Want a “feel good” experience? Try helping a horse!

A growing number of Bay Area animal lovers have become involved in Horses’ Honor Rescue & Sanctuary. Many of these are horse people—but many are not.

Two big fundraisers are currently under way. One is Buy a Bale, where money is raised to purchase hay to fill the barn and feed the horses ($15 a bale feeds one horse for a week). This year they are encouraging folks to donate in the name of a special pet or in memory of one who is gone.

 The second is the kick-off to the once-a-year Annual Tack Sale, which is held at the Gold Country Fair Grounds in the fall. There are drop-off locations throughout the area where donors can leave anything horse related—statues, tack, saddles, books, jewelry, games, puzzles, etc.

What attracts people to help Horses’ Honor is the top-quality care this volunteer, non-profit organization provides. No one pulls a salary. Labor and pasture land are all donated. Local Bay Area businesses provide drop-off areas for tack donations and often make donations themselves.

 Working in rescue can be overwhelmingly depressing. The need is great, and the images are often horrific. You quickly realize that you cannot save them all, and that knowledge can be daunting—so the focus must be instead that you can save one horse at a time, and for that one horse, it is a miracle. That is precisely what Horses’ Honor does.

These are difficult times for many people and for many animals. Over and over, we read about horses being abandoned, left on property that has been foreclosed to starve to death or released into the woods or tied to someone else’s trailer. Their owners may have thought that their horses would somehow magically survive. Wishful thinking?  Perhaps.

Horses’ Honor is nestled in the foothills of the Sierras. They call it a sanctuary because it is not a revolving door where horses are rescued and then adopted out--a common practice among many rescues. Nina Clark, founder and president of Horses’ Honor learned early on that sadly some horses that had been rescued and placed in new homes ended up appearing again at kill auctions (auctions where slaughter houses bid on horses to process them into food). So Horses’ Honor became a forever home—a sanctuary for the neediest of the needy.

Special, loving care is given to all the horses—most of whom are old and many of whom had been neglected or mistreated. Horses’ Honor values these horses and believes that they should be honored for all they have given to their humans—lesson horses, trail horses, show horses, race horses, brood mares—you name it. They gave their all and deserve to be honored in their old age—not discarded. This is the origin of the name, Horses’ Honor. At this sanctuary, they end their lives well—with dignity and respect.

Shiny, sleek, lovingly cared for—none of the horses look their age. Eight live in private pastures donated by locals in Auburn, and 14 live on 83 beautiful acres provided by Eric Thompson in nearby Lincoln.

 Each horse has a unique story—most of them pretty sad, but the endings are happy. They all end their lives with dignity, honor, and love at Horses’ Honor Rescue.

One way to contact the group is by "liking" its Facebook page.