Support The Horses At Pure Thoughts!!

Go Team Horse!!
The T-Shirts We Have All Been Waiting For
Are Ready!!
Just In Time For The Holidays!!!
Hi everyone...Please go to the Pure Thoughts website
and check out the shirts!!!www.pthr.org This is a great way to spread the word to others about
Team Horse and the rescue work we support.

Michelle Tolley wore her shirt a few days ago, and it gets attention! It will also make you feel good that you have this shirt and the horses have your donation!A BIG THANK YOU to the "Travelling Circus Ladies" for their generous donations!Note From Michelle:If you order a shirt (and we hope that you do!), please send me an email to let me know your shirt size, # of shirts and your mailing address: mtolley@ctc.net -
Kind Regards,
Laura Boothby
Pure Thoughts, Inc.
A Stand 4 The Horses Fundraising & Rescue Education

IReport About HR 6598

For some reason CCN flagged my report and did not release it for over 4 hours. It finally is up.
http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-88520

Horse Slaughter Bill Receives Added Support – Pro-Slaughter “MYTHS” Dispelled

September 17, 2008, Wellington, Florida Today Victoria McCullough will be in Washington D.C. to speak at the Judicial Committee on Behalf of H.R.6598 The Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act of 2008.

On May23, 2008 Victoria McCullough and members of Pure Thoughts Inc. Horse & Foal Rescue traveled to Sugarcreek, Ohio to attend one of the gruesome weekly kill-auctions held every Friday. This was the day The Triumph Project was born; all the horses were saved from slaughter. The Triumph Project was not just about saving the horses that day. It is about changing the future of the horses and horse slaughter by raising awareness through tested and proven facts. Former Representative Charlie Stenholm, (now a lobbyist for the pro-slaughter campaign) would like the country to believe that the horses going to slaughter are “old and infirm.” Pro-Slaughter would also like us to believe that disposing of 90,000 horses a year would be impossible and economically not feasible for horse owners. Both of these statements could be construed as crucial to the cause IF they were true. Horses that are sent to slaughter have been labeled “unwanted” when really they are inhumanely DISCARDED, with no accountability or responsibility to the owners.

Contrary to Mr. Stenholm’s statements, the proven facts are the following:

Total Horses Purchased 163 (all horses that were destined for slaughter)
Number of old and infirm horses from that total 7 (4.3% of the horses purchased were old or infirm and needed to be humanely euthanized, all due to neglect)
Cost to euthanize and dispose of ALL old & infirm horses $1225
In addition, in less than 3 ½ months since their purchase from auction almost half of these horses have been placed in forever homes and successfully adopted, which shows they are not unwanted horses.

In regards to Victoria McCullough’s continued fight against slaughter the following statement was made. “I firmly believe that the present economic crisis is a very clear tutorial that in arrogance we have lost a sense of human definition and traded our once core fundamentals for self-serving elements. How we treat our children, our elderly, our pets and companion animals give us our identities I would prefer to endeavor to reach for alternatives to restore our compassion and sensitivities. To slaughter young healthy beautiful horses, ponies, foals and mares in foal and to overuse and abandon work animals that have given their lives in service is purely barbaric and unjust in our country of opportunities and dreams. I am in Washington to fight for the environment; the human environment. Cruelty such as this is intolerable and I have promised the horses that we have saved from slaughter to illuminate the injustice corruption and senseless mass disposal that has lingered in back rooms permeated by greed. These one hundred and sixty three horses spared on May twenty-third will save many many more; they and I have been reborn.” Victoria McCullough for The Triumph Project

The Triumph Project - The Davis McCullough Foundation funded the Triumph Project as an awareness campaign to enlighten the world through unified efforts, both in the United States as well as abroad, of the betrayal of our equine ally. Throughout history, horses have served us by escorting us to battle, tilling our fields, drawing our carriages, and enriching our lives as our companions and friends.

