Our Foster Care Providers sign legal contracts agreeing to tell potential adopters the truth, be it good or bad, about every equine they foster. When you get a kid-gentle equine from USESR, you can bet that horse is going to be just what we told you it was.

Our membership is not large. It was growing, but certain individuals began a smear campaign against us and our membership (& more importantly, our volunteer base) has dwindled down to half of what it had once been. Some other rescues have big, impressive membership numbers. This is because everyone who applies to adopt must also become a member. It is the rescue's way of making money. It is easy money, money for nothing, and the rescue gets the benefit of both the cash and of a larger, seemingly more prestigious, membership. We at USESR would love to have all the extra money and be able to brag about our impressively large membership, however, we consider forcing people to join our rescue just to find out specific information about an equine they are interested in adopting, or to even apply to adopt, to be akin to shopping for a new car and being told by the salesperson that you can't find out what gas mileage the vehicle gets or test drive it, or even apply to purchase it unless you become a stockholder of their company first. We consider the practice of forced membership to be highly unethical and are concerned that it gives potential supporters and donors a false picture of the actual state of the rescue. We believe that if an organization really has the best interest of the equine at heart, placing that equine in a qualified adoptive home should come before artificially inflating membership numbers. !

We at USESR believe that volunteers are the life-blood of our organization. Without them, we could not continue to function. The officers of USESR have an open door policy at all times. They believe that they serve the USESR volunteers and know those volunteers depend on good leadership for the ability to keep the rescue organized and running smoothly. The board thanks it's volunteers by paying for meals at all-day fundraising events and offering free canned drinks to all volunteers, all day. Because our organization is state-wide, volunteers often get up before the crack of dawn to make the long drive to a major fundraiser. The board appreciates their sacrifice. Volunteers also receive complementary USESR gear when they volunteer at a fundraiser. For other activities, awards and accolades are passed out.

We have a strict ethics policy in place and we are not afraid to enforce it. No breech of ethics can ever be the best thing for the horses. A breech of ethics may be one as simple as passing a friend on a site inspection that shouldn't have passed. Who suffers? The horse who goes to live in sub-standard conditions. USESR volunteers must be honest people. USESR officers must be able to make decisions that are not based too heavily upon sympathetic feelings. The standard we hold ourselves to is the standard we hold the rescue to. It is the rescue organization that provides care for the equine within it and it is the members, volunteers, and officers of the rescue who protect the rescue. All harm done trickles down, and harm does get done. See below.

Jan. 2005
USESR founder and officer, Antoinette Smith, joined an e-mail list to get more involved in fighting a particular nation-wide equine rescue/slaughter emergency. She was not welcomed on the list and after just a couple of days, she found out why. The list owner Erika Williamson of California, had this to say about Ms. Smith:

Oh for future notice to all this is why:

I have been dealing with her on horse rescue lists for the past two years now. She is very shady and usually has some hidden agenda. Check out what she says before you believe it. Been known to tell tales and then get caught in them too. Nasty big mess she had about two years ago, not telling the whole truth about her rescue, then having to rename it and the board of directors were all related to her. I usually take what she has to say with a grain of salt

Ms. Smith says:
I have never heard of this person before. The fact that she knows who I am, though, does not surprise me. What surprises me is what she feels qualified to say and that she has the audacity to pretend that she has first-hand knowledge of anything she is saying here.

I wrote her an e-mail notifying her that she had two options: Retract her statements and declare them false and allow it to be posted on the USESR web site, or prepare to be sued.

I let her know that I am not now, nor have I ever been related to the Morrows in any way. We do not live in the same county and we do not socialize, except for doing rescue business. It is impossible to prove in a court of law that someone is the relative of someone else when it is simply not true.

I notified Erika that she would need to bring proof of me "telling tales and then getting caught in them", when she comes to court in Texas. I do not lie. I know for a fact that no such proof of me lying exists.

There was no "nasty big mess a few years ago" that caused us to have to re-name our rescue. If that were true, we would be trying to distance ourselves from the name, H.O.R.S.E.S. in Texas, instead of putting it in different places all over our web site, such as at the top of the homepage, front and centered. Since there has never been any such scandal, what Erika Williamson is saying here also cannot be proven.

Thus, Erika Williamson had this to say:

I recivied a email that i took seriously.

As being a rescue you may understand my recation because many thing recivie by word of moth.

yet again i ask what would you do in this action, recivie in a e-mail. you as a rescue know that fraud and abuse happens in areas and people pull the wool over eyes.

by the way , i just recivied 2 emails i shot off after banning you o see what i got was true. the 2 people that i recived verifed fasle, so as of now i am lifting ban and making a post of my dumbness.

we might not see eye to eye in areas but united we can battle it all.

i am sorry for my haste, and i hope you find in your heart to forgive my stupied action.

Message: 15
   Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2005 16:42:31 -0000
   From: "erikawilliamson"
Subject: To Mrs. Smith

I Erika am making a public sorry for actting in haste. so if you can forgive me and post here as i am forgiven.

also i make yet another action, since your in rescue would you like to take over ownership, your post in past stated this. so i feel that i am unable to do the job as a proper list owner.

i am sorry and all info i posted was not true, i have further look into it. and emailed last night so.

i call myself hotheaded and thought i was in a right, but i was not.

your call ma'am

please respond

I do not want to take over your list. I never said I did. I already have 4 or 5 lists of my own on Yahoo. Now that you know I'm not involved in shady deals, do you think that means I have that time free to moderate your list?

