The Gage County 37 - Horse Neglect in Nebraska

 A few weeks ago, I posted a Go Fund Me on my page regarding a herd of 37 horses that in August 2023 were seized by the sheriff in Gage County Nebraska from Jennafer Glaesemann, a veterinarian and the sole owner of Blue Valley Veterinary Clinic in Beatrice, Nebraska.  Published photographs showed the horses were literally skin and bones or “walking skeletons” as noted in one news article.   It was reported investigators, who were aware of this as early as June 2023, and according to the search warrant,  had learned she had more than 60 horses in her care and 17 had died under “her care” and allegedly rotting under the August sun.   Maybe I should mention this was next to the county fairgrounds and it was said there were complaints were received from those using the Gage County Fairgrounds which brought attention to the property at that time.  The Gage County Sheriff contracted a local company to dig an equine channel pit approximately 60’ x 10’ x 6’ to bury the dead horses on her property.  She was cited with 37 counts of animal neglect.  (The original search warrant can be seen online & it’s not for the faint of heart.)

 

Before I go on, did I mention she STILL has her veterinary license?  God help those who use her for their animals!

 

Anyway, the 37 surviving horses went to a local rescue and were nursed back to health - something the "vet" evidently couldn't do herself.  All the while,  all the people who contributed to the care of these horses (physically and emotionally) were under the assumption that justice would be done.  The horses would have their day in court.  Seventeen dead and 37 starved......  

But no.  After 7 months, the Gage County Attorney, Roger Harris, has decided to drop charges since some of the horses were diagnosed with parvo virus or maybe they had toxic hay (they can’t get the story straight) which could have contributed to their death.  So he could not "prove without reasonable doubt" that it was an abuse case.   (Did I mention this woman was a veterinary???). 

Roger Harris, who has had this case on his desk since mid-last year and who could have started to make the case against Glaesemann with those surviving horses and the help of other veterinary professionals has evidently sat on his ass and did nothing, in my opinion.  After his discussions allegedly with Jennafer or her legal representatives, she agreed to not own horses in Gage County for 2 years beginning last August (time served, I guess).  There is nothing to prevent her from owning horses in Nebraska’s 92 other counties.  She still has her license.  What the F?  

 

From what I understand, the only “agency” that slapped this bitch around was the American Quarter Horse Association who suspended her from their membership.   Go AQHA!

 

So now we have a herd of horses that the county has been feeding for 7+ months.  What to do, what to do?  Well, says Gage County Sheriff and our man, Roger Harris, “let’s send them to auction!”   

(If you want to learn more about Gage County politics, head over to Amazon Prime and stream Beatrice 6 by Dateline’s Keith Morrison.  You can’t make this stuff up.  Maybe Keith should come to Beatrice again!  But I digress....  )

 

Okay, so sending 37 horses to a local livestock auction that literally were just "saved" now could result in the horses selling by the pound to a “kill buyer” who transports unwanted horses to Mexico for slaughter.  (This post is not about slaughter or the livestock auction house.  I'm not going into that but horse people know it is a reality and a possibility.  Save that for another blogger.)  So Gage County paid to save these horses and then will now roll the dice with their future?  And what’s more, guess where the auction proceeds will go?  From what I understand, after the county has been paid back for care & any other liens, the good “doctor” will pocket the rest.  She will get PAID for her savagery!   Maybe she slipped a few bills to Harris, as well?   Hey, its a crazy story!

 

So a good Samaritan started a Go Fund Me to help the rescue who has been caring for these horses and proceeds from the account will be used for the rescue to buy the horses they have been caring for to hopefully  prevent them from going to slaughter.  

Now Part 2 of the Shit Show begins….

