# DO YOU THINK PONY RIDES SHOULD BE ALLOWED AT FAIRS??



## drdoolittle (Oct 9, 2019)

Some of you know that I recently brought home 2 former pony ride ponies.  I bought them from the woman who owned the pony ride business and had decided to get out of it.  When I first went to see the ponies (in July), they were ALL terribly emaciated and so sad looking (except for one very healthy one she was keeping ).
She excused their condition saying, "Hay was hard to get this past winter."  and proceeded to tell my friend how one pony actually starved to death during the winter.

I had found photos of some of her ponies on her Facebook page for her business.....I have to share them, they disgust me as the ponies weren't even then in good condition and the woman allowed people to ride them who were CLEARLY too big. 

 I am sickened thinking of how these ponies were exploited and 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 used to make money while they suffered at her ignorant hands.  I'm just relieved she decided to sell them all, hopefully all the others got good homes (there were 6 or 7 total).

The final photo is of the 2 year old filly who starved to search this past winter....photo is from summer of 2018.  I also included (in the first comment) other photos including a photo that she took to use as a Christmas pic.....the pony does NOT seem happy and all that crap on him is just HORRIBLE!
I HATE these type of pony rides and hope they will soon be a thing of the past!


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## drdoolittle (Oct 9, 2019)




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## B&B Happy goats (Oct 10, 2019)

Those photos  made me cry ,.......
the former owner is clearly a heartless fidiot and should be made to carry the load of fools on her back in circles for hours a day ,........ while crowds of people stand by and watch without crying out for someone to save her.

Thank you for giving them a good home and showing them kindness


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## Southern by choice (Oct 10, 2019)

The few people that I have personally known that did pony rides/petting zoo services took excellent care of their ponies and all animals. They also had a weight limit. The pony rides were for children only AND if a child was acting ill toward the animal the child was removed immediately. Both people I know had the highest respectability and the one was booked generally 2 years in advance for events. The one had an employee that was seen by the trailers smoking and he was immediately fired. She had a strict policy. 

Are there bad apples? Sure, but every time there is one then people want to destroy the whole. That is not ok.
So IMO should pony rides be allowed at fairs? YES. However the fair should be hiring those that are reputable and have healthy animals with the proper parameters in place. 

When my children were young getting on a pony for a short ride was a highlight for them. They loved it and looked forward to it, outside of a local fair there wasn't much opportunity for them.


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## frustratedearthmother (Oct 10, 2019)

Agree with @Southern by choice .  I see nothing wrong with animals earning a living.  But, if they're going to work they should receive the best of care.  There should be weight limits even though ponies are well-known for being stronger than their full-size counterparts.  The persons who hired this person are the ones perpetuating the problem.  I'm glad that she's out of business and you were able to give a couple of her former employees a good home!


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## B&B Happy goats (Oct 10, 2019)

X2 what @fustratedearthmother  said


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## Baymule (Oct 10, 2019)

As a child, those pony rides were so exciting that I still remember them. Most people take good care of their animals. Don’t condemn all for the actions of a few. Even now, I go see the pony rides. I’ve never seen starved ponies.


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## Bunnylady (Oct 10, 2019)

My thought is that anyone that would saddle a two-year-old and use it for pony rides is so ignorant it hurts. Yes, you have shown a lot of pictures there of people who are way too big for the animal they are sitting on; for me, that just underscores the lack of knowledge. Sadly, such things are not restricted to pony rides; YouTube has scads of videos of people riding minis, most of whom probably weigh at least half what the pony does.

When we have had pony rides at our local fair, the people doing it were very careful with their ponies; I remember one who wouldn't let my daughter ride a pony that I thought could manage her weight easily (she was about 6 years old at the time); they put her on a bigger pony. They also brought a lot of ponies, and rotated them on a pretty tight schedule.

As far as the Christmas picture, this is my mini, Blondie:



Christmas parade



"Easter Pony" - it was raining at the moment, and someone forgot to set up the awning, so we were sheltering under an overhang when I took this pic.

