West Brookfield Horse Rescue Shuts Down After Online Criticism

https://boston.cbslocal.com/2019/12...nline-criticism-blue-star-farm-animal-rights/

A non-profit horse rescue is shutting down. Online criticism may be to blame. At Blue Star Farm in West Brookfield, the owners started rescuing horses years ago. Now, they have 28.


They are mostly draft horses that spent their lives working. Most pulled carriages, some were in police mounted units and some worked in fields. So in retirement, their new owners at Blue Star made sure the horses continued to work.


But some animal rights groups disagreed, saying the horses should simply run free. So the groups slammed the farm on Facebook, managing to convince the social media giant to remove the farm’s page, which is how they raise money to support the animals.

With no money, the farm owners are being forced to find new homes for the horses, and it hurts the owners and the volunteers.

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These "Animal Rights Activists" do not know Draft Horses. The last thing you should do is not give them any sort of "work" which helps them stay healthy and happy. They have found new homes for about 1/2 the horses, but are struggling with the rest. They use the Christmas season as a way to raise money online (Facebook - Closed Down) to pay to keep the horses warm and fed in the Winter.

As a last act, they are going to have the horses pull slays around town to deliver gifts to children for Christmas.

SJW's are likely going to be responsible for having 1/2 the horses not have as good a life and the other half being "put down", because there is no where for them to go.

 

It appears they are already turning down new horses that need a home, so they too likely will be "euthanized".

 

As is so often the case with the left-they harm the very ones they claim to care about.

 

As we’ve said before, everything libs touch.....

 

A lot of animal rights activists have no idea about animals.

They think they are people. Horses in the wild don't live near as long as domestic horses. It's more humane to just shoot them than it is to do what the animal rights activists want to do.

They are city dwellers that normally very ignorant about domesticated animals. These are the door knobs you see trying to reason with their pet dogs.

 

I'd be curious to know the rest of the story behind "they are mostly draft horses that spent their lives working. Most pulled carriages, some were in police mounted units and some worked in fields. So in retirement, their new owners at Blue Star made sure the horses continued to work." On the surface I find it absurd to imply that because they were work horses they must continue to work. I'm sure they'd actually probably be happier to stand around eating hay all day.

But yeah, although I'm curious as to the back story of this particular "rescue", generally speaking the animal rights types are clueless wackos.

 

Wow, you can't complain anymore about what the libs are doing to your donald so you now decide to pick on the libs because they don't like horses. LOLOLOLOLOLO

 

Agreed. Their intentions are good but their judgment is lacking. And they do great harm .

This mentality will cut off the head of a horse to cure the headache

How can a group of people be so clueless...perpetually? Imo they have faulty processors. Just hope that virus is not contagious !

 

Horses eat straw men!

 

Why do I get the feeling the OP is just taking frustration out on "SJWs"? Whatever that means. The article doesn't say a lot. What animal rights groups? They don't mention any.

Here's what I can gather:
"Rickenbach said she is sure that her critics - animal activists who disagree with her philosophy that horses should and need to work for their health - had complained about her page and were the reason it was shut down. She’d recently posted something in support of New York City carriage horses, a hot topic with passionate arguments on both sides, and figured those with differing views complained."
https://www.telegram.com/news/20191...ield-closing-online-opposition-could-be-cause

My guess is she said something she wasn't supposed to and that's why the facebook page was taken down. If there was an argument there, then was the issue over SJWs taking over America, or was it a local issue and now it's getting reframed as a culture war issue? We won't know for certain until the page comes back up however, so I might be wrong. Still, me thinks the OP is letting confirmation bias get the best of them.

 

This story has been floating around for a few days.

The link is from Dec. 20th.

Usually these sort of "RW Mock Outrage" stories get posted at PF within minutes of hitting the Web.

Anyway, it sounds like a classic case of "unintended consequences".

Hopefully, all of the affected horses find owners and this story has a happy ending.

 

TRUMP? WTF? TDS on display. We are talking about Libs screwing over horses.

 

No, horses get bored , out of shape and unhealthy doing nothing but eating.



Most "animal lovers" are clueless whackos...which is why they elevate mere animals to " family members "..

