Today's Horsewoman
Interviews and Discussions with the powerful women that move the horse industry! Find out what makes them tick. What brought them to this industry. Why they love it so much. Advice to you about our industry. Meet up and coming influencers as well as tried and true success stories.
Today's Horsewoman
Ann Lisk, Founder Southern Sun Sancturay
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Thanks for tuning in to today's Horsewoman podcast. Our show explores women in the horse industry as they share their dreams, challenges, successes. What drives these women? Well, let's find out. Hey, this is Rose Cushing, and I'm the host of today's Horsewoman. And today we have Ann Lisk as our guest. And Anne has a beautiful touching story and does horse rescue. I know you guys are going to be interested in hearing this, and maybe you can help in many ways. So, Ann, thank you for being on the show.
SPEAKER_02Well, thank you for having me. I appreciate it. And I appreciate the opportunity to explain to people what it is we do.
Rose CushingFirst, start off by telling us a little bit about your story and you know how you guys got involved with rescue.
SPEAKER_02Well, um, I had worked for uh on the board of the Humane Society in Florida, and we did not do large animal rescue, although we had quite a bit of it in South Florida. We had a lot of horses off the tracks. We had standard breads, thoroughbreds. The highway patrol would call us and uh and ask for help, but we didn't have a place to take them. So we started working with a couple of different rescues in South Florida. So I began that 30 years ago. Um, animal welfare had been well before that, but really with horse rescue about 30 years ago. So it began in Florida, but at that point we already had our land up here in the mountains. And when we moved here permanently in 2001, this is what we decided to do with it was dedicate the property and uh whatever resources we could garner into trying to help the animals in this area as well. Currently, we've got horses from 14 North Carolina counties and four surrounding states. So we've come a long way since in 30 years.
Rose CushingFor certain. So tell us a little bit about your your um program and and what you guys offer and what you have on site.
SPEAKER_02Well, right now we have 20 horses. And because we're a sanctuary, if an older horse comes here and they're not adoptable, or because of behavioral reasons or aesthetics or something else, they're they're just not gonna be adoptable or be companion horses, even um, they stay here for life. But Rose, I can tell you there is not a week that goes by where someone isn't calling asking for our help. The height, I think, was in um in 2023. We turned away 167 horses.
SPEAKER_01Wow.
SPEAKER_02And that that was an all-time high. Of course, that would have been the end of COVID. And at with the alarming rate that rural land is disappearing, not just here in North Carolina, but throughout the Southeast and throughout most of the United States, land for horses that used to be very common is now becoming much more expensive. So um, whereas the the country needs people to do dogs and cats, it's much harder and much more expensive to do large animals. And because we already had the land, we decided that's what we would would dedicate our effort towards. Um, when a horse comes in here, we evaluate them. We come in, they come in from animal control. Um, we're not cruelty investigators, but we're the place that a cruelty investigator would bring them. We also get calls from veterinarians who say this or or sheriff's department's animal control through them and say, you know, we've had a thousand calls about a horse on the side of the road. Can you guys come get it? And when that happens, uh, we evaluate what the horse needs. Um many times they've been abandoned. It's not always a case of abuse um in that someone's beating the horse or something like that. But abandonment is certainly abuse. When you just walk away for a decade and leave an animal to them, their own devices. We all know that our horses will stand out in the middle of a storm if they want, but you you'd like to be able to give them the option of getting in out of the weather, whether it's the heat or the extreme cold temps that we get here in the mountains in North Carolina. The most recent horses that we had come in were two that were uh in Watauga County near Boone and Blowing Rock. And um, the donkey was abandoned and put by itself. And then a year later, they put a horse in with him. And these two were left for the next 11 years. Uh there's no shelter, no shelter. They wintered out, they were out during Hurricane Helene, and they did have a stream, but they had no other kind of cover. So they're socializing now. The donkey is just a little pocket donkey, he'll just follow you around. And it's surprising to see once they realize that that human touch can be a good thing, and they're not afraid of you, then they just want to be near. Um most people are surprised that so many of the horses just kind of wander around here and they they're always home at dinner time. So I think it's a a good um peaceful place. I think that comes across both to the animals and to the people who visit here.
