Equine Outreach Inc. 2015 Annual Report

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A n n u a L

R e p o r t

Horse rescue and sanct�ar� dedicated to the rehabilitation and per�anent placement of abused, neglected and unwanted horses. . . promoting equine awareness and responsible equine g�ardianship.

63220 Silvis Rd.,Bend, Oregon 97701 • www.equineout�each.com

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hange came to Equine Out�each, Inc. (EOI) in 2015. It ar�ived with the addition of new board members, updated policies and procedures, and most of all an influx of dedicated volunteers who are the reason that we are able to do what we do as Cent�al Oregon’s premier horse rescue and sanct�ar�.

The change is built on a solid foundation. Equine Out�each Inc. was founded based on my life-long passion for animal welfare. While ser�ing on the Board of Directors of the Humane Societ� of Cent�al Oregon in 2002, there was a seizure of 130 neglected horses by the Deschutes Count� Sheriff. Realizing the need to assist law enforcement in large animal protection, I founded Equine Out�each. Since then, EOI has assisted law enforcement throughout the State of Oregon with seizures, education and suppor� for almost 14 years.

We are a no kill sanct�ar� as well as a rescue. Many horses will live out their lives in the sanct�ar� with a herd and many others will be adopted by approved homes af�er t�aining and or re-t�aining. Literally hundreds of equine lives have been saved since we opened the ranch.

Some of the highlights are saving approximately 97 War� Springs horses f�om slaughter and in the process lear�ing so ver� much about horse behavior. We also saved an “at risk of ex�inction” g�oup of approximately 42 Tar�ans and found a home for the entire herd. We rescued 35 neglected Thoroughbreds f�om Powell But�e, including a g�anddaughter of the g�eat Triple Crown winner Secretariat. We are an allvolunteer organization and have raised the bar in equine rescue protocols along with communit� awareness. We also meet the highest standards of care and are accredited by the Global Federation of Animal Sanct�aries.

Beyond the miracles that occur daily with the equines, there are the unintended happy consequences of the people these mag�ificent creat�res assist. There are more than 20 g�oups and hundreds of past and present volunteers who benefit f�om the life-changing ex�eriences at the ranch. It is a wonderf�l example of people helping horses helping people, and it happens ever� day at Equine Out�each.

Equine Out�each, Inc. Is a 501 ( c ) 3 not-for-profit organization

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any “firsts” during 2015 helped to propel Equine Out�each far�her along the path to being a viable, sustainable rescue operation. It was our second year of f�ll board meetings and we added t�o new board members; Dr. Lar�� Dresher (retired DVM) and Gene Stor� , our Communications Director.

The many “firsts” are notable because they demonst�ate that Equine Out�each is mat�ring into a first-class all volunteer nonprofit. The successes during the year included the First Annual Rescue Revolution, the bandana system for volunteers, another ASPCA g�ant for additional work on the bar�, hosting a Masterson Method t�aining session utilizing our horses, and joining Volunteer Connect. We also stepped up the thank you to donor’s prog�am with the help of Joet�e Stor�. And with the addition of the ser�ices of Tumalo Tech, our website has never looked bet�er. www.equineoutreach.com During the year a variet� of f�nd raisers helped provide much needed resources for operating costs. Help a all brought f�nds into the Horse Day, the Haydown 4 Horses and a showing of the film organization.

Of course no year would be complete without a few bumps in the road; we lost a dear f�iend in Laurie, but are reminded of her spirit when we pass a garden named in her honor by the f�ont gate. Our executive director quit and we had to reinstate the moratorium during tough financial times.

On a more positive note, we took in Hank, a beautif�l Clydesdale draf� horse who is ver� popular with the public. We plan on capitalizing on his popularit� by making him a sy�bol of Equine Out�each’s marketing prog�am. We received a record amount of in kind donations this year and donations in general were up over the previous year. Our volunteer base continues to g�ow. So, all in all, 2015 was a pret�� dar� good year for Equine Out�each.

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ith 46 horses finding new homes in 2015, it was a good year at Equine Out�each.

Volunteers should be forewar�ed – 18 of those were adopted by volunteers! By volunteering, these folks got to know the horse they ultimately couldn’t live without.

With a moratorium on taking in new horses, we were able to hold intakes to a minimum.

Hank, the Clydesdale, was allowed to enter the gates as his sit�ation was dire and he came with a dowr�. Additional intakes included t�o horses that were at the brink of star�ation, Faith and Tonto. Tonto was too far gone to sur�ive, but Faith rallied and lived on for a few more months. Abby was brought to the ranch later (f�om the same sit�ation), and seems to be doing well. Sunny and Shadow (aka Cookies & Cream) were sur�endered by a f�iend of EOI who could no longer care for them.

