“They were not undernourished, they were ugly,” he said.

Ernie Paragallo in the courthouse parking lot after closing arguments.

Ernie Paragallo at the courthouse parking lot

The trial is over.  Judge George Pulver Jr. must now decide whether the mares, the yearlings, the weanlings, and the stallions at Ernie Paragallo’s Center Brook Farm were indeed starved and left with severe parasite infestations without proper care.  If these horses were, simply said, abused.

If Judge Pulver comes to the conclusion that this was indeed the case at Center Brook Farm then the owner of that farm is responsible for what happened on his farm.  The owner is responsible whether he visits his farm regularly or is absent most of the time.

Party Forever Colt Leaves Center Brook Farm

We were not called as witnesses in the trial.  We went to Center Brook in October to pick up three yearlings. They were still very thin.  And they were wild.  They were barely halter broken, the colt’s halter so tight that it left bald patches on his face.  Our trainer Paula Turner could not touch their legs and feet until a couple of weeks ago.  The colt is still afraid of anything that touches or approaches his head and neck, indicative of mistreatment.

The one person who had been at the farm all along suddenly had to leave the country – short before the trial.  Center Brook Farm manager Eddie Salazar could have told the judge what happened on the farm.  He could have explained perhaps why after a former raid in 2007 things did improve at Center Brook temporarily.  He also could have told how many horses were at the farm in fall of 2008 and how many actually made it until the raid in April 2009.  When one stallion was picked up by his new owner in January 2009, he already saw older horses looking bad, and young ones in dire shape.

Mr. Paragallo:  The horses were not ugly.

They were sick, some so sick that they could not been helped anymore.  They were starved to death.  Good people took the others in, fed them, paid for their medical bills, and helped them look good, as good as any healthy thoroughbred can look.  The horses only looked ugly while in your care, Mr. Paragallo.

“They are using this case to get donations and charitable contributions for the Columbia-Greene Humane Society,”

Paragallo’s attorney Michael Howard at the trial.

Paragallo and his attorney Michael Howard

You ought to be grateful that people donated money to Columbia-Greene SPCA and to other horse rescue organizations to help YOUR sick and malnourished horses, that YOU, Mr. Paragallo, should have paid for.  How dare you to accuse any of theses organizations for asking to help pay the bills.  None of them would have had to solicit  money if not for the dozens of YOUR sick horses that needed to be taken care of.

And even if your argument about underfeeding mares so they would breed better held up to proper research – how about the yearlings, how about the geldings at Center Brook – why were they starved?

You still own horses, Mr. Paragallo.  You said you did nothing wrong.  Horses were found to be in bad condition at your farm before.  Perhaps you should read different books on horse care.  Or as the people who paid to help your horses, how it is done properly.  Because none of these horses are ugly anymore.

Please see video “Closing Argument Delivered In Paragallo Animal Abuse Trial”, WTEN

click here:

Paragallo after Closing Arguments

Ernie Paragallo At Court

DAY 2 OF THE TRIAL:

Here is the most recent report from The Daily Mail

Kill pen owner testifies to taking Paragallo’s horses

Trial of accused animal abuser resumes

By Colin DeVries
Hudson-Catskill Newspapers
Published: Wednesday, March 3, 2010 1:00 PM EST

CATSKILL — A Bainbridge horse farmer testified Tuesday that horses delivered from Center Brook Farm in Climax were in a seriously malnourished condition.

“They were nothing but bones,”

said Donald Nickerson of the 22 emaciated Center Brook Farm thoroughbreds brought to his small farm intended for slaughter.

Nickerson testified Tuesday in the temporary Greene County Courthouse during the case against accused animal abuser Ernest Paragallo.

“They were in very, very bad shape,” said the aging farmer. “We lost ‘bout four of them to malnutrition.”

Nickerson purchased the horses from a transporter, Richard Bairidi, who had brought them from Paragallo’s Center Brook Farm in Climax.

