Common Sense?

The mishaps of life, and who you are involved with, will eventually catch up with you.  Being a shady horse dealer, is like being a fast chick with a reputation.  Word gets around, not only are you considered easy, but sleazy.  


                      Of course most of you reading this, some are very familiar with the AC$H scamming.  The truck is coming, the truck is coming, we must save them.  In short, here is the run down.  They are a registered 501c3, non profit who "rescue, rehab, and adopt" (for reference please read the following Rip Off Report,  there is of course more than one compliant out there.  But, as rule of thumb in life, imitation is the most sincere form of flattery.  So, ladies and gentleman I present to you a copy cat verision Rip Off Report #2).  Now, while copy cat is not 501c3, this lovely woman has a pending 501c3 rescue because she is just such a wonderful caring individual, who is not in it for the money (excuse me while I gag) Sundew Saves.  We will catch up with them in a minute.  For the moment, I want to clear up how the broker programs work.  

                                             Broker programs are a host of horse dealers, errrr, I mean rescue efforts designed to give slaughter bound horses a second chance at life.  Sounds like a absolutely lovely, and heart felt thing to do.  The dedication and the work, the time, and effort of dealing with this cold hearted men who send horses off to Canada and to Mexico.  So, what's in it for them?  Well it's saving the horses, the love of equines, knowing that they have defied the odds and put these animals into forever homes.  And let me say this, if you buy that load of bull I just wrote, you may want to rethink where your money goes.  

               These people are not doing this for free, between 25 dollar donation fees, over priced coggins, and health certificates (which some cannot even get right), and not to mention the inflated prices. They are getting their cut..dare I say look at the 990 forms that are filed for non profits, the proof is in the pudding right there.  Non Profits often do have paid employees, and expenses, but sometimes it makes one wonder how after seven hundred thousand dollars, there are little to no expenses paid out.  Good job IRS, for keeping a eye on these things, but that is getting a touch off subject.

                     How broker programs work, or should I just be blunt and say horse flipping.  Ok, it's a fairly simple equation.  Person X (and or group) find a in with a kill buyer, or a ex kill buyer who no longer holds a contract, or a individual or group of individuals that supply the kill buyer, and they simply cross post, or take pretty pictures (honestly if you are reading this, you could of found someone with much better photography skills to do the pictures, nothing like over exposed, blurry pics, etc.)  and say that the dealer or kill buyer has set the price.  Now, while this is true, they will often tag on a extra hundred or so dollars to the the original price paid for the horse, you must account for the troubles that Person X has gone threw, price of gas, time of those fantastic photography skills, the poor quality of video show casing what a wonderful moving horse it is, and how quiet said horse is, and of course their description of the horse, and the identifying the breed of the horse, and even the sex (if you are lucky and they can tell the difference between a mare, a gelding, and a stud, but don't hold your breath on that one).   And naturally what the sales recommendation was (now keep in mind this is a subject we will touch on later, because that my friends is a whole another blog, hell could be a novel).   So, now after we have done all these things, we then list the horse out, most naturally on social networking websites, fastest way to get people to bail these poor souls.  Most people don't think twice about the prices, which can range between 300 up to 1200.   They donate, directly bail, based on a whim, and heart tug, and the good word of these dealers, oh I mean rescues.   The Killy Buyer collects his bottom price, what he absolutely sets a must have for the horse, and anything left over goes into the pockets of Person X, what happens to that money is beyond me, and that is like a million dollar question, sure we can all speculate, in fact dare I say let your imagination run wild on that one.  

              Now over a course of time, we have obvious persons willing to come forward and talk about the profiting side of it, and of course those are lies according to the accused.  But, what does common sense tell you?  I realize that common sense, is really not all that common, so that is a bit of stretch I suppose.  It's nice to see the horse dealing business hasn't changed in the past thirty some years, and that well if it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, well hot damn it must be a duck.   

              Here is the truth that no one, or very few will say to you, and when I say you, I mean those that have had that "feel good moment" of saving one of these slaughter bound horses.  That horse, was in no danger of shipping, maybe to another auction, maybe to another dealer who likes to wheel and deal.  But, to the truck and on it's way to be dinner. No.  There are standards (yes I know, hard to believe) when taking these horses for slaughter, and rules, and regulations.  I would be lying if I said every aspect was followed, and they adhere to the standards set forth by CFIA, and the E.U.  We do know that this is a business, and well money is money, and lost money is a bummer.  From a business stand point, why chance shipping a horse that will go down on the trailer, that's a loss profit, right?  Body scores, lameness, and so forth all play parts in horses that may or may not be shipping.  But, that my friend is another blog.  In the mean time, I would like to just say this.  Yes, it feels good to say I saved that horse from going on a truck to become someone's dinner.  But, ask yourself this, because you just paid a absurd amount of money for a "broker" horse, how many other horses did you just put on that very truck?   Not just as a consumer, but also as a rescuer.  You may think that you saved one, but you just sentenced two or three, maybe even four to become dinner.  The horses that you are seeing listed, and promoted, are not fit for shipping, the horses that are fit for shipping, you will never see because they are already loaded on the trailer, or in the personal lots of these people awaiting their final destination.  Just food for thought.