She is My Sunshine

Laurie Myers: Allegan, MI She is My Sunshine!

Last year, I was in the market for a new horse. I heard about the horse auctions but had never been to one. I heard from some horse owners that the only thing that comes out of an auction were 'bad' horses, ones that were 'problem horses' or who were sickly. I stayed away from going to horse auctions for this reason. A friend of mine talked me into going to the Shipshewana auction the day after Thanksgiving, 2006. It was one of the biggest horse auctions of the year, the other is on Good Friday. We started out at the kill pen. I was amazed to see that the horses were not sick looking. They didn't appear to be badly behaved either. Most were, in fact, nice, healthy looking horses. I was happy to see other individuals there to purchase a horse for their own use as well. I quickly recognized the meat buyers, who were an obvious group of emotionless-looking men. They were cajoling the horses and making fun of them as they were swatted on their rumps with a cane by one of the auctioneers out into the aisle way. The concrete floor was damp and slippery and some of the horses fell as they ran out of the kill pen, most to the fate of the meat man's semi trailer. I felt so sorry for them. I bid on a couple of horses, but the auctioneer seemed to not hear me, although he heard the meat men's bids just fine! I saw a lovely Belgian I wanted to bid on. I wasn't sure if it was a gelding or mare, but I didn't care. It had wonderfully kind eyes although I could see the fear in them! The bidding was happening so fast. I raised my hand and yelled, "hey, over here"! But the auctioneer still didn't hear me. Then, a man next to me said, "You have a bidder here"! and pointed to me. I was shot a mean look by one of the meat buyers as I'm sure this big horse would be a great buy for them at $300-which is what my winning bid was! I was so excited about my new horse! I didn't have one piece of draft tack, not even a halter! I quickly went back to the pen where my new horse was being held. I realized I had purchased a young mare about 17 hands tall! I could see that she was really scared so I went in to the pen to love on her, but she wouldn't let me anywhere near her! I went to pay for her at the window, bought her a halter from one of the many vendors outside and then back to the pen to try to get it on her. I had no luck, but a nice, gentleman onlooker offered to help me. He got the halter on her and at the end of the day, I took her home. It was apparent she was handled very little in the past, had been ear twitched and also just weaned a baby! I realized she was untrained. I took her to a trainer named Wendy Fisher at Willow Tree Equestrian Center in Bangor, MI to get trained to drive and ride. Wendy grew up training draft horses and is one of the only draft horse trainers in the area that I knew of. After 45 days of training (only the last week was under saddle) my new horse was green broke! I named her Sunshine for the ray of light she brings to my life. I have shown Sunshine in a fun show. She pulls a cart as well, but mostly I trail ride with her. My vet determined at the time she was only four years old! Such a young horse put into the kill pen! What a shame! She is now a trustworthy, dependable mount and I love her with all my heart! Now I know there ARE wonderful horses at the auction, contrary to what some ignorant people told me! Every opportunity that presents itself, I tell people about my wonderful kill pen horse, Sunshine. I get oohs and aahs all the time when people see us out riding. They ask me about her and I am happy to tell them her story! My goal is to inform people about the horses that need to be saved from slaughter. Many have committed to purchasing one from the kill pen themselves! If I can spread the word about these horses and it helps save more horses, I've done my job! I plan to save more horses from the kill pen and find them good homes.