Nickerson commonly buys horses and has them transported to a slaughterhouse in Quebec, Canada for cash. Slaughterhouses have been shut down around the U.S. in recent years, after a U.S. Court of Appeals in Illinois upheld as constitutional a ban on horse slaughter for human consumption. Horse meat is seen as a delicacy in Japan and parts of Europe.

Paragallo has been charged with 35 misdemeanor animal cruelty counts of failure to provide proper sustenance. His Center Brook Farm was raided by authorities on April 8, 2009, where 177 malnourished thoroughbreds were found, infested with lice and in dire need of veterinary care. The case is being heard, without a jury, before Greene County Court Judge George J. Pulver Jr.

Greene County District Attorney Terry Wilhelm continued his case against Paragallo in the third day of trial proceedings Tuesday, presenting evidence that the horses were the victims of being improperly cared for.

“The horses were starved to death,” said Nickerson of what he observed the day Bairidi and another driver brought the thoroughbreds to his farm on Feb. 23, 2009.

He said one horse was already dead when the trailers arrived and one was laying motionless on the trailer’s floor.

Nickerson estimated the horses weighed only 800 to 900 pounds, though “they had a 1,300 or 1,400-pound framework.” A veterinarian, Dr. Jerry Bilinski, had previously testified a healthy thoroughbred weight is 1,000 to 1,200 pounds.

He nearly told the driver to take them back, but instead gave him a check that was just enough to pay his shipping costs.

After a few weeks of rehabilitation at the “kill pen,” Nickerson called upon friends to purchase and rehabilitate the ailing horses. Two of those friends testified Tuesday.

Lisa Leogrand, a horse trainer with over 20 years of experience, testified she had never seen horses in worse condition.

“They had thousands of lice all over them,” she said. “They were really bad.”

Leogrand purchased three mares from Nickerson and nursed them back to health on her farm in Fulton, where she boards and trains horses.

She said the horses coats were shedding severely due to lice-induced infections, leaving unusual bald spots. Many of the horses also had open sores due to constant itching from the lice. She said it was nearly impossible to shave their winter coats because of all the open sores.

“You couldn’t really touch them,” she said. “They’d cringe.”

She also said they had been infested with digestive worms and had signs of anemia, a condition likely caused by malnutrition.

Christy Sheidy had also purchased horses from the Nickerson farm and observed the same maladies. Sheidy operates Another Chance 4 Horses in Bernville, Pa., a nonprofit horse rescue, rehabilitation and placement center.

Both women commented on how skeletal and emaciated the horses had become.

When asked by Wilhelm what could have caused their skeletal condition, Sheidy responded, simply: “Not being fed.”

Sheidy rehabilitated four of the thoroughbreds formerly owned by Paragallo and identified photographs for the court showing each of the horses at a healthy weight after only three months of proper care and feeding.

During cross examination by defense attorney Michael Howard, Sheidy said that Paragallo had contacted her by phone and offered to pay her $4,000 for caring and rehabbing the horses. He also told her he didn’t know they were brought to a kill pen.

Howard, of Hudson, said that his client intends to testify in the coming days and show that he did not treat the horses improperly.

Paragallo told state police in a videotaped statement that he was feeding the horses strictly with hay to keep them lean, as suggested by breeder Joseph Taylor in his book “Joe Taylor’s Complete Guide to Breeding & Raising Racehorses.”

He also told police he had not personally visited Center Brook Farm for nine or 10 months before the April 2009 raid.

“Did I mismanage? Shoot me. I mismanaged.” he told the police. “I f—ed up. I’m not denying it. If they want to lock me up, maybe they should. Whether it’s my fault or not, it happened and it’s my responsibility.”

Wednesday’s proceeding will begin at 9 a.m. in the temporary Greene County Courthouse on Woodland Avenue in Catskill.

To reach reporter Colin DeVries please call 518-943-2100 ext. 3325, or e-mail cdevries@thedailymail.net.

Copyright © 2010 – The Daily Mail

“Maybe I should be locked up.”

(Ernie Paragallo, April 2009)

“These horses were not emaciated, judge. This is a horse farm. You have to give horses adequate sustenance. You don’t have to give them sugar cubes, carrots and apples.”

