From GAIT, Inc. President, Denise Parsons: I need to give a HUGE shout out to two incredible groups of folks, the teams at Clarity Riding and Starry Night Stables These folks have worked tirelessly over the past few weeks to get ready for Horse World Expo. In 2020 it was one of our largest fundraisers and it was sadly missed in 2021. 2022 ended up being a record breaking year for us at Horse World Expo, these girls and guys raised over $4500 in just four days at Expo.!!!!
Besides their amazing hard work, the folks at Clarity Riding with the help of Starry Night Stables put together horses to bring as booth ambassadors and for demonstrations. They manned the booth faithfully, they took care of the horses back in the barns all as volunteers, they hauled horses up to the show at their own expense. Before the event Jamie Lynn Dice and Emily Ballenger came up with an awesome new design for t-shirts, they put those designs on stickers, beautiful blankets and more - all to offer for donations. They did a fun raffle prize (that's what the video is below). They sold other items like some great saddle pads and a beautiful oil painting done by one of our adopters, Stephanie Torres.
Everything you see in the booth was put together by these two groups. They organized the decorations, the slide show, information on current and past horses in the program. They bought halters out of their own pockets for our horses to wear on the show floor. They did this all for the love of our horses!!!
In addition to the the fundraising opportunity, Expo is important to raise awareness. It allows us to show the public how amazing gaited horses are, educate them on natural horsemanship applied to the gaited horses instead of harsh equipment and training short cuts. It also allows us to highlight currently available and past adopted horses showing the public that these horses in our rescue are as great as any horse they can get privately (or better!).
I can not think the folks that pulled this off this weekend enough!!!
BTW, if you're interested in one of the newly designed shirts, shoot us an email at
[email protected]. We'd love to ship you one, but the girls did such an amazing job, we're sold out. But we're about to order more. You'll see Jamie and the crew in the video sporting the new design. I can notify you when the new shirts come in so you can get one ordered.
And now a message from our President, Denise Parsons...
Good morning all GAIT, Inc. fans and follower. You may notice it's been a bit quiet here lately. Well we're all still here and going strong. I thought I'd take a quick moment to give everyone a quick updated.
First, it's going to be a bit quiet for a the next month or so. The reason I am able to donate 100% of my work effort to GAIT, Inc. is because I also run one of the largest equestrian events in the country,
www.horseworldexpo.com. The event is March 3-6 at the Farm Show Complex in Harrisburg, PA and yes, GAIT, Inc. will have a booth there - so be sure to stop out and say hello to our volunteers. It's unlikely you'll see me at the booth however, I'll be busy running the entire event. Thank goodness to the wonderful folks at Clarity Riding and Starry Night Stables who are all working hard to get everything ready for GAIT, Inc's booth. We're also hoping to have Squirrel, our unhandled gelding save from back in the fall, be at Horse World Expo at Rescued to Stardom. Ashley Lauer has been diligently working with him, but we have to let Squirrel tell us what he's ready for, and we won't participate if he's not ready to do it.
Time for the link - yes, the donation link - we continue to need your support through this winter! Please keep us in mind paypal.com/us/fundraiser/charity/2417873 you can also use the "donate" button here on Facebook or message us, we have lots of ways you can donate if you don't use PayPal or Facebook Pay.
Next let's talk about the weather - it's HORRENDOUS!!! Between the multiple storms that coated us in snow, then the warming, and drastic cold swings, everything that still had snow on it became a solid sheet of ice. Record setting cold has not be our friend. Anyone that has horses knows the work load and the food consumption doubles in weather like this. Every single person working with our horses had their hands full keeping them safe, warm, fed and watered. There's not a lot of time left in the day for evaluations and training rides right now. We would love to get some horses adopted, but refuse to let horses go to new homes if we haven't fully evaluated them. And if that's not enough, there's no way to get horses out on trails for evaluations right now - the trails are a solid sheet of ice. We will not put horses, riders or trainers in jeopardy to speed the process along. What does this mean for GAIT, Inc.? Well - extra holding costs and additional feed bills - so don't be afraid to send a little extra our way if you feel it in your heart to do so.
