About Us
The heart and soul of Love This Horse, Equine Rescue
"Love This Horse, Equine Rescue Inc." is a horse rescue specializing in taking in forgotten, neglected and abused Arabian horses from law enforcement seizures, local animal shelters, distressed owners, and from low-end horse auctions.
Our goal is to train all of our rescue horses, so they are rideable and to find our horses permanent adoptive homes.
Our fantastic training team works hard to start or to restart our Arabian horses under saddle. To follow our training adventures, visit our Facebook Page at: www.facebook.com/lovethishorse
Our goal is to train all of our rescue horses, so they are rideable and to find our horses permanent adoptive homes.
Our fantastic training team works hard to start or to restart our Arabian horses under saddle. To follow our training adventures, visit our Facebook Page at: www.facebook.com/lovethishorse
Even though Vera had been privately rescuing, rehabilitating and rehoming horses since 2010, Love this Horse was not formally incorporated until November 2016.
Since November 2016 to December 31, 2020 ~ 383 horses rescued
287 horses adopted
10 horses euthanized or deceased
In 2016, we rescued 11 horses ~ rehabilitated, trained and adopted 2 horses into permanent homes.
In 2017, we rescued 66 horses~ rehabilitated, trained and adopted 36 horses into permanent homes. 1 horse was euthanized, 3 horses were cared for in foster homes.
In 2018, we rescued 110 horses~ rehabilitated, trained and adopted 82 horses into permanent homes. We returned 2 horses to their original owner, assisted 26 owners in rehoming their horses, transferred 4 horses to partnering rescues, and had 5 horses decease (either natural death or through euthanasia).
In 2019, we rescued 77 horses ~ rehabilitated, trained and adopted 80 horses into permanent homes. We assisted 58 owners in rehoming their horses, and had 2 horses decease (both were over 30 years old and were euthanized because of colic).
In 2020, we have rescued 119 horses, accepted 3 horses back from adoption homes, 2 horses deceased ~ rehabilitated, trained and adopted out 87 horses into permanent homes.
Additionally, in 2020, in response to the Covid-19 crisis, we assisted by providing feeding assistance, in the amount of $11,843.72 to over 50 horse owners to ensure that their horses could stay with them and did not have to be relinquished. We partnered with the ASPCA and brought in a semi-truck with horse feed in value of $10,000 that we distributed to horse owners in need.
How does adoption help our Arabian horses stay out of the slaughter pipeline?
Love this Horse (LTH) has a strong focus on rehabilitating, training and adopting horses into permanent homes. Since our inception in November 2016, we have placed 139 horses into permanent adoptive homes. (Current as of April 10, 2019). At LTH, we focus on starting or re-starting horses under saddle and turning the horses into reliable riding partners.
Once a horse is adopted, it frees us up to take in another horse that is in transition.
How do horses end up in transition?
Scenario #1: Often brood mares or stallions have not been started under saddle. The owner is now elderly, has health issues or is experiencing financial difficulties and has been trying to find a home for his/her Arabian horse. It is very difficult to find a pasture home for a horse that is not broke to ride.
Scenario #2: The owner of a horse has fallen on difficult financial times and has not been able to properly care for his/her horse. The horse has become skinny, teeth have not been floated, hoof care has not been done, the horse has not been wormed or immunized. The owner has been trying to find a new home, but because of the neglected state of his/her horse, it is impossible.
Scenario #3: The owner of a horse owns a horse with training issues. Maybe the horse has been with one or two trainers, maybe the owner cannot afford to pay a trainer or maybe the owner has just “too much horse” for his/her ability level. Often, an owner bought a “bomb proof” horse and learned afterwards that the horse is not what had been promised. The owner has been trying to find a new home, but most people do not want a “project horse”.
In these kinds of situations, the owner often becomes desperate and sells his/her horses to a broker (flipper) or sells the horses at auction. Horses sold in such circumstance often end up in the slaughter pipeline.
LTH works hard to prevent Arabian horses from entering the slaughter pipeline, this is why we try to focus on taking horse through what is called owner relinquishment.
Scenario #4: An Arabian horse ends up at one of one of the low-end horse auctions. Either an owner has become desperate to place his/her horse or the horse is sold by a trader (flipper) at one of these auctions. Especially if the horse is not broke to ride, two dangers exist for the horse. A kill buyer buys the horse and ships the horse off to a middle-man or another auction outside of California and the horse ends up in the slaughter pipeline to Mexico or Canada. Arabian horses are the preferred type of horse to be used at illegal Mexican rodeos for horse tripping. These rodeos are illegal, but they occur nonetheless. For most horses, this is a cruel death sentence.
