Save a Horse: Rescue and Rehabilitate Mustangs

Dear Supports, 

This past March, a School from Alberta, Canada had 22 students and 2 teachers who stayed at WHRC for a project and educational week about America’s Wild Horses and the Rescue Center. Thanks to their generous donations, WHRC was able to build a riding arena with the school group’s help. This new riding arena allowed us to be able to host clinics and fundraisers for the center.

April has been a busy month at Wild Horse Rescue Center with three different fundraising events. It started with a 2 day clinic with gated horse specialist Michael, gasconhorsemanship. This clinic had 9 riders along with their horses who participated in both day’s activities and about a dozen auditors. It was a wonderful knowledgeable weekend which helped the center as a fundraiser. We also hosted a clinic with Taylor, mcintoshequine, an AQHA Professional Horseman on the last weekend in April. This too was very successful with 10 riders and a dozen auditors. 

The weekend of April 22^nd we took part in a national event called Help a Horse Day which is part of ASPCA. This was an open house event, where people came out to our center to meet our horses. This was also a major fundraiser as we had sponsors whom had booths at the event. Over 100 visitors came to see the rescue and it was a very successful day for both visitors and volunteers. WHRC set up different stations for the visitors to watch and learn about what we do at the recue and why we do it. There was also different horse work, round pen and square pen demos during the day for people to watch some of our horses up for adoption. Another activity was a hay wagon rides around our property that recently has been cleared from our palmettos and pine trees. The day ended with drawing of many raffles and winnings of the silent auction items.

The following day, April 23, we attended a Native American, Earth Day Festival in Daytona Beach, Florida. This was the fourth year that WHRC has participated at this Earth Day Event. WHRC bring a tame mustang horse along with a booth. We give demos throughout out the day and talk about America’s wild horses and how they come to our center. This was too a fundraiser on this day.

After several months being very busy with all the preparation and events we is now turning our focus to more time to work horses and do more riding in our new arena. As the summer is coming we will also look into improving our sanctuary horses’ fencing, it is so important to finally build our catch pens. This will allow us to be able to handle our wild horses with a squeeze system.  

Warmest Regards,

WHRC

Dear Supporters,

We are having exciting times at Wild Horse Rescue Center. At the end of July, we hosted “National Meet-A-Horse Day” at our center. This “meet and greet” event was a great success, as it allowed our neighbors and community to get to know our amazing horses. In addition, WHRC is featured in an article in the October/November issue of Florida Country Magazine. We are also very proud to announce that we have had 10 successful horse adoptions in the past three months, and two of our horses have returned from successful off-site saddle training during this time. We are having a very memorable fall at Wild Horse Rescue Center.

Hurricane Irma struck our area in September. We were very lucky that our rescue center did not suffer any damage; however, the hurricane has forced us to make adjustments to our regular routines and plans for special events. Prior to the arrival of the hurricane, we evacuated 14 volunteers and 11 dogs to a horse center in Mississippi, where they had the opportunity to work with other horses for a week, under the expert supervision of WHRC’s former volunteer coordinator, Sophie, and our current volunteer coordinator, Mathilda.

Everyone had a great time in Mississippi, where they were safe from all dangers brought by the hurricane. We also evacuated 24 of our 54 horses to safer locations, while the rest of the horses stayed at the center under the protection of temporary shelters. I remained at the rescue center with the horses to ensure their safety, as the hurricane passed over. Our horses were marked as WHRC horses wit livestock paint, prior to the hurricane, so they would be returned to WHRC, if anyone escaped.Thankfully, none of our horses escaped.

The volunteers, dogs, and some of our horses have now returned to WHRC, and our regular schedule is almost back to normal. We still have 18 horses staying in nearby pastures, as our north pasture is still flooded with waters from the St. John’s River, whose level is the highest that it has been since 2001, thanks to all of the rain that came with the hurricane. These horses will return to WHRC from their “high and dry” locations, as soon as the flood waters recede from our pasture. As you can imagine, the flooding washed away a lot of our soil, which has been replaced by 14 loads of dirt in our holding pens and four loads of shell dirt in our riding arena.

In the near future, we plan to build a railroad tie wall around our pond, to help prevent future soil washout. The hurricane also caused two of our fall events to be cancelled – “F.A.R.M. Days” and “Time to Ride.” The many effects of the hurricane have delayed our plans to build a permanent holding pen for our Horses. We are now hoping that the construction will begin by the end of October; however, this start date will depend upon how quickly the flood waters recede.

Many thanks to our dedicated supporters, who contribute to the many successes of WHRC!

Sincerely,

Diane Delano

President of Wild Horse Rescue Center