Who remembers Fergus? One of the skinniest, most neglected and misunderstood horses we have ever saved. If you have a few minutes please take the time to read his story, written by his new (and forever) mom. It’s been a year now and Fergus has come a long way!!
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Dec 10th | 7:00AM - 9:00AM | PACE Center
We are so excited to be invited by Parker Arts to be a part of their “GIVE LOCAL” day on December 10th, which is part of Colorado Gives Day. This event is designed to allow the community to stop by and visit face to face with some of the local non-profits that partner with Parker Arts over the course of the year. It is from 7-9 am and the will include free breakfast burritos, yogurt bars as well as coffee! If you can't make, donations are always welcome. Learn more and register here! Yes we did! Thank you ASPCApro for sharing our Annie Project story. Crazy what we can do in just two years!
We couldn't have transitioned over 61 dude and guest ranch horses to adoptive homes without the amazing collaboration between our wonderful Dude and Guest ranch partners and adopters. Let's keep it up! We are excited for this opportunity to spread the word about our rescue and The Annie Project. Thank you Voyage Denver for writing an article on our rescue.
Don’t you miss the good old days of Talent Shows? Or perhaps not, because it isn’t exactly feasible to bring your horse up on a stage to ride them around? Now, this is your chance to show off those talents which may have been long hidden from the non-horsey world!
Drifter’s Hearts of Hope is hosting a rescue-only Talent Show sponsored by Dover Saddlery! All DHOH horse graduates (aka horses adopted from DHOH) are welcome to participate within the following categories: - Kid horse (“kid” is between the ages of 0-14) - Annie Project horse - Green horse - Senior horse - Open (*Please limit to two categories per horse/rider pair*) How to Participate: 1) Each contestant will email a 1-minute long “freestyle” video to info@driftersheartsofhope.org displaying the talents possessed by their DHOH horse and it’s rider! *You have until October 31st to enter you submissions* 2) DHOH will then post the videos to our Facebook page and the post with the most likes per category will win! We will post the videos within a day of receiving them, so the earlier you get your entries in, the more time you have to get likes! 3) The winners will receive a $75 Dover gift card, a cooler with the DHOH brand embroidered on it, a super soft DHOH t-shirt, a Right Horse grab bag, and, of course, bragging rights! We’ll even feature you on our website 😊 The goal of our Talent Show is to give back to our fantastic adopters and their horses, as well as promote just how fabulous rescue horses can be! A huge thank you to Dover for being such fantastic supporters of rescue horses! “To see her go from being a horse that was in transition - a horse in a rescue facility - all the way to being loved by countless kids … is so wonderful and rewarding.”
Each semester, a group of horses from the Dumb Friends League Harmony Equine Center, Drifter's Hearts of Hope and Colorado Horse Rescue make their way to the Temple Grandin Equine Center. CSU Equine Sciences students work to train the horses over the course of a semester before they become available for adoption. The students learn about at-risk horses and the horses receive necessary training to find loving homes. We are thrilled to support this exciting collaboration. Good news! Now you can help our rescue horses every time you buy groceries at King Soopers just by using your loyalty card. All you have to do is register your loyalty card in the Community Rewards Program on the King Soopers website.
-Visit: https://www.kingsoopers.com/signin -Log into your existing account -Search for Drifter’s Hearts of Hope (Organization #GUO87) in the “Community Rewards” link in the “My Account Menu” -Click “Enroll” If you don’t already have a loyalty card, you can request one at the customer service desk at any King Soopers or sign up at: https://www.kingsoopers.com/account/create/ Thank you for all your continued support! We couldn’t do it without you! (Please let us know, if you need help getting enrolled. We can walk you through the process. It only takes about 30 seconds once you know where to go!) As a community of horse people and owners, we all love our horses. And many horse lovers ask us about what they can do to ensure a good future for their horses. As Tom Roberts once said, “Perhaps the greatest kindness you can do any horse is to educate him well.” Proper training is a key element of our rescue, and it does not come cheap. Thankfully the Colorado Unwanted Horse Alliance (CUHA) has recognized our efforts and awarded us a grant to further our training program and we couldn’t be more appreciative! With this funding, we will be able to give more horses the quality training that will benefit them for the rest of their lives. We pride ourselves on educating our horses well, and greatly appreciate CUHA partnering with us to make our training dreams a reality!