Blondie has the personality of a Golden Retriever - everyone is a friend she hasn't met yet. She is 35",  about 250 lbs, roachbacked, cowhocked, and has stifles that lock if her feet get too long (I have to keep her trimmed at what I consider an abnormally steep angle, but it works for her. She is actually a little long in this picture; I let her feet go a bit because we were going to be on concrete/asphalt, and a little extra room seems better on hard surfaces). Blondie's ancestors are show horses, so she has a dainty frame (To truly look like a horse in miniature, the best-bred Miniature Horses have light frames, rather than sturdy ones). This is really the only kind of "work" she can do. Some people may consider it offensive, but she seems to enjoy it (she definitely enjoys the carrots!) and she takes Facebook by storm every time she goes out in public.

We've done a number of parades, and a number of different costumes; lacking a flair for decorating doesn't offend me. The only thing that really bothers me about the Christmas picture is the stud chain - any animal that requires that much leverage probably shouldn't be put in that sort of situation.


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## B&B Happy goats (Oct 10, 2019)

@Bunnylady ....Blondie looks  wonderful  in her holiday costumes, very tastefully  done


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## drdoolittle (Oct 10, 2019)

I agree with everyone, that there are some pony ride businesses that take care of their ponies.  I doubt anyone riding these ponies realized how starved they were.....their saddles/pads covered up a LOT.

The problem is that there are not strict enough guidelines/laws for care of livestock so bad owners continue to get away with abuse/neglect.  I think it's fine for animals to be put to use to earn their keep......as long as they are taken care of properly.  In this case, she wasn't feeding, vaccinating/worming properly or protecting her ponies from inappropriate riders.....


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## rachels.haven (Oct 10, 2019)

Maybe complaining to the people that hire this particular pony ride person is in order if this person is still pony riding. I don't think a beef with every pony ride person necessary. Most pony ride ponies I've seen have been fat and healthy and small kids only. Most people love their animals even when working.


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## Baymule (Oct 10, 2019)

I’m of the opinion that more laws and regulations tend to punish those who do things right. Just enforce the laws that are already there. Yes, this was a lousy owner and she should have been reported. What a blessing that she closed and sold the ponies.


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## Southern by choice (Oct 10, 2019)

drdoolittle said:


> The problem is that there are not strict enough guidelines/laws for care of livestock so bad owners continue to get away with abuse/neglect.  I think it's fine for animals to be put to use to earn their keep......as long as they are taken care of properly.  In this case, she wasn't feeding, vaccinating/worming properly or protecting her ponies from inappropriate riders.....



I disagree, there are far too many laws and it is getting ridiculous. You are going to have idiots, that will not change making more and more laws only harms those that do right. We now have more laws protecting animals than humans. Recently a law was passed.... trying to recollect the state/county.... escapes me at the moment.... no outside dogs. PERIOD. So those of us with livestock are screwed and cannot have LGD's? It is always a busy body that decides that something is so horrible we need a new law.


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## Bunnylady (Oct 10, 2019)

It's getting close to time for our local fair, which reminds me . . . . Those of us that work in the animal barn (actually, a very large tent) will have to keep our eyes open any time the gates are open. Members of a certain animal rights group will come through on a semi-regular basis and put their pamphlets on top of the cages the smaller animals are in. Handing out any kind of materials without official permission is prohibited; if they get caught, they will be escorted off the premises. So, rather than, say, rent a booth in the Agriculture tent where they can distribute to their hearts' content (as the House Rabbit Society and some other rescue groups do), these folks prefer to be sneaky.

Before the fair can be declared open to the public, all of the animals are given a once-over by a veterinarian. Poultry have to have a certain on-the-spot blood test; horses must have a current Coggins; everything reasonable is done to make sure that any animals there are not a risk to others of their kind. This applies to pony ride ponies and any other animals used by performers. We must meet certain requirements regarding confinement and care, and may be subjected to random inspections at any time. After an E. coli outbreak at a petting zoo a few years ago, we started being required to put barriers up to prevent the public from coming close enough to touch any of the animals, and spray disinfectant on the parts of the floor where the public will be walking any time we move an animal through there, and before we open every day. Violations could result in our being shut down; complaints  get investigated (even absurd, ignorant, baseless ones).

