Finally, a way to tell the good from the bad
Jan 09 2010
I mentioned this before on the blog while it was still being discussed, but now it’s become a reality. Â The Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries has developed a rescue/sanctuary accreditation program and so far two rescues have been accredited – Habitat for Horses in Texas and Angel Acres in Pennsylvania.
Last spring, I attended a presentation on the program and I was really impressed. Â They were going to evaluate rescues from every perspective – from the quality of hands-on care to the record keeping and financial status. Â It’s a great system. Â Not only do you have to have clean stalls and quality feed to pass muster, but you have to know where next month’s hay is coming from. They aren’t going to accredit you if your finances look shady or donor money has gone unaccounted for (but you are driving a Mercedes despite not having any other source of income). Â Oh, and they are going to do rechecks, particularly if complaints are received about an accredited sanctuary.
I think the program is a great idea, and I do understand that it’s quite paperwork intensive but let’s face it – the paperwork is part of the job if you want to have a 501(c)(3) charity.
So if you want to see if your rescue passes muster, apply by contacting patty@sanctuaryfederation.org. Â I think that this is going to become an absolutely great way for donors to choose good places to send their money to, even if the rescue is too far away for them to visit in person.
43 comments to “Finally, a way to tell the good from the bad”
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That is GREAT news!!!!!
This is paperwork intensive on both ends – let’s hope the people passing out the accreditation are also fully dedicated to following up and doing those checks/rechecks – and are immune to passing over friends/family without an equally strong process.
It’s only with the trust of the public that this will work, and they won’t retain that if they do not follow their own standards for every rescue, every complaint, every time.
This is a great first step, though!
What a great idea! This will make the lives of all animals in those shady santuaries better and I’ll surely be keeping track of the sanctuaries that do make the list.
Finally, a great way to sort the “men from the boys” and provide long needed accreditation for horse rescues.
Now, if we could only do the same for owners and breeders.
I also say parents. Some people shouldn’t be allowed to reproduce…… Or be allowed near children, period. That fugs kindly points out about little kids around foals, or kids bare headed, barely clothed on a loose horse bareback, that’s common sense people, if they can’t use common sense, they shouldn’t own any living creature.
You mean that I would have to financial papers to prove I can take care of the 50 horses I have? WTF, isn’t my word good enough? *head desk* Thank goodness! We can sort out true rescues from the “rescues” in other words the hoarders that just use the term “rescue” so people will look at them, but not as hard. To bad the cat is usually let out of the bag (for them at least) when people figure out that they really are hoarding……. I hope they don’t have any loop holes, the scum of the earth love loop holes. If there is one to be found, they will find it.
Yep, the “follow up” is vital to the success of any program like this. And I agree: We need more of this kind of check-up for owners and breeders (as well as trainers and instructors). I hate the Big Government aspect of control over things, but since anyone can claim to be rescue, sanctuary, owner, breeder, trainer, or instructor without any sort of license or anything, there has to be some sort of governance where people can report abuses or downright cheats.
I just had an e-mail exchange with a dressage rider, who has her USDF gold medal, who had a custom saddle made that was not correct from the start. The saddlemaker refused to make it right. She took him to court but lost because the case took two years and his testimony was after hers. Had it involved blood and gore, the case would not have been postponed, I guess.
I had the same problem, a custom saddle that was “custom” in price only. The saddlemaker has changed his company name and is taking out half-page color ads in Dressage Today, complete with his picture. If there were a place to report this sort of crap, people like him would be less likely to take advantage of us “nobodies.”
Report him to the Better Business Bureau. If I can call them to complain about car repair and home repair cheats, why not a saddlemaker? They’ve got offices all over the US.
The great thing is – it is voluntary. So if you choose to apply, people know you put in the effort to PROVE you are not a hoarder/wacko/con artist to your donors. I like it. The group has been accrediting wildlife sanctuaries for some time – they just recently got into equine sanctuaries. So they have some experience about how to make the program work.
Not only that, but if it is voluntary, it’s a good question to ask rescues that have not been accredited- “Do you know about this accreditation program? If so, why haven’t you applied? If not, now that you know, will you be applying?”
There is a “rescue” in our area that proudly advertises their rescues for sale, but becomes a “hidden” advertiser when they put ads in begging for “free hay” to feed those horses. Although they do buy out of the kill pen and attempt to retrain, the odd advertising makes you wonder.
Yay! I really like this program (as I’ve said before, we have a state equine facility accreditation program with mandatory on site inspections too). It seems like a head ache when you set your farm up in these programs, but systematizing things and essentially having an inclusive manual of standard operating procedures and detailed emergency plans makes things easier in the long run. Horse health/diet/training records are a breeze to update and are available at a moment’s notice. If you need to leave town, your assistants or horse sitters (if you are private) have everything they need in an organized, written format. if you are a rescue/sanctuary, even better, your donors can feel confident in your ability to care for your animals and achieve your goals.
