On The Site
Home Slaughter Bills Reintroduced
Wild Horse Crisis Take Action Horse Slaughter Pamphlet Cenestin (synthetic Premarin) Premarin (PMU) Industry Carriage Horses PMU Mare Rescue Equine Abuse Rescue Stories Adopting Related Links Recommended Reading Dinner, Anyone? Organization History Donate
Equine Advocates, Inc. Material and images on this site are the property of Equine Advocates, Inc. Permission must be granted to reprint or reproduce - that includes on the Internet!
Promoting The Humane And Responsible Treatment of Horses
President's Message:
My background with horses, which included 14 years in the racing industry up to that point, had made me acutely aware of what could have happened to Gandalf if something wasn't done right away. A friend and I raised the money to buy him and we had him shipped to another friend's farm in Maryland.
Tragically, Gandalf passed away just a year before we established our horse sanctuary, Safe Home, in upstate New York. He was 35 years old and he is sorely missed, especially by me. He was my first horse and he completely changed my life by pointing me in the direction of dedicating myself to equine protection issues and founding a sanctuary that would become a model for the way horses should live. Gandalf continues to inspire me every day and motivates all of us at Equine Advocates to do everything we can to stop the slaughter and inhumane treatment of all equines.
Since our inception, Equine Advocates has been directly and indirectly responsible for the rescue and placement of hundreds of horses. The organization deals primarily with four main issues of importance:- Equine Rescue
- Horse Slaughter
- The PMU (Pregnant Mares' Urine) Industry
- The Prevention of Equine Abuse
These doomed Premarin foals at a Manitoba, Canada, stockyard are being fattened and stockpiled before being shipped to slaughter. We found out that the stockyard owner had served horse meat at his own wedding.
In 1996, Equine Advocates worked on and was featured in an undercover investigation for FOX NEWS in Washington, D.C. on the Premarin issue, which also exposed the horrors of slaughter auctions.
After visiting Premarin "farms" and stockyards in Canada in 1997, Equine Advocates published a 16-page booklet entitled, Premarin: Cycle of Cruelty. (Click here to read copy from the booklet.) An updated version is being planned. Equine Advocates is proud of the educational materials and literature we have published for public distribution. Our latest pamphlet, HORSE SLAUGHTER: AN AMERICAN DISGRACE, contains new and past data, some of which had never been exposed to the public before. (available online).In 1999, Equine Advocates concentrated primarily on large rescue operations, which were deemed as "emergency rescues" since they meant the difference between life and death for the animals involved. Three of these rescue missions saved a total of 29 horses. In February of 1999, we went to court to purchase, rescue and place 11 abused and neglected American Saddlebred horses (in New Jersey) embroiled in a bitter bankruptcy case. In May, Equine Advocates traveled to a remote part of Pennsylvania (near the Ohio border) to purchase and rescue thirteen horses being sold at a Pennsylvania slaughter auction.
One of the horses rescued that day has since become our mascot and "poster child" for our national campaign against horse slaughter. "Paula", a former Amish "buggy horse," was crippled and emaciated when we rescued her.
On June 28, 1999, we shipped Paula from her new home in PA to New York where she was operated on by famed equine surgeon Dr. William O. Reed. He and his talented surgical team successfully removed a bone chip from Paula's right front foot. (Dr. Reed is seen here performing risky joint surgery on Paula.)
The most "famous" and highly publicized rescue operation executed by Equine Advocates thus far took place in 1997. We went to court to purchase, rescue and place twenty-seven slaughter-bound camp horses from a bankrupt tourist attraction called the Ponderosa Fun Park in upstate New York. Media coverage of this story went on almost daily for over a month. Equine Advocates was able to raise the money and find homes for all twenty-seven horses. Through intensive networking with sanctuaries and volunteers, good homes were found in New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Canada. As a result of that successful rescue operation, Equine Advocates was honored with a special "Equine Protection Award" from the New York State Humane Association.
Paula TodayToday, this gallant standardbred is doing wonderfully. This recent photo, taken on New Year's Day 2000, shows Paula at her Pennsylvania home looking as beautiful and full of life as ever. Although she is still not completely sound, her prognosis is excellent, her weight is normal, and according to her caretaker, is improving steadily.
As far as the future is concerned, Equine Advocates has the following main objectives:
Volunteers lead horses from this ramshackle bankrupt tourist attraction to waiting trailers, taking the 27 camp horses to their new homes.
- To continue to rescue as many horses that need rescue and sanctuary,
- To continue to vigorously oppose and expose horse slaughter until the last plant closes,
- To continue to vigorously oppose and expose the use of horses to produce Premarin and any other medication made from pregnant mares' urine (PMU),
- To continue to participate in investigations to expose equine abuse, suffering, neglect, exploitation and slaughter,
- To set plans in motion to establish a rescue, recovery and rehabilitation center which would also include an adoption and education center & sanctuary.
President