09/24/2026
In Their Final Years, They Need Their Owners Most
This week alone, Equine WellBeing Rescue has been asked to take in two elderly horses from one family and another elderly horse from a second family. We have also already agreed to bring in a donkey needing hospice care, who should arrive Saturday.
This is not unusual. Requests like these come every week. Imagine how many elderly horses and donkeys we would have if we said yes to every one of them.
We already have 11 senior horses in our care. Ten are over 20 years old, and six are over 25. They receive senior feed, supplements and individualized care, and most are taking one or more medications. Caring for them well takes time, money and constant attention.
Last night was a perfect example. Around 8 p.m., an unexpected storm blew in. The radar showed the possibility of heavy, cold rain as the temperature dropped and the wind picked up. So there I was, in my pajamas and a raincoat, opening the barn stalls so the seniors could come inside instead of relying only on the run-in shelters. I put hay and water in the stalls so they could stay dry and warm. Five of them came into the barn immediately.
That is what senior care looks like. It is noticing the weather. It is changing routines. It is medications, special feed, veterinary care, dental needs, arthritis, weight loss, blankets, shelter and watching for subtle changes that may mean something is wrong. It is the extra care that many people never see.
I understand why people call us. They know we take good care of elderly horses and donkeys. But we have only so much room, limited financial resources and even fewer volunteers. Right now, we have eight volunteers helping each week - not even enough to cover all 14 feedings in a seven-day week.
What has become increasingly difficult for me is that, in many cases, the owner already knows what needs to be done. They just do not want to be the one to do it.
When someone asks a rescue to take the horse or donkey they have loved for 10, 15, 20 years or more, they are not simply asking us to provide feed and shelter. They are asking a stranger to take on the final chapter of that animal's life. They are asking us to watch the decline, make the hard decisions, decide when euthanasia is necessary and carry the emotional weight of saying goodbye.
And for the animal, everything familiar is suddenly gone. A new place. New people. New horses. New food. New routines. We have had elderly horses arrive stressed enough to colic and need veterinary care. After spending most of their lives with one family, they are suddenly confused and trying to adjust at the very time their bodies are beginning to fail them.
What did they do wrong to deserve that? Nothing.
In their final years, they need their owners the most.
Sometimes the kindest and most loving decision is not finding somewhere else for an elderly horse to go. Sometimes it is giving that faithful old friend a peaceful, respectful goodbye at home, on a good day, surrounded by the people and surroundings they have known and trusted for years.
Several times this week - and honestly, nearly every week - I have had this conversation with people. It is getting harder. I worry about the horses and donkeys whose owners may keep calling until they find someone, anyone, willing to take them. And I carry the worry of what happens if they do not.
This is not unique to equines. Rescues dealing with dogs, cats and other animals are facing the same thing. Somewhere along the way, it has become too easy to believe that finding someone else to take over an animal's final years is the same as fulfilling our responsibility to them.
It isn't always.
After 20 years of rescue work, I understand why some rescues no longer answer these requests. They are burned out. Sometimes not responding is self-preservation. I am beginning to understand that more than I ever wanted to.
Compassion fatigue is real.
We will continue to help where we can. We will continue to care deeply for the seniors already entrusted to us. But I hope this message makes even one person stop and think before asking a rescue to take the elderly horse, donkey, dog or cat who has spent a lifetime loving and trusting them.
Please be there for them through the end. They have already spent their lives being there for you.
