12/02/2025
Today, on Giving Tuesday, we want to share the story of a very special mare whose story reminds us why this day - and our mission - matter so deeply. Her name is Pumpkin.
Pumpkin is a mighty draft horse, whose hooves should bring thunder with every step, but instead her body is frail with every rib, every hip bone, and every vertebra jutting through a dull and dirty coat. Looking down on her from the platform above, watching her suffer in silence was utterly heartbreaking. It was that deep gut-wrenching pain that wells up from the pit of your stomach when you see and feel something so horrible that your body reacts involuntarily.
Pumpkin didn’t know it yet, but she was already safe. In our minds, she was safe before the bidding even started, because we would be damned before we let her go to slaughter, after the horrible treatment she endured, that was not how her life was going to end. We knew she was getting on our trailer that day, come hell or high water, she was coming home with us.
Now she sees her alfalfa coming with eager eyes, and she gobbles it up in giant mouthfuls, raining alfalfa dust on us as we fluff the hay in her pan. When we stroke her long face and big droopy lips, she leans in and closes her eyes, soaking it all in. She wears a warm fleece ‘sweater’ while in her stall, keeping her warm and cozy while freezing rain falls outside. This is the life she should have always had.
This is the life that many horses just like her are still waiting for, and that’s why on this Giving Tuesday we are asking you to stand with Pumpkin and with every draft horse still waiting for someone to pull them out of the darkness and come to the rescue. Your generosity is the single reason stories like hers end with safety instead of suffering.
From Pumpkin, and from all of us, thank you.
