RETIRE & REHOME

Retire & Rehome

Whichever way we ride or however we are associated with horses, we can all agree that horse welfare and rescue is extremely important. Learn about these caring places in our Rehome section, where money and time can be donated to help horses find, or remain, in their forever home.

Many charity events help fund the good work of equine rescue organizations. Parties and auctions to benefit rescue are included in the Calendar of Events for Retire & Rehome.

Have an old friend to retire? Find a place where your horse can live the life of leisure in our Retirement section.

Do we need to add an event or rescue? Please use the useful feedback link and let us know!

by Pamela Zielinski

Since this is a hot topic and extremely emotional, especially when dealing with large, relatively intelligent animals aka horses, I thought I would bring my 58 years of experience with horses to the table and hopefully give people some peace with having to make the hard choice. And it IS a hard choice, no matter how many times you have had to make it, no matter what the reason.

It IS hard.

Many people feel that they are playing God and that things are better left to nature as to whether the animal in question survives or not. For some, that may be true, but in my experience, if an animal has no chance, or even very little chance, of regaining some semblance of comfort and mobility, you, as a steward of this animal, have a responsibility to relieve their discomfort. Sometimes the only way to do that is to euthanize them. I also believe that sometimes the biggest obstacle in the way of that happening is, unfortunately, “what will people think?”

My answer to that question is “who cares what people think??” They are not the stewards of this animal. They are not the ones who have to see the animal in their backyard, struggling to make it to the water trough once or twice a day. They are not the ones who have loved this animal for years or maybe even only for days or weeks as is the case with many rescue animals. They are not the ones (and this may sound a bit callous to some) who have to pay the vet bills for multiple calls and expensive medication, trying to keep the animal in question from hurting. YOU. YOU are the one charged with making the hard decision so IMO, tell everyone who questions your decision to F*** off and let you do what's right without guilt.

I tell everyone that horses are not people. A lot of horse owners and especially NON horse owners have a hard time grasping that concept. Let's say you have a horse who has a broken left hind cannon bone from a pasture accident. It will take many months to heal if it's even possible. A person who has a similar injury, say a broken tibia from an automobile accident will be in the same boat. It will take months to heal. Healing will be painful, as will rehab once the healing process is complete. The difference is that you can TALK to a human. You can tell them that it will take many months for the bone to heal and many more to rehab from it. They can understand you and have something to look forward to. With a horse, that's not possible. All a horse knows is that they hurt TODAY. They don't see tomorrow as people do.

Yes, you can heal lots of injuries even though they hurt for a while, but I'm talking about major injuries that will take many months of healing and rehab. I'm not saying that the typical bowed tendon needs euthanasia, on the contrary, most bowed tendons heal just fine and actually become what we in the horse world know as a blemish. A scar. Something that is a non issue except for the look of it, which horses also do not give a rat's a** about.

Beyond injuries, we get to the issue of elder care and when to make that decision. In 58 years, this has come up more times than I care to remember and it's always, always difficult. IME, most senior horses are well loved members of the family. No one wants to kill Grandma just because she's old, but we need to remember the inability of horses to understand pain. And as they get old, pain is a constant, daily recurrence that can make life miserable. Over the years, I have developed a threshold and my threshold is always the same. When a horse is having more bad days than good, it's time. Do not fall into the trap where you are making excuses for doing what needs to be done. Face the fact that you might be keeping the horse with you for your own benefit, rather than theirs. In my opinion, the horse must always come first.

The last issue I want to touch upon, and this is the most sensitive, is economics. It's expensive to treat serious injuries or illnesses in horses. At some point, you, as the owner, have to decide how much you can afford to spend. I've heard it all, “if you can't afford to treat them, you can't afford to have them”, “put it on your credit card”, the list goes on. I cannot tell you the number of people that I have known over the years who lost a horse because they couldn't afford to treat it as the vet suggested. It's heartbreaking and I will NEVER judge someone who can't come up with 14-15 THOUSAND dollars for colic surgery on their best friend. Oh oh, oh there's insurance! Yes there is, but it never covers everything. There's always a LOT left over. I have seen many people, some who are my favorite owners of all time, who couldn't pay and had to decide on euthanasia.

