Brightly colored rows of green fences line up acres of land at the equine center.
The sun’s beam guides tractors and visitors towards its home, winding down grassfields.
Horses tread slowly as they fill the fields with their footprints, roaming freely in their newfound haven.
Grazing these lands, these horses are hopeful for a lifetime of recovery, filling the rest of their lives with comfort they had hoped for.
Ranging in treatments for rehabilitation, training and finding their forever homes, BraveHearts Equine Center provides a sanctuary for these animals to regain their life after working their entire lives.
David and Ruth Waronker founded this organization 20 years ago as a way of rescuing equines and helping them the best they could through their passion project.
Finding inspiration from lines in “Black Beauty,” a classic novel, Ruth said she believes in helping these horses and their gentle souls get a second chance. However, this place doesn’t run on hopes and aspirations, instead it runs on the efforts from its caretakers and volunteers.
Kelli Zeccola, a volunteer at BraveHearts, said her passion for horses brought her to this organization in August 2024. Finding this organization only built her excitement for her love of draft horses, also known as work horses, so she knew she had to volunteer at BraveHearts.
Outside of her life, she finds comfort in coming to volunteer and hopes to give these animals the best she possibly can.
“Horses are my therapy, my free therapy is what I always joke about and tell people,” Zeccola said. “They’re just healing, just being around them.”
Zeccola said the message of BraveHearts has been important to her ever since the beginning of her service.
“You’re saving these horses that are just kind of thrown away because they’re no longer of value to their owners,” Zeccola said. “It’s just pretty amazing that they can save them from being shipped to slaughter, bring them to live out sanctuary life or be rehomed to a loving home where they can spend retirement.”
With the hard work that comes with maintaining the nonprofit, their barn manager, Maggie Fraley, is out in the fields day in and day out, monitoring the horses and their care and training them to make sure the horses are getting the proper nutritional care.
Although Fraley works behind the scenes, her job is vital as some of the horses that come in have had zero past training. She is able to get them to trust again and have basic ground manners to behave around others in order to have a more fulfilling life.
These work horses would be brought to BraveHearts in severe physical conditions, from body scores of two, meaning the horse is thin and considered underweight, or even finding wounds that have been infected.
The organization pushes to rehabilitate these animals taking them from worsening physical conditions to healthy lives with the help of the nonprofits veterinarians and podiatrists.The nonprofit also organizes several events throughout the year and provides tours around the property for those who are interested in seeing the center.
Erica Bivens, public relations specialist and philanthropy director, aspires to help as many animals as possible through the nonprofits message.
“Our biggest thing is just awareness, we want folks to know who we are and what we do, just to come out here and see some of these firsthand transformative cases,” Bivens said.
Each case for the rehabilitation process is different depending on the animal, according to Bivens. A majority of the rescues at BraveHearts are coming from the kill pens, and the center intercepts them before they go to be slaughtered.
A lot of the draft horses at the equine center were predominately work horses their entire lives. Once they become too old or sick or injured to continue their work, Bivens said, unfortunately that’s when they get dumped.
“These are the horses that are kind of thrown away, ones that no one wants anymore,” Bivens said. “We still believe that they deserve a second chance and that they have a lot of life to live.”
According to Bivens, as soon as the nonprofit hears about horses in these situations, they immediately start fundraising for them in order to bring them to the equine center to rehabilitate them.
Transformation cases have the opportunity of happening in places like BraveHearts. One in particular being Leo, a 20-year-old palomino percheron, who came to the center in April 2024.
“Leo had a body condition score of two which means he was emaciated, you could see every bone really down his back and spine,” Bivens said. “His hind legs were actually so weak because he had lost so much muscle mass from deteriorating and being in the condition that he just struggled standing up.”
When Leo arrived, they tried helping him as best he could, putting weight on him slowly to help him as best they could. The nonprofit then reached out to Spy Coast Farm, an organization that has a rehabilitation site for advice on what to do to build muscle strength and their answer was clear: water treadmill therapy.
Leo’s took the next steps in his rehabilitation process and now he looks incredible, Bivens said.
Although cases like Leo’s occur, not all cases are transformative in the way the center hopes. According to Bivens, lots of the horses come in being timid around people so the socialization that occurs in these events helps them come out of their shells and become interactive again.
“It’s a win for horses and humans,” Bivens said. “Socializing with them and helping them see new faces and get used to humans, to learn that not all human touch is bad or abusive is really impactful,” Bivens said.
Confidence comes out in every step with these horses, as their interactions continue to thrive in and out of the equine center, Bivens said.
“Jack, the one the back who brays, he was just so emotionless when he got here. He was staring into a stall wall, and didn’t want any interaction,” Bivens said. “Now he’s out there braying up a storm, greeting everyone that comes up to see him.”
Bivens said these fundraising events aren’t just for the horses, but also for the people that come, fostering their love and care for the equines. As people find the passion the equine center brings, these people become more educated on its rescue work and see firsthand what they do, Bivens said.
“It’s a rescue,” Bivens said. “We do absolutely everything we can to save a horse, but that doesn’t always work out.”
One of their cases, Princess, an older horse that was in even worse shape than Leo was.The equine center did everything they could, but unfortunately she passed away.
“Those stories really tug on your heart, it’s emotional when you think about it,” Bivens said. “We really try to focus and remember on these positive cases like Leo and remember why we do what we do.”
