Elephant in the room in Turkey Tank Forum

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Elephant in the room

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ponytales1976	Elephant in the room		Lead	[-]
Posts: 1732 07/25/11 20:03:35	Tags : None Remove this ad I guess instead of waiting for someone to start at a thread, I'll start it myself. We are closing the rescue, as I am sure most of you have read by now. We will be keeping the 501(c)3 status for now as we are going to be keeping Cappy and Kendall since they will not be easy to place at all. We will also be honoring our commitment to the horses that we have already placed, by keeping up with them and reviewing their situations as well as offering placement or help with placement should they need to be returned. We will not be taking in any horses (not that we have anyway). I am still here, not going anywhere, still keeping my barn and my house, but the rescue will be operating at minimum capacity. Brittany from Project Sage will be taking 6 of our now 9 rescue horses, so if anyone can find it in their hearts to help out with their care I know she can use the help. They are all healthy and ready for forever homes, they just need the right person to come along and offer one. If anyone has any questions please feel free to ask.
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Solstice Farm.		#1	[url]	[-]
Posts: 536 07/25/11 22:21:54	I am so sorry Laurie. I know you love what you do. The economy has hit everyone. Hopefully things will pick up. Danielle did make a donation to Brit for the care of the 6 she will be receiving from you. My daughter has a big heart for the rescue horses and she really likes Brittany. Thankyou for your years of helping horses who had no one else.
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nunecat.		#2	[url]	[-]
Posts: 24 07/26/11 08:23:47	I am so sorry this has happened ~ it must be a very emotional time for you. I always noted that you were the first person to step forward with advice and links to information for other rescues and/or individuals who had questions about their horses. As Brittany stated, you did things the right way by stepping forward to beg for placement rather than letting your horses starve (as we have sadly seen other rescues do with seemingly no conscience whatsoever). You have been a blessing to so many horses and owners through the years, and I hope you will still be involved on whatever level is comfortable for you. And blessings to Brittany for stepping forward ~ I really consider her the future of rescues and hope that she continues to be successful... This damn economy is really wreaking havoc on so many lives...both two and four-legged!
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wildrocknnana		#3	[url]	[-]
Posts: 2931 07/26/11 08:34:17	Laurie, you put the elephant in the room. You should have posted that you were closing on here at the same time that you posted it on ABR. Makes it kind of akward to say anything at all about it. I just wondered why you didn't mention it on here. I'm glad you are getting the help that you needed. It's a sad day for the horses that you are closing. They all got the best of care.
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bustedupcowgirl		#4	[url]	[-]
Posts: 546 07/26/11 09:32:00	I am curious.... Brittany is going to be taking on 10 new horses here shortly. Ponytails 6 and the 4 she is raising money for at Sugarcreek. Just wondering how she expects to support that many new mouths to feed and adopt out when it wasn't possible for Ponytails? She's already stated that she has to have donations to buy the feed to feed them. One of Lauries complaints has been the market is saturated with Camelot horses making adoptions hard....Long Island isn't all that far away......
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twhgait.flintcreekfarm		#5	[url]	[-]
Posts: 491 07/26/11 10:37:40	bustedupcowgirl wrote: I am curious.... Brittany is going to be taking on 10 new horses here shortly. Ponytails 6 and the 4 she is raising money for at Sugarcreek. Just wondering how she expects to support that many new mouths to feed and adopt out when it wasn't possible for Ponytails? She's already stated that she has to have donations to buy the feed to feed them. One of Lauries complaints has been the market is saturated with Camelot horses making adoptions hard....Long Island isn't all that far away...... I was wondering the exact same thing. If Laurie couldn't place them after all this time (WITH all the rehab she's put into them), what's this Brittany going to do to make it happen? Does she have further reaches to potential adoptors? if that's the case why couldn't she have just helped Laurie place them from Ponytales. I can't imagine she'll be able to give them the individual care they get at Lauries...it sounds like she's got a large operation going.
