Katina Morrow... Formerly known to me as Katina Johnson of Swede Quarter horses in 2003.in 2003 I answered an ad for a 2 year old gelding. After much corespondence with Katina, I went out of state to see this horse which was taken to someone else's premises for me to look at. I instantly fell in love, bought him and brought him home. He had always urinated excessively and the vet told me this was no cause for alarm. 4 months later he was showing signs of listlessness and was urinating a dark color. So I rushed him to my veterinarian. My vet referred me directly to The U of I veterinary school as an emergency after the test results of one blood test. My beloved horse died of liver disease in that hospital 3 days later after every effort was taken to save his life. His prognosis was chronic liver disease which takes a long period of time to destroy the liver. The vet at the clinic said the most likely cause was ingestion of a poison over a long period of time, much like an alcoholic. The cause was determined to be either moldy hay or weeds that a horse normally wouldn't touch unless starving, w consumed for a long period of time. The vet's opinion was that it had been occuring long before the horse came into my care and our pasture was checked by a professional just to make absolutely sure poisonous weeds were not there. I was heart broken to say the least. During the 3 healthy (so I thought) months, I became friends via emails with Katina and made a deal with her to take my other mare for breeding in exchange for training her, (the mare's) my filly once she was of age. I couldn't have made a worse judgement. She picked up my mare with the filly at her side to take to her place for breeding. She assured me she was building proper shelter and would be maintaining her hooves because she had rotation of the coffin bone. About a month after my gelding passed I went to pick up the now weaned filly, I got her home and called the vet right away, she was so sick and weak, she even had a tick the size of a thumbnail in her ear. I was told she had pneumonia and was to give her shots, along with other meds twice a day and check her temp. This carried on for a month and I almost lost her. I was still in shock over the gelding but I knew what I had to do. I called Katina and told her the deal was off, I would be picking up my mare the next day. I was given the excuse of her going in to have surgery that day and I would not take no for an answer. I left at 1am and arrived at Katina's shortly after sunrise. I brought my mare home and was horrified at her condition after only 3 months at Katina's. She had Strangles, pnuemonia, was 150 lbs underweight and had skin rot up to her knees. I have all of the documentation and video of this mare before and after. I am tearing up just remembering the pain in my heart.
Katina never trimmed her hooves and had no shelter on 50 acres. She also fed all of her horses grain out of one large tub so the less dominant ones went hungry. I am appalled that this person could get a license to operate any facility dealing with animals. She is untrustworthy in the care of animals!
During our conversations prior to my mare coming home, Katina told me of a horse she had tied to a trailer once, in the mud, awaiting the arrival of a potential buyer, the horse slipped and broke it's neck before the people arrived. When I went to pick up my filly, she had another filly tied up to a trailer and the buyers were making a deal with her. I looked at this filly, she was injured and in need of quite a few stitches and her stallion was in the barn with an infection in his testicles. These were only the horses I saw.
I hope beyond hope that enough people become aware of this business owner and do not make the same mistake that many of us have. Some business owners priorities can get out of hand when it comes to making themselves a quick buck.
I have also heard of other dealings that people have had with this person as a seller of horses in the distant past but cannot comment for them, so I only hope they will come forward on their own.
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