June is Adopter Update Month, Don't forget!! We've been getting updates every week, thank you all for all the ones that have been sent. Looking forward to hearing from the rest of you!

SWAP FEED FUND

MAKE CREDIT CARD DONATIONS TO THE SWAP FEED FUND... CALL FOSTER FEEDS AT 304-269-1333, TALK TO CHARLIE TO GIVE A DONATION TO THE SECOND WIND ADOPTION PROGRAM FEED FUND, WE GO THROUGH 6 TONS OF FEED A MONTH. YOU CAN ALSO PAY FOR ADOPTIONS AND PURCHASES THIS WAY!!

 
monthly counters started on February 13, 2010 for the website, because this is a free counter, it will only show about a 1/4 of our total numbers, so its not an accurate depiction of all of our visitors, just gives an idea about all the people that visit our site. We do love our international visitors. Welcome!

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Congrats to our President for the nomination and eventual induction to the ROTC Hall of Fame at West Virginia State University, nominated by the former VP of the University, the induction will take place at the Embassy Suites in Charleston, WV October 14, 2010. A former military school, rich in a history of national defense has only inducted just over 100 military retirees to its Hall of Fame, many of them general officers. Congratulations on this huge honor.

Stay up with our President/Executive Director, all the directors, volunteers and riders. All the CSS/SWAP supporters and adopters are having a big time sharing stories, pictures, lots of good stuff about their horses. Our President is at her max friends so she is full but we are going to set up a fan based page so everyone can be added. So sorry to the 200 + people who have asked for a friendship.... we'll get our fan page up soon.

Benefit Wines - Pairing Fine Wines With Great Charities

www.benefitwines.com

Benefit Wines is a unique online retail wine shop that partners with non-profit organizations to raise funds. Every charity partner has their own unique wine label. Supporters enjoy fine, organic wines while supporting their favorite cause. Cheers!

Win a 15 carat Ruby and Diamond Ring and Help Horses too!

Raise $1000. for Second Wind Adoption Program and have a 1 in 70 chance at a 15 carat Ruby/Diamond Ring! ... mail donations to Rt. 2 Box 24A Jockey Camp Road, West Union, WV 26456

The Wish List of Our Needs:

More than anything we need a large donation to help us pay off our farm, we just owe 70k. With a farm paid for, we will never worry about the program and schools closing.

We are looking for 2 to 3 people to do work in exchange for a place to live.

1. New or lightly used truck and 3 to 6 horse trailer, our equipment has seen its better days, we've been using both for nearly 14 years to pick up horses and move them to their new homes.

2. A Farm in any location for low cost long term lease or donation to expand our program to develop a retirement farm for our now aging horses returned to us from adopters who could not retire our horses. Our highest priority locations initially are Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Maryland, or Delaware.

3. New or Lightly Used Farm utility vehicle (like a john deere gator),  farm tractor, & manure spreader

4. Tack and large horse items donated... like carts/buggies, racing bikes, jog carts, harnesses, saddles, horse trailers, blankets/rugs to use or sell on SWAP Shopping. Supplies to use around the barn or office.

5. A bulk feed bin that will hold anywhere from 6 tons to 9 tons of grain donated or at low cost or even a break on the cost of purchase and instillation.

6. A volunteer or low cost employee who can help us fix our database that lists all adopters, donors, supporters and horses/dogs/cats in the program.

7. Some sort of a cloth facility like Cover-all or Farm-Tek building to increase our abilities to be able to take more horses and have an indoor area to work and train horses in winter, donated, grant or partially donated. anywhere from 50 x 200 to 72 x 300.

8. Monthly Sponsors for our light use, elderly or retirement/sanctuary horses/dogs who's possibilities for adoption are very low, ie. Orphy, Jelly Bean, Dixie, Allie, Kochese, Darlin, Mr. Darcey, JoJo, Freckles, Lucy, Bandit, Max, etc.

9. Volunteers to commit to doing one fund raiser for SWAP horses at your location during 2010, it can be a golf tournament, a bake sale, book sale, lemonade stand, car wash, setting up an information stand at a horse show. This is a great way to kids to get involved in helping horses.

10 Anyone interested in free high quality top soil (manure already composted) and manure for gardens, you can pick up for free by the truck load at our WV location (bring a loader). If you are a gardener and only need a small amount, pick up in a truck or we'll be selling it by the feed bag full at $2.00 a bag (in a bag that is usually used for 100 lbs of feed). This is beautiful clean top soil. This offer will only last so long because we will be leveling the manure pile this August when its dry enough to get a dozer in there.