So we've covered everything I could think of, what's left? My synopsis is that you are charged as an owner of one of these wonderful creatures with doing what is the best that you can do for them at the time. Whether, injury, age, economics, whatever is causing you to consider their fate, please don't let your own feelings get in the way. Do what is right for the horse in the circumstances you are presented with. Don't ever forget that horses are not people. They are not “afraid to die”. If it seems so, it is just instinct kicking in and what you are doing can be the biggest and best gift you can ever give them.

For resources, see our Rainbow Bridge section.

USDA Continuing Education for Veterinarians

By Nancy Thomas

It is hard to be passionate about something about which you are not aware. “Out of sight, out of mind” is a very true adage, and we are all susceptible to that scenario. All of us, including me. Therefore, it was with complete naiveté that I started down a rabbit hole a week ago…

I maintain my veterinary license and certifications for the purpose of maintaining my own animals. I don’t practice and I have no intention of returning to practice. Nevertheless, to maintain my certifications, I must complete Continuing Education Units on a yearly basis. And so it was that I found myself choosing which 6 modules from the USDA I would complete to meet my requirements.

An important note… it says in this article that “The modules are also open to the general public.” Therefore, while I may be raising some eyebrows in this series, I am not breaking any rules when I share screenshots of the modules.

I decided to complete the module describing the USDA Regulations pertaining to horse slaughter. I honestly can’t tell you why I chose that, except that I usually complete the module related to the interstate movement of horses. The latter module pertains to me on a regular basis! I think I was expecting some crossover between the regulations that pertain to those of us traveling with horses and the rules that applied to the interstate movement of horses destined for slaughter.

The first disconnect

My first “Say WHAT?” moment came when I reached the bottom of Page 7 of the module. The first few pages of the module described the evolution of the banning of horse slaughter in the United States, addressed the problem of “unwanted horses,” and provided some statistics. I will address those topics in future blogs in this series.

Gabby Sharing High School graduation with Rocky!

by Gabby Roselli

Rocky, I do not know when he was born, or what he did before I met him, but in November 2007, he became my pony, my companion, and my very best friend through the best and worst life has offered. For these past 13 happy years together, we shared a rare, special bond that only happens once in a lifetime. To say Rocky was the best horse feels like an understatement, every girl calls their horse ‘the best horse’. But King Fluffy was, he really was the real deal. A genuine king among ponies, a champion.

I could always count on Rocky, no matter what strange or exciting adventure I took him on. The world was ours for the taking, so we rode just about everywhere from the fields and forest of terrace mountain, to our daily strolls into town to visit friends, the gas station, the local museums, the library, and where ever else we felt like going that day. Didn’t matter what time of day, what the weather was outside, or if we even wore tack or not, we just went for it because I never had a second thought. He always took care of me; he shied at nothing, and rarely questioned my commands, even when I made an error in judgement, and I made many errors.

That’s not to say Rocky didn’t have strong opinions though, he was definitely a stubborn pony at heart! Anyone who has cared for him knows he firmly believed that medicine is poison, and he always knew all the tricks since I first got him. Applesauce, molasses, you name it, he’s snubbed it. Don’t even think about that syringe either, “I’ll just become a giraffe,” would say Rocky, and though he was not very tall, most everyone is taller than me. The struggle was real.

THE FIREFIGHTERS

Taking into account the extraordinary difference that calendar and the firefighters have made, we feel it is also important to get to know some of the real-life heroes who take part in the world’s most iconic calendar.

DENNIS FAY: One of those firefighters is Dennis Fay, a proud indigenous Torres Strait islander. Born on the tiny island of Badu (located between Australia and New Guinea), Dennis is a returned military veteran who was also a world ranked Muay Thai fighter. Along with his full-time job as an Aviation Firefighter, Dennis is now also fighting for another cause, something more important than anything he could achieve in the ring…. the preservation of marine life surrounding Badu.

To assist in the sustainability of the ocean vital to his people’s way of life, Dennis is doing his utmost to keep the waters surrounding Badu free of discarded plastic. Badu’s once pristine oceans and beaches have become littered with harmful plastic and this plastic is devastating the local marine life. Working with locals, Dennis is ingeniously helping his community by recycling the discarded plastic and transforming it into diving flippers. This initiative is proving to be a huge opportunity for his community, providing vital jobs and also helping to keep the waters of Badu clean.

