posted by RonK, Seattle | June 21, 2008 3:53 PM
5

I actually had to read it twice before it made sense, and then I watched the video. I didn't see much deformity in the first horse, but the long, extended horse-penis shots were a bit much. Couldn't we have had a quick peek and then a freeze-frame, if necessary? The long, loving horse-penis shots weren't necessary to make the point.

Posted by Buffalo Bill | June 21, 2008 5:13 PM
6

"A month ago, John and Jenny Edwards, contributers [sic] to Charles Mudede’s horse-sex anti-documentary “Zoo” and the “horse rescuers” in charge of a non profit called Hope for Horses, sent Charles a frantic e-mail."

I agree with all the other complaints on this post. Also, why would these folks contact Charles and (further) associate their group with "Zoo"? Ok, they get some publicity here, but probably not the kind they need...

Posted by J. Whorfin | June 21, 2008 7:44 PM
7

So, I think what happened is that one charitable group was angry that another charitable group didn't want to cede care of the horses to the one charitable group.

Neither of whom had any "legal" right to the horses, and were simply attempting to do charitable deeds.

Fortunately, there is a system for resolving such disagreements. What does Judge Judy have to say about it?

(And, yeah, make the writing be less bad next time, plskthxbye.)

Posted by Lee Gibson | June 22, 2008 1:14 PM
8

The reason Jenny Edwards & Hope for Horses is in trouble is because they were not in complicance with the State of Washington as a non-profit organization- and they sure don't tell you how they work: They "rescue" horses. The county pays them to take care of the horses. The minute Jenny has the horses she puts pictures of the worst ones on her website and collects donations. Then when the horses are legally released, she sells them and keeps the cash. Tripple dipping. Taxpayers just got wise and started asking questions. Check it out yourself.

Posted by Mattie | June 22, 2008 3:35 PM
9

Oh Please, Do you have any idea how much horses cost to take care of. Dog shelters get paid almost the same for taking in a 50 pound dog. Hope for horses got $10/day/horse till early April since then nothing. One horse out of 13 has been adopted. Who should pay to rehabilitate sick, starving horse, well now nobody does - All the rescues are full, the county is broke, the whiny citizens of Pierce County have their way. Next time a bunch of people complain about horses in terrible conditions the country will be forced to take them to the livestock auction (as the law allows) where they will be sold, trucked to Canada and sliced up for foreign dinner tables. Good job.

Posted by Foster | June 23, 2008 7:33 AM
10

Oh Yes Here is a blog with the details of the story

http://www.randomhorse.blogspot.com/

Posted by Foster | June 23, 2008 10:25 AM

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