Stormhaven Youth Ranch

Stormhaven Youth Ranch 501c3 Non-Profit Pairing Rescued Horses with Hurting Children for Healing.
(19)

10/23/2024
Hay!!!Yes, we are gathering for a winter hay fundraiser, open house, silent auction, horse tack, and baked items sale!!!...
10/22/2024

Hay!!!
Yes, we are gathering for a winter hay fundraiser, open house, silent auction, horse tack, and baked items sale!!! Come love on the horses and shop!! Yahoo!! PLEASE SHARE WITH HORSE FRIENDS!!!

10/14/2024
10/13/2024
10/09/2024

While bringing in a dog, cat or even a small animal to your home is something one really needs to take seriously, the addition of a horse is honestly a whole new level of consideration.

The expense, space and skill level, as well as the term of the commitment is many times over that of the addition of a new puppy to the family.

A horse costs a great deal of money to maintain. The fact is, horses are a luxury many people cannot truly afford. Depending on where you live, that price can be $500 to $2,000 or more a month. Fencing, shelter, farrier care, parasite prevention, vaccinations and dental care are all expenses above and beyond the fact this animal requires as much as 30lbs of quality forage and suitable concentrated grain ration a day. Hay can be $5 to $25 a bale across the USA. Grains vary from $20 to $45 per 50lb bag. You can do the math and see how costs can spiral wildly out of control to give good care, right?

Horses need space. Horses are naturally meant to cover a tremendous amount of land a day while roaming to find the best sources of forage. They are not meant to live on stark 1/4 acre hillsides and in backyards. If you hope your land will sustain the horses in the warmer months without added hay, you also need to realize that horses need several acres per horse of very well maintained pasture full of grass (not weeds and not eaten down below 3 inch blades). You also need to know if your new horse is the opposite. A horse with thrifty genetics will need grass exposure carefully managed. Consider whether you can afford boarding ($450 to $1,000 a month) or whether your land has safe fence, shelter and enough space before seeking a horse.

Horses need special care to be healthy. You need to be sure you have access to a trained professional for vet care, dental care and farrier care before committing to a horse. There are places in the USA (rural spots) where finding the above professionals is nearly impossible if you’re the owner of only 1 or 2 horses. This spells trouble for a horse in your care. Make sure you can provide what they need. Remember farriers need to come every 6 to 8 weeks as a general rule, and they run $35 to $60 a trim. Dental care is annually, at a minimum, and floats run $75 to $150, and sometimes there is a farm call for those. Vet care varies, but it is never cheap.

Horses are accident prone. Most good owners will be honest and tell you that horses look for ways to “nearly die” pretty often. This can mean colic, a need for stitches, lameness . . .just to mention a few things. Colic surgery can cost up to $10,000. A single midnight emergency vet call is likely to run $1,000 for whatever has gone wrong.

Horses tend to test your carpentry skills. Especially if they are kept in small areas. You can expect that you will need to be making regular fence, barn, or stall repairs.

Horses require skill. Because you took 4 riding lessons at age 8 or cleaned stalls for a barn for summer cash as a teenager or paid for a trail ride on vacation with your family in Tennessee each year does not mean you know how to handle a horse or how to ride a horse. What it may mean is you’ve developed a misguided (meaning dangerous) view of horsemanship and your skill set. The chances are great that you’re a novice, a basic beginner. Frankly, most folks we meet that have owned horses for quite a few years are still at “advanced beginner” status in the saddle, so let us assume that if you’ve not owned horses since childhood, since your grandpa had one you claimed or ever, you are going to need lessons. A lot of lessons. Before you consider buying a horse, first commit to 6-12 months of weekly lessons. If you feel you cannot afford this, there is NO QUESTION, that you cannot afford a horse. Ask around and screen instructors. Make sure you believe they sincerely want to teach horsemanship, not just get you in and out without a care to make sure you’re learning.

