The Equihab Foundation

From AlexBrownRacing

Contents 1 Basics 2 Overview 3 FOB Horses 3.1 Questions from FoBs

Basics

Address: 111 South Main Street, North East, MD 21901

Web Address: http://www.equihab.com

Phone: 443-466-4087

E-mail: horses@equihab.com

Paypal link: horses@equihab.com

Current Fundraising Drives on TWR:

Hay Drive - Oct 2007 [1]

Past Fundraising Drives:

June 2007: raised about $1000 towards the purchase, vetting, rehab, retraining, & final rehoming of three horses in the brokers/killpens. FIVE HORSES SAVED --- THANK YOU FoBs!!! Link: thread link on TWR Horses are now here & safe, but a few may need vet care, so we're leaving this open as a current fundraiser for anyone who'd like to chip in towards their vet bills.

March 2007: Betty the belgian was about to be sold by the amish farmer to the meatmean. FoB paid for her bail! We got her vetted and all care done, and now she is living in a safe forever home on a farmette in south Jersey. link to TWR thread

Jan 2007: Red & Romeo had their bail sponsored by FoBs, buying them direct out of the killbuyer's lot in NY. We happened to have space at the time, so we took them in. They had strangles so we couldn't do much with them until they were well & quarantine ended. Now they're starting their riding re-training. Link: link to TWR thread

Overview

The Equihab Foundation is a Maryland non-profit 501c3 organization dedicated to ending cruelty to equines. We focus on getting horses out of neglect, abuse, abandonment, or slaughter situations. We give full vet care, and no horse leaves without full vet exam, shots, dental, and farrier work done. Then we place the horses into screened adoptive homes & monitor the horse on an ongoing basis.

We feature kinder training methods, not believing in anything that might injure a horse. Equiab is also one of the few horse rescues featuring one of their trainers doing primarily positive reinforcement training (eg. clicker training).

Equihab is an all-breed rescue, serving the needs of all ages and types of horses. Due to our geographic location ( mapquest map ), we see an especially large number of ex-racing horses and former Amish horses in need of homes. However, we do help all breeds.

We service the Mid-atlantic region of the USA, preferably placing the horses within 2-3 hours of Cecil County, Maryland, when possible. Delivery may be available.

Additionally we sponsor clinics and educational presentations throughout the year ( Equihab's calendar ). We feel an educated horse owner is the best kind; much of neglect is just plain ignorance.

We also network our community together. We help horse folks find the vet, farrier, trainer, etc they may need. No longer do people need to delay getting their horse trimmed because the old farrier vanished and they can't find a new one. By helping people get the resources they need, it's helping the horses get more prompt & better quality care.

Donations greatly appreciated.

Volunteers always welcome. (Must be over 18 or accompanied by parent at all times)

THANK YOU for your support!

FOB Horses

(horses specifically bailed out by FOBs)

Please see Fundraising Drives above for the links to each thread & details.

2007: June: Sargent, Sasha, Cletus, Walker, and Jenna Photo: group photo

Red & Romeo - still with us, listed on the Other Horses page on our site.

Betty - adopted! her story is on our site.

THANK YOU, FOBs!

Questions from FoBs

(Note: anyone can add questions at bottom of list, but please let us know the page is updated so we can come answer it)

Here are some questions that have come up on the TWR/Alex Brown forum:

  QUESTION #1) Status of federal 501(c)3?

We are a 501c3. You can verify this by going to irs.gov and searching their List 78. Or we'd be happy to show you our 501c3 Letter upon request.

   QUESTION #2) "stance on horse slaughter legislation & knowledge of horse slaughter in general. There are rescues run by people who still believe slaughter is a "humane option", believe it or not. Either their website or their posts on forums will usually reveal their general lack of knowledge on the issue, however."

Please note: not all of us in the organization thinks exactly alike, and we will not discourage a volunteer or supporter if they have a different opinion. We respect each others viewpoints but our ultimate goal is to reduce suffering for equines -- this is the core of our mission statement.

