Carpe Diem - Breeding Operation Gone Bad

I was stunned to hear about an Andalusian/Lusitano breeding farm here in Oregon that has turned into a horrible place for horses. There's a large herd of the horses "living naturally" and they haven't been handled or cared for (Hooves trimmed, teeth done, vaccinated, wormed, halter broke, etc.) and are being allowed to breed willy-nilly. There are also other horses that are penned and don't have access to food or water and are living in terrible conditions. And it seems that not much is being done by law enforcement!

I hadn't heard about this until today and supposedly this has been going on for some time with conditions just getting worse, not better.

I have always thought about starting an animal rescue in the future, but I wish I had the resources and the facilities to help horses like these right now. I hate seeing horses that need help and not being able to do anything about it. It's painful to hear about but as of right now, the only thing that can be done is to call and speak to the sherriff in Wallowa County where this is taking place. Most of the time horses have to being dying or in near death condition for action to take place. Currently, conditions include:

• Horses refused medical care
• Horses having to be destroyed by employees
• Atrocious wire cuts
• Scars and laming because of unsafe fencing conditions
• Horses growing into their own halters resulting in maggot infestations

This is supposedly a well-known farm with people from all over the US coming to look at these horses. The stallions were imported, most from South America, so they are good quality. The offspring are kind of iffy quality and will require DNA tests in order to be registered if at all. The owner of Carpe Diem is facing disciplinary action from the IALHA and has had her rights to register horses and her membership revoked. Way to go IALHA! But there is still more to do. Currently based on people's comments, Byrde Lynn Hill is only allowing some horses to be sold, but at ridiculous prices and they are not allowed to vet the horse or even take them out of their enclosures (that is if they are not running wild without being halterbroke).

I hope that she gets all of her horses taken away by authorities and that they find new homes where they will really be taken care of. For more information, go here. I would love to take one of these guys and get them back to being healthy and put a little bit of training on them before finding them a more permanent home.

EDIT: Hmmm... Seems like there's some debate as to what is actually going on. Several sites (FHOTD, Andalusian Horse Club) claim that the horses are all in terrible condition and need to be rescued, while others say that all is well... On the discussion area for the Facebook page that they created to help horses from Carpe Diem, some are saying that there is nothing wrong with the horses there, just that they're unhandled. Horses might not be in perfect condition, but it might not be "the fault of the owner". Well, regardless of what is really going on, I hope all of the horses are being well cared for and that she can find some good homes for a lot of her horses as it sounds like she might have a few too many horses on her hands regardless of their condition. The reason her membership with the IALHA was suspended was because she signed off on a stallion that wasn't hers... At least that's what someone's saying.