A recent tagging in a post about a large grant ($15,000) by a pretty well known group has led me to reflect on why I don’t and won’t apply for that grant.

The offering group has a pretty bad reputation in the horse rescue industry but they are still around because they know how to tug at heartstrings. I personally wouldn’t want to be associated with any organization who euthanizes enough horses each year to justify their own incinerator, I’ve been told they have staff on hand who are trained in captive bolt.

The first time I heard of them I thought they were awesome, being able to fundraise thousands of dollars overnight but then the stories started coming out. The score sheet was brought to light.

Yes the score sheet is what they use to determine if the horse lives or dies. I’ve personally seen the score sheet and know for a fact several horses that have passed through our care they would have killed instantly, they killed a stallion because he was a 5yo halter broke cryptorchid who required more than a simple gelding procedure.

Ours who would have been a mandatory euthanization. All but one (Revenge) are no longer at our facility.

Ava – her PPID and chronic abscesses would have gotten her euthanized. “Special needs”

Dad – Chronic Cribber, weight/enzyme issues. “Special Needs/Chronic Cribber/chronic Lameness” – she would have been by discretion but being pasture pet only due to lameness

Tip Tap – over 15 and only halter broke, scared of initial touch – yup euthanized “over 15 & only halter broke”

Revenge – 6 to 8 month hoof issue – yup, euthanized “chronic issues/special needs, chronic lameness, chronic abscesses”

While the $15,000 would have been immensely helpful, I can’t in good faith apply for it even if we did qualify for it, which we don’t.

We don’t fundraise more than 20K a year- we’ve tried we are lucky to hit 2K.

We don’t rehome 5 plus horses a year, our financial situation doesn’t allow us to take and “flip” horses, most horses require 30-60 days at a minimum to decompress and trust.