2 blind horses headed for slaughterhouse in Mexico saved by Massachusetts farm
NORTON -- A pair of blind horses that were headed to a Mexican slaughterhouse have been saved by a farm in Norton, Massachusetts.
Getting the call
Over a year ago, a woman in Canada saw a video of the two horses on a truck heading for Mexico to be slaughtered. In the video, the horses would not get off the truck, and the workers wondered why. They discovered the horses were blind when they looked into their eyes.
The horses, named Kelce and Dakota, were afraid to go down the ramp.
The woman felt so moved by the video that she contacted Heidi Medas of the Smokey Chestnut Farm Rescue in Norton. The stranger begged Medas to help.
"She asked if I could watch a video of all of these horses that were taken from Pennsylvania in middle of the night," Medas said. "It's very common. Every year there are thousand of horses who leave the United States and go to Mexico or Canada to be slaughtered."
Medas stepped in to save the horses that were in Texas on their way to cross the Mexican border, but realized they were injured and in poor condition.
"There is no way they could have made it to Massachusetts in the condition they were in," Medas said. "It was clear Kelce had some growths on her legs, and the growths were basically injuries left unattended."
The two horses stayed at another farm in Texas for a year as they healed. It cost Medas tens of thousands of dollars.
Finding the funding
Fortunately, community donations helped the horse rescue with the roughly $30,000 medical bill.
Medas said the costly care involves daily debriding, topical solutions, and compression bandaging.
Finally, the pair were healed enough to make their way to Medas' farm in Norton last week.
Medas said they will be eating, sleeping, and getting visits with lots of other people who love them.