DORSET — Over the past several weeks, the staff of Dorset Equine Rescue has been dealing with joy, loss and tragedy. Excited to welcome another mare to their shelter, which houses and rehabilitates abused and neglected horses, the staff began the necessary preparations. “The mare was run through a livestock auction in Missouri and was purchased by a horse dealer in New York,” said Jen Straub, founder and executive director of the rehabilitation facility.
“The mare was so emaciated, he didn’t know she was bred. He brought her back to his farm, along with many other horses he purchased. A week later, the mare gave birth to a foal.
” The foal was born emaciated and dehydrated. His legs were deformed and his knees buckled. The mare was so malnourished that she could not produce milk for the foal, and the horse dealer recognized that the foal wouldn’t make it through the night without intervention.
The true condition of the mare also became apparent. She had been near starvation when she was purchased, and that was while pregnant with a nearly full-term foal. This was when the horse dealer’s connections reached out to equine rescue services for immediate assistance, and the Dorset Equine Rescue stepped up.
“Low end horse dealers buy horses for as little as possible, usually at auctions,” explained Straub. “They try to flip the horses at other auctions for more than they purchased them for – and often sell them for slaughter for their meat. Unwanted horses wh.