 

First let me say that I saw these horses on the news when they were seized, and I saw them since they have been rescued.  They were in very poor health and they are now fed and well cared for.  They look good.  If the rescue has the opportunity to adopt them to approved homes, they should garner interest.  However, generally speaking, rescue operations aren’t always well received with the public because of their strict adoption guidelines.  So now we have the following people lining up to come to the auction and potentially buy these horses:

 

1. The rescue that saved them and other rescues 
2. The general public who doesn’t want the rescue to get them back
3. The general public who  wants a nice horse or feels good about buying one that has been saved
4. The general public who is looking for a good deal (spoiler alert, not at this sale!)
5. Jennafer who might send friends or family to buy her horses back because she will probably get beat up if she shows her face there.
6. The Gage County Sheriff also came to the auction - not with buyer numbers but armed and in full uniform!

 

Let me just mention horse prices in general.  Good trained riding horses can bring good money.  A lot goes into temperament, training, looks, bloodlines, and how well the horse shows under saddle and does it's job.  I understand one went at this same sale last weekend for a little over $3,000 - a riding horse.  Horses at small livestock auctions that are unbroke, babies, broodmares, etc., in my experience,  probably around .50 cents a pound for kill buy prices.  So 1,000 pound horse will go for around $500.  Always exceptions in bigger production sales, but I am talking about the small town livestock sales.  That $3,000 from last weekend was definitely not what you see every month come thru small auction houses.  

 

But these horses are “special”.  They were “saved”.  So they have some “notoriety” going into the sale, so I would expect these horses to go higher.  Even the babies.  The Go Fund Me raised about $55,000.  Divide that by 37 horses….  It might not stretch as far as they need it to.  But if good buyers are picking up some of the horses, they should all land okay, right? 

The first 3 yearlings entered the pen.  Or maybe they were 2 year olds with stunted growth.  Anyway, I call them babies.  Money started flying.  They sold back to the rescue for $4,500 each ($13,500).  Three broodmares went for $13,000 each ($39,000).  No horse sold for less than $2,000.  The rescue who cared for the horses bought 18 and a rescue from another state bought 10.  Nine horses went to other buyers.

 

They probably all landed okay.  That is the hope for these horses.  

 

But the irony is, the buyers above worked so hard to outbid the other buyers that they drove the prices up and up and up.   At the end of the sale, buyers paid over $180,000 for 37 horses!  

 

So where does the money go.  Be prepared to be pissed off.  

According to one news story, the county incurred about $17,000 for the care of these horses.  I heard another amount as $37,000.  So, let’s go with the higher amount of $37,000.  So the county gets reimbursed their $37,000.  Let’s say the auction house got 5% - I don't know what their commission is, but seems reasonable,  so I’ll go with $9,000.  Let’s throw another $10,000 just for unknown liens or to bury her dead horses?  According to my math, there is $124,000 left from the sale.  Anyone wondering who gets that money?  From everything I've read, our girl Jennafer is the beneficiary of those funds.  Wow, kill them and then be rewarded!  What a concept!

 

Is it a wonder we think the whole world has gone frickin’ crazy? 

 

So we have the Beatrice 6 and now the Gage County 37 featuring Jennafer and Roger!  Wow, stay clear of that county, folks!  Scary business! 

I'm not going to post pictures of starving, dying horses.  You can see those online.  I am going to post pictures of the stars of this drama, Jennafer and Roger.  

                             

I don’t know if it was right to support the Go Fund Me or not.  While I am happy these horses landed well, the guns were drawn for the wrong reasons.  If these people could ban together and call for an investigation by the veterinary licensing board for investigation of Jennafer, that would be righting a wrong. 

 

You can submit a complaint to the Nebraska state veterinary licensing board by calling (402) 471-3121. You can also submit a complaint anonymously at https://dhhs.ne.gov/licensure/Pages/Veterinary-Medicine-and-Surgery.aspx

 

I don't know who governs ol' Roger.  He's probably elected so hopefully he loses the next election.  Send him an email and ask?   Roger Harris roger@gcaone.us and let him know how you feel,  Even if he would lose the case, he could have at least tried.  What's his track record of wins in Gage County?  What an idiot.  What a dick.  What a chicken shit.  We are a farming state and this is how he treats livestock?  