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ponytales1976		#6	[url]	[-]
Posts: 1732 07/26/11 15:06:47	wildrocknnana wrote: Laurie, you put the elephant in the room. You should have posted that you were closing on here at the same time that you posted it on ABR. Makes it kind of akward to say anything at all about it. I just wondered why you didn't mention it on here. I'm glad you are getting the help that you needed. It's a sad day for the horses that you are closing. They all got the best of care. Your right....I was running out the door to the hospital as I posted on ABR and didn't post it here, and then thought its gonna look stupid posting it here now when I got back, then thought that I really should have posted it here......you get it.
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ponytales1976		#7	[url]	[-]
Posts: 1732 07/26/11 15:09:14	bustedupcowgirl wrote: I am curious.... Brittany is going to be taking on 10 new horses here shortly. Ponytails 6 and the 4 she is raising money for at Sugarcreek. Just wondering how she expects to support that many new mouths to feed and adopt out when it wasn't possible for Ponytails? She's already stated that she has to have donations to buy the feed to feed them. One of Lauries complaints has been the market is saturated with Camelot horses making adoptions hard....Long Island isn't all that far away...... Brittany has a good success rate at placing horses, she does have a lot of contacts that I do not. I would get a lot of calls and e-mails from LI about my horses, but nobody wanting to drive here to see them :( I am betting that Sarah and Cosmo will get placed almost immediately and Annabella will likely find a home fairly quick as well. Dori and Anna are going to be more difficult.
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JustStopScammers.		#8	[url]	[-]
Posts: 399 07/26/11 15:54:34	ponytales1976 wrote: Brittany has a good success rate at placing horses, she does have a lot of contacts that I do not. I would get a lot of calls and e-mails from LI about my horses, but nobody wanting to drive here to see them :( I am betting that Sarah and Cosmo will get placed almost immediately and Annabella will likely find a home fairly quick as well. Dori and Anna are going to be more difficult. I'm very sorry to learn of this. I had not read of this anywhere else, and missed it earlier, for some reason. There are two rescues near here, one which has a very good placement success rate, the other, relatively poor. Both are equally well-run and funded for care and operational costs, and since the area seems to be over-run with Arabians and Thoroughbreds, their population is relatively similar with a few others mixed in to both rescues. It seems to come down to nothing more that "right place at right time" and pure dumb luck. You should be quite pleased with yourself for knowing when you've hit the wall and when to step away without collateral damages and without stubbornly staying "in" lest you be criticized for getting out. You have my admiration for that and the work you've done, and I wish you all the best and hope that whatever circumstances led you to this point improve dramatically. God knows there have been far too many that stuck it out when they knew they were way over their heads and care suffered, not to mention the animals. I wish Brittany all the best as well.
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UbuRoi1		#9	[url]	[-]
Posts: 437 07/26/11 17:32:57	Good for you getting out now. The horses did good with you and now time to move forward, for your health and for them to find productive homes. You knew when to throw in the towel, when others don't. Good for Project Sage for stepping up to help. She seems to have a level head on her shoulders and seems to do a good job with the horses she gets. She makes sure they get worked and promotes them. The only elephant I see still standing is the remark you made about euthing them if they didn't find a place to land. The lame, or extremely elderly. I know you've tried to place them all for a long time, and I give you a lot of credit for all you have done. You worked hard and took good care of those in your care. The only thing that bothered me was the euth comment. That is like the emotional blackmail others use and I thought you didn't believe in that. Are you going to keep Franklin until he is placed or put him down in the future due to no home? I do see you are keeping a couple of the ones that would not be able to re-home due to age or medical history. Are they going to be lifers or let go? This isn't to disagree with your decision, but just something I hate to see rescues saying. When we take an animal from a bad situation, and take on the responsibility for it. Euthing for nothing more than getting out of rescue is not appropriate. Health, age and behavior should be the reasons for euthing. If you're a dealer or breeder then getting rid of stock is normal, but you took these horses on to rescue them from an early death, be it slaughter or whatever. sue
