ASPCA Announces Recipients of Equine Welfare Safety Net Innovation Grants

NEW YORK – The ASPCA ^® (The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals ^®) today announced that it has granted $125,000 to three organizations to support their efforts to create one-of-a-kind, innovative programs that keep owned horses out of risk and in their homes.

The ASPCA Equine Welfare Safety Net Innovation Grant Program inspires new thinking and initiatives to improve equine welfare and expand safety net services for equines. The grant program supports new initiatives designed to identify owners with at-risk horses to deliver services and resources to help keep horses in their homes or provide access to euthanasia to alleviate suffering.

“We know there are too many horses being surrendered to rehoming organizations simply because their owners are experiencing short-term economic stress or have other issues that are relatively straight-forward to address,” said Dr. Emily Weiss, vice president of ASPCA Equine Welfare. “Safety net programs are vital to decreasing the risk for these horses by keeping them in their homes, and we are excited to be supporting these innovative new safety net programs to help ensure good welfare for all horses.”

The 2018 Equine Welfare Safety Net Innovation grant recipients include an equine rescue, animal shelter, and public university:

• Days End Farm Horse Rescue (Woodbine, Md.) – $25,000
  • Days End Farm Horse Rescue will leverage the strong network of animal control agencies it already partners with on cruelty cases to identify and provide horses in need with emergency support, working with owners who are facing temporary hardship but remain committed to the good welfare of their horses. These funds will pay for services and supplies including hay, veterinary care and farrier services.
• Kentucky Humane Society (Louisville, Ky.) – $50,000
  • Kentucky Humane Society will create a help line to field calls from overwhelmed owners and partner with the Kentucky Office of the State Veterinarian and the Kentucky Horse Council to identify and assist horses suffering from unintentional neglect or who are at risk of surrender. They will be able to deploy support to those in need to help increase retention.
• University of California, Davis, School of Veterinary Medicine (Davis, Calif.) – $50,000
  • With this grant funding, U.C. Davis will study the impact of free veterinary clinics and individual care for horses in underserved communities in northern California and Nevada. They will use supervised veterinary students to provide essential veterinary care, educate owners, and promote routine preventative medicine.

The ASPCA Equine Welfare department is focused on ensuring horses nationwide have good welfare, which includes working collaboratively with stakeholders in both the rescue community and equine industries to help at-risk horses safely transition to new careers and homes, increasing safety net support for horse owners, and enhancing anti-cruelty efforts. The ASPCA’s efforts to ensure equines have good welfare also includes supporting humane legislation and advocacy, field rescue and targeted equine grants. In 2017, the ASPCA awarded more than $750,000 in equine grants to assist 91 equine organizations across the country.

For more information about the ASPCA’s efforts to help horses, please visit http://www.aspca.org/equinewelfare.