A good friend of mine, Shannon Smith, started an equine rescue she named Whisper Ranch. It had been a dream of hers for as long as she could remember and finally it was realized in 2004. I worked with Shannon throughout to donate hoof care to all the horses brought in and collaborated with Shannon on all aspect of their care. Both of us were geared toward a holistic approach and we collaborated on everything from diet, to life style, to wound care and even obstetrics on a couple of starving pregnant mares surrendered to the Ranch.
Cookie when she arrived - yes, she is pregnant in this photo!
Cookie (recovered) with baby Reilly
Shannon, her husband and her two children ran the ranch. Since the kids were home-schooled, there were always hands to help in addition to a vibrant volunteer core group. Every six weeks for five years, I was there to trim and discuss individual cases, in between if a rescue came in needing immediate attention. So the Ranch, the people there and its equine residents became very personal to me.
Last year, Shannon's husband left the family, leaving a home they had just built, and land they had just purchased and set up for the rescue all on Shannon. For the 20 years of their marriage, he had been the breadwinner while Shannon stayed home to raise and home school their children. Suddenly she is without an income, and while donations to the Ranch had been supporting the care of the animals, there was now no income to pay for the property. Donations and sponsorships had dwindled in 2008 to virtually nothing by the end of 2009. In desperation and facing loosing her home and the property that was home to the rescues, Shannon realized she had to let go of Whisper Ranch, either shut it down, or find someone to take it over.
When she told me of her situation and decision ( think I was the first person she told), I was devastated for her, her children and for the future of the Ranch. As I considered the possibilities, this was my thought process:
- My daughter Jessi had been wanting to set up a non-profit that combined horse rescue with outreach to families of deployed service members. But starting a new non-profit required more capital for the paperwork and fees than we had. Part of the reason we didn't have the extra money was....
- For 12 years my children and I have been rescuing horses "unofficially"...most of "our" horses were and are rescues, we just had no way to accept donations to help care for them. No extra capital to start our own non-profit as it all went to care for the ones we already had.
- Here's Shannon, needing to get out from under the labor and expense of the Ranch, an already established non-profit (that I had emotional ties to and years of work in) that had a mission statement compatible with what Jessi wanted to do.
- Understanding Shannon was emotionally and physically overwhelmed at her life being suddenly torn apart, it would be a shame to let the Ranch go, then when things got better not be able to get it back. She certainly had her heart, soul, and years of blood sweat and tears in it.
- If we took over the Ranch, we (Jessi and I ) could pursue our own dreams with a non-profit organization already in place. Then if Shannon got back on her feet and wanted it back, the Ranch would be "in the family" so to speak and there would be no hassle to giving it back to her.
- If we took over the Ranch, it could help provide for the rescues we already have.
- Jessi could run the rescue as Shannon had, and stay home with her baby, something she had determined to find a way to do.
- The Ranch could serve a larger mission for horse people who, like us, have taken in a rescue horse or two (or three!) out of the goodness of their heart and try to provide for them out of their own pocket. Many of my own customers fit that bill! Those horses could become Whisper Ranch fosters - a simply paperwork issue - the horses never leaves its current home, but those folks could at least deduct cost of care off their taxes. It would be a way the Ranch could help ease their burden in this economy.
- The land owner of the place where we keep our horses, also facing economic challenges, could calculate a monthly lease amount to deduct from her taxes as a donation to the Ranch. That would help her out.
Jessi, Baby Brayden and Hawkeye
Right before I left Georgia, we had a successful fundraiser, but as you can imagine...and those of you who care for equines know....it takes a steady cash flow to meet their basic needs, more if there are special needs. Not to mention upkeep on barns, fences, etc. As it usually goes, circumstances have changed...in large part due to the continued downward spiral of the economy. So here's where we are:
The couple who own the property (where we had our horses and now the Ranch) are long time friends and supporters of our rescue efforts even before we were an "official" rescue. As fate would have it, they have divorced. The property where we have the Ranch is up for sale. We do not know from month to month how long we will be able to stay in that location.
We have been hesitant to really get out there about our mission in large part because of the uncertainty around the location. The reason is...the more we put ourselves out there in search of sponsors and donors, the more people will discover us and the first result is a flood of horses needing help, the last thing is funding to care for them. We don't currently have the space. So far, with the two new ones seeking help in the past few months, we have been able to arrange foster placement that the needy horses went to directly ...bypassing coming to Whisper Ranch. those two cases were certainly prayers answered!
Jessi has had to put her dream of staying home with the baby and working on the rescue and community outreach on hold and take a job. Main reason - her husband returned from deployment to Iraq earlier this year and has been hitting the bricks to find a job while still serving in the National Guard. He now has one, but its not enough income for Jessi to quit her job. My son, AJ is also working every spare minute he can to earn his own money, while doing all the hard labor for the horses - hauling hay, cleaning water troughs, fixing fence. Without support from donors, sponsors, and fundraisers, there is no extra money.
We are at a point where we have to do whatever we can to keep the horses fed and the power bill at the farm paid...not just for lights, but to run the well pump that keeps water to the barn. That's the bare minimum. It was all coming out of my pocket when I was there...now I'm trying to do whatever I can from here to help.
I can hear my mom now..."Why don't you get rid of all those animals?" Yeah, I hear ya mom...LOL! At some point we may have to give up on all of it, although I hope not, as horses needing a safe place to go will only get worse..but for now, we have to get through the winter. Come spring, if all goes well ...I will bring as many of them as I can up here. Perhaps start a new rescue here...who knows?! But for now we need to go step by step, day by day. They depend on us.
I wrote all that to ask you all this....would you help us push the message out there? I don't even know why I put a question mark after that ... I know all of you are exceptional folks and will help where you can. Here are some things you can do:
- The easiest and most painless way is to make GoodSearch your search engine. You will find the the GoodSearch banner to the right of the blog posts as well as all over the Whisper Ranch site.
- As from GoodSearch, is GoodShop where you can do your holiday shopping and all you usual online merchants and they donate a percentage to us. You do not pay any extra, it comes from the merchants. Many, such as Amazon have specials and coupons for GoodShop buyers.
- Here's a link to our flier with a holiday theme, that you can print and share.
- Check out this page on the Whisper Ranch web site for current needs. You may know someone who can help with a specific need, or just in general.
Finally, anyone who can/is willing to be a Whisper Ranch foster home, let me know!
Nathaniel smiling (actually begging for treats!)
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