We do not promote it in place of euthanasia, nor do we tell the public it's 'needed'. We will explain about the problems with the way horses are sold, hauled, held, and killed for slaughter in the US. One of our Board of Directors is extremely active in the welfare issues associated with the industry, and she'd be happy to answer any of your questions.

• • • • We have a euthanasia program set up so that NOBODY is forced to ship a suffering horse to slaughter if they can't afford humane euthansia. We will pay 100% of the costs to have a horse euthanized as well as the disposal, if it means saving the horse from being shipped to slaughter. For more info http://www.equihab.com/freeeuth.htm

We try to keep horses from going to slaughter, but we prefer not to give income to brokers/feedlots. We prefer to intercept a horse upstream, before he goes to the meat auction or before he's in a kill-pen, whenever possible.

We are limited to how much of our own resources we can use for lobbying (per IRS 501c3 code), but our Board members & supporters individually do lobby and are involved in welfare issues.

We do NOT send any of our own horses to any auction, killpen, dealer, wholesaler, etc!!! Hard to adopt horses stay with us indefinitely.

We do not believe the captive bolt gun is an acceptable way to humanely put a horse down.

We also take extra measures to prevent any of ours from somehow ending up in a killpen. All horses are microchipped before they leave & registered in HorseTrac. All must have an adoption contract, and all contracts require the horse be returned to us and not resold. We offer a $500 reward to anyone who finds one of our horses anywhere he's not supposed to be, such as auction or killpen.

   QUESTION 3) "detailed reasons why horses are euthanised at the rescue. Some rescues seem to have an inordinately high euthanisation rate while others keep horses alive on high levels of Bute for too long"

We are a "no kill" organization. We do not put an animal down to make room for the next one.

Criteria for euthansia:

• poor quality of life, example: often falls down and can't get back up or often in chronic pain
• chronic pain, eg horse has trouble just walking or trotting around pasture. If horse is on 2g a bute daily just to walk, something is wrong.
• incurable and/or progressive ailment such as cancer that has spread
• incurable condition that poses a risk to the horse, such as severe neurological problems that cannot improve resulting in a horse who may fall and impale himself on something or go down and not be able to rise
• elderly horse who is losing weight despite best efforts and who the vet advises may not do well with an upcoming winter (for example it may be organ failure, which cannot be cured)
• a horse which needs an experimental or higher risk surgery which has a low probability of success such as colic surgery on an elderly horse. There is a certain limit at which you say keeping the horse alive isn't worth it if he'll be in extreme pain afterwards.
• a surgery or procedure that costs tens of thousands of dollars. We can't starve the other horses to possibly save one. If lack of this procedure leaves the horse in pain (see above criteria), we would not let him suffer.
• unfixable injury such as a badly broken leg

Non-emergency euthanasia requires Board of Directors to discuss it.

Evaluating the horse: We have heavy involvement with a veterinarian and the vet will ALWAYS examine the horse before we decide to have him/her euthanized.

Euthanasia history: 2006 :

• Genie : 20 yr old QH mare, owned by a Director not yet formally in the program - arrived crippled and badly ataxic. Several vets consulted, but no improvement. She would fall over unexpectedly and not be able to rise and it got worse over time. One day she fell when the vet was out giving shots. She didn't try to get up. Two people couldn't coax her up. It was time to let her go.

2007:

• Eeyore : aged Percheron gelding - arrived from a killpen (sponsored by FoBs and needed a place to go). All four feet badly infected with canker plus cushings and the start of cushings-related laminitis. He remained absolutely unhandable when it came to his feet, and even if we did surgery there would be no way to do the daily bandage changes. We tried retraining, vet administered tranquilizers, and gentle restraint but he threw the farrier to the ground. Kept him comfortable on bute and gave him a few months off, but he remained absolutely impossible to do hoof care for and the infection wasn't getting better.

