Spring Creek Horse Rescue

SPRING CREEK HORSE RESCUE

Now that spring has officially sprung, I am excited to share with you what I have learned about this very special horse rescue in Durango which is located in beautiful southwest Colorado! The name of this horse rescue is SPRING CREEK HORSE RESCUE!

This dedicated equine rescue has been in existence for over 45 years! The lady in charge is Diane McCracken and she is the Executive Director of SCHR. That means this rescue has been helping save equines since 1976! They operate as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and serve La Plata County, Colorado, and surrounding areas as well. They take in any abused, unwanted, neglected, or outgrown equine of any breed. They are a 100% anti-slaughter rescue that strives to rehabilitate and rehome these deserving equines into loving, forever homes. Sometimes a horse they rescue is not a good candidate for adoption, due to some mental or physical problems they experienced prior to arriving at the rescue. For these special rescued equines, Spring Creek Horse Rescue (SCHR) becomes their forever home where they can live out their lives in peace. This is the promise that SCHR makes to these horses and they never waiver from this commitment.

Diane McCracken said the following in 2016 for an article being written about SCHR at that time,

“Horse rescue really isn’t for everybody – it’s hard, long hours, lots of stress, but also very rewarding. One of our mottos around here is ‘We don’t quit.’ That means we won’t quit on a horse, and we won’t quit on our mission. It’s kept us here for 40 years, and we’d like to be here for 40 more.”

And, here she is in her 45^th year and no one is quitting at SCHR! They continue to care for the needy equines at their rescue.

Spring Creek Horse Rescue (SCHR) usually has horses available for adoption, but as of mid-March 2021, there are no horses currently available for adoption. All of the current horses at SCHR are permanent residents. Please check back to see when there are some horses available for adoption.

Because they care about the ultimate fate and welfare of the horses who do come up for adoption at SCHR, they have stringent requirements for adopting equines from their rescue. First of all, SCHR will only allow adoptions to Colorado residents. You must provide references that they will thoroughly check. You must have adequate shelter and fencing (not barbed wire) in place. They want to make sure you have the horsemanship skills to handle the horse you are interested in adopting. If you are going to use a trainer, SCHR has to approve the trainer. They do prefer that a person interested in adopting a particular horse come out to the rescue at least three times in order to help both the person and SCHR make sure the horse will be a good fit for that person. However, they understand that some people must travel far in order to visit the rescue and so in those circumstances they do try to make some accommodation for this situation.

Once a person is approved to adopt a particular horse and takes that horse home, they must remain in contact sending updates to SCHR for a minimum of 6 months. At the end of 6 months, the adopter will receive a brand inspection (bill of sale). Within the first 6 months, if the person decides the horse is not a good fit, they are required to return the horse to SCHR.

They also help educate the public on horse care and feeding and serve as the La Plata County Hay Bank which makes it possible for horse owners in this region to continue to feed their horses when times get tough.

Spring Creek Horse Rescue’s successes are only possible due to the generous donations from the community. They always need volunteers to come help with the daily horse chores, veterinary care, and maintaining fences and other farm chores. Monetary donations are vital to the ability to provide for these horses. They also need donations of supplies, etc. to help these horses recover their health and become adopted.

Diane has been saving animals since she was 4 years old! She has taken in all kinds of animals over her life. But she began saving horses about 45 years ago when a neighbor’s first-time momma mare stepped on her baby foal. The foal needed doctoring. Her neighbors asked Diane if she could take the baby foal and that was the start of Diane rescuing and saving many, many equines.

Over the years, Diane has seen so much good come from her efforts at SCHR! Many horses have been rescued and rehomed to excellent homes. She has had volunteers come to her rescue through the local court system and she has seen how volunteering at SCHR has personally helped these individuals as well as the horses they cared for. Other people volunteer from the community because they just love equines and want to help them regain their health. One such young man from the local area discovered his life’s calling while volunteering at SCHR – he went on to become a veterinarian! But, during the long pandemic of 2020, Diane did most of all the heavy work by herself!

SCHR provides many options for folks wanting to donate to this rescue to help save these horses’ lives and help them find their forever loving homes:

You can donate monthly with automatic withdrawls from your credit card:

• Love A Horse $25/month
• Help A Horse $35/month
• Feed A Horse $90/month

Or, you can make a one-time donation – any amount is greatly appreciated as it will definitely help these horses.

SCHR is also a member of the Animal Welfare Fund Combined Federal Campaign (CFC). If your employer participates with CFC, they can deduct your monthly donation for SCHR directly from your paycheck. Simply set up your pledge with CFC #37086.

SCHR also greatly appreciates in-kind donations. Items such as pasture drag, panels, fencing, building materials for shelters, and gravel are often needed. Please check with SCHR for their current needs.

For all donations to SCHR, please visit this page of the SCHR website: https://www.springcreekhorserescue.org/save-a-horse---donate-today.html

Another valuable way to help SCHR is to tell everyone you know about this dedicated horse rescue! The more people who know about these deserving horses, the more potential homes can be found which frees up space for other horses that need to be rescued.

Volunteers are always welcomed and are so appreciated at SCHR! They always need help with the daily chores and also with fundraising and marketing! SCHR would love to talk to you if you can help them in any way possible!

Here are some before and after photos of horses who arrived at SCHR in very bad shape, but with the help of Diane, the volunteers, and the generous donations, you can see that these horses were restored to health!

 

Callie upon arriving at SCHR

 

 

Callie restored to health! 

 

 

Tom upon arriving to SCHR

 

Tom looking at ya – he is recovering and knows he is safe and sound at SCHR!