11. Someone to do dozer work on the farm, level arena/round pen, do terracing on the hill sides to keep water out of the barns and level the top soil and manure pile to increase the level of that land in that bottom so we can put our methane digester in and indoor arena. Volunteer or at a reduced cost.

Reporting Neglect:

Please, if you see neglect (ribs and hip bones showing or no food available), its critical to call the sheriff of the county where the horse/animal is located. Have the address where the horse is located or directions to the farm, pictures and the owners name (if possible). If the sheriff does nothing email our cruelty case workers Tom and Ruby Fleming at tomfleming64@cebridge.net or email PETA's cruelty case workers Stephanie or Tori at sbell@peta.org, or ToriP@peta.org Remember horses can not speak for themselves so we must speak for them!! All reports are kept anonymous.

Getting Help for Your Horses/animals if you can not care for them:

If you can not feed your animals, whether they are horses or other animals, if you are adopters, call SWAP HQ immediately, if not, call your local horse rescue and plead for help, if they are full then call your animal control officer or sheriff to release ownership of your animals so they can get them help Before they are starved to death, do not wait until they are starved, its critical to get help early. Contact us if you do not know what to do. call 304-873-3532 or email secondwindadopt@aol.com. Many counties have pet pantries so you can get feed when times are tough. If things are getting tight with costs, go to a less expensive grain like a simple stock pellet supplemented with corn, according to Ohio State Corn is the leading horse feed in the US according to their research, many large equine schools and large farms feed these all natural feeds because of what they get for the price, a lot of negative stuff has been written about corn but no one can support it with actual proof and research. We feed a simple all stock pellet from southern states and we supplement with cracked corn for those who need more calories, here is the link:

http://ohioline.osu.edu/b

762/b762_7.htm

Crossed Sabers Stable:

Preparing for a Cold Winter:

HAY: Get your hay now before the prices become outrageous, get enough for the winter (good planning is 2 bales for every 3 days for one horse or 10 bales per month per horse, so to make it until the middle of June (first cutting), you're looking at 90 bales per horse at the very least (from September to June). If you have good thick grass that has been mowed and fertilized then depending on where you live in the US you might just need 60 to 70 bales. For good grazing its recommended  that you have 3 to 5 acres of mowed, seeded, fertilized grass per horse. Remember Grass is dead in WV from Oct/Nov until about April and every state has some months where the grass does not give the horses their calories or nutrients it needs to sustain life (USDA has details of that for each state). They may be grazing in the winter but they are not getting anything from the grass to survive. I know most know that but I say it because we had an adopter last year in WV that thought if they were eating grass that was all they needed and she nearly killed 2 horses.

GRAIN: Remember on average horses need 1 lb of concentrated feed (grain) for every 100 lbs of body weight, so on average horses need about 10 lbs of grain a day, more when its very cold or if they are living outside in a run because much of their calories go to keeping them warm. Some  horses need more so its critical to watch to make sure their ribs and hip bones are staying meaty and covered. If you see ribs, the horse is too thin and needs more calories, not supplements but more calories.. Easy keepers may be round but it does not mean they are healthy, most easy keepers need a multi vitamin to stay healthy.

WATER: One of the most critical things needed in winter is clean fresh water all the time, anywhere from 5 to 20 gallons per day per horse and everyone knows what a pain that is when there is ice and snow on the ground but its critical to preventing colic. Get your electric heaters, defrosters now, heated buckets, what ever it takes to make sure they have good water in front of them all the time and at least 10 gallons (2 flat backed buckets at the very least). Here we keep 100 gallons troughs in the stalls since we have big stalls, its much easier than frozen buckets in winter, all we do is break the ice and remove it most days and put a heater in them on really cold days. We use a sump pump to empty water and scrub troughs each week which keeps water fresh and clean.

SHELTER: Domestic horses need shelter, they are not wild and can not survive outside without shelter or some kind of heavy waterproof rug to keep them warm during snow/ice and freezing temperatures but the best is a closed in shelter that is free from drafts (meaning its closed on all 4 sides with some sort of ventilation). Wild horses first of all don't live very long, living outside in the elements is very hard on them, secondly wild horses move in cold temperatures to keepselves warm and they often times move over thousands of acres to keep warm or to find cover or water. No domestic horse can not do that on 5, 20 or even 100 acres. Just because your horse has learned to survive in bad weather does not mean its good for them, they need shelter in bad weather.

CARE: Its important to make kids take care of their horses but they must have adult supervision on a daily basis to make sure horses are getting what they need. Trust me, I usually have 30 year olds working in our barn and I still have to be there daily to make sure things are done, that they have clean water, especially when its cold because our young helpers want to get out of the weather and then the horses are left at risk for colic. Every day check your child's work, do not leave your horses care to a child (completely).

