The Face of Horse Slaughter: Calliope and Clementine

August of 2010. I had sent a rescue crew to a kill pen on the Tennessee/Kentucky line. The lot was packed with horses that would shortly be loaded into a trailer and sent to Canada for slaughter. I never go on these rescue missions for two reasons; first, there really isn’t anyone who can duplicate what I do here on Locket’s Meadow, and second, it’s almost beyond my ability to witness dozens of horses that are about to be destroyed and not attempt to save every last one of them. I’d already looked through photos posted online and chosen as many horses as could fit in our trailer. These included a pregnant mare and another that was possibly pregnant. I can’t bear the thought of a pregnant horse going to slaughter and I try to get them out as often as I can.

My team arrived at the kill pen at night. Catching terrified horses that are packed into small, muddy pens is hard enough in daylight, but in the dark, it’s very dangerous. The team had learned that the pregnant mare had delivered her filly that morning, adding to the hazardous conditions as mares are extremely protective of their newborns. The other mare, the one that was suspected of being pregnant, was at death’s door, emaciated, gasping for breath, mucus pouring from every orifice, yet still adorned with the green USDA stamp of approval; even with full-blown pneumonia, she’d been declared healthy enough to be slaughtered for human consumption.

I got a call from Cindy, one of the rescuers, and through the broken reception (at least 15 call backs) and her near-hysteria (this was her first rescue mission and she could not believe what she was seeing) she detailed the trauma and drama, and told me about one of the horses we weren’t getting – a small, black pony that was very, very pregnant. I'd quickly made arrangements for the sick mare and the mama and baby to stay at a safe farm in Tennessee, so there was now room on the trailer for a pony. I told the team to try to negotiate to get the black mare out, or get me the number of the owner so I could do it . . . if the phone reception held.

It took several hours to capture the frantic horses. The owner never showed, so we couldn’t rescue the pony, and the team had no choice but to leave and get the mama, baby and sick mare to their temporary home.

To say it was a disheartening rescue is an understatement. The little filly died within days. The older mare, however, survived with daily penicillin shots (if she had been pregnant, by the time we got her, she no longer was) and we did negotiate the release of the black pony. HOWEVER  . . . when the next truck arrived at the kill pen to load with slaughter animals, we had taken so many out of the facility that there weren’t enough to ship. The truck left empty. The kill pen owner, in fear of losing his contract, decided he would allow no more rescues from his lot. Our next trailer, loaded with the sick mare, two other horses, two mules and the little black pony, was among the very last to leave that place with animals destined to live. That pony had escaped by the skin of her teeth.

In my opinion, every horse is special, but some touch many more people than others. Calliope, the little black mare, is among that group. She’s pure black, not a speck of white on her, with a crazy-long mane and tail. She is sweet and gentle and holds her composure under the most trying conditions.

Because her belly was so large and she was so small, Calliope spent the last six weeks of her pregnancy at Connecticut Valley Equine under the watchful eye of Dr. Stacey Golub and the ladies of MareStare, an online service where horse lovers can watch pregnant mares on live streaming video and report signs of impending labor. We’d worked so hard to get this girl out of the slaughter pen, we weren’t going to let anything happen to her during delivery. On Oct. 21 at 10:10 p.m., baby Clementine arrived – huge, all black except for her white face, and with one blue watcheye.

Hundreds of people watched her birth live on their computers that night, and when complications later arose, they stayed awake with us and prayed throughout the early morning hours, willing little Clemmie to turn the corner and survive.

Today, at more than a year old, Clementine is inches taller than her mother and we expect her to grow to be a full-size horse. She has her mother’s careful, gentle nature, and is beloved by everyone who meets her. To those who say that horses waiting in the kill pens are only good for slaughter – I say, “Rubbish! Garbage! Wishful thinking!” Because the existence of perfect ponies like Calliope and Clementine defies the irrational justification used by pro-slaughter forces. The only humane answer is to humanely euthenize unwanted horses and STOP THE OVERBREEDING.

I wish I had a dollar for every person who’s been shocked when I’ve told them we regularly pull pregnant mares from slaughter pens.

“They slaughter pregnant mares?” they exclaim, horrified.

And I reply, “They don’t care what they slaughter, as long as they fill their quotas.”

Pregnant, sick, diseased, injected and medicated with drugs that make the horse unsafe for consumption (which is just about every horse in the Unites States.) I have seen the USDA stamp of approval glued to the rumps of everything from the grandchildren of the great Secretariat to desperately ill horses that clearly would never survive a trailer ride to the next county, never mind country. If that’s what the people of Europe and Asia want to eat, well, they deserve whatever happens to them. These horses, however, did nothing to deserve the ends they meet.

Had Calliope not been spotted by my girls, she also would have been packed into a trailer with dozens of others, hauled to Canada or Mexico without food or water, unloaded into a staging area, and then . . . well, if you have a strong enough stomach, watch this. I can’t.

There is no humane way to slaughter horses, or any other animal, for that matter. There is no reason to bring horse slaughter back to the USA, however, just as we’ve done with dogs and cats, we need to educate the public about the horrors of over breeding. Slaughter does not end the misery, it only encourages people to over breed and add to the endless misery.

Go to the bottom of this article to see what you can do to help. And remember, the face of slaughter is not necessarily some broken-down hack; more often than not, it’s that of Calliope and her lovely Clementine.

Kathleen Schurman and her husband David Melina own Locket’s Meadow in Bethany, CT, where they have rescued hundreds of horses from slaughter. Kathleen is the author of two children’s books about the rescues on their farm; “The Long Road Home” tells the story of Earnestly Seeking Galileo and “Captain of the Dance” is about the very special and gifted Captain.