South Dakota animal advocates are often concerned about urgent pleas to assist homeless horses and are overwhelmed by photos of horses suffering shared on social media. We want to help but some of us have limited knowledge of what it takes to properly care for an equine.
Did you know there are at least 1.2 million American households with both the resources and desire to adopt horses? That is why organizations like The Homes for Horses Coalition networks actively promote the welfare and protection of horses and other equines. They are a group of dedicated professionals working to end horse slaughter and other forms of equine cruelty, provide care and homes to horses in need, advance the highest operating standards for equine rescue and retirement homes and promote responsible horse ownership, the Homes for Horses Coalition is actively engaged in improving the lives of America’s equines. There are also equine rescues and horse sanctuaries needing support throughout the country, including many in South Dakota. SD FACT reached out to some local organizations helping horses to learn more about how animal advocates can help homeless horses.
South Dakota equine rescues and horse sanctuaries highlighted for us why their needs are so great – that starts with the fact it is expensive to properly care for a horse. Vet bills are more because often veterinarians travel to farms or ranches to provide medical care, horses need regular farrier care for their hooves, and horse feed and supplements are more costly than dog or cat food. As horses age they require additional veterinary care and special feed; they become even more expensive.
The life of a horse is also different than that of a dog or cat, they are a companion but also a working animal. As they age, horses can often no longer perform at the standards they once did and are often displaced. When that happens, horses find themselves looking for a new home with less demanding tasks. At some point, even those less-demanding tasks are impossible to perform. If and when that time comes, those once hard-working horses find themselves shuffled from one home to another until their ultimate demise. A very few lucky horses find themselves at an equine rescue, horse sanctuary or proper retirement home.
Horses lucky enough to be accepted into these organizations are rehomed but these equine rescues are already stretched to their limits, and horse sanctuaries and retirement homes have a much slower turnover due to their need for long-term care. The average lifespan of a domestic horse is 20 to 30 years and only when a horse passes is another horse accepted at sanctuaries. To be a responsible sanctuary, they must establish and maintain their capacity of care so they are not compromising the quality of life for their existing horses to bring in more.
Shanna Border with Borderlands Horse Sanctuary in Humboldt, SD says, “Just as people grow older, horses grow older and there is no safety net for them. Horses do not have social security or other funds to protect them in their twilight years.” In a sanctuary environment, horses are evaluated daily to decide what grains or supplements are required to keep them comfortable. Aging horses usually require high-quality hay. According to Border, a hay bale may range from $50 to over $100 depending on drought conditions and availability. The price of hay/alfalfa mix is even more costly. A bag of senior feed is around $25 and depending on how much is fed, may only last a few days to a week. Add supplements that last only a month such as Buteless for pain management at $50, an antihistamine for heaves at $35, or a weight gain supplement at $40, it all adds up. There’s also the cost of salt (either white block salt at $7 or Himalayan salt at $10) and mineral blocks at $8-$12. How long a salt and/or mineral block lasts depends on the number of horses and the time of year. There’s also the cost of a blanket for those older horses who need a little bit extra help to get through the coldest parts of a South Dakota winter. Blankets are around $100 and, if all goes well, can be used for multiple seasons unless the horse is a blanket destroyer and then you’ll be purchasing one every year.
Border says “We purchased 66 bales at our sanctuary to get us through this winter, that was $7,500 due to higher hay prices right now, and even the best quality hay needs to be supplemented with grains to keep a horse going until they say they are ready to leave this world.” A large portion of the grants available for horses are for horse rescues focused on finding horses new homes, sanctuaries like hers are not always eligible. As with all non-profit organizations in South Dakota, horse rescues and sanctuaries are competing for grants against others groups throughout the country. That is why financial and in-kind donations to South Dakota equine rescues and sanctuaries are so important.
According to The Homes for Horses Coalition website, equine rescues and horse sanctuaries are the ideal resource when it comes to policies impacting equine care and well-being. There are many ways that rescues can advocate for horses on the federal, state and local level, from posting action alerts to your Facebook page, to hosting an open house at the rescue featuring elected officials. Here are some of the tools that you can you use to advocate for horses:
- Phone calls or letters from the rescue to local/state/federal representatives urging co-sponsorship of a bill is a direct form of contact.
- Social media, such as Twitter or Facebook, can be used to ask followers to contact their legislators regarding a specific issue. Information on how to take action and can include links to specific action alerts or online petitions.
- Face-to-face meetings with federal and state legislators in their state/district offices are a very effective advocacy tool. In fact, keeping your actions local is far more effective than spending valuable resources to travel to Washington, D.C., in many cases. In addition, rescues can attend Town Hall meetings as well as testify at federal, state or local hearings on horse-related bills or policies.
- Letters to the editor and op-eds can be sent to newspapers. Posting comments on articles about a horse-related bill or issue is also a good way to make your voice heard. Similarly, sharing and tweeting positive articles through social media channels will increase the exposure of the issue to a wider audience. Please remember to be professional, factual and concise with your message.
- Joining statewide coalitions of animal advocates can keep a rescue plugged into those local/state issues that impact horses and provide a broader base of support for activism than the rescue alone can generate. Legislators can also be invited to tour rescue facilities where they can see, firsthand, horses that were at risk and could be helped by passage of horse related bills. Likewise, local media can be invited to take a tour (either during a legislator’s visit, or separately). A key rescue spokesperson should be prepared to talk to reporters about pertinent bills. Press packets on the issues should be made available.