Heather Ainsley
news@greenepublishing.com
They say that if you sit with animals quietly, they will show you their hearts, but if you sit with them kindly, they will help you locate yours.
For Roxanne Spear, her heart is apparent in everything she does. As President and Director of Rainbow's Edge Equine Transition Center, Spear has seen her fair share of heartache, most of which comes in the way of neglected or abused animals. She and her dedicated team of board members and volunteers at Rainbow's Edge help rehabilitate horses that have been seized by law enforcement from abuse and neglect cases. It's a hard job, both physically and emotionally, but Spear and her team have been working diligently since 2012 to improve the lives of horses that have faced truly heartbreaking circumstances.
While the rescue has been in operation since 2012, Rainbow's Edge registered as a 501(c)3 organization in 2014, to better serve their purpose of rescue and rehabilitation. Today, the rescue runs almost entirely on generous donations from the community and the manpower of volunteers. One of the biggest goals that Spear and the other board members had for the rescue was to establish it with its own land, and the reason for this was stability for the horses.
“Most rescues are set up in someone's backyard,” says Spear. “It starts out as someone's passion and they do it right at home. The problem we saw with that scenario, was that when someone gets old, and passes away, that land is lost or exchanges hands, and the animals are displaced with nowhere to go.”
Spear continued, gesturing to the sunny pastures that make up the facility. “This land belongs to the horses,” she stated proudly. “Whatever we build here for them is under Rainbow's Edge. That means that no matter what happens to myself or the other board members, the land will never be lost. We can pass this along to the next generation of Rainbow's Edge directors, and the horses will be able to live here without the risk of being displaced due to who owns the land. It's theirs.”
Spear says that the rescue's name often gets confused with the well-known animal poem Rainbow Bridge, which was written by Paul C. Dahm, who worked as a grief counselor in Oregon and wrote the poem in the early 1980s. Although there have been many adaptations of the poem since then, the general sentiment is one of comfort for animal owners who suffer the loss of their animal companions. The poem suggests that, in death, pets await their owner's arrival in a beautiful paradise where they are never hurt, hungry or sad. When their owner arrives, they are reunited with joy and cross over the rainbow bridge together into Heaven. Although nearly every animal-lover out there has their own sentiments about the poem, Spear says the true inspiration for the Rainbow's Edge name came as a way of honoring an actual horse named Rainbow.
“The land we started on was borrowed,” says Spear. “It was originally owned by Sandra Cole Chance, who had inherited it as family land. There was a horse that lived there that came with the land when she inherited it, and the horse's name was Rainbow. Instead of selling the land, Sandra drove every day from where she lived in Tallahassee just to take care of Rainbow. She did this for years, so that Rainbow could live the rest of his life at his own home. When Rainbow passed away, Sandra set up a rent-free lease to us for our horse rescue.”
Spear says that this act of generosity was what inspired the name. The ability for Rainbow to live the remainder of his life peacefully in a place he knew as home galvanized Spear and her team, and, wanting to continue that kindness and pay homage to the horse that started it all, they decided to call their rescue Rainbow's Edge.
“We didn't want it to be Rainbow's End,” recalls Spear. “We wanted his memory to continue. We all knew it was just the beginning.”
Rainbow's Edge was able to use Rainbow's land for seven years before they needed to find a new, permanent location. Through what Spear describes as “just luck and a really good realtor,” Rainbows Edge was put together with a foundation in Madison County and was able to buy a 21-acre plot of land in Greenville.
“We need about 100 acres,” reveals Spear, but for now, the rescue is hard at work setting up the land to best suit the rescue and its horses. The first step was to put up fencing. The 21-acre property has 10 separate pastures, and currently houses 14 rescue horses. The next step will be to build shelter structures, a training arena and space for classes, and the plans are already underway.
Rainbow's Edge responds to all agricultural calls from the Sheriff's Office or Animal Control, regardless of whether or not the animal in question is a horse.
