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CHRONOFHORSE.COM J U LY/AU G U S T 2 015 125 from owners who are no longer able to care for them and from government seizures. And although they keep an eye out spe- cifically for polo horses, they have a wide variety of breeds on hand, from ponies to draft horses. An average of 25 to 30 horses reside at SES at any given time, and many of those are permanent residents of the sanctuary and not available for adoption. "ey're living out their lives here because of behavioral issues or health issues," Hyman explained. "We tend not to adopt out horses that have issues that we feel would be a challenge to people, or if they need a specific sort of mainte- nance." When a horse arrives at SES, it will undergo quarantine and a full veterinary examination, including vaccinations. Each horse also receives time—sometimes months—to acclimate to the new environ- ment. "We give them a full evaluation from a safety standpoint and to understand the needs of that horse," Hyman said. "Just like you wouldn't expect a person to bounce right back from a traumatic situa- tion, we don't expect a horse to. At an auc- tion, these horses are taken out of whatever their norm was, thrown into an entirely different one, and handled like livestock. A horse that's never been mistreated in its life might end up at the end of a cattle prod, and they don't understand." Although they work tirelessly to pre- vent horses from going to processing plants, Hyman admits she doesn't have an answer for U.S. horses being sold for meat. "ere's a lot of heated debate, and everyone seems to fall on one side of the fence or the other," she said. "We just pick up the pieces when the horses end up in places that are awful." At the end of 2014, Hyman and Butler found an off-the-track oroughbred and decided to enter him in the Retired Race- horse Project for the October 2015 sympo- sium in Kentucky. Eddie, 6, had spent his life on the track with only a small amount of post-racing training before coming to SES. Only 15.1 hands, he caught Hyman's eye online, and she and Butler decided to bring him to New York before Christmas. "He's a very smart little horse, and he really, knock on wood, seems to have come out of his racing career unscathed," Hyman said. But Eddie won't be their only addi- tional project in the coming year. Hyman and Butler have plans to branch out into equine therapy with a focus on serving military veterans and their loved ones. ey plan to start with day programs and expand to weeklong sessions for families. "We feel like it's an underserved com- munity that's not getting the help they need, and we know horses provide such a great therapeutic partner for people," Hyman said. "It does the brain good and the soul good. at's what we want to do with SES—go from doing only horse res- cue to doing people rescue too." Although SES has a handful of vol- unteers who help keep the organization afloat—in addition to countless working hours from Hyman, Butler and their part- time barn assistant—they can always put more resources to good use. >> WHAT IT IS: SquirrelWood Equine Sanctuary is a 501(c)(3) organization focused on helping horses at risk for abuse, neglect and sale to slaughter. In addition to rehabilitating and adopting horses, SES also hosts permanent equine residents in need of safe place to live out their lives on their 92- acre farm in Montgomery, N.Y. >> LEARN MORE: Visit the SES website at Squirrelwood.org. >> GET IN TOUCH: Contact SES at (845) 361-2316 or luvpolo@aol.com. >> GET INVOLVED: SES is always looking for new or gently used tack, clothing and equipment; monetary donations; or volunteers for a variety of tasks and skill sets. "e horses have no history when they come here. Everything has to be done again," Hyman said. "By the time you pay the vet, the farrier, you get the horse up- to-date on everything, you evaluate it, do a 30-day quarantine—we spend on aver- age $1,000 to $1,500 on a horse just to get it to ground zero." Hyman also encourages potential vol- unteers to not limit themselves to what's geographically close. Instead, she says people should think about skills they have that can help from a distance including web design, social media management or anything else that might help a small nonprofit. But, ultimately, she also wants people to look at rescue horses as genuine pros- pects for a productive, successful new career, whether that be a trail mount or show horse. "People think rescue horses are throwaways," Hyman said. "But there are horses that end up there through no fault of their own. ey fall through the cracks. Horses have such a capacity to heal and rehabilitate and go on to second careers. Don't write them off."

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