Mile High Rescue – The Ride Podcast

[00:00:00] Hi, everyone. Welcome back to the ride podcast. I'm Michaela, I'm Nicole. And for this episode, we are sitting down with mile high risk you based out of the Denver area. And they are really doing a lot of cool things with their rescue because they aren't just rescuing horses and putting them up for adoption.

They are giving these horses. A new career and new chance at life, setting them up for success. And then [00:01:00] bringing in youth and adults who wants to learn and educating them on the rescue horses and giving lessons. So they can be paired up with these rescue horses and go on for another wife, with a new owner.

Yeah. I really loved getting to know, uh, Maria and Emily, who are the founders of mile high rescue. You know, I think what really connected with me is that they both have Porsche backgrounds. So they came from this very intense, you know, high competition industry where people spend a lot of money to have these top horses.

And they somehow, uh, found their way into the rescue industry, which, you know, essentially these are horses who may have been show horses or had careers that ended up in these. You know, lots and, and just they're able to see that right. Potential even when they're not in the best of shape or the best of health.

And they know that they can take these horses and find a job for them or find a [00:02:00] person who's going to take care of them. And so I just, I really love that they came from that competition background, but then they, you know, saw a different side of the horse industry and decided that that was going to be their career path.

Yeah, it was, it was really interesting to talk to them and hear about that because a lot of times you hear about rescues and I explained this kind of in the podcast, but it's just rescue a horse and it's just a casual horse owner that just kind of. Feeds them and cares for them, but doesn't really train them.

Whereas Maria and Emily have that skill set to just set these horses up for success. And I think that that is a huge thing that is covered within this episode and highly talked about and has made them one of my new favorite rescues. Yeah. And we're so lucky that they are close by. So my Kayla and I are planning on going out there in the spring.

One, just, you know, the, the mud has dried [00:03:00] a little so that we can do some photos there and just get to know everybody a little more. Um, they, another thing that I really love about them is that they're trying to do clinics and, you know, just events and, and getting all these kids involved with these horses and adults.

Uh, so we're going to try and, you know, maybe partake in some of those and just. You know, get to meet everybody and see a different side of the horse industry. But I think we're planning an Instagram takeover with them sometime soon. Um, so we'll have to keep everybody in the loop there so they can kind of get more of a behind the scenes, uh, view of what mile high rescue is, but we really love them. Uh, Monique Potts, who's our horse and rider on demand expert is the one who introduced me to Emily. One of the owners. And, um, yeah, no, I'm super excited to have them part of this part of our team and, and just, you know, part of the podcast. Yeah. And so you kind of mentioned a current event that I wanted to chat a little bit about, and that's the fact that we've added [00:04:00] some new experts to horse and rider on demand.

And it's super exciting. I love being able to watch all of these new trainers and all of the new topics that we're covering. So yeah, Monique is one of our latest additions and she has a podcast episode that we've done with her. Before we've done articles with her. She's been on the cover and now she's one of our experts.

Yeah, Monique is a really, it's really exciting to have her part of the team because she's young, you know, she's upcoming in the industry. She has a really, really strong background in the natural horsemanship, which is something that she likes to work with and, um, cover. So most of our videos are natural horsemanship base.

Uh, but she also has a really great background of showing. So I love that she's able to kind of take that natural horsemanship and combine it into performance, horse elements. She shows cow horses and she shows as well. And, [00:05:00] uh, so I, it was super good, excited to have her part of the team. Uh, growing up, she worked with buck Brandman a lot, and that's a really huge name, especially in the more natural horsemanship.

Industry, uh, and the, but she's also written with Don Murphy. Who's, you know, known as like the grandfather of cow horse. So she really does have a, a really extensive background and her mom Janie , you know, they own Channing little Nick, a very, very well-known power stud. And, and so she works with babies, dressage horses, cow horses, you know, trail horses, and, and I'm just really excited to bring this new.

Kind of T series to on demand because we love button Brad and there are still going to be lots of more button Brad videos to come out, but we were also really excited to kind of have a new discipline to cover for, you know, people who, who like that kind of stuff. Yeah. We had a lot of requests for that kind of stuff.

And then. We also had some more [00:06:00] requests for ranch, versatility type stuff. So that's coming through the pipeline. We have more barrel racing content with Molly pal and her episode of the ride podcast was taken very well. So hopefully you guys will love her barrel racing, training videos, and then we're also branching into cutting and getting some very well-known trainers there.

So it's just. Every single week, we are going to be coming out with a lot more new, great videos. That will be very helpful to anybody who rides, no matter what discipline you ride, whether you're trail riding or barrel racing, you can use all of it. I promise. So you kind of mentioned the ranch horse, versatility stuff.

Cody Crow is going to be our expert for that. He's. He's heavily involved in the industry, but, uh, it was really great timing on our end because AQE, Jay has just approved ranch trail as an event in quarter-horse competition. So I think we're gonna see [00:07:00] a huge, like jump in entries for that kind of stuff, because the ranch riding is so crazy popular. Uh, and they've done, like, at some of the AKJ shows they've done like trail steak classes that, you know, they don't, the points don't count for AQH or anything like that, but they were really, really well done and I think people are really enjoying it. So, um, yeah, I'm super excited that we're going to have this ranch, versatility series coming out because what great timing with AQH just announcing that ranch trail is an official class.

Yeah. And then. Even more exciting news is we go to print with this magazine, the print magazine. Next week. So we are busy, busy, busy, working away trying to get this print magazine ready for you guys. So we are doing all the things I promised between the podcast and ons man, and the print magazine. We're trying to give you everything that you want and more.

To learn [00:08:00] and live your best Western horse lie. Something else to look forward to. And I believe they start coming out the week after this podcast is launched, but work Schiller, who everybody knows and loves. And who's been a long time friend and contributor of horse and rider is doing a little audio lesson series a I believe there's going to be six of them.

And, uh, so those will come out every other week and he's going to break down some of his most frequently asked questions and cover, you know, really good topics that people are constantly having issues with. So be on the lookout for that. It's coming out soon. We're super excited about it because, um, to this day, the work podcast is.

Um, insane compared to all the other people that we've talked to. And so we know that you guys like, or we like work, we're really excited to bring this to you. Yeah. As we are excited to bring this interview to you. So I think we'll dive on into this [00:09:00] interview, which is the first of season three.

Hi guys. So today we are talking with Maria Lawson and Emily climate, and they own mile high rescue here in Colorado. We learned about them through, um, a mutual friend, Monique Potts, who is our horse and rider on demand expert. Um, she's also been on the podcast. And then as I was like going through y'all's website, I noticed that you do a lot with a home for every horse, which is actually one of our sister brands.

So I thought it was going to be the perfect combination to talk with y'all and learn more about your personal horse lives and learn more about the rescue and how you guys got involved in that industry. So thank you so much for joining us. Yeah. Thank you for having us. We're excited to be a part of this and being on a podcast and spreading awareness about our rescue and what our mission is and what [00:10:00] we're, what we're trying to do.

