On February 18, 2020, Rainhill was happy to accept another blind horse into our sanctuary. You know we can’t always say yes to someone seeking refuge for an unwanted horse. Our resident list stays around 50, which is an unbelievable amount of mouths to feed and work to do. Sadly, we had two older horses pass away since the beginning of the year. It had been over two years since any of the horses had died and both of these were unexpected. Every passing saddens me but my time and energy are best spent caring for the living. All our horses were headed for a bad place when they were brought here. Most suffered from lack of food, harsh treatment and general misunderstanding of the nature of horses. The largest percentage of our horses live here for ten years or more. Our oldest horses are in their late twenties and early thirties. That translates into many, many owners and for animals as sensitive as horses are, much heartbreak with every new home. And so we proceed slowly with new arrivals, taking care not to cause undue stress or worry.
The new horse was brought from Ozark, IL where he resided at a summer camp for children. They called him Declan but we decided to rename him Henry. Oh! Henry, really, for he is a real sweetie! Henry is only twelve and he is an appendix-registered Quarter Horse. That means he is half Quarter Horse, half Thoroughbred. Henry is tall, dark brown and very handsome. He is enjoying life with a stall and seems to be feeling more at home every day. Before contacting Rainhill, the camp had searched many rescues in the hopes of finding this kind horse a home. They felt terrible thinking they would have to have Henry euthanized if no home was found. We are glad they found Rainhill and a forever home for Henry.
Not every story ends so well. Too many horses are unwanted for one reason or another. I read recently about horses being turned loose at unused coal mines in Eastern Kentucky. Evidently there were many horses running across this land searching for food, water, or maybe their former owners. Mares and stallions were running together and the result? Baby horses. Someone decided to take matters into their own hands and went there with a gun. You guessed it – dead horses everywhere. A herd of horses can be destructive and dangerous. Whose fault is this? Certainly not the horses’, who are just trying to survive. The people who somehow believe it’s alright to “throw out” an animal, cat, dog or horse are the real culprits. Doing the right thing isn’t always easy but we owe our animal friends the dignity of not being tossed out like trash.
Rainhill can’t take every animal in need but for the ones we do take, we work hard to provide a life worth living, until death do we part. We are a total non-profit organization that depends on donations to care for these horses. We have no paid staff and all money raised goes directly for the care and feeding of these 49 horses. Rainhill has been a 501 C3 non-profit since 2005 and we gladly give tax receipts for donations.
If you would like to help, we would feel blessed. Thank you for reading our stories.
-by Karen Thurman
Rainhill Equine Facility, Inc.
11125 KY Hwy. 185
Bowling Green, KY 42101
270-777-3164
