SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News)– Sunshine Horses Inc. made over $6,000 Saturday, which will go toward rescuing, rehabilitating, rehoming, and retraining horses. This was the first time that they hosted an Uptown Hoedown Fundraiser and Fundraising Chairperson at Sunshine Horses, Dianne Sestak said it seemed like a good idea since they have the resources.
“This is a barn,” Sestak said. “So I thought, we have to do something ‘barnish’. We have the hay, we have the animals so it works perfectly.”
According to Sestak every dollar they receive is either donated or given to them through a grant by sponsors or events. Other than that, the non-profit has no other source of income. Sunshine Horses has three barns, which can hold a total of 35 horses but as of right now, they only have 25 on the grounds. Sestak said it’s better if they have fewer horses before the winter.
“As we go into winter we try to get down to one or two barns,” Sestak said. “We lose a lot of volunteers in the wintertime so it makes it a little bit challenging.”
Each horse costs approximately $250 a month to take care of, which includes everything from vet appointments to feeding them. Depending on the size of the hay, it can cost roughly anywhere from $85 to $200 and each horse eats two times a day.
The majority of the horses at the barns are retired racetrack horses and they connect with the racetrack and arrange to take some of the horses after they retire. Sometimes, the horses from the track will go to the Amish and once the Amish no longer need them they go to the slaughter trucks. Sestak said they want to get to these horses before the trucks do.
“What we try to do is get them before they began their next life,” Sestak said. “But sometimes we get our horses straight from the slaughter truck.”
Everyone that works at Sunshine Horses is a volunteer and along with raising money for the horses this fundraiser also acted as a recruiting event to gain more volunteers. Volunteer Coordinator, Dianna Wellmon said she volunteers because of what horses can do for people, herself included.
“I lost my daughter in a car accident and it was the horses that helped me heal during that time,” Wellmon said. “It’s the stories of the people who come here and how these horses have actually healed them.”
Sunshine Horses sold over 130 tickets and each ticket was $50. Sestak said that she is still counting but as of right now they made over $7,000 from the fundraiser. The ticket included one meal from one of the two pop-up trucks and a drink of either beer or wine from one of the many pop-up breweries. Visitors engaged in line dancing, games, petting and feeding the horses at the barn.
Lastly, if interested you can also adopt a horse through Sunshine Horses but have to go through an application and verification process to proceed to the next steps.
