Horse Farms May Be Rescued

As we’ve noted recently, many horse farms in Kentucky are feeling the pinch right now trying to take care of their horses. Hay prices are way up. And the ground has been extremely muddy, so this has resulted in horse farms needing to use more hay to supplement the feeding of their horses. Add in the ban on horse slaughter, and this has resulted in some owners that have been unable to care for their horses, in either just not feeding their horses sufficiently, or just turning them loose to fend for themselves.

But, there is hope. The Kentucky Horse Council held a event where various horse rescue organizations are trying to create a Kentucky state wide effort to create a list of groups that are a part of the effort to take in the abused, neglected, or abandoned horses - and they can then move horses to various shelters that may have vacancies if they reach capacity at their own facility. This would help ease the burden if a particular part of the state becomes saturated with a bunch of horses - and helps spread the efforts out across all the different groups that want to help in Kentucky.

Numerous additional ideas and suggestions are being considered including the possibility of a web site for inventorying the horses that are available for adoption at the various centers. Also, one proposal includes for holding adoption days at the Kentucky Horse Park outside of Lexington KY that would allow persons desiring to adopt a horse, to come to a large organized event and select the horse they want to take home. Some other thoughts include creation of a hay bank - where a large storage of hay would be placed and tapped if we experienced another summer & winter like we did this year [keep your fingers crossed - hopefully we won't.] Kudos to the persons making this happen. Having a horse farm is one thing - but you got to take care of your horses as well. Once this grassroots effort gains some steam, we can hope that there won’t be any more horses that have no place to call home.