The Equine Haven Horse Rescue Inc.

08/04/2026

Last week I was at Rural King picking up rabbit feed when something happened that reminded me why education is just as important as rescue.

As I walked down the feed aisle, I noticed a family with two young children looking at the rabbit supplies. They had already been looking at the rabbits and were gathering everything they thought they would need before going back to choose one. They had picked up a small bag of hay, and I overheard the mom ask, “I don’t know if this is for bedding or if they’re supposed to eat it.”

If you’ve never owned a rabbit before, that’s actually a fair question. Every animal has different care requirements, and no one is expected to know everything.

So I introduced myself, asked what they were planning for, and they excitedly told me they were about to buy one of the baby rabbits.

I politely said, “I wouldn’t ..would you mind if I shared a few things with you?”

Instead of taking offense, the husband smiled and said, “I love honest people. Tell me.”

We stood there talking for quite a while.

I explained that I run a rabbit rescue and that many of the rabbits that eventually come through my doors started out as impulse purchases from feed stores, farm stores, pet stores, breeders, or online marketplaces. Not because those places are necessarily doing anything wrong, but because it’s easy to fall in love with an adorable baby bunny before understanding what that commitment really looks like.

We talked about proper care and what types of feed they need, what I personally use, etc. 

I explained that rabbits are prey animals. Many don’t naturally enjoy being picked up, especially as babies, and they often need time, patience, and gentle handling to build trust. When families expect them to behave like puppies or kittens, everyone becomes frustrated. The bunny scratches because it’s scared, the children become afraid of the bunny, and before long the rabbit ends up spending most of its life alone in a cage—or worse, being surrendered or abandoned.

I also explained something many people don’t realize.

The rabbits commonly sold in farm and feed stores are often breeds originally developed for agricultural purposes, such as New Zealand-type rabbits (which is what was there at that time). While they absolutely can make wonderful pets in the right home, many people don’t know what breed they’re buying, how large they’ll become, their temperament, or what their long-term needs are. They simply see an adorable baby rabbit with a $20 price tag. The wife even stated Rural King could not even tell them the breed. That’s a big red flag to me if you are selling rabbits and can’t even tell families what type of rabbits those are. 

The rabbit may be inexpensive.

Everything that comes after is not.

A proper setup, quality food, unlimited hay, enrichment, etc
The purchase price is usually the least expensive part of owning a rabbit.

During our conversation, the husband admitted he really hadn’t wanted a bunny. He laughed and said he’d been outnumbered by his wife and kids. Then he said something that stuck with me.

After I mentioned that a lot of people that buy bunnies on a whim usually in a couple weeks are ready to get rid of that bunny because it was a lot more work than they expected. Or they came to them unsocialized and didn’t want to be handled. He thought there was a good chance that after a couple of weeks, the excitement would wear off and the rabbit would likely end up needing a new home.

After we finished talking, he spoke with his family. They decided to put everything back, and instead told the kids they would talk more about it at home and that they would rather look into getting a bearded dragon than bringing home a rabbit that day.

Before we parted ways, I let them know that if they ever decided a rabbit truly was the right pet for their family, I’d be more than happy to answer questions, educate them, or help match them with a rabbit whose personality fit their home.

I didn’t tell them not to own a rabbit.

I encouraged them to learn first. 

And honestly, I walked away feeling really good.

Not because I “talked someone out of buying a bunny,” but because I may have prevented another rabbit from eventually ending up unwanted, neglected, or surrendered.

This isn’t meant to criticize the family, Rural King, other feed stores, pet stores, or RESPONSIBLE breeders. They each serve different purposes, and many people purchase healthy animals from them.

My concern has never been where a rabbit comes from.

My concern is why it’s being purchased.

A rabbit or any animal should never be bought simply because it’s inexpensive, because the kids think it’s cute, or because it’s an impulse decision.
This is the sad part of them being in stores like this.

They are intelligent, emotional, social animals that thrive as part of the family. They deserve homes where people understand the commitment before bringing them home.

As someone who rescues rabbits every day, I can tell you that almost every surrender begins with the same sentence:

“We didn’t realize…”

We didn’t realize how much hay they eat.

We didn’t realize how much they p**p. 

We didn’t realize they need an exotic veterinarian.

We didn’t realize they can live 10+ years.

We didn’t realize they need hours of exercise every day and out of cage/enclosure time. 