Pure Thoughts Inc. - is an all-volunteer 501c3 non-profit organization dedicated to saving the lives of horses, yearlings and foals that were intended to go to slaughter for human consumption. These horses would have been brutally tortured and slaughtered. Pure Thoughts Inc. Horse & Foal Rescue also rescues horses from starvation, abuse and neglect, any horse in need. To date, over 1150 innocent equines have been saved and we will continue to fight for the horses. We cannot do this alone...we need your help!! Please help us and others save these beautiful animals and please remember in your thoughts the ones we were unable to reach.

Jennifer Swanson
561-254-0415
Jswan0415@aol.com
www.PTHR.org




Jennifer SwansonPure Thoughts Inc.Horse & Foal Rescuewww.PTHR.org19181 Capet CreekLoxahatchee, FL 33470Saving the life of a horse may not change the world...................but it will change that horse's world.

West Palm Beach: WPTV Covers Equine Cruelty Bill H.R. 6598

Local Channel 5 WPTV came out to Mida Farm and interviewed Pure Thoughts, Inc Horse and Foal Rescue's Jennifer Swanson and Victoria McCullough about their trip to DC and the tomorrow's vote on H.R. 6598 The Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act of 2008 and H.R. 6597 Animal Cruelty Statistics Act of 2008 . You can see the interview today at 5 on Channel 5 (check your local cable provider) or for those across the country who would like to view it please visit www.wptv.com after 5pm today. Thank You WPTV and Reporter Jennifer Rivera for continuing to support PTHR and our National Campaign to bring humane care to out National Herd and to stop Horse Slaughter For Human Consumption in the US.
Sincerely,
Laura Boothby
Pure Thoughts, Inc
www.pthr.org
http://astand4thehorses.blogspot.com/
http://www.myspace.com/4thehorses

Some Quick Facts and Responses That Can Be Used to Debate HR 6598

We need to remember the facts about horse slaughter.
1)Slaughter is NOT Humane Euthanasia
2)Horse Slaughter Promotes Neglect. If a horse owner/trainer does not feel responsible for the animal and he can dump him at an auction sick, starved or injured without facing any charges there is no reason for them to be responsible
3) Horse Meat is full of carcinogens. On any feed, supplement or drug used in the equine industry it states Do Not Use On Animals Intended For Human Consumption.
4)Horses Are Not Raised in the U.S. as a food animal.
5)Transport to slaughter is inhumane. Laws are broken on a daily basis. Severely Injured, starved equine, mares heavy with foal delivering on trailers or slaughter house floors, blind horses, and foals under 6 months are transported off of feedlots and from auctions to Mexico on a regular basis.
6)The proponents of slaughter are not thinking of the horses they are thinking of their wallets.
7)90% of horses bought for slaughter are healthy serviceable animals under the age 10. Alarge portion of these horses are race horses, TBs and AQHA, they are loaded with drugs, hormones, and other products lethal to humanes. So the theory that US horse meat is better for you or is safer....well it's just that a theory based in lies not truth.

Please Vote For The Horses!!!

http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_HR_6598.html#commentform
CLICK ON THUMBS UP!!!!

USA TODAY CALL TO ACTION

"If you can't trust the USA Today on this issue,

can you trust them on any issue?"

A boycott is in order until they start printing factual information!

http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2008/08/homeless-on-the.html

Please Read the blog at the link provided.

And then comment and spread the word!

We are calling for a boycott of USA Today.

They have continued to promote Pro-Slaughter Propoganda as fact.

Several members of the Anti-Slaughter movement has approached USA Today to please report the facts, to research both sides and they refuse or ignore us.

Let's Stand Together As One Voice For The Horses And Say No To USA Today!

No Horse Meat Here!!

