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102 w i n t e r 2 014 U n tac k e d p ippi longstocking was only a tiny foal when she was found near gallup, n.m., just a couple of months old and severely dehydrated. root Beer was skin and bones when she showed up at the shelter as a 3-year-old with her mother. she had a big scar on her flank, probably from a bad branding job, and was wary of humans. guerro was as cute as can be, a beauti- ful little 3-year-old palomino gelding with an affectionate nature. All he needed was someone to spend time with him to show him the ropes. in the summer of 2014, these three equine residents, plus five more candi- dates—all unbroken—were chosen to participate in e horse shelter's inaugu- ral "gimme shelter" program, a training challenge designed to find unwanted horses permanent homes. ths was founded in 2000 to satisfy new mexico's need for a statewide rescue organization. it started out with just two elderly horses, a small barn and three pad- docks on acreage south of santa fe. But horses started showing up at ths quickly and for a variety of reasons: some were aban- doned, others had been abused and confis- cated, and some had been surrendered by owners unable to care for them. today ths hosts upwards of 80 horses at a time, so providing the basics of feed- ing, cleaning and veterinary care can be tough enough. But for members of the ths board, training horses to make them more adoptable is the ultimate goal. find- ing a way to pay for it, then, is their ultimate challenge. so board member Beth longanecker borrowed the idea of the extreme mustang makeover, proposing ths offer a 100-day >> WHAT IT IS: The Horse Shelter is a 501(c)3 organization dedicated to not only serving as a sanctu- ary for New Mexico's abandoned, abused and neglected horses, but also rehabilitating and rehoming those equines in healthy and safe environments. a cLosEr LooK at: The Horse Shelter rough its unique "Gimme Shelter" training competition, this New Mexico organization rescues unwanted horses and equips them for new careers. S to r y a n d P h o to s by evA ly n B em i s cHaritY sPotLigHt Through his participa- tion in Ginger Gaffney's horsemanship course for residents of a drug and alcohol recovery program, Brandon Ol- cott discovered a new love and talent for training horses. After his graduation from the course, he went on to co-train Root Beer, Gaffney's mount for The Horse Shelter's 100-day Gimme Shelter challenge. Ginger Gaffney (second left) not only competed in the Gimme Shelter training challenge, but she also included participants from her horsemanship course for members of a sub- stance abuse recovery program in the training process. Her students (from left) Brenda, Sahaja, Ayla and Katrina saw their hard work with Root Beer pay off at the exhibition and auction on Day 100.