Rose CushingIt's absolutely beautiful. Do you want to tell us about some of your horses?
SPEAKER_02Well, we um I I I ought to tell you about two that we lost because they were two of our favorites. But Doc is a huge uh draft horse, and we lost him last winter, 2,000-pound draft horse that really came to us from the Outer Banks. He had suffered from uh heat stroke at the Outer Banks. And the vet called me after we'd agreed to take him in retirement. The vet called and said he'd had heat stroke, it was 104 degrees at Cape Hatteras, and that they had decided they were going to go ahead and put him down. I encouraged her, if she could get him healthy enough to travel, to please bring him here. And if we had to take that that step, we would do it here in the mountains. But honestly, the horse was here three weeks and he was off his meds, his respiration was good, his heart rate was good, his breathing steady, and he lived with us for another five years. Remember two pictures, yeah, and he was a children's favorite because he was such a gentle giant. Um, so he even after being given the the death sentence, basically, he wandered around here, greeted everybody like a Walmart greeter that walked up and down the road and just was an absolute delight. But after five more years, we lost him this past uh this past winter. And then the other one was one of our first rescues, and we lost him about a month ago, um, at 34 years old. Wow. And Chief was our kissing horse. He started out life very, very rough here at Southern Sun, having put three people in the hospital, and he was on his way as a rescue. He was on his way to either either slaughter or the rodeo. I wasn't sure which it was going to be, but nobody could have taken him. And I couldn't get rid of him without uh, I mean, I couldn't have had him adopted without letting people know how volatile he was. So we kept him and I worked with him, and he later became such a pussy cat that he was my primary riding horse, and he was really kind of the face along with Doc of Southern Sun Farm. He became our kissing horse when we would do events. I taught Chief to give kisses, and so for five dollars per selfie, Chief would kiss you if you asked for it, and uh he was a favorite for everybody. There are lots of pictures online of uh Chief giving kisses to to lots of folks in the community and and just a favorite all along. He finally we retired him two years ago, and then this year we knew that at 34 it was just his time to go. Um, what we do here is we our horses will never end up in a landfill, even if we've had an issue out of that. Uh, we always bring them home and they're buried here on the farm in a respectful way. And um, I think that's as it should be. They're they're they're placed here in a place where they were comfortable and and felt at home their whole lives. And um, that's what we try to do for all of them that that land here and stay here until their time ends.
Rose CushingWhat a wonderful, wonderful place you guys run. Uh, I've been a fan for a long, long time, and I'm so glad that we're finally getting to get together and tell other people about it through my programs. Uh, because it's just an amazing place. Now, you guys have a lot of acreage and you recently built a barn, didn't you? We aren't quite through.
SPEAKER_02Rose, I wish we were, but it has taken us seven years to raise enough money to do this. And although we are in progress now, some of the time, you know how construction goes, you feel like it's one step up the ladder and two steps back. We are using some wood from our own property to build stall doors and things like that. We're trying to do this as much as possible in a uh it it'll be an old-fashioned style of a barn. I really didn't want metal siding or anything like that. Um, it is a large barn, 36 by 70, and it's two-story. I'll have enough room for six to seven hundred bales of storage on the top. Nice and on a drive-up level, and then nine additional stalls on the bottom. Also, we designed separated, and I can divide it up and use the aisle, the 12-foot aisle for more horses if we needed to. I mean, for example, this past winter was um, we didn't have the greatest amount of snow, but we did have an enormous ice storm here. And it we were without power for about a week, and it pretty much shut down the mountains, as I'm sure you may have heard. We had about seven inches of ice, and that was new for us.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Um, we we get a lot of snow, but because we do face the southern sun, it goes away quickly. This did not go away quickly. So, using the tractor, using chains, using the Polaris, and believe it or not, I even had to attach a rope so that when I went down to feed an old pony who couldn't make her way up through the ice, that I could climb back up almost like repelling through using the knots and the rope to get up. Um, everybody wore yak tracks, ice shoes.
Rose CushingYeah.
