Animals’ Angels attended the monthly horse sale at Mel’s Stable. The sale started at 9:30 am, there were approx. 280 horses present at the auction. Not all of the horses were listed in the sales catalogue. It was a very cold morning (17 degrees Fahrenheit) and the outside water troughs were covered in ice. Next to the barn, members of the Amish community were racing some of the horses offered for sale. The silver pick up truck and stock trailer of kill buyer Bruce Rotz was parked next to the barn. Chuck Beam was also present, likely buying for Brian Moore.
Again, the small stable was completely overloaded with horses, some of the horses were standing tied to the feed troughs without any room to move. 
Most of the water buckets observed were empty. In the outside pens, right next to the other horses, investigators found 2 Standardbred horses with severe strangles infection. The abscessed lymph nodes had already started to drain and the halters were covered in frozen pus. Both horses had no access to water. The halter of one of the horses and his markings identified him as “Pop’s Shadow”, a 2008 Chestnut Gelding. Sired by “The Panderosa”, his last known owner was the Anatolia Racing Stable.
Animals’ Angels contacted them to inform the owner about the whereabouts of his horse. Unfortunately, Mr Durmazoglu was not interested and stated that he owned a lot of horses and was not sure if he still owned Pop’s Shadow or not. He also said that he was not “hands on” and that he tells his trainers to do what they want with the horse. 
He gave us the phone number of the PA trainer and hung up. Animals’ Angels phone call with the trainer was equally disappointing. Trainer Hartline stated that he remembered “Pop’s Shadow” was not performing well and then claimed to have given him to an unknown Amish family. He also was not concerned about the fate of the horse he once trained.