This is Watson! He is our newly adopted English Bull Dog. Watson came from Monty's Mates Bull Dog Rescue in Pennsylvania. He is quite a character and fits in well with all of us other rescues here on our farm.

VEWS Update

WOW! I have neglected my own Blog what with all the happenings at the VEWS Barn! To date VEWS has rescued 6 Horses and has had 3 of them adopted. Duke, Finnegan and Sierra have gone to their new "forever homes". We currently have 3 horses at the barn is various stages of rehabilitation. This is BREE. She is our most recent rescue. She is a 2 year old Filly that was surrendered to a local ACO who call VEWS for assistance. As you can see, BREE is very very thin and is covered in rain rot. BREE weighs only 515 pounds and is a body score of only 1.5! Please visit the website at www. vewshorses.org or friend us on Facebook for more information. Oh well! blog spot won't let me upload her picture so go to the website to see her.

Two horses coming to our new barn

VEWS is taking 2 horses into their new barn on Sunday the 16th. It has been a long time coming but we are all excited to have these two horses coming into our program. One is a 13 year old Mare and the other is a 24 year old Gelding. Both horses are in relatively good shape but are in need of some Farrier work on their feet. More details and pictures of these horse will be coming soon

J.J. at the Farm Day Event

Here are a couple of pictures of J.J. at the Farm Day Fundraiser Event. Sarah and McKenzie  were a big help with her that day. The weather wasn't the best but it turned out OK. Thanks Terry for the great shots.

VEWS Director's Meeting and other VEWS events

The next VEWS Director's Meeting will be April 1, 2012 @ 6:30pm. Ideas and suggestions to complete and improve the web site will be on the agenda.
Other upcoming events are April 15th a meeting for the volunteers will be held at the Quarterfield Stables @1pm. All Current and new volunteers are encouraged to attend to be updated on our expected timeline and discuss fund raising, a most important and necessary topic. Also, we have been offered around 200 bales of hay and we  will need to co-ordinate picking up this hay and moving it to the barn.
On April16, 2012 Susan White and I are going to a conference of Commonwealth Attorneys being held in Norfolk,VA to set up and information booth.
On April 28, 2012 Hertzlers will be holding their annual Farm Day with lots of vendors and specials. VEWS will have a presence at the stable with an information booth. JJ is coming (with tack) for pictures with the children
The Preference Farm Blog can now be accessed through the VEWS website at WWW.vaews.org  Look for the link on the right side of the Home Page just under that "most important" Donate Button.

www.vaews.org

Virginia Equine Welfare Society published their new website to the web yesterday evening. Please visit www.vaews.org and learn more about our new organization. Check back often for updates and newly added information. Hey and don't forget that little button on the right side of the page.

VEWS ( Virginia Equine Welfare Society)

The next scheduled Board of Director's Meeting is scheduled for March 6, 2012.This meeting will determine the next important steps to be taken concerning the direction of our new rescue. We expect our first horse(s) to arrive around April 1st. Our website should also be up and running by that time, including the Pay Pal options for those who care to donate. The web site will also include information on volunteering, fostering and adopting horses and contact information. Check back here to see our progress and to learn how you can help us help these horses in need.

Virginia Equine Welfare Society

On January 25, 2012 The State Corporation Commission of the Commonwealth of Virginia approved incorporation papers for "The Virginia Equine Welfare Society" (VEWS ) and authorized them to do business in the State of Virginia. This Society was organized exclusively for charitable and educational purposes, more specifically to rescue abused, neglected and abandoned horses.
 Kathy and I are excited to be among the founders of this dedicated group of equine lovers and professionals and we look forward to getting our first rescue(s). Our leased barn is open, staffed with volunteers and ready for business. Over this weekend it was stocked with grain, tack, accessories and 100 bales of donated hay. Watch our blog for upcoming news about our progress. The new website is under construction and should be ready soon. Lots of fun new things will be happening quickly from this point on.

Rest in Peace

This is the mare that died only two days after being taken off of a farm in SW Virginia and her two month old foal for whom we are all praying.

This  next photo (was taken on the abusers property) and is of the same mare and foal above with the next pair of possible casualties...a pinto mare and her young foal that we unsuccessfully tried to take.

Conditions look far better than they actually are. These horses are living in horrid conditions.