The  Woman  I will  Be

The perfect analogies for why we have the life school tied into SWAP and animal welfare work:

"Everyone thought we took this broken down horse and saved him but really he saved us"

     Jockey Red Pollard from the movie Seabiscuit

I rescued a human today

Her eyes met mine as she walked down the corridor peering apprehensively into the kennels. I felt her need instantly and knew I had to help her. I wagged my tail, not too exuberantly, so she wouldn't be afraid.

As she stopped at my kennel I blocked her view from a little accident I had in the back of my cage. I didn't want her to know that I hadn't been walked today. Sometimes the shelter keepers get too busy and I didn't want her to think poorly of them.

As she read my kennel card I hoped that she wouldn't feel sad about my past. I only have the future to look forward to and want to make a difference in someone's life.

She got down on her knees and made little kissy sounds at me.
I shoved my shoulder and side of my head up against the bars to comfort her.

Gentle fingertips caressed my neck; she was desperate for companionship. A tear fell down her cheek and I raised my paw to assure her that all would be well.

Soon my kennel door opened and her smile was so bright that I instantly jumped into her arms. I would promise to keep her safe. I would promise to always be by her side. I would promise to do everything I could to see that radiant smile and sparkle in her eyes.

I was so fortunate that she came down my corridor.
So many more are out there who haven't walked the corridors.
So many more to be saved. At least I could save one.

I rescued a human today.

Starting a Rescue or any type of animal welfare organization

An admirable cause and badly needed in all 50 states but you have to be careful because doing this can put you in financial ruin and leave you broken emotionally and beaten physically if not done right. This work will break your heart daily, you will see the best and the very worst in people and all the terrible terrible things that people and so called 'horse lovers' do to horses and to each other. It is not work for the timid or weak minded or for anyone that can not live without security, handling risk well is a must because every horse you take in is a huge risk.

If you need help, call us and very soon look for our clinic on Starting a Rescue. Here's several notes on what we've learned over the last 10 years and the thousands of horses we've placed:

Forget about making money to put in your pocket, regardless of what anyone says its not a profession where you make any money at all. Focus on doing a good job for each horse. That is not to say the money is not important, it is, as the more money your program gets, the more horses you can help but all the money needs to be applied to the horses and the work, not put into your pocket. All of our employees, even the full time employees have never made more than 15k a year for full time work and no more than 6k for part time work and that was our barn manager, the most important person in the care of each horse (having them well fed and a clean barn and stalls), that is a little over a $1000. a month before taxes (all are on the poverty level). 90% of our employees make less than 10k a year, pretty sad really as they are worth so much more to the horses but the money has to be applied to the horses because its really the only way to survive and do a good job for each horse.

If anyone that works for the program has horses at the program facilities they do not get any special care, its critical that the adoption horses get the same care or better care than personal horses. It is not right to do it any other way and if you do, every person who walks in your barn will see that and remember that you care more about your personal horses than the adoption horses. We've actually let workers and volunteers go because of this and it is a huge pet peeve of ours. It should be with every program. When we are over full and need stalls, its the farm owners and the executors personal horses are put out on 24/7 turn out or she puts them in her yard or into the open shed row until there is space for them again and that includes in the middle of winter. They are the first to lose their stall.

With that in mind, for employees look for ladies that loves horses and that their husband pays all the bills and they are just looking for a way to help, work that gives them meaning and just gives them some gas money and spending money because there is no way your salaries can support a family.  

Make good decisions financially and treat it as a business. If you can't afford to take on another horse or a tough case, then say no. You can't help any horses if you can't pay for everything that is needed, hay, grain, farrier, vet, workers, supplies, etc. Like clock work our farrier comes every other month and we deworm every other month, the vet comes every spring for shots and coggins of everyone and anytime a horse's coggins or shots goes out of date, we have the vet out to update them.

Give yourself a limit on the number of horses you can take. first take the number of acres turn out you have in pasture and divide by the number 3, that will be the max number of horses you can put on your pasture without ruining it (if carefully managed and pasture management takes serious money today to do it well). And if you are north of the mason dixon line and have only 15 stalls then your limit is 15 horses. Taking more than that will not be fair to the horses.