“If you are fond of a horse and wish to do him a real favour – train him well. teach him good manners, good habits, both in the stable and under the saddle. You need never worry about the future of such a horse if any reason you may have to part with him. You assure him of friends wherever he goes. Perhaps the greatest kindness you can do any horse is to educate him well.” Tom Roberts - The Young Horse The EQUUS Foundation announced the recipients of the 2019 Platinum Performance Horse Welfare Awards. Five EQUUS Foundation Guardian charities received a $500 cash award and a $500 gift card for Platinum Performance products to be used by the charity for the care of one of their horses. In addition, another five horses received $250 gift cards for Platinum Performance Equine, and 10 horses received gift cards for a bucket Platinum Performance Equine. Note that only those charities that undergo the EQUUS Foundation comprehensive and unique verification process and receive the EQUUS Foundation Guardian designation are eligible to receive financial support from the EQUUS Foundation, and our submission of "Dunny" was a top winner! Here's a little more on "Dunny"... Dunny Birth Year: 1987. Gender: Gelding. Breed: Grade. Affiliated with Drifter's Hearts of Hope "Dunny came to us from a partner dude ranch where he spent his life teaching kids how to ride. A tried and true partner on the trail, he was beloved by the ranch's guests. He is as kind as can be, and always a fan of being brushed and pet. He did not winter well at the ranch and was retired to our care. They knew that he needed the kind of dedicated rehabilitation that we can provide, and we greatly appreciate their decision to trust us with his care. Our team has spent a lot of money and time refeeding him, but he still has quite a journey to becoming a rideable weight again. Thus, he would greatly benefit from Platinum Performance products, especially from ones like the Healthy Weight Oil and Platinum Performance Equine. These products would assist us in getting him to and then maintaining a healthy weight, so that he will be able to be evaluated and hopefully listed for adoption. He is such a good spirited horse that spent years helping children learn to ride, and we believe he is very deserving of the best kind of care. We are confident in saying that to know Dunny is to love him, and we know that your products will help us facilitate his return to our high standard of health. We appreciate your consideration of our beloved Dunny!" Relationship of Nominator to Nominee Drifter's Hearts of Hope is currently rehabilitating and caring for Dunny, who we received from a partner dude ranch as part of our Annie Project. -- Jacqueline Michelle Avis "Some people say that horses walk into your life for a reason. But Miss Moppet doesn’t walk, she struts. A sashay perhaps. She came strutting, sashaying, and quite literally, waddling, into the lives of the Drifter’s Hearts of Hope (DHOH) volunteers in late 2018. She came from a kill pen, and was rescued hours before she was going to ship to slaughter. When she arrived at the rescue facility, she had a USDA sticker in her mane when she arrived at our facility. In late 2018, DHOH became partners with the Right Horse Initiative and no longer rescues horses from kill pens, and Miss Moppet was one of the last pulled. Waddling isn’t her most common gait, but nonetheless she waddled around our facility, heavily pregnant with a baby that came to be known as Timmy Tiptoes. At just two years old herself, she gave birth to a colt just days after being rescued from a terrible fate. Miss Moppet proved to be a kind mother, and a big fan of attention. When people would come by to pet baby Timmy Miss Moppet liked to remind the folks that she too is quite beautiful and worthy of numerous pats. After weaning her baby (and causing nearly every volunteer, potential adopter, vet, farrier, and various other guests to succumb to her charms) we sent her off to 60 days of professional training with Ruben Mendiola. He started her under saddle and she began to show off her fancy footwork. I went over to visit Moppet at Ruben’s facility and saw her under saddle for the first time. A 15 hand, 3-year-old liver chestnut with flashy chrome and one blue eye, she is objectively stunning. When she moves, it looks like she’s putting on a show. She dances around the arena with the grace and elegance of a horse five times her age and a hundred times further in training. Upon seeing her talent, Jacqui Avis, the President of Drifter’s Hearts of Hope, decided to enter her in the Battle on the Rockies, a rescue-only horse show in Colorado. I was asked if I would ride the talented young horse, and quickly agreed. We spent weeks training for the trail and ranch riding portions of the show, while also dabbling in English riding, which we both knew was our true passion. She excelled at both English and Western due to her confidence and bravery. She drags tires, walks over bridges, is nearly unflappable on the trail, and will jump anything. Over the course of our several month-long tenure together, I’ve never seen her spook. Though we knew it from the beginning, Miss Moppet continued to show just how special she is. She walked into the show ring a 3-year-old with 60 days of training and walked out showing that while she might be a bit of a spitfire, she has nothing but potential for success in just about any arena. Since then, we have really spent a lot of time working with Miss Moppet to help refine her into the fantastic horse she was always meant to be. She will now happily pony other horses, ride out alone, go English or Western, jump logs, canter through open fields and genuinely wants to please in all of her work. We have numerous wonderful horses that range from semi-retired kid horses through performance horses, but Miss Moppet walked right out of her past as an un-started pregnant filly and directly into the entire rescue organization’s hearts. Over 400 horses have passed through our doors, and each one has been a wonderful horse in his or her own way. Numerous have gone on to very successful second careers ranging from winning in the show ring to safely piloting the grandkids around the backyard. Miss Moppet, and the hundreds like her, are testaments to just how fantastic rescue horses can be! Miss Moppet is now available for adoption through Drifter’s Hearts of Hope, a 501(c)(3) horse rescue located in Franktown, Colorado. She is looking for an experienced rider to help develop her into the champion we all see in her. If you are looking for a horse more akin to the semi-retired kid horse, we also have several that would love to teach your kids the ropes! Our adoption application can be found at: www.driftersheartsofhope.org. Please feel free to send us an email at info@driftersheartsofhope.org." Article published in The Plaid Horse
Do you love your DHOH horse and want others to get that same kind of unconditional love? Participate in our new referral program! If you do the following, you'll receive a very, very soft DHOH t-shirt (limit one per referral)!
