Will You Have A Heart For Horses?

Local rescue holds annual fundraiser to benefit neglected, abused horses

Story submitted

Choco came to Triple R Horse Rescue after his plight was reported to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department. The morning volunteers went to pick him up, they found him tied to a ground stake in a junk-filled backyard with no grass in sight.
Drastically underweight, Choco was lethargic, had breathing problems and one of the highest parasite loads local vets had seen—and doubts ran high that he would make it.
But this guy had a big heart. He enjoyed several meals a day and started putting on weight, even while his breathing remained labored. It took a tracheotomy to help him breathe and three dental operations to give him a chance. Now about seven years old, Choco took that chance and has thrived, gaining more than 400 pounds.
Choco is one of the more than 250 neglected and abandoned horses that have found their way to Triple R, a 501(c)3 formally known as Equine Rescue and Rehabilitation Ranch Inc., a group of local volunteers who have banded together to help horses. Founded in 2009, it is one of the few resources in North Florida for abused, neglected, abandoned and hungry horses. The rescues come mostly from a six-county area of North Florida and three counties in South Georgia. They are cared for by a network of foster homes that stretch across Leon, Gadsden, Wakulla and Jefferson counties, as well as into Georgia.
Each year, Triple R holds its “Have A Heart For Horses” fundraiser to raise money to care for the horses. The organization is all-volunteer, and all donations are used to benefit the animals. The event is scheduled from 5 p.m. until 10 p.m. on April 7, at WC Dover Farm in Havana, and will feature horse demonstrations, dinner, silent auction, cash bar and a live band: The Allie Cats. Tickets are $60 and can be purchased online at triplerhorserescue.org.
Guests of honor will be nationally renowned trainer Marsha Hartford Sapp of Tallahassee and her champion Mustang, Cobra, who was passed over three times for adoption before Sapp took him under her wing for training. He is now a U.S. Equestrian Federation Horse of the Year and Western Dressage World Champion. He has also been honored by Breyer, maker of model horses, with his own model.

While Leon/Jefferson County region is home to many lush horse farms and their well-fed equines, horses in need are spread throughout the community. Some are hidden in walled-in backyards, others in pastures not visible from the road, some in open view. The history of each rescue is often hard to determine. Some of the rescues are retired racehorses whose stories can at least be partly traced through the Jockey Club because of their tattoos.
There have been many successful adoptions, with some of the rescue’s horses going as far afield as Maine, New York and Illinois. Yet there has also been sadness, the loss of horses that were too far gone to help.
Triple R raises money to care for the horses by running food concessions at local horse shows and its once-a-year “Have A Heart For Horses”. The funds help care for the horses in foster homes and are sometimes used to help families that have run into a financial bind and need temporary help to buy feed for their horses or get vaccines that will help their horses fend off deadly diseases like West Nile and Eastern Equine Encephalitis.
You can find out more about Triple R and the horses currently in foster care at triplerhorserescue.org or on Facebook, Triple R Horse Rescue Tallahassee. For more information about Have A Heart For Horses, call (850) 878-1670.