Fargo, North Dakota – After traveling more than ten hours to free some wild horses from a slaughter pen, a family has returned to Fargo.
A task successfully completed yet unfinished. “If we can rescue these babies, rescue any horse, and give them the opportunity to have what I have, that’s just amazing,” Operations Manager Ashlee Faulkner says.
For Pride & Joy Rescue, Ashlee has been saving horses for three years. The distance she traveled to do so was, however, her most recent journey to Kansas. She went with her mother to the kill pen to rescue eight wild horses.
“A kill pen is essentially, in my opinion, the equivalent to the pound for a dog or cat,” Director Connie Faulkner says. “It’s their last stop.”
There are many different reasons why horses end up in these kennels, but according to Connie, it’s growing more frequent. Many people find it difficult to afford to care for their animals as prices continue to rise.
At least $60,000 has been spent by the Faulkners on their rescue efforts.
“For me, it was paying horses back from my childhood. For my daughter, it was teaching her that adults can do the right thing,” Connie adds. “For kids, it’s teaching them to have a bigger heart than what they see in their everyday world.”
The only ways they could travel to Kansas, according to Connie, were through donations and community assistance.
“Most of them were starving, you can feel their ribs,” she says. “What happens is when they go on kill trips they don’t get hay, they don’t get water.”
The horses have a long road to recovery, and it will take some time for them to adjust to their new surroundings.
“I feel like everyone deserves to have what I have with Lady because it’s really special,” Ashlee says.
Everything the Faulkners say is always worthwhile.