Kill Buyers - it is illegal to ship a horse straight to slaughter from California. The way that kill buyers circumvent this law, is to sell the horse to a middle man or sell the horses at a second, out of state auction, to slaughter exporters. So, California horses still ship to slaughter.
Scenario #5: The owner of an Arabian horse has died without making provisions for his/her horse, the horse has become part of the estate and the horse is sent to auction to be sold. As with Scenario #4, the horse is now in danger of falling into the hands of a kill buyer or being used as a tripping horse at an illegal rodeo.
Scenario #6: The Arabian horse was sold or given for free by the prior owner to what he/she believed to be a good home, but somehow the horse ends up at a low end auction, some time after the original sale or placement. As with Scenario #4, the horse is now in danger of falling into the hands of a kill buyer or being used as a tripping horse at an illegal rodeo.
LTH works hard to prevent Arabian horses from entering the slaughter pipeline, this is why we also try to bid for Arabian horses at low-end auctions.
Scenario #7: An Arabian horse ends up in the care of law-enforcement or animal control because the horse was part of a criminal neglect or abuse case. At most animal shelters, rules prevent the staff for trying a horse out under saddle. The horse is offered for adoption, but adopters take a chance because there is no information whether the horse is rideable or broke to ride. If the horse is not adopted within a certain time period, the horse is often euthanized.
LTH works with several law enforcement and animal control agencies that alert us when an Arabian horse is in their possession and needs placement.
Rescue to Rescue Transfers happen at times, either because the rescue knows that we specialize in Arabian horses or because a rescue is shutting down and need their Arabians transferred to another rescue.
LTH takes in Arabian horses from varied sources. We have also had owner relinquishments of horses that came from kill pens. Often a horse lover bought a horse from a kill pen and then the horse turned out too much to handle for the adopter.
When somebody comes to adopt one of our vetted and trained Arabian horses, the adopter is essentially saving a horse’s life because once the adopted horse leaves, LTH can in turn go and rescue one additional horse. Because of adoptions, LTH has been able to safe 141 horses, once these were adopted, LTH was able to get another 141 horses. This results in a total of 282 horses saved.
We also have sanctuary horses which are horses that are either too old or too traumatized to be considered for adoption. These horses have our promise to be able to live out their lives at LTH. However, because these horses are permanent residents, we are limited as to how many sanctuary horses we can take in.
Since November 2016 to December 31, 2020 ~ 383 horses rescued
287 horses adopted
10 horses euthanized or deceased
In 2016, we rescued 11 horses ~ rehabilitated, trained and adopted 2 horses into permanent homes.
In 2017, we rescued 66 horses~ rehabilitated, trained and adopted 36 horses into permanent homes. 1 horse was euthanized, 3 horses were cared for in foster homes.
In 2018, we rescued 110 horses~ rehabilitated, trained and adopted 82 horses into permanent homes. We returned 2 horses to their original owner, assisted 26 owners in rehoming their horses, transferred 4 horses to partnering rescues, and had 5 horses decease (either natural death or through euthanasia).
In 2019, we rescued 77 horses ~ rehabilitated, trained and adopted 80 horses into permanent homes. We assisted 58 owners in rehoming their horses, and had 2 horses decease (both were over 30 years old and were euthanized because of colic).
In 2020, we have rescued 119 horses, accepted 3 horses back from adoption homes, 2 horses deceased ~ rehabilitated, trained and adopted out 87 horses into permanent homes.
Additionally, in 2020, in response to the Covid-19 crisis, we assisted by providing feeding assistance, in the amount of $11,843.72 to over 50 horse owners to ensure that their horses could stay with them and did not have to be relinquished. We partnered with the ASPCA and brought in a semi-truck with horse feed in value of $10,000 that we distributed to horse owners in need.
How does adoption help our Arabian horses stay out of the slaughter pipeline?
Love this Horse (LTH) has a strong focus on rehabilitating, training and adopting horses into permanent homes. Since our inception in November 2016, we have placed 139 horses into permanent adoptive homes. (Current as of April 10, 2019). At LTH, we focus on starting or re-starting horses under saddle and turning the horses into reliable riding partners.
Once a horse is adopted, it frees us up to take in another horse that is in transition.
How do horses end up in transition?
Scenario #1: Often brood mares or stallions have not been started under saddle. The owner is now elderly, has health issues or is experiencing financial difficulties and has been trying to find a home for his/her Arabian horse. It is very difficult to find a pasture home for a horse that is not broke to ride.
Scenario #2: The owner of a horse has fallen on difficult financial times and has not been able to properly care for his/her horse. The horse has become skinny, teeth have not been floated, hoof care has not been done, the horse has not been wormed or immunized. The owner has been trying to find a new home, but because of the neglected state of his/her horse, it is impossible.
