Updates…..

Apologies for the belated updating of the site, but it has been a rather busy and eventful period.

We have had some success in re-homing and adopting out of the first batch of horses and to date only have 5 remaining in foster that are still available for adoption. They have all come on beautifully, especially those that have ended up in their forever homes (pictures will follow in due course).

We have had a number of meetings of the HWC (Horse Welfare Committee) and progress is being made on all fronts, but there is still much work to be done going forward.

At the last meeting OBP advised that the next batch of horses were about to be released for adoption. All the stallions will be gelded in January of the new year prior to being made available. Once we have collated the specifics of all the horses that will be available for adoption (30 horses in total) we will be posting these along with the further updates.

We are currently working on an updated format for public access to the information related to the horses (pictures, ages, demeanour, vaccinations etc), but as we all know these sorts of things take time and money to set-up. Luckily we have a number of kind-hearted individuals who are working as and when on a database solution for us and it is taking shape quite nicely.

Once completed we will launch from here and all information pertaining to the horses in terms of those available for adoption or foster, information on the progress of those who have already found their forever homes etc will be readily accessible.

Should you require any information in the interim on how you can help or just for more information, please feel free to drop us a line on our (almost completed new) website Animal Rescue Coalition

Kind regards,

Craig

ARC

New Additions and Updates

Firstly, we need to welcome 3 new little lives into the world. There had
been no indication that any of the mares were pregnant. But they had been
very thin when they first arrived and have gone through many changes in
their foster homes. But still they had not shown teats, gotten excessively
big and had had normal seasons. Despite it all, mums ensured that their
precious little bundles made it safely into the world. We see miracles every
day

208 – Colt born from one of our OBP Rescue Mares!

An unexpected surprise but a beautiful blessing and such a sweet, gentle
loving little boy who loves to cuddle, eat as often as mummy will permit,
stand in between his mums back legs enjoying the shade, lie soaking up the
sun and sleep on the soft summer grass. He is 5 days old in this photo 🙂
Born Wednesday 11th of November 2009. Isn’t he just gorgeous!

129 – Filly born from one of our OBP Rescue Mares!

And then . . . Surprise number 2 🙂 A sprightly little filly born on
Thursday 12th of November 2009. She has 4 white socks and has so much
energy. Her poor mum spends the whole time running after her nickering
frantically trying to keep her daughter in line hehe. A precious, curious,
amazing little girl who at only 1 day old was so full of life and spirit.
Mummy is very protective and won’t let anyone get to close to her beautiful
daughter.

Surprise Number 3

Another little colt born a few days before Christmas. We don’t have a photo
of him unfortunately but he is tall and chestnut just like his mum and very
beautiful.

The rest of the horses are doing amazingly well and going from strength to
strength. Some have been backed and are showing lovely potential. A few are
still too young but are really blossoming with their in hand work. There are
of course still a few who are special cases and will need a little bit of
extra work and a little bit more love and TLC than the others.

Our priority right now is to move the remaining horses from foster into
permanent homes. We have some that we VERY urgently need to move from their
current foster home to a new foster home or to their permanent home. They
are  numbers 5, 10, 11, 12 and 13 in the attached list. All in the blue
sections. The horse listed as item number 13 is a special needs horse. She
is still very nervous although has changed a lot and has come on very nicely
but will need someone with allot of patience, kindness and time to help her
through. She has obviously suffered much trauma in her 5 short years.

Secondly, our biggest problem is funds. Whilst it is the hardest thing to
have to come forward and ask, we are in dire financial straits. With the
rehab, the unexpected babies, etc we owe a fair amount of money to people who
have helped us without being paid and we need to pay them back and we still
need to be able to raise enough to be able to box the horses when the time
comes to move them to their new homes. We know times are really tough and
everybody is struggling but anything that people can offer will help us to
cover our outstanding bills and help the horses on the last few steps of
their journey.

The bank account details for the OBP Horses are as follows:-

Bank: Nedbank

Type of Account: Current Account

Account Number: 1522 168 028

Branch: Epsom Downs 152205

Reference: OBP HORSES

Last but not least, we have had many well meaning people approach us who
have wanted to adopt these horses but it’s really important that people take
into consideration the fact that these horses are mostly un-backed, green,
have come from a difficult background and will in some instances need longer
than the average horse to settle. They may always be a little more
excitable, nervous and highly strung. This is of course only an assumption
but because they are so young and only now receiving the very first handling
and schooling, they are not suitable for children at present. All of the
people who have contacted us bar a few have been people who live on a plot
or small holding who want to adopt a horse for their child and we have had
to turn them away for both the safety of their child as well as the safety
of the horse. Until the horses have been backed, had correct schooling and a
few years under saddle, we cannot know how they will react or what type of
horses they will be. They are all showing signs of being good natured, kind,
fun horses but for now, please understand that we need more experienced
horse people to assist with this process.

