Rescued foals give support to cancer patients 4/3/2010 10:54 PM
By BEN BAUGH Staff writer
Terri Stemper saw the need to make a difference.
Her Dream Equine Therapy Center has been making a difference in the lives of nurse mare foals and providing emotional support to the terminally and chronically ill through horses that have been rescued and rehabilitated at her 5-acre facility in York.
A Hunter Pace was organized and held Saturday at Three Runs Plantation by the Why Worry Hounds and Aiken Hounds to benefit Dream Equine Therapy Center. Aiken resident Gina Greer, who had met Stemper personally in the quest of finding a horse for her daughter, organized the fundraiser.
Nurse mare foals are born to mothers that are bred for their milk production and are leased out to other farms, leaving the foals to starve or be discarded.
While Stemper was going to college and working at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, Ky., she first became aware of nurse mare foals. She has been rescuing the foals since 2000, many suffering from neglect and a lack of nourishment.
"The first foal I got was at an auction, and that's how I found out about it," she said. "I bid on a little baby foal not knowing where it came from. He was sick and almost died. He's 10 now, and I still have him. I'm a nurse, so we try to do therapy. I have about five that are raised and grown; they're really good horses, so we use them for therapy."
Stemper moved to Charlotte about five years ago and works as a nurse on a cancer floor. The horses have served a therapeutic purpose in providing emotional support, she said.
She got the idea for the therapy part of the center from one of her cancer patients.
"We have little miniatures that we take to nursing homes, and we go visit hospitals, kids hospitals, nursing homes and rehabs," said Stemper, who works full time. "Some people come to the farm. We're almost at 30 foals. We have our place, and we rent another place where we keep the adult horses. We can only take 10 foals at a time, so if we can't get the foals adopted, we're unable to get more."
Dream Equine Therapy Center faces a number of challenges including having enough room for the nurse mare foals. There is a strict adoption process because the facility wants to make sure the foals are going to a good home.
"We're getting to the point where we're having enough resources and help," said Stemper.
Fore more information about Dream Equine Therapy Center, call (803) 980-8422 or visit www.dreamequinetherapycenter.org.
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