When Kickin Stars went through the ring last February there were way too many Thoroughbreds for the volunteers from Southern California Thoroughbred Rescue to cope with. They were there to take as many horses as possible, but it was a frantic scene, and many of the Thoroughbreds were held back until very late when they were snapped up by waiting killer buyers. The fix was in, and Kicking Stars was among the unlucky that were roughly loaded into stock trailers and driven off to a feedlot in the dead of night.
Kickin Stars had endured thirty-nine winless races at Los Alamitos, a racetrack infamous for breakdowns and brutality. Her tendon was on the verge and she was summarily dumped in a livestock auction. She probably couldn’t fathom what happened to her that night. Taken from the secure stall where she had lived for years she was suddenly thrown into the freezing mud in a pipe pen full of panicked horses. Somehow she got cast in the pipes, and was found there the next morning exhausted, with her hind legs battered and bleeding.
While SCTR rescuers worked the auction, Tranquility Farm worked simultaneously to find any known connections to the horses. Locating a breeder, former owner or rescue sponsor is their very last chance. And so the angels arrived for Kickin Stars. We discovered she was a full sister to a mare that belonged to friends and supporters of Tranquility Farm, and when asked without hesitation they sponsored her rescue and rehabilitation. Today she is doing wonderfully, healed and healthy, all thanks to Rob and Debbie Falb, who saved her life.
This very morning I received a call from the Humane Society of the US, requesting a statement to my Congressional Representative and Senators in support of HR 503 and SB 727, the bills to ban the export of American horses for slaughter. Apparently there is hope that once again these bills may be gaining some forward momentum in congress. If passed they will spare future horses from the ordeal Kickin Stars suffered, and from the terrible fate that awaited her. It isn’t easy to keep on writing letters and making calls while such cruelty to horses persists without abatement.But if you will speak out for them, now again is the time. Here is the link to the latest news on the anti-slaughter legislation,and a search function to reach your representatives. It’s up to us. HSUS End Horse Slaughter
