To report a case of equine abuse, call the
Georgia Department of Agriculture's Equine Division

Monday - Friday
8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
404-656-3713
1-800-282-5852

If you would like GERL to assist with an Equine Abuse
case call 770-464-0138.

The Straight Truth
by Brian Dees, GERL President

When I sit down to write this column each month, it is at times difficult to sort through all the material that we have, and pick out something that is particularly in need of conveyance to the membership.  After all, I have stated several times that the purpose of this column is to keep you informed of what is happening in your organization.  

This month is a bit different in the fact that the subject matter is not only important, but is a more than a little harsh on the surface.  Once you dig a bit deeper it is easy to understand, but sadly, there are times when people do not look past the surface to the substance of a particular subject.  So with that said, here is the topic this month.

This organization is called the Georgia Equine Rescue League, and we are absolutely devoted to helping starved, abused and neglected equine.  We are not, however, the dump your horses on us because you no longer find it convenient to own them league.

If there was some way to take all the unwanted horses and give them outstanding homes, we would.  The fact is that there are way to many “unwanted horses” in the state of Georgia, and the entire world right now.  I warned you of this coming threat to horses, and now it seems it is here in full force.

I have personally dealt with 22 people in the last 30 days that no longer want their horses.  I have dealt with 9 who genuinely cannot afford to feed and/or house their horses any longer, and have been cussed out on two occasions in the last couple of weeks for suggesting that the owners themselves should make arrangements to either sell or give away their horses, instead of expecting the GERL to do that for them.

 I have been engaged with the Humane Society of the United States, The United States Department of Agriculture, and numerous other Equine Welfare Organizations within our state, and across the nation, and the situation is the same.  One of the saddest things that is consistent with everyone I speak to, is that breeding is still way up, even though the market is flooded with unwanted animals. 

The entire horse rescue world is overwhelmed.  And yes, that includes us, the GERL.  We do not have enough Foster homes to take in all the animals that we are involved with.  We do not have enough interest in adoptions right now.  We do not have enough area coordinators to be as effective as we would like.  Although we have grown our organization is each of the fields over the last few years, the demand is surpassing the resources exponentially.

So, what can we do about it….it comes right back down to education.  We need each member of the GERL to become actively involved in educating the general public about responsible horse ownership.  Talk to people about costs, hardships and inconveniences involved in horse ownership. 

Tell people what the GERL does.  Tell them about how many unwanted horses are out there.  Talk about gelding, and skipping a couple of years on a breeding program.  Anything you can get out to help curb un-responsible ownership will help.  It may take a while to sink in, but we MUST plant that seed whenever possible.

We need YOU to help rid our state of poor, neglectful, and abusive horse ownership.  But we also need your help to reduce the number of “unwanted” horses, BEFORE they become neglected.  We just cannot care for them all.  And that my friends, is the Straight Truth.

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