We’ve been covering horse condition scores and equine welfare in class with the students and watched a piece on the show Can We Help? which is run on the ABC, here in Australia. Some of that night’s episode focused on Second Chance Horse Rescue, run by a young woman in her mid twenties.
As someone that age who has huge aspirations for the rest of my life, I was amazed to see that at 23 years of age she started on this dream to give back to the animals who had given her so much. Negative words were spoken over her with regards to her lack of experience, age, finances and facilities. Thankfully, they made no difference!
The end result is Second Chance Horse Rescue, an organisation set up by Jessie Barbour in July, 2006. Based on the short segment featured on Can We Help?, it takes an average of $5,500 to rehabilitate a horse.
Obviously this would depend on the condition they first arrived in, but doing sums on the 75 horses mentioned that had passed through Second Chance Horse Rescue, this comes to in excess of $400,000!
If I had access to those kinds of funds, I’d eagerly be stepping towards my dream of 300 acres to house horses and educate people. However, because they are lacking at this point in time, I’m sitting quietly – well, working towards the land in other ways!
A lack of funds didn’t stop Jessie, however and they don’t stop her today. The large majority of funds utilised to support these gorgeous animals and restore them back to health is donated.
If you have a particular dream or goal for your life – especially one that involves making the world a better place for animals and humans alike – don’t let a lack of funds pull you up! You may just need to take a different approach to get the desired outcome.
“All I pay my psychiatrist is the cost of feed and hay, and he’ll listen to me any day!”
tag: equine rehabilitation, horse goals, horse welfare, equine organisation