Refer one potential new adopter and have them mention your name on the "Why would you like to adopt a horse?" section of our adoption application
We recently took these 2 pretty girls up to Colorado State University to participate in The Right Horse training program. DHOH “Laverne” and “Confetti” will be at the school for 3 months and will be handled, ridden and trained by the students up there. They will be available for adoption following the semester. The Right Horse Initiative recently granted $508,000 to the Colorado State University (CSU) Temple Grandin Equine Center to fund its first Regional Training Center for at-risk horses. The grant is funded by the WaterShed Animal Fund, a division of the Arnall Family Foundation. As a Regional Training Center for The Right Horse Initiative, CSU will provide practical hands-on horse evaluating, handling, care and training opportunities for CSU students while concurrently working with horses in transition and preparing them for adoption into the Equine Assisted Activities and Therapies (EAAT) industry, into Certified Horsemanship Association programs and other appropriate adoptive homes. Jacqui Avis is not only DHOH’s hero everyday, but also 400+ horses’ hero, and recently she was recognized as Denver7’s Everyday Hero! From medical care to nutrition plans to coordinating adoptions to fundraising to event planning to managing the barn, she does it all with a smile. Every horse who has found their way to us whether it be through auctions, owner surrenders or the Annie Project, has experienced her kindness, compassion and unparalleled knowledge. We are so blessed to get to work with such a change maker and life changer!!
Do you want to be an everyday hero just like Jacqui? Help our hero help more horses through donating to fill our hay barn. It costs $4,500 a month just in hay to support our horses! Celebrate the amazing work that DHOH and Jacqui Avis does by lightening our fundraising load for the month. Our horses will appreciate your heroic efforts! What is the Annie Project? The Annie Project was created to offer Dude and Guest Ranches a new option for retiring horses. The Annie Project was born in June, 2017, through the relationship between Drifter’s Hearts of Hope, C Lazy U Ranch and The Colorado Dude and Guest Ranch Association. You can learn more about The Annie Project here. What ranches are Annie Project Partners? C Lazy U Ranch, Vista Verde Ranch, Sylvan Dale Guest Ranch, Wind River Ranch, Bar Lazy J Guest Ranch, Badger Creek Ranch, Rawah Guest Ranch, Terryall River Ranch and Cherokee Park Ranch are Annie Project partners. We recommend staying with them for any dude/guest ranch adventures as they are committed to their horses’ futures! View all Annie Project Partners. Who is the Annie Project’s namesake? The Annie Project was named after a horse named Annie, who DHOH purchased from an auction in upstate Colorado. She bore the brand of a local guest ranch which began the partnership between the ranch and DHOH. That partnership is the foundation of the Annie Project, which has expanded to include nine ranches to date. You can learn more about Annie's story here. I work at, manage, or own a guest ranch. Why should I become an Annie Project partner? Annie Project partners get to know that their horses are going on to forever, loving homes. They receive free promotion on our Facebook and website, and are able to see who adopts the horse on the Facebook page as well. Additionally, as with all of the horses we adopt out, there is the security of knowing that the horse bears the DHOH brand, and DHOH holds the brand inspection for at least 6 months, if not indefinitely. So far, this program has helped over 40 retiring dude ranch horses find fantastic homes. I am looking for a new horse. Why should I consider an Annie Project horse? Annie Project horses are retiring from dude ranches, and the majority have experienced the hustle and bustle of ranch life. To date, the horses we’ve received have all been started under saddle, and the vast majority are well-trained. To work well in a guest ranch program, they have to be seasoned trail horses, which the vast majority are. We highly recommend considering an Annie Project horse if you’re looking for a proven trail horse, as we’ve found many of them to be just that! |
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