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Her-Story!
Some roots start in thin air...
I have been a life-long horsewoman, with one of my first memories being my little legs sticking straight out with feet pointing up in the air -- they were too short to even bend downward, around the big horse -- sitting on the back of my mother’s lesson horse (Chance). 

    Like in the picture here  ---------------------> 
(Disclaimer: this photo is not me / found on Pinterest)

My first fall was from a huge (16.3 hand), flea-bitten gray, and very clumsy farm horse, named Dusty -- one of my mother's original "nags"  (our original "rescue" horses, if we had called them that back then...).  I thought for sure he tripped and knocked the wind out of me on purpose (I was so tiny, and he so tall, I did a double-somersault over his shoulder and onto my back).  I was afraid to ride for a while...

   This eventually led to my parents getting me my first pony, "Wee Willie," a small bay pony who, unbeknownst to us, had foundered before we got him, and was with us less than a year until we had to humanely euthanize him. 

   Sadly, this was just my first encounter and learning experience about horses' suffering due to people's mishandling, neglect of, and mistreatment of horses (usually at the seller's gain...).

My first show experiences were lead-line on my mother's horse, Chance, and on Wee Willie.
"On Deck"
Our next pony, a medium Welsh pony, "On Deck" ("Deckers"), was an accomplished show pony, and he took my sister and I to many local level hunter and 4-H championships (he also won 3rd place in the 4-H state championship cart class (1990)). 

Deckers was retired in the late 1980's, and he crossed the Rainbow Bridge on our farm in fall 2003. 
Champagne Bubbles
Our next pony was a large, "flea-bitten" gray
Arabian pony.  She was a timid jumper but she was very sweet, and also took me to states and several local hunter championships. 

Champagne Bubbles (“Sam”) was retired in 1990, and crossed the Rainbow Bridge on our farm in fall 1995.
Show Circuit...
We were hooked on the local show circuit by this point...
       Yes, as you can see here, we were the family that showed up in the little, rusted, po-dunk bumper pull -- and the 4 of us piling out of our old single-cab 1970's Dodge Ram.  We eventually upgraded to a 2500 Chevy Van (as we grew), but we frequently fooled the competition with our rinky-dink looks...    
"Mr. Goodie Two-Shoes"
My big, bold, hunter champion horse, “Mr. Goodie Two-Shoes” (barn name: Roadie) was bred on our farm, trained and showed by a well-known local trainer, and took me to many hunter jumper championships in local show circuits, to District titles in hunter horses and hunter equitation, and to a 4-H State Championship in Working Hunter Horses Over Fences in 1991 (jumping 3’6” at the time).  After breaking my back in a fall in 1996, I did not ride again for nearly 11 years.  Roadie was in retirement with us the whole time as, though I went to school, we could not bring ourselves to sell him.  He was content in retirement for several years, until his companion (his sister) lost her vision.  Then he mostly stayed near her, guiding her around the farm.
And the rest?  Is Her-story...!
In 2008, when Roadie’s sister and only remaining companion passed, my mother (who I now co-own our family farm with) and I were faced with a decision: get a companion for Roadie? Or finally give in and try to re-home him? We still couldn’t bear the thought of selling him though --> We just couldn't get past the thought of "But where will he end up?" and knowing that so many horses -- companions and ex-Champions alike -- end up in the slaughter pipeline due to owners not knowing any better or having no better option for their loyal horses.  So we agreed that option was OUT OF THE QUESTION!  And we started the search for a companion.  We found a “lame” ex-dressage horse, "Mark" -- being sold for less than meat prices ($500) -- and took the chance on him due to his disposition and experience. 

It turns out, Mark (“Mark My Words”) was a complete rescue case (not only did Mark have un-diagnosed Cushings disease, bad teeth, bad feet, arthritis, COPD from living in a dark, dank barn with NO TURN-OUT for over a year, but half of his one hoof wall literally separated and fell off within a month of arriving to our farm, due to the long periods of standing in his previous stall, filled with urine from the Cushings, and the ammonia of that situation which had also ruined his lungs?  It must have been awful for him. Several months later we got a call from the previous owner (now dealing horses? still with no turn-out?!) asking about Mark’s welfare, because she had sold another horse who was beaten, and subsequently died. We knew without a doubt at this point, Mark was a complete rescue, and we had saved his life!

 What we did not know, and couldn’t have guessed, is that Mark also saved our lives! My mother and I had been coping with my father’s failing health, and with each major hospitalization, it seemed, we would adopt another rescue horse.…

Since that fateful decision to buy Mark in 2008 -- and really, since we made the decision to never sell Roadie so it was always ingrained in us, the fear of never knowing where he would end up, not knowing how his life would end -- our lives have changed forever.   We wanted to make sure that our beloved and loyal Roadie had a safe landing and peaceful passage when the time came for him to cross the Rainbow Bridge, where he would be surrounded by love; not screaming in fear and pain in a slaughter house across our boarders....

 Since then, 24 horses have come through our sanctuary (rescuing about one per year), and we currently have 13 horses calling our farm their forever home* -- and believing it! 


Today...

I no longer jump, and I don't go to big, competitive horse shows.  Today, I practice Natural Horsemanship on my rescues, and I work to rehabilitate starved, abandoned, broken-down, and discarded animals.  We usually get horses that are very underweight, malnourished, worm-riddled or have some other "undesirable" ailment (e.g. Leo, with his goiter, Mark with his arthritis, Daisy being "too old," etc.).  Some heal and learn to trust again quickly.  Others?  Take a long time.   And yes, we have taken in some who were too far gone, and were happy to give them a safe, loving landing as they passed on.  But mainly?  

     -- We are THRILLED to see the transformation in a horse, from starved and abused to DAPPLED, SHINY, HAPPY, and FREE, running around in the pastures!   What more could there be to live for than this simple reward?  


(Ok, there is one reward, beyond just seeing my happy rescues in the pastures, or hearing them happily munch away on hay in their stalls?   I will admit, I *do* love trail riding the ones that are safe enough to ride... I can't deny that!)   =)

      

If you would like share this rewarding horse rescue experience, please contact us to see how you can help.

Contact Us
Tell us more about yourself and why you are interested in seeking time with the horses at Ups & Downs Acres. 

*Permanent Sanctuary:
It is the firm belief of Ups & Downs Farm and Rescue that we will not sell or try to re-home horses.  Those horses lucky enough to have found safe harbor on our farm will remain at the Sanctuary until it is their time to cross the