Horses abandoned, shot at Martin Stables South in FL?

[magic code]

This has been posted on a few other sites. Truth to this?

[wilf]

I heard that Caroline Webster was feeding them after he had walked off the property and left the horses to themselves. Some nice horses there and they had to do DNA testing to verify pedigrees. I heard all this 2 months ago when I was at home ,most people are unaware of the sad state of affairs in Fla with dozens of horses requiring new homes . Strange behaviour indeed,maybe the guy went into a deep depression. With a better economy I would have loved to have taken over some of those Spanish Steps horses but who can afford another mouth to feed these days?

[Patuxet]

32 horses (15 mares, 17 yearlings) were in the OBS Winter Mixed Sale listed under Perrone Sales Ltd., agent for Martin Stables South Dispersal - Phase 1. By and large they were in pretty sad condition, having subsisted on only winter pasture, and as a result several of the mares had aborted.

An aged Seattle Slew stakes mare I was interested in until I saw her condition eventually went through the ring with no bid. Afterward I spoke to the sales agent and offered to give the mare a home. I was told that "the bank" would have to authorize any sale or transfer for less than the sale's $1000 minimum.

So if the stock, if not the property, was in receivership then responsibility for maintaining the horses would appear to rest with "the bank".

It's anger-making to think that there were still horses on the property which continued to be neglected. The condition of the ones in the sale certainly should have been a red flag for animal welfare people in the Ocala area.

Someone else came up with a $1000 for the mare I offered to take.

[Ann]

Sadly all this is true. There was a spot on a local TV channel last week concerning these horses. I'd made a trip to the farm after I had purchased one of the mares that didn't sell during the OBS Jan. Mixed Sale. At the farm I looked at 10 mares and all but one had lost their foals. The 1 mare still in foal was La Turka. All the mares with the exception of 1 or 2, were older and in a very bad way at that time. There was mare in the barn that had foaled a healthy baby out in the field that morning. The mare herself was quite thin but the foal wasn't. He looked good and was full of himself. For the most part all 10+ mares were nicely bred and a few were Graded Stakes mares or producers. During the time I was there(about an hour) the mares were given 1 very thin piece of alfalfa. As you might imagine it disappeared quite quickly.

Also at the same time I saw a large group of yearlings..maybe 30+. They didn't look anything near as bad as the mares but, they were far from where they should be to be called in good health.

Like anybody who loves these grand creatures it sickens me to know that maybe all the mares I saw are most likely dead. Bringing one home made me feel good at the time but, the news last week put reality right in my face.

[oliverstoned]

Yeah I scratched my head when I saw that Seattle Slew mare didn't get a bid, now I hear the back story...uhg. How could someone do such a thing, and man it was a cold winter. He had some nice mares that unfortunately were bred to Spanish Steps every year which hurt their commercial appeal and then he flopped as a sire to boot (go figure an unraced son of Unbridled). I would think some of those mares may prove to be diamonds in the rough when nursed back to health and bred to stallions like Montbrook, Graeme Hall, Concerto, Put it Back etc..

[ireneinwa]

Sad

[Patuxet]

This is from an email from the owner of the Ocala farm where I board my horses:

Martin Stables put down 18 horses one day and 20 another according to what we have heard from some of the people around there. I don't know if they were neglected or not but they didn't want to keep them anymore and they weren't selling for what it costs to put them through the sales. There have been other farms putting a lot of them down. They say that in Ky they were aborting a lot of them so they didn't have to pay stud fees or raise the foals.

[Shammy Davis]

This is very sad. Talking about a fall. In 2009, Martin Stables was listed as one of the nation's top breeding facilities.

The website is still up. Here are some of Martin's credits.

http://www.martinstables.com/about-us.shtml

I wasn't able to find any information on the www about the current status of the Martin horses. Having volunteered at some rescues, I know that caretakers must be aware of "re-feeding syndrome." There are lots of links concerning this. Here is one.

http://www.starvinghorses.com/Refeedingsyndrome.html

[Jenny]

Good article.
I will keep that in mind. I take in quite a few starving horses and have gotten them back in good health. I have never had a problem, but maybe I dodged a bullet. I have always fed alfalfa hay and a high fat/low carb diet and done well with it. Maybe this is one of the reasons I have not had any problems re-feeding starved horses. I will however keep and print out of the article for future reference.
Unfortunately we have several re-hab horses coming in shortly.

