The Colts

Thanks to the keen eye of Matt Doane, of C&M Horse Haven, five Canadian yearling colts were spotted in a kill buyer's yard in Central Alberta. Matt, being the kind of guy he is, drove right in to ask the kill buyer if there was any chance he'd sell. At the same time, Matt reached out to his partner Christine Miller who, in turn, contacted Society Chair, Deirdre Pickerell, to let her know the situation and discuss next steps, including how to best approach negotiations with the kill buyer. Matt, and his partner Christine Miller, were the ones who found Studly; having worked closely with us for the last several months, they both knew we would do whatever it took to save these boys. For their part Matt and Christine generously offered to negotiate with the kill buyer, pick up the colts, and provide a safe haven until homes could be found.

This was Monday September 21st, 2015 and the society was quick to take action; although the kill buyer was prepared to sell it had to be immediate as the colts were due to be shipped within the next 24-36 hours. While the society put out a call out for donations, Christine and Matt made the 2 hour trip from their farm. The wait was aggravating! We had no way of knowing how much the colts would cost but we knew there was no way we were leaving any behind. A good 4-5 hours later, we got word that all five were safe in Christine's trailer; some 2 hours after that the first pictures appeared. The colts were clearly traumatized and terrified by their recent ordeal; they were also unhandled.

There was a lot that needed to happen with these boys (e.g., handling, quarantine, DNA) so, although they would be up for adoption at some point, there was no rush to adopt any of them. The Society is forever grateful that Matt found these boys, and took immediate action. Without that, these boys would have met a fate most of us could not begin to imagine.

Very quickly, Colt #1 was named Brego; a naming contest was held for the other four, ultimately named Benson, Baldur, Bandit, and Baron. Check out their individual pages to learn more.