Many rescues need to be rescued financially is what we hear from transporters who pick up horses at other rescues. I expect all programs to struggle financially as the need will always be higher than resources, the work to be more than you have people and the cost more than you have money but you have to be sensible about how many horses and what you can take but be sure you have the capability to do the best for the horse. I use a 6k planning figure needed for each horse and on average each horse will take at least 6k but planning for more helps. We used to use only a 1k planning figure but today with the economy and the fact that there is a program opening up on every corner it takes much longer to get a horse into a home as the horse requirements in this country is much smaller than the supply and it costs much more to take care of them

Be prepared to be lied to more than the IRS. People will tell you anything when they want a horse and will tell you anything when they want you to take a horse or take a horse back, they will bend over backwards to get the horse and love the horse and still talk about you like a dog so be prepared. Find ways to get the proof in what they are saying. Proof is the only thing that is acceptable... vet records, current pictures or pictures that are dated on the print. References need to come from their trainer, vet, farrier and employer only. With that said, expect the best out of people but be prepared for the worst which means getting independent proof. And they will change coggins, falsify vets information and do all sorts of things, so call vets to make sure it was their signature and their reference you actually have and call the labs to make sure coggins are accurate. I know it seems extreme, I thought the same thing to but we've seen it time and time again and that is only a very small fraction of the dishonesty that we've found among so called horse people or horse lovers.

What people tell you about the horse is centered around their experience so you have to study the person and the environment to understand the horse as its not the horse talking about themselves. If a person who has never owned a horse goes to the track and buys a TB off the track and thinks its crazy is totally different from someone who has trained TB's for 20 years and rides TB's 5 times a week. It's all relative to the persons experience. And if the horse is extremely difficult maybe the person doesn't know how to establish respect with a horse or maybe they horse never gets turn out, if its not confident may mean that the person who has him does not know how to build confidence in the horse. Ask all the important questions which includes find out about his environment, find out about the donors experience, how long they have had the horse and how many times they have ridden it in the last year. If you can't afford a really big financial surprise, go see the horse and recommend the same for the adopter, either they come to you or you go to their place.

Always, always always tell the truth and be open about each horse, the horse depends on you for his entire life and the adopters depend on you to keep them safe and help them make good decisions. You will have a horse die because you made a bad decision, it will happen and you will have to live with that fact the rest of your life, don't take that lightly.

A bad volunteer or worker is worse than no help. Get rid of anyone that is negative, difficult or their heart is in the wrong place, even if they are a volunteer. You will have no time for negativity. Get people around you that believe all things are possible because when you believe that, its true. And if you have someone volunteer that is only out for what they can get or what is in it for them, then fire them immediately as you have no time for selfish people.

Don't expect donations or grants for several years, until you've proven yourself with several hundred success cases. When you ask for money ask for a particular reason and its needs to be an important reason. If you are wondering how you survive and pay for the horses care, well you take it out of your own pocket and the pocket of your board members for years and from the adopters who adopt horses from you.

Figure out what you can take and can't, look at finances, dependable people that will always be there for labor and facilities to decide what your niches are and focus on those

Collect at least one year's overhead before taking your first horse, if you want to take in 5 horses then have 30k in your pocket to get started, that is money just for the care of the horses, not doing any farm improvements or maintenance.

Take on the easy stuff first, starvation and neglect just takes food, then once you are successful with that, go with soft tissue injuries (tendons and ligaments, bows), then once you are successful with that, do on to tougher issues.

You do not need to be an IRS approved 501c3 (non profit) to do rescue and help horses, you can be a private organization, a private foundation or a public charity or even a profitable corporation, LLC or even a sole proprietary company, you just have to look at your situation and what you want to do for horses and do that and follow the laws that govern that designation. You can go to an auction, buy a skinny horse, take it home and fatten it up and sell it and track it for life and that is animal welfare. You don't even have to be a 501c3 to take donations, if people care about your work and want to support it they can give you money and supplies which becomes 'gifts' or income on your income taxes. You can not give tax deductions unless you are a 501c3 or you can get a 501c3 to allow you to give a donation through them by using an IRS form 8282 and 8283. To us, the horses are so much more important than a tax write off so we lean toward working with people that feel the same way we do. The critical thing is to be honest and if someone gives you money to pay for feed or hay, then that is where you spend it and you show them that is how you spent it.

Just because someone has an IRS 501c3 designation does not mean they are really helping horses. The IRS knows nothing about what is best for horses, they only look at your forms and approve your requests when your plan looks good. There are 501c3's today that are abusing horses, neglecting horses, abusing people's donations and even being charged with neglect/animal cruelty and going to jail. There are also 501c3's that are basically horse traders, they don't have thorough applications, they don't do contracts and some only track horses for 2 years and then sell them outright with no agreement that protects the horse, that is not animal welfare, its just horse trading and the horse ends up back in abuse, neglect, overused and misused.... that is just polishing up a turd, but its still a turd.

