A horse doesn’t care how much you know until he knows how much you care. Put your hand on your horse and your heart in your hand.  –  Pat Parelli

Simply put, a rescue horse is a horse that has been neglected, abused, starved, abandoned, “thrown away”, or left without customary medical care. They may have been sold to a kill buyer for shipment out of the country where they are cruelly killed for meat. They may have been worked almost to death (literally), hit with shovels, rakes, sticks, whips, denied food or water, or left standing in stalls with 8 inches of soggy, stinking manure, covered with flies.

Maybe their owner just left them in a field, unable to care for them, where they scrounge for bits of grass, with no shelter from storms or blistering heat. Their hooves may be so bad they are literally rotting from the inside out, and it’s too painful to even walk. They may have “Rain Rot”, a skin condition that rots away their coat, leaving them vulnerable to pus filled infections.

What people don’t realize is that there is an intelligent, loving animal under all that neglect. They might be terrified of the slightest thing, or in constant pain, with dead eyes showing no life. But with patience, good nutrition, and proper care, it is possible to bring them back from the hell their life has become.

It’s possible to help them remember what it’s like to be a horse again, running without pain, rolling on the ground, and being warm and dry with abundant, nutritious food.

These are the horses we rescue. And the description is no exaggeration…we have seen everything listed above, and dealt with it all.

Taking on a rescue is not something to be taken lightly. Expect your new friend to be scared, shy, maybe aggressive, in poor physical condition. They may need expensive medical care. Expect to spend a lot of time just allowing them to get used to the idea that they aren’t going to be starved or beaten.

It’s a long process, but the rewards are incredible. Seeing your horse, that a few months ago was a “horse zombie”, run with ears up, alert, even rolling in soft sand…that’s what makes it all worth it. For you have saved the life of a magnificent, noble, affectionate, intelligent animal with a life and soul just as important and as valuable as yours.