Scenario #3: The owner of a horse owns a horse with training issues. Maybe the horse has been with one or two trainers, maybe the owner cannot afford to pay a trainer or maybe the owner has just “too much horse” for his/her ability level. Often, an owner bought a “bomb proof” horse and learned afterwards that the horse is not what had been promised. The owner has been trying to find a new home, but most people do not want a “project horse”.
In these kinds of situations, the owner often becomes desperate and sells his/her horses to a broker (flipper) or sells the horses at auction. Horses sold in such circumstance often end up in the slaughter pipeline.
LTH works hard to prevent Arabian horses from entering the slaughter pipeline, this is why we try to focus on taking horse through what is called owner relinquishment.
Scenario #4: An Arabian horse ends up at one of one of the low-end horse auctions. Either an owner has become desperate to place his/her horse or the horse is sold by a trader (flipper) at one of these auctions. Especially if the horse is not broke to ride, two dangers exist for the horse. A kill buyer buys the horse and ships the horse off to a middle-man or another auction outside of California and the horse ends up in the slaughter pipeline to Mexico or Canada. Arabian horses are the preferred type of horse to be used at illegal Mexican rodeos for horse tripping. These rodeos are illegal, but they occur nonetheless. For most horses, this is a cruel death sentence.
Kill Buyers - it is illegal to ship a horse straight to slaughter from California. The way that kill buyers circumvent this law, is to sell the horse to a middle man or sell the horses at a second, out of state auction, to slaughter exporters. So, California horses still ship to slaughter.
Scenario #5: The owner of an Arabian horse has died without making provisions for his/her horse, the horse has become part of the estate and the horse is sent to auction to be sold. As with Scenario #4, the horse is now in danger of falling into the hands of a kill buyer or being used as a tripping horse at an illegal rodeo.
Scenario #6: The Arabian horse was sold or given for free by the prior owner to what he/she believed to be a good home, but somehow the horse ends up at a low end auction, some time after the original sale or placement. As with Scenario #4, the horse is now in danger of falling into the hands of a kill buyer or being used as a tripping horse at an illegal rodeo.
LTH works hard to prevent Arabian horses from entering the slaughter pipeline, this is why we also try to bid for Arabian horses at low-end auctions.
Scenario #7: An Arabian horse ends up in the care of law-enforcement or animal control because the horse was part of a criminal neglect or abuse case. At most animal shelters, rules prevent the staff for trying a horse out under saddle. The horse is offered for adoption, but adopters take a chance because there is no information whether the horse is rideable or broke to ride. If the horse is not adopted within a certain time period, the horse is often euthanized.
LTH works with several law enforcement and animal control agencies that alert us when an Arabian horse is in their possession and needs placement.
Rescue to Rescue Transfers happen at times, either because the rescue knows that we specialize in Arabian horses or because a rescue is shutting down and need their Arabians transferred to another rescue.
LTH takes in Arabian horses from varied sources. We have also had owner relinquishments of horses that came from kill pens. Often a horse lover bought a horse from a kill pen and then the horse turned out too much to handle for the adopter.
When somebody comes to adopt one of our vetted and trained Arabian horses, the adopter is essentially saving a horse’s life because once the adopted horse leaves, LTH can in turn go and rescue one additional horse. Because of adoptions, LTH has been able to safe 141 horses, once these were adopted, LTH was able to get another 141 horses. This results in a total of 282 horses saved.
We also have sanctuary horses which are horses that are either too old or too traumatized to be considered for adoption. These horses have our promise to be able to live out their lives at LTH. However, because these horses are permanent residents, we are limited as to how many sanctuary horses we can take in.
When you support Love This Horse, you are changing lives. Please consider donating today.
VERA V-ABDALLAH
PRESIDENT Long before Vera started "Love This Horse", she was busy with another profound rescue operation. After she earned her law degree from Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego, she could assist others in adopting children from Haiti, where she also ran an orphanage. She is also the mother of four internationally adopted children. Vera returned to the United States a year after the devastating earthquake in Haiti, after all of her orphaned children had joined their forever families in the U.S., Canada, Europe and South America.
Vera has been around Arabian horses since she was a small child, with a mother who was an Arabian horse trainer in Europe. Vera and her children are the daily caregivers of the horses at "Love This Horse", tending to the horses every day, feeding and cleaning stalls in the morning and after school, walking the horses on a lead line, ponying them off the broke horses to build their muscles and trail experience and playing games with them. It's with their daily and constant kindness that the healing begins. |
TRAINERS
Zoë van Mourik Vera Valdivia-Abdallah Caleb DiPaola Liz Johnson |