FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Jennifer Williams, PhD
Executive Director, Bluebonnet Equine Humane Society
888 542 5163
jenn@bluebonnetequine.org
Bluebonnet Equine Humane Society Celebrates ASPCA Help A Horse Day with Denton and Gainesville Events in April
Community support needed to give the rescue a chance to win up to $25,000 from the ASPCA to help save more horses
(Denton and Gainesville, Texas: April 2016) – Bluebonnet Equine Humane Society (BEHS) will be celebrating the ASPCA® (The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals®) national Help A Horse Day and competing with rescues across the country for a chance to win up to $25,000 in prizes to assist with their efforts to protect horses. Founded in 2005, Bluebonnet has rescued 804 abandoned, abused, and neglected equines. BEHS’ Bluebonnet in Bloom celebrates the organization’s horses and volunteers with an event in Denton and one in Gainesville in April. The first event will be an informational booth at the D&L Farm and Home store in Gainesville, TX on April 9 from 10am-2pm. Bluebonnet volunteers and adopters will be at the store to answer questions about the rescue, raise awareness about what BEHS does, discuss adoptable horses, and let horse enthusiasts know how they can get involved.
The second event takes place on April 24 from 9am-2pm at the Susar Farm horse show in Denton, TX. Bluebonnet volunteers will have an informational booth and display to educate horse enthusiasts about the need for horse rescue and how to get involved. Rescue horses who are available for adoption will be on hand to meet the public, and adopted horses will be competing in the show ring.
The goal of the nationwide Help a Horse Day’s competition is for local rescues to raise awareness about the lifesaving work they do year-round to care for at-risk horses in their community who have often been abused or neglected. Horses have been central to the ASPCA’s work since its founding 150 years ago, when Henry Bergh stopped a cart driver from beating his horse, resulting in the first successful arrest for the mistreatment of a horse on April 26, 1866.
Funds raised by Bluebonnet in Bloom will be used locally to help law enforcement agencies in Texas investigate reports of neglect or abuse, remove abused, neglected, and abandoned horses and other equines, and to provide food, medical care, and foster homes to rehabilitate those equines. None of the funds raised at Bluebonnet in Bloom events go to the ASPCA® or other organizations.
“This will be our first year competing in the Help a Horse event. I hope the community comes out to support our horses, volunteers, and organization. The more people who attend our events during April and greater the number of new volunteers and funds we raise, the better the chance we have of winning one of the prizes from the ASPCA®. Those funds will allow us to help even more horses this year,” said Dr. Jennifer Williams, Executive Director of Bluebonnet Equine Humane Society.
Other Bluebonnet in Bloom events include:
• Informational booths in College Station, Houston, La Grange, Navasota, New Braunfels, Temple, and Waco throughout April
• An online photo event featuring a photo competition and featuring individual rescue horse’s stories (April 23-24)
• Silent auction and horses to meet the public at the Navasota Tractor Supply (April 23)
• Benefit trail ride, silent auction, and Bluebonnet horses available to meet the public in Sisterdale (Boerne area) (April 23)
• Low-cost equine vaccination clinic in La Grange (April 23)
• 25% off of adoption fees for any horse adopted in the month of April.
For a complete list of Bluebonnet in Bloom events, visit our website http://www.bluebonnetequine.org/index.php/news/future-events. Bluebonnet is still looking for other venues for events in April. If you are an event organizer and would like to include Bluebonnet in your event, please contact the rescue.
When you attend a Bluebonnet in Bloom event, donate, or volunteer, you help horses like Moriah. Moriah is a ten-year-old, pony mare who came from a neglect case. Moriah’s owners tried to give her away before Bluebonnet rescued her, but she was so leery of humans that she ran through a fence trying to escape and suffered serious injuries. It took Bluebonnet volunteers over an hour to catch her and get her into a trailer, and when she got to her foster home she was leery of anyone who came near her. Volunteers worked to gain her trust – and it has paid off. Today, fear is a thing of the past. She was adopted and is now ridden by both adults and children and has won many ribbons in trail competitions and horse shows. Moriah is proof of the dedication of Bluebonnet volunteers; their goal is to show horses that humans can be kind and trustworthy. Their patience helps traumatized horses recover and become great family horses.
Moriah will be one of the adopted horses competing at the Susar Farms horse show.
For more information about Bluebonnet Equine Humane Society and Bluebonnet in Bloom, please visit http://www.bluebonnetequine.org or http://www.facebook.com/BluebonnetEquineHumaneSociety or call (888) 542 5163.