SPEAKER_02And um, so it it was it's challenging to be here in the mountains in under duress in weather like that. Also, because of our our height, we're at about 3,500 feet um and right at a gap, uh, on right on the the southern edge of the Blue Ridge. So we regularly get 50 and 60 mile an hour wind here. We have to be prepared for that as well. So um, blanketing time of the year in the winter is tough, and it'll it takes a lot of planning to get 20 horses or more blanketed, and uh we only blanket based on need, not based on the the um not the temperature, you know. If the horse is older and infirmed, they're gonna be the first one to get a blanket. Otherwise, we we you know pretty much let them alone. The older ones will get double blankets if they needed it, but we rely so heavily on our volunteers. We have 10 to 12 regular volunteers who are in and out who help to clean stalls. Um, they deliver uh feed. I order the feed, I order, I make sure that we've got ferrier services, veterinary services. Of course, all of this is what eats up our budget too. In addition to trying to build the barn, we still, once the barn is built, we've got to be able to feed them.
Rose CushingYep.
SPEAKER_02So um I think that's one of the things when people talk to me about why you you've got my dream job. I would love to do what you're doing. It it's aspirational for them to be doing this kind of work. But it's um, I think that John and I have brought a particular skill set to the table in that we both have backgrounds in in animal welfare, but John's an attorney. I have a background in philanthropy, I was director of development at the University of Miami, raising money for them. So there's a lot of things that we already knew how to do. And we realized that if you can't do all of that in addition to caring for the horses, then you know, I think it's one of the reasons why so many rescues fail. Yeah, you'll probably find that when a rescue is applying for a grant and all of our money is for private gifts and family foundations and grants, we have no public funding whatsoever. But when you apply for one, they want to know if you've been in business at least three or four years. And it's primarily because they expect you to fail. They they know that when the the the things get rough that you're gonna want to feed the horses rather than pay the mortgage or the rent. So um a lot of these, a lot of these smaller groups go under. I think that we've been able to manage because there were already a number of things we knew how to do, right? Um quite a bit of our funding comes from outside the state, and um, and from people that are horse people or animal people, but many of them have horses that are worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions. Um, and they've supported what we do.
Rose CushingYeah.
SPEAKER_02Um they've supported it on in an ongoing way, and that's really how we got the barn built.
Rose CushingThat's so nice. And you know, you're so right. I mean, when when people think that they would love to have your job, I know better. I don't want it because I could not do it. I there's no way in the world I could do it, and I admire you so much because it takes so much more than just just the caring. I mean, it's work, it's real work, and it's gut-wrenching work. So, you know, you guys have done an amazing job with your um Southern Sun Sanctuary.
SPEAKER_02I appreciate that. And I'll I'll admit, I'm uh I don't get sick. I people will laugh at me because I I do get hurt. The our good friend of ours is who supplies our hay, and he he pulled up not long ago and said it was the first time this year was the first time in a long time he hadn't seen me with my arm on a walker or on crutches because yeah, what dealing with these large animals, you're gonna get bumped, yeah, you're gonna get knocked down, and then the show has to go on the next morning anyway. They still need to be fed. You got to wrap up and keep in mind that whatever the weather is, um, we're out in it. Yeah, you know, and it doesn't matter if it's a holiday because the horses don't know that it's Christmas or Easter or or um anything else. We work around the the horses as much as possible. Um we are fortunate in that Southern Sun is um right on a perimeter road on on the Blue Ridge Parkway, and so our road is not paved. It aggravates some people, but it's perfect for us, right? Because if I have an hour, we can also exercise a horse. Um, and that makes a big difference. They feel like they live and work here, and they if they get out of a fence, they don't feel like they're gonna run away anywhere, they just must and come back home for dinner time. Um, but when though you know, these are the days that are beautiful and sunny, and you you you feel so blessed to be here, but I also know that you know all of us have our work to do um once the weather begins to change. Yes, there there are times when um this past winter when I thought now I understand how pioneers may have felt that you just have to, you know, be gritty enough to keep going under certain circumstances, and um and I've got a border collie and a golden retriever that go everywhere with us, so I've always got dogs to accompany me, and John is almost always here at home base, too. A lot of visitors, and um we keep working, but I think honestly, it's one of the things that keeps me strong is I get up every day and I have something important and for me valuable to do.
