By Lindsey Henley
WSLS10 Reporter
Published: April 9, 2008
Peaches is the newest addition to the Roanoke Valley Horse Rescue
(RVHR).
While there’s no question she’s cute, the Horse Rescue – already
with more than 50 horses – is running out of room.
The problem is more and more people want to give up their horses.
“I usually get at least one call a day and three or four emails a
day of people looking to place their animals with us,” said Patricia
Muncy with RVHR. “It’s just a sad situation.”
It’s a situation Muncy mostly blames on the rising cost of things
like hay and grain.
“The hay is the biggest thing right now. It’s causing a lot of
problems for owners,” she said.
In some places, the price has gone from $2.50 per square bale, to
as high as $10.00 per square bale. Those high prices are
leading to malnourished and abandoned horses.
Even worse, some owners are having to euthanize their horses,
because they simply can’t afford to take care of them.
“It’s just turning into a very vicious circle for everybody,”
Muncy said.
We checked with the Roanoke Valley Equine Clinic today.
They’ve been receiving a lot of calls from people who are trying to
place horses with them, because the horses’ owners can no longer
afford them.
When it comes to euthanizing an animal, it is the owner’s decision.
Veterinarians at the Roanoke Valley Equine Clinic have been doing
everything they can to try to intervene, and find the horse a home.
Animal Control Officers in
Loudoun Co. seized 48 horses from a farm in
Middleburg. 16 of These Horse's are now HERE at the RVHR
Facility.
Will You Help?
Donations
Made Online at Just Give
Visa
- MasterCard - American Express - Discover RVHR is looking for Volunteers to help care for
these horses along with additional Hay and Grain.
UPDATES:
3/24/08
U.S. shelters saddled with unwanted horses read
the story and don't forget to post you comments.
3/17/08: The work began on everyone's hooves,
Danny Wards Ferrier School Students of Martinsville arrived this morning
to begin efforts to tend to everyone's hooves.
Link to photo's
3/16/08 Some new Weights everyone has been de-wormed (De-wormers were
donated by Nancy & Barry B of GA.)
3/8/08: 2 expectant Mare's Gracie and Serene have now joined the first 14
brought to RVHR.
Gracie (#16) 15 YO Expected to foal before
3/31/08
Serene (#43) 14 YO
Expected to foal before 3/31/08
Kellner (#41) 12 YO Mare W-1049 16h
Adoption Pending 3/9/08
Miller (#20) 2 YO Mare Unable to touch
Tavenner (#12) 2 YO Mare Unable to touch
Donohue (#6) 2 YO Gelding W-628 14h 3/17/08 W 652
Franck (#5) 2 YO Gelding Unable to touch
Friday 2/29/08
Fricke (# 10) - 9 YO Mare,
W -1049 H- 16
h
Dallas (# 19) - 5 YO Mare,
W-1065 H- 16h 3/17/08 W 1098
ADOPTION PENDING 3/4/08
Daisy (#37) -1 YO Filly,
W-478 H -12.3 h
3/17/08 W 498
Jupiter and Cordle
2 YO Geldings,
Jupiter (#2) W-664 H - 13.3
3/17/08 W 726
Cordle (#1) W-648 H- 13.3
3/17/08 W- 676
Cordle Adoption Pending 3/5/08
1 YO Colts
Prince (# 36) Green Halter
W-411 H-12.2h
3/17/08 W- 448
Adoption Pending 3/18/08
Reever (#34) W-448 H-12.2h
3/17/08 W- 488
Adoption Pending 3/18/08
Update 3/5/08 Q & A on how to adopt one of
the new horses please continue reading below
Update: 3/2/08, as our staff
continues with the on going paperwork, evaluations and each
horses individual needs. We are finding most of the horse
are 75 to 100lbs underweight, in need of de-worming and
immediate Ferrier care. 10 of the 14 horse have never been
handled are afraid of people and do not know how to lead, pick
up there feet or even like to be touched.
Our immediate needs for their care if you like to help are as
follows:
HAY - Mr. Cordle has offered to supply hay for the horses if you
like to donate the purchase of hay please contact him at Cell- 434-841-2029. He will be
taking orders and delivering.
De-Wormers: 14 Strongid
Weight Builder - Alfalfa (cub or bales) - Beet Pulp
Items you can order online from our Gift Registry
Grain can be purchased at the following stores phone orders
accepted:
Blue Seal Senior - Mare and Foal
Holdren's Country Store Vinton: 540-344-6053
Doc's Feeds Salem: 540-380-3433
SS Triple Crown Senior - Mare and Foal
Jack Garst Agency Boones Mill: 540-334-5880 ask for Jeff
Moneta Farm Service: 540-297-5558 ask for Tina
Vet Care Donations can be mailed to RVHR at P.O. Box 13 Hardy Va
24101. Please make Checks payable to Clover Creek Animal
Health.
