Volunteers with an equine rescue operation are spending this week moving to their new digs in Watsonville, where dozens of abused and abandoned equines will be able to spend their days living the good life while awaiting new homes.
Most of the work involves transporting the 48 equines, including horses, donkeys and mules, from their previous shelter in Paicines, near Hollister, to the 250-acre spread just off Highway 129.
Five other equines now in foster care are also awaiting homes, according to Monica Hardeman, 41, who founded the Equine Rescue Center & Sanctuary in 2009.
Her love of horses started at a young age, when she worked as a self-described “wrangler” at a small ranch. But her soft spot for abused, abandoned and neglected animals deepened as she went through her own healing process, after her sister Michelle Redmond’s murder in 1995.
“Having horses helped a lot and really, really healed me in a sense,” she said. “I’m a cowgirl, and I learned the benefit of caring for animals that needed a second chance, especially horses. I felt in a way that not only did they heal me, but I helped heal them, too.”
The no-kill shelter provides a place for injured equines to convalesce, but also serves as something of a retirement home for the elderly set, allowing them to live out their golden years in a safe and natural environment.
And anyone who adopts a horse from the facility, but later has a change of heart, is always welcome to return the animal for a full refund.
“I don’t want them to go back into the system. I want to make the person’s happy and finds the right horse,” Hardeman said.
Because most of the equines there have been abused or deemed violent, anyone who’s considering adopting one must first set up an appointment, then sign a waiver before they’re allowed to enter the complex. The property sits behind a locked gate on Vanoni Road, and visitors must be accompanied at all times by a rescue center volunteer.
Once the move-in is complete, the all-volunteer staff plans to re-start a free children’s program, which gives youth the opportunity to come to the property to learn more about the equines, and even help groom and feed them.
“We want to teach children about animal care and convey compassion and responsibility of animal ownership,” Hardeman said. Many of the charges there have mental-health issues, and “they go to auctions because they were kind of the rejects and no one wants them. So I re-train them and find them homes, or children can come and try to groom them and learn about animal care.”
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EQUINE RESCUE CENTER & SANCTUARY
– No-kill rescue organization founded in 2009
– Aims to find homes for equines that have been abused, abandoned, neglected or orphaned, as well as those bound for slaughter
– Serves as a “retirement home” for older equines
– Located at 1000 Vanoni Road, Watsonville
– Information: mo****@eq****************.com or 693-4302 (starting June 9, new number is 801-9805)
SOURCE: Equine Rescue Center & Sanctuary
