Horses That Help

Horses that Help provides FREE horseback riding and horsemanship training to special needs children, at-risk youth, veterans and their families, using rescued and rehabilitated horses.

“Nobody can do everything, but everyone can do something”
Max Lucado

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Horses That Help
A non-profit 501(c)3 equine rescue and sanctuary. A safe landing for at-risk horses.

Horses That Help

3 weeks ago

Please join us in wishing our beloved volunteer Sarah a Happy Birthday! We are so thankful for all your help on the farm and the animals adore you as do we! Keep on being a ray of sunshine! ☀️
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Horses That Help
is with Helping Parrots - A Bird Rescue and Training Center.

3 weeks ago

HUGE ANNOUNCEMENT and it’s NOT an April Fools joke! 🦜 Horses That Help has expanded into bird rescue and today the rescue building was delivered! Our youngest daughter and her best friend have been operating out of our home which has been uncomfortable to say the least 🙈. Their dedication to helping birds has pushed them to expand out and these young ladies have been working off site jobs cleaning stalls at WEC all season, dog sitting and bird training to raise funds to complete the build themselves and they’re knocking it out! Special thanks to all the foster homes housing birds for them and huge thanks to Marcos Gonzalez for creating their logo! If anyone local to Ocala would like to help in any way they would appreciate the extra hands and of course, donations of cages and aviaries are extra needed right now. Birds live for a long time and the girls get calls all the time for owner surrenders. The need is great and while I personally am scared of the birds (I know, I know it’s been a hard season for me) I admire the courage and natural instinct these young people have for these birds in need. So here’s the official announcement of the creation of Helping Parrots - A Bird Rescue and Training Center and their soon to be open building that will be accepting volunteers! 🎉If you’d like to help them financially, that would be AMAZING. Please just note that it’s “for the birds” 🦜 PayPal [email protected] Venmo @Horses That HelpZelle 561-281-8599 Horses That Help Thank You! ❤️ #ittakesavillage
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Horses That Help

1 month ago

Wanna hear a sweet love story? The senior gelding on the left was lonely and his owner had called us a while back offering a safe landing spot for a horse in need. The senior mare on the right was loved but is a hard keeper and was in a dry paddock with dominant horses that pushed her off hay causing her to lose weight quickly. When I got the text I immediately remembered the kind retired vet tech with a lonely gelding and dug through my messages to find her and her immediate response was “yes”! We met the mare the next day and within 48 hours she landed with her new boyfriend and is getting the care she needs. The sweetest part was the look on his face when he first saw her and it felt like a cartoon with pink hearts popping 💕 while she was infatuated with the grass and unlimited hay 😋. So while we don’t have the funds or space to take in every horse that needs help, often times we’re able to network and matchmake a love story. ‼️Please please please reach out if you have the ability to take in a horse in need. We get several calls a week asking for help and the need for a safe landing for older horses is great! It takes a village ❤️
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Horses That Help

1 month ago

💖Volunteer Eeyore sitters requested💖 Eeyore is still recovering and not on solid foods yet and we’d love extra help watching him as he grazes and taking him on walks. Our current volunteers are tired as are we 😅 so begging for extra reinforcements to help us get over this hump 🙏. Any help with medical bills would also be a blessing… we’re down to $1627 from $2500 🎉. Thank you to everyone who has helped us heal this sweet boy! We fought hard as a team and he’s doing soooo much better! Thank you! ❤️#ittakesavillage #rescue #sanctuary
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Horses That Help