This moment is exactly why The Bunny Hutch exists.

I absolutely love what I do. Yes, my mission is to provide a safe place for unwanted rabbits, help them heal, work with them on trust and socialization, and find them the loving homes they deserve.

But rescue is about so much more than taking in rabbits after something has gone wrong.

A huge part of what I do is education.

I will never turn someone away from adopting a rabbit simply because they have never owned one before or because they don’t know everything about rabbit care yet. Everyone has to start somewhere. The difference is being willing to learn.

Instead, I take the time to teach. I help people understand proper housing, nutrition, behavior, handling, and what it truly means to care for a rabbit. And even after a bunny goes home, I am still here for the life of that bunny. If an adopter has questions, concerns, or needs guidance, they can reach out.

That is something that has always been very important to me.

A rabbit should never just be treated like a transaction.

They are living, feeling animals that deserve someone who cares where they end up and whether they are truly happy.

Unfortunately, many rabbits are purchased or bred without enough thought being put into their future. Some are raised with little handling, little socialization, and little education given to the new owner. The focus becomes getting the rabbit sold or rehomed, rather than making sure the rabbit and the family are the right fit for each other.

I will never be that person.

I would much rather someone come to me with questions before getting a bunny. I would rather spend an hour educating someone than see a rabbit end up needing rescue later because nobody took the time to explain what they were committing to.

Because at the end of the day, the goal is the same:

A happy bunny.

A prepared family.

And a forever home that truly understands what that commitment means.

Sometimes the best rescue doesn’t happen after a rabbit is surrendered.

Sometimes it happens before it’s ever purchased.

07/11/2026

Today’s post about Jack and Louise is a good opportunity to share a few things we’ve said before, and some things we stand for here at LMMR. Maybe it’s also a bit of rant.

Rescues are not punching bags. We already take on the worst of humanity. Please don’t add to it.

Rescues are also not warehouses with unlimited budgets and capacities. This reality sucks, but it’s always true.

Rescues are run by humans, and nothing left to humans will ever be completely perfect and satisfy every opinion. But a rescue who has formally-adopted and public operational policies, constant veterinarian involvement, and one who makes a clearly visible effort to operate ethically is something to be respected, not admonished, in a world that already doesn’t have nearly enough safe places for all the animals in need.

I think where some people struggle to understand and then get angry with us about a euthanasia is the feeling that there MUST be another solution, and there HAS to be a happy ending for every single problem that exists. It’s natural to want to comfort ourselves in this way, because that’s what children’s storybooks and Hollywood movies have reinforced us to believe.

But truthfully, sometimes there are hard calls, bad days, and consequences we didn’t ask for no matter how hard we try often because of someone else’s careless breeding, neglect, abuse, or abandonment.

Neglect is not just a lack of feed or a lack of hoof care. It is also neglect to breed more mules, horses and donkeys into the world and then never bother to teach them the basics of being handled like being haltered, picking up their feet, and how to load into a trailer. When an equine is left to grow up unhandled to the point of being feral and dangerous behaviors like bolting, kicking and biting are reinforced, that’s nearly always a one-way ticket down a very long and hard pipeline full of more displacement, neglect, abuse, and trauma.

They will go from owner to auction to trader to auction to “killpen”, and for the most part, it is a small percentage of private homes and a majority percentage of legitimate rescues who are willing and able to provide placement for these equines to get them out of this vicious and heartbreaking cycle. By the time they reach us, their problems are compounded and the physical and mental rehabilitation is long, expensive, and sometimes unsuccessful.

Jack and Louise were both victims of this type of neglect cycle before LMMR.

The hard truth is they all should’ve been handled and trained where they were born, and we can’t always unwind years of mishandling and trauma. We are one of VERY few sanctuaries who accept unhandled, feral, and problem-behavior mules, like Jack and Louise.

(This is not to say that there aren’t circumstances in which people have tried their very best for a mule, and things just didn’t work out. Whether it’s good intentions but not having enough experience, or a life tragedy, or the death of a family member, there are circumstances in which there is no blame to be had, and rescues exist for all of these reasons too.)

I am strictly talking about the multitudes of people who flat out fail their animals despite the choice they made to bring them into this world without any sort of plan for their futures, over and over again — because at one point in time every single mule walking around in our Refuge today was a brand new baby who could’ve easily been taught anything and everything they needed to know to always be safe, happy, and cared for. Many of them wouldn’t be here.

