Caitlin Davison has known she wanted to rescue unwanted and injured animals since she was a child.
She saved birds captured by her cat and nursed them to health with oatmeal when she was young. Now, the 27-year-old Santa Barbara horse trainer has saved eight horses that were headed to a slaughterhouse.
More than 100,000 American horses — pets, show and race horses, carriage horses, wild horses, mules and ponies — end up in slaughterhouses every year, according to the Humane Society of the United States.
While there are no reported horse slaughterhouses in the United States, kill buyers move from auction to auction and transport horses to slaughterhouses in Mexico or Canada and their meat is sold, according to the Humane Society.
Davison has traveled hours away to save horses and bring them to San Marcos Stable, a 20-acre horse property tucked in the Santa Barbara hills formally known as the Ocean Point Equestrian.
One day, the horse trainer was searching Facebook when she saw a picture of a black Mustang in Colorado that was destined for slaughter in a kill pen.
“He is the reason I went,” Davison said. “I have a thing for Mustangs. It looked like people were offering a home and it came down to the wire. I got him.”
Davison rescued four horses through a nonprofit organization that purchased the animals from a live auction.
She drove to Colorado to pick up the animals from a quarantine site and less than a month later, three of the horses Davison saved have potential homes.
“Rescues are not always troubled horses,” Davison said. “Just because they look this way right now — with the proper care and training — they are going to be just as competitive as the expensive ones.”
A 9-year-old horse named Joey has made his first steps towards a healthy life.
“He looked horrible,” Davison said. “But he is a perfect horse and didn’t deserve it. It was difficult, and it breaks my heart.”
A palomino named Honey possibly has a new home, after spending a few weeks at the stable.
Scars lined Honey’s body, but Davison treated her wounds.
“She was super shy at first and beaten up a little, mostly from being in the kill pen,” Davison said. “The horses don’t need anything major. It’s all basic care.”
After researching horse slaughter information and live auctions, the death of her best friend pushed Davison to attend her first livestock auction.
“She helped me run the stable and I needed something to look forward to,” Davison said. “I’ve always been interested in taking unwanted horses. I enjoy bringing them back to life. If I kept thinking about it, it would never get done.”
In June, Davison went to her first livestock auction in Turlock, California.
“I’d never seen horses in that type of condition before,” she said.
“It’s hideous, and I was super nervous. The auction was hard to watch.”
She had time to browse through the pens and see the animals that caught her attention.
“It’s hard just to pick a few out when you want them all,” Davison said. “They separate the horses, they don’t say it, but some are going to slaughter. That was the pen I intended to see.”
Mulligan, a stallion priced at $200, had worms, ticks, a puncture to his knee and his hooves had been untrimmed.
Davison walked away with a $250 tiny mule, which she named Gus, and a $175 miniature pony named Teacup.
The animals were malnourished.
“They were in hideous shape and because they were skinny, they were cheap and the last ones to be auctioned off,” Davison said.
Davison raised her number up as soon as the animals were called.
She said kill buyers aren’t competitive with the little animals because they don’t offer a lot of meat.
A 4-year-old thoroughbred fresh off the race track was sold for $675.
“I had been eyeballing him,” she said. “People spend thousands on a horse, and there’s so many to save.”
Someone near Davison pointed out a kill buyer sitting behind her, who had previously bought the horse for cheap at an auction and was selling him for a higher price.
He aimed to outbid against horse rescuers and owners, Davison said.
“He started bidding to raise the price, and it was either he was going to keep the horse and take him for slaughter — or I was going to pay a high price,” she said. “It ended up being worth it.”
After being rescued from the kill pen, the horse named Enzo is now a companion for a Santa Barbara girl who is training him.
Davison said every horse ends up at an auction for different reasons.
“There’s nothing wrong with the horse sometimes,” she said. “People don’t understand the responsibility, time and the amount of money it takes to care for them properly. People can’t afford a horse, then take it to auction and pray for the best.”
Davison said there’s a cycle, where feedlot owners buy horses for $25, then resell them for a higher price.
“Not everybody is an animal lover and a lot of times it’s business,” she said. “I’m going to go straight to auctions because that’s where you stop the kill buyer. If we can get rid of them, maybe it can stop the cycle.”
Some horses show signs of neglect or injury and others — like Bonnie, a 5-year-old western riding horse — are in mint condition.
Davison said she enjoys the rehabilitation process and giving the horse a second chance.
“It wasn’t magic,” Davison said. “It was regular feed and basic care.”
A few friends have sponsored Davison’s funds and she said she would love to rescue 15 to 20 horses a year. Her mission would be to rescue them, rehabilitate them and train them.
“I wouldn’t be able to do it without support,” she said. “Not just financial, that’s second.”
Larissa Kraus, a fellow horse lover and rider, gifted money and encouraged Davison to make the trip to Colorado.
“We all have a passion,” Kraus said. “It was emotional and to see the progress and have a purpose to live is great.”
Legislative attempts have been made to attempt to halt the practice of horses for slaughter abroad and Davison said awareness about the topic could bring change.
The American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act was first introduced in 2006 but failed to pass by Senate.
The Safeguard American Food Exports Act (S. 1214/H.R. 1942) is before Congress now, which would prohibit the slaughter of horses for human consumption in the United States and would ban U.S. shipping of American horses elsewhere for slaughter.
Davison urges people to look beyond the physical appearance of a horse.
“It feels like I’m walking over to my friends,” Davison said. “I’m drawn to them, and I feel they are drawn to people. You have to see the bigger picture. There’s a huge difference after the horse realizes they are safe and not going to be harmed.”
She thanked UltraCruz Equine Wellness for donations and the support from her friends.
To donate to Davison’s goal of rescuing more horses, visit the GoFundMe page here.
Davison is also hosting a bake and yard sale fundraiser at 9 a.m. on Dec. 10 at 335 West Micheltorena Street in Santa Barbara.
All proceeds will go to benefit the rescued slaughter-bound horses picked out of a kill pen.
— Noozhawk staff writer Brooke Holland can be reached at bholland@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