2 months ago

Everything was fine on Friday. Saturday I slept late (guilt) and found Eeyore in distress. He had a horrific choke and was struggling to breath. It took the veterinarians over 30 minutes to insert a nasal tube because of the swelling and then a really long time to clear the choke from his lower esophagus and even then we weren’t certain it was clear. Massive amounts of blood and he was lethargic, coughing up blood and phlegm and still wheezing. It didn’t look good and I didn’t post because I didn’t want to break hearts as Eeyore is kinda “everyone’s horse”. He’s a sanctuary resident we were asked to provide a safe landing for after his owner passed away and we were happy to oblige. We thought we were losing him and up until this morning when his fever broke, it was up in the air. Today is the 6th day we’ve been sitting with him. The first 4 days he was on IV fluids. Four bags a day for a total of 16 bags (at $62 each 😭). Thankfully he wants to eat grass but we can’t get him to eat more than just a couple bites of soaked grain or soaked alfalfa. He’s only pooped 4 times since Saturday but then again he hasn’t eaten much. His temp was as high as 103.5 and this morning was 99.4 thank God although I just took it and it’s now 100.4 Ultrasound yesterday confirmed he has aspiration pneumonia and his bloodwork was better than expected all things considering. Today is the best he’s been and he’s walking around eating grass and drinking some water on his own. Thank you Miss Kathy for hand grazing him all day so I can get caught up on chores. Thank you Sara and Shelby for “Eeyore sitting” and thank you Wendy for the emotional support. Thank you Rebecca for the homeopathic remedies and thank you Brea for giving him IV injections each day. He’s on Banamine 2x/day and two kinds of antibiotics. Please pray that he continues recovering. Please pray that he’ll poop and pee normally and that he’ll eat and will drink and drink and drink. We don’t want to go back on IV fluids but will if we have to. Please help with his vet bill that’s over $2500 already. The biggest expense was the IV fluids but without a doubt we would have lost him otherwise. If you have time to hand graze and watch him, please reach out to offer as I’m delirious from “Eeyore watch” and have to get back to work. To meet Eeyore is to love him, he’s a special guy indeed ❤️Venmo @Horses That Help Zelle 561-281-8599 Horses That Help PayPal [email protected] or call the vets office directly. Every dollar helps chip away at his bill, thank you 🙏P.S. I do want to add that when we first called the emergency line Saturday morning, the first ambulatory veterinarian misdiagnosed him despite my questioning the diagnosis over a dozen times. I tried to accept the diagnosis but in my heart I knew it was wrong and called again for a senior vet who came and treated the choke. Mistakes happen but if I were a new horse owner and didn’t push the issue, he would be dead. Listen to your gut and advocate for the animal 🙏 We love all our vets and are grateful he was saved ❤️
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Our Mission

Using horses to break through physical, mental, spiritual, emotional, and cultural barriers.

Early on at Horses That Help, we learned that everyone needs help in one way or another. Everyone has a story, everyone has a past, a hurt, or tender area and everyone needs love and to feel they belong.

What started as a ministry for special needs children has evolved into so much more. I think in the day and age, most children are “at-risk” and we aim to provide a safe, wholesome, loving environment where these kids can let down their guard and simply be kids. A child lights up when you point out their potential and they rise to the occasion when they are trusted to help. Something amazing happens when you take a kid from their everyday environment and expose them to nature and horses and hard work. They get to groom, ride, and wash down the horses but the best is when they are entrusted to help a special needs child that comes to ride. Now you have a kid that gets to experience the amazing feeling of helping and making a difference in the lives of others and instead of a victim of circumstance, this kid is a hero, an overcomer, a vital part of something special and that’s when the real miracles happen.

As the children heal, their families heal too. And it all starts with a kid and a horse.

Vision

Dream big… there’s a lot of people to help.

We currently serve 80-200 children a month. Kids with special needs, teens that are facing crossroads, youth that are considered “at-risk”, and teens in foster care. In this supportive, safe, caring environment, these kids are thriving and are empowered through each obstacle they overcome. They become family. These kids come to the ranch for mentoring, food, fellowship and learning. Learning not just about horses but life skills as well. But I envision even greater growth… I see mentors in place to teach mechanics and carpentry and sustainable gardening. I see teams fixing the cars of single moms and special needs families. I see teams building tables where families gather to eat the food we all prepare with the organic produce they helped grow.
I see hurting, starved, abused horses being loved on tenderly by kids who’ve been through the same. I see abandoned animals and people being made whole and given a new purpose and hope for their future.
I see good people in bad situations being helped.
I see urban youth going camping, roasting marshmellows, and riding a horse deep into the woods. Healing happens on long, quiet trail rides for both horse and rider and neither return unchanged.
I see kids that feel hopeless rising above their circumstance and becoming leaders and mentors.
I see community support and resources available to help their families and a network of people joining together to help however needed. I see lives changed for generations to come… and it all starts with a kid and a horse.