06/28/2025
Most people will scroll by this post. It's just a photo of an elderly lady with a big, bay horse. Nothing amazing, right? Some people share images of horses they think are beautiful and people working with them that they think are amazing to me. But I can honestly say none of them are more beautiful or amazing than the ones we have at Midnight's Promise and the people in those photos don't come close to comparing with our volunteers. I don't care about the person doing the back flip off a horse's back getting their 10,000 likes. I'm impressed by people like 78-year-old volunteer Marie Riordan who has shown up with her headband and f***y pack on whether it's 0 degrees or 100 degrees and ready to work every week for the last 18 years! No cameras following her around for all the attention and glory social media can garner but because of her kind, giving spirit and love for animals.
And that horse with the fancy color and flowing mane, I hope it never needs the help of a rescue. I hope it never has to prove its resilience as it is passed from owner to owner then auction to auction then into the slaughter pipeline. The horse we call Journey is Flight Fifteen a Hanover Stable bred Standardbred that won almost $500k both domestically and internationally. He also holds 2 track records. You would think a horse that made so much money for so many people would be treated like a king when his time to retire came. Nope. He had more than 20 owners in his racing days and raced up to 30 times a year. He's pin fired in all 4 legs and his face is damaged from the harnesses he wore. When his racing days ended he worked for the Amish as a buggy horse for the next 7 years of his life. By the time he was 14, he was on the verge of permanent lameness and entered the slaughter pipeline in Shippensburg PA. When he came to us 9 years ago, I promised him he would never carry a rider or pull another cart. No fancy color, no long flowing mane. Just a big bay horse with an amazing heart and resilient spirit. This is what makes him so awesome and totally amazing!