Unwanted, underweight and unloved, Maybelle, a black-and-white paint pony, never stood a chance.
She was advertised as a 15-year-old pony, but Maybelle was far from that. With bad teeth and poorly kept feet, 25-year-old Maybelle was the victim of neglect.
Athens area horse trainer Rachel Bendler was searching for a pony to be a client when she stumbled on the advertisement about Maybelle. When she went to purchase the pony, Bendler said the owners were not home and had told her to leave the money on the table if she wanted to take her.
“The owners just wanted the money; they didn’t care where she ended up,” she said. “The client wasn’t going to want her (because of her age), but I couldn’t leave her there.”
Since then, Bendler has devoted a lot of time, effort and money into rehabilitating Maybelle.
Besides having health problems, such as her feet and teeth, Maybelle also suffered from psychological problems and a lack of trust, Bendler said.
Ohio resident Stacy Rourke, a third-year graduate student studying to become a veterinarian at the Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine, said abuse and neglectful behavior could condition a horse to fear certain situations.
“Say you ask your dog to sit, and it does; you give it a treat,” she said. “If you ask your dog to sit, and it does, and you hit it, then it’s not going to want to sit anymore. You have to re-teach them.”
After months of care and attention, Bendler said Maybelle is recovering nicely while staying at the Last Chance Corral, a nonprofit organization that provides shelter and rehabilitation to neglected, abused or otherwise unwanted horses until they have found an appropriate, permanent home.
“Now, she’s a sweetheart. I teach lessons on her … she’s really good with kids; she’s patient with them,” Bendler said. “That’s something that’s not really common.”
Maybelle is not alone. Bendler, who owns a farm, and Victoria Goss, president and founder of the Last Chance Corral, take in around 20 and 100 neglected or unwanted horses each year, respectively. Both cite sheer ignorance as one of the main causes for abuse or neglect of horses.
“A lot of it isn’t done black-heartedly,” Goss said. “They’re doing things the way their fathers and grandfathers did it. It’s not using modern knowledge or techniques. … The same things that have given us longevity have given animals longevity: dentistry, nutrition, medicine.”
Poor economic standings are also a major cause of mistreatment toward horses. The surge in the price of hay this year, due to a drought, makes it almost impossible for the average person to keep horses — even if he or she wanted to, Bendler said.
A proper water source, shelter that can withstand all types of weather and an abundant food supply are all needed to ensure a proper lifestyle for the horse and prevent mistreatment.
The Athens County Humane Society receives one to two complaints of large-animal abuse a month, often involving horses, said Lana Planisek, the Athens County humane agent for the past 25 years. These records only reflect the cases that go through the county, unlike Maybelle’s story, which was dealt with on a private level.
Other than typical farm animals, horses are often seen more as companion animals rather than solely agricultural ones.
“Having a horse is the same to me as having a dog is to someone else,” said Christina Hunley, a senior studying sociology and psychology and president of the Ohio University Equestrian Team.
Goss said that mindset stems from historical and mental perspectives of horses.
“Paul Revere wasn’t riding a pig,” she said. “The man in shining, white armor doesn’t show up on a cow.”
mg986611@ohiou.edu