Some states have more nit-picky rules than others, but I'm pretty sure all have some sort of anti-cruelty legislation in place. I don't know precisely how it is worded, but Indiana does require that livestock be cared for in a manner that can reasonably be expected to keep them in good health. Several of the ponies in those pictures are not at a good weight; I can't believe that every single fair-goer was so ignorant of good animal care that there weren't complaints (shoot, we've had people complain that some chickens weren't being fed, when they were ankle-deep in the feed they kept shoveling out of their feed cups!). Maybe the issue isn't the law, but enforcement, or maybe the folks entrusted with enforcing the law were too lenient in the penalties inflicted to prevent the tragic death, but I'm wondering if she may have in effect been _forced_ out of the pony ride business.


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## farmerjan (Oct 11, 2019)

Southern by choice said:


> I disagree, there are far too many laws and it is getting ridiculous. You are going to have idiots, that will not change making more and more laws only harms those that do right. We now have more laws protecting animals than humans. Recently a law was passed.... trying to recollect the state/county.... escapes me at the moment.... no outside dogs. PERIOD. So those of us with livestock are screwed and cannot have LGD's? It is always a busy body that decides that something is so horrible we need a new law.



I am with @Southern by choice  100%.  There are so many rules and laws that some of them totally contradict each other. If the laws in place were enforced in the first place, we wouldn't need to keep making "more laws."  It is definitely the busybodies that are causing more and more problems.  If someone is abusing an animal, report them.  As caretakers of the animals, we should be alert to problems.  I have been through enough with busybody people that "just know" that I am not taking care of my animals.... BAMBI is a child's fantasyland.  Not real life. 

My aunt and uncle used to do the pony ride thing at some of the local events when I was a kid.  It was a big deal to me to be able to go "help" at these events.  They had size and weight restrictions and the ponies were often fat as butterballs from the "good life " they had at home.  We didn't have the carousel but actually led them around for the riders.  There were kids there that had never been close enough to touch, let alone ride, on a pony. 

Sorry, that you opened up a can of worm,s but most on here I do believe think that there are too many laws and "oversight" intruding into our lives.  If something is wrong, then make sure the authorities know.  But for all those that are "instant experts" , there are alot more of us that really are knowledgeable  caring owners.  I may not like the confinement systems that the commercial broilers are raised in;  but every farmer that I know that has a poultry house, spends more time and money taking care of the birds to make sure they don't get sick, and do what they are intended to do which is grow in the most economical manner possible.  There was a time, in the older houses that the smells were horrific, and it was not as well known that the ammonia and all was so bad, but there have been huge improvements  over the years.  If this country wasn't so obsessed with cheap food, these houses wouldn't be near as prevalent.  The farmers do make money off them, but there are alot of hoops to jump through, you are at the beck and call of the company you are contracted to, and they take time to do it right.   All that said, I like my birds to be outside whenever possible on real dirt and grass and have a chance to have a real chance to do what chickens do.  But don't forget, those birds also can be aggressive and canabalistic for no apparent reason too.

We should all CARE about the animals that we care for,  and that we use for whatever purpose we have them for.  Pony rides are not the scourge of the earth.  Some owners are. Obviously you rescued the ponies from a person who either did not know how to properly take care of them, or could not do so financially.  That is wonderful that you took the ones you did to give them a better home.

