How We Started

Incorporated in Massachusetts • 2003

Became a non profit • 2004.

Received our Determination Letter • 2008.

"Mom, do you think we could ever have a horse in our family?" My own childhood love of horses was stirred with this simple question and I couldn’t say a definite NO to my daughter Betsy. We really couldn’t afford it, knowing that the budget was so tight it squeaked, our family did not have room for frivolous whims of fancy and the answer was: “If this isn’t a fad, Betsy and after a year you still want to muck out a stall, we will talk about it then”.

Betsy’s horse experience started with a sad little pony that her friend Bonnie’s neighbor bought from an auction in Agawam. The girls groomed him on weekends and cleaned out his stall. It was the only attention this pony received. One year later we were searching for a horse that would be safe and affordable! We found Abir al Saif, the most beautiful half Arabian horse that ever lived. Things just fell into place and with a small loan from Aunt Beta we were able to buy “Abe”, thus began a dream of living with horses that has never subsided.

Our logo is created from a picture of Betsy and “Abe” back then.

Twenty four years later both Betsy and Mom have two barns full to the brim with beautiful, horses. The road to get here was bumpy but worth every jarring mile of it. All through the “teenage” years of raising a family, the bond had been set that would not be broken no matter how many disagreements arose from a clash of wills.

Both daughters, Betsy and Danielle, loved trail riding and showing; they both had a habit of rescuing someone! Actually, all four of my kids always brought someone home to mend. From chickens to horses our family always had someone on the mend in the backyard (many times a little critter was up in the bedroom unbeknownst to me). Something else became painfully obvious to us back then; the horses that had outlived their monetary usefulness seemed to be lost along the way; not all, but some of them. I received via email, live streaming video of horses in a slaughter house which made me ill for weeks; I had no idea what I was opening. This video coupled with not knowing where so many beautiful horses would end up catapulted the whole creation of a place that horses could come to for safety and kindness.

Betsy and I talked and decided we could give a little something back to the horse world for all it had done for us; we decided to start a Rescue and help one or two horses that were in peril find a good home. We began the process of paperwork and state and federal applications.

The two horses per year have turned into no less than 65 in four years! We have rescued horses from New England to Canada and we still cannot out give what this horse world gives to us. We have made friends across this grand Country of ours, strong bonds with people who have horses, lease horses and those friends that cannot own a horse but love horses and want to help them.

The plight of Premarin mares and foals came to the forefront early on and we joined the many who wanted to educate women about the facts of how hormonal drugs prescribed during menopause are created; it’s brutal.

The outcry from women was phenomenal and these Premarin farms are fast becoming a thing of the past. We see how public outcry can change things, it takes time but it does make a difference. There is power in knowledge. The awareness of how carriage horses in our big cities are being ill treated is also on the rise.

There isn’t much romance for the horse that pulls the carriage.

 

We now have an Executive Board of eight dedicated volunteers who love being part of the horse world; saving horses that are abused, neglected and abandoned is our mission.

No one is given financial remuneration for any of their work in this rescue. The pay is much richer than that; it is in the soul, where we all truly live that the rewards are doled out with abundance. To see a horse go from a skin and bones skeleton without hope to the fun loving, playful, healthy being it was meant to be is pay enough for all of us. As for my precious family, all four kids are grown today and help with the rescue efforts in any way they can.

I truly wonder, is it us who saves these horses or is it they who save our souls and remind us what this life is truly about, caring for one another.