Re-Ride – Giving Former Show Horses a New Lease on Life

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218 – August/September, 2017

BY ALISON FOSTER

It was a frigid day in early January when Heather Barr and her daughter, Mindy, made the one hour drive from their family farm in Circleville, Ohio to visit the ReRide Quarter Horse Adoption Center. With snow camouflaging the lines on the road, and the car thermometer reading -3 degrees, it was a miserable day, even by the standards of weather-hardened Midwesterners. Yet the mother-daughter duo remained undaunted, refusing to let something as trivial as weather stop them from meeting Kerri Burke and learning more about the program she had founded. Little did they know, but this snowy winter drive was just the start of a much longer journey. Their first visit to Re-Ride would not only lead them to the horse of a lifetime, but would ignite in them a sense of purpose that has forever changed their outlook on owning and showing horses.

Re-Ride Horse Adoption Program was founded in 2010 by Kerri Burke as a haven for unwanted or displaced American Quarter Horses. In the wake of the 2008 economic collapse, Kerri, who was working full time at a vet clinic, started seeing an unprecedented number of horses with fixable ailments being euthanized or sent to slaughter because their owners could no longer shoulder the financial burden of ownership. Unable to sit back and watch so many talented horses go to waste, she started Re-Ride as a safe haven where these horses could be rehabilitated before finding bright, new careers with new owners.

Re-Ride is the only all Quarter Horse, 501c3, non-profit rescue in the nation. In exchange for a potential tax-deduction or tax credit, owners in financial or emotional distress can donate their horses to the program. Once accepted, ReRide works to rehabilitate the horses before adopting them out to a loving home. Operating strictly off donations and grants that go directly towards the rehabilitation and training of the horses in the program, Re-Ride has grown exponentially. Over the past seven years, it has successfully found forever homes for over 100 former show horses. With this success, Kerri has expanded the program to accept registered American Paint Horses as well.

Click here to read the complete article
218 – August/September, 2017