Prominent SW Virginia Family Foils Rescue Attempt

On July 25th volunteers went to a county in South Western Virginia in an attempt to rescue horses that had been reported to them as starving to death. Confirmation was obtained by a large animal vet that 11 horses on the property should be seized and were in imminent danger. The County Sheriff and Commonwealth Attorney were uncertain as to what to do!!?? Virginia Animal Cruelty Law is pretty clear as to their responsibilities but neither could or wanted to do the duty they took an oath to do.
After waiting at the Sheriff's office for over 6 hours the group of volunteers was taken to the property by a Deputy to seize the horses. Upon arrival the Deputy was advised by the perpetrator that he would shoot anybody that trespassed on his property. Deputy calls the Sheriff... Sheriff comes out to the scene and tells everybody that "he is sorry but the owner has ordered us off his property and that we had to leave". Did I mention that #1 we were on a county road and #2 we asked the County to prepare a search and seizure warrant days before we arrived and #3 both the Sheriff and the Commonwealth Attorney a currently running for re-election??? WOW
The perpetrator did allow that we could take one mare that was in horrendous shape and finally allowed that her 2 month old foal could go too. These two were transported in a rehab barn in N.C. as it was decided that they were too weak to make the 5 hour trip back to the Richmond Region. The Bad news is that yesterday, only two days after being seized, the mare layed down and DIED...damn that family... remember there are now 9 more horses still out there on that property that will suffer the same fate if something is not done.
Eleven volunteers drove an average of 400 miles each, pulling 4 horse trailers, spent nearly $800 in gas total and spent 18 hours each only to have to leave these 9 horses behind to continue their suffering and starvation...What a terrible screwed up mess. I'll post the mare's picture latter

WTKR news coverage of USERL

Here is a link to the news coverage done by WTKR in Tidewater, VA of the recent USERL rescues. Thanks go out to Amy our Tidewater Regional Director and all of theTidewater volunteers for all their hard work and for getting our message out!
http://www.wtkr.com/news/wtkr-horse-rescue-story-dan,0,1444266.story

We understand that this story is now on CNN...way to go team

King and Queen County Court Case

The court case held on July 8th in King and Queen County could not have gone better for the horses!!!
In a Plea Bargain the defendants agreed to:
> surrender 33 horses to USERL
> no future ownership of horses
> restitution of $ 500.00 per month to be paid to USERL through K&Q County
> remaining 20 horses to be sold or given away under the county's supervision
> two Haflingers left on the property to recieve immediate Vet care
> husband can continue to train horses but not on his property
> County has free access to the property for future inspections
> animal cruelty charges will still be filed against both husband and wife

This is a great outcome...especially for the horses. The County waited to file the criminal charges until after the seizure hearing so it would not be tied up into the same trial as the criminal charges. This way the horses are not in limbo for months and months and can be adopted out as soon as they are ready.

Yet another great job by the USERL Regional Director and other volunteers...way to go!!! Please consider helping where and how you can. The horses thank you... "when we're hungry...love will keep us alive"

USERL Investigators Course

This past weekend April 18th through April 20th I completed the United States Equine Rescue League (USERL) Cruelty Investigators Course and will now be able to partner with the experienced investigators in the field investigating cases brought to our attention either by concerned citizens or by Law Enforcement Officers. More than 30 people took the course, at least two thirds of which were County Animal Control Officers and a few Assistant Commonwealth Attorneys.
USERL did a fantastic job putting on the course and presenting the subject matter and I was proud to be a USERL volunteer. USERL is strickly a Non Profit Volunteer Organization and does their work through donations. They provide their services to the various County Goverment groups and to others they work with free of charge. Most times USERL can and will provide transportation of equines, safe rescue barns and all feed and hay for these horses. Their volunteer Vets and Farriers provide medical and hoof care which is usually/always greatly needed for these horses. What a wonder feeling it has been to see a rescued horse return to the healthy, happy and normal life they deserve and what a wonderful group of people it is that makes up the USERL. Please take a minute and visit their web site. There is a link at the bottom of our page.
Our foster horse Snowy is doing well and gaining weight day by day. Her bone structure is far less noticeable and she is gaining more strength every day. She is going to be a very nice horse and should be ready for adoption soon.

Our rescue foster horse has arrived

Snowy, our rescue foster horse arrived on January 26th. a Saturday afternoon. I really wasn't expecting good but I was really surprised. I still can't get it in my head how people can do this to an animal. She stands 14.3 hands and only weighs 750 pounds. very little more that skin and bones....literally and remember she has been in the Rehab/Rescue Barn before she came here.
To start off our new venture, on the way to us Snowy reared in the trailer and put quite a cut on her forehead. The Vet arrived to stitch it up so here we were with an unfamiliar, neglected and abused horse dizzy with a gash in her head. What a first day!
It has been a very busy and stressful week but we have made great strides in having Snowy accept us and start to trust us. She is better and more calm every day. She has been in the big pasture with our other horses but while it was ok for the most part it ended in disaster. I guess it was a little early to expect her to socialize. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
Since our pasture disaster we have slowed things down and put Snowy out only with Cowboy in the back ring. That went well and they even ate from the same pile of hay. The next day we tried the same thing and I'm happy to say with the same good results. Yesterday we put her out with Tom and while the results were not as good they were not viscious to one another so we tried it again today with better results. Being encouraged by this we also put Cowboy back in with them as well. All three stayed most of the afternoon together without any major mishaps. Cowboy was even acting protective of Snowy. Freckles and Monte (the jackass) will be where the next challenges will lie. I'll bet in another couple of days to a week we'll have them all together successfully.

Snowy's head is healing nicely and she is eating well. I'll post a picture of her soon so you can see for yourself. I think she will become a very nice little horse again.