So let's kind of go back to the beginning because you both grew up showing and riding horses. Um, Maria, you came from more of the English side and then Emily, you and I actually. Probably we're at some of the same horror shows growing up and not even realizing it because we both come from that same industry, which is wild.

And I love that we were able to connect all these years later, um, and have all these mutual friends in common. But let's go back to the beginning, um, and learn more about you guys and growing up with horses and how you even got involved. Sure. Um, so yeah, I started, I mean, I started English when I was younger and then switched to the quarter.

Horses was showing them the quarter horse circuit, nationally, just like you said, I'm sure we have like crossed paths many times without even knowing it. Um, But did that for a long time. Um, specifically, you know, on the pleasure side maturity horses, um, did that for years competed. And then I got out of the horses for a little while I focused [00:11:00] on, you know, a real career.

Um, and then Ray and I actually met. Uh, at the barn that we are running the rescue at now, we purchased the property. Um, and we kind of had aligned philosophies on how to train horses and, you know, it was the rescue side was something that neither of us knew anything about. I think that we were very focused and Rhea can talk about, you know, her.

Her experience moving forward into all of this, but, um, we didn't really know much about, you know, horses going to slaughter and, um, all of that. And then, you know, the rescuing and the rehabbing and that there's actually really good horses out there, um, that have just kind of, you know, been put into this, like, you know, Awful future of, you know, going down the slaughter pipeline.

So we started educating ourselves a little bit more on the rescue side and then just decided to join forces and purchase the property that was for sale. And we wanted to, you know, so do some boarding and training, but then also have like the greater good rescue component, um, out there and just use our previous knowledge of, [00:12:00] you know, the horse show, pen and competition to help train these horses so they can be.

Adopted onto forever homes and shown at local horse shows. And I think one of the biggest things we want to do in addition to education is like, do like kind of take the stigma away from, you know, rescue horses, like a broken horse, um, that a rescue horse can actually like be repurposed and reused and, you know, have another life outside of what it was doing before.

So that's the gist of it. And Maria can tell her side of how we kind of got into it. That, that took us from start to finish my background. Um, I grew up in Nevada. And so I started showing in Hunter jumpers early on, fell in love with horses. Always have been an animal lover, uh, showed mostly in zone 10 and then branched out into Chicago and nationally.

And then. Fell in love with Colorado. Our climate here is great. You know, we have a lot of days of sunshine even through the winter. Um, and as much as I loved Illinois in Chicago, it's pretty gray and a cold there. [00:13:00] So came back to Colorado and like Emily, I had started a career in advertising and decided, decided that I needed to go back to a love of horses for me.

Growing up in the Hunter jumper world, um, and mostly showing. And I also didn't have insight into the rescue world. I think that coming back to Colorado, what happened for me is I had a big life change. My dad had passed away and I decided that I needed to incorporate more of what I love into my life because life is short. So I started volunteering at horse rescues in the Colorado area, um, and got to know one in Franktown, uh, Pretty well, and was given that insight into the slaughter pipeline owner, surrenders people who couldn't afford to have their horses anymore, even hoarder cases, where the police were coming in and, and taking those animals out of neglectful situations, um, and placing them into rescues.

And like Emily said, there's a lot of really good horses out there. [00:14:00] And. They, you know, ones that can go show at local horse levels and, um, and are good all around, you know, confidence, builders, family, horses, they kind of span the gamut. And, and then, like Emily said, we met at a bar and we were both boarding at, and I had adopted a rescue at this point.

And. And this is the real story. Emily gave you the fast pass version, but she actually tagged me in a horse on Facebook that was at a kill pen in Texas. And I immediately texted her and was like, I'm buying that horse, our barn that we now, Oh, it was a boarding facility and we both met out here. I'd brought my.

Two year old that I was planning to show nationally, um, up from Texas. And it was like, I'm just going to train them on my own. RIA have just rescued a horse from the rescue that was operating here. That was not doing a very great job. And we just kinda, yeah, we kind of met, started talking about things.

She was like, Obviously into all the English horses and as in the Western horses found this really [00:15:00] awesome horse out of kill pen and Texas three-year-old OTB, um, never really raced cause he was too slow so that easy. And, and his name was Mr. Rhett Butler. And as a gone with the wind fan, I was like, okay, he fits my profile.

He's my type of Wars. And he has a really cool name. And I liked him. Cause I, you know, they show videos of these horses and they were chopping them down this long cement runway. And, you know, Kevin from like the quarter horse stuff that like watching the Hunter and her saddle horses, he had this long wispy like toes to the nose movement and had his head really low and level.

And he was just reaching and I was like, Gosh, I'm not an English writer anymore. I was like, but I like it. So I was like, well, someone needs to do something with them and he's going to slaughter. And so I, yeah, I woke up in the middle of the night, which I never do saw this horse. And I didn't really know Maria that well, like we had talked, but I was like Rhea tag her in it.

And. Next day. She was like, I told her I was buying him. And then she was like, well, why don't we buy them together and try, try a rescue horse together. And so our philosophy is aligned, our [00:16:00] training are aligned and, and he really was the one that kind of started it all. And he were, no, we wanted to be able to do that for more horses and more families and more people out there and, and bring these horses up and put training and time into them so they can find their forever homes.

Um, but yeah, it was a. It was an interesting balance between Emily's, you know, Western background and my English background and, and having these good horses out there and being able to put a little bit of time into them. One thing that we've done with our rescue here is taken them to local level shows and, you know, given some exposure.

And one of the responses we get is, Oh my gosh, they're a rescue horse. And you're like, yeah, little bit of groceries, a little bit of time, a little bit of training, a little bit of love. Like, yeah. They, people have been blown away by it and you know, these, you know, we're not doing anything big and fancy, but the local shows, you know, taking her to, and people are like, they're competing and they're winning their classes and they're being, you know, good horses when they come out of the trailer.

And, you know, they, you know, I think with our [00:17:00] backgrounds of knowing how a show horse is supposed to behave, like kind of implementing that, you know, into some of these rescues and. You know, they're not going to go be that 50,000, a hundred thousand dollars show horse. But you know, they, if people can come to our barn and find, you know, a nice horse that they can go have fun with on the weekends and it's trained well, then you know that, and it's a rescue horse.

This horse could have gone and been slaughtered and now, you know, it gets to enjoy life like that. I think people don't really think of them that way. So it's been kind of cool to see how it's evolved. Like we were coming up on our two year anniversary and so we haven't been doing it that long and we're definitely like, you know, we throw ourselves into the deep end and I've never really had a ton of experience with the rescue world and just kind of taken what we've known in our knowledge of horses, just in general and tried to give back in this way.

