A pilot horse owner assistance program operated last winter by three independent nonprofit equine rescue sanctuaries in the Pacific Northwest had a 100 percent success rate in keeping horses in safe homes with financially struggling but committed owners and is ready to be expanded nationwide.
Project Safety Net for Horses has the potential of saving literally thousands of horses from neglect, abandonment, premature euthanasia or the brutality of equine slaughter for a minimal investment per animal, according to Allen Warren of the Horse Harbor Foundation (HHF), who developed and implemented the innovative program along with two other horse rescuers, Sara Penhallogen and Janean Doezal, in response to sanctuary capacity being at or beyond capacity in their three-county area on the Olympic and Kitsap Peninsulas across the Puget Sound from Seattle.
“In this economy when millions of Americans, including many good longtime horse owners, are struggling just to put food on their own tables and pay the mortgage, many who love their animals and have always provided good care find themselves in a terrible dilemma,” Warren states.