• Gracie: 20something TB mare, originally bred for racing. She was bought to keep her from being ridden lame, as she had 3 infected feet and a bad knee. She also would not gain weight despite supplements, increased grain, low stress environment. We could clear up foot infections but knee was always a source of pain. Vet also found mild neurological deficits and odd marks on front legs, indicative of her not being able to rise easily.

• Jenna: ancient grey pony bought at a meat auction for the purpose of putting her down humanely. She had huge melanoma under the tail and could not gain weight. Vet felt cancer had spread. She was also cushings-looking.

  QUESTION 4) "the amount of land to horses ratio. If a rescue doesn't have enough land to house the horses in other than pens without adequate turnout time every day, then they should cut down the number of horses.  Or, they need to have an extremely high and quick turnover to get the horses into permanent homes"

We do not have a single centralized shelter. We are decentralized with several foster farms, so that no one farm or person gets overwhelmed. Here are the farms and horse numbers as of the date this page was updated (current as of 9/6/07)

• Farm A: 15 acres: 2 - 8 horses at one time total, only gets to the higher numbers when we do a group quarantine
• Farm B: 4 acres: 1-2 horses fostered plus several of owner's own horses
• Farm C: 4 acres: 2 horses fostered plus 2 of owner's
• Farm D: 70 acre working farm with 50 acre horse field: 2-3 fostered plus about 4-6 of owner's on
• Farm E: 10? acre farm: 1 long-term foster plus 2 of owner's own
• Farm F: 9 acre: 1 mini horse and 1 goat, long term
• Farm G: 5 acre (training) foster : 1 horse fostered at a time plus 1 of owner's own and 1 client horse

During winter, times of drought, or just when grass doesn't keep up, hay is provided. Horses are grazing animals and we believe in giving forage at all times.

We prefer to keep horses turned out (with shelter of course). No horse is kept stalled 24-7 unless medically necessary.

ALL farms are local so we can monitor the horses' care and condition. The farthest one is about 30 minutes away.

Personal comment: The land to horses ratio can be misleading. In some climates grass simply does not grow, so you can have 5 acres/horse and it wouldn't give enough grazing land. In other area land, for example in metro New York City area, land is far too expensive to allow 2 acres per horse. I would not encourage people to rely on these numbers much. Look at the photos and meet the horses. If they're not getting enough food, it will show.

   QUESTION 5) "the number of horses taken in vs. horses adopted out per year. If they primarily take in horses but those horses never seem to leave, then I suspect hoarding could be a problem."

We try to keep around the same number throughout the year and we know what we can handle. How many come in is based directly on when spaces/resources open up.

Personal comment: Some rescues do more long-term retirement or sanctuary work, so horses not leaving may not be a bad sign. In our situation, we simply cannot do 100% retirement. We have to have some horses who are adoptable.

   QUESTION 6) "posted adoption agreement & the conditions required of adopters. If it's too strict then they will have almost no adoptions & if it's too lax, the horses could end up in jeopardy again."

All horses must have an adoption agreement to leave. It's not too restrictive but the horse must see a vet & farrier when needed, get suitable/ample food, get water, and have shelter (see Maryland Minimum Standards of Care for Equines).

We prohibit racing and breeding on all horses. Some horses, such as those with medical issues, may be prohibited from jumping (per vets instructions).

Horses cannot be resold, slaughtered, abandoned, neglected, abused. They can be euthanized at a vet's recommendation but in non-emergency situations we should be notified first.

Our horses ALWAYS have a home back here, even if they're elderly or unsound. We'd prefer if people keep them forever, but we'd rather the horse come back to us than be dumped at auction or whatever people do when they're desperate.

We do farm checks and we will follow up with site visits. If we find someone is in a minor violation (eg. the place isn't as safe as it could be), we'll work with them to get it improved. We'd rather not have to take a horse back if we don't have to. To date we have not had to demand the return of any of our horses.

