>>When Maya and I first
started doing this

we had one little
pony named Sassafras,

and now we're at the point
where we have 47 horses,

and it's kind of an amazing
thing to see this journey

and to see what
it looks like now.

>>Today we're going to learn
about a non-profit organization

dedicated to serving
horses in need

and giving them a
second chance at life.

Join us as we visit
with Maya Proulx,

Executive Director of
Hope's Legacy Equine Rescue.

Come on!

>>From my very first horse

I had always had one
rescue at a time,

and at a certain point
I just decided that

I wanted to be able to help
more horses on a larger scale.

>>Okay, so what is the story

behind the name of this rescue?

>>So Hope is actually the
barn name for an off-the-track

thoroughbred that I owned,

and she wasn't actually a
rescue but she was on the track

to end up in a bad situation.

She had only stopped
racing about six months

before I got her and she
had already gone through

five different
homes at that point.

Since that's what we're
trying to do for these horses,

it really fit.

>>Well talk about the
horses that you take in.

What kinds of horses are these?

>>So we take in all
breeds of horses

as well as mules and donkeys.

We take owner surrenders
we also take in

animal control seizure cases.

They will frequently
call us and ask us

to house the horses during
the case and then help

place the horses after
the case is over.

>>So give us examples of,

when you're talking about
animal control cases,

what's going on?

>>So, the biggest one that
we've been involved with

of course is the
Peacable Farm case

up in Orange County, Virginia,

and, in that case
there were 101 horses

on the property
that were in various

different stages of
starvation and many of them

also had injuries that
had not been treated.

Of those 101 horses our
rescue took in 29 of them.

At this point we
had to euthanize six

and one had a heart attack.

>>They were just too sick.

>>They were just either too sick

or had injuries that had
not been treated properly

and because they had not
been dealt with at the time,

they reached a point
where the horse

was no longer able to
be saved, unfortunately.

They would not have had any
good quality of life after that.

>>So tell me what happens
once they come here?

What happens?

>>So, we bring them in
and then we assess them

for just their very basic
health needs at that point.

Depending on their condition

we don't do vaccinations and
stuff like that immediately,

that's because their
systems are just so depleted

that their bodies can't
really handle them.

>>You have to move really slowly

with everything you do.

>>Yeah, and with re-feeding
you know you start with

just a little bit
of hay at a time

and slowly increase
them, and then you start

adding in various
different feeds

but you do that literally
a cup at a time.

That's one of the
hardest things.

These horses come in and they're

pretty much walking skeletons.

The natural instinct is to
want to just throw food at them

but their bodies actually
will start shutting down.

Their internal organs
will start shutting down

and you have to kind of
restart them very slowly.

(horse whinnies insistently)

>>Their stomach knows,
their ears knows,

their noses know and
they pace and they whinny

and they wait for their food

and they're a little
demanding about it now.

It's awesome to see because
it means that they're healthy.

They can understand their
surroundings and whats going on.

Yeah, its coming, Daphne.

>>After they come
from a bad situation,

they can be brought
somewhere like this

and can be given the love
and attention they deserve

and really just be cared for.

>>Yeah, its sad but you
can't think of it like that,

you got to think of it
like we're here to help,

there's no more sadness,
leave that behind

and lets deal with being happy

and getting them big and
strong for their future life.

(horse whinnies
enthusiastically)

And he is even very happy, too!

>>You had a horse come
in that was pregnant.

You didn't even know
she was pregnant, Rainy.

>>We did, yes,
Rainy surprised us

back a couple of
weeks ago with a baby,

and my husband
actually found it.

He walked into the barn and

there was this foal
standing in the aisle way

which was, I won't
repeat what he said

because it's not really
suitable for television.

We had just started looking
at her and thinking,

boy she's getting a little round

and yet her spine and her
hips were still protruding.

So she was still
basically very underweight

but the belly was getting big.

>>But she just decided she
didn't attach to the baby.

>>She rejected the foal. yeah.

>>And so now, who,
who's with the foal?

>>So, the donkey
from Orange County

is actually the
babysitter right now.

I think he's a little
resentful of the fact.

>>But they're together
all the time, right?

>>They are, they're
together 24/7

and when the baby
gets too rambunctious,

the donkey just very gently
puts him in his place

and reminds him of his manners.

It's really wonderful.

>>And then you had another
horse that came through

that actually had
chemical burns.

Talk about that and
what you had to do.

>>Yes, so a number of
the horses from the case

that Rainy came from actually
had chemical burns on them.

The owner of these horses
poured pyrethrum on them,

which is a cattle wormer,
very concentrated,

so we bathed them with
Dawn, but then many of them

lost huge amounts of hair
because of the chemical burns,

and we didn't know
if they would be able

to regrow that hair or
not and none of the vets

that we spoke to had ever
dealt with anything like it,

but they have all regrown hair.

Some of them it is
a different color

from the rest of their hair

and you can see
the drip patterns

on their sides from
where it was poured.