It's a rare occasion when I get to go to the grocery store alone. When I do, I enjoy my "quiet" time without the family bugging me for soda and pudding. On this day trip, Publix had tables set up with sushi samples and other goodies. I was stopping and sampling, trying to ignore a man who was huffing and puffing around the meat department. As I moved away I saw the Meat Manager step out from the back. "Huffy-Puffy" and he start talking. I roll my eyes and walk off as I hear Huffy-Puffy start complaining in a very thick French accent about the lack of international fair.
The manager asked him exactly this, "Sir if you tell me what you desire I can see what we can do for you." (Our Publix is like that, great customer service.) Huffy-Puffy says lovely, what I really would like to enjoy this evening is....... Okay I can't remember exactly what the dish was called now, but I did have cheval in the title. I stopped dead in my tracks. The manager looked confused and asked him what exactly was in this wonderful dish. Well I spun my cart around, hit the spice and condiment display in front of the Seafood display and yelled it's horse meat!!! I was fuming! The man looked down a me from his pointy nose and with a smirk said yes.... exactly horsemeat!
LOL The manager looked at me and him with big round eyes and said "OHHH I am sorry I didn't realize that is what you were asking for, we don't have that here". Huffy-Puffy started to complain again when I pounced. "Do you know where your beloved cheval comes from? It comes from our American horses! They are tortured and sent to inhumane slaughter houses. Do you know what you are eating? The carcinogens, the chemicals? Wormer, steroids, medications? Don't you people realize what you are putting in your bodies? In THIS country horses are fed feed from bags that say DO NOT USE ON ANIMALS MEANT FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION.
He started to get really red, really really mad. Next thing I know I feel the managers hand on my shoulder pulling me away, gently. As I walked away he started spouting in French, probably something along the lines about that Crazy American Lady, but my French is lacking.
The manager's face was pasty white, he didn't know what to say. I looked at him and told him I was sorry. I work in horse rescue, am fighting to end horse slaughter along with millions of other Americans and gave him my email address. I also told him in detail how bad the horses are treated and if Publix ever considered adding Horse Meat to satisfy the European consumer they would lose 1000's of customers. He told me that he didn't think Publix would ever do it and thanked me for the education. I think he was a little afraid of me too.

So that was my story.
I saw the manager the other day and he said when I left the French guy said I didn't know what I was talking about!

Kind Regards,
Laura Boothby
Pure Thoughts, Inc
www.pthr.org


A Stand 4 The Horses
Equine Welfare & Rescue Education
http://www.myspace.com/4thehorses

Watch With Caution

This video says it all. I have cried viewing many videos created by fellow horse lovers and resuers but during this video I completely broke down. It is very hard to watch, but it may just be a tool we can use to get people to see what is really going on out to the mainstream public. Please if you don't think you can watch horse in pain, panicking or in extreme neglect or abusive conditions to NOT watch this video.

Make Some Noise...Make A Difference!

I have Stage Fright? Could it be!!?? I couldn’t wait to get the Blog up and running, now I can’t seem to figure out what to write about. I have started this paragraph five times only to hit the backspace key each time, unsure of my words, unsure of the message I am trying to get across. Even the word message does not feel like the right word. Do I mean my belief, my opinion, or perspective? How do I begin to explain what I am thinking and feeling when I cannot even decipher my own thoughts in my own head? Is this block coming from frustration, helplessness, or is it a deeper problem, like lack of confidence?

I could write about the fact I have not touched a horse in a week because I can’t fill my gas tank anymore to make the 45 minute drive to the barn. I could write about how the Olympics are right around the corner and our U.S. Team is preparing to make us all proud. I could write about how internet stalking of rescues is at an all time high. But does anyone really care about these things, when we still have horses going to slaughter in Mexico and Canada every week? When every day we have horses, mules, and donkeys popping up that have been suffering long term abuse and neglect?

It’s time to look at ourselves and see what we can change about ourselves to help the horses more every single day. We need to not only work on the anti-slaughter legislation but changing the state and federal laws that continue to protect the abusers of our National Herd. I know many people feel like me. How can we get the federal and state governments to change the laws when they themselves are contemplating the destruction of our wild Mustangs in the name of Big Business?