As far as the dressing up of the ponies in "outfits" for different seasons or celebrations, hey, it isn't that terrible.  Some of the animals seem to really like it and all the attention they get.  Some hate it.  I personally hate to wear a dress and all that goes along with it.  Did it for years.  I do it when I have to.  I think some of the costumes people put on an animal are silly, but they usually aren't hurting anything.  To me it is an excessive show of how much they care for their animal.  I was in the fabric dept of Wal-mart back a little bit ago.  Some young lady and her boyfriend were there and she was buying some "netting" type fabric and asking his opinion.  He was just agreeing and rolling his eyes behind her back a bit.  I was smiling.  I asked if she was making a costume for someone in a school play or something.  She looked at me so seriously, and said, no this is to make a tu-tu  for my goat.  I just smiled and told her good luck hope it turned out well, and turned around to look at some other stuff before I burst into hysterics....  All I can say is GOD BLESS her boyfriend.....


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## Baymule (Oct 11, 2019)

x2!


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## farmerjan (Oct 11, 2019)

@Bunnylady  your location is showing NC again....


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## Southern by choice (Oct 11, 2019)

@farmerjan  I agree but I will take it a step farther.

What happened to people addressing  the person? What happened to people communicating with others? I have seen this on here many times where someone is just so outraged at something. YET, do they go and find out if there is a problem? Can they help? NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
People hide behind the "call the authorities". 
The age old law for thousands of years has been you have a right to know who your accuser is! In the US that stood for a long time. We have now moved into a very shady area where people hide.  I see on FB all kinds of slander and accusation. It is disgusting. For those of us that have been here for years we've seen it here too. Very sad. 

Maybe if we (as a society) could say "hey, I see the horses are looking really thin, or the farrier hasn't been out or .... fill in the blank." We might be more effective. Maybe someone lost their spouse and is struggling to care for an animal and needs help for a bit. Maybe those animals in a field that look bad and no one ever sees anyone around is because the 80+ year old farmer is dead in the house. Maybe that herd that looks bad just went through a whole herd sickness and is recuperating. 

I am glad that doolittle now has the ponies. Sometimes, that is exactly how we can help.


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## Baymule (Oct 11, 2019)

@Southern by choice the hide behind the authorities is exactly why I won't put Joe, our 30 year old love of my life horse up in either of the front pastures to graze. He has cushings and is painfully thin. It grieves me. Deeply grieves me. I give him the best care I can, along with Buteless, a herbal pain formula. I have to be careful with his diet, as too rich and it goes to his feet and he suffers in pain, paddling on all fours. If I put him up front and some do-gooder called in on me for abuse, I would be livid, compounded with the grief I feel over my precious "old man". That is his eye in my avatar. I don't need the aggravation, so he stays in the back where he can't be seen from the road. 

As long as he has that spark in his eye, looks forward to his feed, comes to me for attention, I will do all I can for him. When that day comes when his quality of life is gone, we have a phone number to a guy with a backhoe.


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## Mini Horses (Oct 11, 2019)

AGREE, AGREE, AGREE!!!!!!!

As to the owner/seller/operator:
I am thinking what was once a decent income became more than she could handle financially & physically -- and wouldn't ask for help, or get rid of the "business" earlier.  Sadly for all.  But seems to be over now.

Enjoy your boys, drdoolittle.


ETA---  Bay & I were posting at same time.     She is correct!  Any person NOT familiar with the aging of an animal is often an accuser of "neglect" for the ones who own old ones.   They lose teeth, condition, require special feed, have late life disease issues, sway backs, limping and unless you KNOW....yes, many are critical.   Often no amount of vet bills will correct some things, only add some relief/comfort.      We are more tolerant of aging in humans.   Animals have similar issues when OLD!!!   30 for a horse is like 100+ for humans.  
We all die sometime.  Special care helps until we do, won't stop it!


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## Baymule (Oct 13, 2019)

How many 100 year old people look like they did when they were 18?


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## drdoolittle (Oct 14, 2019)

Southern by choice said:


> I disagree, there are far too many laws and it is getting ridiculous. You are going to have idiots, that will not change making more and more laws only harms those that do right. We now have more laws protecting animals than humans. Recently a law was passed.... trying to recollect the state/county.... escapes me at the moment.... no outside dogs. PERIOD. So those of us with livestock are screwed and cannot have LGD's? It is always a busy body that decides that something is so horrible we need a new law.