While they do aid in the rescue of other livestock species, such as alpaca, goats, pigs and cows, Rainbow's Edge does not keep them at their rescue. For this to be possible, they rely on a strong network of relationships with not only other animal rescues, but also local farms.
When a horse is brought in to Rainbow's Edge, each case starts out with a vet visit. As most of the rescues come in as a result of a lawful seizure of the animal through law enforcement, getting an independent assessment of the animal's health that comes from outside of the rescue is a crucial part of the process.
The horses come from a wide array of situations that require confiscation by law enforcement, including abuse, cruelty and neglect. Horses are brought in to the facility, rehabilitated and worked with by a dedicated team of experienced volunteers. But even after rehabilitation and vetting is complete and the horses have been restored to a clean bill of health, the work doesn't stop there.
“Our mission is to rehabilitate, train and prepare horses for a new forever home,” says Spear, who says a professional trainer comes out to the facility twice a week to train not just the horses, but the volunteers as well. Once a horse has been professionally trained, an appropriate adopter can be found that will be a good match for that particular horse. One of the most rewarding parts of working at the rescue for Spear is seeing a horse go home with its new family, knowing that the union will be a good fit for both parties.
Rainbow's Edge has pioneered many different programs to fuel their mission of helping horses and other animals. Among these programs, they have their disaster relief program, where they organize the transport of supplies or set up relief areas for agricultural animals affected by disaster or hardship. Using their access to large trailers and trucks, Rainbow's Edge is able to transport large shipments of necessary food, supplies and resources to impacted areas.
In conjunction with this program is their Feed Bank Program. Anyone can reach out to Rainbow's Edge for assistance with feed or supplies when facing a temporary hardship. Rainbow's Edge then begins a fundraiser and will provide food and other care to the animal. This can help get good owners through tough times without having to re-home their pets. Anyone who reaches out for assistance is never shamed or ridiculed, and remains anonymous.
Their most recent program is called the Mustang Baby Project, and it is organized through a partnership with RJF Equine, out of Oklahoma, that handles feral mustangs. Branded pregnant mustang mares are pulled from auctions and brought to the RJF Equine facility. Six months later, after the foals are fully weaned from their mothers, they are brought to Rainbow's Edge where they will stay for a year. In that year, they are raised, trained and adopted out to homes that are a perfect fit for their temperament and abilities.
“In six months, we can get a feel for what they actually like doing,” says Spear. “We can also get a good estimate on what their size will be like. They leave here educated with the right person, where they will be a good fit for a good home. This program is a preventative measure that helps keep them out of auction cycles.”
As for the feral mothers, they remain at the RJF Equine facility and are trained and re-homed themselves. The entire program helps prevent wild mustangs from getting bought by what are often referred to as “kill buyers” at auctions.
Rainbow's Edge also boards and employs two search and rescue horses. These horses are often requested to help locate missing or disoriented livestock, pets or even people, although they are not used to locate escaped prisoners. With this program, Rainbow's Edge recently reunited a plantation with their missing miniature horse. The horse had been missing for days on a land plot that measured about 2,000 acres. In just an hour, the horse was successfully returned home.
Rainbow's Edge relies heavily on the continued donations from the community. With transparency as a continuous goal, donors can rest assured that their donations are always used for what they were collected for. Spear and the other board members believe wholeheartedly in honesty and transparency within the rescue, and welcome anyone to come out to the facility to volunteer or see the horses.
Anyone wishing to make a donation can do so via Paypal by donating to Rainbowsedgetrainingstable@gmail.com. Donations can also be made to Florida Farm and Feed by calling (850) 877-0932 and letting them know you'd like to donate to the horses at Rainbow's Edge. Spear says that Rainbow's Edge is grateful for every donation and for all the help it receives from the community.
“Rainbow's Edge can only do everything it can because of the local farms that we network together with,” says Spear. It is with this collaboration, care and compassion that Rainbow's Edge is able to work so hard to save horses in need.