Let your work show how you care about horses, not your designation. Know the law and regardless of how your company is structured, whether you are a sole proprietary, corporation or LLC, know and follow the law. Once you have 5 to 10 years under your belt you may want to get a 501c3 designation when foundations that give grants will finally start to look at you for grants but before that you will get little or no donations that amount to anything worth talking about.

Put everything you do with donors or adopters in writing and have strong contracts that will hold up in court.

Track horses for life. Yes, its harder and thankless but its the only way to keep horses safe forever. If you only track for 2 or 5 years, then they can still go to slaughter or to a bad home after that. Even if you eventually hand over ownership continue to track them.

Release the horses ownership only after a few years of evaluating the home and only to those that have proven in all ways they want the horse forever and are giving a good home (get proof of this) and if you allow resale of the horses you release ownership of then make sure there is a strong purchase agreement that you always get a copy of it. 

Get a website and keep it yourself. A professional can do the structure but you do the day to day work, people want to see things updated daily.

You must have one full time person in the barn and one full time person in the office to return calls, answer the phone and answer emails, to market the horses, to talk to adopters and donors about the horses. You need one full time person for every 500 horses you put into homes to track them, to keep databases up, address changes, annual updates, etc. and that is not really enough to track the horses in homes, you should have about one person for every 50 horses in a home but I suspect no one has that kind of money unless its a volunteer that will do a really good job.

Require in writing an annual update of every horse with dated pictures, signed by their vet and a current coggins.

Get your office stuff in order early. A functional database of horses and people, filing systems in both hard copies and in the computer with all forms scanned.

Get a good camera and video camera, a good printer, good computer, scanner and fax. all these are a must to function.

Protect horses for life, its the best thing for the horses and its the only way you are going to get the good horses from owners who really care.

Yes, bad things happen to good horses and just because someone will pay big money for a horse does not guarantee its a good home, rich people may have the money but may still not have the desire to care for them. If you look at police cases you will find rich people that had all the money in the world to take care of the horse that were charged with neglect and abuse.

A horses welfare is more important than the money. Keep your priorities straight.

No matter how much it hurts financially, keep the horses safe and get them back when things are not going well, even if you have to go get them yourself. Be prepared for horses that are stranded or deserted by adopters and even foster parents, starved by adopters and fosters, even sold by adopters. Be prepared to take them all to court. Keep good historical records to you have plenty of evidence.

Take a picture of every horse that comes to you as soon as it arrives and take a picture at the trailer when it leaves. Video of walk, trot canter at arrival and departure will prevent anyone from saying something different.

Have witnesses for everything you do, even consider taping conversations with adopters before they take the horse so you have proof that you told them about the horse and what the rules of adoption is.

Review your contract in depth with adopters and donors.

Have a good way to do background checks on adopters. Its critical to know they are who they say they are, they live where they say they live, they have not been charged with crimes, they are not a fellon, they are not a horse trader, they own the land/farm they say they do. PACER at uscourt.gov is a good way to see everyone's court history (bankruptcies, civil and criminal court cases), many county records are available on the computer to see who owns the land they say they own. You can get a satellite view of their home to make sure there is room for horses.

Always get Vet and Farrier references. Many times they will not say anything negative but if they are not totally positive or hesitate at all, then there is something wrong. Many vets will not tell you what is wrong but you can hear hesitation in their voice... don't adopt to them. If they argue about your application or contract then do not adopt to them as they will be even more of a problem once they have the horse.

See them ride or get a video of their riding, handling and tacking up a horse.

Go see the farm the horses will be at or get state representatives to go look at the farm.

Have a way to protect horses from being taken on liens at boarding facilities, in divorces and court cases with adopters. If you give away ownership of the horse, then the horse becomes there property which means they can lose it to another person for not paying bills, in a divorce or in a court case, for back taxes or for crimes so if you do release ownership then it better be to someone that is financially stable.

Establish long term relationships with each adopter and donor and they will better follow your requests to take care of the horse. You are here for the horse, that is your number one goal but the only way you can trust anyone is to get to know them well and establish a long term relationship with them.

Expect things to go wrong, adopters lives change, they get divorced, they get pregnant, they lose jobs, they have illness or family tragedies and all those things displace horses in their homes. Be prepared to take the horse back immediately if this happens.

When people say they can no longer keep horses because of finances, get the horse back immediately because if you leave it there there is a huge risk of it being sold or starved/neglected.

Try hard to work 6 days a week and not 7, take a day off. Yes, of course, you have to feed and turn out but rest at least one day. Try to work 8 hours a day and not 12, 14 or 16. Take vacations, have friends away from rescue. Protect your employees and volunteers from burn out. Its the biggest problem among rescues and it will be the biggest problem you will have if you stay in this business.

