An Albuquerque-area horse rescue organization is celebrating 20 years of rescuing and rehoming horses.
The Walkin N Circles Ranch horse rescue organization has been operating since 2002, a recent KOB 4 news report said. In two decades, the organization has rescued more than 500 horses and introduced them to new homes.
“A lot of horses come to us very underweight, severely neglected, undernourished,” Lauri Michael, the ranch’s board president, told KOB 4. “They come to us with very bad feet. You know, their hooves have not been trimmed in a very long time. Some have been neglected to the point of abuse.”
The COVID-19 pandemic and inflation have been making it more difficult to own horses over the past few years, and the number of horse rescue cases are on the rise.
“People are finding it harder to take care of their animals and horses in particular with us,” Michael told KOB 4. “Hay is going up, it’s extremely expensive right now and so we are finding more and more horses in need of help.”
Walkin N Circles rescued more than 30 horses in 2021 alone, and the organization is seeking new volunteers to handle the increase in work.