Donations
Made Online at Just Give
Visa
- MasterCard - American Express - Discover
Thank You everyone.
1 YO Filly
Shaw (#33) W-488 H-12.2h
3/17/08 - W 488
Davide Cordle of Rocky Top Stables
and Transport spent 26 hours of his time to transport these horses
safely to our facility.
A: Please visit our link Become a Caregiver/Adopter for
requirements. Make an appointment to visit with a horse(s) at that
time you will be given an application. When the application is returned
to RVHR the horse will be listed as pending until you have been approved
as its new caregiver and the horse has been released for placement.
Note: Submitting of an application does
not guarantee placement/adoption. Some application will be refused
and a horse will be put back up as available.
Q: When can these horses leave RVHR?
A: Once a horse has been release by our Board and the facility
veterinarian for placement. This could take anywhere from 30 to 90 days.
Each horse is evaluated and release when ready to be placed.
Q: Are there fee's?
A: Yes each horse has an placement fee. These fee are set
prior to be released by the BOD to leave the facility. The fee's
help RVHR cover our cost of care on each horse.
For more information please see Become a Caregiver/Adopter.
FRANKLIN county, va, February 24, 2008:
The sophomore class at Franklin County High
School
sold around 400 carnations for Valentine's Day. Donating the proceeds of
$225.00 to the Roanoke Valley Horse Rescue to help purchase needed hay for the
horses at the RVHR facility. Students at Franklin County High School were able
to preorder a carnation by purchasing each flower for $1.00 and filling out a
card to the person who was to receive it. The carnations were then delivered on
Valentines morning to the recipient's homeroom by members of the sophomore
class. On February 20, 2008 sophomore class president Brian Luckett and the
sophomore class sponsor Mark Hatcher presented a check for $225.00 to RVHR’s
President Pat Muncy
The Roanoke Valley
Horse Rescue held a fundraiser Saturday so they can help
more horses find new homes.
By David
Harrison
981-3340
The Roanoke Times
SHAWSVILLE - When
she was a little girl growing up in Roanoke in the 1950s, Carol
Whiteside was obsessed with horses. As she got older, her
fascination led her to become an avid follower of the Kentucky
Derby, to the point that she has filled two notebooks with the
lineups and the outcomes of every Derby since 1987.
So it was with an
expert eye that she surveyed the field Saturday evening at a
fundraiser for the Roanoke Valley Horse Rescue, minutes before the
131st Kentucky Derby got under way. "The horse that I like best is
Bandini," she said. "His father won the Kentucky Derby several years
ago. He has the same temperament as his father."
As it happened,
Giacomo scored an upset, but to WhiteÂside and about 50 other Derby
fans who gathered in a Shawsville barn to watch the race, the
outcome was almost less important than raising money for the Horse
Rescue.
The fundraiser
drew horse lovers from all over the area in support of the Horse
Rescue, a nonprofit group dedicated to finding suitable homes for
horses whose owners can no longer take care of them. Supporters
watched the race on two big-screen televisions, bid at a silent
auction, bought raffle tickets and sat on bales of hay to eat and
drink.
"They are the
sweetest people, and they work with horses that need help," said
Charlotte Sandy, referring to the group's officers and volunteers.
Sandy hosted the
fundraiser in the 100-year-old barn that sits next to the house she
grew up in and where she still lives.
"I said, 'You all
need help, and I have a big barn. Let's have a barn party.'"
Sandy already has
five horses but, she said, "I may take on one of the little blind
fillies" that the Horse Rescue is trying to find a home for.
Since the group's
inception in November 2002, the Roanoke Valley Horse Rescue has
found homes for 19 horses, said president and co-founder Pat Muncy.
The 36 horses waiting to be adopted live on Muncy's property, where
she takes care of them full time, she said.
"We watch them
for the rest of their lives," she said. "I gave up my job with the
real estate board to do this. It just got so big so quickly."
The group depends
on volunteers, donations and fundraisers, she added. Muncy said she
did not have time Saturday to calculate the total amount raised by
the Derby event, but she said it would exceed $2,000.
Although this
Derby party did not feature mint juleps, several participants got
into the mood by donning ornate hats, another Derby classic. Few
hats were as elaborate as Connie Stone's. The Martinsville resident
and owner of two horses spent an hour and a half gluing miniature
bottles of Early Times Kentucky whiskey, copies of Derby tickets,
miniature horses and roses onto a straw hat.
"I am a master at
the hot glue gun," she said.
Her husband,
Elliott Stone, on the other hand, showed up under a plain cowboy
hat. And that was fine with him.
"I'm the guy in the white hat," he said.