Keep good records, keep all your promises, treat people and horses with respect and be fair, expect them to follow your contract and you follow your contract.

Keep a black list up to date on anyone that hurts horses and be prepared to share it. Anyone that breaks your contract, that starves horses, that is convicted of abuse or neglect, that sends a horse back to you in poor shape because you will want others to know what has happened. The reason there is so much fraud in the horse industry is because bad people are getting away with murder. We can stop these people by sharing and publishing these lists. Our blacklist saves horses all the time because people look up people's names before selling horses and when they find their name on our blacklist the horse does not go to them. People like horse traders and people that lie about horses will target rescues and programs like ours and yours because they can get horses for cheap and then lie and cheat people for money using your horses. Don't just place horses with people because they are nice, get proof they will keep the horse and take care of it. Get proof that they own the farm they say they own too because if they have assets and they kill the horse because of neglect then you can go after their assets and I know that sounds really dirty but we say if people do not care about the horse, then hurt them over something they do care about, their assets. To us, the horses are more important than anyone's mortgage and if they sell it, neglect it or abuse it, then you must go after them to do the right thing by the horse. That is mean and we hate the negativity but the horses need you to protect them and people need to learn they are not old shoes that you just dump when they have used them up.

Many adopters will over estimate their abilities on their application in order to be approved. Its human nature to think you are better than you are, that is why you have to place a horse with them that is under what they think their capabilities are and go conservative when placing horses. They will in many ways misrepresent themselves because they don't know better so you have to protect them from themselves. Many  times we've given people a chance with the horse at the level they thought they were and were sorely mistaken and of course, the adopter always blames you that you misrepresented the horse.... they forget they misrepresented themselves or they don't even understand they are not a good rider or that their experience is much less than they stated in their application. So most times when you try to give them a chance it won't work out because their experience will show up and ruin the situation with the horse anyway and you will always be blamed for it all, even though you know you knew they did not have the experience, you even told them they didn't have the experience and walked them through all the safety things, they won't listen, they won't work with the trainer and they won't take it slow and they horse will end up scaring them and you will be the blame, not them so even though it makes them mad, go conservative and place less horse even when you know they might be able to grow into it or handle more.

Getting them to come and ride the horse will help some but many horses go bad once they leave you. You know how to set up the horse to be successful with a rider, they do not so the horse starts going bad as soon as they are moved to the new location. In a month, the person can't even handle the horse because the horse now thinks the are in charge of the person, not the person in charge of the horse. They don't get that the biggest part of the puzzle is them, not the horse. If they are good, the horse will be good and if they don't know how to develop confidence and respect in the horse and spoil the horse then the horse will be bad with them. 

Your application process, doing a farm check, making sure they own their farm or house, doing a back ground check, looking at credit and asset and civil court records and even spending lots of time with them and the horse will only tell you about how they are today and yesterday, it will not tell you about tomorrow. Tomorrow they could loose their job, their husband could walk out and leave them with 3 kids and no job, they could get diagnosis with cancer and when those things happen some people stop being rational and they stop caring about the horse or at least they have no room to care about the horse, they are stressed out and in the survival mode so you have to step in and go get the horse. We actually had an adopter who's boyfriend left her and she sat and watched 3 of her horses die by being starved to death and she was only a half hour away and it all happened in less than 6 months and they had had those horses for many years and all of a sudden it all disappears and away with it all rationale and logic on their part.

Always try to do the right thing. If you ever have any question about what is right, more likely than not, the right thing is always the hardest thing do to. The right way is rarely the easy way out.   

Believe you can do it and you will. Focus on results and the results will come.
Work toward solutions and the solutions will always come.

Yes, you can do this and we need help!!

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Great Goals for any horse or rescue person

1. Spend an hour a day with your horses, not just feeding, training and turning out, but real quality time doing something that is enjoyable for the both of you. Grooming or hand walking is a great way to bond with your horse and good for both you and the horse.

2. Get your loved ones more involved in your horses. Divorce is the biggest reason we see horses coming back to us. Don't just share the work, share the fun too and find something they really enjoy doing with horses.

3. Learn a new discipline, go to a clinic, a horse show, or equine affaire. Come to one of our clinics or watch a training video. If you are an adopter you can check out books and video's from SWAP's Library for just shipping costs. Take a lesson at least once a month or Bring your adoption horse here and we will help you. The better you are, the more fun you will have.

