Program keeps unwanted horses from slaughter

A vet examines a horse for the Horse Plus Humane Society.
(Photo supplied by Tawnee Preisner)

Tawnee Preisner has always loved horses, and grew up riding them in her backyard. But she noticed that many horses are unwanted and end up getting slaughtered (though not for human consumption, at least in the U.S). Because she lived next door to a horse trader, she saw how cheaply some horses could be purchased, and how much of a difference it made in their fate when they were trained. That's how she came up with an idea: buy unwanted horses cheaply, train them to take a rider, then rehome them.

"She launched NorCal Equine Rescue as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in 2005 to expand her rescue/rehoming efforts. NorCal's work grew from Northern California to the whole country and became Horse Plus Humane Society," Natalie Voss reports for the Paulick Report, a publication usually focused on horse racing.

Horse Plus has an open-door policy at its Centerville, Tenn., site: horses can be dropped off with no questions asked and placed for adoption. It also tries to intercept horses before they end up at auctions or sales kill buyers frequent, Voss reports. The organization also held 13 horse surrender events around the country where people could give up horses they could no longer afford to care for.

The organization's newest venture? An initiative "to stand in the gap for at-risk horses: its We Buy Horses program will use donated funds to purchase horses for sale on social media whose listing prices are low enough they may attract kill buyers or end up in the slaughter pipeline. Preisner anticipated the project would launch this summer," Voss reports.