Shaq arrived at the KyEHC in terrible shape, but was adopted by a qualified owner three months later and is now thriving. | Photo: Courtesy KyEHC

By Karen Gustin

In 2006, 12 prominent individuals in Kentucky’s horse industry recognized that the region needed an all-breed equine rescue. Thus, they established the nonprofit Kentucky Equine Humane Center (KyEHC), in Nicholasville, Ky. Like other reputable equine rescues around the country, the KyEHC takes in horses and then adopts them out to new homes. Here’s how this process works for us and how we help ensure a positive match.

Owners or agencies such as animal control surrender horses to rescues for a variety of reasons: abuse, neglect, abandonment, or owners’ financial/health reasons. In one case the KyEHC was involved with, for instance, a gentleman with a terminal illness could no longer care for his two horses and had to give them up. In another case an owner simply left the state and abandoned his horse. And, in yet another, an owner left two ponies in a wildlife management area. All these animals found their way to the KyEHC