Local horsewoman spearheads horse rescue

It was the pictures of two Appaloosa horses waiting in a feedlot for shipment to a slaughterhouse that motivated Michelle Donaldson to rally fellow horsewomen to save as many horses as they could from the kill pen in Washington state, and with nine of 34 saved horses still looking for a home, the friends are holding an open house to help find adopters.

"I absolutely love Appaloosas, and I found on Facebook somebody shared a really sad state of affairs with a bunch of really young horses that had gotten sold for slaughter," Donaldson said, "and the first two horses that came up were Appaloosas and I just sort of went, 'No.'"

Donaldson, an orthopedic surgeon at Northern Montana Hospital who started competing in three-day eventing about a year ago, contacted the feedlot about buying the two horses and then got three other horse friends together to figure out what they could do to save as many horses at the feedlot as they could.

The four friends returned to Montana from an eventing competition in Spokane, Washington, at 1 a.m. Oct. 11, got a few hours of sleep and then caravanned their horse trailers back to Washington in the tri-cities area. They filled the trailers with horses they bought from the kill pen and drove them back to JMG Stables in Clinton, Donaldson said.

One of the foursome, Jeanie Gaudreau, a trainer and competitor and owner of the stable, had recently lost a beloved horse. In honor of that horse, she volunteered her facility to hold the horses, Donaldson said, as well as her time and expertise.

Another handful of horses were bought later, the JMG Stables website says, bringing the total to 34.

During six weeks of quarantine to ensure the horses hadn't picked up any diseases at the feedlot, the horses were vaccinated and dewormed, had their hooves trimmed and, if needed, were seen by a vet. They have also been assessed for their training level and aptitude.

"They've all been through the hard part," Donaldson said, adding that in a little more than two months from the start of this endeavor all but nine of the horses have gone on to homes of their own thanks to a wide network of friends and family in Montana's horse community.

The two Appaloosas, one a yearling and the other a 2-year-old, that inspired the rescue, found a home with Donaldson, who said she has the horses with a trainer in Livingston.

While the group would have liked to save all the horses, she added, they had to be practical with their limited personal resources, so they focused on buying horses that could be readily re-homed. The horses ranged in age from one year to about 10 years old, along with one teen-aged horse that was really well-broken.

"There wasn't a bad horse in the bunch," she said. "How the horses ended up in this sad situation - it just breaks your heart."

One of the horses had its mane braided and its hooves polished, so obviously, she said, the owner had intended a better end at the sale auction than for the horse to be sent to slaughter.

One paint horse they named Panda had a swollen leg when they went to pick up the horses, Donaldson said, and they were worried about buying him if he wasn't going to recover. The feedlot owner said the problem was just a hoof abscess, she said, but he would be put down if he was left there. The horse was so gentle despite his pain and rough handling, she added, they took the chance he would fully recover.

With some veterinary care, he did, and the approximately 6-year-old gelding is one of the remaining nine horses that will be shown off during an open house at JMG Stables Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

"We would love to find homes for the ones who don't have homes yet," Donaldson said, but barring that they hope to get some donations for feed for the horses that will be wintering at the stables.

The available horses, some of the success stories and contact information are posted online at facebook.com/jmgrescues and jmgrescuehorses.weebly.com.

The group is charging an adoption fee to cover at least some of the expenses of buying and caring for the horses, Donaldson said, but that price is negotiable for the right home, which is the group's priority.

"We are a ragtag crew," she said. "We have just done this sort of out of the goodness of our hearts."