Recent news about the seizure of over 70 horses from a Pilot Point horse breeder should serve as a wake-up call to everyone involved in the North Texas horse industry.
Times are tough.
With the ongoing drought and the relentlessly sagging economy – tragedies like this may increase.
Good, solid people might be forced into choices and situations they never expected to face.
Reach out to your neighbors. If we help each other we can get through the bad times and emerge even stronger.
Posted in Equine Welfare
FROM: America’s Horse, August 18, 2009 –
The mockingbird. The bluebonnet. Now the American Quarter Horse joins these two well-known Texas icons, becoming the official horse of the great state of Texas.
It’s an appropriate declaration, as Texas’ history is closely intertwined with that of the American Quarter Horse, beginning with Steel Dust, one of the forebears of the state’s more than 470,000 American Quarter Horses. In the early days, the horses were used to help settle the wild and wooly territory. Then, they were used by ranchers to round up livestock and move them to market, as well as for a little match racing on the weekends. The American Quarter Horse Association, the breed’s registry that was started in 1940 at a meeting of ranchers and horsemen at the Fort Worth Fat Stock Show, is headquartered in Amarillo in the Texas Panhandle. Today, the American Quarter Horse embodies the spirit of Texas and exemplifies the versatility of his ancestors.
Gov. Rick Perry will sign an official declaration making the American Quarter Horse the official horse of Texas at 4 p.m. August 20 at the Capitol in Austin, Texas. There will also be American Quarter Horses on the Capitol grounds for this historic occasion.
“This is a great way for the American Quarter Horse to be recognized,” said AQHA Executive Vice President Don Treadway Jr. “We need to give credit to the Texas Quarter Horse Association, Rep. Larry Phillips and 10-year-old Logan Head, who got the ball rolling on this by writing to Rep. Phillips with the idea of making the American Quarter Horse the state’s official horse.”
Logan Head is an American Quarter Horse Youth Association member from Bonham, Texas.
The signing of this declaration will follow the governor’s signing of House Bill 1881, which establishes the Texas Equine Incentive Program, creating a voluntary monetary incentive program to keep Quarter, Paint and Appaloosa horses breeding, showing or racing in Texas.
The incentive fund makes all American Quarter Horses, American Paint Horses and Appaloosas conceived by mares and stallions living in Texas during 2009 eligible to be nominated to the new Texas Equine Incentive Fund. HB 1881 was introduced into the Texas House by Rep. Sid Miller (R) of Erath in February 2009 and garnered broad support as a non-partisan bill that did not involve assessing taxes on Texas residents.
AQHA news and information is a service of AQHA publications. For more information on The American Quarter Horse Journal, The American Quarter Horse Racing Journal or America’s Horse, visit www.aqha.com/magazines.
The horses were extremely emaciated with their ribs and large joints prominently displayed. No apparent food or water was available for the horses. The stalls for the horses being housed in the barns had not been cleaned in quite some time and some of the horses were standing in 6 to 8 inches of urine and feces.
The Sheriff’s Office learned of the horses’ plight through a voice mail that was left by a caller on Wednesday. An animal control deputy investigated the location given by the caller the next day and then obtained an arrest and seizure warrant against the owner of the property, Gordon Dennis Key, on charges of Cruelty to a Livestock Animal, a Class A misdemeanor punishable by up to a year and jail and/or a fine not to exceed $4,000. The deputy then made arrangements with the Humane Society of North Texas to seize and transport the animals the next day.
On Friday morning sheriff’s deputies converged on the farm with trailers and seized the horses with the help of volunteers recruited by the Humane Society from Passion Horse and Habitat for Horses. The horses are being taken to the Pilot Point Sale Barn and a horse ranch in Argyle, where they will be evaluated and treated by a veterinarian. The horses will be held at those locations until a custody hearing, which has been set for 10:30 a.m. on August 26.
Please see the attached affidavit.
Tom Reedy
Public Information Officer
Denton County Sheriff’s Office
Posted in Equine Welfare
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