I think, you know, either one of us. Because we focused on our careers and stuff could have, you know, gone and Vaughn another show horse, and could have shown, you know, again on the national circuit and done all of that. But it's kind of like, you know what, like we can go do that or we could go take what we've learned and give back in this way to these [00:18:00] horses that need help.

And so that's where we were very like-minded and you know, passionate about. And we just decided to do it. I love that it was like, meant to be, yeah. Sidebar Maria. I did not realize that you were in Illinois for awhile. I'm from Naperville. So I get the whole, uh, getting away from the cold weather to come to Colorado.

So there are some great Barnes in Illinois and yeah, great horses. But. But my heart was in Colorado. I don't blame you. They're a little off track, but I, I learned something new about you. And I was like, Oh, that's cool. Cause I can totally relate. Um, one thing that I really love about what you guys are doing as, not just a rescue, but um, just in general is that you're taking these rescue horses and.

You know, a lot of different places. They, they feed them up, they get them healthy. Um, and then they adopt them out. But like you said, you are, you're training them and you're, you're giving them the chance to [00:19:00] be the horse that they could have been. Um, some of them just end up in the wrong hands. Some of 'em, you know, people don't. Fit every horse and they're not given the opportunity to be the horse that they could have been. And you guys are really doing that for them. And I remember I've been lucky enough that I've gotten to see your place. We've done some stuff together outside of the magazine. And I told Mikayla that one day that we are going to make it to your place.

We were supposed to be recording there today, but unfortunately life got in the way. Um, but hopefully this summer we can take some pictures for the magazine and just. You know, explore the place a little bit. Um, but you guys are giving lessons to youth kids and the youth kids. I mean, I, there was like five youth kids surrounding this rescue horse, and they were obsessed with him and I like went to put a halter on him and the one girl was like, I me up like.

Don't hurt him. Like, he's my baby. And I just, I love that. I absolutely love that you are, you're [00:20:00] not just a horse rescue, but you're bringing these kids and, and people who just want to learn about the horses and giving them the chance to be around horses. Yeah, I think that's a really important part of what we do too, is our community, right?

Like we bought a barn that is nestled in between a whole bunch of housing developments. And there are a lot of kids in this area and kids that are curious and want to learn more about horses. Some that came with, you know, That basic knowledge and some that haven't, and, and besides our volunteer program where they can get hands-on experience on our daily chores and what it takes to really take care of a horse, um, to our lesson program and our leasing program and those kids.

Um, one thing that. We want to instill in them. You know, both of us came from a show background, but is that there's a whole bunch of great horses out there. And that rehabilitation process is really important. And, and having that kind heart and patience, you know, when needed, it's the horse, isn't necessarily a tool that you're going [00:21:00] to hop on and just ride it's it's really about the connection and the bonding.

It builds responsibility and trust. And all of those great things. Yeah. I think, you know, the programming is something that now coming into our second year, um, you know, Ray and I are really thinking about, and it is that educational piece and, you know, the lessons and, you know, like Maria said that our location, you know, that was one of the reasons we bought it because, you know, we are, we're more of an, you know, an urban barn and it does feel like a community bar, not in a Latin, like, you know, kind of.

You know, we, we don't take things seriously, but we do, but it's more like, you know, everyone helps each other and everyone's here for the good of the horses, right? I mean, coming from the show background, we all know, like, it can be stressful and competitive and you lose, like, you know, the horse does maybe become more of a tool and you lose like that connection to the bond.

And when you see these horses come in, that have been starved and neglected or you can't touch, or they have. Most of these rescues have trust issues. So you're not, you know, Marie and I do all of our own training here. Like [00:22:00] we're not just training a horse that is bred to go do something that should go and do it. Well, we're retraining a lot of issues that these horses come in, we do behavioral stuff. We have ones that don't trust we have, you know, and having the community bar and like the kids that come here. They're not just coming here to get on their show horse. They're coming here to like learn the whole process and see the whole process and the bonds that they have with these horses in the way that we're teaching them how to connect and, and, you know, learn behavioral things and how to like really communicate with these animals on a different level of just getting on their backs is awesome.

And, you know, We get, you know, kids that have had experience in kids that know nothing, just because of the housing developments, we're around. People come up for a drive and they're like, we've never seen a horse before. And the next thing you know, the kids are taking lessons and the parents are like, Oh my gosh, I never knew my kid could do this.

And you know, it helps on all different levels with kids, with, you know, ones that have anxiety or depression or whatever, like they get around these animals and they're so healing and they're so therapeutic that it's like, you know, it just it's it's. It's kind of just taken off and spread around the community.

Like, Hey, come out here, [00:23:00] like spend time with the horses. It's good for the kids. It's good for the parents. They can volunteer, they can take lessons, everything that they want to do here. And you know, the kids that want to learn about the rehab process, we give them that opportunity. And as you saw Nicole, when you're here, they hang out and.

The kids, you know, they come here and they basically volunteer their time and they help us and they grew horses and they turn horses out and they learn about the nutrition and like the different, you know, shoeing we have to do, you know, to correct some of like the lameness issues that we have and they just get so much education and hands-on, and that's what we want to continue to do.

I mean, we've seen. You know, I've read articles recently. I was just talking to Maria about this the other day that like, you know, the youth, like the kids, like coming like the sport, I feel like doesn't have a ton of youth coming up anymore. Right. And it's like, we want to keep the kids engaged because those are the ones that maybe go off and help the, you know, the bigger horse shows or do whatever.

But, you know, if we get the kids engaged, like I started, you know, younger and we all y'all start and you get. Bit with this bug. And then you're like, you know, horse lover for life. And, you know, that's, what we want to try to do is teach [00:24:00] people that may not have been, you know, they didn't grow up in a, you know, a rural area and they didn't grow up in a farm or they didn't grow up with their family showing, or even like being around farm animals at all.

Like we have. You know, we have pigs and goats and chickens and horses and all of it. So, and it, and it's interesting too, cause it, um, no matter what their financial situations are at home, it really is an equal playing fields hair. You know, we all, we cater to all types of families and situations and, and the girl, you know, They probably were eyeballing you putting a halter on socks because you know, they're protective of the horses because they put so much time to them and they're passionate.

Yeah. They, you know, that horse specifically came in with some trust issues and you know, you start from the ground up and it's not just throw a saddle on him and hop on it's Hey, we're just going to walk them for a little bit and, and spend time with them on the ground and make writing that reward. You know, that the horse seeks not just.

Something that they have to do. Yeah. Oh yeah, [00:25:00] definitely. You could tell that that was her baby. And I think that girl, I think one of them had actually just gotten done riding him for a lesson. And what I really loved is that she didn't just like get in her car and leave. Like she waited, we did photos of him for Christmas and she waited around and helped.