This is excellent news! Hopefully it will become a standard to create a rescue or sanctuary for horses; then people would know that the rescue/sanctuary isn’t some psycho trying to get money or a dirt poor hoarder.
Do you know if they do more than one follow-up? I mean, you can start off with the best of intentions and have your facility really nice and, once everyone’s back is turned for a long time, things can change really quickly; money could go for things other than taking care of the horses, the horses could easily end up starved, injured, missing, pregnant, etc. It would be really cool if they would come back unexpectedly to check on the property just to make sure things are still good…
With the word “Global” in the title, does anyone think that they may cover Canada?
Not a chance during winter.
I live there once, then moved south.
-15C this morning & I’m off to ride!!!
Shutter…
Brilliant! Now if social services (CPS in particular) could follow suit then the world would be a better place, LOL.
Good on them and the rescues that pass and continue to set a fine example for the rest of them.
That’s truly great news. If you have nothing to fear a program like that would be great. The same thing goes for owners, if you don’t overbreed, or neglect your horses then why not get a program like that for owners? I’d sign up!
i agree with this program..its about time
Now if we could just make a similar certification watch dog for horse trainers!!! That would be amazingly sweet.
Wonderful.
Think they might like to do boarding stables as well? It could be a very long wait before they see any volunteer. That does says something about a for profit versus a non-profit business.
Now if a rescue operation wants to run a boarding business on the side with an accreditation for both, I’m there.
says = say
That would be amazing! Then no one would have to worry about how their horse(s) are being treated while the owners are at work and people wouldn’t be scammed!
Hmm…makes me wonder how many stables would actually pass that are around my area. I know of one that might not…
This is a great idea!!!! I was on CL yesterday and followed a link to a “RESCUE”, it was disturbing, all her horses look pretty thin
. I thought the worst part is that she has chronological pictures up and the only time her horses look fat and healthy is when she first gets them. She also recently took in three stallions and the stalls look like they have a weeks worth of manure in them 
. Of course she also keeps a thoroughbred stallion who she says on her website, in bold, is “TOO OLD TOO GELD”. I think she is a borderline hoarder:(, and i only say “borderline” because she claims to have a full time job on her website. There are of course pictures of children/adults riding emaciated horses on her website, and MAKE sure you are sitting down if you decide to watch her so called “Dressage” video, that poor old mare 
. Oh and of course children never wear helmets when riding (eyes rolling). I have been bothered by her website since i looked at it yesterday 
.
http://www.aaaequinerescue.com
p.s. i haven’t posted for a while my old user name was aimeesshadow
You can have a full time job and be a hoarder, one does not preclude the other.
OT But this is pretty close to home…
http://teddyhorse.wordpress.com/
Looking back at my post, i may have over reacted, if so I’m sorry . I just found it unusual that i dwell over a website like that.
I don’t think that you over reacted at all. Worst rescue ever. For one emaciated horses should never be ridder. Sure a light ride when they are a bit under weight (little ribby) that’s one thing but some of those horses that are being ridden are like 2′s. They need all the energy they can get, riding will just burn off more carbs which wont help them gain any weight. That dressage video was horrible. The mare was thin, hollow and didn’t even have the muscle to be round, and the rider! The mare seemed like she was probably a half decent horse, but the rider was horrible, perched forward, horrible seat, hands…I could go on forever. Pore horse didn’t seem to happy. Honestly I think this rescue could earn front page on Fugly!
Correction – not the worst rescue ever but right up there with NorCal Equine Rescue that is in the same town . Their horses get skinnier and sicker each month until they decide to put them down so they can get new ones aka new donations.
It will be interesting to see if either one of those dumps passes inspection , if they do there is a problem.
I don’t think it is the worst ever, yet. So far we haven’t seen any dead horses littering the property and we don’t know that they are scamming the government and those who donate. They look like they could use some education. (Like from this blog!) They also look like they are trying to do too much. But maybe they are going for volume not quality. Like a discount store version of horse rescue. They do have full time jobs and a lot of horses, so I bet that they don’t get out a lot to see horses that are fat and healthy. I bet skinny has become the norm to them. (This doesn’t make Magic, who looked better in July except for the feet, feel any better.)
Did you see that volunteer kid? She learned to ride in one day! (“On week three she finally got to learn to ride and Midnight was glad to assist.”) Why on earth am I paying $40 bucks for lessons for a couple of years already when they can teach a kid to ride in one day? Wow. Now I am just picking, but, while I am at it, what does “Needs Finished” mean? They need grammar lessons too.
Go into “permanent residents” and click on Midnight. There’s pictures of her before she came into their rescue and after…she still looks the same!