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ponytales1976		#10	[url]	[-]
Posts: 1732 07/26/11 20:30:00	Remove this ad UbuRoi1 wrote: Good for you getting out now. The horses did good with you and now time to move forward, for your health and for them to find productive homes. You knew when to throw in the towel, when others don't. Good for Project Sage for stepping up to help. She seems to have a level head on her shoulders and seems to do a good job with the horses she gets. She makes sure they get worked and promotes them. The only elephant I see still standing is the remark you made about euthing them if they didn't find a place to land. The lame, or extremely elderly. I know you've tried to place them all for a long time, and I give you a lot of credit for all you have done. You worked hard and took good care of those in your care. The only thing that bothered me was the euth comment. That is like the emotional blackmail others use and I thought you didn't believe in that. Are you going to keep Franklin until he is placed or put him down in the future due to no home? I do see you are keeping a couple of the ones that would not be able to re-home due to age or medical history. Are they going to be lifers or let go? This isn't to disagree with your decision, but just something I hate to see rescues saying. When we take an animal from a bad situation, and take on the responsibility for it. Euthing for nothing more than getting out of rescue is not appropriate. Health, age and behavior should be the reasons for euthing. If you're a dealer or breeder then getting rid of stock is normal, but you took these horses on to rescue them from an early death, be it slaughter or whatever. sue No, I honestly meant it. The $ to feed them all just isn't here. I have re-negotiated my phone, tv, internet access, switched insurance companies, transferred higher rate CC's to lower rate CC's, maxed out the rescue's CC's, sold anything I could, gave away one of my personal horses and still there is not enough money to feed all of them. If it came down to watching them decline and starve, or putting them down, I would put them down. What other option did I have? I think with 6 rehomed, I will be able to handle the remaining 3, but would be much easier if Franklin was placed as well. Cappy and Kendall will be with me until they can not be kept comfortable, IF my financial situation declines to the point where I can not afford them either I will let the rescue community know before any decision is considered. I am hoping that by only having 2 horses that the rescue needs to care for, we can pay off all of the debt, care for them, and put $ away for emergent situations. I had quite a large sum of money put away previously but over 9 months of being in over our heads spent it up pretty darn quick, thank god I had it!
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UbuRoi1		#11	[url]	[-]
Posts: 437 07/26/11 22:19:09	Thanks for answering. I understand the position you're in. I really do. I hope you get Franklin placed, he is cute. With the down sizing I hope you can keep the two comfortable for a long time and keep enough of the rescue going for them. I really am not criticizing you, but we hear the euth plea so much it just rings false. I do dog rescue and know that sometimes you have to euth. I know how easy it is to go over budget if you have a hard keeper or accident. As long as I have been lurking on ABR and on here I've seen you step up to the plate for others. I respect you for all you do and have done. sue
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bustedupcowgirl		#12	[url]	[-]
Posts: 546 07/27/11 11:02:02	ponytales1976 wrote: Brittany has a good success rate at placing horses, she does have a lot of contacts that I do not. Yeah, I'm sure your right. I googled "Project Sage Horse Rescue" and it looks like she has done a bunch of footwork to get her name out there....there are a ton of hits. "Ponytails Horse Rescue" brings in 2 hits...one to your non-updated web site and the other a reference from Mountain View saying where she took some horses from you a while back. Would it have killed you to give a heart felt "I'm sorry, I screwed up, you should have been notified before you had to read it on a public forum" to Caramels foster? How would you feel if you were fostering for someone and had to read on the web that they were closing? The title of the thread is "Ponytails is closing"......not "Ponytails becoming a sanctuary to two horses so we can keep our 501c3 status and still give write off's"...and 15 posts later: http://forums.delphiforums.com/alexbrown/messages?msg=56326.15 It still sounds like you are closing....like closing for good...... She has every right to be ticked and you have no reason to make excuses.