Whether you agree with a decision our rescue makes to euthanize or not, the fact that cannot be argued is that the day they walk into our rescue, they are never neglected, abused, or abandoned again. We are an end-of-the-line rescue, which means we never transfer unadoptable mules out to another rescue where they might re-enter that terrible pipeline someday. They are also freezebranded and microchipped to be permanently identified as an LMMR mule. They stay here until they’re trained and adopted, and for those who can’t be, they live here for as long as they can remain healthy and safely cooperate with necessary care inside of a chute, like vaccines and hoof trims.

Even if we cannot fully behaviorally rehabilitate every mule, each one is still allotted time in our sanctuary to live with minimum human contact outside of veterinary care and with all the food, friendship, and freedom possible. This only changes when a mule’s health begins to decline, or their behavior poses a liability risk to themselves or our staff and they can’t be safely trained and adopted out.

We’ve all seen the news cycle stories about former rescues that have been formally investigated and shut down, because they either had good intentions but with an anti-euthanasia stance which eventually caused them to become overflowing with animals who weren’t receiving proper care, or the situation was more nefarious and the rescue was intentionally depriving their animals of care for personal monetary gain.

Rescues are not warehouses. We could close our doors tomorrow and only care for the mules we have here to the natural end of their lives (30-40 years), but that would also leave out countless other mules who will never be able to receive our rehabilitation, care, training, sanctuary, and adoption. Every responsible rescue calculates their capacity based off of funding, resources, staff count, time, and room — and when a rescue operates a sanctuary, it consumes a large percentage of each one.

Our sanctuary capacity is 55. Today we are at 53. Our senior special needs capacity is 10. We are at 10.

The point is, criticizing a rescue that practices responsible, proactive euthanasia doesn’t make much sense when the alternative is more suffering for animals.

LBR, that type of anger should be directed at the people who leave animals in such bad condition that a rescue saying yes and/or euthanasia are the only options left for them…

Don’t lose sight of the people behind a mission, too. If a Facebook post about the loss of a mule here upsets you, please consider how it must have felt for our staff (and our veterinarians) who were actually there and have cared for this mule for many years. Even when it is the right decision, it is hard on us every time. Nasty comments are so easy to type and send, but they do real damage to the hearts of those who wear the boots on the ground.

The people who are showing up early to beat the heat and tossing hay, cleaning out stalls, filling up waters, tending to a wound, scrubbing bowls, hauling to vet appointments, coordinating adoptions, and so much more every single day.

Just this morning as we moved mules from one area to another, I was shoulder-checked extremely hard by a mule who blew through a gate at a full gallop, and haven’t had full use of my left arm all day. Our staff put everything on the table for the mules in our care every day, from our emotions to our bodies.

I have seen suffering the likes of which I shouldn’t describe on a social platform in 9.5 years of doing rescue. I have comforted mules who were gasping and groaning in pain from a sudden, severe colic, and I have had to hold mules down with my body who got injured and were panicking as they failed to stand up, so they wouldn’t injure themselves more. I know what suffering looks like, and I acutely know when there is a chance for us to beat it. Knowing when to keep trying and when letting go is the best, safest choice for the animal comes from these gritty, tearful, raw experiences.

When you’ve witnessed enough with your own eyes and hands over many years, you either burn out and walk away completely (which is a completely valid thing to do), or you dig deep and form an unflinching conviction to never let another animal suffer, even if some people think you should wait until it’s the only option you have left.

Yes, it’s always a more difficult choice to make when they still look and act “okay”, rather than waiting until they’re a body score of 1 or down in pain and in need of an immediate mercy. I live and remember the times I could have made a different or a sooner choice. And I remember the times when there was absolutely nothing I could’ve done to stop a freak accident, but the mule suffered nonetheless, until we got there to help them.

The truth is that equines can and often do die very badly, because they are prey animals, and they are heavy. When we can let them go on their last, best day, it is a sweet mercy and a deep relief to know their story will never end any differently at that point. To know they didn’t suffer for a moment while in our care.

I know the thought of euthanasia is sad, and it absolutely is, but it’s also very peaceful and stress-free when it’s done the right way.

Our vet is fantastic. Our process is delicate. They are gently handled, always sedated first, and slowly lowered to a side laying position. From there, the let-go looks like falling asleep. It is absolutely the kindest and best way.

