Equine Outreach hoping to keep their gates open

Equine Outreach volunteer Natasha Johns knows exactly what it takes to train a rescue horse.

“Just trying to gain trust to get the horse to where they can be adopted,” Johns said Monday.

She also knows that “horses are expensive.”

Which is why the non-profit was shocked to find that their rent for their 20 acre ranch is increasing by $1,000 a month.

Gene Storm, a board member for Equine Outreach, said the idea for their “Keep the Gates Open” campaign is to get the community to herd together, to help save their sanctuary.

“When I started dealing with that reality, I said to the board, ‘We have to do something to keep our gates open,'” Storm said. “That’s more mouths to feed, more hooves to take care of, more vet bills.”

Coordinators and volunteers at the sanctuary said they are doing everything they can to keep costs low, and to keep their gates open.

“Instead of feeding the horses out of tubs, which is wasteful because they end up spreading the hay on the ground, we use hay nets in their enclosures, and it cuts the waste tremendously,” Storm said.

A year of running Equine Outreach costs about $62,500, which Storm said goes towards lease payments, insurance and utilities.

So far, their campaign has raised nearly 60 percent of their goal.

“We’ll raise the rest,” Storm says. “The community has responded very well to our campaign, and when people come and see what we do, that we bring the horses here and give them a chance to have a life.”

Storm said the hope the outreach has to lasso the rest of the funds is what is keeping them galloping.

If you would like to help “Keep the Gates Open” at Equine Outreach, visit their website at www.EquineOutreach.com.