You're right about the laws hurting those who do right.....I am worried myself about the "No outside dogs" issue.  What I meant is that the fairs allowing pony rides should have guidelines for the ponies.  They should require proof of vaccines/worming and check the animals health conditions.  I'm just glad this woman closed her business.


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## Bunnylady (Oct 14, 2019)

drdoolittle said:


> require proof of vaccines/worming



But which vaccines? And how often? The manufacturers seem to think once a year is enough, but vets recommend at least twice a year in areas where mosquitoes may be active year-round. A lot of people save money by buying the vaccines and doing the shots themselves, but who knows if they are doing it right or even telling the truth about doing it at all?

As for worming - you really opened a can of worms (pun intended) with that one. A lot of worm populations are showing a growing resistance to wormers (for example, I've heard that the goat parasite known as the barber pole worm is completely unimpressed by Ivermectin in a lot of areas; similar things are said about Panacur and Strongid in horses). In an effort to slow this trend, one protocol calls for a fecal test before worming, and only worming animals that have a significant worm load. Somehow, "here's the lab report from (insert date here) that showed that he only had a few worms, so he didn't need worming" seems to me unlikely to fly, and a receipt from the feed store for a tube of wormer doesn't mean you gave it to this particular horse (plus, I can worm all three of my minis from one tube, as long as it's *not* Moxidectin). . . so, are we going to be required by law to get vet bills for that, too?

You can't just single out pony ride ponies; that's discrimination. You'd have to apply this to all horses that are going to fairs or other public events (as you doubtlessly know, we already need proof of an annual Coggins for any time our horses leave our property).  While people who spend mega bucks on elite bloodlines and extra-fancy tack and enter big shows probably wouldn't blink at the extra expense, the small-time horse owner that only wants to enter local shows would probably howl at having to pay for a farm call, etc, several times a year, for good horse health care that they probably are already doing anyway, themselves.


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## promiseacres (Oct 14, 2019)

Bunnylady said:


> But which vaccines? And how often? The manufacturers seem to think once a year is enough, but vets recommend at least twice a year in areas where mosquitoes may be active year-round. A lot of people save money by buying the vaccines and doing the shots themselves, but who knows if they are doing it right or even telling the truth about doing it at all?
> 
> 
> You can't just single out pony ride ponies; that's discrimination. You'd have to apply this to all horses that are going to fairs or other public events (as you doubtlessly know, we already need proof of an annual Coggins for any time our horses leave our property).  While people who spend mega bucks on elite bloodlines and extra-fancy tack and enter big shows probably wouldn't blink at the extra expense, the small-time horse owner that only wants to enter local shows would probably howl at having to pay a for a farm call, etc, several times a year, for good horse health care that they probably are already doing anyway, themselves.



100% agree! Other than at this time Indiana does not even require coggins to move a horse, which is required in many surrounding states. And having lived in Amish country they'd raise a big stink of any vaccine requirements to take their horses off their property. It's absolutely no suprise that EE is in the North Eastern Indiana with the many Amish living there. 
If I was going to be running a festival or fair then it's my right (and responsibility) to require a vet check or coggins for the animals coming in. Every year the state fair has pony rides and all ponies look fat, sassy and only kids riding that I've seen. And fairly sure it's the same people bringing them year after year. I'm sure if they had issues it wouldn't continue.


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## Baymule (Oct 14, 2019)

Bunnylady said:


> But which vaccines? And how often? The manufacturers seem to think once a year is enough, but vets recommend at least twice a year in areas where mosquitoes may be active year-round. A lot of people save money by buying the vaccines and doing the shots themselves, but who knows if they are doing it right or even telling the truth about doing it at all?
> 
> As for worming - you really opened a can of worms (pun intended) with that one. A lot of worm populations are showing a growing resistance to wormers (for example, I've heard that the goat parasite known as the barber pole worm is completely unimpressed by Ivermectin in a lot of areas; similar things are said about Panacur and Strongid in horses). In an effort to slow this trend, one protocol calls for a fecal test before worming, and only worming animals that have a significant worm load. Somehow, "here's the lab report from (insert date here) that showed that he only had a few worms, so he didn't need worming" seems to me unlikely to fly, and a receipt from the feed store for a tube of wormer doesn't mean you gave it to this particular horse (plus, I can worm all three of my minis from one tube, as long as it's *not* Moxidectin). . . so, are we going to be required by law to get vet bills for that, too?
> 
> You can't just single out pony ride ponies; that's discrimination. You'd have to apply this to all horses that are going to fairs or other public events (as you doubtlessly know, we already need proof of an annual Coggins for any time our horses leave our property).  While people who spend mega bucks on elite bloodlines and extra-fancy tack and enter big shows probably wouldn't blink at the extra expense, the small-time horse owner that only wants to enter local shows would probably howl at having to pay for a farm call, etc, several times a year, for good horse health care that they probably are already doing anyway, themselves.


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## mystang89 (Oct 16, 2019)

Southern by choice said:


> The few people that I have personally known that did pony rides/petting zoo services took excellent care of their ponies and all animals. They also had a weight limit. The pony rides were for children only AND if a child was acting ill toward the animal the child was removed immediately. Both people I know had the highest respectability and the one was booked generally 2 years in advance for events. The one had an employee that was seen by the trailers smoking and he was immediately fired. She had a strict policy.
> 
> Are there bad apples? Sure, but every time there is one then people want to destroy the whole. That is not ok.
> So IMO should pony rides be allowed at fairs? YES. However the fair should be hiring those that are reputable and have healthy animals with the proper parameters in place.
> ...


What she said.


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## microchick (Oct 16, 2019)

I don't post often here....lurk yep, post no, in fact, this is my first post on BYH. Hi everyone! A lot of you know me from BYC as microchick and know the story of the 5 cattle dog pups DH and I rescued last April from an Amish neighbor's puppy mill. 

We have lived in the middle of a heavily Amish populated community for 10 years. In that time we have seen horses being worked with harness galls, some through the outer layer of skin and raw with the horse still in full harness that hasn't been padded. Black and dark brown horses standing in the sun and 90+degree heat in full harness. No water, no shade. Horses 'staked out' with electric wire pens at the shoulder of a gravel road to 'graze' down the shoulder without shade or water visible.

When my husband first saw the ACD pups they were in a small pen with a large dog house, covered with mud, the only food available was a dead goat kid that they had thrown in the pen with them as the man of the house wouldn't provide them with dog food any longer. They were about 12 weeks old. My husband came home more upset than I've seen him in a long time and kept asking me what we were going to do. I told him we'd sleep on it, do some praying and decide in the morning. We woke up the next morning and without hesitation I told my husband, lets go rescue some puppies. He asked me which ones, I told him all of them. When we got there they still had a dead goat to gnaw on, but one of the sons had tossed in a wild rabbit for good measure and they were playing pull toy with it's remains. I have no idea if the rabbit was alive or dead when it was given to them although I suspect the way these youngsters look at cats as being 'pull toys' I would suspect alive. To make a long story short, I talked the guy down to 5$ per pup if we took them all and the next thing I knew we were loading 5 rambunctious, completely clueless, heathen pups into the van for the trip home. 

It's been an ordeal, both wonderful and trying. The pups are great dogs, now 9 months old and their only flaw is that they are aggressive to cats. Nobody has been killed. It's a weird aggression. I don't know if their herding instincts kick in with them or their earlier experiences with small game as food has something to do with it. There have been many trips to the vet for sutured up cats and to doctors for infections from cat bites suffered while rescuing the cats who are a bit brainless at times and as the old saying goes about curiosity and cats sometimes, their judgement is flawed. We, in the meantime have become expert cat wranglers. 

The point is recently we talked to somebody who had a child who worked for animal control and asked why they weren't doing something about the Amish Puppy Mills after telling them about our 5 rescue pups. They told us that they, the animal control people, were more interested in the registered and licensed breeding kennels than the 'amateur' Amish ran establishments.