And then she went and groomed him to put them away. You know, it was very much like she was here. She was part of it. And I, I love that. I, because that was me as a kid and I think you can probably relate or, you know, whatever. And, um, I was there, I did everything. I was probably what they considered a barn rat or whatever, where I would just.

If somebody gave me a horse, I would, I was okay. Yes. I will like whatever. And I'm still that way. Like I always consider, I always say that I'm the stray that people just take in and they say like, Oh, well, if you get this horse fit, you can show him. And I'm like, that's the worst mistake I ever say, because I will be here every day and that horse will be insanely fit.

And then you're going to have to follow through on your promise and let me show, and that's definitely the [00:26:00] vibe I got. Yeah. From the girls that were at the barn and I absolutely adored it and I love how much they love the horses. And I don't know if some of them own them or if they're all lessons, but, um, you can tell that they take a lot of pride and ownership regardless.

Yeah. They, they do. I mean, they. It's like, you know, like how we were growing up, they live out here and we liked that. We encourage that community. We want the kids to the parents want to drop off their kids and, you know, they have, you know, they've been working with us and they kind of understand the routine and what to do and not do out here.

And, you know, the proper etiquette around the horses. Like they can come hang out and, you know, they, they, they work, but it's not work to them. Right. And they're just, they're here all the time. Like, we're like, okay, You know, we're going home. Like, are your parents coming in? Like, I know you guys are probably sleeping in the stall, but like, but you know, and it's in Katy was the girl in particular with socks and, you know, she, you know, she's taken advantage of our leasing program.

And so she, you know, we asked offer lessons, English and Western Rhea does all the English stuff out. It was all the Western stuff. What's up really evenly and it's awesome, you know, and [00:27:00] she started by taking lessons and it's what a lot of the kids do, but we're unique in our rescue because we do offer lease programs.

And so a lot of rescues are like, Hey, we get this person and we want to move it so we can get another horse, which we totally get. Awesome. You know, the revolving door works really, really well, but, you know, because we have such a captive audience, we covers over location. We've decided to be like, okay, we're going to, we're going to take our process a little slower.

And what we're going to do is we're going to say, okay, we've got this rescue horse, you know, he's there ready for adoption. So what people can come in and we can say, Hey, we'll do an assessment ride. We'll try to kind of, you know, which horse works for you, but then we're going to say, Hey, you need, we're going to do a lease for 30 days.

Prior to adoption, so they will lease the horse and they will assume that we can do half looser, you know, price depends, but really happily is, is half of the cost of the horse fully says full, and then people can really get a sense of like the, what it costs to own a horse and what the responsibility is.

Cause I think people are like, Oh, I want to get a horse. This sounds great. And then it's like, okay, but there's a lot of cost and there's a lot of time, a lot of responsibility. [00:28:00] There's a lot that goes into it. So we have that. We started that program from the beginning and we've had a really, really high success rate, like almost a hundred percent with horses, like that has been where horses have gone out and they haven't been returned.

Like, you know, we've had to take one back cause it didn't get along with a partner and another one just didn't work. But other than that, our horses have been placed and they've stayed in their homes. And I think a lot of it has to do with our lease program because. During those 30 days, they, you know, we encourage them like, you know, take a lesson with us and learn how to work with this horse and come out and like mess with the horse on your own.

And then also here's the financial part of it. And after that 30 days, we can all have a conversation of like, does this, is this a good fit or not a good fit? And if the horse isn't a good fit, maybe we try another horse, but at least it kind of. It brings them into this, like softly and slowly. It's not like they're gonna come in, adopt the horse, put it in the trailer, take it home.

And then a two weeks they're like, Oh, this isn't working. And then the worst comes back to us. And now we're like, Oh, we have to go like redo whatever. Just happened to that horse in two weeks and moving the horse around is traumatic. So it's like, it's just. It's an awesome [00:29:00] program that, you know, we may not have been doing this for a long time, but it's been really successful for us.

And that's what Katie is doing with socks. She's leasing him to adopt. So in our list, patients really unique too, because we do have access to the cherry Creek trails. So it's not just, Hey, lease the horse and we do arena riding it's. If you want a trail horse, you can lease them and ride them out in the 200 acres of cherry Creek.

Um, take them through the streams and over the bridges. I think that we have made, you know, exceptions for, you know, Situations that were maybe further away or already had horses or companion or something like that? Not really. Yeah, but the majority of them, yeah, it is like exposure into costs and, and experience of care needed for each of those rescues.

And if the horses, you know, they start the lease and they take lessons and then two weeks they're kind of having like, Oh, I'm not really sure what to go with here. You know, we also offer the training component. So then it's like, okay, you know, we can help you with the training process as well. We just want to give everyone the tools for their toolbox to be able to have a successful adoption, because our main goal is for that horse to get adopted and stay in that forever [00:30:00] home.

You know? And that's, if we, if we can do that, then we can give more. So that's, you know, something I think unique that we offer and it's not just horses. We've talked it out. Ducks, chickens, researchers, cat, dog.

Yeah. We're a full on farm, but, uh, yeah. Yeah. The horse is our priority. But, you know, we're bleeding hearts, so, well, I like that it goes full circle because I feel like you see those memes on the internet all the time about that inexperienced horse owner going to adopt a horse. And then it's like, Oh no, what have I gotten myself into?

Whereas this it's like, okay, we are going to take the youth kids, you know, or the adults give them the proper tools. So these horses don't end up. You know, back into another rescue or them owning another horse from the beginning, you know, maybe they don't adopt a rescue horse. Maybe they do go out and buy inexpensive show horse.

Right. That show horse doesn't end up in the [00:31:00] situation where. Oh, well now he's on the fast track to slaughter and needs a rescue. Home is a kind of a good segue. One of our future goals here is to do more clinics and classes for new horse owners, everything from, you know, like emergency evacuation to basic backset care colic, like learning signs of, of reading your horse and being more aware.

Um, one of the things that we learned in the last two years is, you know, those first time horse owners. There are resources out there, but they're sometimes hard to find. So, you know, partnering with different entities or being able to do stuff at our location that is centrally located, um, to those new horse owners.

Yeah. We want to offer stuff on groundwork, horsemanship clinics, you know, like how to, you know, Trita an abscess or how to evaluate lameness and just stuff that like we know, we know, and like, we can see it, but we don't. It's like, well, that person might not know it, you know? And we want to be able to reach out to the community in that way and, you know, partner with other rescues in the [00:32:00] area and just really, you know, form form that bond, um, to, you know, keep the awareness going.

I love that. And like, please be sure to keep us in the loop because we would love to help in any way that we possibly can, um, for something like that, because I totally agree. And actually I was on a video shoot yesterday and I was talking to somebody there and, and, you know, we were. Going over some training videos. And, and he was like, okay, well, like what about doing this? And I'm like, you know, really like you look at something and to like you and you and me or whoever, you know, you come from this huge show background. So basic to you would be, you know, like getting your horse's side pass, like, okay, I'm going to teach my horse on CyPass.

