A Manitoba horse rancher is scheduled to appear in court next week after he allegedly roughed up a United States video crew that was making a documentary on the treatment of horses in the province.
Pat Houde, who runs a horse feedlot near Elm Creek, said he’s sick of being hounded by animal rights groups and tired of catching them sneaking around his farm.
Houde and the crew allegedly came to blows when Houde found the crew filming his yard after he had earlier asked them not to.
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“Then things got rowdy,” Houde said in a phone interview. “Now I’m protecting my livelihood.”
Houde rejects claims from outside agencies that his horses are starved and mistreated.
He does not collect pregnant mare’s urine, which is used in female hormone replacement therapy, but his horse feedlot includes foals born to mares used at PMU barns.
The female complainant in the case, Robin Theresa Ducksbury-Russell, said she was driving a vehicle to allow the videographer to film Houde’s farm when a white pick-up forced her to pull over.
“He opened the car door and tried to grab the keys,” said Ducksbury-Russell, a licenced horse abuse investigator recognized by the state of Colorado. She works with Project Equus, a Denver-based national horse protection agency.
“Pat Houde slammed me across the head which resulted in a ruptured ear drum,” she said. “I shudder to think what would have happened if this had occurred at night.”
Ducksbury-Russell said both Houde and her videographer were cut and bloody by the time police were called.
RCMP from the Carman detachment arrived at the scene near Houde’s ranch, about eight kilometres west of Elm Creek, after both parties called 911.
The alleged incident resulted in minor injuries including cuts and bruises, according to Cst. Larrie Barr.
“They were both taking photos and videos, not on his property, when he allegedly came out onto the road and there was an altercation and some physical violence,” said Barr, adding Houde is slated to appear in provincial court in Carman April 8.
Houde said Ayerst Organics, a plant that produces pregnant mare’s urine in Brandon, offered to tour the crew through a barn, but they refused.
“They were told not to come and bother anybody so instead they bring their video cameras and big lenses and come sneaking around,” he said.
The other side
Ducksbury-Russell tells a different story.
She said her repeated attempts to talk to the North American Equine Ranching Information Council, the U.S.-based non-profit PMU association that represents producers in Canada and speaks for Ayerst, were rejected.
“We have no interest in participating in your 10 minute promo,” said a fax sent to Ducksbury-Russell by Norm Luba, head of the council, on March 13.
“I don’t believe in sneaking around … that’s not my style,” Ducksbury-Russell said. “I did call a week before and asked politely to see his place.”
Barr said it’s not the first time Houde’s ranch has been the scene of similar incidents.
“I know there’s been some problems before there and I would imagine it’s because he’s close to the highway and has quite a few horses there. People tend to look at that and he would prefer they wouldn’t.”
Houde said he won’t just roll over when animal rights groups come calling and “let them tell their little Greenpeace story.
“If they keep sneaking around here there’s going to be more trouble,” he said.
Ducksbury-Russell said she intends to use footage of the altercation in the video, expected to be completed within a year and pitched to public education channels in the U.S.
“I don’t think the Pat Houde’s are representative of the rest of the farmers up there,” she said.
“But some people will go to extraordinary lengths to conceal their operations. We’ll leave it at that and let the public make their own observations.”
