For six years Lori Zeigler boarded her draft cross mare, Willow, while living in Chester County (PA), but she longed for an arrangement where she and her horse could live on the same property.
When the opportunity arose to purchase a small farm in neighboring Berks County she jumped on it, investing in a new barn and fencing for her four-acre farmette.
The only downside? Willow would no longer have pasture companions. Zeigler didn’t want to add another riding horse, so she tried two goats and adopted a donkey from a rescue, but those options didn’t work out.
Then she discovered the Standardbred Retirement Foundation just as the New Jersey-based group was launching a new adoption program for companion-only horses.
Believed to be the first of its kind – at least in the mid-Atlantic region - the Companion Horse Assistance Program (CHAPS) waives the adoption donation request and provides funding for annual vaccinations, dental care, and veterinary bills. The program is aimed at finding forever homes for hundreds of companion-only standardbreds in the foundation’s care, many of which were saved from slaughter.
“Every horse needs a buddy,” said Judith Bokman, the foundation’s executive director. “But with the expenses owners may think twice about it. This helps them and helps us because another horse has a home.”
Under the terms of the adoption contract, the foundation will reimburse caregivers up to $150 for Eastern/Western encephalitis, tetanus and rabies inoculations administered by a licensed veterinarian and up to $100 annually for dental care. Caregivers may also receive up to $350 annually for any pre-approved care administered by a licensed veterinarian for injuries or illnesses.
“I had been thinking about adopting a companion horse but when I learned the program helped financially and I knew I could give the horse a good home, it was a no brainer,” Zeigler said.
So Zeigler drove to New Jersey to pick out a horse. While she was checking out all the bay horses in a field, one stepped out of the herd and walked toward her. It was a 21-year-old mare whose registered name is Prestidigitation Prestissimo, but whom everyone calls Kate. She arrived at the foundation in 2006 from an auction where she had been tagged for slaughter. Kate was adopted that year, but was returned to the foundation last year when her owner could no longer afford to keep her.
“She just came up, let me scratch her head and love on her,” said Zeigler. Foundation staff member Aubrey Marcantonio, who was with Zeigler told her, “She picked you.”
Of the 425 horses in the foundation’s care about half are suitable only as companion horses. Bokman says she’s discouraged by the race trotting horse industry which she says is trying to promote new careers for standardbreds, but does not recognize that not all horses coming off the track or pulling Amish buggies on the highways can have new careers in the show ring. Many horses at the foundation suffered from career-ending track injuries and others endured injuries and neglect as buggy horses.
Among the foundation’s most notable companion horse adopters prior to the CHAPS program was comedian Jon Stewart and his wife, Tracey, who run Bufflehead Farm animal rescue in New Jersey. “Their horse had lost his companion and they needed a new companion,” Bokman said.
So far Zeigler is one of six people who have adopted companion horses under the new program. Every horse adopted clears the space for new horses moving through auctions every week, said Bokman.
“We never intended to be a sanctuary,” she said. “We’re trying to think out of the box and trying to find solutions.”
With an early November arrival date for Kate, Zeigler spent part of October getting her barn ready for the new addition. “I cannot wait to bring her home,” she said.