4. Make a plan for your horse after you are gone or if you have a major injury, let your will executor know your plans. Make a plan for emergencies or financial bumps along the way for your horse. Have a plan if you or your horse gets injured, even for the tough times of year like winter (or summer down south). Ask friends, family and neighbors to be part of your plan. Most people can not resist someone when they are asking for help for the welfare of an innocent animal.

5. Get yourself healthy and in better shape to prevent injury, to live a long life and to more enjoy your horses. Eat 1-1-1 (one ounce of dark chocolate, one ounce of fresh walnuts, one glass of red wine daily) and 2-2-2 (2 servings of fresh vegis, 2 of fresh fruit and get 2 sources of fat free calcium). Drink 100 ounces of spring water a day, get a whole house water filter. Change over to Sea-salt. Take one teaspoon of apple cider vinegar every morning to keep your body alkaline (cancer and disease can not grow in an alkaline body). Eat more fish and chicken and less red meat. Get a good air cleaner and do daily deep breathing exercises, get outside in the fresh air and sunshine for at least 1/2 hour every day. Get away from high fat food, processed foods, fast food, can or boxed food, sugar or artificial sweeteners, soda and don't eat anything if you can't read all the ingredients and know exactly what is in it. Clean all vegis and fruits thoroughly, buy organic, buy ocean caught fish, not farm raised, buy fresh meat and raw milk, not packed or processed. Eat only natural carbs (potatoes, rice, oats) bake/broil or steam everything. Get 8 hours of sleep, reduce stress/risk (reduce commuting by car pooling, tight schedules, cell phone use in the car, watch or read the news only once a day or better yet once a week, stay clear of negative people and those very negative chat rooms and bulletin boards). Stop Complaining and be Thankful for what we each have. Do one hour of walking, yoga or weight training every day and it will make you strong, lean, look great and you'll get wonderful complements from friends, coworkers and loved ones and the horse work will be easier and more enjoyable.

6. Read at least one book on training your horse and one on care each year, if for nothing else but just inspiration. SWAP has a great library of books/videos that adopters can check out for just the cost of mailing it. Click here to see our Library

7. Get carrots/apples every time you go to the store, your horses will love you for it and always come running when you call. Don't feed candy or anything sweeter. Carrots are sweet enough. Get rid of the sweet feeds and you'll get rid of the hot horse once and for all.

8. Realize that if you are having a problem with your horse, more likely than not, the problem is you. Learn more, practice more, ask in a different way, be patient, change their environment or daily schedule to better suit them. Taking better care of a horse always brings out the best in that horse.  Good feed/hay, time to rest in a quiet stall out of the elements, lots of fresh water, time to be with you and time to just be a horse, time with their buddies, farrier and vet care always done is a good start. The biggest part of this relationship puzzle is you, not the horse. If you are struggling, then you need to learn more and get better.

9. Ride at least once a week, regardless of weather. Use this time as your down time for healing, your therapy, your time to relieve stress and the pressures of daily life. Even if you don't ride, go sit and read a book in the pasture with the horses or sit in the barn and listen to them munch on dinner, away from the crowd and noise of your day. Enjoy the peace and quiet, enjoy hearing happy horses eating dinner or grass in the pasture.

10. Spend time leisurely grooming your horse once a week. Rubber curries are shine makers. You will have a beautiful horse and a very loyal friend who will do anything for you.

11. Come and spend a week at SWAP HQ, volunteering and focusing on helping a horse and giving will change your life plus it will be the best vacation you ever had. Help an animal in need, whether fostering, being one of our state reps that goes out to check on our horses in their homes or helps us approve adopters in their area. Find horses in need and help us find them homes. Buy a horse at a slaughter auction, get it fat and trained and we'll help you place it into a good home. Foster and volunteer for your local small animal adoption program. I promise, the good things you do will come back to you a hundred times over. Every person has a talent they can offer and if you help one horse or one dog or cat find a good home, you have changed their life forever. 

12. Know that every goal is obtainable and it starts with a single step. Take that first step today!! No matter what it is or how big, YOU CAN DO IT!! Every goal that is written down will come true (really!). Every famous person, every great or notable scientist, author, trainer/rider, parent or friend started out as just a thought, just a goal. Remember to take one step today to reach your goals.

13. Start every day with thinking about, what is the most important thing I can do today to change my life and make it better. Do that one thing and in 30 days your life will be totally different. Can you imagine what your life would be like if you did that for 60, 90 or even 365 days a year. The opportunities are endless.

