The Kill Pen

The Kill Pen

“Show me your horse and I will tell you who you are.”

Old English

Among the lesson horses at Lisa Leogrande’s Triple L Stables in Fulton, New York, are several Thoroughbreds.  Like many of the horses she has trained, sold or adopted out to new homes, or kept for her own riding stable, these Thoroughbreds were discards. They were not needed or wanted anymore by their owners, sold at auction, and were on the last leg of their trip to a slaughterhouse in Canada when Lisa bought them a new life.

Lisa was the first one to find some of the mares from Ernie Paragallo’s Center Brook breeding farm. It was on one of her regular visits to a so-called “kill pen”, the facility were a dealer keeps horses before they are shipped to slaughter.  Lisa visits the pen whenever she can take on a few horses on her farm Triple L Stable, to rehabilitate and retrain them, giving them a new chance on life.

On March 13, 2009, Lisa found a large group of Thoroughbred mares at the dealer: approximately 20 broodmares with yellow collars around their necks.

“It was a disturbing sight.  Not just because they were in a meat pen waiting to go for slaughter in Canada, but because of the condition they were in”, remembers Lisa. “The dealer was horrified of the shape they were in.  He had the worst in his barn with blankets.  He and I talked on how someone could do this to the horses and that it was sick.”

Casa Eire after her arrival at Lisa's farm in March 2009

“One of the mares would put her head on my shoulder – Casa Eire was my first pick to get on my trailer and she was the only one we could catch. Casa is a wonderful horse with a personality that screams, “I love people and life!”  She also rides like a dream, smooth, classy and safe. I am sure she had not been ridden for many years and she rode right off after getting weight on her and we got rid of her lice problem.

Lucky Val in March 2009

All the horses in that group at the kill pen had huge bald spots from the lice.  No glitter in their eyes and scared to death, running around in the pen.  It was so very hard to catch them.  They only had bands around their necks and numbered tags on their hindquarters.  I wrote down the numbers on the horses I wanted to get loaded on my trailer.  We had to herd them into a smaller pen and them pin them in a corner to catch them and put halters on.  I picked out three of the Paraneck/ Paragallo mares, and three others from the kill pen that day, a total of six horses. We loaded them on my trailer to come home.”

Lisa was curious to find out where the mares had originally come from and started researching them.

Yeah Baby Yeah in March 2009

“I found that they had come from a large breeding farm in Climax, NY, owned by Paraneck Stables owner Ernie Paragallo.  I called The Exceller Fund trying to get enough money to rescue the remaining mares I had to leave behind at the kill pen. Those mares ranged from 4 to twenty years of age. The Exceller Fund gave me some phone numbers to call for help.

After talking with Diane, Lisa and Christy from Another Chance 4 Horses rescue in Pennsylvania, they were able to get four more mares out of the kill pen. Unfortunately the other 17 or so had already been shipped.”

The four mares AC4H took on had been in such bad shape that they could not have survived the transport to Canada. They could therefore not be shipped off right away and were left behind for another time. The delay saved their lives.

Lisa recalls the sorry sight of the horses at the dealer: “All the mares in the kill pen were extremely skinny, lice-infected, had skin lesions, their hooves needed much care. I remember a mahogany bay mare with an almost pie bald face. I found out later that her name was Red Hot Chili Pepper, an Ireland-bred mare who was born on my birthday, March 18.  She was only 6 years old. She will be in my thoughts. Unfortunately she was shipped.”

Casa Eire September 09

“I rescued six horses that day and $ 2,000.0 later they went home with me.  About 60 horses a week go to kill from this one dealer each week.  They do two loads per week with 33 horses per trailer. The horses are killed as soon as they get off the trailer at the slaughterhouse.  Upon arrival the trailer is backed up to the slaughter plant and the horses get unloaded to be processed.  Once the horses are loaded on the trailer at the dealer’s, the trailer is sealed and the seal cannot be broken until the trailer arrives at the plant.

Often, horses go from the auction directly to the plant, they never see a pasture again, hear a kind word or feel a gentle hand. Most of the horses don’t have papers, the dealers don’t really care; they are merely liaison between the sellers and the buyers at the slaughterhouse. When Lisa purchases the horses from the dealer she takes her chance. There are no vet exams, x-rays or test rides. All Lisa can go by is her experience: She looks at the eye of the horse and tries her best never knowing what comes home with her.

Lucky Val June 2009

But she says “OTTBs (off track Thoroughbreds)

Yeah Baby Yeah, June 2009

you can never go wrong on.  You know they ride.  You just have to look at their legs for any injuries.  I work and talk with the dealers and I have learned a lot from going to auctions.”

Lisa Leogrande has rescued many more since that day in March.

Lucky Val feeling good at Lisa's in April 09

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