“NUIC Is a 20 year old 15.3 hand Thoroughbred Stallion but he has never covered a mare in his life. even though he is up for stud which is only as a promise to his old owner. He is too old to breed and too old to geld. ” Wait…what?! “Never” covered in a mare in his life? For all that you know, he could have hopped the fence one day to visit his lady friend. On top of that, she promised to keep the stallion up for stud? What?! Why the crap would you promise to keep a stallion up for stud from an owner who gave him up? Where’s the logic in that?
I watched the dressage video…I feel so bad for that mare. She doesn’t look like she has enough energy for that, not to mention the fact that she is still very thin.
If you go into “Greener Pastures” click on Bud. “Bud laid down to roll today and got stuck under the panels. When I got home from work there was nothing that could be done for him, so we had to let him go. No matter what we could have tried he had been down to long which is a tragedy in my eyes. It’s hard not being home at all times to babysit my horses but I have to work to keep them fed. He will be loved and missed.” Okay, I understand the owner has a job and has bills to pay. I can understand that. What I don’t understand is why. They’re asking for volunteers, so we’ll assume that they actually have volunteers working there. Why not have a trusted volunteer, whose able to work, stay with the horses during the time the owner is gone? I understand one’s worry in having them steal, get into things, etc., but if you do your homework right, you won’t have to worry about that problem.
Correct me if I’m wrong in anything…
This is awesome, and even better that it’s NOT “Big Government” or “little (local) government.” Maybe it is paperwork-intensive, but I bet the rescues who are are doing things right and keeping good records won’t find it that difficult—just photocopying and sending off financial documents they already have.
The other 2/3 of the equation to make this work is for 1.potential donors to give preference to rescues on the list, including encouraging their favorite rescues to join, and 2.the donor community doing good “watchdog” work, visiting frequently and posting ratings once they have a website.
That sounds a whole lot like the accreditation process for zoos by the AZA, and it sounds fantastic! This is such an awesome new development for rescues, so that just a casual visitor can see the little thingy that says they’re accredited. This is such good news.
Just as good zoos need to be separated from roadside zoos, good rescues need to be separated from roadside rescues.
I am so happy.
The only rescue that I contribute to, right now, is Joe@TB Friends. I like the way he does things, I enjoy his blog. This rescue is his, and his wife’s work. There are no “trappings” involved, he isn’t out buying lots of “stuff.” I have also contributed to a local sanctuary. It’s in the area, you can drive over there, and they welcome visitors. If there was any hesitation, they wouldn’t get any of my money.
Two big thumbs up for Habitat for Horses.
I have a question. I was reading the GFAS rules and one was a on site inspection. The question is, some horse rescues foster out thier horses. Does GFAS go to these foster homes and check them out?
I would think it is the rescue’s responsibility to first qualify a foster home and then require their fosters to maintain a specified level of care. This would have to be monitored by said rescue- all of which would have to be documented so when the time comes for their acceptance, they will have objective evidence to show.
aimeebru, no way were you overreacting – that place looks terrible! It appears that in almost every set of “before and after” rehab photos the horses are either just as emaciated months later (if not more) as they were in the beginning. I`ve seen some pretty skinny horses fatten up fairly rapidly after just a couple of weeks of proper feeding, so who knows what this “rescue” is doing.
And they`re riding them? WTF.
OT but I just e-mailed about an ongoing abuse case in Washington…woman needs help moving her horses to a safe place.
I think this is a great idea, too. I have a question OT. I found out the name of the horse that SRCHAC (Santa Rosa County Horse Assistance Council) is fostering. It is O Paddy Boy. I see here all the time that you find out past owners, we would like to find his last owner (not the one who is being charged with felony animal abuse for his condition at the time he was seized by Animal Services). He has a race record 6 races with one third place, all claiming races at Calder Raceway. At SRCHAC, we do not “rescue” horses. We help the owners rehome them and foster for Animal Services. We are currently seeking homes for 5 horses that the owners can no longer take care of, death, finances, etc. Until homes are found, we are providing the feed. We placed two horses just after Christmas and this is on-topic, one was a 23 year old stallion. We have a policy no stallions will be placed so we paid for his castration. He did very well and he and his donkey companion are living north of Mobile. Our vet just had a silent auction at his clinicduring his annual Christmas Party and raised $1,700 to be used for our second round of low-cost castration clinics. Because we do not ever take, seize, or accept horses, I do not think we would qualify as a group who would need/desire to be certified, or is this something we should try to do. Sorry this is so long, but I have to get a new password every tiime I try to log on and I have not figured out how to change the one they give me to something reasonable, so long time between posts. Thanks to those who helped me to try to find the TB.
