R.E.A.S.O.N. - The Retired Equine Adoption Society Of the Northeast

** Updates on Speedy below!! **

Speedy Then!

Speedy Now

This is Speedy, a 9 year old standardbred gelding, recently seized from an adoption home after the adoption contract was broken due to the failure to return the yearly vet check and neglect.

Speedy came to R.E.A.S.O.N after retiring from racing in May of 2004, was started under saddle and his forever home was sought after. Speedy took to be ridden wonderfully and with his second time under saddle, we had a three year old boy on his back.

In August 2004, a potential adopter came to R.E.A.S.O.N with their entire family to check out our horses and they fell in love with Speedy. After filling out our application and checking out their references, Speedy went to his new home.

According to the R.E.A.S.O.N contract, adopters are required to fill out our yearly vet check form that we mail out at the beginning of each calendar year and must have it signed off by their veterinarian and include a recent photo of their horse.

After the due date of the vet checks had passed and we had not received anything from Speedy's people, we began to phone their residence but would never receive a return call. Finally, we called and left a message that we would be checking on the horse (per our contract).

Upon our visit of Speedy, our hearts sank. What we saw is what you see here. A horse with nothing to him. Speedy was being starved. There was no fresh water and no fresh hay. Nothing to be found anywhere and it was freezing out

The next day, we went with our trailer to pick Speedy up. His surroundings appeared exactly the same as they did the day before. Still no fresh hay or fresh water. We were confronted with some varying excuses but still no proof of anything could be provided, not even a bale of hay on the property for Speedy to eat.

Our veterinarian was on standby waiting at R.E.A.S.O.N and ready to do a thorough check-up upon our return. After her examination of Speedy, it was determined that he had become as thin as he was not for any health reason but simply because he was not being fed properly and with Speedy's reaction to seeing fresh hay in his stall, we assumed the same.

Currently, Speedy is a 2 on the Henneke Scale, when he left R.E.A.S.O.N he was a very healthy 6. As he is now, he wouldn't have made it through the winter.

Now, Speedy gets as much hay as he wants and eats at least a bale or more each day. We are slowly working him up on his grain and gets small amounts three times a day plus a fat supplement.

It will be months before Speedy will be back to a normal weight and be available for adoption again. The costs for Speedy will also be high with purchasing of extra hay, supplements and special feed and will put additional strain on R.E.A.S.O.N's budgets for an already difficult winter.

As always, your donations are greatly appreciated and are tax deductible.

** Updates **

July 12, 2006
Speedy has been adopted and is now living with a family in Benton along with another one of our REASON horses. The young woman who saw Speedy just fell in love with him and his personality and we know she along with her kids and her husband will enjoy the newest additions to their family!

June 11, 2006
Speedy just looks great and he feels great. He is looking for his new home. Speedy is wonderful to ride. You can put small children or beginners on him in a ring or small area and he is very quiet but take him on a trail ride and he can be quite zesty for an intermediate rider. This horse could do ANYTHING! He's very athletic. He loves the attention, rather, he demands it. He'll even wear a hat for you.

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March 12, 2006
Speedy is about to ready to find a new home. We decided to saddle him to see how he is under saddle. Nothing has changed there. He is still as wonderful as ever. Speedy is back to a normal weight but still gets excited at feeding time. He can be a bit aggressive when it comes to his food but he is even doing much better with that. We have been making sure he is a gentleman when you are in the stall with him at feeding time. His coat makes him look mangy but now that the weather is getting warmer he'll be shedding out to his shiny undercoat that we can already spot.

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February 1, 2006
It was decided that the people who had Speedy should be held accountable for the neglect Speedy was shown. R.E.A.S.O.N took his adopters to court and a hearing was held. We brought his pictures (both before, after and now), pictures of his placement home, vet letters from both our vet and theirs and plead our case. They were unable to even present a receipt for food and hay they had supposedly gotten. The judge at one point even stated the horse looked much better before he left R.E.A.S.O.N. The judgment came back and it was in favor of R.E.A.S.O.N. His previous adopters are being held accountable for their actions.

January 16, 2006
It's been a little over 6 weeks and Speedy is doing wonderful. He's gained around 100 pounds or so. He's very active. His favorite thing to do is to roll so he is impossible to keep clean. He's extremely active and likes to trot around. He's not as noticeably thin as you can see in these pictures. His coat is getting a shine to it again. Speedy still gets all the hay he wants and is up to about 2 1/2 quarts of a special grain twice a day plus special supplements.

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December 18, 2005
It's been approximately 2 weeks since Speedy has returned to R.E.A.S.O.N. and we wanted to let you know he's doing great. He's been eating all the hay he wants (about a bale or more a day), been wormed and his grain is slowly being bumped up to assure he doesn't get sick from it. We noticed he's beginning to fill in some. He is also more spirited. Speedy gets some minimal turnout time by himself surrounded by round bales. We noticed the other day he went for a roll and also kicked up his heels. He's feeling good.

We encourage anyone who wants to visit Speedy to do so. He loves people and luckily the neglect he was shown hasn't changed who he is, a very loving horse with lots of personality. If you want to have a visit with Speedy please call Lisa at 570-333-5266 or email Reasonequine@aol.com.

Here are more pictures of Speedy from the day he arrived on December 2, 2005.

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