We adopt Leilani Moon
Leilani was a whirlwind adoption, a decision made suddenly one night on January 31, 2018. when I was online and discovered this forlon, skinny horse in a kill pen in Louisiana, about to ship to slaughter. Yes, it happens, and it happens a lot. This is Leilani Moon’s story since that night.
This is the photo of Leilani I saw which made me decide to adopt her
I was on social media around 6 pm, and found her (I can’t say I wasn’t looking, because I was, but I really wasn’t consciously trying to find another horse at that time!), and I inquired. Even though it was later in Louisiana time, I was able to get some information, which wasn’t much. She was already marked to get on the truck the next morning. It was crazy; my husband wasn’t home and by the time he came home 4 hours later, I had already adopted her and found a transporter who was going to pick her up from Louisiana, quarantine her for 2 weeks, and bring her to Oregon!
Another photo of her in Louisiana. The orange stain is the “Shipping out” mark
I didn’t use much of my rational mind that night. I often make big decisions like that. Not that I regret them later, but the realization of my actions comes later…. Everything happened very fluidly while I was investigating the possibilities. I found the person who had put down half bail to hold her, and she helped me find a transporter, and the boarding facility I was using for Dakota and Denali said yes to me bringing her as well.
Leilani Moon in quarantine in Texas
The adoption of horses online is big business. Killpens are places where horses (and other farm animals) land between auction (where animals are sold to farmers and other people) and the slaughter truck. Horses, mustangs in particular, are sold from $500 to $1500 and up (as of in 2018). Most of the horses I saw were at that time about $600-$800 depending on age and if they are “broke” or “green broke” (taught to ride) or totally wild.
Some people say we should not support kill pens, like we shouldn’t support puppy mills (yes, definitely against that. All our pets are rescues for that matter)….people who run kill pens are in to make money and don’t care about the animals. I am sure like everywhere else, there are the ones who don’t care and the ones who do. For every horse adopted, one less horse makes the harrowing trip to Mexico or Canada to be brutally murdered. They are kept in trucks for 24-36 hours with no food or water, and are killed for meat.
I post this not to pull at heartstrings, but to show what can happens when horses are sold, given away, or otherwise “adopted out”. No horse is immune to this, no matter his or her price.
All my alarms went on that night. Did I need to save her? Did I need to save myself? I was still holding the conscious belief then that I was rescuing her, and she needed me, and without me, she would have died. Since then, I have come to understand and believe that we are all here with a purpose, animals too, and we are all powerful beings who can choose. In other words, we are co-creating this reality, even though we humans like to believe we are on top of the scale. I still often forget this truth, and I still treat my animals as if I am the one taking care of them. It puts a lot of burden on me and makes me the caregiver, and disempowers them, while it keeps me in the driver’s seat. I am still working on that!
How I would like to see it and act on a daily basis is to know that we are creating this reality together, and as I tune in and listen (to them, myself, the universe) the next step is shown, and we are able to dance much more gracefully together.
Leilani arrived on Feb 16, and she was the last one off the truck, after all the other horses were dropped off at various locations. She was weak, tired, cold, skinny and with a snotty nose. We had the vet come out and she did go on antibiotics, anti inflammatory meds and she started getting better right away.
The herd of mares wants to meet Leilani! This was the very first day Leilani had been out with anyone, and looks who comes over. Denali! :)
We got the tag off her finally, it was glued on with super glue! We finally had to shave off part of her mane, and her hair.
I don’t know how long she was starved, or anything about her life before she came to us. I do feel she was loved at one time, and then her circumstances changed for whatever reason. She merged with the herd at the boarding facility really well (mares and geldings were separate, so she got to meet Denali first), and was easy to handle at first….then as she got her strength back and was allowed to be with the mares, she wanted nothing to do with humans. Oh well… It took me a couple more months to be able to halter her easily.
Leilani feeling good! This was in mid May
In April we knew we were moving to WA, and by then Leilani and Denali were good friends. From the beginning it’s almost like they knew they’d be close sisters… or mother -daughter… right now (summer 2019) Denali is like a mom to Leilani. I introduced Dakota to Leilani, and that went really well too. So, this crazy, quick and irrational decision proved well timed, as it was time to move soon, and the 3 of them together were going to have a much better time than just D & D. Denali and Dakota were not well matched at all, because even though they have a super close bond and Denali still protects Dakota, he wants to play all the time, and she does not like playing, so it was good to have a third horse who’d get along with both.
I’d love to say that Leilani is easy and it has been all downhill since, but it’s not true…. Leilani has been challenging for me, especially since we moved to our land (after 2 other moves in less than 2 months) where she has less space and it’s not flat. My sense is that the cold weather is not something she’s used to or likes, and the hilly terrain we have in eastern WA, the terrain that is so familiar and comfortable to mustangs (our other 3) is so alien for her. She’s been the most difficult of the 4 in the current herd from my perspective, in terms of seeing her content, satisfied and at peace. She’s none of that! Yet.
UPDATE 11/4/20
Leilani has totally transformed! Check out this post about how that came about!
