The investigators arrived at the auction at 8:30 to watch the unloading of the arriving trailer from the catwalk. Again, none of the pens had any water available. At 9:00, a trailer backed up to the loading dock. The horse inside the trailer was down.
After a while, someone managed to get her up and unload her from the trailer. Her right front leg was broken and her overall condition was poor. Despite her condition, one of the workers tagged her for sale (tag # 683) and walked her to one of the empty pens. A few minutes later, she collapsed and went down. At first, she tried to get back up, but then she laid flat on her side. At 9:50, one of the workers arrived at the pen with an unknown person, who briefly looked at the horse and then told the worker to get her up.
Once she was standing, he and the worker pushed her along the isle, all the way to one of the exit pens. The horse was in obvious distress and both men had to push & drag with full force to make her move. One of the men then left and returned with Mr. Lambright, owner of Shipshewana auction. Mr. Lambright then walked the horse outside and pushed it back into the trailer that brought the horse.
When confronted by one of the investigators, Mr. Lambright denied all responsibility and stated “You take it up with her!” (Referring to the owner of the horse) After talking to the investigator, the owner agreed to have the horse euthanized immediately.
This is unacceptable and Animals’ Angels has filed complaints with the authorities.