This project has been such an incredible journey. It has not been only the
horses that have benefited. We needed them too. Each one of the horses has
touched us, healed us and inspired us. They have demonstrated forgiveness,
acceptance, love of life, hope, courage, peace, strength and beauty.

Our sincere and heartfelt thanks to you. These horses went from having no
hope to now having a chance at a life of fun and love because of people such
as yourself who are helping us to give them that opportunity. There are no
words that can really convey our gratitude nor how much this means but
please know that you have literally helped us to save lives and that gift is
priceless.

Good News! Release Of OBP Horses

Finally! The really good news!

After many months of hardwork and unfortunate delays we have finally reached the milestone of having the horses released from OBP.

To date the 13 stallions have been moved to HHCU who are assisting with the gelding of these and will be taking care of the pre- and post- operation aspects. The horses for good reason have been a little difficult to work with initially rearing and lashing out, but over the past few days 6 are already stabled, and will be gelded in the next few weeks, and they are having success at getting the horses to start trusting humans once again.

All the mares and filly’s too have been put into foster care and are coming along very well. A large majority of them are starting to allow touching and are already eating out of hand. There is still a long hard road to follow in the rehabilitation of these horses, but they are now in safe and loving environments where they will now start their journey of being a horse again.

There are a few people we would like to thank for the assistance:

• Patrick Kaye (foster home)
• Ashleigh (foster home)
• Tracey Saxon (foster home)
• TAC Transport (facilitating transport of first batch of mares and filly’s from OBP)
• Edward Evans (Veterinary services)
• Jo Lotter (facilitating transport of balance of filly’s and mares from OBP to the various foster homes)
• Bianca and Clinton for fostering the first batch of horses for the first few days of their freedom
• Kathy Thersby and Bronwynne for putting time and effort in to finding foster homes and potential adoptive homes and keeping us on our toes.
• To everyone who has played a part in us reaching this point, no matter how small it was.

However this is only the beginning. The care of the horses in foster does come with certain costs and needs that need to be met and we appeal to anyone who can assist with the following:

• Donations of feed and grass bales (large round bales are generally the most cost effective)
• Halters, blankets, flymasks and fly spray (they do not need to be new – 3 old blankets are better than 1 new 🙂 )
• Deworming
• Bedding for those who are stabled

We appeal to anyone who has any of the above and can afford to donate such. You will be making a world of difference to the very horses that have been through the mill to ensure that the entire equine industry has the medication that is required to treat all our horses.

Kind Regards

Craig

ARC

OBP Horse Viewing

We have finally got a date for potential adoptive homes to view the current lot ready for release from OBP.

Should you be interested in viewing these horses, the viewing date will be on Friday 24 April 2009 at OBP between 12H00 and 14Hoo. Please send your details through to us so that we can arrange for security passes as without this, you will not be allowed onto the premises due to OBP being a National Key Point.

Should you not be able to attend, the horses can be viewed on OBP Horses For Adoption/Fostering

We are in the process of facilitating foster homes for as many of the horses as we can (currently have facility for 16 horses of the 33 available). We are in need of sponsorship of feed, halters, blankets and the like to alleviate the cost of fostering, so if you have any spare blankets, halters, grooming kits or would possibly like to sponsor feed, please get in touch with us. Your help would be hugely appreciated as it will go a long way in ensuring the welfare of these horses who so desperately need our intervention to ensure their quality of life.

Unfortunately due to OBP only committing to it from the next batch of horses, this batch will not be gelded, nor will they have been tested for strangles and we still await confirmation of how many of the mares are pregnant.

For the horses that go into foster care, we will be attempting to raise funds to have the stallions gelded and will have them tested for strangles to ensure that they are safe.

Craig

ARC

Latest News

On Monday 23rd February 2009 another meeting was held at HHCU and attended by ARC, HHCU, NSPCA and OBP.

