New lives: Rehabilitated horses are ready for adoption

Bend’s Equine Outreach will host their second annual “Rescue Revolution” at the High Desert Horse Expo April 22-24. The adoption event will feature nine horses from the ranch.

Each one was selected by a trainer at the beginning of the year. The one-on-one training, along with rehabilitation has made them ready for adoption.

Volunteers at the ranch said Thursday they’ve seen all levels of abuse and neglect.

“Well, the last three we had, two of them died of dehydration and starvation. (The previous owners) just didn’t bother to feed and water them,” said Norma Horak.

The goal is rehabilitation and ultimately adoption, something the ranch has successfully done more than 500 times.

“I like to see people that adopt horses here go on and have real happy lives with their horses outside of here,” said head trainer and board President Woody Dow.

Although caring for the horses can be a lot of work, Ka’ela Pruitt said the rescuing that happens at Equine Outreach isn’t a one way street.

“It changed me, because I was hanging out with a bad crowd before I came here, and eventually I stopped hanging out with them, because all my time was dedicated to the horses,” she said.

In fact, Pruitt adopted her own horse from the ranch, and she said the whole experienced changed her life.

“Going back to me and Lexi — yeah, I adopted her,” she said. “I saved her from being at a rescue for the rest of her life, but she saved my life.”

Equine Outreach is hoping to place the nine horses at the expo. Even though they want to find them forever homes, the trainers said adoption is always bittersweet.

“You do make a bond with every horse you do work with,” Pruitt said. “But it feels really good, knowing you provided the knowledge and the help for that horse to be adoptable.”

You can find more information on the horses and the event at www.equineoutreach.com.