I was new to horses when we contacted Julie Copper of Copper Horse Crusade about Dodge. Julie told us that she had pulled Dodge, as well as many others, from the auction because “too many good horses end up in a bad place.” Julie had these horses seen by the farrier, vetted and either knocked their rust off, or put needed training on them before finding them their forever home. I took Dodge out on a short trail ride with Julie and he was perfect! I couldn’t fathom why someone would pass on such a good horse. Time went on, Dodge remained a solid trustworthy mount for four years before we lost him to an unforeseeable disease. Julie was there all along to help and to answer my questions. So, when we were ready, we contacted Copper Horse Crusade again.

This time we came home with Blaze, who currently, is the most solid kids pony at any horse camp I have ever been to. Despite having limited vision in one eye, Blaze has carried my kids through Hocking Hills, The Allegheny Mountains, and Mammoth Cave State Park. He allows all kid-like shenanigans and stall climbing nonsense.

Mojito was the next Copper Horse Crusade equine that we fell in love with. She is a 3 ft tall mini mule broke to ride and drive. We called her Molly while she was with us and we had so much fun. She taught both my kids confidence to later ride the bigger horses. And the giggles that came out of the passenger seat on our little cart were priceless! Mojito has moved to a new home now because I couldn’t figure out how to keep my kids from outgrowing her. Her new home has new small kiddos for her to train and was found thanks to Julie.

The kids keep getting bigger and we need more trail horses. I was watching Copper Horse Crusade’s website because, at this point, I refuse to go anywhere else. These horses are so deserving of good homes. I saw Magic’s picture the day Julie pulled him from the auction. I knew right away we needed him! I can’t explain it, I had seen all the other horses pulled for years, but Magic just caught my attention. He liked me a little bit too, so home he came. This horse has never done anything wrong! If there is such thing as a bombproof horse, we have it in Magic. Anyone can ride him anywhere and he is always content and willing to please.

Last but not least, we found Miss Stormy. Stormy is a big beautiful paint horse. She could be a movie star! Stormy stayed with her breeder for the first eight years of life out in the pasture. Julie took Stormy to Copper Horse Crusade and started training her so that she could find a new home. She came to me still pretty green. We put some miles and training in and she proved she was trustworthy on long trail rides and fell right into her job. And then…. my husband stole her for his own!

All these horses could have had a totally different ending. I adopt because the animals left behind deserve humans that won’t fail them. They deserve to know love. They deserve a soft place to land.

I rescue through Copper Horse Crusade because they are honest trustworthy people out there doing amazing things. I have had five successful adoptions from Copper Horse Crusade. It would be silly to go anywhere else!!

What #RightHorse means to me

#Righthorse means people doing the right thing for the animals. It means using connections with other horse people to increase the amount of deserving horses pulled and placed. It means getting word out about ways to decrease the need for slaughter auctions and responsible breeding.