RH Farm Rescue and Stables

RH Farm Rescue and Stables We rescue, rehabilitate, and retrain surrendered, and slaughter bound horses. 501(c)(3) Nonprofit. We also offer lessons and boarding in Burlington NC.

"Time and again, horses have suffered and died in New York City’s notoriously inhumane horse-drawn carriage industry.Mos...
11/14/2025

"Time and again, horses have suffered and died in New York City’s notoriously inhumane horse-drawn carriage industry.

Most recently, an elderly, emaciated horse named Ryder collapsed on a Manhattan street in August. Witnesses even reported seeing the carriage driver abusing Ryder as the horse lay helpless on the ground. A quick-thinking bystander caught the incident on video, and the resulting news reports shocked and outraged animal advocates in New York and beyond."

Ryder's Law bill, which would END horse drawn carriages in NYC is in danger of stalling and being blocked by the powers that be. One of our own rescues, Zeus, was a carriage horse (not in nyc) who was tossed away at auction when his feet developed painful abscesses from repeated concussion on surfaces like concrete and pavement. He couldn't work so they didn't care. Despite his excellent manners and kind nature he no longer had any "value" to his owners. They didn't bother to give him just a few months to heal up and be perfectly sound again.

PLEASE visit the link below to add your voice to the petition to ban carriage horse use.

photo and quoted text from https://aldf.org/project/ryders-law/

PJ is a coming 7 y/o 16.1hh ottb gelding who is super sweet and a good mix of whoa/go. I purchased him as a 4 y/o to wor...
11/06/2025

PJ is a coming 7 y/o 16.1hh ottb gelding who is super sweet and a good mix of whoa/go.
I purchased him as a 4 y/o to work on for my Intermediate lesson students, but shortly after ended up downsizing my program. He loves jumping just as much as he loves getting out on the trail.
For intermediate+ rider with soft hands, who either has experience with young horses or ottbs as he's fairly typical of the breed. He's still learning so not for beginner or child. Perfect for an adult ammie to bring along a personal horse either English or Western.
I've waffled about keeping him but I recently experienced severe shortness of breath while riding him and turns out I have scar tissue from rib injury etc. Etc. I don't want to see him just sit while I work on my lung capacity!

Videos available. Stands good for vet/farrier, utd on everything. mid four figures.
Trial depending on location. Will consider lease or lease to own to the right situation.
Please text the farm 3️⃣3️⃣six2️⃣7️⃣0️⃣nine7️⃣2️⃣7️⃣.

Not Buddy with his lil' tongue 😍The GREMLINS have been progessing slowly, of course Buddy being the youngest and most co...
10/31/2025

Not Buddy with his lil' tongue 😍
The GREMLINS have been progessing slowly, of course Buddy being the youngest and most comfortable around humans has been the easiest to work with.
Ralph DID put a single foot on the platform the other day so it"s starting to click for him too.

We did however, have another bite incident with Ralph a few weeks ago...I was minding my own business mucking their pen when he charged and bit my thigh very hard. With a GIANT bruise about the size of a softball, I was limping for a few days due to the location over a key muscle. We thought we had isolated Ralph's aggression triggers, but he gave no warnings, no ears pinned or body language cues that he felt threatened by me. Just turned and chomped.
We believe he may have been a little hyped up into "stallion mode" from horses across the fence. Unfortunately we now have to label Ralph as a biter for future adoption, knowing he could decide to react at any moment.

We have never harmed Ralph, or even touched him without him initiating contact, and always checked for consent. Just a few days prior to this incident, Ralph put his head in my lap begging for scratches for a full 20 minutes. Every few minutes I would stop so as not to overwhelm him, and he would rest into me clearly indicating a desire for more touch. Regardless of the trust progress we have made, it wasn't enough to counteract his deep set fear-aggression.

We are now using a grazing muzzle as a protective measure as work to get Ralph ready to accept farrier work. He is being a very good boy about putting it on! He can be very sweet when he feels safe, but we feel his bite trigger is not something that can be overcome given his age and late gelding. But we don't give up! We adjust, knowing the possibility of that danger is there.

