Neighbors.. :( EPM tv, = nightmare

[farrier!]

Our sweet old mare has been fighting EPM for a number of years. Last Sunday we had to have the veterinarian come and put her down. Thanks to the winter weather the rendering truck just left. Unluckily the neighbor who is still mad we will not sell our 2 acres to, called the TV station and said we have dead foals and starving horses.
We have 2 rescues who our still thin and 11 other horses who are fine in weight.

So instead of taking on thin horses I guess we need to just shot them.

Edited because I type as upset as I am at the moment and am rambling too....

 

[WriterofWords]

Hopefully you have the chance to defend yourself publicly too!

 

[1stepcloser]

OMG. I hope you sent the TV reporter RIGHT back to the crackpot neighbor?!

 

[farrier!]

No matter what I said they turned into being a "terrible person starving horses".
We get our hay from a guy who has the room to store it 75 bales at a time. This makes us terrible horse owners because I only have 5 days left of hay.

 

[flakey chick]

I am almost guilty of calling animal control on someone like you- but NOT the news. When you see such horribly starved horses, there is a strong compulsion to do something. Luckily I remembered the other well-cared for horses I had seen on this track of land and realized these were recent rescue additions. Good luck to you and your rescues.

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

It is hard enough when you decide it is time to let them go..............I know, we have an appointment tomorrow to have our oldest put down, this winter is just proving too hard for him and best to do it before it is an emergency - we are lucky and can bury here.

To have to deal with uncaring people is really difficult.

 

[19hhbelgian]

I understand your frustration. We have always done rescue work with horses, and people should ask questions if they don't understand something. Obviously this was just malicious behavior on the neighbors part, but the TV station should have been impartial. You could sue them for defamation of your character, especially if they made it look like you're the bad guy. I can't believe they would take that chance, and still report misleading information

I always worry when we get in a skinny horse, but we have done everything we can to spread the word that they are RESCUES from the auction/meat truck. People around here gossip... A LOT, so it has worked, but we still had a lot of trouble with an old man harassing us threatening to call the humane society blah blah blah. I finally went off on him when he stopped right after we had just pulled a still born foal out of our rescue pony - Saved her life, but unfortunately baby was just too big (he was a horse sized foal in a 12.2 pony

). After I gave him a severe piece of my mind, he has not stopped since, & he actually WAVES to us when we're out!!

I hope you're able to get this mess your neighbor has created settled, and your life back to normal

 

[Skyesrocket]

I'm so sorry for the loss of your horse. And sorry about what is happening with the neighbor. I'm surprised the news crew would show up and start reporting on a story without a humane officer or sheriff involved. They just took your neighbors word about neglect and showed up on your property? I would have bounched them out on their ears.
I would call the sheriff or a lawyer and have that looked into.
I understand about having rescue horses that aren't back to good health yet and how that can create problems with people more interested in causing trouble than finding out the real story. I always worry a little about having them out where people can see them. But, if I get them from auction I keep the dated receipt and take a picture of them the day they get here. I had a very skinny one here this spring. By late summer he was back in good shape. It's much harder to rehab them in bad weather.
You might want to invite a local paper out to tell the real story.
Good Luck!

 

[Sir Birdaholic]

Maybe post a sign, "RESCUE HORSES ON PROPERTY" May save more headaches?

 

[redhen]

Did they actually fiml and make a story out of this? OMG..i'd sue the crap out of them!