01/23/2025
Supporters, we wanted to share some information that's very important ❤️ and factors into questions we've had raised recently.
Heart of Phoenix does everything we do in the best interests of the horses in our care. Some of these choices are based on our experience seeing and handling hundreds of feral horses. Our decisions are made by our diverse leadership team.
The feral horses that come to us, unlike Mustangs, are usually born on land where they see people constantly, so they are used to ATVs and groups of tourists and locals hand feeding them from the time they are born. This makes the early stages of training with them different from Mustangs, who often have no prior close experience with humans.
Before we place horses, we generally do a round of basic vaccines, Coggins and a health certificate, and deworming. This means that horses often have some basic low key contact with people before being sent to a foster placement. We definitely focus on this in the rare instance we would consider foster situations with an individual without extensive experience with feral horses. We would NEVER send a traumatized, aggressive, extremely fearful, or overly reactive horse to any trainer without notable feral experience.
Virtually all fosters (and trainers) cover the care costs of their horse and donate their time, based on the volunteer nature of our organization. We cover vet and farrier costs for foster horses, UNLESS a foster opts to cover those. All foster costs are a tax deductible donation to a 501©3 organization.
We also have a team that gathers information from fosters and trainers as to what date the farrier or vet came, what did they note, what was done, and any time a horse is dewormed and with what.
As a non-profit, we are donation driven, and that means time and money is given to the effort by everyone involved. Giving is part of the agreement signed by all fosters and part of the application process. We understand that not everyone is in a position to give their time and financial resources. If fostering becomes a burden, we only need to be alerted, and we will pick the horse up, no hard feelings, from a foster.
Because we want to be sure everyone is aware of the expectations before they agree to take on a horse, Heart of Phoenix has legally binding contracts with our fosters and trainers. We take our training and foster agreements seriously, and we expect our trainers and fosters to do so, as well. The agreements protect our horses. Trainers and fosters agree that they do not own the horse, may not transfer the horse, and that Heart of Phoenix can make care decisions for the horse or re-direct the training plan for the horse at any time.
Heart of Phoenix guides training and care for our horses, as we feel we should. Trainers can pursue a variety of approaches, and they can adapt care within reasonable limits by chatting with us. We frequently reach out about care and progress, as we are ultimately responsible for overseeing the safety and placement of horses throughout their lives.
We do not set any timelines for riding (especially since a few horses never get there), but we do expect our horses be able to receive full farrier care, vet care, emergency care, be able to load into a trailer should a need arise (in the case of medical or natural disasters, especially), and to do so in a timeframe that does not compromise their welfare or the safety of others. We also request that fosters keep horses in a fairly natural setting, usually a herd environment (especially horses born free roaming) to provide horses with appropriate freedom, and friends. That's so very vital.
We have these requirements in place because horses that cannot be safely handled simply are not safe or happy. They cannot actually experience any real freedom. They run the risk of long-term soundness issues from inadequate farrier care. Without regular speculum-assisted floats, they develop heart-breaking dental issues. They may have untreated chronic illnesses when veterinarians can’t do annual hands-on examinations.
For these reasons and more, we require ALL horses in Heart of Phoenix’s care, even those who have been adopted, to have these basic needs initially in a responsible timeframe.
These are PRIORITIES for equine welfare. With feral horses, it can take weeks or a few months to meet these vital care benchmarks, but these benchmarks are ESSENTIAL to the long-term safety of the horses.
When a horse placed with a trainer or foster cannot meet these benchmarks after several months, we reach out to provide support and suggestions.
In some cases, we are able to pair the trainer or foster with someone with more experience to provide support.
We are fortunate to have a network of excellent trainers with various expertise.
Often, our experienced trainers can provide suggestions or hands-on support to help achieve these welfare benchmarks.
We continue to provide support, including additional in-person visits from our training professionals, so that horses can begin to receive adequate, regular care by equine professionals, including the ability to safely handle horses and transport them, have all hooves trimmed, have dental exams and floats and for a horse to experience this type of needed care comfortably.
We do not want fosters or trainers to provide sedation as a means of providing routine care like hoof care and veterinary examinations with vaccines. Simply put, sedation does not help to make these horses safer or more adoptable or help the horses accept care. It does not prepare them for unexpected situations, like being handled by a new person or needing to load rapidly into a trailer in an emergency. We particularly try to avoid sedation for horses that have previously demonstrated that they can successfully have routine care without medical intervention.
Most of our fosters and trainers are successful with this approach. We appreciate their willingness to learn from each other and to reach out to us when they are challenged with meeting milestones. In some cases, however, the placement ultimately doesn’t work. Sometimes trainers or fosters ask us to find another option that would better suit the horse. Less often, we do need to remove a horse from a foster for the horse's sake.
We do not adopt out horses unable to receive regular professional care.
When a horse comes back to us from training without having these skills, we work to match them with another trainer or foster in our network.
Only after they have basic skills with a professional and are an appropriate match for a potential adopter do we consider adoption applications.
This is why you have sometimes observed horses that were very well promoted in the Appalachian Trainer Face Off who end up not being available for adoption at the event. A horse may be amazing for an experienced professional and still not ready for a home.
Heart of Phoenix works with horse trainers from various backgrounds and approaches, including natural horsemanship, classical dressage, clicker training (also called R+), and liberty-based training. We have close team members, adopters and trainers who utilize one or more of these approaches. We do not believe only one approach works. Instead, we look at each person and each horse and situation as an individual.
Regardless of the training method used, it is important that it be used well. Poorly applied training methods can cause substantial harm. If something isn't working, reevaluate.
Heart of Phoenix offers a lifetime safety net for our horses. We are fortunate to be able to step in to help trainers, fosters, and horses when a situation is unsafe or failing, including when a horse is not able to receive basic handling and care.
In the cases in which a horse returns to the rescue, the horse is not at risk. That's why so many people hope we will help them when they need it across America.
A horse is not a burden to us. For those who have invested in our work, we want you to have an understanding of how much we care and the extent to which we will always stand by our horses.
We wish all horses could be protected by a person or group willing to make tough decisions to keep them safe, but not many have the luxury a HOP horse does.