Now, let's talk about the horses, updates and progress... We'll just go alphabetically here.
Amigo and Arrow - these are the two geldings from our Paso 5 save over the summer. They've been a tough pair. Anyone that's worked with Pasos knows how sensitive these horses are, they don't trust well and when they're uptight, they don't eat. Both of the boys are finally starting to relax but they are not ready for new people in their lives yet and are not ready mentally or physically to be tested under saddle. We're hoping with the spring thaw we will be able to transition them to the evaluation phase of their rehabilitation, but they set their own scheduled, all we can do is try to influence them to move forward.
Barney is ready for adoption, but it's been impossible to get updated photos or video. He will need a patient and confident rider, but he's sound, broke and ready to roll. visit
www.gaitrrr.org for more details.
Bubba is ready for adoption once we can finally get him out on the trails for final evaluations. He's a "good ole boy" kinda guy, he's a senior with an opinion and while he will do nothing bad, he does like to express his opinion and will do best with a rider that won't let him take advantage of his years of experience with human manipulation. He likes to walk out and enjoys his rides.
Buffy is our 3yo who was rescued last year so malnourished that we believed this 2yo was actually a yearling. She's been worked in hand regularly, her weight is perfect, she's grown and is nearly 14h now, and she's starting to learn to carry a saddle. Next step will be ponying out for experience - again, once this terrible weather finally settles.
Cassie is ready for adoption. She is on our website as well. She does have navicular changes, so her new person needs to be an experienced rider that enjoys a young and energetic horse that has an excellent farrier use to working with horses that have navicular changes. She is currently sound with correct shoeing and angles, but riding on hard, frozen ground is not a good idea. She working regularly in a youth lesson program, enjoys a job, but her navicular needs to be kept in mind - this is NOT a mare that can do long, hard rides and her hoof care will need careful attention to keep her sound
Ceres is currently fostered and as long as her riding continues to progress as it has, her foster is planning to adopt. She is finally blooming, but it took time. Thank goodness to her foster who has covered most of her expenses during her rehab and down time!
DaisyMay is eating, well, like a horse! Daisy was purchased from an auction in Maryland on New Year's Eve, she's an "aged" - ie. over 25 most likely, mare that was emaciated. She's managed to not get sick despite the trauma of going through auction in her state (the 2nd horse that was brought to the auction with her died on site). Her weight gain has been slow but steady and she's a willing participant in her rehab. Daisy is who's pictured here.
Echo and Macie both crossed the rainbow bridge last week. Macie was suffering from end stage heart damage, aged around 24, she came to us through another rescue that had saved her from a kill buyer in PA. There was just too much damage done to her body (she arrived with a BCS of a 1) and she was never able to fully recover despite our rehabber's best efforts. Echo arrived in the fall, a strapping young man of around 12 that was "off" in the front. His xrays showed severe arthritis and boney growths and chips in his fetlock. We knew that he would not stay pasture sound for long and the damage was not operable. When he was no longer comfortable at a walk, the decision to let him pass was made. Both horses were euthanized by our veterinarian.
Georgia and Sonata two of the three mares from the Paso 5 save, were fully evaluated under saddle but found to only be pasture sound with Previcox. They have been moved to a long-term foster in Virginia that does a great job with our seniors. They will get to stay together until they are no longer comfortable and happy with lots of pasture to roam and will enjoy their retirement.
Flash had been hanging out with the foster in Virginia but since they only have room for two, we brought him home. He's going to go back to work as soon as this weather breaks and should be available for adoption or foster this spring depending on what we find during his refresh.
Indie is one of the seniors that came in a little over a month ago as an owner surrender who is in hospice. Indie is fighting an upper respiratory infection, but doing well - the stress of the move and these 30-degree weather swings are not a horse's friend. But he's on the mend and we hope to do evals on him once the weather breaks.
