As we celebrate our 10th year in rescue, we have decided to focus on our sanctuary horses!  Drifter’s Hearts of Hope has rescued over 735 horses over the years and our priority has been to find each horse the perfect, forever home. However, occasionally a horse comes along whose best interests are to stay here with us…protected. We are committed to care for each of our sanctuary horses for the rest of their lives and could use your help to do so!  

Why do we sanctuary horses?  There are a few reasons… 

Some of them, such as Batman and Tequila, have been adopted and returned 3 times at no fault of their own. Some, such as LuLuLemon and Mijenta, are mostly unhandled with fear of humans (likely due to the way they have been treated in the past) but are such kind horses. Gunnison arrived traumatized with whip marks and burns covering his body. Cedar has been used hard in her prior life and whilst shouldn’t be ridden, she has a lot of life left in her and deserves a good retirement. Snickerdoodle…well, this guy is just Snickerdoodle… we have tried to adopt him out but he makes it very clear that THIS is his home. He brings comic relief to the herd. All of them have earned their right for a peaceful, safe life with no risk of neglect or abuse ever again.  
We are actively looking for a few amazing and generous supporters to help us make it financially possible to provide sanctuary to our herd.

We are looking for sponsors!

​A sponsor would make an annual donation to DHOH in support of the sanctuary horse of their choice. That donation will go directly to the feed and care of that specific horse. Our goal is to secure a sponsor for each one of the sanctuary horses we care for here at our rescue. As a thank you for your generous support, we invite you to join us at the rescue for a professional photo shoot with the horse you choose to sponsor!  

Our average sanctuary horse costs us $2,000 a year for feed, hoof care and medications. Check out the horses in our sanctuary herd and to choose the one you would like to sponsor!  We would be so very grateful for your help and support and we know it will mean the absolute world to the horse you choose! We cannot wait to have you out for your professional photo shoot! If you choose Snickerdoodle, we encourage you to bring your sense of humor with you when you come!

If you have any questions about sponsoring or if you would like to sponsor a particular horse, please e-mail us at [email protected] ​

It’s that season…. The holiday season, the giving season!
Two very important fundraising days are just around the corner… “Giving Tuesday” (Nov 29th) and “Colorado Gives Day” (Dec. 6th).
These two “giving” days are so important to us here at DHOH as we rely on these donations to keep on doing what we do… rescue, rehabilitate and re-home horses. To get ready for this season we have decided to let our volunteers, supporters and adopters speak for us...we've compiled a few videos of our supporters telling you why THEY support our rescue! We hope the videos show you an inside view of what we do and how we care for our horses here at DHOH.

Thanks all and we hope you enjoy the videos as much as we do!!

#coloradogivesday #givingtuesday 

DHOH's Miracle Horses: Monty the Mascot

Monty was saved out of the kill pen in early 2016, he was 27 years old at the time. He became such a helpful horse to have around that we never offered him for adoption, instead he became the ambassador for the rescue for four and a half years.Monty went to events, calmed scared horses, weaned babies, taught children... you name it, he did it. Monty was also quite the ladies man.... he gave all of us many laughs in his years at the rescue. If you ever drove up to the barn and saw a loose horse wandering around, that was Monty. He is now laid to rest on the hill overlooking the barn. He is missed every day and always especially missed this holiday season as one of his favorite antics was to walk down the barn aisle and suck the bottom of all the stockings that had peppermints in them!!! He was a real character!

While we don’t offer sanctuary to every horse we save, once in a while there is one that you just know is extra special. If they could talk they would have a lot of stories to tell. Monty was one of those. An amazing and wise soul...And while Monty is now forever keeping an eye on the ranch, he has recently blessed us with and passed on his "mascot" title to the one and only "Anna" - a fierce 34 yr old Annie Project retiree who truly acts like she's in her early teens and likes to cause quite the ruckus around the property while free roaming.

​This is what we do at DHOH. With your help and the community's help, we create success stories. You can help us keep the success stories coming through this #givingtuesday and #coloradogivesday
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We miss you, Monty!!!!

​It's going to be another good ol' fashion hoedown here on the ranch fundraising for the Drifter's Hearts of Hope horses for our 7th anniversary!

We are super excited to announce that The Trio will be providing our musical entertainment. Other activities include a mechanical bull, sumo wrestling, a live auction and more!

Tickets :
$75 for Adults (18+ suggested)
Admission includes both 1 meal and 2 alcoholic beverages

Saturday July 10th, 2021 | 4pm - 9pm
9555 Deerfield Rd, Franktown CO 80116

Please note that tickets are non-refundable. All proceeds from our fundraiser go directly to saving and rehabilitating at-risk horses. Learn more about Drifter's Heart of Hope

​We've recently partnered with Dog is Good where 20% of all sales are donated back to our rescue. Get apparel, gifts & accessories for the Dog lovers in your life today. 

Meet Paula - Paula found DHOH through one of our Annie Project Partners and when she heard through the grapevine that miss Dakota was the princess of the barn she knew she wanted to do more for Dakota. With Paula’s support Dakota continues to get the care she needs as well as ongoing training. Paula is a true horse angel and Dakota totally knows it!

