When PTHR pulled out of Sugarcreek for the last time Saturday night they left a completely empty auction house.

There had been some horses left from another auction waiting to take that final long ride. Well PTHR now owns those horses too. This brought the total of horses saved up to 162.

The horses continued to recover from the stressful events of the long weekend at the horse farm where they are being prepped for transport to Florida. Auctions are not fun places for horses. They can be dangerous and even deadly. The horses are jammed into small pens while they await the beginning of the auction. The horses are run through the auction ring often yelled at and poked with a long stick. They are then ran into pens to wait for the auction to end. The horses are then forced onto the trucks by men who again use long sticks or ropes hitting them to load as quickly as possible. Horses have been known to be severely injured during this process. Horses have been fatality injured from fights and other horses panicking. Illness is another factor for horses that can be jammed together, causing some to colic from the stress, lack of water, and proper vet care when they become compromised. It's the beginning of an ugly end for hundreds of horses that are transported to slaughter every week to Mexico and Canada.

A common misconception is since the slaughter houses in the United States have been closed that American horses are not going to slaughter. This is not true. Kill buyers are now shipping horses across the boarders to Mexico and Canada in large numbers. This was proven this friday at the Sugarcreek Livestock Auction where Pure thoughts, Inc outbid several kill buyers for 150 horses. The rescue did not bid against private buyers.

There have been other trips to this auction for many rescues where they are able to save a handful of horses. This can be a heartbreaking event for many. As they load their new saves onto their trailers they must watch as scores of other horses are hit, poked and yelled at as they enter the stock and double decker trailers that will take them to a horrific death in a dirty foreign slaughter house.

Thanks to Pure Thoughts, Inc. Horse and Foal Rescue and the private donor for 2nd Annual Memorial Day Save the circumstances were very different this weekend. This weekend the horses had gentle hands lead them onto the trailers that would take them to clean stalls and grassy fields. This Time No Horse Was Left Behind.