Rose CushingAbsolutely, having them depending on you, you know, is is rewarding in so many ways. I raised quarter horses for a long time, and at times we had 50 head of horses on our farm, and Rodney and I would laugh, it would be pouring down rain, and we look at each other and say, Well, you know, they don't care because they're standing out there waiting for supper, so let's gear up. I mean, because you don't have a choice.
SPEAKER_02That's right. Exactly that. Um, one of the things that that we've run across more recently is that as I began by saying, the the alarming rate that that many it's particularly southeastern states, but that we're losing rural land, all of us know of places that were was a dairy farm or or someone's family farm, or um it's now apartment complexes or it's uh a shopping center, uh a strip mall or something like that. And it was less uh of a financial burden to keep horses when it looks like I've lost you. Can you still hear me? I'm here. Okay. Um it was less of a financial burden when you've got the land to do it on. When you don't, and you're having to board a horse or you're having to purchase land at exceptionally high prices that they are now, it's a whole different it's a whole different game. And I think that's why we get so many calls for animals now. Um somebody passes away, they don't know what to do with their mother or dad or grandparents' horse, and they call on us. Um this new barn, the new barn will enable us to take in more. But um in terms of of uh the the population of unwanted horses, Rose, that's going to keep on going. Yeah, you know. Um it it we we now estimate that about 20 to 25,000 horses a year are shipped off to Mexico and to Canada for slaughter. And as a result of, you know, we outlawed horse slaughter in the United States in 2007. But what that did was shine a light on the fact that we had a lot of unwanted horses with no place to go. Yeah. And um, it's the unintended consequences of having done a good thing, getting rid of horse slaughter. But it's a little bit like you know, putting a putting a security system in a convenience store. It doesn't make the crime go away, it just makes the crime go down the street.
Rose CushingYeah.
SPEAKER_02And for these horses, um, slaughter hasn't gone away. It just means we pack them on an 18-wheeler and we send them to Canada or to Mexico. And um, I expect that that's gonna keep happening, even more so now that that rural land is disappearing. Even in in our our area of the mountains, it's going away.
Rose CushingWell, you know, they've shut down Canada and they're working to shut down Mexico. Now that's good and bad because I'm not a I'm not a fan of horses being slaughtered, obviously, but if there's 25,000 horses a year that go to those places, that's that many more that we're gonna have to have rescue room for.
SPEAKER_02And I I don't think that that um John sometimes calls um people who believe like this humaniacs, and it's not meant as unkindly as it sounds. What he means is their their their attitude is is they're such zealous about this that you're you're not thinking through what are the consequences of no longer having a place for these animals to go. And the the consequences are that everybody just can't keep them in on their family property like they used to be able to. Um, it is a big industry. It's a big the the the three largest states that have horse populations are I would say Texas, California, and Florida. But otherwise, with the rural land disappearing at such a great rate, um we're it's it's much more expensive to keep them. And if a horse can't do anything, if they've never learned a job, if they have a bad attitude, or if they're dangerous, they're much more likely to end up on a slaughter truck headed for Mexico than they are being being kept as a family pet.
Rose CushingAbsolutely. If they're born with a deformity and you can't afford to the vet cost to fix it, you know, what's going to become of that animal? I mean, there's there's so many situations that, like you said earlier, it may not be that people are beating them, it just may be that they wind up in a place where they're at a dead end.
SPEAKER_02So when our horses are are adopted, um, we're very careful because we don't want them to end to end up again in a situation where they got tossed around and given to a friend. And I have people who call all the time and say, Well, I I put it on social media that there was a free horse because it was my my grandmother's horse and I can't keep it. And I'll say, and you did you get any calls about it? And she said, This girl said, Oh, yeah, I got a call right away. And I said, Did they even ask you how old the horse was? Horse, male or female, was it a gelding, any of that? And she said, No, he said he'd just be over with the truck. And I said, Well, honey, I don't want to scare you, but that horse is headed for slaughter, it won't ever make it off the truck. They people think that they have an opportunity to get a free horse and then they're going to get paid $400 at a slaughter sale. And it's just because there are too many with not enough places that are that can take them.