But a lot of people don't even know how to get to the step of teaching your horse to move their shoulder or their hip, you know, isolating body parts. And, um, so it's always really interesting to hear people trying to create clinics and, and, um, training tips and tricks and whatever, uh, [00:33:00] that focus on, you know, what are the signs that you're going to look for with just basic horse care?

Because I forget that there are people out there who. Probably don't know what the bait, like, what are the telltale signs of a horse collar gang? You know, I've been in a million show barn, so I've seen horses kick at their stomach and roll and biting and you know, like obviously you, but yeah, we forget about it and I can see how overwhelming it could be to somebody who wants to buy a horse, but doesn't know where to start.

And there's a lot that goes to it. And there's a lot of people who aren't willing to share that basic information, because they would rather focus on the, the intense training or the people who have $50,000 budgets or whatever. And it's really, really special that you guys, um, remember that. And you, you help people like that.

Yeah, we're definitely not in the money.

I mean, you know, it's horses in general, right. Are expensive, but I mean, [00:34:00] it is, it's, it's, it's a labor of love for us. We're passionate. And I think just, you know, us not really knowing much about the rest of you side of anything and just being the horse show side and now coming into it, it's like, okay, you know what?

It's a lot of. It does cost a lot and it is a ton of work and fundraising is difficult and, you know, like caring for these horses that come in that need corrective shoeing and needs, like, you know, like, you know, tons of feed and all of this stuff. It is a lot, but, you know, it's like so rewarding. Like it's, it's great to go out and win a class, but this is like, you just, you feel so good.

You feel so accomplished at the end of the day. You're like, wow, okay. You know, I did a lot. And whether you're working with the people or in the horses, you know, it's just, it's really, really. Yeah, really cool. Um, to see it so on both sides, definitely with the youth, the kids, even the adults that come out here, you know, and, and seeing, seeing growth on both sides.

One thing that when we started the rescue or we were, you know, kind of going back and forth on all right. What is the name of RSU as our mission? What's our vision and what are we [00:35:00] about? Um, we did kind of come in guns, ablazing, cause we want to we're like, we want to save them all. And some of the best advice that we got, we went in and we actually went to We were presenting for them and kind of, you know, letting them know we exist and what we wanted to do. And. So the best advice we got was crawl, walk, run, don't go in and try to save 50 horses and try to adopt out those 50 horses. And 20 of them are green and you can't touch them. Yeah. We're like, why not?

And then we were like, okay. Yeah. But over the last two years, we really focused on, okay, these are the ones we started with. Let's. You know, put those time into them, let's get them ready for adoption, have those adopted out. And then that opens a slot for another horse to come in. And yeah, we've been really successful over the last two years and we're excited to kind of see how that all grows.

Yeah. I really liked that. And I like your business model and how you've come about it, because I think when I hear of a rescue, I don't always think of, okay, these [00:36:00] horses are being rescued and then getting a new job and then going to be adopted a lot of times when I think of a horse rescue. Personally, I will think of a rescue where these horses go and maybe live out the rest of their lives and they don't necessarily get a second chance at another career.

So I think that that's a really unique aspect of your program. And I really liked that your foundation is on education. It's not so much like, okay, we love these horses and we want to rescue these horses. It's we love these horses when a rescue, these horses and give both the horse and the human, a proper education.

Exactly second careers are really important to us too, because we also let the horse sort of guide that, right? Like we had some off the track thoroughbreds come in and do they want to jump? Not really, you know, are they going to go maybe do more ranch stuff. Yeah. They're slow. They're kind of like, all right.

They don't care about much. They didn't want to go run on a track, but. Hey, they love going out on the trails and a thoroughbred is a bigger horse, you know? So like, you know, the guys that come look for a horse, maybe don't, you know, the husband horse, you know, [00:37:00] is maybe not the 15 hand, little quarter horse mare.

Like, you know, if we can get the quiet minded, thoroughbreds, like they can go on and do that. And they're happy, you know, and they're outside and they're moving. They're just, you know, they're exploring they're, they're great. And, you know, with our lesson program, Being part of the educational stuff like we're teaching on our rescues, you know, not all rescues are able to go into that lesson program.

Cause we get ones that are, you can't even touch that we have to put through a shoot to get into the trailer. We get ones that are completely like unhandled and then we train ourselves and adopt it. But then the ones that come in that you're like, okay, you know, you kind of sat on, you may have like been a trail horse, you know, you have no idea how to move your.

Body laterally. You have no idea how to flex. You have no idea to move your shoulders. You have no how to move your hips, your ribcage lift your back. You don't know how to transition. You don't know your leads. You don't know anything. Big can barely back up, but you can get on them. Like, you know, we take those horses and we do like 30, 60, 90 days, but they're quiet and they're good.

And then they go into our lesson program and they teach kids how to ride. They teach adults how to ride until they get adopted. So like we're teaching on them, you know, which is, which is awesome. [00:38:00] And the rescue is, I mean, It's just like any horse, you know, no two horses are the same and the rescue has come with kind of this added layer, which is, you know, really cool for, I think, people to learn about.

So how exactly do you go about finding these horses that you're rescuing? I know that you talked a little bit about your first rescue horse, but going forward, how have you found these horses? Um, combination of places, really, um, surrender cases, um, owner surrenders, people that. You know, I have, you know, for whatever reason fall in their hard times, can't afford to take the kids, take care of their horses anymore, you know, for whatever reason, um, you know, options to auctions, um, we'll go to the auctions and bid against the, you know, the killer buyers, the horses, you know, not a lot of people know this, but when they go into the livestock auction, like we have, you know, a couple of year in Colorado, the big one is up in Fort Collins and the Centennial livestock auction.

But when they go to auction, they're being sold [00:39:00] for slaughter and they're being sold per pound. They're being sold with the cows and the sheep and the pigs and the like, The goats, you know, for food, for human consumption. Um, so you're not going in and they're not like, you know, 500 bucks, $300, a thousand dollars for the horse.

You're bidding on a propound because you're sitting there across the room from, you know, multiple killer buyers where this is what they do for a living and they buy them per pound and then they ship them and across to Mexico, and then they solder them. Um, so that's a whole other conversation in itself is the auctions and, you know, going through and going through that whole process and bidding against them.

But, um, is traumatic, like going in there, they run the horses in really fast. You bid quickly, and then they run them out. I'm sure sometimes you have a chance to go see the horses before the auction actually happens, but it's extremely stressful for the horses to be, to be run through. They're treated just like, you know, I mean, they are livestock animals, right.

But they are, you know, they're there. Pushed in there, like there a hog or, you know, [00:40:00] a cow or bull, whatever. And, um, you know, there it's yeah. It's, it's traumatic to watch. It was definitely like eye opening. The first time we went to one where it was like, Oh my goodness. Okay. We're only taking home one. And then we, the trailer, every time we're like, Oh, you can't.

