A bleak situation for a San Mateo horse-rescue group may have
been a stroke of good luck. The Equine Rescue Center, founded in
2009, had been preparing for its planned move into a new location
in San Mateo County at the end of last month, but weeks ago found
out that the property owners had changed their minds about leasing
the land. It left Monica Gavin, the nonprofit organization’s
founder and director, without a home for the operation.
A bleak situation for a San Mateo horse-rescue group may have been a stroke of good luck.
The Equine Rescue Center, founded in 2009, had been preparing for its planned move into a new location in San Mateo County at the end of last month, but weeks ago found out that the property owners had changed their minds about leasing the land. It left Monica Gavin, the nonprofit organization’s founder and director, without a home for the operation.
Her agreement at the property near the Pigeon Point Lighthouse in San Mateo County called for leasing about 30 acres. Gavin and her family, though, quickly found a new site north of New Idria near Hollister, where they moved Aug. 1 and now lease 3,000 acres for the operation while also living on the property.
Although on the downside, her husband will have to commute to his job in the Bay Area, but Gavin said she already has noticed a lot of benefits in the new location. The 28 horses currently in the rescue center’s care have seemingly endless space to roam, but they also are better off in warmer weather. As Gavin put it, though, going from 50 degrees to 90 degrees in southern San Benito County is a big adjustment.
“I was kind of trying to find better weather,” Gavin said Monday while taking time away from unpacking, “because one of the biggest issues I had at the last site – it’s really cold. In the middle of July, I had to put blankets on my horses. And the way horses stay warm is by eating, so the feed costs were astronomical.”
Gavin immediately saw the upside with lower feed costs, and she said the horses appeared happy in their new home.
With a chronic form of arthritis herself, Gavin said she has felt better in the hotter climate.
“Not only am I feeling good, but some of them are feeling good, too,” said Gavin, who added that the heat has, however, been a difficult transition for a few of the animals.
Aside from climate adjustments, Gavin and the rescue center have been hard at work in establishing the organization, and its roots, in San Benito County. At some point, she plans to open the grounds to the public on certain days of the week, possibly Wednesdays and Saturdays. She hopes to put together an open house of some kind, maybe a barbecue, for people in the area, to get in contact with locals who have interest in the group. In the past, the organization has been keen on involving youth groups with its efforts and providing educational sessions for students. Gavin said they plan to do the same in San Benito County.
“Children come out. We kind of give, without too many difficult details, we give a little bit of a background and explain what they were used for, what happened to them,” she said, about the rescued animals. “It teaches compassion. To teach children that animals do have feelings, it will make them a better person down the road.”
The Equine Rescue Center, the only one of its kind in the area, has focused on rescuing horses and other animals, such as donkeys, that are faced with an array of abuses or neglect. Some have ailments. Others are elderly and can’t be ridden, or young with an injury that makes the horse generally useless on a ranch. Gavin also attends auctions and rescues horses likely headed to slaughter.
Her interest in the operation started about five or six years ago, she said. She had a veteran in the San Mateo area ask her if she wanted to take in an older horse. It grew from there, including the adoption of an abused donkey that still stays at the center today.
“I started seeing how it worked,” she said. “The ball started rolling.”
And it stopped just briefly last month before Gavin found the new home in San Benito County. So far, many locals have gotten in contact with her and offered gracious thoughts about the group.
“That makes me happy. I feel very welcomed,” she said.
It doesn’t appear as though Gavin would have to go through any special permitting for the move here. County Planning Director Gary Armstrong mentioned that a zone change, which wouldn’t appear necessary there, is a primary reason for government involvement in such situations.
Gavin, meanwhile, blamed the Bay Area’s astronomical property values, even to lease ranch land, for the decision to leave San Mateo County.
“I couldn’t find land – I tried everything I could,” she said.
MCT News contributed to this report.
