Equine Rescue pairs with County services 7/24/2009 8:08 PM
By BEN BAUGH Staff writer
For some, one organizations' results have been life-changing, and the impact they've had on both humans and horses has been incredible.
In less than three years, Equine Rescue of Aiken has been able to find nearly 200 horses new homes, giving the animals a second chance at finding a warm and nurturing environment and giving their owners a new family member.
Now, Equine Rescue has started to work closely with Aiken County Animal Control to help improve the lives of more horses.
"We're moving forward with the County, we're going to set up contracts so that I will be able to help if we do have a situation where the horse is in danger," said Larkin Steele, Equine Rescue of Aiken. "If (the County is) going to seize it, it'll be (the County's) animal, and Dr. Lisa Handy (Carolina Equine Clinic) and I will take care of the horses. (The County has) to come up with a protocol for how long they're going to keep a horse at Equine Rescue of Aiken and how they're going to pay for it. And then, I think we're going to need to reach out into the community to people who may have pastures available, so that when the horses get up to a good body weight, have had all their shots and are healthy, they'll be able go there (to the pastures) as a standby until the County sets up their own adoption program for the horses. And if we can help, we will."
An important part of the program is to see the horses move from Equine Rescue of Aiken to the transitional pasture areas, so the rescue will be able to help and accommodate more horses, Steele said.
"That way I won't have to absorb every single horse that comes to me," said Steele. "I still want to help the County, but I still have a lot of horses I'm trying to help. We have to set up a system to ensure that the horses are well taken care of after they leave our facility."
The rescue recently was able to take in six additional horses, but the facility is once again at capacity, Steele said.
"We obviously don't have the facilities to host horses, but we do from time to time because of Aiken's connection to the equine industry have hardship cases we have to deal with," said Todd Glover, Aiken County assistant administrator. "We started talking with Larkin and Equine Rescue of Aiken about possibly having a partnership with the County, and when we had a hardship case, we would have an agreement with her to hold the horses for us, and we would pay them room and board, and that would save the County money by not having to build the facilities to hold horses. We just started this relationship, and it's working out really well."
Contact Ben Baugh at bbaugh@aikenstandard.com.
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