At the meeting the following was discussed and concensus reached:

It was agreed that OBP would facilitate the viewing of the horses by potential foster and adoptive homes at OBP. These dates are still to be finalized, but it was agreed that this was an ideal opportunity not only for the viewing of the horses, but also for the relevant organizations to introduce themselves to all concerned froma public perspective.

The OBP Horse Adoption Policy is in the final stages of its drafting and will be available soon.

Once dates for viewing have been  finalized, current potential homes will be contacted by Wetnose and HHCU to start the adoptive process and facilitate the homing inspections.

More information will be forthcoming over the next few days.

Craig

ARC

Almost there…

The OBP Horse Welfare Committee met again on Thursday 5th February, and both ARC and Wet Nose were represented. The meeting that ensued resulted in several resolutions from a positive interaction:

1.Pricing of the horses has been set very reasonably, which will enable us to spend money where it belongs – on the horses – and offer very attractive adoption fees. In addition, very reasonable terms of payment have been set which will enable all the welfare organisations to secure sustainable adoptive homes before payment becomes due. This will enable us to foster horses until permanent homes can be found. Thanks is due to OBP for making all of this possible, and it goes a long way towards establishing that the welfare of the horses is their primary consideration.

2.We have an undertaking that we will receive photographs of the 29 horses as soon as certain security issues can be satisfied, and we will provide OBP with a list of information criteria from all the welfare organisations so that when the pictures are released, those wishing to adopt horses can make informed decisions. We expect the pictures by the end of this week, and there is a list of the horses which will be enhanced with the new information. Having set up all the information criteria this time, the next time a batch of horses is released, we will receive information earlier

3.We will be standardising the adoption policies, applications and contracts this week so that there is consistency across all the welfare organisations.

More as soon as we have it!

Derek

ARC

No More Slaughter!

Last week, on Thursday 21^st August, I attended a workshop at the Conference Centre at Onderstepoort Biological Products at the invitation of the Managing Director, Vuyelwa Penxa. The workshop was also attended by members of one of our Alliance Partners, Wet Nose Animal Rescue Centre, Highveld Horse Care Unit, and the Department of Agriculture.

The decision by OBP to appoint an independent facilitator was a critically influential factor in

Common Sense Prevails

On 12 August, we received the following invitation from Onderstepoort Biological Products, and we believe this to be a step in the right direction. We will update this blog after the meeting :

As an owner/lover/breeder/carer of horses in SA you are cordially invited to participate in a discussion which will be held in an effort to obtain your contribution towards a collective understanding on handling of horses at OBP.

Date : 21 August 2008

Time : 10:00- 12:00

Venue : OBP’s Main Boardroom

Attached please find directions and map to OBP

Please RSVP on or before 19 August 2008 to

Mrs. Koeks Senekal (Tel: 012 522 1501) or

Mr. Willie Botha (Cell: 082 857 5885)

Due to National Key Point requirements access is strictly limited

to those invited and proof of identity will be required.

Kind regards,

Vuyelwa Penxa

MD: OBP

Date: 12 August 2008

The Big Picture

We recently received a carefully considered and intelligent letter from Belinda Edmonds. Her letter touched on some core elements of this issue, and we thought it would be appropriate to summarise the issues surrounding the OBP saga using her points and questions as a framework, Belinda’s words in italics:

“a. These horses are being slaughtered and the photographic evidence indicates that the horses are being transported, held and subsequently slaughtered in inhumane, unprofessional and unethical ways.

b. OBP are dealing with the queries and complaints with non-factual responses and would appear to become aggressive when pushed on the subject.

c. Alternative options to slaughter-houses and illegal slaughter have been offered but the possibility of multi-interested parties appear to have been ignored or brushed aside.”

After the initial denials, which were effectively lies, we finally had the admission from

Decision Time!

On 3rd July (last week Thursday), I sent the following email to Vuyelwa Penxa, the Managing Director of Onderstepoort Biological Products Ltd, prompted by Bev Seabourne’s email to me saying that Vuyelwa wished me to contact her.:

Good Day Vuyelwa

I was given your email address by Bev of Highveld Horse Care, who asked me to get in contact with you.

I am the spokesperson for ARC (Animal Rights Coalition) which is at this moment an informal affiliation of animal welfare and animal rights organisations, but which will be formalised in the very near future.

We have commitments from World Animal Watch and Wet Nose Animal Rescue, both registered organisations with experience, expertise and capacity to assist with the rehoming of OBP’s horses. In addition,