Slaughter 2 Success: Giving horses a second chance since 2022

SOLON — The Solon farm is home to chickens, dogs, cats and most importantly, lots of horses. Although the horses at Bent Creek Farm are of all different ages, breeds, colors and come from varying backgrounds, they all share one thing in common: they were rescued from a slaughterhouse.

The masterminds behind Slaughter 2 Success and responsible for the saving of many horses’ lives include Andria Pooley, Eva Sileo, Emily Pelikan and countless other dedicated volunteers.

Pooley says that she, Sileo and Pelikan started the organization because they saw how great a need there was to help slaughterhouse horses in the state of Iowa and beyond. Besides being a successful FEI (Federation Equestre Internationale) dressage and event rider, Pooley is also known for her ability to transform horses through her positive reinforcement training methods. Pooley works with the rescued horses and client horses as well.

The rehabilitation and retraining process at the farm is what makes the work that Pooley and her fellow volunteers do so special.

“It’s kind of similar to training a dog,” Pooley said. “It’s just like, consistency is the best thing.”

Another thing that Pooley does a lot of with the rescue is euthanasia consults.

“When [people are] wondering if it’s the right time to euthanize their animal, they call me and we talk it through, and it really, really helps them,” Pooley said. “I’ve had euthanasia consults all over the world, people have called me from New Zealand, Australia, Germany, Ireland, Canada, Brazil.”

Pooley, Sileo and Pelikan also hope to educate the public and raise awareness about the cruelties that the horses face when they are sent to slaughterhouses and kill pens.

“A large number of them are sent to Mexico or Canada, and when that happens, they’re on trucks for several weeks at a time,” Pooley explained. “And so when they’re on those trucks, many suffer on the trucks, many die on the trucks. So it’s a really horrible way for them to go.”

Over 20,000 horses are transported across the border to Mexico and Canada each year, and up to 40 percent die in the process. Many horses that end up in these situations are sick and injured, so the volunteers at Slaughter 2 Success say it is inhumane to dump them at a slaughterhouse as an easy means to an end. Instead, these horses should be kindly euthanized by their owners instead of sold.

“I really feel that we owe these animals peace at the end,” Pooley said. “Something we really try to advocate for is that it’s always better to take the responsibility for your horse’s death yourself.”

A unique factor about the farm is that it is 100 percent volunteer operated, so all of the staff are donating their time to these horses for free. The staff however is paid in rewarding moments, such as the success stories that come through the rescue.

Goose, a favorite story of the rescue, came in with his mother. Foals that are brought in are often either traumatically separated or end up severely wounded. Goose had a wounded leg and infected eye. Thanks to the help of antibiotics at the loving care of the Slaughter 2 Success volunteers, Goose made a full recovery and is thriving in his new home.

Olive is another example of a horse rescued from the slaughterhouse, despite her very successful career as a racehorse. Olive earned over $160,000 in wins during the course of her career and had an estimated seven foals before being sent to the sale barn. After her time at Slaughter 2 Success, Olive now lives on a large farm in Des Moines with her new family.

“The sad thing about the industry is once [horses have] had about six babies they’re useless to them, and these horses live until they’re 30,” Pooley said.

There are also horses on the farm who are permanent residents and travel around the state fundraising for the rescue. One of these ambassador horses is named Boo, a miniature pony. Boo was rescued from a kill pen and got his name from his unique pattern on the side of his neck.

Beauty, a current resident of Slaughter 2 Success, was a former standardbred racehorse and raced under the name Revered. Beauty entertains herself at the farm rolling in the mud while awaiting her new home.

“She’s such a nice horse, and she’ll make a great horse for somebody,” Pooley said. “She’s adoptable right now.”

Overall, Emily Pelikan says that Slaughter 2 Success has rescued and adopted out 28 horses since the opening of the rescue in March of 2022.

However, it is important to note the high costs that are associated with rescuing each horse. It costs an estimated $5,000 to care for each horse saved from the slaughterhouse, which means that the staff has to work hard fundraising to care for the animals.

“This year, fundraising has been very down, I think that’s across the board,” Pooley said. “I’ve heard it from a lot of different nonprofits that fundraising is just really low this year.” Because of the volunteer based format of the farm, having a large number of volunteers willing to take on a variety of roles is critical. Volunteering with Slaughter 2 Success isn’t just riding horses but doing basic farm chores and acclimatizing the animals to their new homes.

“A lot of these horses just really need kind handling,” Pooley said. “They don’t need me to get on and ride them, you know? They just need kind and appropriate handling repeatedly.” Horse shows are one of the ways that Slaughter 2 Success is able to fundraise, such as the large show that was put on at the Bent Creek property on July 27. Besides the main event, the farm hosted a tack sale and also sold concessions and professional photos of the horses. Volunteers are especially important during these days.

“We do love volunteers, people that want to come and help us do work are always wonderful,” said Pooley.

Pooley, Sileo and Pelikan agree that the hardest part of running the organization is the horses that they can’t save and seeing so many animals suffer in the slaughterhouses where conditions are horrible.

“Say what you will about cattle farming in the United States, but at least there are oversight committees,” Sileo said. “But with horses, because the slaughter process doesn’t actually happen here, all of that regulatory infrastructure that exists for cattle, chickens and for pigs just doesn’t exist for these guys. There’s not people that are going in to check on whether laws are being enforced or whether conditions are appropriate.”

Pelikan says that the conditions are so intense that many animals are distraught and are unable to express their true personalities and normal behaviors.

“The other thing that is just amazing is their personality changes when they’re outside of that situation,” said Pelikan. “Because if you think about where they’re at, they’re completely suppressing or expressing all of their emotions. When you get them in a calm environment again, consistently having food, shelter, care, love, their personality actually starts coming out and it’s interesting because some of them are wildly different than they were.”

For those wanting to get involved with the organization, contact [email protected], or connect on social media @slaughter2success.