I think we each have a talent, better yet, a weapon that we are not utilizing. Our voices, our intelligence, our experience in the Horse World among all different types of people, young, old, wealthy, and very horse poor. It cost nothing to email our government representatives, it cost nothing to talk to fellow horse people who have no idea what is going on. Even more we have an entire country that may not own horses, but love them, respect them, and have childhood memories of their first pony ride or seeing their kids grin ear to ear as the touch the soft muzzle of a sweet horse at a fair or a local farm. The people who see horses as a National Icon, but do not live with them every day, they are a resource to our National Herd we must tap. We must reach out into the mainstream public and touch their hearts…..no their sense of right and wrong, the most human part of all of us who want to right the injustices that are happening every day to the voiceless, helpless victims of abuse, neglect, and our government’s inability to step up to the plate.

So please stand up with me and network for our American horses. Start conversations with your fellow shoppers at the pet store or grocery store. When you go to a horse show this summer, ask the trainers, riders, and spectators if they know what is happening to the horses every day over the border. Educate yourselves with talking points, statistics, and quotes from those among us who have first hand knowledge of what happens at US auction houses in every state in the Continental U.S. Don’t be afraid to say the word slaughter or describe what is happening, unless a person really can get a sense of what is happening they will not be moved enough to act!

If we make some noise …..we can make a difference.

Laura Boothby

The Truth Must Be Told

Guest Blogger Jennifer Swanson
Co-Founder Pure Thoughts, Inc. Horse And Foal Reacue

THE TRUTH MUST BE TOLD...
OUR FIRST ARTICLE IS PUBLISHED... THE TRUTH WILL BE TOLD
This is on the www.phelpsprts.com . You need to be a member to read it there. I am hoping it gets picked up eslewhere. I thank Phelps Media for being courageous enough to publish this article. The article is called. "What did they do to deserve this"You can see more of the pictures from the auciton at www.PTHR.org

http://www.phelpssports.com/viewarticle.php?id=7477

Jennifer Swanson

June 22, 2008

As you approach the auction house the first thing you see are the eyes looking out through rusted caged windows. The horses get as close as they can to the air, the sunlight they know is out there, but they can’t get too close or their eyes will be impaled by the bent and rusted prongs. Still, they look out, hoping to see something familiar, someone coming to take them home.

Every horse has a different story. For the horses at auction, the look in their eyes all begs the same question: what did I do to deserve this? These horses are in a dark, man-made and operated cement hell.

They are poked and prodded and crammed, sometimes 50 horses, into single pens. Some horses fight, some try to stay to the side to avoid getting kicked. Some are hurt, some are mares trying to protect their foals. Others are just trying to stay on their feet so they don’t get trampled. There are tired and wounded workhorses. Colicking horses. Injured racehorses standing on three legs that still wear sweat from their last race.

This horror is just the first step in a torturous journey that these horses are on. It’s a journey that we as Americans, horse lovers and humanitarians allow in our country. And just when I think it can’t get worse, they open the gates and shove another horse in there, and the ruckus starts again, as the horses shift and struggle for position. A few strong ones can fight for a little bit of hay in the corner. Many horses have their heads stuck out of the pen in hopes a passerby will give them a pet on the head, in hopes someone will see them and take them out of there. Their quiet pleas seem somehow louder than the screams of the horses who are scared and hurt.

The horses do not have to have a voice to tell their story. The workhorses and Standardbreds, injured and abused and yet often clearly fresh from work, are the most painful to watch. These horses have given their lives to work for their owners and then they are delivered to a painful death. The Amish, the people who use these horses for their means of transportation and agriculture, in many cases provide the most horrible cases of neglect and abuse. A bullet to the head is more humane than what they do to these horses. What in their faith allows for this cruelty? The auction at Sugarcreek is the dumping grounds. Most people will bring their horses there to be sold, but they will buy their horses from better auctions. They will go to Mt. Hope or and spend thousands on a beautiful Standardbred with bows in her hair right off the track. In a year or two this same horse will be at the kill auction in Sugarcreek: weak, abused and destined for slaughter. They will go to a draft farms and spend thousands on a beautiful team or a draft horse, usually a Belgian and the same things will happen. This horse will be used and worked to within days of its life and then sent to the kill auction. That is the reward these horses receive for their work and servitude. If the horses are injured, they don’t care for them. They simply work them until they can no longer work, then they are sent to the killbuyer. I know there are Amish people out there who take good care of their horses, but we see so, so many that don’t.

