More media coverage coming in.

Covering both sides is a good thing.

Final set of horses sold

Monday, November 05, 2007
By Danielle Quisenberry
dquisenberry@citpat.com -- 768-4929

EAST LANSING -- As the last of the horses seized from a Grass Lake Township farm awaited auction Sunday, a group adamantly opposed to their seizure hoisted signs nearby.

"There is only one word for this whole thing and it is 'atrocious,''' said Jared Brown of Brooklyn, who stood with about 15 people holding signs scrawled with phrases such as "Jackson County Animal Control is out of control.''

The group, who allege officers have treated the horses poorly since the March seizure, prostested outside the Michigan State University Pavilion.

Inside, 34 horses that had been in the county's care were auctioned at prices ranging from $100 to $10,400. Altogether, the horses -- deemed the most valuable of the original herd of 69 -- netted more than $42,300.

The money will help the county recoup its costs of caring for the horses.

The horses were impounded six months ago based on reports they were malnourished and living in unsafe conditions. Farm manager Matthew Mercier and owner James Henderson each are facing three counts of felony animal torture.

Under the county's control, the herd grew to 84 as mares foaled in the spring and summer. Animal-control officers say the horses' health has improved under their care.

The 50 less valuable horses in the herd were sold at auctions in September and October in Napoleon and Onsted. The September auction garnered nearly $4,000. Total figures from all four auctions were not available Sunday.

Horses sold Sunday included two pedigreed stallions, Sky High Fame and Buggy Full of Money. Each sold for more than $10,000.

Tiany Schuster, a breeder and trainer based near Hattiesburg, Miss., bought Sky High Fame for $10,200, and six other horses. "I think I got some really good deals,'' said Schuster, who was a business associate of Mercier and Henderson.

If she gets the horses' registration papers, they'd "be an even better deal,'' she said.

Animal control Director Kimberlee Luce said the papers are in the process of being reissued from the previous owner to Jackson County. The auctioneer presented the audience with scant information on each horse as it was ridden or walked through a dirt-floor arena.

Schuster and several others said Sunday some of the horses at auction were being misrepresented as their information had been mixed with other horses once owned by Henderson.

Luce said they were going with information given to them by the previous owners. "We've done the best of our ability to match up who is who,'' she said.

Protesters argued the horses were in worse condition when cared for by animal control than when they were taken from the farm.

They held signs with pictures of thin or wormy horses that read "This is NOT what 'six months after rescue' should look like.''

Luce said she would not comment on the protesters. "I just want the horses to find good homes.''

A doctor saw the horses last week and was "impressed,'' Luce said.

County Assistant Prosecutor Jennifer Lamp, who attended the auction, said the horses have "absolutely'' improved since the seizure.

Prostester Melissa Adams of Brooklyn, who raises horses and cattle, said the group wanted to draw attention to animal control and its actions. She said it isn't right they sold all the horses before the men were convicted of any crime -- a move Lamp said the forfeiture statute allows to protect animals.

"It is scary to those of us in agriculture that they can come in and take our farm and we can't do anything,'' Adams said.

Others expressed similar sentiment. "I fear for horse owners. I fear for all horse owners in the county,'' Brown said.

©2007 Jackson Citizen Patriot
© 2007 Michigan Live. All Rights Reserved.

We certainly appreciate the reporters who stopped to talk to us during our peaceful protest and informational picketing. The MSU campus police were likewise friendly and professional.