(Paragallo’s defense attorney Michael Howard, Feburary 2010)

The start of Ernie Paragallo’s trial has not been a top news event so far.

Not much drama is to be expected; there is no Michael Vicks-like celebrity to deliver headlines.

Ernie Paragallo (far right) at Greene County Court on February 24, 2010.

Mr. Paragallo chose a non-jury trial:  he argued that jurors could not be objective after having been exposed, a year ago, to the news and photographs of the abused horses at Center Brook Farm.

I want to emphasize:  a year ago.

Coconut Martini on her way out of misery

The victims of the abuse cannot speak for themselves and because of many good people who helped them survive and recover there are no recent images of emaciated horse bodies.  But the horrifying photographs from April last year are documents of what happened at Center Brook Farm.  The owner of the farm is responsible for the conditions of the animals in his care.

“This is a horse farm. You have to give horses adequate sustenance.”

Ernie Paragallo forsook his own horses.  He must be held responsible for the disgraceful conditions that came to light a year ago.

Following links to news coverage on the trial:

http://www.troyrecord.com/articles/2010/02/25/news/doc4b85de1f42fbf252359032.txt

http://www.thedailymail.net/articles/2010/02/25/news/doc4b860d6cc82a9782262414.txt

http://www.examiner.com/x-25445-West-Palm-Beach-Horse-Rescue-Examiner~y2010m2d25-Paragallo-trial-begins-in-Greene-County-Court

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/unleashed/2010/02/prominent-thoroughbred-racehorse-breeder-goes-on-trial-for-animal-cruelty-in-new-york-1.html

http://www.thoroughbredtimes.com/national-news/2010/February/24/Paragallo-to-police-Maybe-I-should-be-locked-up.aspx

Karen Feldgus is a dressage rider and riding instructor.  We met at Claremont Riding Academy in Manhattan where Karen taught individual and group lessons.  Many of us learned about classic seat and quiet hands in her classes and we adored hearing about her work with her young thoroughbreds.  For our website Karen kindly agreed to share her experiences with exceptional horses.

Karen With Truro

“Thoroughbreds are my greatest love and I am more than happy to share my stories.”

My first thoroughbred was Noble Finish; son of Noble Dancer who was English bred and became quite famous in Europe and in the U.S.  I renamed Noble Finish Manhattan Skyline and nicknamed him Manny.

Karen with Manny

I purchased Manny from the barn I was riding at. Manny came from another well-known Hunter/ Jumper trainer who sold him since no one at his barn could ride him.

Manny was quite young when I got him, only 6 or 7 years old, big at 17 plus hands, and a bolter. He was very beautiful (aren’t they all?), seal-bay in color. Manny had been with me for 17 years when he died from penicillin shot.

My Vet recommended me to a horse rescue place on Long Island called New York Horse Rescue. It was run by a woman named Mona Butler and her husband Dr. Butler, a horse Vet.  Sadly, Dr. Butler has recently succumbed to injuries from a horse he was treating at the track that July.

At New York Horse Rescue I tried only one horse and bought him right away. He was 3, coming 4, also big like Manny and jet black.
He was stunningly beautiful and very sweet and had impeccable manners. His racing name was Perpetual Peace and I renamed him Truro. His racing lines are quite impressive and he did well on the track. His kind owners felt he had done enough and retired him from racing.  When I found him, Truro had just come off the track and still had his racing plates on. He had only been gelded a few days before so I left him for a week to heal.

Truro

I trained him to be a Dressage horse and he was a beautiful mover. I took him to his first show this last summer and we did very well. I knew we were on our way and my work had been correct. Three weeks later he colicked and died. To say I was heartbroken and totally devastated is an understatement. He was such a big and loving part of my life and I adored him. I was overwhelmed with sadness and became very depressed. I knew the only thing to do was to find another horse as I had done when my horse Manny died.

So, when Truro died in September, I went back to NY Horse Rescue but they did not have what I was looking for. A friend was doing some riding for a horse dealer that I knew and she encouraged me to try some youngsters that had just come in. Here I found my beautiful filly Wellfleet.