The reason we share when our mules pass here and why is not to excite the critics, but a means of transparency and with the hope that it will teach and encourage others to make the right choices for their own animals. Let them go on a good day.

If you would want that for yourself and the people you love, do it for your animals too.

Thank you for those of you who “get it”, who understand, who support the decisions we make and recognize our efforts at transparency and good stewardship. We could not continue to do any of it without your support. 💙

05/11/2026

Hello! I am a fledgling and I’m a dumb little baby!

Fledgling season is officially here, and these little birds are out wandering around with literal noodles for brains, staring at you like, “uhh… are you my mom? 🤨”

But please, leave them be!

Yes, they are dumb dumbs. Yes, they may sit in the middle of your yard looking deeply confused about every life choice they’ve ever made. And yes, sometimes they need a little help getting out of a road or away from danger.

But this stage is completely normal! Mom and dad are still nearby and are actively caring for them while teaching them how to survive outside the nest. For the first few days on the ground, fledglings often can’t fully fly yet. Instead, they hop around dramatically, walk straight up to predators with confidence they absolutely did not earn, and generally act like tiny chaos gremlins.

If they’re somewhere dangerous, you can gently move them a short distance nearby to a safer spot. Their survival instincts are often… under construction.

And while it is adorable watching them try to form a single coherent thought, the best thing you can do is admire them from a window and let mom and dad do their job.

If you think a fledgling truly needs help, text us! We’re always happy to take a look.

317-420-4793

05/05/2026

A Good Samaritan brought us a nursing mother cat and her 4 kittens. One of the kittens is likely going to need intensive care as it was born with deformities.

Please consider donating:
- Towards their Veterinay Care
- Wet Food
- Cat Litter

04/15/2026

And a friendly reminder that rescues are not retirement homes for horses. ❤️‍🩹

We can only take in ones that have hopes of being adopted back out or else we cannot continue our work.

If we took in every 25+ year old horse we would be full immediately. We aren’t being cruel.

Euthanasia is a humane option especially when horses tend to hide pain and discomfort so well.

A tough pill to swallow: no longer wanting to pay to care for a horse when you cannot ride them is a statement that you love riding more than the horse.

And before anyone gets defensive, I get it.

I used to have this mindset, too.

I used to defend it.

But, if our love for an animal was greater than our love for riding, we would not be able to bear with parting with a beloved friend even if it meant that how we go about being able to ride looks different.

The Horse industry views horses as disposable.

It is far to normalize to give them away when they are no longer useable for riding.

What this then results in is a world that is flooded with horses who are no longer wanted when they cannot be ridden.

And there simply are not enough homes to accommodate them.

For everyone happy ending where a horse is lucky enough to find someone who will take them on and care for them into end of life, there are many more who do not have the same story.

Horses who go through home after home, sometimes being sold as rideable and worked through pain…

Horses who fall into the auction pipeline…

You name it.

The point being, something in our industry needs to change.

We need to be building a horse people who love horses as much or more than riding.

It is not sustainable to hold riding with such a great importance that horses are no longer wanted when they cannot be ridden.

The entire mindset is reliant on viewing horses as disposable and lying to ourselves about what realities horses are facing when their owners don’t want them when they become injured or need retirement.

It’s a tough pill to swallow, but it’s a necessary one.

In a world where horses are loved more than riding, people keep their horses when they are at their most vulnerable.

They don’t pawn them off to be someone else’s problem.

Yes, horses can be expensive, but that doesn’t make it any more justifiable.

It is just as harmful and selfish as it would be to give away your elderly arthritic dog because they can’t go on as long of walks anymore.

People get into Horse ownership knowing the costs associated with it.

And that cost doesn’t change when we could no longer ride, the only thing that changes is the willingness to pay for it.

If you are getting into horses with a transactional mindset, consider leasing instead of purchasing.

That way, if the Horse can no longer be ridden, they aren’t your problem. You can move onto the next rideable horse.

Otherwise, start getting comfortable with being honest with yourself and what your behaviour actually exposes about your motivations. No

04/12/2026

We are extremely excited to report that Honey is acting like her old self again. ❤️‍🩹

Some horses do not respond well to pressure training and Honey is one of them. Instead using R+ training helps Honey feel safe and gives her clear communication when the answer she offers is correct.

This results in a very happy pony. 😍

04/08/2026