   QUESTION 7) "how long the rescue has been in business at their current location. I am leery of rescues that have undergone several name changes and moved from place to place in just a few years time."

Same address since we started. No name changes.

   QUESTION 8) an active fundraising program for horse sponsorship as well as general fundraising--the horses depend on the rescuer's business skills. Ideally, several sources of income to fund the rescue are made clear

We ask FoBs for help formally maybe three times in a year. Our funding comes from local donations, local events, adoption fees, in-kind donations (merchandise), etc. We do regular trail rides and riders pay to ride with the group to raise funds. We have 3-4 bigger events. We also try to attend about two of the big Horse Expos as well as smaller shows and events throughout the year. One member maintains some donation jars for us. Another does crafts.

Please visit our web site to see what's coming up: http://www.equihab.com

   QUESTION 9) "clear and concise information on the horses--I avoid the "tugging at the heartstrings" descriptions of the horses with no factual 

info."

For regular updates on every horse, to get all the details, and to see something before the Web site person updates the site, please join our email list: http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/adopt-a-horse/

Each horse that has stepped foot into our program is listed somewhere on the web page, even those who passed away.

Each horse is seen by our vet, and we're happy to share the vet's findings with you if you have a question. In other words, there is an independent party (the vet) who is visiting the horses and monitoring their progress.

When a horse is adopted out or something major happens, it's also on the web site.

   QUESTION 10) "some training program for unbroke horses as this will help the horses be adopted"

ALL horses come in needing some re-training, so it's hard to imagine doing this without having a training program. Part of the riding evaluation isn't just to find the holes in his training, but it's also to fix them as much as possible before he leaves.

We have had success finding halter broke horses homes as training projects. Some people like to work with a clean slate.

We do have to spend time working on trust issues and fixing mis-training.

Our training is done by people who do not use cruel or painful methods. We do not believe in harsh bits, gizmos, putting a horse on the ground for training, tying a horse's head to the saddle, etc. One is even a clicker trainer, doing much of the training with just positive reinforcement.

   QUESTION 11) "no indication of breeding by the rescuer, whether it is their personal horses, rescue horses, or horses adopted out as stallions. There may be an incredibly tiny group of rescuers whose personal horses are of such outstanding or rare bloodlines that a small breeding program could be justified. As I have no way to know that, my rule is no breeding, period."

NO breeding. ALL stallions are promptly gelded, no exceptions. We've even investigated having mares spayed, but the vet advises against it if possible due to the risks.

The Board members individually currently do not breed and the last time any of them bred was many many years ago. None ever bred for resale, and one has never bred.

ALL foals in our program were from mares who arrived pregnant or who we took in as foals.

  QUESTION 12) "what organizations the rescue endorses by having links posted on their website. They may not have anti-slaughter links but I sure don't like to see pro-slaughter links on their website"

We don't have many links at this time. In the past it's only been fund raising links such as paypal, igive, countrysupply, etc.

Absolutely no pro-slaughter organizations or pro-slaughter information sites.

At some point in time we should add more information pages, but this is still on the to-do list. (Hint: we can sure use more volunteers)

12a) "The same thinking applies to the rescuer having outside employment to fund the rescue. I don't have a problem with that, either."

Our organization does not have a massive budget and every dollar that comes in is needed by the horses. We have no paid employees. All Board members have regular jobs.

  QUESTION 13) "I left out an active volunteer program but I like to see that, too. A "closed shop" allows for too much secrecy. As hard as volunteers are to get, I like to at least see an effort to get them and it shows an openness to outside scrutiny."

ALL volunteers are welcome. Our only restriction is if you're under 18, you must have a parent with you and actively supervising.

ALL meetings are open. We do regular public meetings every 1-2 months, and this is the best way for you to get to know us or ask questions.

Board meetings are open but schedule isn't usually posted, so ask. However, we may not have as much time for as much Q&A, so save your questions for the big group meetings.