This is the real, and the tough part about rescue. It's not all sunshine and rainbows, and loving our horses into being well behaved. It takes real work to overcome defensive issues and reaction triggers. It takes many months of building trust through consistency. It can be hard, but we believe the horses are worth it! EVERY horse has value.

10/28/2025

Yes, you CAN believe your eyes! Whinny, our most picky eater, who previously would not eat anything remotely moistened, anything but a textured senior feed, has been expanding her palate!
Last year with Willow's encouraging example, Whinny bravely attempted eating grass again, then hay, and in springtime began to eat offered apple-flavored hard treats.
And now not only is she happily licking up alfalfa pellet slop, but the LEFTOVERS of another horse's alfalfa slop. IN THE RAIN. 🤯

This is a horse who refused everything but a specific type of grain even though she was starving and at a body score of 1. Even as her stomach started expanding again through careful refeeding and she gained more appetite, if her grain got wet, say, while she was eating in the rain...she would ignore or dump the bowl and refuse to eat any more. She quids, so most of the grass/hay gets bunched up and dropped after she's chewed it, so we really only count the calories she gets from her grain meals. We feed her as much as she'll eat, but it still isn't quite as much as she really needs to be in optimal weight.
This is a wonderful progression showing her interest in more foods, and an increased appetite!
Go Whinny!

Diamond is ADOPTED! 🎉He is going to be a family horse, and maybe therapy pony at a new equine therapy & wellness project...
10/20/2025

Diamond is ADOPTED! 🎉
He is going to be a family horse, and maybe therapy pony at a new equine therapy & wellness project starting up very close to the farm! He also gets to hang out with Rose and Venus, two previously adopted mares by this same family.

We love when previous adopters want to continue adding to their herd through rescue, and we'll definitely miss his sweet lil face, and mealtime nickers. 😊

Congratulations .acres on your adoption of Diamond!

We had a blast at the Alamance Country Club Fall Fest for our 3rd year, bringing rescue horses to show how amazing they ...
10/18/2025

We had a blast at the Alamance Country Club Fall Fest for our 3rd year, bringing rescue horses to show how amazing they can be!
This year we brought 2 miniature horses - Ebony with her calm gentle nature helped nervous kids get comfortable through petting her and feeling safe around a small horse, and Diamond, who is a bit larger, stepped up to be many kids' first ever ride on a pony 😊

It was much hotter than we anticipated (a balmy 80°F) so these miniature horses got a little overheated and tired by the end - they've already grown out their thick winter coats! We had both horses available for petting only just at the end, but they did really well going as long as they did.

It's important to educate, and demonstrate how responsible pony handling should look: freely available hay, lots of breaks, room to move, and a calm, natural-like environment. Not several horses tied to a small pole walking in a tiny circle on concrete or pavement for hours. We love to be able to show how horses can give back to us when they are taken care of, and how to acknowledge their feelings.

We love seeing the BIG smiles on kids' faces too 😁 Thanks ACC for having us, and supporting our rescue message. And thank you to Kate and Mark for giving of their time to help out today.

So proud of Zeus at his 3rd ever show today! It was a bit hectic so we missed a class and didn't do well in our pattern ...
10/11/2025

So proud of Zeus at his 3rd ever show today!
It was a bit hectic so we missed a class and didn't do well in our pattern at all, but he was fantastic in the warmup ring with all the horses and was the most tuned in he's been away from home. Outside the ring was a little fancy feet but inside he really settled and was listening.
We have been practicing keeping our sitting trot so we did a whole Go As You Please class in sitting trot and he did great!
He even brought home a 4th in his walk/trot class after a major trip in a divot in the arena 🙂
For a horse who doesn't have the best conformation he is really improving in carrying himself and using his body correctly.

