Lately in California, and I'm sure all over the country, people have been going broke. The comforts that used to be so easy to afford, now come with a greater price. One of those comforts is horses. There are so many costs in such a large animal. Such as boarding, vet bills, salt licks, grain, dental bills. Not including the time taken out of your day to care for the animals
One farm in Connecticut is helping Horses that are unwanted or have been neglected or uncared for. They also accept horses that are blind or other health reasons
Greener Pastures Rescue in Salem CT. was founded in 2002 by Dana Stillwell and Inge Hieret. Their goal is to " have no horse in Connecticut without a good home" From what I saw they are doing a great job!
Greener Pastures does a lot with the horses after they get them. At first because the horses may be uncomfortable, they are walked often. Dana Stillwell explained to me about their training. When they train them its all about positivity! Instead of using 'no' when they do something wrong, the trainers stay silent. If the horse does the right thing they trainers use lots of positive words to tell the horses they did a good job. I really liked hearing about training horses in a new way.
Annabella loved petting all the 'dogs'
Greener Pastures keeps a waiting list of Horses waiting to come into one of the two privately owned barns that house the horses. They also have a list of people in the area that would like to adopt a horse themselves. These horses still live with their owners and are waiting for homes to help them.
At the Greener Pastures website has a list of horses that need to be adopted. However its not as simple as just adopting the horse the staff over at greener pastures makes sure that the horses are going to good homes. The person is interviewed, the potential property where the horse will live is inspected for safety, and they make an assessment of whether the home is suitable for the horse and Greener Pastures.
Once the horse is adopted, if the home doesn't seem to be working out, Greener Pastures will work with the home to try to improve the situation, if it isn't working out, Greener pastures will bring the horse back to one of their temporary barns and start the process again.
If you can't afford a horse, (or don't know anything about them) You can still help Greener Pastures! Join the Carrot Club (for individuals or families) or the Apple Club (businesses) donating will help train, feed, care for, and place horses in good homes.
If you live in the Northeast, check out the Greener Pastures Rescue Silent Auction on December 3rd from 6-10pm. Check out their website for more details
I want to say thank you to Dana for letting me visit her farm, I learned so much and had a great time visiting!
Also if you live on the eat coast check out Dana's horse classified magazine (although you probably already have)
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