Rose CushingYou know, there's an old saying, there's no such thing as a free horse, and that's certainly true.
SPEAKER_02I would say that's absolutely true. Absolutely true. John certainly thinks that the best way to make a small fortune in the horse business is to start with a big fortune. Absolutely. It'll be small, and I'm sure your husband would agree. Yep. He does.
Rose CushingHe definitely does. There's there's no thing that you can do in the world that can replace the way horses make you feel and all the gifts they give you. But I don't know of any hobby that's much more expensive either.
SPEAKER_02I would I would agree with that. But for me, it's such a blessing to be able to be here. And you had asked about our origination. Um, we did this really in honor and in memory of our daughter Casey. We lost her now. It's been 30 years ago, but she was a rider and an avid animal lover. Um, not just an animal lover. She was really one of those rare people that could get animals to come to her, that could get birds to come feed out of her hand, wild animals. Um, and later on I would realize that it had less to do with her loving them as it did. There was some sort of an aura about her that made these animals unafraid. They just just they just had no fear uh of walking close to her. I've only known a couple of people who had that ability, and um, and she was one of them. But she we lost her in an accident in um in 1996, and there's a point where you come to where you say, I don't want to get used to this. I don't, I don't, I, I don't want to get over this or get through this. She was our only child, our only daughter, and I just said, I'm I'm done. And honestly, I it was the first time I ever what I call received a spirit whisper. And the Lord was saying to me, All right, Ann, I got a deal for you. Um, you won't ever have to feel the way you're feeling right now. But the deal is that you never had her in your life at all. And I thought I wouldn't take that deal, even if I'd known how it was gonna end, I wouldn't be with that child. She was funny, she was an athlete, she was pretty strong and very, very defensive of her friends and her family and her faith also. So um, at that point, when you've made the decision, you wouldn't change it. Then your only question is okay, what am I gonna do with myself for the rest of my life? Am I am I gonna sit around and feel sorry for myself or am I gonna be productive in some way? And this was the way that that we turned, we decided we would turn um a bad situation into a better one. We do it, we do it because of uh of her inspiration, really.
Rose CushingWell, I'm sure that that she's looking down and smiling every day of her life because you have done such amazing things and and honored her in such a special and unique way.
SPEAKER_02I appreciate that. I do. And there are plenty of times when I feel her presence around here. Um she this was a real special place and she loved it dearly. A lot of people said, you know, after it happened, why wouldn't you just put a sign in front of it and never come back? And I I remember thinking, if I thought that that would have made it better, or I probably would have done that. But there wasn't anything, there wasn't anything like that that was going to make it better. This was gonna be a not a get over or a get through. This was gonna be a learn to live with. And as you know, and as many of your listeners will know, if they're horse people, there's there's something extremely therapeutic about having a horse really close to you. One that'll gallop in the middle of the night when you can't even see them, and you call their name and you can hear their hoof beats, you know they're coming to you just because they heard your voice.
SPEAKER_01Yep.
SPEAKER_02Or one that will come up behind you and put their big head on your shoulder and their heartbeat is in sync with yours. There's it's there's something that's very therapeutic about that.
Rose CushingAnd yeah, I I think they can heal us in ways that nothing else can, without a doubt. And and they don't even try. I mean, it just happens.
SPEAKER_02I would I would agree with that, but keep in mind that because we're a a sanctuary, we we get some tough cases too, and um, and we have a few that that only been a few over the years, but a few that that behaved like POWs when they they got out of their bad situation. They had a bad attitude, they were rough to deal with, they were dangerous. Um, and uh so they end up staying here and they're fine here, but it's because we know how to how to deal with them and we're we're careful with them. And eventually they settle in and they have friends here and they realize they're they're gonna be cared for and they're okay, but they still wouldn't be safe, probably, to be adopted. So they get to spend their lives here at Southern Sony.
