Program areas at The Horse Shelter
Ranch operationsrehabilitationsanctuary we are located on 127 acres and have an average of 75 horses at our ranch at any time with a total capacity of 100. As there is no pasture available, our feed cost of 110,000 is a large expense and we continue to see rising prices due to increase in fuel cost, inflation and drought. Veterinary care, worming, dental, vaccinations and other rehabilitation costs are ongoing and we have experienced increased costs in payroll and other facility expenses. Our Horse sponsorship program helps cover The regular feed & care expenses of our horses and we hope to grow our sponsorship program until every Horse in rescue has a sponsor to rely on.
Volunteer program: our volunteers served over 6,000 hours in 2022 and are a vital component of our operations. Our ranch volunteers muck, water, clean our facilities. They also groom and socialize our horses and help train our horses in groundwork. The volunteers are able to participate in our onsite and online Horse handling and training program and advance their horsemanship skills, which in turn helps our horses advance as well. We have volunteers helping with our events and in our office and store, where they clean, help with estate sales, stuffing newsletters and many other chores. Our volunteers are an immeasurable asset to our organization
Adoption program: The Horse Shelter (ths) has an active training and adoption program, with an average of 27 horses adopted to good homes each year and in 2022 we admitted 35 horses into rescue. To help increase our adoption rate we employ professional trainer(s) and also utilize contract and foster trainers when appropriate. High adoption numbers directly result in an increased ability to admit horses into rescue. After physical rehabilitation, training is The most important investment for these rescue horses, as it allows them to become comfortable around humans, learn safe handling and ground training skills and receive a good foundation to start them as riding horses. Being safe to handle for humans ensures these horses will be able to find good and permanent homes.