Rescuing horses takes hard work and tears

Excerpted from an article by Canan Tasci in the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin.

CHINO HILLS – It’s really tough for Susan Peirce to talk about the horses at her ranch without crying at least once, maybe twice.

The founder of Red Bucket Equine Ranch and its 400 volunteers are on a mission to save and rehabilitate horses who have been abused, neglected or malnourished.

The nonprofit was founded in January 2009 by Peirce.

To date, Red Bucket has rescued 109 horses and found permanent homes for 48.

“We’ve taken horses that are shattered; they don’t even expect to be fed, let alone us being kind to them,” said Peirce, who has rescued horses from breeding scandals, euthanasia or even being fed to mountain lions.

“We believe in the intimacy of the horse. When a horse comes to us, they have nothing of their own, so when they come here they get a red bucket and they get a name,” Peirce said.

Once the horse gets a bucket with its name on it, it also gets a goal and a training plan to prepare it for adoption.

Every horse’s first goal is to whinny.

Once they’ve done that, Peirce said, is when she and her volunteers know they’re getting somewhere with the rehabilitation.

Read the rest of the article here.