Deceased horse in trailer.

As most of you know I had a mare that died in route due to neglect from the transportation company All-State Horse Express.

Well I really need your horse opinions:

I am putting on two pictures of Clu that were taken at her owner's residence with her regular blue nylon halter:

https://i.servimg.com/u/f16/11/23/93/25/clu_ha10.jpg
Clu in stall
https://i.servimg.com/u/f16/11/23/93/25/clu310.jpg
Another view

Here is Clu in the trailer:
https://i.servimg.com/u/f16/11/23/93/25/cluey_10.jpg
Clu in the trailer please check out the halter and see if you can see a buckle.
https://i.servimg.com/u/f16/11/23/93/25/cluey_11.jpg
This one you will have to zoom in on to look at the buckle.

The company states that they did not change the halters and it was the one that came with the horse. I call B.S. on that! It is definitely a break away with leather on the top.

I'm not going to look at the pictures, because they're still burned in my mind. Whether he changed the halter or not, has no bearing on what happened to that horse in his trailer, in his care. He is responsible, period.

Are you having trouble getting him to take care of that?

Yes, They told the Better Business Bureau that she was "ballistic" yet I did not hear that just that she kicked in the trailer and did not have good ground manners because she ran in circles around them.

Plus there is other stuff they wrote that was not true.

It is a different halter and it almost looks like it might not be the same horse?????

I agree with Cindy....I had to keep comparing the horses. That's NOT the same horse!!!!!!!

I thought it might not be my horse too but it is so hard to tell. That is why I had asked for picture outside the trailer but I never received them. They are trying to say that is the halter she came with when I know it is the blue one in the photo's from the owner. I just don't want anything like this to happen to another horse or owner. If it took three people two hours to load her then she was extremely stressed and in no shape to travel that night. They were negligent in telling me the truth about this mare and keeping me informed. I had told them from the get go that she had not been handled or trailered but they told me that their drivers were horse people before drivers. Needless to say.....

I don't know how much money we're talking about here, but I can tell ya, I'd have them in court real quick, if they refused to give me back my money or whatever. I'd be in the nearest law library pulling up horse transportation cases like crazy.

The whole point to the matter is, even if the mare threw a wall-eyed fit in the trailer, which is totally weird. I've seen some horses that'll paw, but that's about it... Usually when they're going, they can't do anything stupid. It's when you stop that they get stupid. I've always thought that that mare laid down, got up under the petition and that's where it all started... and you cannot tell me that you can't feel a horse moving around back in a trailer, especially one that's literally beating itself to get back up or throwing a fit. They just kept going.

Yep, I'd be pulling up a lot of cases on horse haulers!

A far as a differant horse, DNA would prove that. BUT What are they saying happened. What was in your contract?

What would be the point of switching horses? And on a mare yet? They didn't know the horse was going to get hurt? DNA would have caught up to them if AQHA? As soon as a foal was born. Was the mare HYPP Positive?

IF, she were throwing that much of a fit, Did they feel the trailer? Was she loose in the trailer or Tied. And Why didn't they call you if she was upset before they loaded her and asked if she could be Aced? These are questions Id be asking as well? AND IN COURT!

I'm so sorry that happened to you and that the ordeal isn't over now.

Forgive me if this is totally out of left field, but in the last picture, does that horse have white rear socks? Or did something happen to the hind legs? In the prior pictures, it has 4 black legs. And zooming in there is definitely a buckle on the halter, if that is important...

I think the white is from the sun.
Just a side note, you can tell the horse was thrashing about by the blood on it's left side trailer wall. BUT, if you look to the ground below that, the shaving are clean and look settled, undisturbed, almost like they doctored the scene before the pics were taken?????

IT is a differant halter, right color pretty smart, Leather strap on top. I dont see a differant horse.

Why did it take 2 hours to load a horse. Why??? Did you talk to the folks you bought the horse from about that also, did they suggest the hauler?

I don't think it's sunlight on the hind legs. Looks like white leg wraps to me. (look at the top of the wrap, toward the hocks) It DOES look like white fetlock hair, though the wraps COULD be frayed. Those feet look really white to me. The hind legs could have been wrapped to hide white stockings. And....This bothers me....The live horse looks pretty big, with a buff build. The dead horse strikes me as being a lot smaller. Keep in mind that that horse is laying across the trailer. I don't think the live horse would fit so neatly. I have to say....The hay net looks uneffected by the whole thing.

Okay, I went ahead and looked at the pics... and I swear to you, it's just making me sick!!!!!!!!!!!

That filly is the spitting image of Jazz, white on her face and all!

All right now... something's wrong here. That filly is a danged bay, pure and smiple. I understand the sun, but the sun doesn't make black legs turn white. If they've put some kind of wraps on her back legs, those wraps would have to be white, and it doesn't look like wraps, it looks like white vet wrap to me, but only one swoop ran around ...no wet, nor sun is going to make black legs turn white!!!!!!!!!! Just isn't!

Pure and simple... she got down under the slant and tried to get up, period! And you can't sit there and tell me that they didn't feel all this mess going on - not with a filly that big... I don't care if it's an 8-horse trailer, there's no way they wouldn't have felt that!

I would sue the living daylights out of that hauler, and give that judgment to the danged Better Business Bureau - can't argue with a judge! And I'd be on every gosh-danged horse forum there was posting who they are, after I got my judgment!