I mean, you know, it's however we have the rescue, but we do. So we do, we go to the actions, um, you know, we try to fundraise while we're at the auction, you know, we'll say, okay, we got there's four good horses, six good horses here. And we'll try to, you know, fundraise and get the money beforehand. Or we'll just.

Kind of do it and then tried to fundraise after, but it does happen really quick. Um, and then we've worked with other rescues too. Like at the auctions of bell, see a horse they're like, Hey, this horse is worth placing into a rescue and giving a second chance. Like we have worked with them and taking some of theirs or, you know, they fundraise for them.

We'll give them a home kind of working like, you know, collaborating like that. Um, but yeah, so the options are, you know, We haven't been going quite as much because we've been having, we've [00:41:00] been getting a lot of owner surrenders recently, I think obviously because of everything that's been happening in the world and COVID, and you know, people losing their jobs and just horses being expensive in general to care for, you know, luckily, um, you know, there are people doing the right thing, which is contacting a rescue and saying, Hey, listen, someone can contact us.

And say that they want to surrender, their horse will take that horse in, you know, whatever. No, we won't ask any questions. We'll just take them and we will take them right away and just care for them. Um, where, you know, some people, I think, well, you know, they'll just put them through the auction and, you know, make a couple of hundred bucks off of them.

And hopefully it goes to the four H family that's looking for their weekend horse to show, but that's. That's really not the reality. I thought it was, you know, but it, it's not, you know, those horses are going to slaughter when they go to the auction more often than not. And, you know, so for people to come in and contact us, they can come drop the horse off and we'll take it.

So we we've definitely during COVID have seen those numbers definitely increased. And your question of where we get our horses from. Definitely auctions and owner [00:42:00] surrenders. But one of the things with COVID specifically, as we were trying to actually keep horses in their homes, for people who couldn't afford them, because what was happening was we were getting contacted by so many people and, you know, there is a compact, uh, capacity limit that we have here and that the other rescues have.

And so. We did a hay bank early on, and I know that there were other rescues doing a hay bank. We were strategically trying to get the whole state covered with hay banks around Colorado so that people could apply. And, you know, Hey, they're having a hard time right now, but does that mean they have to get rid of their horse?

You know, maybe it's just, you know, a couple months of help to get them through. Um, but yeah, that was definitely a concern of, you know, The easiest thing to do is keep a horse in his home and it's less stressful for them. Um, so how could we come together as a rescue community and, and do something for them?

And so, yeah, our hay bank was wildly successful. We got rid of all of our hay pretty quickly. Um, and yeah, we did mitigate the issue of, of them having to take their [00:43:00] horses to an auction or surrender them. Yeah. Um, I actually, I didn't know that about the Haven, but I, I love it because Mikayla and I constantly bring this up on the podcast, but the horse community, while it has its faults is a really caring community.

And when things are hard, we come together to help each other. And it's more specifically Mikayla and I were talking about this when the fires were happening in Colorado and we had to evacuate our horses, um, which was a really. Different experience for someone, both of us are from the Midwest where you don't really have wildfires.

Um, and, but you know, same thing. We, we have a pandemic, uh, people are losing their jobs. Uh, you know, things are different right now. And, and it's really cool to hear that you guys have been able to figure out a way to help the community so they don't have to surrender their horse and they can get through these really hard times and hopefully, you know, continue to give their horse a really great, uh, forever home.

Yep. Yep, exactly. So, um, another thing that I thought was [00:44:00] really interesting, Emily, um, You. And I had the similar thoughts about, uh, auctions and you know, where people are going to get their four H horses. And I, I'm not really aware of, you know, by the pound and, and fighting, you know, auction bidding against.

Uh, you know, kill people, whatever. And, um, and so, yeah, that totally opened my eyes, but then I came to your barn and I saw a horse that I knew, and that really changed. Yep. Yeah. And I'm not gonna say names and I'm not going to even hint out who he is. But yeah, yeah, yeah. That was, um, that was it really big life-changing moment for me in the horse rescue aspects, because in my mind, I'm looking at this very famous show horse, and I'm going.

He's really nice. He's a nice broke gelding. He's one of a youth kid, a lot [00:45:00] of awards. He's a reserved Congress champion. And somehow he fell into the cracks and ended up in a kill pen. And it really made me change my perspective on a lot of stuff and realize that no horses say from ending up there.

You're exactly right. I think, you know, I found him, he was at a, a kill lot in Texas. A lot of the kill lots are down there because it's obviously the last stop right before they crossed the border and New Mexico. And, um, you know, I was looking at some videos and some horses and he popped up on one of the videos and I was watching him move and I was like, coming to pleasure.

Horses are my passion. I stare at them all day long. I've done it for years and I saw him. Come up. And I saw him lope off and he had the rider, didn't know what they were doing, had a big drape. He just, he had his top line perfect. And was loping around. And I'm like, what is this? Like? I'm like, so I'm watching it, I'm watching it and [00:46:00] watching it.

I contact them. I get them a rest. You, him, I get him, you know, safe off the slaughter truck. Didn't really know a whole lot about them other than I'm like, this is he's interesting to me, you know, just by his movement and do a little bit of research and find out that he is registered and then do a little bit more research and find his show record, do a little bit more research, realize he's a reserve Congress championed and competed in the, all around.

He was throwing in like seven different events and. He gets here and he is skin and bones. You can see him, you know, on our Facebook page and our social media. He's been one of our poster horses because of like the amount of neglect that he went through. He's like he had Cushings, his coat was rain rod all over him. He, yeah, skin and bones. I mean, he had no life left in his eye. He just looked completely defeated. He came off the trailer, he could barely walk. He had abscesses and like three out of his four feet. I mean, he just. He was just in so [00:47:00] rough shape. And it was just, it was heartbreaking to see any horse in that shape.

And then to like, realize that this horse is a horse that competed at a national level and won. And he was, he did so good for somebody and he performed his heart out for somebody. And then, you know, who knows how he got where he is, thankfully he's, you know, in our care. And he he'll never have to go and do or anything like that again, but it's just like, you know, that type of work.

Wound up there. And it's like, that's the background I came from. And I was like, Oh my gosh, you know, it's harping. And he's one that we were lucky enough to find. We can't rescue them all. And you know, and it's hard because I think it is like, Oh, maybe, you know, he wasn't competing at the level. He wasn't, he wasn't winning.

Or maybe he had some Sounders issues or maybe this or that or whatever. And you know, when he got passed along and pass along, pass Tesla, but then you wound up there and you know, he's fortunate. So, you know, we've, we found him and he's going to be forever loved and you know, he's, we're rehabbing him back and he's awesome.