 

Yes, since everyone wants to make this political, everyone who tries to talk to animals is blindingly stupid and usually Republican....they are the one who value their dogs as much as their children.....I saw a blurb on TV where some people pay more for their dog's Christmas gifts than they do for their children's...so Republican!!!

 

As Steve said, liberalism destroys anything it touches.

They did the same thing with Catholic adoptions in Massachusetts, the Boy Scouts, etc. The list is endless.

 

I agree, the article is quite vague.

I suspect the "answer" lies in the part I bolded ---- about people "disagreeing with her philosophy that horses should and need to work for their health". I'm wondering, for example, when they say they were making the horses continue to "work", were they taking in retired horses and then using them for carriage rides? Plowing the field? What kind of "work" exactly? Were they monetizing it? Benefiting in some way? So many questions..... It wouldn't sit well with me either if someone were taking in retired (emphasis on retired) horses and then turning around and putting them back to work. Nor would it sit well with me to donate money to a retirement farm, only to find out they were still using the horses for work and/or profit.

The fact that most SJWs and most animal rights activists are usually nutjobs is really neither here nor there. I think there is more to this story. There's a chance that the SJWs and animal rights nuts were in the right this time. Even a broken clock is right two times each day!

 

People in the city who don't care for horses know nothing about caring for horses.

You took that statement to rant about Republicans?

Merry Christmas fox.

 

Animal rights groups should mind their own business.

Letting domestic animals and livestock run around wild is completely destructive and is bad for wild animals. Right now in a lot of blm land there are wild horses running around destroying native deer and elk habitats. We have seals and sealions and protected birds species decimating our wild salmon runs. And we can't do anything about it because some dumbasses might get their feelings hurt.

Animal rights activists are just dumbasses who want to tell others how to live and are utterly worthless.

 

Then again I have seen smarter dogs then some children and more loyal then most people!

 

FoxHastings said: ↑
Yes, since everyone wants to make this political, everyone who tries to talk to animals is blindingly stupid and usually Republican....they are the one who value their dogs as much as their children.....I saw a blurb on TV where some people pay more for their dog's Christmas gifts than they do for their children's...so Republican!!!

No, I posted what I did in response to post # 3 which made it political...

 

Oh, so sorry, but all the kids I know are much smarter than dogs and even some adults....sorry you haven't experienced that.

Dogs are not "loyal" , they just know where the food comes from.....

 

You seemed to make it political.

 

UGGADUH...which post came first ? Mine or Post # 3?

DUHHHHHHHHHH, three comes before 14....

 

It is a very difficult subject. I am a horse professional, retired.
My working horses all got a retirement, Three Day Eventers. Roaming freely 66 acres. They all died before they should have. Healthy as they could be.
Horses are something different, more like dogs, or cats, we bread them to like humans, we bread them for a special purpose.
My working horses got 24/7/365 special attention, prima donas. Its actually what they become and what they demand. If you want them to do the job, which ever it is, you have to give each animal its special treatment. They are not things, robots.
If they get it they are great and work their big arses of for you, love you, wait for you and do the impossible for you, some times die for you.
They develop over the years with their work such special personalities. If you have ever worked with a mare in my sport, you would understand.
They become Queens.
Retirement means the loss of all those special privileges. They wither, fast. 3 years or so they die, roaming being horse at last.
Its not what they are, Wild Horses.

Its like with us, humans, we retire and do not find a purpose, we wither away and just die.
People with a purpose live longer and enjoy live.

I have the so called companion horses. They were just horses, but were the companions of the athletes, that was their only job.
They make easily 30, they are used to a live of roaming, or hanging out. Not like Wild Horse, they get fed, watered, doctored, trimmed, vaccinated and so on and so on.

Some of my athlete horses I have been able to move on, the less difficult, they had a very long and good live and lived many years longer than the nut cases I loved so much and did not dare to move on.
Eventually they all came back to the farm, every single one, I can say.
Than I did my last service form them, put them down and gave them a proper burial.
They need food, water and a coin, as we do.
Its a long voyage across the river.

 

You brought up Republicans. Perhaps you are obsessed.