Bright Futures Farm

Many of the wonderful horses we re-home are Thoroughbreds that can no longer race because of injury or inability to place consistently “in the money”. For many of these horses, the owner often sees no other useful purpose for the animal and sends it to an auction which most often results in a cruel demise at a slaughterhouse. Other owners care, but have nowhere to house the horse after his racing career is over.

It is important for us to say that we are NOT a "rescue". We encourage people to donate their horses before they need to be rescued. We are a Placement Program for horses in need of new homes. Do we "rescue" horses too? Yes. We have purchased (or have been given because an acquaintance or friend of the donor has "encouraged" that person to call us first) of several that would have otherwise been sold for meat. Those horses are Top Guns Fly Free, Iron Clad Case, Oz, Doodles, Ellie, Native Irish Lass, Street Commander, Hallie, Fencer, Private Practice and my own Brite Decision. We were involved in the rescue and rehab of Bloodstock (Banner), Senility, Frank, Fabulous Warrior, Iroquois Hills and many others. Thank goodness, most of the horses that have come to us have come from caring owners who want to ensure the horse is safe the rest of his or her life. Those horses didn't have to go through the trauma of an auction, or a holding barn, or a meat sale. They came from a good situation directly to our farm. We will continue to rescue and help rescue horses when we need to, but we want people to make the right decision immediately when they need to find a home for their horse and that is to find a caring, reputable agency like ours to find it a good, prescreened home for life.

Owners do have a choice. Meat buyers (“killers”) who frequent these auctions purchase these horses by the pound. A 1000 pound horse may bring $800 or more at the auction. However, the donation of that same horse to our organization provides the owner with a valuable tax deduction which is more than he/she would get from the middleman who takes the horse to auction.

If you own a horse that is no longer deemed a productive entity, donation could be a highly viable alternative. A horse appraised at $4000, will give the owner who donates it a tax deduction of approximately $1100 ! Everyone wins! The owner gets more for the horse, and the horse is saved from a cruel death. Many of these horses go on to careers as jumpers, trail horses, etc. And, even more important than the tax deduction should be the fact that the horse has served you well, and this is your way to repay them for their loyalty.

Some of the horses we re-home are well trained former family pets. There are many reasons people must give up their horses...a move to a place where they cannot keep their horse, finances, age or injury (to the owner), etc. These horses need our help too. Many owners think that because their horse was "their" family pet, and gave them many good years of service that if they take it to an auction, someone else will think the same thing. Often not the case. First of all, there has to be a buyer at the auction who would be looking for a horse like that. Many times, there are either few individual buyers, or many, many horses "just like yours". The ones that aren't sold to individuals are sold to killer buyers. And, don't let the facilitators of the auction fool you by saying "we don't sell to killer buyers". They sell to anyone who has the money to buy - it's their business.

Our dream is that none of these horses end their lives at slaughter. Our reality is that we can save a few of them each year and place them in loving homes.

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