[Crystal]

unfortunetly putting the horses down were probably the best thing for them..

[redhart1]

Theses posts are false concerning Martin Stables. Martin Stables announced its phase1 dispersal at the OBS January sale. The goal was to sell 145 horses from January to June and close the farm. Martin Stables always keeps its retired mares until infirmities required euthanasia. When euthanizing, Martin Stables Vets suggested using a local horse disposal specialist that uses the same humane method they use for cattle intended for food. Chemical injections prohibit the carcass from being utilized for animal food products.

A month ago, Martin Stables decided to euthanize 9 geriatric mares ages 20 to 26, a 20 year old severely arthritic paint teaser, a 2yo filly that had broken a shoulder and had severe nerve damage , a gelding with chronic Laminitis and a foal who had a crushed Hock that had been stepped on. That is it! False rumors had it as high as 60 horses! Anymore than the ones I described are simply not true. The mare that was rumored to have been shot last summer had ruptured her stomach and was euthanized in the same manner. It was not true that it was Martin Stables best mare and it was not randomly shot. That was just another false rumor.

Another false rumor is the remaining horses were abandoned and starved. Not true again. Marion County animal welfare inspected alll horses last week and issued no citations for law violation. Call Jill Lancon the director and verify for it yourself. Has Martin Stables experienced financial issues.? Yes and it has been decided to close the Florida operation. I know all of this because I am Eddie Martin. I can assure you that I have made sure these horses eat before I do some days and It is my responsibility to make sure my horses get the best homes possible and they will.

It hurts to read posts that are just not accurate for whatever reason. The stories just get bigger and more twisted. These horses are family and I raised most of the retired mares from foals. No one cares about my horses more than I do. The unforeseen Banking meltown, 70% drop in sale prices at OBS and the Current depression in our commercial market just was not in my forecasts.

I will monitor future messages and will be happy to answer any questions anyone has but what I have read on this message board is just not accurate.
Eddie Martin

[Shammy Davis]

Forgive me for being a little incredulous, but in two of the previous posts, the members witnessed horses that were in sad condition at your farm and at OBS and reported that in their posts. Are you saying they are lying?

Apparently, your sales agent at OBS was representing the bank as a perspective owner was directed to it, so who was taking care of or responsible for the horses left at the FL farm? Why didn't you make arrangements to have the remaining horses shipped to IN to insure proper care?

This is not the only board where this discussion as surfaced. It has definitely taken on a life of its own.

Just because your farm was not cited for anything doesn't necessarily mean that nothing was wrong. One of the posts above cites a TV news report on the state of the horses.

Personally, I am sorry for your problems. These are truly difficult times, but I've got to say that the care of your horses, beyond your person and family, was your highest priority. If you took off to IN and left those horses in FL in unsupervised or marginal care or turned over responsibility to a bank, IMO that was definitely a big mistake and shows neglect.

[redhart1]

I asked my friend Eddie Martin about these alleged claims and this is his reponse:

The claim of a TV report is "Urban Legend". People on other threads that have claimed the a TV report was on Ch 9 or Ch 20 could not prove this claim when the TV staion's web sites were searched for the "alleged" story. The Horse Protection Association of Fla's president Kim Heath and Jill Lancone (director of Marion Countty Horse Welfare) were not aware of any TV story about it either. My horses were not left unsupervised. I had a staff of employees that lived on the farm and they were found to have been responsible for theft of thousands of dollars of equipment, feed and supplies that I had documentation that I paid for. The 8 employees were terminated at the end of January. The Bank had leins on my horses until March 5th, 2010 so that is why a bank was mentioned when an offer was made.

Just because an unidentified poster made these claims means they're true or accurate? This board's rules are they do not tolerate "accusations" and false claims. I am here to disseminate accurate information.

Is Randy Klopp your trainer in Indiana? He trains a horse with a similar name as your name on this board.
- Eddie Martin

[Crystal]

Ernie Paragallo also left a staff in charge of the horses on his farm and it got him into some pretty hot water. Atleast you made the effort to sell your horses at the sale where he just left them to rot.

So are you Eddie Martin, because I was confused by the post that started "I asked my friend Eddie Martin" ...

[redhart1]

This is a friend of Eddie Martin. I am forwarding him the replys regarding this thread and posting his responses. He signed up for this message board on Tuesday of this week so he could address the rumors but the moderator has not activated him yet.