April 29th 2005
Derby Day a
first-time fundraiser for RVHR BY Gene Marrano
Roanoke Valley Horse
Rescue in Hardy will hold its first Derby
Day and Barn Dance on May 7 - when
incidentally the Kentucky Derby will be run
- to raise money for its mission: bringing
neglected and abused animals back to good
health, then placing them with caring
adopted "parents." RVHR has appeared at feed
stores, events like the Dogwood Festival
(owner Patricia Muncy will be there again
along the parade route this weekend) and at
open houses, when they often bring miniature
horses and offer children's rides.
The non-profit RVHR relies on donations in
order to operate and gets no governmental
subsidies. Derby Day will actually be held
elsewhere, at Edge Hill Farm on Rt. 11/460
in Shawsville; it will feature a dance, hat
contest, door prizes and a silent auction.
Country attire and hats are required. "We
try to do a big fundraiser every year," says
Muncy. She and her husband were helping out
at a similar rescue farm elsewhere "when we
decided that this is what we wanted to do."
Currently they house about 20 or so horses
on 21-acre spread in Hardy, which can be
visited by appointment on Edwardsville Road
(off Hardy Road). RVHR has taken in horses
recently from as far away as California. Two
came from a wild herd of 450 that had gotten
out of control.
RVHR usually conducts
several feed drives a year at Holdren's in
Vinton, when people can purchase feed and
donate it to the farm. Muncy's miniature
horses are always on hand for rides as well.
Holdren's is donating gift baskets for cats
and dogs that will be auctioned off at the
Derby Day function. She also hopes to
conduct some type of fundraiser or outreach
program at the Colonial Downs off track
betting parlor soon.
Most horses on the farm are animal
relinquishments after the local Animal
Control department has ordered changes to be
made and "they've [the owners] gotten into
stuff they can't handle," says Muncy. In
dire circumstances of abuse, starvation or
neglect police will take the animals away.
RVHR is a non-profit 501c3 corporation
registered with the federal government,
which helps act as a pipeline to horses
around the country that need help. Muncy is
applying for grants but at less than three
years old and with little track record so
far that is difficult, so private donations
keep the operation afloat.
A community service program for youths under
a court order and others working on a high
school GED means Muncy has volunteer help on
a regular basis. Husband Jason "foots the
bill when [we] haven't raised any money,"
she chuckles; one of two grown sons helps
out quite a bit. The former New Jersey
resident moved to Virginia about 10 years
ago.
It's a far cry from her previous job working
with as multiple listing coordinator for a
real estate board in Roanoke but Muncy has
been around horses all her life. She's
attending classes that will earn her an
equine investigator's certificate, hoping
that will lend the RVHR some more
credibility while allowing her to go out on
calls with police and animal control squads.
Muncy gets calls from
private citizens and agencies in local
counties when they spy a horse that looks
like it is in trouble. She is also very
grateful that only two horses have been lost
of the 36 cared for at RVHR so far. All
animals that come in wind up with adoptive
or foster owners and Muncy follows up once a
quarter. Horses can be tracked via an
implanted chip to make sure they stay where
they are supposed to be. "We will do
whatever we have to do to track that animal
down," says Muncy, adding that adopted
horses cannot not be resold or bred - if the
new owner loses interest the animal must
come back to RVHR in Hardy.
Muncy would like to raise at least $10,000
from the Derby Day event on May 7. "We're
going to try and make this an annual thing.
Everyone is excited about it" An open house
in September is the other big yearly event
right now. "I didn't expect it to take off
quite as quickly as it has," notes Muncy of
her horse rescue operation, "but there is
such a big need for it."
Derby Day & Barn Dance Fundraiser Event: May
7, 3-8 pm. 6247 Roanoke Rd., Rt. 11/460 in
Shawsville, VA. Tickets are $15 in advance,
$20 at the door. The Kentucky Derby race
will be shown on big screen TV during the
event. For more information please contact
RVHR in Hardy at 540-797-1999 or by email
info@rvhr.com.
A
special Thank You to Elsie Spencer for the wonderful story about
RVHR in her School News Paper.
RVHR Nicky Makes History
The First Horse to be placed in the Roanoke Times
Neighbors Section Pet Corner.
RVHR Gallops Across the Front
Page of
The Smith Mountain Eagle! March 19, 2003
Special Thanks to all of the papers for their Support!
School
sold around 400 carnations for Valentine's Day. Donating the proceeds of
$225.00 to the Roanoke Valley Horse Rescue to help purchase needed hay for the
horses at the RVHR facility. Students at Franklin County High School were able
to preorder a carnation by purchasing each flower for $1.00 and filling out a
card to the person who was to receive it. The carnations were then delivered on
Valentines morning to the recipient's homeroom by members of the sophomore
class. On February 20, 2008 sophomore class president Brian Luckett and the
sophomore class sponsor Mark Hatcher presented a check for $225.00 to RVHR’s
President Pat Muncy
