Horses have been a lifelong passion and vocation for Jeanne Montelius-Gaudreau. Gaudreau owns JMG stables in Clinton, Montana where she offers an array of services including boarding, pasturing and lessons. She says something happened this fall that’s opened her eyes to one particular aspect of the equestrian industry. It started with a beloved warmblood mare named Moose.
"Moose was a horse that I bred," Gaudreau says. "She was a very nice – very, very nice moving dressage horse. She was a horse that when you saw her going, you just kind of turned around and went, ‘Oooh, who’s that?’, you know?"
Moose’s owner, Megan Twohig, says some politely described the athletic, 11-year-old as having plenty of "personality":
"I call it attitude," says Twohig, laughing. "She just always made sure you knew her feelings, I guess would be the best way to put that. If she wasn’t happy — you knew. She would get you out of her way if she didn’t want you around!"
Madeline Kurz is the 18-year-old equestrian who leased Moose from Twohig. Madeline and Moose competed together for a little less than a year. They were a pair to be reckoned with in the dressage arena. What’s more, they shared an intense bond.
Then an injury sidelined the mare:
"And she was having a really good chance at recovery and then she hurt another joint," Gaudreau says. "She needed to be put down."
And so this past September, the decision was made. It was a devastating blow to the women. Madeline took it especially hard. She still doesn’t like talking about it:
"She bit a hole in this jacket I’m wearing," Madeline says. "That’s why it has duct tape. I’m just going to cry about this … sorry. She was … sorry …"
It was an emotionally draining experience for everyone at JMG Stables. Then something happened that transformed the team’s grief into something else.
And it started with a Facebook post.
"Then this thing for a rescue horse came across my page from another dressage trainer," Gaudreau says. "I usually don’t look at those too much, cause it’s really hard to look at those and not do anything."
An auction site on that Facebook page listed horses available from a Washington state feedlot. The animals were two days away from shipping to Mexico for slaughter.
America’s last horse slaughterhouses closed nearly a decade ago, but tens of thousands of domestic horses are still sent to Canadian and Mexican slaughterhouses every year.
Gaudreau, who describes herself as a "fairly tough, old farm gal" says too many of these animals wind up in unlicensed facilities and experience traumatic deaths:
"One of the worst things is, some of the horses are used to train fighting bulls and are gored to death"
Gaudreau made a few phone calls to friends and students who she knew would adopt and properly care for a rescue horse or two.
She talked it over with her 19-year-old daughter, Stevie and Stevie’s best friend, Madeline. They liked the idea. Within hours they’d wrangled some big horse trailers and hustled over to the Sunnyside, Washington feedlot to bring some horses home.
"It was as close to Hell as I wanted to get," says Stevie Gaudreau. For a horse person who spends her entire day with horses, none of us want to see an animal suffering the way some of those horses were in that pen."
Madeline Kurz agrees:
"Over in the corner there were some dead horses stacked on each other. We walked along and there were horses that couldn’t even eat any more. It’d be humane to put them down."
Jeanne Gaudreau says the girls saw some rough stuff that day that she’s convinced will leave a lasting impression on them:
"Stevie and Madeline, at 18 and 19 went through that kill pen. They are people who will forever be active in the horse industry. It will change their outlook and what they do with horses for the rest of their lives. Everybody who breeds should have to walk through a kill pen."
By the end of that difficult day the women were headed back to Clinton, MT with 28 horses in tow. Many have been adopted. About 13 are still available. The stable is organizing a fundraiser to help cover costs.
Gaudreau says some terrific horses are still available:
"[There’s] our friend Panda, who’s cantering up. He’s one of the gentlest horses I’ve ever been around. There are some nice horses in here. Not fancy, fancy horses, but nice horses."
Jeanne Gaudreau says the events of this past fall left a lasting impression on her:
"When we got into this I had bought a young stallion and was going to breed a few more mares. This has really changed my mind about that. I’m almost 60. Those horses will probably live longer than I will. I just don’t want to do that anymore. I don’t want to contribute to that. We as breeders – that’s where our problem lies. There’s too many horses in the U.S. being bred. More horses than there are people to take care of them."
More information about the rescue operation, fundraising, and available horses can be found at https://www.facebook.com/jmgrescues/ and http://jmgrescuehorses.weebly.com
