Winter can be brutal to endure for humans and animals alike. The extreme cold, shortened daylight, and increase in significant weather events can lead to dangerous conditions and health concerns for our horses.

Our beloved Ben has special medical needs. In addition to food and environmental allergies, he has tumors that have developed in his legs. There is no “cure,” but intensive management protocols can slow disease progression and improve his quality of life. We need to wash, thoroughly dry, and treat his legs several times a week to keep Ben healthy. When winter arrives, this task becomes incredibly difficult.

Currently, our horses receive treatment outside, in the crossties.

• It's nearly impossible to treat medical situations when the temperature starts to dip down into the 30s and below.

• Abscesses need to be soaked in warm water, it's difficult to address canker issues, apply topical medications (they don't spread correctly in the cold), bathe horses, wash injuries,

• and the most dreaded situation of all, when a horse goes down on frozen ground and ice, it can be catastrophic for the horse and incredibly dangerous for our volunteers.

And there is the human toll.

Providing this level of care in arctic temperatures with the wind howling and shorter days makes it incredibly challenging.

• Wrapping and bandaging a horse's leg is virtually impossible to do wearing gloves, so we work with numb, frozen, ungloved hands.

• When the days become shorter, we rely on battery-powered headlamps for more light.

• We use electric kettles and bucket heaters to warm water so we can soak the grain for many of our horses such as Bob, Spencer, Ben, Hank, and the Halloween Herd.

• We rush to our horses that require medications, so we can administer them before they freeze.

• We wash all buckets and feed dishes outside with freezing cold water from the spigot.

This is a day in the life of the rescue in winter.

Until now. A 10,080 sq.ft. Barn has been Donated to CDHR!

Our horses and the humans that care for them will benefit from a warm barn. We are raising the $233,500 needed to bring the barn home to our farm. Plans include 42 stalls modified to a floor plan to suit our needs, a medical stall, vet/farrier treatment area, feed room, meeting/classroom area, wash stalls, and bathrooms.

The Kaman Family Foundation has pledged $100,000 when we reach the challenge amount of $100,000 between now and the end of February. We've already raised $82,000.

We need this barn.

And we need your help.

Please join us on this journey to help us Raise the Barn at Autumn Ridge.