Jackson is a gorgeous low-20s Mountain Horse gelding who is ready for a companion home. He is not sound for riding due to injuries he suffered to his back at some point. He can appear sound, but if he moves just the right way, something pinches and it sends him into a violent bucking fit. But he's zero maintenance, easy to get along with on the ground and is listed on our website as a long-term foster or companion home adoption.
Mattie Girl has begun under saddle evaluations. So far, so good. She seems steady, well gaited and we just need to get her out on the trails. She has aural plaques and is VERY sensitive to touch on her ears. She needs a bridle with no brow band and then crown piece needs to set back far enough not to touch the ears, once that's done, she's a very willing girl.
Oakley is a favorite around the barn. Smart and curious. She is actually in her low-teens and very green. So we're doing some refresher training on her. She will make a great riding horse with some training.
Piper is ready for adoption, she's listed on our website. Piper will need a rider who is very confident and will take the time to bond with her. She gets very herd bound if she doesn't trust her rider, but once you make that breakthrough and connection, she'll do whatever you ask. She's very well bred and very well gaited, so the person that is willing to put the time in, will be rewarded with a fantastic horse.
Rana has a bit of a set back with her training when she came up lame. She needed about 60 days off to recover - likely a slip in the mud, but she's on the mend and going back into training now.
Rudy, our little Christmas save gelding with his fuzzy little ears (frostbite took his ear tips at some point in his life and he's got cute teddy bear ears now). Well Rudy is super sweet, super curious and ready to start his training. He is getting some ground work for right now.
Squirrel - well, we talked a little about him above. He is currently entered in Rescued to Stardom at Horse World Expo and his trainer, Ashley has been hard at work trying to get him ready. He's a tough one though, he's got some fear issues, he was an unhandled 6yo and horses like that don't turn around overnight. But he has a lot of "try" and we'll see what he's ready for.
Stetson is doing great, he needs some more work with our farrier and needs to gain a bit more weight so we can start conditioning him. He's a big, lanky horse. We want to address his hoof angles in hopes of helping him break over better so he's less "trippy" and need to get him conditioned, which is super hard to do in this weather. But we feel like he'll be ready for a new home come spring.
Tesora is a Peruvian Paso that was left behind at an auction and offered to GAIT, Inc for $500 by the auction barn. She was not sound, her feet were horrendous and her nutrition was so poor that her ligaments were not healthy. She seems to be thriving, she's perked up and we are hoping we can do a riding evaluation on her in the spring. It remains to be seen if she will be riding sound however.
Topper is available as a companion and light riding horse. His adopter will need to have a good farrier, he does have degenerative ring bone, so angles and regular trims are the only thing keeping him sound right now. He has good days and bad days, but he's still up for an occasional energetic stroll around the pasture.
Zane is in long-term foster care and will not be made available for adoption. He has so much ingrained and unreasonable fear of humans that he will never be safe to ride, he is simply too reactive to be safe. He is very happy in a herd and being a horse however, so he will remain in long-term foster.
Zee, last but not least, is being evaluated under saddle. He seems to be fine with a light rider (under 120lbs) but gets very uncomfortable with a rider larger than 120lbs. His previous owner was a big man, and he's a small horse and fine b***d, add to that he was being ridden hollow which means his spine was carrying the weight instead of his loin muscles. There's definitely some "issues" in the spine that are irritated by a larger rider. We're hoping with conditioning and proper riding that allows him to build that top line will help. But right now he's been doing well with a lighter rider. His biggest issue is that his response to fear is to stop and pop-rear. And that needs to be addressed before he will go out on adoption.
Well, that pretty much summarizes where things are with everyone currently in our care. Please be patient over the next month or so as we all work hard to do our best, don't forget about us out here, we still need your support, especially since it's going to be very hard to get horses into homes during the rest of this winter and they are going through hay bales like a fat kid at an ice cream bar. Thank you to each and every one of our supporters, it takes a village and you all are a big part of that!