Shannon's Companions

We have been shown just how much total disreguard for life people can have.  On July 13th, the people across the road from the rescue threw a wedding party.  They are the owners of Denning's Auto Body in Mattoon.  There were lots of people there all day long.  Evening came and at about 10:00pm they started setting off professional fireworks.  If we had known, we would have put the horses in another pasture.  They are very aware we have rescue horses here.  In one side pasture are the babies and the older horses are in the other side pasture.  In our front pasture was Nora, the blind mare.  She had to be kept in a special area so she was safe from getting hurt on things she cannot see.  Once the fireworks started, Nora began getting nervous.  The louder the fireworks the worse it became until she started pacing in circles.  We tried to calm her down and keep her safe until they were over but the fireworks started getting closer and closer to Nora's enclosure.  When one went off right above her with a loud boom Nora went bolistic.  She tried to run away, she was so scared.  She ran into the fence and went right through it.  We tried to catch her but she was so terrified within seconds she ran back into the fence again, this time flipping end over end.  We tried to talk her to us but she was just too scared.  We have never seen a horse so terrified.  It was so horrifying!  My 12 year old daughter, Jessica, was crying uncontrollably by this point.  We tried to get them to stop with the fireworks to no avail.  Another boom went off and Nora ran once again through the fence and landed upside down, she ran through it again and again trying to get away from the flashing lights and loud booms (Nora is able to see some shadows in one eye).  She got up and ran full force into the machine shed and started down the driveway, taking out fences as she went.  We ran down the driveway trying to catch her.  She was covered in blood, as were we.  When we got to her there were people standing at the end of the driveway.  We told them she was blind, to talk so she knows they are there...nobody listened.  They continued to startle her.  After several minutes we finally got our hands on her and got her calmed down enought to walk beside us to the barn.  Before we even got back to the barn they set off more fireworks!  Nora went out of control with fear again.  Jessica ran across the road to ask them to stop lighting fireworks and they told her to go back to her own ****ing yard!  The fireworks got closer and closer to the barn, some of them went bouncing into the other pasture with older horses in it, scaring them the other direction.  Debby, our director of horse adoptions, quickly walked down the driveway to tell them to stop.  After explaining to them what was happening they told her to keep her ****ing rescue horses where they belong.  I could not believe these people!!!  Debby walked back towards the barn and by the time she got to where we were standing she collapsed and could barely speak or breathe.  We called 911 and asked for an officer and an ambulance.  By the time the ambulance got here the party scattered like cockroaches and everybody drove away as fast as they could.  Debby was taken to the hospital and we had to secure Nora in a safe place.  The fencing was all destroyed and we had to secure it so the other horses could not get out before we could go to the hospital.  The police never showed up.  Later after Debby was stabilized we called to ask again for an officer to come out.  By the time he arrived it was 2:30am and he proceeded to tell us there wasn't anything he would do about it.  There are laws in Illinois about setting off fireworks without a professional or license of some sort but in this case they were not going to enforce them. 
The neighbors purposefully caused harm and severe pain to an animal, endangered the lives of several people, caused severe distress and endangerment to a 12 year old girl, caused destruction of property in the thousands of dollars and caused our director of horse adoptions to have a heart attack.  Not to mention the medical bills for Debby and the vet bills for Nora.  Nora is severely battered, bruised and cut.  She is no longer trusting and is striking out at people.  Beforehand she was finally trusting every step we asked of her and listening to what we asked of her without hesitation.  Our next step was to start riding her as she had before she went blind.  Now we may never get back to that point with her.
At this point we are asking for help in our situation.  We have to build Nora another enclosure.  We are asking for either monetary donations or materials to build safe fencing.  We are here to help those that can't help themselves and there are people against us.  They would rather look down their noses at people who are trying to help because it doesn't fit in their perfect little world.  If you can provide any kind of support in this matter please contact us.

 Thank You,

Shannon Powers, director of adoptions

THESE PHOTOS ARE FROM THE MORNING AFTER THE INCEDENT.  NORA HAS ALREADY BEEN CLEANED UP A BIT AT THIS POINT AND HAD BEEN SEEN BY THE VET.  ALL OF HER LEGS INSIDE AND OUT ARE COVERED IN LACERATIONS.  SHE IS NOT STANDING ON ONE OF HER BACK LEGS NOW AND IT IS SWELLING.  HER THROAT IS COVERED IN KNOTS.  SHE HAD BEEN BLEEDING FROM HER MOUTH.  THE TENDONS ON HER BACK LEGS HAVE SOME BAD GASHES IN THEM.

THESE ARE SOME OF THE PICTURES OF THE FENCE THAT NORA RAN THROUGH.  IT ALL HAD TO BE TAKEN DOWN, NONE OF IT WAS SALVAGEABLE.  THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A TERRIFIED 1200 POUND HORSE RUNS THROUGH THE STRONGEST WELDED WIRE WE COULD GET.