Emily - 20 year old reservation mare

[schwung]

I just realized that Emily does not have a thread here. Emily was an approx. 20 year old mare, rescued from the feedlot who supposedly came from the Indian Reservation. Emily was not really broke although we did try to assess her as a riding horse and she was willing enough just didn't understand how to move forward, and it was believed she may have been used as a packing horse. Emily came in with several other reservation horses that were sadly lost to slaughter. We were told that Emily was very sweet and loved attention. Emily had had one ear cut in half, and we were told that it was done for identification purposes. Can you imagine?

Here are the photos we have of Emily. Emily at the lot:


Emily being evaluated as a riding horse in foster care:









Emily was adopted by a volunteer with CBER for her daughter, who was planning on doing showmanship in halter with her, but never ride her.

Sadly, when we contacted CBER for an update on Emily as we had no contact information for her adopter, we were told that Emily colicked last year and was put down.

RIP dear sweet Emily.

[trillium]

How sad. And no, I cannot imagine cutting off an ear for identification. What about a brand or something???
Did she have much time with her new family?

[Gingersmom-Tate]

Rip dear Emily...what a sweet face.

[schwung]

Emily was one of the first SAFE horses, in about April/May of 2005 timeframe, so I believe that her adopter had a good year with her before she was put down.

[lizstabbertphoto]

Poor girl At least she had a loving home and a kind death.

I've heard of other animals (cows mostly) having their ears notched for ID, but never horses. Last I heard cutting off the ear like that was illegal, partially because of its cruelty, but also because it would hide any legitimate ear marks (like covering a brand). I had no idea people still did it at all.

[winterlakesfarm]

I know it is done on the reservation still.......grrrrrr

[cat67]

We had numerous polo ponies in the past who had a split in their ears...came from out west, Montana, Wyoming, etc. So they were still doing it, at least in the 90s.

Here's one, with my ex's youngest. (No, I was clearly NOT there and was NOT endorsing the tackless riding! I had a fit when I saw this pic.)



We also got horses who had half-ears from frostbite. It wasn't done by a human. Their ears simply froze off.