14. Want to keep your horse sound for life? (That should be every horse owners number one goal) do a long slow warm up (cold muscle is easy to injure, a warm one is nearly impossible to injure). The very best cool down is hand walking your horse for 1 hour after every work out. Yes, get off the horse and walk with it. Its great exercise for you and a good time for you to bond. Stop riding your horse during cool downs and stop using a hot walker, do something good for you and the horse, hand walking. Its also the best rehab for over work and injuries, the only thing better is hydro therapy and swimming your horse. Allow soft tissue and hard tissue to become more conditioned before going into any training program... that usually means 3 months of at least 3 days a week for soft tissues and 10 months of work for bones to become strong enough to jump or do any strenuous training program. Don't start any upper level work, jumping or extensive training until the horse is fit and at least between age 4 and 6 and has been conditioned for at least 10 months (especially if the horse has never been jumped/worked or not been jumped or worked in the last year).

15. Appreciate what you have and be thankful. Instead of looking at what you don't have, look at what you do. Thank those people who have helped you and supported you. The more you give, the more that will come back to you. When you give something away or give something to someone/something in need, you make space in your life for something good to come to you. We are all very blessed, if we just take a moment to look around and enjoy those things.

16. Get used to using favorite mantra's and visualizations every day, simple ones that are easy to remember, like 'I can do this, I will do this', 'this isn't going to get the best of me' or even, 'I deserve the best' or 'the gift of love, caring, and support always comes back' and take two minutes every morning as you wake and at night as you go to sleep to visualize the life you want, the you you want to be,  Our thoughts become things, what you see is what you get, if you expect the best, the best will happen, change your self-talk from negative to positive and I promise your life will change for the better..

17. Each person is put on this earth for a reason, each of us has a mission. What is yours? Seek and you shall find, finding is a journey ... in the journey and the search you'll find your life purpose. If you died in your sleep tonight is there something you haven't done that you need to do or want to do? Someone you need to mend fences with, burnt bridges to fix? People you need to tell them how much you love them? Have you fulfilled your purpose in your life? Ask yourself, Why am I here? How can I make this better?  Who do I want to be? Who am I suppose to be? What reason was I put on this earth? What is my purpose?

18. Be an inspiration to your family, co workers and friends. We all fall on our face, we all make mistakes, we all get discouraged, most times we all get up and try again.... sometimes we need a nudge. Instead of being negative or doing negative things, be their inspiration. You do believe they can do it, so why not tell them. If their self talk is negative, then you be their positive self talk.... eventually they will start to say it and believe it too. Life is self fulfilling, failure feeds on itself or causes more failure, achieving does as well. So if you or your love ones are in a negative cycle, break the cycle by changing your thoughts, your self talk, achieve something small to get yourself and your family back into the cycle of achievement.

19. We all file a flight plan every single day for our life. Where is your flight going today? Just like a pilot flying, the winds, the gravitational pull will change your flight plan and take you off course, so you must make small corrections along the way to make sure you make your destination. Have you selected your destination? Have you picked the steps in your flight plan to get there? Every goal is really that easy, pick the goal and figure out how to get there. The easiest way to pick your flight path/plan is find someone who has done it before you, then do what they did. Its all baby steps you know. Just keep an eye on that destination and keep saying...."here is my destination, this is where I'm going, this is where I am now, this is how I'm going to get there.... I will arrive at this time on this day. You can do it..... its just like getting in your car to go to the store, its just deciding where you want to go and how to get there, then take that first step. You can do it!!  No matter how big or how outlandish you may think your dream to be... it is obtainable.

20. Laugh every day and try (as hard as it is sometimes) to find the positive and the humor in each situation (and have at least one bite of a truly decadent desert once a week). Life is just too short to not enjoy it thoroughly.

21. We learn the most and do our best work when we have fallen on our face, when we are struggling, when we are worried, scared or frustrated, when we anguishing over something or troubled by it. It is then that you have true motivation, when you think clearer. The most brilliant ideas come to people when they feel lost, frustrated, or at the bottom, helpless or hopeless. Cherish these times because its when you can come up with your best ideas to your biggest problems and challenges. You see, there is a reason for the rainy days.

22. You can't make everyone happy, its useless to try and wasted energy to think you can. 50% of all people will not agree with you at any given time, don't worry about it and don't let it stop you. 50% becomes a lot of people when you are in the public eye. As long as you are not hurting anyone and you believe you are doing the right thing, then go ahead and do it. If you are wondering what is the right thing to do, its usually the harder thing to do, the toughest path to take. The easy way out is rarely the right thing to do.  Instead of worrying over what someone thinks of you or says about you, do something amazing and outstanding to inspire them or at least have them sitting on the side lines being jealous, secretly saying, "wow, she has guts". One person with purpose becomes the majority, one way or another.

Always in hope and admiration, Celeita

                              "Saving the life of one horse may not change the world,

        but the world will surely change for that one horse”

     

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