We've gotten on his back already. He's fat and he's [00:48:00] happy and he's got tons of personality and he's loved by everyone here. And, you know, he'll be incorporated into the lesson program and, you know, you look at him and he squares up for showmanship. Like, you know, if anybody remembers all this, even after being so defeated, like.

You know, he, he comes out and he's happy and he's trying, and he's gotten over like everything that he had gone through, you know, from being this top level show horse to being completely dumped now, back up again, and he is. He's done a complete one 80 from how he showed up here and he's in good spirits, you know, but it is crazy to think about and like a timeline with that too.

It took us over a year to get him to the proper way to get his soundness issues resolved. And actually it's been almost a year and a half now and just now he has been cleared to walk under saddle. So. It is a long road of recovery, but you know, for a horse that's worked so hard his entire life, um, definitely well-deserving and a break and he'll go make, you know, someone, he goes [00:49:00] out, turn them out and he Lopes around his head down bucks and he's like, he feels good, but like, you know, when we get them back, like, To everything that he was doing, he was, he did the horsemanship, he did the Schermer, he did all those events.

And so now when we can put the pieces back together with them, he's going to make someone an awesome local show horse. And you know, he's gonna go on to like, have this second part of his life, you know, or he can, you know, he, he he's trained. He knows what he's doing and he loves it. You know, it just now getting them back into a place where he can do it and you know, to him going to those local weekend shows, he's going to do awesome. And some little kid's gonna love them. And you know, I mean, that's, that's what brings us joy is seeing that come full circle. Yeah. He totally perks up to like, you, you get ready to do anything with him. He's like, okay. He's like, I've got this, this is my job. I know what I'm doing. And I got, you know, and, but it's just like, who knows how many, that's what, you know, I think about, and when we look at these horses that, you know, the auctions are, you know, to kill pens or whatever, it's like, [00:50:00] you know, who knows what they know.

Right. Who knows what that horse is background in. And that is like one of the hard things about the rescue is, you know, we'll, we'll get on the horse at the auction or we'll take a horse center. We'll try to, we'll get one that we see, you know, On the internet or something that is part of a kill pen and you don't know their backgrounds, you know?

And so it's like, do they have a traumatic background? Yes, they all did. But it's like, what did they do? You know, you, you think they tell you a lot when you work with them on the ground, they tell you a lot when you get on their backs, but it's like, you know, I don't. I don't know if I ever would have like, walked up to this horse and tried to, you know, square him up if I hadn't known a show record.

Right. But he, I did. And he does so well and yeah, cause I don't think you ever expect a horse to that caliber to end up there. And um, it, it just, it is mind blowing because like when you told me those horses name and I was like, I know that horse. And then like literally on my drive home, after we got done, I texted you.

And I was like, This is his nickname. This is who owned him. This is what Barney came from. I was like, [00:51:00] I legitimately was like blunt, mind blown, because I was like, how, how does this happen? And I guess my next question is, how do we keep this from happening? And obviously we don't have that answer because it keeps happening.

But what do you guys like? What would be your advice to somebody? Well, I think that. The horses end up there for a few different reasons, right? Either they age out of where they were, the owner needs them to be or loss of use. Is a big one. I know with the thoroughbreds too, like injuries on the racetrack loss of use, they're dumped at the auction, um, ended up at feedlots, but yeah, I think contacting rescues, I don't, I don't know, even as a horse owner, my entire life would've known, you know, I sold my horses to other people, but I don't know that I would have ever.

Contacted a rescue and said, Hey, you know, this horse might be good for a lesson program or a beginner and be able to shed light on, on the history of them. But, um, rescues, not sure if it's just because, you know, yeah, we, we run one, but I do [00:52:00] think they're kind of on the rise and there are shady rescues or are really good rescues, but do research.

But my advice would be yeah, contact the local horse community. Like you said, that they're really giving and caring and yeah. And I think they want to help. They want to help. Yeah. You know, as simple as it is, just like, you know, know where your horse goes, right? Like, no, you know, you sell your horse to someone.

Like I sold my horse to Maria and I have a good relationship with her, but you know, stay in contact. Right. Like, cause Maria might use that horse for five years and it's like, Oh, Hey, where did he end up going? Like, that's all simple. Like we know everybody and people shouldn't be afraid to share that information.

Right. Cause then, right. So it's like, just as simple as that is, you know, just know where your horse goes, follow the horse, keep the relationships with the people. And, you know, always be like, you know, as a horse owner, if I go sell my show horse that's down in the barn and I keep track of them and always be like, Hey, you know, what?

If he gets to a point where he has some soundness issues or he has health issues, let me know. Right. It's like, keep me informed. I will always take him back and I will find a solution for him or something like that, [00:53:00] you know? And then, you know, people can also go and check out the rescues. I think it's just, I think it's educating people, like, cause we didn't know about it until a couple of years ago we had no idea and I, my other involved the horses our whole life.

Yeah. The other thing we see a lot is, you know, families buying babies. Uh, broke horses, the horses get big and scary. And if they're not working with a trainer or boarding at a facility that can share that knowledge with them. We see a lot of those come either through our rescue or in the auctions. And, um, as a rescue, those are the horses that spend the most time here.

Right? They cost us the most amount of money because they're, they're here for six months or longer because they're not halter broke. They'd never had there. We have a six year old that has never had his feet done. And although we got a nice letter from the owner saying, Hey, I brought him into my backyard.

He's big and beautiful, but he's six and he's huge at night. I don't know what to do. Scared of him. Cause he didn't try to like handle them when he was a baby. But I think that's another good point where he has that. Like [00:54:00] training is such a huge component with horses, whether the horse is green or you know, is broke, like having a trainer involved.

Is so important, right? So it's like, say someone, you know, they go and buy a horse or adopt a horse or whatever they do. And then they're working with this horse in six months. They're having issues. You know, a lot of people were like, Oh my gosh, this horse is crazy now. And I don't know what to do. It's not going to take them to the auction, but have a relationship with the trainer.

You know, show horses, stay in a training program for a reason because you want to keep them in a, like moving forward or keep him from going backwards. And a lot of people are like, why put my horse in training for two months? And so it should stay that way. It's like no, they're animals to keep working with them on a daily basis to keep them moving forward and not going backwards.

And I think. People, whether they're adopting horses or buying is it's like have a relationship with a trainer because that trainer will probably figure out how to get you out of a sticky situation. So you can get back on track with that horse. So it doesn't wind up somewhere. You know, I think that's, it's just the educational part of it too. Like people want to help you, you know, reach [00:55:00] out to a trainer, reach out to whoever, you know, and see if you can fix it. And my last piece of advice, because this is now we're on a roll here. You know, we see horses that come into auction sometimes, or are in situations that maybe need to be euthanized.

Right. And that's a really tough conversation. Um, but sometimes it is, you know, the best thing for the horse would be to allow it to, to transition to somewhere maybe better and, and not, and not suffer if it has broken bones or, you know, we, we had seen a couple that were in we're in bad. Bad health and, you know, they're run through the auction and they can barely walk and, and they are going to the killer buyer.

