Happily Ever After

Rescue horses are old and sick. They’re crippled and broken down. They’ve been hopeless abused and deserve to just be put down.

These are many of the myths about rescue horses and reasons why many people still shy away from adopting. Today is Blog the Change for Animals, an online event where bloggers write about animal causes that are near and dear to them.

I manage the website for the horse rescue I work with. Recently, we’ve been adding lots of updates to our website. One page we’ve added is our Happy Endings page.

You can check out the rescue’s happy endings page by clicking here or by clicking on the screenshot to the left. You’ll see all of the horses and donkeys the rescue found homes for in 2010, as well as some from previous years. (We’re still working on some of the previous years.) Check out the smiles on all of our adopter’s faces!

Last year, the rescue adopted out 27 equines—-22 horses and 5 donkeys. All are happy and healthy and many, you’ll notice, are still young and spry, with plenty of years ahead of them. There was Pebbles, an orphaned newborn donkey who’s owner was going to “let nature take it’s course” because he did not have time to bottle feed her. Deputy, Marty and Sheriff were all strays picked up by local law enforcement. Deputy the pony was skin and bones when he came to the rescue. Many of the horses we adopted out last year came from a high end paint breeder–we even had papers on some of them. He was planning to shoot most of them because they weren’t pretty colors and were harder for him to sell at a good price.

Our adopters all love their new equine friends. Some of these horses are winning in the show ring, some of them have become awesome trail horses, some of them are teaching their owners about riding and training. They all dispel the myth that rescue horses are old, lame and not worth bothering with.

So, if you (or a friend) are in the market for a horse, I urge you to consider adopting a rescue horse. Check out petfinder to find adoptable horses (and other animals) in your area. Especially in bad economic times, there are many healthy, sound, well-bred horses that end up in rescues that have the potential to be your next great horse.

One more point, and then I’m done. We have a little filly we rescued on December 30, about two weeks ago. She was in horrible shape when she arrived. Gingersnap had been neglected and abused—-it’s going to take quite a bit of rehabilitation and retraining before she can be adopted out. You can read her story so far on this page.

There are 2 great ways that you can help Gingersnap:
1. Donate a few dollars toward her care. Every $5 or $10 helps a lot.
2. Share her page and her story with your friends, either on your blog, on facebook, on twitter or even by e-mail. Helping spread the word will help both Gingersnap and the rescue.

Because here’s what I really want—-Next year, when we look back over the Happily Ever After page, I want to be able to see Gingersnap there too—fat and happy and with a huge smile on her new adopter’s face.

Check out some of the other bloggers who are participating in Blog the Change for Animals: