We Ride Sport and Trail Magazine July 2019 | Page 44

Copper Horse Crusade

44 / Sport and Trail Magazine

F

Virtual Obstacle Shows

By Lynn Witmer

To learn more about Virtual Obstacle Shows, visit our website at www.virtualobstacleshows.com or join our facebook page where riders are posting their videos and score cards. Hope to have you on

our next ride!

By Julie Copper,

Owner and Founder

thousands of horses are shipped to slaughter, most for human consumption overseas. Copper Horse Crusade recognizes horse slaughter as a complex and highly emotional topic. It is a multi-faceted issue with many contributing factors including over breeding, owner irresponsibility, lack of end of life options, lack of organizations able to safely accept owner surrenders and the list goes on.

For many horses facing a transition, an auction becomes a very real possibility. Some horses find homes when sold through an auction, but the vast majority at ‘kill sales’ do not. Whether they are a 4-H horse, trail horse, show horse, family pet, Amish buggy horse or race horse, kill buyers don’t discriminate when loading a semi of slaughter bound horses. Copper Horse Crusade is able to intervene for some of these horses and help them transition into homes.

In 2018 Copper Horse Crusade was able to pull and place over a hundred horses that would have otherwise shipped to slaughter. Focusing on resource management and sustainability is just as important as the rescue and retraining that Copper Horse Crusade does. Horses saved by CHC are put through a minimum of 30 days riding and training evaluation. They are tested in a variety of situations to determine what type of home and rider they will be best suited for. Each horse is seen by a vet and a farrier. They are dewormed and have a Coggins test. Some are seen for dental work and massage therapy.

It takes more than good intentions to successfully save a horse from slaughter! Horse rescues are not exempt from good business management. Feed, hay, time, money, and space are all resources that have to be managed wisely in order to do the most good for the greatest number of horses. Copper Horse Crusade pioneered a method of saving slaughter bound horses sustainably.

Copper Horse Crusade focuses on saving slaughter bound horses that are sound, sane, and serviceable. Horses that have successfully been through the CHC program have found vocations ranging from therapy horses to search and rescue horses. Good training is critical to helping horses find homes. “A broke horse is a placed horse.”

In 2018 Copper Horse Crusade partnered with the Right Horse Initiative (www.therighthorse.org) and the ASPCA to help promote the placement of horses in transition. Grant funds allowed CHC to develop a transitional training program to give at risk horses the skills and training they need to find the best possible placement and a forever home. A horse’s best life insurance policy is the training they receive.

Organizations like the Right Horse Initiative are helping spark an industry wide change in the way horses in transition are perceived. The goal of Right Horse is, “to massively increase the number of successful horse adoptions in the United States by working together to reframe the adoption conversation and shatter the stigmas surrounding horses in transition.”

There is often a misconception that if a horse ends up at a kill sale or surrendered it’s a bad horse. A “rescue horse” is thought to be old, lame or otherwise not serviceable. While that may be true in some instances, Copper Horse Crusade is able to demonstrate the quality of horse that routinely slips through the cracks and heads to slaughter. Pairing a good minded, good quality horse with good training results in many good matches of horse and rider.

If you are looking for your next equine partner, consider adopting. Copper Horse Crusade currently has a number of horses in their retraining program and one of them could be your horse of a lifetime. For more information on Copper Horse Crusade and how you can help, donate or adopt visit http://www.copperhorsecrusade.com/. You can also visit them on Facebook to learn more about their success stories at https://www.facebook.com/CopperHorseCrusade/

Cambridge, Ohio

ounded in 2010 on the conviction that many viable slaughter bound horses could be rehabbed, retrained and rehomed, Copper Horse Crusade was established to intercept as many horses as time, and resources allowed. Every year tens of thousands of horses are shipped to slaughter, most for human consumption overseas. Copper Horse Crusade recognizes horse slaughter as a complex and highly emotional topic. It is a multi-faceted issue with many contributing factors including over breeding, owner irresponsibility, lack of end of life options, lack of organizations able to safely accept owner surrenders and the list goes on.

For many horses facing a transition, an auction becomes a very real possibility. Some horses find homes when sold through an auction, but the vast majority at ‘kill sales’ do not. Whether they are a 4-H horse, trail horse, show horse, family pet, Amish buggy horse or race horse, kill buyers don’t discriminate when loading a semi of slaughter bound horses. Copper Horse Crusade is able to intervene for some of these horses and help them transition into homes.

In 2018 Copper Horse Crusade was able to pull and place over a hundred horses that would have otherwise shipped to slaughter. Focusing on resource management and sustainability is just as important as the rescue and retraining that Copper Horse Crusade does. Horses saved by CHC are put through a minimum of 30 days riding and training evaluation. They are tested in a variety of situations to determine what type of home and rider they will be best suited for. Each horse is seen by a vet and a farrier. They are dewormed and have a Coggins test. Some are seen for dental work and massage therapy.

It takes more than good intentions to successfully save a horse from slaughter! Horse rescues are not exempt from good business management. Feed, hay, time, money, and space are all resources that have to be managed wisely in order to do the most good for the greatest number of horses. Copper Horse Crusade pioneered a method of saving slaughter bound horses sustainably.

Copper Horse Crusade focuses on saving slaughter bound horses that are sound, sane, and serviceable. Horses that have successfully been through the CHC program have found vocations ranging from therapy horses to search and rescue horses. Good training is critical to helping horses find homes. “A broke horse is a placed horse.”

In 2018 Copper Horse Crusade partnered with the Right Horse Initiative (www.therighthorse.org) and the ASPCA to help promote the placement of horses in transition. Grant funds allowed CHC to develop a transitional training program to give at risk horses the skills and training they need to find the best possible placement and a forever home. A horse’s best life insurance policy is the training they receive.

Organizations like the Right Horse Initiative are helping spark an industry wide change in the way horses in transition are perceived. The goal of Right Horse is, “to massively increase the number of successful horse adoptions in the United States by working together to reframe the adoption conversation and shatter the stigmas surrounding horses in transition.”

There is often a misconception that if a horse ends up at a kill sale or surrendered it’s a bad horse. A “rescue horse” is thought to be old, lame or otherwise not serviceable. While that may be true in some instances, Copper Horse Crusade is able to demonstrate the quality of horse that routinely slips through the cracks and heads to slaughter. Pairing a good minded, good quality horse with good training results in many good matches of horse and rider.

If you are looking for your next equine partner, consider adopting. Copper Horse Crusade currently has a number of horses in their retraining program and one of them could be your horse of a lifetime. For more information on Copper Horse Crusade and how you can help, donate or adopt visit http://www.copperhorsecrusade.com/. You can also visit them on Facebook to learn more about their success stories at https://www.facebook.com/CopperHorseCrusade/

Sustainability in Saving Slaughter Bound Horses™