So yes, how can you make more laws when the old ones are not being enforced?  It's impossible! To the Amish around us, and I can't say all, but lets say 80% look at animals, whether they be cats, dogs, horses or cows....chickens too, as being livestock. Expendable livestock and as one told us one day, if ya got live stock sooner or later you are going to have dead stock.

We didn't turn our neighbor in for animal abuse. Should have. Didn't. We have to live here as the old saying goes. And DH asked me once what we were going to do if we ran across another situation as we found with our 5 ACDs? I have no answer. We currently have 7 dogs, 5 cats and 40 assorted chickens on our hobby farm. Does that represent a herd? I keep telling DH we need some cows for our cattle dogs to wear out their energy on but as he said, we'd just be stitching up cows every time we turn around.

Is their as solution? I dunno. I've threatened to do what the OP has done and drag a pony or two home when I see it fenced in with electric tape and no water available. I told DH that if one ever showed up at our gate loose it would mysteriously find its way in and I would put it in the back pasture or barn where it would be pampered and spoiled for the rest of its days.

But in the end we can only do so much as responsible pet owners and 'herd' keepers and try our best to intervene when we can and do what we can. My hat's off to @drdoolittle for rescuing the two ponies. If I lived near I probably would have been hitting DH up to rescue a couple myself. If there is room in your heart, there is room in your house/barn!

Hopefully sooner or later the laws will be enforced.


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## Baymule (Oct 16, 2019)

@microchick glad that you finally decided to sign up and join the conversation. Stick around, dogs, cats and chickens are herds too!


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## microchick (Oct 16, 2019)

Thanks @Baymule. I plan to!


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## Ron Bequeath (Oct 18, 2019)

drdoolittle said:


> Some of you know that I recently brought home 2 former pony ride ponies.  I bought them from the woman who owned the pony ride business and had decided to get out of it.  When I first went to see the ponies (in July), they were ALL terribly emaciated and so sad looking (except for one very healthy one she was keeping ).
> She excused their condition saying, "Hay was hard to get this past winter."  and proceeded to tell my friend how one pony actually starved to death during the winter.
> 
> I had found photos of some of her ponies on her Facebook page for her business.....I have to share them, they disgust me as the ponies weren't even then in good condition and the woman allowed people to ride them who were CLEARLY too big.
> ...


I may not make some people happy by my response but here goes. We, having amish or not in my ancestry, had draft work horses on the farm as I was growing up. They where feed a half bale of hay in the morning 2 ears of non gmo corn, and a gallon of oats.  Similar ar nihht and all the water they wanted. Harnessed and would work all day pulling hay and grain wagons, binders, plows, hay mowers and rakes. Of course it was a much slower pace than the guy with the large tractor planting gmo grains and beating down the good earth with the heavy equipment. After my grandfather and uncles passed the 3 year old team was turned out to pasture and we went to small tractors. Probably because we where to lazy to put harnesses on the horses. With in a couple of years the team was sick and died although it is our family practice to give our stock the utmost care possible. We where told by the vet and old timers that the horses died because they did not receive the used for which they where created. I have a neighbor who raises icelandic horses, a beautiful and noble breed. It is my belief that they have inbred these qualities out of the horses and further I believe and have seen that they over pasture the horses confinement area letting noxious weeds grow and had not given the horses any supplimental hay for 4 1/2 months. Lossing one mare and leaving her orphaned 6 week old foal to survive on her own with the herd. When the humaine society was called to investigate they apologized to the Pittsburgh owner and did nothing to correct the situation, anymore than leaving the 14 horses in their 4 acre jail and seeing that they are thrown 3 bales of hay periodically while being under the watch of many passerbyers.  Two examples,  who was worse. If you see abuse, go to the fair board and complain, picked the ride, discuss the situation with passerbys or friends and neighbors of like mind. Do something. I have seen horserides given with healthy horses, clean and neat facilities and an allowance guide posted for child height and weights. It's great to see the line of children getting to experience a farm activity that has been brought to them.  It sheds a positive light on what you do. As for decorating the horse  that's the owners privilege and if we don't like it do what you did, buy the horse. Problem is they usually go out and buy another. We as homesteaders, farmette owners, or that person who has a pony, goat, cow, etc. should be smart enough to require our county, locality, or area to adopt safety rules and requlations. To protect the animals and yet allow for the experiences to be had. And, and this is the big one, ENFORCE them, the laws are usually there we, WE just don't follow up and see that they are followed. Hope I  haven't stepped on to many toes.