Our adoption policy per�its adopters to ret�r� their horses at any time. Consequently we had eight ret�r�s. Bunny and Holly were deemed inappropriate for the adopter’s g�andchildren, Casino and Sadie were ret�r�ed as their owner moved out of state and TC, Ter�a, Rosie, Bella and Whiskey were ret�r�ed due to their owners’ health issues.

We handled 186 adoption inquiries either by email or in person.

Eight of our horses passed on during the year.

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t the beginning of 2015, EOI implemented a new set of policies and procedures which brought about sig�ificant changes for the ranch and its rescues. It increased our volunteer roster f�om not much more than a dozen “reg�lars” to almost 200 people who have gone through orientation and most through Horsemanship 101 t�aining. At any given time, f�om 30- 50 people are available to help with special needs at the ranch, events, and giving impor�ant input for planning. Over 16,250 hours were donated by our volunteers last year.

New handouts for potential volunteers outline the colorf�l bandana system. Af�er at�ending one of our monthly orientations, filling out required paper�ork and going on a ranch tour, par�icipants have ear�ed a yellow bandana which enables them to do ranch chores. Each new volunteer receives a welcome email and is added to the email list to receive ranch updates and calls for assistance. These emails keep us together and organized as a g�oup.

Successf�l completion of Horsemanship 101 adds the additional privilege of being able to enter pens and past�res, and take out specified horses to g�oom or walk around the ranch. Fur�her work to advance to a red bandana as an EOI t�ainer is at the discretion of our lead t�ainer and requires ongoing, hands-on education.

We have ex�anded our out�each to young people who, when t�ained, are allowed to work with horses under the super�ision of an adult. They become par� of our Junior Par��ers prog�am and bring an infectious enthusiasm to all aspects of ranch life.

The office houses a notebook of all the horses living at EOI, and as much infor�ation as we have about each one. A white board shows the location and stat�s of each horse, and another indicates which horses have been worked with on a given day.

Several workshops have been offered to volunteers throughout the year and meetings are held to get input for f�ndraising and other effor�s.

The ranch hosted outside volunteers during special United Way work days, an Americor�s project, and a g�oup of AAA employees. They par�icipated in such projects as painting shelters, washing and sor�ing blankets, cleaning tack and mucking pens.

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t is amazing to look back at 2015 and remember all that was accomplished; mostly in the spirit of f�n with some hard work thrown in for good measure. We have a fantastic g�oup of volunteers that brought a calendar of events together for 2015.

With the addition of a volunteer coordinator, Shela Boy�ton, we were able to rally the t�oops around several communit� out�each events. Our ASPCA sponsored Help a Horse Day, held in April, was an educational event with volunteers manning infor�ation booths around our theme, “Get Horse Smar�.”

In the fall we hosted a Har�est Haydown, with a plethora of activities for the entire family, including car� rides, hay rides, a pumpkin patch, face painting, a cake walk and photos with Hank, our resident Clydesdale. It was Hank’s int�oduction to the communit�.

Rescue Revolution, our adoption event held at Rim Rock Riders Event Center at Brasada Ranch brought in the largest crowd in the center’s histor�. The audience watched the professional horse t�ainers present their EOI horses to the best of the horses’ abilit�. Following the presentations, the horses were auctioned by competitive bidding, and 12 found new homes.

The families of t�o volunteers who passed away asked to have the memorial ser�ices for their loved ones at the ranch. Laurie’s family chose to have her ashes spread on the garden she maintained.

A memorial garden has been established under the ex�er�ise of one of our master gardener volunteers. It war�ed out hear�s to know we played an impor�ant par� in Laurie and Mar�’s lives.

Several ser�ice organizations donated their time to the ranch. Oregon Youth Challenge, Americor�s, United Way and AAA all sent volunteers who helped paint shelters, pick pens, power wash blankets, clean water t�bs and tack.

Our horses were used as a lear�ing laborator� for st�dents in the COCC Vet Tech prog�am and st�dents of the Masterson Method. Lar�� Dresher, DVM (ret.), provided a class for the volunteers and we had a demonst�ation by a Telling�on TTouch practitioner. We established a g�oup tour prog�am with 4-H g�oups, Girl Scouts, schools and a g�oup f�om a retirement home par�icipating.

Our communit� out�each was f�r�her enhanced by a t��cking accident that resulted in 44,000 lbs. of car�ots being delivered to EOI for dist�ibution. We had newsprint and TV coverage which helped us give the car�ots away.

The communit� benefited f�om the showing of , a documentar� film shown at the Tower Theat�e. The theat�e sold out, and we were awarded one half of the profit for the event.

