HORSE Rescue and Sanctuary

Honey's Ordeal

This saga started in July, 2004 when we got a call from a man in Geneseo, NY. His father had passed away in June of 2004 and left his farm and three horses. One horse was an old mare in her forties and the other two where sorrel Thoroughbred mares that came to the farm when they were yearlings, fifteen years ago. We investigated and found that both of the younger mares were both blind in the right eye caused by a puncture to their eyes. Nothing whatsoever had been done with them in the last fifteen years. No training, nothing, not even given names. We agreed to take them as their only other option was death or to be given to someone else which in our opinion would have ended up the same way. Two weeks later we took the trailer up to the farm and loaded Babe, Honey would not load. We brought Babe home and made plans to try again with Honey. We tried again with some students from a college in the area where the owner works. The students under the direction of the owner attempted to muscle her into the trailer but the result was the same. A week later we had our vet, Dr. Scott Blond, administer a sedative to see if we could get her in the trailer. After four shots she could hardly walk and again the students tried to force her into the trailer. This time she got hurt, requiring 30 staples. We made the decision to walk her home, a distance of fifteen miles but we couldn't do anything until school started again as we didn't have the manpower to handle that kind of trip. During the week of September 13, Julia Kogut, a student at SUNY Geneseo and a volunteer here at the rescue for the last two years, held an "interest" meeting at the college. Sixty-two students signed up. Seventeen of those students showed up on September 19 to help us move Honey. We were overwhelmed that these young people would give up their Sunday to help a horse but help they did.

On Sunday morning at 9:15 AM, we met the students at the Student Union and caravaned to the farm where Honey was. We had seven cars and twenty-one people. We placed Honey in front of the last car, which I drove. I wanted to be close in case something happened. Chris wanted to be the first to lead her since Honey knew her somewhat and trusted her. We decided to have two walkers at a time walk her with two halters and two lead ropes on in case a halter broke. The first couple of miles were uneventful. Honey was doing well and seemed to enjoy going for a walk. There was a bounce in her step and she was looking everywhere with her ears forward. Then, we ran into trouble. On the left was a dairy farm and Honey has obviously never seen cows. She knew they were killers and tried to turn around and go back home. She dragged the first two walkers back and reared several times with all four feet coming off the ground at one time. When she came down, her hooves slipped on the asphalt and she fell scraping her left hind leg, cutting her left front leg and splitting her lip. We checked her wounds and found they were superficial and when we got her calmed down, we proceeded with the journey. Our next major hurdle, which we were very apprehensive about was getting on to Highway 63, which is a major route to Bufalo and heavily traveled, especially by eighteen wheelers. We called the Livingston County Sheriff's Department and they agreed to provide us with a police escort. Deputy Michael Yercer met us at the intersection of Jones Bridge Road and 63. He led the procession with red lights flashing. Honey remained calm after her cow trauma and then we crossed over an overpass with 390, an expressway, fifty feet below. We were very nervous over the fact that if she spooked, she would go over the guard rail and kill herself and perhaps someone in a vehicle below. At this time Chris and I were leading her because of our horse experience. I think I held my breath the whole time we were on that overpass. If Honey picked up on my nervousness she didn't show it. She gallantly handled the overpass and the remaing 2.4 four miles on 20A which is less traveled than 63 but still busy. When we reached Cuylerville, we veered off to take the back roads and relieved our police escort and thanked him for his assistance.

The remainder of the trip other than long and tedious, was uneventful. We passed several more dairy farms but Honey must have too tired by then to care. She kept plodding along, putting one foot in front of the other. The last mile was definitely the longest and it seemed to everyone that we would never get home. The trip took a total of five hours. We averaged between three and four miles per hour. When Honey and her two handlers turned into our driveway, her head shot up and her ears came forward as she realized there were more horses than she had ever seen at one time before and the talking started among all the horses. Honey was home and she knew it. We placed her in a stall by herself for the first and second days but on Tuesday afternoon, we took her out to join her new pasture mates. There was the usual getting acquainted squeals but everyone settled down quickly. Honey decided that she liked Black Beauty and has been hanging around with him. Everyone is still recuperating from all the walking but it was an experience none of us will ever forget. This trip added a new definition to the term "within walking distance".

Below are pictures of our adventure. We took these after reaching the backroads since everyone was too busy to worry about pictures while traveling the main highway.