>>Well once the animals are
starting to feel better,

the horses are starting
to feel better,

then talk about their care
everyday, they go walking.

>>So yeah, many of our
farms have daily turnout

so they can be out in the
field pretty much full time.

We do have one
location currently

where they don't
have any turnout,

so I have amazing volunteers
who come every day

and they take the horses out

and let them hand
graze in the grass.

And we've got a couple
of small round pens

where they can go out

and they really enjoy the
interaction with the people

and it's great for
my volunteers too;

they like getting
to know horses, and,

see their personalities
start to show up.

>>It gives me a sense
of accomplishment

and a reason for being here
and a reason for existing,

its something that
I can help with,

its something that
seems so insignificant

but then to these horses
its just the difference

between life and
death in some cases,

its really just giving them
the love that they deserved.

>>My favorite part
is running around,

it gets a lot of
their energy out

and seeing them very happy
when they go out to graze.

>>She's doing really well,
one of the biggest changes

I've seen in Daphne and
all of the other horses

is their energy level, you know,

when you first got them here,

they kind of were lackluster
and very low energy

(horse whinnies energetically)

and now, as you
can hear and see,

they want to go outside
and they have energy,

they have muscle tone

and that's something they didn't
have prior to getting here

and getting some good care.

>>How, how long do most of
the horses stay with you?

>>It really varies.

Some horses are in and out in
a matter of a month or two.

Other horses will be with
us for a couple of years.

Usually if they're with us
for a long time it's because

they're not able to be ridden.

They're just a companion
horse, and finding people

who want to adopt companion
horses is really difficult.

We love it when we get
an email or a phone call

from someone saying
we just want a horse

to come sit in my field.

>>And so how do you assess
when they're ready to go?

>>There's no exact
science to it.

Some of it's knowing
the horse's personality.

Depending on the horse,

we'll send them to a
professional trainer
for an assessment

to see what they know,
what they need to work on.

Sometimes they'll spend a
couple of months with a trainer

getting them to the point where
they are able to be ridden.

Also, it's matching the right
person and the right horse.

I do have some horses
that I will send out

without doing training
because I know the person

or the person who
contacts me is a trainer

or has a huge amount
of experience.

So it's a really
individualized thing

based on the horse
and the situation.

>>The hope is that
they're all adopted,

and so what's that process like?

>>So, we have an
adoption application,

and anyone who's interested
in adopting a horse from us

fills that out and that
includes references,

and we ask for professional
references, like their vet,

their farrier, anybody
who is familiar with them

and their experience
with horses,

and looking and seeing what
their other horses look like

and how they interact
with them is actually

one of the most
reliable I guess,

indicators of what
the situation will be,

and then they come out
and they meet the horse.

They ride it if
it's a rideable one

and we just make
sure it's a good fit.

We do a trial period, something
between 30 and 60 days,

and the horse can come
back to us at any point

during that
timeframe and they'll

get their adoption fee back.

Then our horses also
come with a safety net

where they can come back
at any time in the future

even if the person that
we adopt the horse to

ends up moving it
on to somebody else

that horse can still
come back to us.

So basically the contract
goes with the horse

for its entire future.

It doesn't necessarily
stay with one person.

In fact, I just got
some photos this morning

from a woman who just
bought one of our ponies

from the woman who
adopted it from us,

and she sent me these wonderful
photos of her daughter

riding this pony with
this long explanation

of how much they loved the
pony, how wonderful she was.

>>Oh, that is so great.

>>How much they appreciated

that they were able to
get her and keep her.

>>That's great, and
I know sometimes

people who have to
surrender their animals

because they're not
well, because they
can't care for them,

they sometimes set
up Facebook groups

so they can keep touch and
see how everybody's doing.

So you started this
organization in 2008

and it's a non-profit
now and you have

some big goals
for the future now

so you don't have to lease land.

>>We do because we are currently
leasing or fosTerring horses

on all of the properties
that we're using,

and we are looking
to purchase land

and build a barn and
have one main facility.

We'll continue to use foster
homes because for some horses

it's a better situation.

They get a little more
personalized one-on-one.

But having one
centralized location and

having that security
for the future

that when horses
do come back to us

we have somewhere for them to go

and somewhere for them
to live out their lives.

>>People are gonna want to help,

I know they're
gonna want to help.

So how do people get involved?

What do you need them to do?

>>The easiest way is to
contact us through our website

which is www.hopeslegacy.com,

and we need volunteers

to help with just
the day to day care,

the feeding, the stall cleaning,

the brushing the horses,
socializing them.

We need people to help with
fundraising, of course,

it takes a huge
amount of fundraising

to feed all of these horses.

We do need foster homes,
and also just helping

spread the word that we exist.

We need folks to
know that we are here

and want to help
as much as we can.

>>It's sad that its happening.

You don't ever want
to see a situation

where animals are put at risk,

but the fact that we
have a person in Maya

who is so well-educated
and experienced

in how to manage
these situations

is why we're growing
the way we are.

Its pretty amazing to see it.

>>You're welcome.

(cheerful music)