Urgent Appeal from Habitat for Horses

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It isn’t often that I come to you with an urgent appeal, but these are not ordinary times. We need your help, now more than ever. Please listen to your heart as you read about Prince.

Sincerely,
Jerry Finch
Habitat for Horses

When a law enforcement officer calls for help with a situation involving horses, we respond as rapidly as possible. That’s why we considered the call urgent. “There’s a horse down and from the looks of it, he’s almost dead. Can you respond and see what you can do?”

Within a few minutes we were on the scene. Quite frankly, it looked far worse than I had imagined. According to the owner, the horse had been down a couple of days, but from the looks of the ground and the appearance of the horse, it had been far longer. There was very little life left in this guy. Lying in the hot sun for days on end, he was so wasted away that he looked like a shadow.

He was taking shallow breaths and, rarely, his legs would move. That was all we needed – a chance, a sign of life, a desire to live. There was no time to blame anyone – we needed to get emergency care for the horse. Within a few minutes the owner signed the horse over to us. We immediately went to work.

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With our vet on the phone we administered medications, loaded the thin body into the trailer and rushed him to our intensive care barn at the ranch. Once there we placed him in our “Anderson Sling” and slowly pulled him to his feet. The drugs almost immediately started doing their magic and only a few hours later, “Prince” slowly awakened to fresh water and hay.

Someone once told me, “That contraption might be called an Anderson Sling, but it’s the wings of angels that hold the horses up.”

Almost every horse at our ranch has a story behind them much like Prince. They come of the most horrifying scenes of abuse and neglect that you can imagine. Their frail, weak and torn bodies pass through our gates and here, through the magic of feed, hay and love, we set them on the path to recovery.

But the truth is that we need money to continue doing what we do. Every month is a struggle to meet our expenses and, without a doubt, this summer has been the hardest. Horses are dying of starvation, horses are abandoned in grassless pastures, and they are crying out for our help. The economy is hurting a lot of people and our donations are way down.

For the first time in ages, I’m scared. Will we be able to survive?

There are choices to be made, certainly, but could you honestly walk away from a horse like Prince and leave him to die, unloved and unwanted, in a muddy dirt field?

Your love of horses is as intense as ours. That’s why I’m asking you, begging you, to support us with a gift of $25, $50, $100 – we are desperate. Our funds are way too low, and the responsibility we carry is extremely high.

This is a URGENT plea for financial help, a plea from us directly to your heart – for all the horses like Prince. We can do this, but we can’t do it without your help.

How to Help
What we do at Habitat for Horses is possible because of you. Your thoughts and prayers inspire us, but your donations make it all possible. More people than ever before are calling, asking for our help. Will we be able to step up the next time a call comes in? That depends on you. Will you help us help the horses in need?

Habitat for Horses is a nonprofit 501.c.3. Donations to Habitat for Horses are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law. You may donate by mail to Habitat for Horses, P.O. Box 213, Hitchcock, TX 77563 or securely online by clicking here.

Habitat for Horses | P.O. Box 213 | Hitchcock | TX | 77563

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