Pies. We made pies! We were one of the vendors at Bend’s Sat�rday Market and a few of the volunteers got together and baked homemade pies for sale. We made over $4,000 in pie sales, and were able to talk to the folks who stopped by about EOI. We were one of the benefactors in t�o communit� events. The Cent�al Oregon Association of Realtor’s Derby Par�� at Brasada Ranch where Sheba, a g�eat-g�anddaughter of Secretariat, made her appearance, resulting in her adoption by one of the realtors. Following a g�oup tour of cast members of Beaut� and the Beast, their production team, Thoroughly Moder� Productions, feat�red us in a slide show prior to each showing.

Dana Lyons, folk singer-song writer, held a benefit concer� for us at Har�ony House in Sisters.

At�endees enjoyed his music and lear�ed about EOI. The Board of Directors provided hamburgers and all the fixin’s for a volunteer appreciation gettogether. At year-end, Joan, Gar�, Alex and Steve laid out a mag�ificent spread of food for all the volunteers, held in Alex and Steve’s home at the ranch.

The Bend Christ�as Parade in early December was the capstone event for us in 2015. Volunteers fashioned a float using the t��ck and t�ailer with miniat�re horses Mickie and Minnie in the lead.

The mini’s were a big hit with children and adults alike.

How it works . . . Ÿ Pur�le - Youth under 16 accompanied by an t�ained adult Ÿ Yellow - Ranch chores that do not require handling a horse Ÿ Orange - Complete Horsemanship 101, can handle cer�ain horses Ÿ Red - Complete Horsemanship 102, can work at t�aining horses

Income In-Kind donations (non cash) Donations Fund Raisers Grants Equipment/tack sales Rental income Adoption & surrender fees Boarding fees Total Income

113,213 70,238 62,644 14,600 4,097 18,575 11,708 2,100 297,175

Expenses Operating expenses Advertising Auto, equipment maint., fuel, tools, rental Boarding fees Clothing Contract labor Debt payments Entertainment Fund raisers Insurance (2) Interest Office, bank fees, dues Professional fees Supplies Sub total operating expenses Facility expenses Lease payments Dump & rendering Irrigation Repairs & maintenance Utilities Sub total facility expenses Horse expenses Farrier Feed, grain, hay, shavings, supplies Medical & veterinary Shelters , boarding fees Sub total horse expenses New barn expenses (from prior ASPCA grant) Total expenses

127 7,162 400 977 4,600 4,293 593 26,344 7,263 733 1,522 500 3,309 57,823 34,300 189 943 2,085 9,172 46,689 5,123 42,498 6,006 1,893 5,100 165,132

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owards the end of 2015 we had more horses under saddle and in a highly adoptable condition than at any time in the histor� of Equine Out�each. This was for several reasons. One impor�ant factor is that the arena was ret�r�ed to the use of t�aining af�er a year of being used as a holding facilit�. That gave us not only t�o round pens but an adequate arena in which to work horses.

Another reason we had such a high number of adoptable horses is that more people were involved in t�aining. Selene Schafer, Ka’ela Pr�it� and Leslie Terhune all helped in t�aining horses. The effor�s of ever�one paid off in having a g�eat selection of horses ready for adoption.

Par� of the success of the t�aining prog�am is the abilit� to hire cont�act riders to do “first” rides on horses we have prepared. This is made possible by the Rider/Trainer Fund. This f�nd collects the fees f�om the classes volunteers take to ear� an orange or red bandana. The Rider/Trainer Fund brought in $4,378 f�om these classes and paid out $2,498 to cont�act riders and had $804 in miscellaneous ex�enses.

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exi and I met late October 2014. I knew nothing about horses or being a horse owner. I was volunteering at Equine Out�each to lead a horse named Blue in a Halloween event, and then I met her.

Lexi, at the time was a ver� scared, untouchable, “dangerous” more than 16 hands thoroughbred. When I, having no ex�erience working with horses, told a few people at EOI that I would like to work with her, I got replies that ex�lained why I shouldn’t.

Even a for�er t�ainer called me to tell me how bad an idea it was. Lexi was once almost put down due to some people thinking she was going to kill someone. I thank EOI founder Joan Steelhammer ever� day that she put a stop to it. Lucky for me, Woody Dow, the head t�ainer at EOI told me he would give me and Lexi a chance. I can’t say that no one had doubts about how this would t�r� out; it was a ver� against-the-odds star�, but a year and a half later I can say with confidence it was a success.

That success didn’t happen over�ight. I spent ever� day with Lexi for the first nine months of our t�aining, and it took her seven months to t��st me enough to get on her. Lexi is now being t�ained to be a jumper, and I am a year-and-a-half into my t�aining career. She is my horse of a lifetime and has and will continue to be my teacher and my st�dent. She has brought something to my life that I couldn’t have got�en any�here else. I may have saved her, but she saved me in many ways, and I’m sure she knows it.