Neglected horses rescued

BONNERS FERRY — Pam Royer remembers Dominos Raggedy Andy well.

The horse, affectionately known as “Andy,” was an 18-year-old purebred stallion, a Quarter Horse that used to belong to Royer.

“In the 12 years of having Andy, not a day went by that he was not fed, watered and attended to for all his needs,” said Royer, a Washington resident. “This horse came from six generations of champions, very mellow, easy going horse.”

Although Andy could have a bit of an attitude, he loved children, and was known to get down on his knees for them to pet him. For Royer, his attitude was some of his charm, but the time came when Royer decided she wanted to find him a good home with someone else.

“Please someone fall in love with this guy and give him a wonderful home,” she wrote in an ad on the Washington Equine Sales Facebook page.

Royer explained in the ad that Andy had been in a trailer accident and had suffered a stroke. “So he looks a little goofy in the face,” she wrote, adding, “Still sound to ride and breed.”

In April 2017, Andy went to his new home, with Wendy Bristol at Mountain Ranch Stables, an equine rehabilitation facility in Naples.

“Wendy was given Andy because she assured me with numerous pictures that she had a good home for him and would be cared for,” Royer said. “After several conversations, I felt she would take good care of Andy.”

Andy was a healthy 17-year-old horse, she said.

“He left my care in perfect health.”

That would be the last time that Royer ever saw Andy.

A series of events unfolded, involving Mountain Ranch Stables, now called Ruby Creek Stables, resulting in a search warrant being issued Sept. 20 by the Boundary County Sheriff’s Office. According to Boundary County Sheriff Chief Deputy Richard Stephens and Public Information Officer Michael Meier,

“The search warrant was obtained in conjunction with an investigation into reports that animals were being abused or neglected at the facility.”

Leading to the search, several citizens noticed a decline in the condition of the horses at Ruby Creek Stables.

Wes Chapman first visited Ruby Creek Stables in early August when he saw Ruby Creek was looking for volunteers to help clean out stalls. Chapman later received a call from Mike Bristol, informing him that Wendy Bristol had left and he needed help.

“When we came back up,” Chapman said. “We were able to go into the barn and see several horses that were very malnourished.”

Chapman spoke of one particular stallion, Andy, that stood out as the one in the worst shape. “We were told he was 30 years old,” said Chapman. “We have since found out that he was 18 and he is basically a skeleton with skin strapped around him.”

Wendy Bristol told The Herald she left the property on Sept. 10 because her father was sick and died a few days later.

Bristol said she stayed away because the relationship between she and her husband, Mike Bristol, had soured.

During that time, Chapman started recruiting volunteers and help from the community, asking people to come and help move horses. He said Mike Bristol was willing to let horses go, so they spent three days, 18 hours a day, moving horses around and obtaining the help of veterinarians.

But Mike Bristol eventually stopped allowing the volunteers onto the property, Chapman said. Several horses in need of veterinary care remained on the property.

“...one of them being that Belgian. Last time I saw the Belgian, he was nothing but skin and bones,” Chapman said.

Dawn Tucker was one of the volunteers.

“When my daughter and I drove into the facility to haul a client’s horses out, the first thing we saw was a filly with her halter growing into her face,” Tucker said. “When we went into the barn we found the foals, yearlings and a quarter horse stallion in terrible state of starvation. We just couldn’t leave them there to starve.”

Tucker said she and her daughter ended up removing nine horses from Ruby Creek Stables over the following week, one mare with a foal named Dory, five weaned foals, and two yearling Belgians.

“The condition of the foals and yearlings is starvation, malnutrition and parasite infestation,” Tucker said. “Some have respiratory infections. The mare is thin, her foal had a halter left on her from when she was little, until it had literally grown into her face.”

Tucker said they had a veterinarian come out and remove the halter.

The horse’s face was “a putrid mess of pus and blood where the halter had been indented well over an inch into the bridge of her tiny nose,” Tucker said.

Wendy Bristol said she discovered the horses gone when she returned to the stables. She observed horses coming and going on her security camera. “I couldn’t see which horses were coming or which horses were going, but shortly after that, all the wires were cut on my cameras,” she told The Herald.

On Sept. 18, Chapman and others organized a rescue party with multiple horse trailers and requested a civil standby from the Boundary County Sheriff’s Office. The rescue party included Jennifer Kastelein, from Newport, Wash.

“I have a contract here to pick up five horses from this location,” she said.

Wendy Bristol allowed Kastelein onto the property. She told Kastelein that only one of those five horses were still there, but refused to allow Kastelein to look in the large barn and covered arena that was closed completely.

Also in attendance was Melissa Williams, who had known Wendy Bristol since April, having bought and boarded three horses with her. She said she and her husband noticed a decline in the condition of their horses while they were there, as well as others.

“The conditions in the stable were so bad,” she said. “It has been a decline for the last few months. We have severed ties with her. We have tried to help her. I extended a hand. My husband has tried to help her. We have come out when we first met her, helping rescue horses when they fell into frozen ponds.”

Williams and her husband intended to purchase the stallion, Andy, and two yearling Belgians. Hoping to save the horses while providing funds for Wendy Bristol to buy hay, the Williams’ offered $750 for all three animals, but their offer was turned down.

Wendy Bristol denied claims that the horses’ conditions had deteriorated.

“This whole ordeal has been heartbreaking for me because I have done nothing but give these animals the best of care, and there is absolutely no reason for anything that has happened here the last couple days,” she said.

At the end of the day, only one horse was removed from the property, and the other trailers left empty. The rescuers were disappointed, fearing for Andy’s life, due to his poor condition the last time he had been seen. Andy and two Belgian yearlings remained in the closed barn.

When the Boundary County Sheriff’s Office deputies returned with the search warrant on Sept. 20, the rescuers removed the Belgian yearlings, but it was too late for Andy.

Chapman said Wendy Bristol shot the horse and hid it under a tarp in a stall.

”He had a stroke and then with all the smoke, he got a severe respiratory infection,” Wendy Bristol told the Herald. “(It got) a lot worse while I was gone, so we made that decision to have him put down.”

Wendy Bristol said, in a text message to The Herald, “Can’t save every single horse, but one horse gets sick and I get taken down for it, but I don’t get any credit for the 53 that I rescued, rehab, and rehomed using my own money.”

Tucker, who rescued nine horses from the stables, said the animals are now doing well considering their condition.

“We are putting some of the foals on antibiotics because of respiratory infections,” Tucker said. “The foals are on a five-times-a-day feeding program due to their extreme malnutrition. Dory’s nose is healing nicely and she feels great.”

For others, the results are not as bright.

“I will carry the guilt of the mistake I made, of trusting Wendy with Andy, forever,” Royer said.

The sheriff’s office’s investigation is ongoing and no arrests have been made.

If anyone has information regarding this case, they are asked to report it to the Boundary County Sheriff’s Office. Phone: 208-267-3151