I do forgive you, though, Erika. I think that anyone can see your great sincerety when it comes to helping the horses. Because your passion is Mustangs and other wild horses, I say that they are lucky to have you. I am resubscribing to the list and looking forward to working together in the future. The horses need both of us, in spite of our own differences. If people like us in the rescue community can work through problems, issues, and misunderstandings, we can hold our opponents to the same standards and bring about many positive changes for horses and other equine throughout the United States.

Over the past several years USESR has been the victim of many false and malicious rumors. We have chosen not to take any action, legal or otherwise, against the various people who have sought to destroy the rescue. As a result of our chosen path of peace, our ability to adequately care for equine in our program has decreased, rather than increased over the past few years. In the past, we used to be able to take in horses in horrible condition because we could always count on donations to come in when we stated our need. Nowdays, those life-saving donations are much harder to come by.

Our enemies attack us from every angle. They join our rescue and obtain the e-mail addresses of our officers and members, then send them e-mails telling the terrible things about the rescue and, mainly, about Antoinette Smith, our founder and most prominent member. People do not want to join a rescue they have to defend, so they tend to become inactive in order to distance themselves from the rescue.

When we do booths, we must be careful where we announce them. Our enemies once tried to stop us from doing a booth at the opening of the movie, "Seabiscuit". Ms. Smith was grieving over the death of her mother and was in the process of actually shutting down the rescue when the offer to do the Seabiscuit booth came up. Having no need for a fundraiser or membership drive, USESR (then still H.O.R.S.E.S. in Texas) members decided to volunteer their day so that we could reach city people and educate them about slaughter. Any money raised that day that wasn't needed to care for equine still remaining in the program was to be donated to the American Horse Defense Fund. Jennifer Williams, President of Lone Star Equine Rescue, found out about our booth and sent an e-mail to Linda Corbell of Fort Worth, who lives in the Summerfields housing edition, right behind the theater. Jennifer sent Linda to "get something started against HnT". Linda called the theater and told them that we had to have a permit to be there that day. She said that we could not have a horse standing on pavement, that our booth would have to be set up way out by the highway. Linda Corbell told the theater manager that if the theater allowed us to set up a booth there, that the TV news, the Dallas Morning News and the Star Telegram (Fort Worth's big paper) would all be there to witness the police come and throw the rescuers into jail and fine the theater, and that Linda would have protesters at the theater, too. Linda, or someone working with her, called the City of Fort Worth Public Works Department and proceeded to tell them that the rescue was operating illegally, in an attempt to get our permit denied. The specifics of what was told are not clear, but when USESR (then HnT) volunteers called the City to ask about the permit, the employees were waiting for the call and spoke in disapproving, unfriendly tones.

Once it was explained to them who Linda Corbell is and what her history is with the rescue, things changed and the City went out of it's way to help USESR (then HnT) get it's permit. The horse did not have to stand on grass. Everyone kept waiting for trouble that day, not exactly a good feeling when you're simply trying to help save the lives of innocent animals, but no trouble showed up. There were no protesters, but that is the threat that probably caused the management of the theater to not allow the rescue to return in subsequent years. Were the horses harmed? Yes. USESR got their educational packets passed out that day, but were not allowed back for the opening of Hidalgo or any subsequent equine-themed films. Thanks to a fellow rescuer, Jennifer Williams, our life and death message of horses in need has been silenced in northeast Tarrant County.

We have to be careful of Lone Star Equine Rescue members who join our rescue. We don't want to exclude them because overall, they are wonderful, caring people. Rob Marchell, a member of Lone Star Equine Rescue, joined USESR in late 2002. We already had our new name change legally accepted with the Secretary of State. We were just waiting on a logo to be able to change the website. We were still known as H.O.R.S.E.S. in Texas. Rob managed to make a secret phone call to one of our donors and persuaded to give him all 9 horses. The donor, Sandy Smart of central Texas, had shopped around for Texas rescues and decided she liked USESR's policies the best. Rob Marchell was a trouble-maker for the members on the private USESR members only list from the time he joined the rescue. Because of his constantly combatant and accusatory statements, he was denied adoption of one of these 9 horses. When Rob found this out, he made his secret call. All 9 donation contracts were signed, notarized, and in the custody of the rescue. No horses could be moved for two weeks because the coggins had not been drawn. Rob became a "DNA" (do not adopt) just days before the horses were to be brought to USESR facilities. The rescue did not find out the horses were gone until a volunteer called to confirm a transport date, for just a few days later. USESR had the horses on our Petfinder site and on our main web site. USESR had adoption applications and deposits of several of the horses. USESR had foster homes within the rescue for all 9 horses. What were we supposed to tell people? Were we to tell them that the donor had decided that a private individual or small group of private citizens were better qualified to take the horses than USESR was? Partly because our board was divided and later, because of mechanical difficulties (car trouble), no lawsuit was ever filed. After several months, the threatening e-mails promising to destroy the rescue and make Ms. Smith's life miserable, stopped. But the sender's intense feelings of revenge still haunt the innocent rescue.