Trust your Trainer. As you take lessons, hopefully you find the trainer wishes to help you, once you’re ready and are sure you have the time, facilities and finances to have a horse in your life, find the right horse. Trust the trainer if they tell you you’re not ready or that the horse you’re looking at isn’t the right horse. Make sure to take an expert in the field with you when you go to buy because lameness, illness or behaviors are easily hidden by other “experts” with a newbie looking. Don’t be duped out of arrogance that you know more than you really do. Choose the right horse for you, and do not pick a horse that is flashy or green right off.

CONTINUE LEARNING. Don’t assume after 6 months of lessons, you can buy a horse, take him home and everything be perfect. Sadly, we often hear people say things like this, but when we’ve been around their horses, we can see the damage being done to the horse. Horses are sensitive. They are intelligent. You need to be committed to learning over your entire lifetime to be a real horseman/woman. If you adopt or buy a horse, try to find mentors and continue to learn and become better. The horse deserves it.

(pictured is Tonks, 5 years ago, who decided her stall door needed a remodeling job shortly after going to live with her new person)

If you are considering bringing a horse into your life, we want you to feel confident that adoption is the right way to do it. As a Heart of Phoenix Adopter, you have a tremendous amount of support, education and advice should you need it with your new equine friend. Whatever your wants and needs, your right horse is out there. We want to help our horse community grow in knowledge and help potential adopters make great homes for horses looking for their new homes.

10/03/2024

As we enter the fall, and soon winter, hay production slows.

The unwanted horse ads start to appear.

“Beautiful pasture ornament available, very sweet and kind. Cannot be ridden. But only 6 years old so lots of life left!”

Or

“Retired senior horse. Very arthritic so only pasture sound. We love her but can’t justify keeping a horse we can’t ride. We also can’t keep weight on her and she costs too much to feed!”

There are not enough homes out there for horses that have health issues and are “less desirable” due to not being rideable.

Not saying it’s fair but it’s the reality.

If a person doesn’t love a horse enough to keep them through their retirement, expecting a stranger to do so does not make sense.

In fluke cases, sure you may find the unicorn retirement home that has no bad motives and actually intends to keep the horse until they pass.

But, the fact of the matter is that these types of horses are most valuable when sold to auction, usually for meat.

And if the person who lamed them or owned them into their senior years doesn’t care enough to take care of them for life, a stranger with no attachment to the horse isn’t particularly likely to.

Are there some incredibly generous and kind strangers who do this? Yes.

Are there enough of them to keep up with the “demand” of all of these unwanted horses? No.

Rather than rolling the dice and hoping that these unwanted horses will find a soft landing when they’re given away for free or cheap, consider what kindnesses are within your power to offer them.

1. You could keep them, because an unrideable horse generally costs the same as one who is ridden.

2. If you’re unwilling to do so because of their health issues and lack of “usefulness”, you could give them a humane ending with euthanasia.

Horses don’t fear death like people do. They live in the present moment. They don’t spend time worrying about their mortality or if there’s life after death.

So, if that present moment is a miserable existence, that is what their life is. Miserable. That is their reality.

If all they know in the moment is suffering, that’s what their life is comprised of.

Passing off the unwanted horse to be someone else’s issue in lieu of giving them a humane ending may feel more noble because it extends longevity of life, but it doesn’t factor in quality.

A horse being passed off from home to home, always a second class citizen due to being unrideable, isn’t a kindness.

It is humans continuously evading accountability for the care of the horse and instead passing the horse off to be someone else’s problem.

It is the humans feeling morally superior for doing so because they think keeping the horse alive is a kindness.

Even if the life is no life to live.

Or even if it is condemning the horse to be taken to the auction and sold to a kill buyer.

Love your horses enough to love them through their lack of rideability or at least give them a humane end if it’s between that and rolling the dice and throwing them into a market that is already flooded with unwanted horses.

Horses should hold value whether they’re rideable or not but currently, that’s largely not the case.

Rather than ignoring that fact, people need to be honest with themselves about what they’re actually doing.

