Katherine Caldwell’s husband, Tony, promised to buy her a horse when their children turned 5.

“The trouble is,” she said, “we never had any kids.”

So 12 years ago, the couple founded Indiana Horse Rescue, a nonprofit organization based in Frankfort that provides shelter and adoption services for mistreated and surrendered horses.

Until recently, most of the horses that wound up at the shelter were given to them by responsible owners who could no longer care for their horses but wanted them to find good homes