New homes needed for horses
Posted By Bruce Urquhart, SENTINEL-REVIEW
Updated 20 days ago
Elliot Ferguson photo/Sentinel-ReviewA herd of wild horses graze in a field adjacent to Wednesday morning's fatal house fire near Huntingford. The family of the two men who perished in the fire are looking for people to adopt the horses before they are sold for meat.Sun Media photo Elliot Ferguson/Woodstock Sentinel-Review/05/11/2009
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The grieving family of the two men who perished in a Wednesday morning fire are trying to make arrangements to sell the horses that were housed on the East Zorra-Tavistock farm.
Lynda Carlisle said Thursday her family is interested in finding new homes for the roughly 70 "unbroken" horses that had been kept on the farm by her father, George Rodwell. While she described the horses as never "haltered," she said many of the animals had a proud bloodline that could be traced to Secretariat, the famous Triple Crown winner.
"We can't say for sure," she said, "but most of the horses would have the Secretariat bloodline in them."
The horses are mostly a mix of American Quarter Horse and Appaloosa, which explains the predominance of leopard-spotted coat patterns in the herd. The difficulty, Carlisle said, was that registration papers and other information had been consumed in the fire. In recent years, she added, her father hadn't registered any of the new animals with equine associations.
"They're grade horses," said neighbour Mike Maltby, who raises American Quarter Horses. "They're non-registered. It's too bad because George had good bloodlines here."
With the stress of the past few days, the family still hasn't decided on the best method of selling the horses. While some friends have suggested an on-site auction, and others have mentioned online classified ads, Carlisle said any firm decision would be put on the backburner until after the planned Nov. 10 funerals of her father and 54-year-old brother Brian.
"(But) we don't want to be selling in knee-deep snow," Carlisle said. "We know we have to move them within the month."
While the preference is to find the horses a home, the family has, as a "last resort," considered shipping any unsold animals to the livestock exchange in Kitchener for sale as meat.
"We're trying to save as many as possible," neighbour Brooke Maltby said.
At the moment, friends and neighbours of the Rodwell and Carlisle families have been helping with the farm chores and the upkeep of the animals. With the electricity turned off in the wake of the blaze, meaning the electric fences are inoperative, neighbours have been making sure the animals don't wander off the property while helping repair other sections of fence.
"We really want to express our appreciation to all the people who are helping," Carlisle said.
In addition to the horses, the farm also houses at least 300 trained pigeons that need to be sold "right away." Among the pigeons are a number of racing homers, which are bred with an enhanced homing instinct, and rollers, which can do quick backward somersaults while flying.
Anyone interested in purchasing a horse or a pigeon is invited to call Carlisle at 519-533-1662 after Tuesday, Nov. 10.
burquhart@bowesnet.com
