Abused horses find new homes

For more than a hundred abused horses, an existence of torment and uncertainty finally came to an end last Saturday, March 1.

Nearly all of the horses seized by the Deschutes County Sheriff last December were auctioned off to a gathering of carefully screened bidders who pledged to provide good homes for the mistreated animals.

"Lots of people bought more than one horse," said Sheriff's Advisory Council member Liz Wunder. "We only had 15 that didn't sell, and some of those may yet sell."

She explained that some of the approved bidders had expressed an interest in the remaining horses.

The animals were seized late last year when they were discovered being held in deplorable conditions east of Bend near Brothers.

Many of the horses were diseased, injured, blind and otherwise not cared for.

A major rescue operation was mounted to remove the animals from the site where they were held. Most were kept at the Deschutes County Fairgrounds or local veterinary clinics.

Their chief protector and provider for the last three months was Lt. Marc Mills of the Deschutes County Sheriff's Office, who was genuinely pleased to see his charges heading off to healthy new living situations.

"There were some very excited people who got the horses they'd been looking at for weeks," said Mills.

He was particularly pleased that some of the ones with the worst disabilities were intentionally taken by people whose only goal was to care for them and give them the better lives that they had been denied for so long.

"Most of the horses with special needs that people knew about were taken," Mills said. "I felt really good about that."

All bidders were required to pass close scrutiny by the Sheriff's Office and several conditions were attached to the sale to insure that the animals would not end up in another bad situation.

One of the conditions was that all new owners were required to permit Sheriff's Office inspections over the next year to check on the horses' welfare.

"It was great to see the turnout," said Andy Andrews, another council member who was active in looking out for the horses' welfare.

"There were a lot of happy people," he said.

"The nicest thing for me was seeing the community come together."

Andrews credited the Central Oregon community with reaching out to help solve a problem.

Wunder said that the highest bid was made on a mare who recently given birth to a young filly. The pair went for $1,200.

Mills also commented on "two stallions that were really nice looking horses" that went for around $500 each.

In all, about $26,000 was raised, although that was nowhere close to the cost of providing for the animals' interim care and getting them on the road to better health.

Most of that cost, however, was borne by donations from concerned citizens.

The proceeds of the sale will be disbursed to public agencies in accordance with state laws applicable to seized property.

"The horses that weren't bought will probably go to local rescue facilities," said Wunder.

Mills said that the relatively small number of remaining animals would not be difficult to deal with.

"This was my best case scenario," he said.

One rescue facility in Texas was being considered to take some of the animals, but the auction was such a success that Mills expects to find foster care for all the remaining horses inside Oregon.

Employees of the Sheriff's Office and a busy corps of volunteers heaved a collective sigh of relief when their equine charges were safely on their way to new homes.

On Saturday night, the workers were tired, but they were happy.

Really happy.