And it’s not only the Amish. The racing industry joins them in the cruelest act. Gleaming muscled racehorses are top choice for the killbuyers. On May 23^rd Pure Thoughts bought more than 15 tattooed thoroughbreds. Some of these horses were picked up at a Maryland racetrack by a man who said he would deliver them to a therapeutic riding center. Instead he planned to deliver them to killbuyers. Fortunately for those horses we were there and brought them home. What happened to Eight Belles is truly heartbreaking and it seems the racing community is trying to change practices and policies. But what about this behind-the-scenes atrocity. Do all of the people who mourned the loss of Eight Belles know what happens to many racehorses every Friday at Sugarcreek?

Next time you enjoy a day at the races, think about the ones that did not make it that far or the horses that came in last in their race. Chances are there next stop is an inhumane slaughter. Is that really worth the exhilaration you felt as the horses crossed the finish line? Is their life worth our recreation? Are we, as a nation saying "It is okay that these horses experience a horrific death" is that what we want to define us as horse lovers?

But there is more. It’s not just the racing industry and the Amish. The slaughter pens hold many of beautiful horses, show horses, ponies, trail horses, pets, workhorses. Mares and week old foals are bought by killbuyers. They will be taken from the auction together but a stop will be made. At this stop the foal will be ripped from its' mother and either left to die or fattened up until it can be pass as a six-month old and then it will be sent to slaughter. The mare thinks losing her foal is a heartbreak, she has no idea what she is in for, this is nothing. Pregnant mares who are just days from giving birth are in the killpens after auction. They will be slaughtered. Killbuyer and slaughterhouses do not want our sick, old and lame. They want the healthy horses. Slaughter does not care what is on the registration papers, it just wants flesh.

But we haven’t even gotten to the process of slaughter yet. After the auction, the next horror these horses go through is the transport. Usually this is done unlawfully and without morals. The horses are crammed, again, into a trailer. Stallions, yearlings, mare, foals ponies are jammed in together. There is no water. There are no stops. They drive across the country to Canada or Mexico and don’t get off-loaded until they reach the slaughterhouse. Some will die on the way. If they act up, they are beaten harshly.

And yet, the American public turns a blind eye to this practice. So far we haven’t forced our government to listen to cries of the horses.

Some horse owners and lovers also stay in the dark, not educating themselves on the cruel truths of horse auctions. That nice man who seems to be buying up many good horses is NOT taking them back to his ranch. He is buying them for meat and he will smile at you politely and soon those horses will begin their long hellish journey, one that will end with him or her gasping for their last breath after being mutilated and tortured.

As rescuers we dance with the devil every day for the sake of the horses. We play the game we must play in order to be able to attend these auctions, work with the killbuyers and purchase these horses. We keep our stories amongst ourselves in order not to ruffle any feathers. We all filled with anger and rage over what happens and the tears are a river that runs constant. The story I tell is one I have lived with, it haunts my dreams and fills my soul. I look at the ones we save and cannot help but think of the ones we were unable to save. When I learned of horse slaughter, it changed my life. I gave up the life I had for a life that was once unknown to me and now I live and breathe it.

My job now is to speak for the horses and do my best to bring an end to this dirty little secret. From slaughter to nursemare foals. Cruelty and misuse of horses is inhumane and intolerable. For those who cannot speak ... I will.

On May 23, 2008, Pure Thoughts Horse and Foal Rescue aligned forces with the Davis- McCullough Foundation and saved all the horses that were intended to go to slaughter at the horse kill auction known at Sugarcreek Livestock auction. We did it with help from Victoria McCullough of the Davis-McCullough Foundation, which has spent years dedicating itself to the needs children and animals.