It's clear that the horse got stuck under the divider...There's a huge scrape/bald place on her butt. The stuff on the floor doesn't look like there was much of a scuffle. Ya...7C...You're right. White Vet Wrap. And if you look at the hay net....I have to assume that it was full when they started out....Clearly, it's not torn up....So I would assume that the horse slipped, (one way or another) and got cast under the gate.

The haulers had to be complete idiots...and clearly, are not being honest.

OH....And something else.....Look at Clu's mane. It's fairly short and is cut straight across. The mane on the dead horse is longer, and is ragged on the ends.

Ok, just my 2 cents and observations.....

Those back hooves in the one pic look pretty dang much like white hooves to me..... She obviously doesnt have wraps on, you can see fetlock hair... however, in the live pic of her, she doesnt look to have as much fetlock hair in that pic as "she" does in the trailer pic.

When a horse even rocks in a trailer you can feel it, and a horse who was obviously thrashing..... you cannot tell me that they did not feel that! It would move their truck!

The scene does look doctored..... maybe there was another reason for her death, and they moved her under the door? Wasnt she tied? Where's the tie? For a horse to bleed out that much..... where's the blood in the shavings? I was doctoring a wound thats already 2 months old on a mare today, and I saw more blood after doing that in the shavings than I do in that trailer..... Im partially surprised they didnt wipe the blood off the walls......

Is it possible that this IS infact a different horse, and they possibly sold yours, or something of the sorts?

PLEASE tell me you didnt pay these people.... I vote, get the DNA.... Did you get a necropsy done on her? I vote take them to court and sue their pants off!

Merikle Waters wrote:

Ok, just my 2 cents and observations.....

Those back hooves in the one pic look pretty dang much like white hooves to me..... She obviously doesnt have wraps on, you can see fetlock hair... however, in the live pic of her, she doesnt look to have as much fetlock hair in that pic as "she" does in the trailer pic.

When a horse even rocks in a trailer you can feel it, and a horse who was obviously thrashing..... you cannot tell me that they did not feel that! It would move their truck!

The scene does look doctored..... maybe there was another reason for her death, and they moved her under the door? Wasnt she tied? Where's the tie? For a horse to bleed out that much..... where's the blood in the shavings? I was doctoring a wound thats already 2 months old on a mare today, and I saw more blood after doing that in the shavings than I do in that trailer..... Im partially surprised they didnt wipe the blood off the walls......

Is it possible that this IS infact a different horse, and they possibly sold yours, or something of the sorts?

PLEASE tell me you didnt pay these people.... I vote, get the DNA.... Did you get a necropsy done on her? I vote take them to court and sue their pants off!

Merkile, You took the words right out of my mouth. I agree with everything u said.. esp. the bleeding part. also, didn't see a tie either!

Mom: I am so sorry you had to go through all of this. you are in my prayers.

Jordan Godwin

and something else.. if that was the way the ppl found her, how did she get those shavings on her back and the other side of her??

Jordan

If you look close at the left side of the window, you'll see a tie. It doesn't look broken to me. There is another one on the right side of the window, holding the hay net.

You know what I think I'd do... I'd send these pics to a couple of vets and see what they thought...

I still don't get the vet wrap on the back legs, if that is indeed what it is... I'd just sue the living daylights out of them if I didn't get my money back -- every bit of it!

There is not white on the back legs it is dried blood and with the sun on it gives a reflection.

I am trying to get my $550. back from them but they are saying that the mare now broke out the window and two panels. The panel in the picture looks just fine yes the bars to the window are bent. You cannot tell me that they could not see her head sticking out that window while driving! They were completely negligent in her care knowing that she kicked from NY to CO and loading her that night after two hours of struggling to get her in the trailer.

I am curious about the shavings on her back too but have not received any explanations for that or the fact that the flooring looks like diamond plate? Which would make for a slippery surface.

I will never know the truth I did send a letter back to the BBB because I did not agree with what the shipping company said. So we will see. I am going to call the BBB to send them pictures.

7C...Look at the top of the white...toward the hock. Look at the edge of the white. You can see what looks like a "tab" of some kind. It's on both of them.

OK...I have to revise my opinion. I don't see wraps on the hind legs. If you zoom in on the legs, you can see that it is the sun reflecting off the legs. The "tab" on the left hind leg is the chestnut. Funny though...On the right hind leg....There is dark hair extending downward over/through the white. The back feet do look white, but the sole and frog look white too. (I think the sun is coming in the door slightly to the left) They must have used a real cheap camera.

I find it hard to believe that they made it all the way from NY to CO.....and this doesn't happen til they got to CO??? I bet they swerved or did something to knock her off her feet. You still have to wonder why she wasn't tied....It's possible she was tied....But to what? There is a tie on the left side of the window, but look how high it is.

The trailer looks pretty old and beat to me.

I tell ya what I'd do, and just end this freaking mess... Whatever money you spent, whether for the mare or to the hauler, I'd send them a certified letter, telling them they have 10 days to cough up the money or you're suing the dickens out of them, and not only for that money, but for loss of the horse for whatever you were going to do with her, period!

I'm telling ya right now, if that goes to court with those pictures, they're screwed big time! And I'd include potential babies out of her that you're losing, etc.

Wouldn't the hauler have ins on that trailer? The horses they transport should be ins'd too. There should be a standard, minimum value put on any horse they carry....and it would go up, depending on the individual value. IE: An AQHA Champ, as compared to an old grade gelding.

I wonder if there is a way to find their ins company, and file a claim.