Here is an article I just wrote for the Sonoma County Horse Jounal about one of the SAFER rescue successes:
The first time I saw Sierra she was in a small pen at the Petaluma Auction. At 17 hands she looked like a horse version of an anorexic New York model. Those legs just went on forever on her young thin frame. Four years old and unraced, she came with her JC papers. She was down about 200 pounds and her haunches were covered in rain rot. Her halter had worn an open sore on the side of her face. She was clearly frightened and confused. Oh jeez, I sighed, what on earth would be wrong with this one. Well it makes no never mind. As a public 501c3 horse rescue charity – SAFER will take them in and find them homes or -when necessary- give them a peaceful end. To these ends the NorthBay community contributes their hard earned dollars to SAFER and so I took the bid on her for $170. This one would not be on the truck to Mexico.
As she was the only horse there that day I could not take her to the foster I had in mind as she would be all alone. So I begged my very patient foster Mom – Susan Simons to let Sierra stand in her pasture in sight of her gelding Taz and another SAFER foster Loni for her quarantine period. We treated her rain rot. She ate and ate. A vet check by Dr. Grant Miller revealed some startling news: there was nothing wrong with her! She was healthy, had strong hooves and was conformational nicely put together. He mentioned she could be a as a jumper with those long legs and powerful hind end.
Meanwhile she was very lonely. She wanted to make friends with Loni – even at a distance. As a youngster she still needed the guidance of an older mare in the herd to help her learn how to behave and fit in. But our Loni was having none of that. Loni is an older retired horse and adores “her†gelding Taz. Loni did not want some long legged young filly around to offer him any alternative interest. While Sierra was gaining weight – Loni was losing it as she patrolled the distant fence line against this unwelcome competition. This would not do – Sierra needed a home quickly. But one that had the expertise and passion to provide her with a good start. Would there be someone for Sierra?
So the word went out on the SAFER email alert list. And Behold – out of the mist came
Doris Eraldi, a novelist and horse trainer from Potter Valley. She and her husband came down to check out Sierra – and literally it was so foggy that day we could hardly see across the driveway! She lunged Sierra a bit and Sierra decided right away that Doris was the one for her. Others had come to see her and she had been polite…but she put her head in Doris’s hands and that was that.
And that was that. Doris adopted Sierra and loves having her. Doris also has an 11 year old gelding and her 32 year old retired mare that she has had all her life. And it turns out Sierra is already green-broke!
Interestingly, among Doris’s other writing credits (new novel SETTLER’S CHASE, Berkeley, Penguin Group, New York, will be released this July) she is also editor of the Rainbow Ag Newsletter. When Doris informed the owner of Rainbow Ag, Jim Mayfield, about the SAFER Donate a Bale and Hay Assistance Program – he decided that Mendocino and Lake County should also have those programs available. Now many horses will have much needed feed because of a skinny TB filly at the Petaluma auction. Horses have their missions in life too.
These days Sierra has a lovely farm to call her home. As it turns out, she mostly ignores the gelding, which causes him great dismay. Instead she stands shoulder to shoulder with Doris’s older mare most of the day. They have much to discuss.
Thats great what they are doing will deafaintly make rescues clean up their acts.
and aimeebru yes you are over-reacting you all are older horses have a harder time putting on weight.And I know my vet tells me it best for a horse just like people to put on weight slowly.If the horse was being starved your not gonna just throw them three flakes a feeding and leave them be you can kill them their bodys are not used to it.
If you guys are able to go on there and find all these complaints you should also be able to read the info too.
The thin horses look to be arabian and or thoroughbred and with those you see them get alittle ribby during season changes.
The thin horses I have saw came in that condition.I see them trying to help horses that most would turn their backs to or just put them down.
And you want to put her down for it.I dont see them making any profit on these horses and the money seems to be coming out of their pockets.
And about Magic she stated just the other day that his teeth were bothering him.And we all should know a horses teeth hurting him will cause him to lose weight.And she also sayed his teeth were done.
So he should gain weight soon.
and god if you can not see the improvement on midnight you need you eyes checked.
She has filled out just out everywhere but her back bone.and even that isnt as noticable as her first pics.
and in the first pictures she looks un happy in her face but she looks pretty happy in the latests like she has life again.
and who cares why she owns that stallion thats her business hes not even part of the rescue.
and on the dressage horse that is the only picture i have seen on all that site that she is using an english saddle and even on that page she says she does not ride english.I know if you put a western rider on an english saddle they look silly but who cares.and the crap in the stallions pictures looks like mudd to me do you see the grey sky?
I dont know whats stinging you in the butt but I dont see what you guys are talking about.
and I will defaintly be donating to help them geld those stallions.
I do agree on one part someone should be there to watch after the horses.
but i do not think that kid that volunteers once a week is gonna be able to handle that.
I only see one on the list.
Hi
How do we contact you? Do you have an email address that we can send things to?