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## Mini Horses (Oct 18, 2019)

Haven't stepped on my toes...


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## promiseacres (Oct 18, 2019)

me neither.


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## microchick (Oct 18, 2019)

Nor mine.

Amish are like everyone else. Not all cut from the same cloth. The Amish around us are referred to, even by other Amish from outside the area as being 'gypsy Amish' and if you drove around the area you would notice a stark difference between them and Amish farms outside the local 'community' and know what I was talking about. 

My father was born in 1912 in Burke's Co. Pennsylvania. I grew up hearing him speak 'Pennsylvania Dutch' and relating stories to me about being 7 years old and walking behind a plow barely able to reach the handles. He's been gone for 13 years now and I miss him dearly. I tell my husband every time we drive by a horse that is tied out in full saddle or harness in the sun that if my dad was alive he would be having a cow, getting out of his car and moving the horse to shade and if the owner protested, giving them a piece of his mind in fluent 'Duetch' He adored horses and rode in the US Calvary prior to WWII, performing in the Army's Exhibition drill team. I have pictures somewhere of him 'Roman Riding' on two horses, so he was quite the horseman.

We have one neighbor who is Amish who does show consideration towards his stock. During haying season he told us that our field was the last one he was doing for awhile as his big Belgium's were starting to show swelling under their yokes and he wanted to rest them for a week or two before doing more hay. I was impressed.....now if I could just hear him say that he was getting out of the 'puppy mill' business, I would say there was hope for him.

The same with 'pony rides' they are not all cut from the same cloth. You are going to find those who do their best to take care of their stock and treat them with love and kindness. Then you are going to have those who just don't give a hoot and will use them up like a pair of old shoes then discard them, not caring past the all mighty dollar they make off of their suffering.

Existing laws need to be enforced. People need to speak up. If nothing happens folks can always go to the news and let them investigate the problem. Nothing gets attention like having their name potentially smeared on the airwaves!


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## Bunnylady (Oct 18, 2019)

microchick said:


> Nothing gets attention like having their name potentially smeared on the airwaves!



Or the internet.


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## drdoolittle (Oct 26, 2019)

I'm thankfully to have everyone's honest opinions here.  I feel like I opened a can of worms with this post.  I am not really against all pony ride businesses......it is more a matter of being against this one particular person who was not putting firth the effort to care for her ponies properly.
I am glad she chose to get out of the business and sell the ponies to individuals rather than take the to auction.  I pray all 4 other geldings are with loving families as are the 2 I bought.


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## Baymule (Oct 26, 2019)

drdoolittle said:


> I'm thankfully to have everyone's honest opinions here.  I feel like I opened a can of worms with this post.  I am not really against all pony ride businesses......it is more a matter of being against this one particular person who was not putting firth the effort to care for her ponies properly.



Nah, you didn't open a can of worms. This was a good post, lots of discussion. We all don't agree all the time, but we sure can have a civil discussion about it. This is how we all learn, from open discussion and different points of view. 

I am glad that you bought the two ponies. I'm sure they think they have died and gone to heaven.


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## B&B Happy goats (Oct 26, 2019)

I gotta agree with Bay, ... and I am so happy you were able to save the ones that you could.
I can't  change they way I felt reading your post the first time....I still think people should get a dose of the same treatment that they give to their mistreated animals...  

SOOOO HAPPY they are yours now


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