Two Beauties: Karen and Wellfleet

Her racing name was Shorty’s Epitome. She seems to appreciate having a loving home and she became very quickly closely attached to me. She is not as big as my boys were but she is bigger in the body like a warmblood and at 16.3 hands certainly not small. She is the most beautiful mahogany red bay and shines like she has been simonized.

Once again, I am happy as can be. She is the greenest horse I have ever had but she is so kind and willing to learn. She has come so far in less than 3 months and is quite amazing. She has a great mind and I can hack her anywhere as I could my last horse.

Horses keep me happy and loving them gives the greatest return. To be loved by your horse is a gift and while I am strict about discipline Wellfleet knows she is adored.

If you are interested in the pedigrees of Karen horses please check out the following links:

Manny

Noble Finish aka Manny

http://www.pedigreequery.com/noble+finish

Perpetual Peace aka Truro

http://www.pedigreequery.com/perpetual+peace

Can we imagine what it would have been like to be the first person to step onto Centerbrook Farm with the intend to rescue two horses?  Where does one start in the face of herds of skinny, listless animals, their hides parasite-infested rags, their eyes hopeless, wobbly legs, dirty and desperate?  Volunteers of  the Equine Rescue Resource in Pine Bush, New York, went to Center Brook Farm and took two of them right away:  Good Will Hunter and Hunter’s Circle.

Then they moved to help the others: They filed the official report with the New York State Police, which immediately started to coordinate efforts with the local SPCA, which led to the raid 4 days after filing the report.  Setting the process in motion helped to save dozens of horses’ lives and more than that: It finally put an end to the neglect, abuse, and mishandling of the animals at Center Brook Farm.

The Equine Rescue Resource  furnished the District Attorney with evidence collected and Colleen Segarra who runs the organization has since served as a witness in the criminal case against Ernie Paragallo.

Colleen emailed us about her experience with her organization’s two rescues and sent us photographs of the animals from the time of rescue and after they had had some time to recover:

Those first two horses removed, Good Will Hunter, and Hunters Circle, were extremely neglected and debilitated.  Cornell University Equine Hospital was instrumental in the recovery of Will and their inclusion in any event would be appropriate.  Going forward, having their assistance will ensure the victims of abuse and neglect receive the very best medical care available in New York.

Will and Hunter have put their days at Centerbook Farm behind them, and are now happy and healthy horses.  Both have been adopted in to exceptional homes here in New York.

Goodwill Hunter

“Will” is a bay thoroughbred colt foaled April 28, 2008, out of  Hunters Circle, sired by Griffinite.  Will was found to be very debilitated, parasite infested (internal/external), malnourished and neglected, with untreated wounds.

Will in Stocks

Immediately after his rescue, Will was transported to the Veterinary Hospital at Cornell University, where he was admitted for treatment and evaluation. He returned to Cornell on June 3, 2009, where diagnostics and evaluations were performed.

Will Checking Out His Stall

Improvement in overall condition was noted, but he was found to still be lame in the right hind limb and surgery was suggested, pending a re-evaluation in 3 months. Will returned on September 16, 2009,  to Cornell for his third evaluation. The surgeons and lameness specialists were very pleased with him:  His legs had straightened, he was sound and could start to be trained as riding horse.

Will and Dr. Mitchell

The fabulous Dr. Mitchell noted over the course of 5 months, Will has grown considerably and put on more than 400 pounds (while on a very basic diet!) The only issue was that his body is growing faster than his legs and feet, so his diet was once again modified in an effort to help level out his development.

Hunters Circle

Will’s dam, Hunter’s Circle, is a chestnut thoroughbred mare.  Like her son, she was  very debilitated, parasite infested (internal/external), malnourished and neglected.

Hunter After Her Rescue

Port Jervis Humane Society fostered Hunters Circle and helped her to recover.  She is now a big bodied beautiful mare with a copper-penny shiny coat. 

Hunters Circle at Black Ridge, October 17, 09

http://www.equinerescueresource.com/