Hungry racehorses rescued from major New York stables

Imagine the condition of four former thoroughbred racehorses too weak to be sent to slaughter. The mares, owned by Ernie Paragallo, a New York leader in racing stables, who attended Aqueduct today seeing his foal, Cellar Dweller, finish sixth, deny knowing the dire conditions of these possibly bred mares covered in lice, infected with worms. and severely malnourished. Their neck bands and tattoos were the voices of these horses, examined by PA vet Dr. James Holt. According to Dr. Holt, all four mares had been suffering from long-term chronic neglect with a score of 1 to 2 1/2 on the Henneke scale. Of the 24 horses that left the Paragallo facility in December, supposedly en route to Florida to be crossed with one of Paragallo’s stallions, 17 mares ended up at a slaughterhouse in Canada. The other 3 mares were saved by Lisa Leogrande, who also contacted Sheidy about the remaining 4 horses that were still in the New York slaughterhouse.

Paragallo claims that he does not remember the name of the farm or the address where the mares were going to go, but Richie Baiardi, a horse transporter, claimed that he could not ship the horses he collected from the Paragallo farm in late February because the horses they were too weak to make the trip. Instead, he sold the horses to a slaughterhouse operator who had to feed the horses for several weeks to make them strong enough to make the trip to the slaughterhouse.

Christy Sheidy of Another Chance 4 Horses has been rehabbing these mares, three now identified as Theonlyword, Coconut Martini and Firmly Decorated. “It will be a long recovery for these horses, but we already have an interested family who wants to adopt them,” Sheidy said. “I am relieved that these horses are safe, and I already see small improvements in their health and behavior.”

Paragallo has denied responsibility for the condition of these horses even though he says that his breeding mares are kept lean in their breeding program, but claims that he will take full responsibility. Unfortunately, this is not the first time that Paragallo has had emaciated and unkempt horses on his farm. In January 2007, Susan Wagner of Equine Advocates rescued seemingly hungry horses from her Center Brook Farm, underweight, parasites, and in poor health. The horses were released about 5 weeks after the clinic.