Rose CushingIt takes such a long time to build that trust up. So I admire you for keeping them and not, you know, not trying to unload them on somebody else because it does take a long time to build up that trust. And that it's hard. I I used to raise a lot of stallions. I love the guys, and you have to learn to master your own fear so that they because if you don't trust them 100%, they can't trust you 100%, and they know the difference. And so, and I know I'm rambling and that sounds crazy, but I would think it would be the same thing with dangerous horses or or horses that have been badly hurt, that you gotta you gotta be a little vulnerable for them to trust you, and that takes a long time to build that up.
SPEAKER_02I would agree with that, and remember, they're such large animals that you can get hurt even when they're not trying to hurt you. You can get bumped, knocked down. Sure. Um, I I think one of the worst times I got hurt was when another horse just reached their neck out towards a little one that I was walking by. I got I I tripped over a pallet, got stepped, my ankle got stepped on and crushed, and nobody was trying to hurt me. I just got caught between two big horses.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So um I understand that completely. And it's part of what goes on here. I've cleaned stalls with a tall kitchen garbage bag wrapped around my cast. So I understand that the it's it's hard business, and the and that the the challenge of getting it done every day continues to go on. But when people say I'd really love to do this, um, the advice that I would give them is um get some solid foundational support behind you. Um, we have that, but the the biggest issue for us is just the ongoing support for feed hay. You know, I'll I'll be feeding another, I just we just spent a few thousand dollars on summer hay in the fall. I'll do it again. Um I'm sure for what I pay at my feed bill every month, I bought somebody a condo with a bead somewhere, it seems like. Um, but it's expensive, you know. The ones that need nutrition, we feed a good nutritional package, we care for their their, we have an excellent farrier. Um, a team of of uh of uh of uh veterinarians, uh farm calls here are a big deal because we do so many. And when the farrier comes, we'll do nine or ten horses at a time. So it's expensive. I don't think he's ever walked out of here when I hadn't been at least um you know $700 for a farrier. Yeah. Um we're doing multiple horses, but sometimes they're doing corrective work and sometimes they're doing some basic shoeing so a horse can be can be exercised. Um and if they when if they're fine, then we allow them to be barefoot, but all of this adds up.
Rose CushingUm tell me how what kind of help do you guys need? I mean, how can people out here listen and do things for you? Do you have like wish lists at Amazon or do you have anything above just the the normal fundraising that you could tell them about?
SPEAKER_02Well, right now we I we believe we've got um a lot covered on this barn, but in order to build it, we've had to take down old fence that we kind of patched together and wired together. We're gonna have to redo all of that fence. Um, it we do use wooden fencing. I don't use barbed wire because of the danger to horses. Um, so I've probably got $20,000 worth of wooden fence that's gonna have to go in. And I'm not, I don't have funding for that yet. Also, what we tell people is nothing is too small, right? Um, I know people who will give ten dollars and I think that that'll buy a bag and a half of shavings. When you go through as much as we do, that's a big deal. Yeah. Um, a bag of feed is $30. If somebody covered a bag of feed, that's wonderful. Um, and some of our bigger supporters, as I think I might have mentioned, haven't really been horse people, but they're people who believe in us, they know us. We are a 501c3, but we're um they believe that the money goes exactly where we say it goes. We have no paid staff here, everything is voluntary, and I think we've also been able to make it because John and I donated the land for this. This is our way of of uh of giving Southern Sun a head start. So um I would say between that and then the ongoing care of uh of the horses is a really big deal. The this the winter uh hay uh Parsons feed here in some people just make a donation to Parsons Feed in the name of Southern Sun Farm, and that helps to pay part of our our monthly feed bill. Our feed bill is going to be usually close to 4,000 a month. And um and then I have volunteers. Some of my volunteers are retired dressage riders. There are a lot of people who like to just they still love the smell of horses, they want to be around them. And um, and they know people who will make a $200 donation at Parsons Feed just to help cover that that feed bill. They do it directly. So it all adds up, but I think it happens mostly because people trust that we have done what we said we would do, and they know that um we also give sane advice. Uh, I've had people call me and say, I don't know what to do. And they give me a scenario of a horse and I'll say, at 31 years old, under these circumstances, this horse probably needs to be humanely put down. And they'll start crying and say, I don't know how to do that. And uh I'll I'll tell them how to do it and who to call. And we've even used Southern Sun funds to pay the bet to go to someone's house to do it and pay the backhoe to make sure that it got accomplished, because I think that's part of our mission. Um that that I've had to do this enough times that I can walk somebody through it and say, this is the kindest thing you can do for this horse. If you take it to a sale, you don't know where that old horse is going to be. Um, so sometimes it's a matter of of giving reasonable advice while understanding this person's emotional about their horse. And then the other part is um you're not doing it for what's best for you. You're doing it, you're doing what's best for the horse.