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ponytales1976		#13	[url]	[-]
Posts: 1732 07/27/11 18:42:20	Well, if you spelled the rescue's name correctly I think you would get more hits: It's Ponytales Rescue, not Ponytails Horse Rescue As far as Caramel goes, nothing is changing for her, I am not sure why I need to notify someone if no change is taking place, and I did apologize if she felt that I hadn't notified her in a timely manner.
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2Manyhorses		#14	[url]	[-]
Posts: 750 07/27/11 22:39:40	I am very sorry you arrived in this tough spot. I know it must be very difficult. I see nothing wrong with stating that euth was the only option; much better than a lot of other options. I feel so bad for all the horses needing homes and not nough homes to go round:( I took in another one about 2 months ago; I'm not a rescue. Just trying to give homes to deserving horses. If I could find good homes I would rehome some of my 7 but am very pessimistic these days...
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RaquelMVR		#15	[url]	[-]
Posts: 2617 07/28/11 12:35:18	I'm sorry to hear that you are closing PTs Laurie, its tough times across the board and you certainly aren't the only one. You have IMO done a great job with the horses in your care and I hope at some point you can continue your efforts with a better understanding of the necessity of researching broader funding options and having business plan in place. Don't breed...Adopt your steed! Mountain View Rescue, Inc.
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ponytales1976		#16	[url]	[-]
Posts: 1732 07/28/11 16:13:40	Absolutely Raquel. There was a lack of ability to pursue funding and fundraising which dramatically effected the rescue, now that we are down to (hopefully) 2 horses I can devote much more time to paperwork, marketing, fundraising ideas, grant research and the like, something I just coudln't pull off with the amount of horses we had before. There will also be some restructuring of the BOD to cover more areas, especially the areas of fundraising. Thank you for being there when we needed you, thank you for being there for the horses that need you now, and if ever I can help, you know how to get in touch with me.
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PaminOH		#17	[url]	[-]
Posts: 2352 07/28/11 18:18:22	ponytales1976 wrote: Absolutely Raquel. There was a lack of ability to pursue funding and fundraising which dramatically effected the rescue, now that we are down to (hopefully) 2 horses I can devote much more time to paperwork, marketing, fundraising ideas, grant research and the like, something I just coudln't pull off with the amount of horses we had before. There will also be some restructuring of the BOD to cover more areas, especially the areas of fundraising. Thank you for being there when we needed you, thank you for being there for the horses that need you now, and if ever I can help, you know how to get in touch with me. Laurie, I thought you were closing the rescue due to all the challenges you have cited. People can readily sympathize with that. But is you is, or is you ain't??? You need to get some consistency in the messaging if you want to have continued credibility. I've been watching quietly and not saying much, but now I am really confused and need to ask questions.
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ponytales1976		#18	[url]	[-]
Posts: 1732 07/28/11 18:45:18	Well its confusing to me too. So here goes my best explanation: The rescue has at least $3,000 worth of bills to still pay, if I close the rescue now, guess who will have to pay those bills? There are 2 horses that nobody has shown an interest in and likely never will. Which means we are still going to have two rescue horses to care for, I've previously adopted personal horses that we had in our rescue (Lola and Neesy) and do not have the ability to adopt 2 more special needs horses myself. Laurie Brinkworth can not personally afford to care for Cappy and Kendall. Therefore unless somebody adopts them, I can't really close down completely. I also have a commitment to the horses that we have already placed, those under our contract, in order to be able to continue to enforce the contract we have to remain open. So the plan is to continue to provide for Cappy and Kendall, pay off the debt that the rescue still has and get the rescue better organized. This doesn't mean that we are starting up again, or taking in horses. It means that we are going to run our rescue the way we used to before we got over horsed, but with Cappy and Kendall as the only horses.
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racefangran.		#19	[url]	[-]
Posts: 135 07/28/11 20:51:11	I really admire the way you have done this. You have a sound plan in place and I wish you the best in making it happen. You certainly deserve a break from the stress and the work. Take care of yourself, I have no doubt that you will take care of the horses.
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sarahkandrew.		#20	[url]	[-]
Posts: 88 07/28/11 21:31:52	Remove this ad Cosmo
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