“Our hope is that by promoting authentic indigenous artists on our flippers that we can share our connection to nature with the world. Our aim is to repurpose something that was harmful to our environment into a product we can use back in the ocean to support the community. I have aligned our work with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals program (SDG), which is of particular importance to our island and the UN’s Responsible Consumption and Production and Life Below Water initiatives. These programs are going to be very important in transforming our part of the world and providing a better way of life for my community” - Dennis Fay – Aviation firefighter.

Horse owner Dr. Erin Christopher-Sisk began practicing equine-assisted therapy with two of her own racehorses after they suffered career-ending injuries. (photo courtesy of Dori Fitzpatrick)

by Christine Graf

Retired racehorses get a second career with Therapeutic Horses of Saratoga, which brings equine therapy to our community’s most vulnerable.

The 27 acres of farmland owned by Therapeutic Horses of Saratoga (THS) are alive with memories from four years’ worth of heart-lifting work involving some very special retired racehorses. One standout equine was Boots, who is now buried near a cluster of trees behind a therapy paddock. Even though it has been several years since the retired Standardbred racehorse passed away, her presence can still be felt in every corner of the farm.

“She was the mayor of the farm,” says psychologist Dr. Erin Christopher-Sisk, founder of the Saratoga Springs nonprofit. “Boots had chronic pain from an infection in her hooves that caused permanent damage. She became part of our therapy program, and patients with chronic pain really connected with her, and she connected with them. She was such an inspirational presence on the farm. I spend time at her grave with patients, and I can still barely talk about her without crying.”

Founded in 2018, Therapeutic Horses of Saratoga rescues retired racehorses like Boots and retrains them for therapeutic programming. THS works in partnership with certified equine therapists who provide equine-assisted therapy to the community’s most vulnerable populations. I’ve actually volunteered with the program after my niece, a former foster child who’s lived through a lot of trauma, found so much comfort through a similar program in the Pittsburgh area.

Founded on the 4th day of the war by Mykhaylo Parkhomchuk, the Ukrainian Equestrian Federation Charity Foundation (UEF-CF) is still a very young organization. The foundation helps horses in Ukraine with food, bedding and the relocation of horses within Ukraine from dangerous areas to safer areas. The UEF-CF is running two safe stables in Ukraine where horses, often traumatized by the war, can recover.

In June 2022, UEF-CF has supported 133 stables with 1712 horses receiving humanitarian assistance from UEF-CF, including stables in Kiev, Kharkiv, Odessa, Chernihiv and Zaporizhzhya. To date, 1200 tons of hay, haylage, feed and shavings have been received and 1,000 tons distributed. More than 500 horses have been relocated within Ukraine or evacuated abroad.

Many horse owners have lost their jobs due to the war. Stables were completely destroyed, bombed by Russians or set on fire. Horses were burnt alive. The horse owners need help in the form of in-kind donations such as hay and bedding, which UEF-CF receives at its warehouse in Poland and sends to Ukraine or buys within Ukraine and distributes then. In order to be able to finance the supply trips, UEF-CF is also dependent on monetary donations.

Ukrainian Equestrian Federation Charity Foundation — Stables attacked by Russians.

Decline in Donations

Due to the high fuel prices, expenses have increased considerably, and at the same time, donations have dropped sharply. The decline in donations is probably also due to the fact that the rest of the world is feeling the economic effects of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. The hay supply situation in Ukraine is particularly desperate. Many fields are littered with landmines and therefore cannot be harvested. The impact will be felt especially in autumn and winter, when already high hay prices will rise even further.

The Ukrainian Equestrian Federation Charity Foundation (UEF-CF) is one of the few organizations, if not the only one, that has started to produce compound feed for horses in Ukraine with the support of a Dutch company. Sponsors are needed to financially support this feed production. This would secure jobs, provide horses in Ukraine with the feed they need during stressful times and at the same time support the Ukrainian economy.

Go behind the scenes for the Australian Firefighter's 2022 Calendar Photoshoot!

Your purchase helps support the US based Greater Good Charities Rescue Rebuild programs.

From its humble beginnings, The Australian Firefighters Calendar was established in 1993 to support the Children's Hospital Foundation, providing funds for research into childhood burns. Now in its 28th year, The Australian Firefighters Calendar has raised over $3.2 million for various charities. The "Horse Calendar" edition features beautiful photography.

Your purchase helps support the US based Greater Good Charities Rescue Rebuild programs, Healing Hooves and Reason to Thrive.