We (& especially Dakota) are so grateful for all you do to help these horses. It truly takes and team and we couldn’t do what we do with you!!

Are you interested in sponsoring a specific DHOH rescue horse? Your sponsorship will mean that the horse of your choice gets the help they need to find their way to their forever home. Your sponsorship dollars will go towards things like vet bills, feed, training, hoof care, etc.

Happy New Year!!

​As we kickoff the new year today we wanted to take a minute to reflect on all the amazing work we have done.
In 2020 we were able to provide resources and help to so many horses during the uncertainty and chaos the past year brought, and we couldn’t have done it all without you. We are seriously SO grateful for the incredible individuals who have made this possible

Cheers to each and every one of you who has contributed in any way this year to our program. We hope you celebrated the new year knowing that you’ve changed the course of many horses’ lives, and are feeling the love and appreciation that comes with that impact.

​Here’s to 2021!

We brand our horses so they are less likely to be target of thieves and so we can easily identify them if they ever become at-risk horses again (which unfortunately has happened before). Think of it like your horse, pony or mule having its own registration plate. We use freeze branding which is a safe and virtually painless, economical process. Other methods of branding can be painful and quite often result in an uneven and unreadable brand.

Freeze branding, as the name suggests, is carried out by freezing the brand using liquid nitrogen and then applying to the skin for only a few seconds. This destroys the hair pigment so when the hair grows back it is white. White or grey horses will need a slightly longer application; this will destroy the hair follicle which will result in a hairless brand.

You can identify the Drifter's Hearts of Hope horse brand by seeing a capital D followed by a Heart symbol on the horses left front shoulder.

Today is #coloradogivesday - our biggest fundraising day of the year. Funds raised today go directly to rescuing, feeding and caring for new intakes.

Rescue is hard, as you can imagine. There are great days and ok days and there are bad days. It’s the good days that keep you going. And sometimes you have to look past what is directly in front of you. Not every horse makes it. Some are too far gone or in too much pain. What we can do, though, is give those horses love, good food and a peaceful and dignified ending.

Sometimes even the losses are considered successes.

“Ella” came into our rescue in August of this year. This poor horse had suffered for many years and the best we could do for her was to love her and peacefully send her on her way to greener pastures. This is also rescue. This is what we do. RIP beautiful Ella.

Please consider donating today to help us continue our mission. Everyone here both 2 legged and four legged are incredibly grateful for our supporters!

Rescued horse number 298... who is that?

We certainly don’t refer to him as a number... his name is “TIMMY TIPTOES”! And his beautiful momma, “Miss Moppet”.

Miss Moppet was saved out of the kill pen on May 4th, 2018.... she was only 3 years old and she was pregnant. Less than 70 hours later, Miss Moppet gave birth to a stunning colt, Timmy Tiptoes. At first all seemed great but within 12 hours Timmy started to deteriorate rapidly and couldn’t stand. He was rushed to CSU where he was treated for dummy foal syndrome and sepsis. It was touch and go for a few days but thank goodness little Timmy was a fighter.... he made it through and never looked back!

Timmy always lived up to his name and loved to stand on his hind legs.... he was always into something and causing trouble... I am sure his now mom would love to share some stories 

Miss Moppet went on to get professionally started under saddle and also found a wonderful forever home. A beautiful and athletic mare that was discarded for no apparent reason... she is seriously amazing.

DHOH invested a lot of heart, soul, tears, joy, time and money into these 2 beautiful animals and every penny and second was worth it. This is what we do and this is where your donations go... to horses like Miss Moppet and Timmy Tiptoes.

Tonight we will share the story of rescued horse number 121.... a different type of success story!

#coloradogivesday2020 is tomorrow.... we hope to raise enough funds to keep allowing us to go above and beyond for these deserving animals. If you have it in your heart and are financially able, we would so appreciate your donation! The horses will thank you too! ​

People often ask how Drifter’s Hearts of Hope started. Well, it all started with this magnificent horse right here. Drifter. We didn’t rescue Drifter, he rescued us. He inspired us to create something that would help horses like him. Drifter was a champion roping horse in his day... he even won his owner a truck and trailer! Drifter was discarded when he was only 9 because he was no longer sound. Drifter found his way to a rescue and was adopted by the Strachan family. And then it all began.

Drifter met Bella and the Kirshner family. Bella, a young girl with cerebral palsy, fell in love with Drifter and soon enough all Bella’s friends fell in love with Drifter. Bella and her friends started baking heart-shaped horse cookies to sell in local feed stores to raise money to save a horse just like Drifter. And they succeeded.
In July of 2014, these inspiring, special kids took the money they had raised and went to the auction to save a horse. Well, how do you pick JUST ONE HORSE? It broke all of our hearts to choose just one life to save.... so we came home with 5!!! Hope, Clarity, Spirit, Noddy Long Ears and Festus the mini.

A rescue was born.#coloradogivesday2020 is on Tuesday. Over the next couple of days we want to share with you what we give to the horses we rescue. We hope that on Tuesday you might feel inspired to give to us so that we can continue to give to more horses.
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“Hope” was rescued horse number 1, tomorrow we will tell the story of rescued horse number 298