Rose CushingAbsolutely, absolutely. And and you do have to separate yourself when that time comes because you know nobody wants to make that call, but somebody's got to make that call.
SPEAKER_02Well, Rose, I'm I'm sure you'll appreciate this. I always tell people, you'll know when. Yeah, and they'll go, I don't understand. How do you mean? And I said, They'll tell you. It's the horse is gonna tell you when they're ready, you're gonna watch them, and there's gonna come a time when you say, This is what she meant. Now I know, now I see, and the horse will tell you. I think I think people have probably experienced it with a a beloved dog or a cat, also, but um we had a horse that we just adored, and I told John I think it was time to to do this, and um, and he said, Oh no, I I didn't think we had to to put her down yet. This is a horse that had two capped knees, she was already blind in one eye, but but I said the other knee is becoming more capped, and she's using the better knee to brace herself to try to stand up. This was a big mare, easily 1200 pounds, and I said, in the middle of the night, that mayor could snap her own leg in and and because she's trying to push herself up, yeah. And I said, We can't do that to her, we can't put her in that position at two in the morning we weren't there with her. Um, so you that's when I say you know, yeah, absolutely, absolutely, and you will, you will know.
Rose CushingYou will you may not have the courage to act on it, but you will know when it's time. Now, how can people follow you guys and help you?
SPEAKER_02We're at southernsunfarm.com is our website, and all the information that you can see about who we are. What there's many testimonials about uh from our some of our volunteers on there too. Um, everybody that you see on the site is actually here, and that includes border collies, dogs, cats, chickens, you name it. And um I'm sorry, Rose. Um, a cement truck just went by. A border collie is now in my lap and my phone is ringing. So it's life, it's life as usual around here. Um, and we're also on Facebook. Okay. Um and um John, what else? Um we're we're very easy to find with connections um made through the website, how you can help, uh, how you can write to us if you need to talk with me, uh Ann, Ann at Southernsunfarm.com. And I'll we always will get back to you. And um information on our phone numbers and how to get a hold of us is on there too.
Rose CushingOkay. Good. Well, I'll post all that stuff with the podcast as well and send you a link. I really appreciate you being on the show. And and I, you know, I'm I'm glad that we had this talk so people could realize whatnot is involved in rescue because it's not what you might think.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's not. Um Rose, I'd like to invite you to come out sometime. I'd like, I mean, I'd like you to see the farm and maybe we'll wait until the the barn is built and you can come out and do a tour and see why we did the way things the way that we did. The horses are going to have a beautiful view because that's the land we had to put it on. Uh, they can probably see 60 miles.
Rose CushingThat's fantastic.
SPEAKER_02It is a beautiful place to be. And uh, I'd like to invite you and your viewers to to take a look at it as we walk them through the the remainder of the building of this this rescue barn.
Rose CushingWe definitely will do that. And if you'll just hang on a minute and let me close this out. And as always, everybody out there listening, we appreciate you listening. And look up Southern Sun Sanctuary and you know, send them some dollars because everybody needs help. And these horses depend on all of us to make them be okay. So if you love horses and you want to help, this is a great place to spend your money because you know I don't usually do a lot with rescues, but I know these folks and I know that they are honest and they do what they say. I hope you enjoyed today's show. Our souls wander in similar places. Even though we may not know each other, we touch the same wind, we walk under the same sky, and our hearts wander in the same dreams. We are one. Women just like you and me. Thank you for listening.