But instead of being run through the auction, loaded on a trailer ship to Canada and Mexico on 20 hour drive times, like no food and water being trampled. Yeah. Right. Yeah. And do you know the potential of mortality happening during that transition in a feedlot or whatnot? Um, you know, we have a [00:56:00] no questions asked, you know, euthanasia.

We know that there's other rescues that do that too, but, um, yeah. You know, always having the best interest of the horse in mind. Yeah, I think that topic is really important and it's also really hard for us as horse lovers and just animal lovers in general to face and be in reality with, and I've had this conversation in the past, not so much about horses, but just animals in general.

And, and you know, when, you know, you know, but I think it is important that you share light on that side of it too, because not every. Rescue is a happy story. Like the one that we were talking about earlier that, you know, he had a great show record, and now he's going to be able to help some little girl or boy, you know, learn how to do the showmanship of the horsemanship or whatever.

And they're going to have a bomb horse to do it, but it's also really important to share light on the other side of rescuing too. Cause it's not always happy. It's not always happy. It's, it's, it's hard. [00:57:00] Um, you know, it's, we, we, what we, what we've seen in the last two years is been more than I've ever seen.

You know, being, you know, at a show barn, you know, they come in and they you're, you already have the odds against them. You know, some are starved points, like. Has the point of like rehabbing, some of them, you know, have, you know, they're, they're already like so far into laminitis that they there's no reversing it, you know?

And, and it's hard, but you know, I think. We know at the end of the day, we're, we're helping as many horses as we can. And whether, you know, that horse, um, you know, has a short time with us or a long time with us, or has a, you know, uh, you know, a home that it goes off. It has a long, second life with as long as we give them a soft place and a soft landing, and we're doing the best for the horse, you know, that's what matters.

And it is, it is hard. I mean, we. I've never had to use an eyes as many horses ever in my life until we started this rescue. But just knowing that they came to our place, we showed them love. We showed them compassion. We [00:58:00] did what we could and they're not going and getting slaughtered in some barbaric way. That is like, you know, Down in Mexico or in Canada where there's no regulations. Like, you know, that at least softens it a little bit for us, but it is it's, it's the harsh reality of it. And, but you know what we've chosen, so there's good and bad. The good does outweigh the bad. Yeah. Yeah. But I mean, it is, it's hard.

It's hard to make that decision. It's hard, I think for anyone to make a decision with any animal, um, But, and it's hard, you know, even having to talk to him or, you know, the people that come into adoptable horses, it's like, but we want to, you know, walk through, it's all about education, right? It's all about the awareness of like, Hey, even after they go into their forever homes, like we keep communication with them, like call us anytime any day, if you, if he's like staring at his, you know, side funny, and you're not sure if he's calling or not, like tell us FaceTime as we will be.

Like, we will still walk you through things after that horse leaves. And if it comes down to the horse at like, we will be a part of that and we'll, we will help like, [00:59:00] you know, talk people through the best decision, because it is hard. I mean, it's hard pressed and we do it every day. So, but. Yeah, no, that's great though, that they have that resource within you guys, even after the horse leaves your rescue, that, you know, they know that if there's some reason that they need to call you and get your advice on either just training or if your horse is calling or foundering or whatever, it's really great that they can go back to you.

And it's not like a, once they leave the property, you're wiping your hands clean of it and you're onto the next one. So that's, that's really great too. Definitely not yet. We actually, we have a, um, you know, a process in place where we do home checks. So the horse, you know, we do leases here. There's a trial run here.

And then when they do go to their forever home, you know, we, we check in with them, you know, after two weeks, after a month after 60 days to make sure that, you know, the horse is still happy and healthy in good spirits. And it is a good fit. [01:00:00] For where they're at, um, and knock on wood, we haven't had to remove any horses.

Uh, so, and I do think that upfront leasing program does help with that. Yeah. We're very hands-on but you know, horses are hands-on in general, so, you know, as much as we can do, we wish we could, you know, we can't be like in 50 places at once we try to be, but yeah, I mean, I think, you know, the more help and guidance we can get, you know, then eventually they kind of learn how to.

Well, I can run on their own, but we do help, you know, through the beginning stages and through, through all of it. But yeah. Well, um, we're going in well past an hour now, so I'm sure that y'all are busy with, uh, all the lessons and horses that you're taking care of, but maybe we can do a part two and cover some other topics at some point.

Cause there is a lot to learn about the rescue world and I'm excited about your clinics and just the things that you're doing to get the community involved. So we'll have to. Follow up on that and maybe do some more, whether it's the podcast or the magazine or [01:01:00] whatever we can, but, um, before we let you guys go, so you can go back to taking care of these wonderful horses that you've been talking about this whole hour. Um, where can people learn more about you? Where can they find information on you? If they're interested in adopting or even just taking lessons where what's the best way to get in touch with you? Our social media accounts. We're pretty up to date on those as far as events and horses that are available and our happily ever after success stories as well.

And then our website mile high rescue.org. Um, we have our rescue horses listed. We have our events listed. We do try to do, you know, those. Holiday community events and more open houses. So we do a lot of those invite the public to come and meet the rescues and, and give them treats and shower them with love and attention.

Um, but yes, our website and our social media accounts, just mile high rescue, the social media, the Facebook and the Instagram. We, we, you know, We have a lot going on, but we do try to stay up to date as much as we can on those. And that's where we do post our events. And, [01:02:00] you know, we try to do like, you know, COVID, we weren't able to do it, but we try to do like a yearly gala and like, you know, do some fun stuff and silent live auctions and, you know, open houses.

As Maria said, we try to do probably, you know, Quarterly. We try to do one here at the property, um, and, you know, get people in for whatever, you know, the event may be meet the horses and kind of, you know, give a little spiel and tour of what we're doing. Um, but most of that yeah is usually up on our, on our Facebook or Instagram are really good about at least posting that.

Awesome. Well, and I think, um, we've, I've kind of discussed, um, having you guys do like an Instagram takeover on horse and rider, so I'll. You know, be sure to check that out. I don't know. Maybe we can get you guys to do it the week that this podcast goes live so that people can learn more about you after, after listening.

But thank you so much again, we appreciate you guys taking time out of your busy schedule to talk with us and just kind of share info on the rescue world and how people can get [01:03:00] involved in. And so learn more about it. Yeah. Yeah. Well, thank you. Thank you for having us. Um, we've got lots more to chat about whenever you guys want to do it.

So yeah, just, you just let us know, but thank you for having us on. Thank you guys for tuning in to the ride podcast. We hope you enjoyed this episode and please be sure to subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. Follow the horse and rider magazine on social media and [email protected]. If you guys have any questions or comments, please be sure to hit us [email protected].

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