All equines were safe that day, including some from the week before who were waiting for their trip to slaughter. That was a single day that the horses were safe. As a country we have the ability to change this action and bring the horses of our country to safety everyday. These horses are being slaughtered for human consumption and shipped overseas to Europe and Asia. Let’s ban together and tell them No. Not our horses, the horses will not be tortured for your gluttony, not on our watch.

For more information on how you can help you may email Jennifer@PureThoughtsHorseRescue.com , visit the site www.PTHR.org or call 561-254-0415

Jennifer Swanson
Pure Thoughts Inc.
Horse & Foal Rescue
www.PTHR.org
19181 Capet Creek
Loxahatchee, FL 33470

Saving the life of a horse may not change the world...........
........but it will change that horse's world.

Willie Nelson To The Rescue

Guest Blogger Cheryl Hanna

For Immediate Release:


June 27, 2008Palm Beach Gardens, Florida


The Rolling Stones once wrote, "it's the singer and not the song", but for Stormy, a 16 year old former PMU stallion it was a singer who came to his rescue.

Five years ago, Stormy had been a stallion on a Canadian PMU farm. When the Women's Health Studies appeared and connected a prevalence of cancer, stroke, blood clots and other related conditions to the menopausal drugs, 60% of the farms producing the drugs from the urine of pregnant mares ( Premarin, Prempro, etc. ) closed ,and horses who could not be homed quickly wound up in slaughterhouses to be inhumanely butchered for the plates of wealthy Europeans and Japanese diners.

As luck might have it at that moment, horse lovers throughout the US had been bringing in many PMU mares and babies as well as a few stallions. Not too many people were able to handle stallions, but Stormy's beauty caught many an eye and through various horse rescue groups, the money was raised and Stormy was saved. He was able to stay at a farm in Canada temporarily, but soon his options would run out. Another Chance 4 Horses, www.anotherchance4horses.com a PA non profit, 501 C3 horse rescue, placed his picture on their website hoping to find someone willing to help Stormy, and luckily a private horse rescue who had successfully placed nearly 70 PMU mares and babies offered Stormy a home. Flash ahead 5 years, and Stormy was in need again; he had never been gelded and once again was in danger. The private rescue failed, and all of the horses needed new homes.

It was time for a miracle. Stormy is a tri-color paint and Willie Nelson loves paint horses and provides a sanctuary both in Texas and South Carolina for them. So a call from Another Chance 4 Horses to Jerry at Habitat for Horses, an explanation of the problem, and an invitation to Stormy was immediately extended. Stormy is now an official Willie Nelson horse. He will be gelded, thanks to an emergency grant offered by Front Range Equine Rescue, http://www.frontrangeequinerescue.org/ as a part of their backyard breeding deterrent program.He will either find the perfect home or be welcome to stay as an honored guest of Luck Farms, South Carolina, the latest foster farm for Habitat for Horses under the "Willie Nelson Signature Series" adoption program.

Stormy's story is not over yet; he still needs his feet and his teeth done to bring him back to optimum health. We now look to the generous donors who enable so many horses just like Stormy to be rescued. It happens every day, but to each horse, it makes a difference. Please help us help Habitat for Horses to continue their amazing work.

All donations for Stormy can be made to Habitat for Horses http://www.habitatforhorses.org



Best regards,Cheryl Hanna
Fundraising and Publicity
Another Chance 4 Horses, Inc
www.ac4h.com

Welcome

I started a blog once before but can't find it so I am starting over. I have been away from writing for way to long. This blog is going to cover all aspects of our Equine World, from the upcoming Olympics to Horse Rescue and Equine Welfare. Each and everyone of us who loves and enjoys horses whether it ia ever day or on the weekends have a responsibility to make a marked difference for our National Herd.
So thanks for checking out my first entry. I can't wait to get going full steam!!