Thanks to your donations to our Christmas Card program, we have reached 10 cards out of our goal of 100. Please take a minute to donate to our shelter and give something very special and unique. With your donation, we will send a personalized Christmas card to your family or friend, letting them know that you made a donation in their name to help horses in need. Included with the card is a very cute rescue story. For more information and to donate to our Christmas Card program, click here.
We have 3 shelters across the United States. We started in California in 2004, but as we have grown, we saw the need across the United States and have been expanding. There are so few horse welfare groups in the eastern states that we felt it was very important to offer our services not only in California, but in Oklahoma and Tennessee as well.
Our California staff have been busy moving the shelter to a better location close to Sacramento. Our staff have all been working extremely hard to make the move happen.
At the new shelter a lot of prep work has been getting done. Here the dozer is leveling an area for the mare motel.
Panel by panel the mare motel has been dismantled and moved to the new facility. We would like to thank all of our dedicated volunteers and staff for making all this hard work possible.
We had a volunteer day scheduled for the 13th, but it was pouring rain that day. Our team got together a couple days later and started setting stuff up. We do have another volunteer day scheduled for January 3rd. If you are able to volunteer, please click here.
Our Oklahoma shelter has been busy caring for the rescued animals in their care. This adorable group of baby donkeys were at an auction and nobody wanted them, so the auctioneer started talking them up about how they taste like chicken and does anyone want to have a donkey roast. Our Oklahoma shelter manager, Shari, couldn’t keep her hands down and won the bid for all the babies there. They were only $35 each! It’s so sad what they have endured in their short lives. Thanks to your donations, their future is bright now!
The horses from the last auction rescue in Oklahoma have all had their hooves done. They definitely enjoyed all the attention and their hooves look great.
They have also all been seen by the vet and gotten their vet checks. Richard Gere had to get his teeth floated.
He had several sharp points causing him pain and trouble eating. His teeth are all fixed up and he will be just fine now.
Three donkeys we rescued in April: Arrow, Feather and Abe. They are all doing well and looking for their forever homes.
When we rescued Arrow she had the worst donkey hoof we have ever seen.
With lots of care her hoof has fully recovered. It doesn’t even look like the same foot! We didn’t know for sure if we were going to be able to save her, but all of our hard work has really paid off for her.
Our Tennessee shelter has also been very busy rescuing and caring for the animals at their shelter. This was from the last auction our TN team attended. It’s so sad how many horses are shipped to slaughter every week at the auctions. We wish we could save them all!
Hay is certainly cheaper in TN than it is in California. Each of these 1,000 lb bales of great quality grass hay are $35 each.
In rural Tennessee where our TN shelter is getting set up, there is no animal control. Any complaints go to the Sheriff department, and they really don’t like dealing with horses it seems. We received a report about some horses being neglected so our shelter staff went to investigate with a TN Constable. Thankfully the horse caregiver invited us onto the property to see the horses. We found the horses to be in good weight and condition. One of the horses was limping so a vet is scheduled to examine him and make a recovery plan.
Another report came in so our team headed out to investigate. All was certainly not well at this location. Based upon the results of the investigation, Tawnee has written up a full report and submitted it to the District Attorney’s office. We are hoping to have good news soon.
Please remember our Christmas card fundraiser. It takes a lot of money to keep the 3 shelters going nationwide, and your $25 (or more) donation is really appreciated! Please donate for at least $25 and get 1 card: click here.
Thank you all for your support both financial and emotional!