If you aren't familiar with Zeus' story, he was rescued at auction with bursting abscesses in both front feet and a BCS of 3. He had been a carriage horse, and we've been training him to ride using primarily positive reinforcement since he really takes to it. He is super attentive to voice commands now and has come a long way from a rushy, face-in-the-air avoiding contact, scattered focus horse. He has his own playlist on our YT channel if you want to watch his progress.

After hemming and hawing for months (and waiting for cooler weather) and how to wean Xena, if we should wean her, will s...
09/27/2025

After hemming and hawing for months (and waiting for cooler weather) and how to wean Xena, if we should wean her, will she stop nursing at some point (she's 16 months old now)...Xena forced our hand a little bit by deciding to oust Whinny from the herd.

She was being incredibly aggressive about it and Whinny was getting badly scraped up, nearly trotted into a pole being chased around, and things just went downhill pretty rapidly - we were seriously concerned about Whinny's safety.

Whinny and Xena have been in a herd since Xena was 3 months old and always been friendly, sharing food, grooming each other and running together. It was a big surprise and a sudden shift in behavior.

We couldn't separate just Whinny because she relies on mama Willow as a sight guide at night, and we knew she would be more distressed to be separated. So Willow joined Whinny in the next field and thus began a very stressful night of checking, refilling hay by the fence to keep Willow close (she wanted to explore), and making sure nobody got colicky from the sudden change!

Xena was vocal, running, testing the gate but subsided the frantic behavior after about 15 minutes or so. Altogether she was relatively sane about the whole thing. Not excessively screaming or trying to jump out. The whole story is up on our youtube channel!

Well the bullet has been bit so to speak, let's all hope this transition continues peacefully!

Have you been waiting for a GREMLIN update?(It's a term of endearment 🐴)Video of their progress so far up at 4.30pm EST....
09/17/2025

Have you been waiting for a GREMLIN update?
(It's a term of endearment 🐴)

Video of their progress so far up at 4.30pm EST.
An AMAZING heart-melting moment with November marked the first slow step towards trust - you don't want to miss it!

We had to say goodbye to Vernon today.An incredible horse who left a mark on so many hearts.At 30 he was in great condit...
09/08/2025

We had to say goodbye to Vernon today.
An incredible horse who left a mark on so many hearts.

At 30 he was in great condition but the Cushings (PPID) has been steadily progressing and the medications could no longer keep him comfortable.

We knew this day was coming eventually, but it still is a huge loss that we know will be felt by all. Hundreds of students who have sat on his back over the past 5 years, have grown their skills and confidence with his steady and reliable nature. He has been a calm influence on many new horses here at the rescue, most recently to a young yearling whom he was to help through the weaning process.

It was a privilege to care for him these last 5 years. He gave us more time than we thought we'd have, and he never failed to do what was asked of him. A one of a kind, irreplaceable horse. Run free ❤️🐴🌈

The Gremlins say "Snacks! Or else.."Well really just RL - check out their arrival in our newest video!
09/06/2025

The Gremlins say "Snacks! Or else.."
Well really just RL - check out their arrival in our newest video!

Yesterday we did a little 4-hour round trip to pick up these surrendered dwarf minis. 😍These guys are little little! So ...
09/05/2025

Yesterday we did a little 4-hour round trip to pick up these surrendered dwarf minis. 😍
These guys are little little! So cute!
And so very very feral.
These guys don't know how to catch, lead, yield to halter pressure, pick up their feet..nothing.
Absolutely terrified to be touched.
They'll take a snack from a hand but nothing else. One of them pins ears and bites if there is no snack in an offered hand. (Ask how we know)

This is going to be a long road to training! They have been well cared for in terms of veterinary visits, and had regular farrier trims (though they have to be sedated for it) so they are healthy physically, but mentally they are all React and no Think.
We believe the oldest one has Cushings, she is struggling with weight at the moment.

Video coming soon of their intake and first day - these guys won't be adoptable for a while yet, but keep an eye out if you're needing a companion mini.
23 y/o mare, 17 y/o gelding, 10 y/o gelding.

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Burlington, NC

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