Rescued, trained horses recover, ride, compete

Horses rescued from across the Pacific Northwest are spending Friday and Saturday competing against one another in the hopes of impressing potential new owners. It’s all part of the Oregon Rescue Challenge.

Eleven horses that didn’t have a chance are proving themselves true fighters this weekend.

Gayle Park is the President of Oregon Rescue Challenge, an organization with the mission of finding rescue horses a home.

“You would not believe the transformation,” she said. “Many of these horses came out of a bad situation or off the range. Their manes and their tails were all matted and dirty. Some were abuse cases.”.

The Oregon Rescue Challenge turns rescue horses into well-mannered competitors.

Cyndi Davis, the founder of Three Sisters Equine Rescue, said watching a horse go from the brink of death to competition can bring her to tears.

“In most all cases, they have a starvation issue, or they’ve been underfed, and they have other medical issues we have to address on the front end before we send them into training,” Davis said.

Horses and trainers spent the past 120 days training for this weekend.

The goal of the challenge is to bring the horses up to speed and attract potential new owners with their newfound skills

“We have two horses out of the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office this year, which is amazing, and we expect that all these horses are going to get adopted, because they’ve gotten this fantastic training for the past four months,” Park said.

According to Randi Allen, who adopted a horse at last year’s challenge, these rescued animals are worth taking a chance on.

“She is very willing and just wants to please me however she can,” Allen said. “We have such an amazing bond, and pretty much anything I ask her to do, she just does right off the bat.”

The challenge is happening all day Saturday at the Rimrock Riders Event Center in Powell Butte and is free to attend.

For more information: http://www.oregonrescuechallenge.com/