 

In the end, it’s all just bittersweet with a big sour taste in my mouth.  

 

Draw your own conclusions.  There are endless news stories out there.  Google the following:

 

Jennafer Glaesemann Beatrice Gage County

Roger Harrison Gage County Attorney

Seized Horses Gage County Nebraska

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61552803491100

 

 

 

a

Here we go!  Dusting off this old blog to start something new.  I'm not sure how this will go but needed a starting place.  

I'm not sure we had a snowstorm like this since The Blizzard of 2009.  And even with that storm, I am not sure it affected the entire county.  As of yesterday, every highway in our county is closed.  We have no access to the largest town, Wahoo, and Wahoo has no access to nearby cities, Lincoln and Omaha.  I'd have liked our cupboards and frig to be a little more stocked, but we won't starve.  

From Monday into Tuesday, we got about 7" of super wet snow.  John was able to get the driveway cleaned and get fresh round bales to the cows and horses as the forecast predicted the worst was yet to come.  If you follow this blog, you might remember I refer to the weather forecasters as The Big Fat Lying Weatherman because for years, weather-mongering is the status quo and it never amounts to what the village crier predicted.  Theory, however, will sometimes fall apart when the weather predicted is going to be especially nasty.  They NEVER get that wrong, it seems.  We were expecting more snow on Thursday, with temps dipping into single digits.  Wind was going to bear down on us with those nasty wind chill temps dipping from -20 to -50 degrees through the upcoming weekend.  

Like I said - they never get that wrong.  

Rewind to last Wednesday, before the first 6" of wet snow, I started getting a cold.  Nothing one wouldn't expect in the winter.  A dry cough and scratchy throat.  No fever, no congestion.  Just run of the mill cold that I fully expected to kick over the weekend.  Well, that didn't happen.  Had a low fever over the weekend and kind of felt crappy overall.  I figured I most likely had Covid.  My first run with it 3 years ago was pretty mild, so I had nothing other than that to compare it with and this ticked off most of the symptoms.  By Wednesday, almost a week from first symptoms and 2 days after the first snow storm, I decided I should probably go to the doctor.  I just had no energy and felt like I wasn't getting any oxygen.  John and Case were working and while the driveway and roads were clear of drifts, I knew my rear-wheel drive BMW would not make it on snow packed roads.  My truck was attached to my trailer and under 6" of snow.  

I don't know where I mustered up the strength but did manage to get it unhooked and the snow off the hood and windshield and made it to the doctor's office.  And even managed to make a video about my upcoming trip.  More on that later. 

I spent more time waiting for the doctor than actually with the doctor.  Vitals told the story.  Temp normal but my O2 level was at 92%.  He listened to the rattle in my lungs.  Back at home, I settled back into my recliner with an inhaler and cough syrup near by, waiting for the Z pack to start to work.  It's Saturday today, and while no where near 100%, I am back among the living.    

The second storm rolled in on Thursday with about another 6 or so inches.   With the winds, it's hard to tell, but it was a lot on top of what was already there.  Drifts started filling our driveway back up again.  For the first time that I remember, county snow plows were called back to their barns and the roads in our county were closed and still remain closed.    We haven't had mail service for two days.  

On the homefront, our electric waterer for the cows and horses froze up.  John had to get out a regular tank and heater and rig up access for both the pens of livestock.  I will usually blanket the horses when this comes in, but I didn't have enough energy to do laundry, let alone gear up for a walk to the barn through five foot drifts.  The horses all found their places, either behind trees or in the barn.  As I am writing this, they are standing with their butts to the big blue spruce tree with the sun shining on their snow covered backs.  It's not a perfect situation, but all is well.  

If I felt well enough, I would love to bundle up with the camera and take pictures, like I did in 2009.  But the most I can do is shoot some from my porch or deck door.  I'm watching Windy and Baby from my office window and they seem to be changing spots, using the other as a wind break.  I'm glad to see them moving around.  It helps keep them warm.