What their choices put their horses at risk of.

Let your elderly horse pass in the home they’ve known for so long instead of throwing them out into a new environment as soon as they can no longer be ridden.

Give your lesson horses the gift of retirement after they’ve kept your business afloat instead of pawning them off when they are no longer useful.

Or give them the gift of a good death instead of just making them someone else’s problem.

If you do not love the horse that you’ve spent years bonding with enough to keep them through their “less desirable” stages of life, why would a stranger be more likely to do that for you?

Winter is coming. Don’t throw your damaged horses to the “wolves.”

Part of owning horses is caring about them enough to give them a good end.

If you feel like a bad person for euthanizing them because you know retiring them would be the kinder option, that’s likely a sign that you should buck up and keep them into retirement.

The answer is not playing Russian roulette with your horse’s quality of life.

Stop pawning old and lame horses off onto other people.

There is not the amount of kind and caring homes available that people are making it out to be.

08/30/2024

Dozens of rodeo horses are dead after their treating veterinarian says they consumed feed that may have been tainted with monensin.

"Much is known about what has happened here that cannot yet be told," the veterinarian said. "But the bottom line on this story is that it’s an important one to tell, so this never happens to anyone else. I will say this: Never buy horse feed from a mill that makes cattle feed. Period. Please quote me on that. Every horse that ate this feed is dead."

Read more: https://bit.ly/3XnaCNd

RIP, dear Kipp. You are finally able to run with a herd, kick up your heels, and eat all the grass you want! Man, did yo...
08/21/2024

RIP, dear Kipp. You are finally able to run with a herd, kick up your heels, and eat all the grass you want! Man, did you love everyone well. Thank you , Jesus, for this year with him. He was kissed and loved on and blessed us all. Amazing, sweet gelding.
Your pain is gone♥️🙌🏻.

08/06/2024

We’ve said it before, but we’re saying it again: A fat horse is NOT a healthy horse.

👉 Over half of horses are overweight, and nearly 20% are considered obese! This extra weight can seriously affect a horse’s overall well-being, longevity, and performance.

Not sure if your horse is overweight? Visit our guide for a simple system to measure your horse’s weight if you don’t have access to a scale: https://bluebonnetequine.com/blog/feeding-the-overweight-horse

07/12/2024
Our inspiration. Why we do what we do.
07/11/2024

Our inspiration. Why we do what we do.

Please join us for the re-airing of Kim's interview with entitled Pursuing Our Untamable God, Parts 1 and 2. You can tune in through the links below.

A video version of the interviews will also be featured on the Focus on the Family YouTube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/user/FocusOnTheFamilyUSA/videos

Part 1 - available: Thursday, July 11th - https://www.focusonthefamily.com/episodes/broadcast/pursuing-our-untamable-god-part-1-of-2/

Part 2 - available: Friday, July 12th -https://www.focusonthefamily.com/episodes/broadcast/pursuing-our-untamable-god-part-2-of-2/

07/10/2024

In an age full of screens and texts,

I hope we can remember our children may miss out on lives enriched by horses if we, as parents, grandparents and equine advocates, let this generation slip by without allowing them a chance to meet a horse and see what happens.

I'd hate for a child who could love a horse and be loved by a horse miss such an opportunity that lasts a lifetime.

This image is by Lynn Rose Photography LLC from Sally's first adoption in 2018

So Mike and I are in a health “storm”right now and would appreciate prayers. ( No details)18yrs ago I designed this and ...
06/20/2024

So Mike and I are in a health “storm”right now and would appreciate prayers. ( No details)
18yrs ago I designed this and hoped to put it on the round pen panels. Well, thanks Rachel and Audrey, it finally is done! We are so grateful for the help we have received through so many stepping into meet needs. Taking a break from sessions for a while.
Glory to God!

A glimpse of our first week:)
06/14/2024

A glimpse of our first week:)

06/09/2024

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504 Christianburg Road
Shelbyville, KY
40065

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