HOC Rose Sanctuary Rescue

HOC Rose Sanctuary Rescue Sanctuary Rescue for the Blind Horses

501c3 nonprofit
Deaf Founder uses American Sign Language (ASL)

Changing Stigma on Blind Horses and Deaf

HOC Rose Sanctuary Rescue (HOC Rose), established in 2016, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. 81-4494883 HOC Rose is located in Stacy, Minnesota. HOC Rose provides a safe haven for blind horses. HOC Rose is determined to bring awareness and change the stigma associated with blind horses. HOC Rose Sanctuary Rescue is a very small sanctuary on the Belevender’s 10 acres hobby farm. Fully bli

nd horses do not get adopted as easily as partial blind or sighted horses. We are currently at capacity (10 horse limit) and have started a waiting list. In order to get on the waiting list, a surrender form MUST be filled out. It can take 1 to 3 years for a spot to open up. HOC Rose relies heavily on donations to run this rescue; however Kari and Jeff Belevender (founder/owner) often step in and personally support these horses. Thus, we have to limit the horses in this program based on finances available to be able to provide excellent care each horse needs. We run this rescue on the side while working full time jobs. Each horse care costs an average $1500- $2000 a year so that is $14,000 annually. Please consider giving your blind horse a chance. It can take a year or two for blind horse to adjust to being blind. I did not have any knowledge when I first started learning how to take care of blind horses. We offer mentoring and resources to help you. We also allow visitors to come to HOC Rose for a tour and learn about blind horses. To reserve a time to visit and meet our blind horses, please go to our website at hocrosesanctuaryrescue.org. Check out our "I would love you to meet my blind horse!"
Since 2020, We started collecting stories from owners who have a blind horse(s). They wanted to share their journey and story to help others and give HOPE to others who seek help. We post those stories every Sunday on our page and Blind Horses page. Blind horses can still thrive as well as seeing horses if given right support. If we share our knowledge with the world, the ripple effect can go far. Help us change the stigma that is associated with blind horses. Also check out a very good website: http://Blindhorsescare.org

Please also keep in mind, we work full time jobs and manage this rescue on the side. We are not available at all hours. We will try to respond back as soon as we can. Email us at [email protected] with as much information you can so we can help more effectively.

We hope you all had good weekend.Sunny here in MN. Remembering our loved ones....You are not forgotten ❤️We have been bu...
05/25/2026

We hope you all had good weekend.
Sunny here in MN.

Remembering our loved ones....
You are not forgotten ❤️

We have been busy cleaning up from winter last weekend and this weekend.

Also we welcomed a sweet palomino gelding. Meet Hugo.

We will give him time to settle in

Photo of Spirit and Hugo

I would love you to meet my blind horse! this is the story of my boy Archie....I’m in Australia. Everything was going re...
05/24/2026

I would love you to meet my blind horse!

this is the story of my boy Archie....I’m in Australia. Everything was going really well with my 4 year old stock horse x quarter horse Archie. He was coming along nicely under saddle and we were just starting to join groups and get out and about. One morning in October I went out to feed my herd and Archie was extra talkative to me. He walked over to me then turned around on his near side and I was greeted with his eye hanging out of his head. As you can imagine I was beside myself however he was actually behaving quite normal. I called the vet, loaded him on the float with no issues and drive him straight in there. The vet went white when she saw the damage and immediately started to work on it. They trimmed up the jaggered bits and popped his eye back in its place. All of this with Archie just having a local injection and he stood there so well. The vet asked how he did it - I had no idea. She did say that there were marks around his eye which were consistent with a peck, twist and pull motion. She asked if I had any dive bombing magpies as it is spring and they can be nasty - I did! Over the previous two weeks I literally had to put my helmet on to go into the paddock as there was a nest of magpies that were extra aggressive. She said that she was 90% sure that he was attacked by a magpie and this was the result. We tried to save his eye. This consisted of a lavage intravenous system inserted into his eye that I had to inject numerous drugs in every two hours for 2 weeks solid. This meant sleeping in my tack room in the stables and getting up every two hours. Archie was so good through all of this. I think he knew I was trying to help him. Unfortunately it didn’t come good. His body started to reject his eye due to the damage and the eye started to shrink in size, the bodies way of getting rid of it. So, back to the vet we went for removal. Because of Archie’s temperament they decided that they did not need to put him under s general anesthetic, but instead remove his eye again just with a local and him standing in a crush. I was absolutely gutted. After the operation the vet advised me that I’d have to learn to mount and tack up from the other side. I didn’t agree with this as Archie was already adapting, so I continued on as normal. 5 days after his operation, I decided to hop on him ba****ck. He was telling me he just wanted to get on with life. He was fantastic! I rode him around the paddock and he loved it. From then on it was back to normal for us. He seemed to adapt really well, it’s amazing how horses can just carry on as if nothing has happened. The hardest thing was me adapting, learning to let him know what I was doing on his blind side etc which took me a little while to get used to. Now we trail ride, do obstacle courses and a little dressage. It’s amazing how his other senses have heightened to compliment his blind side. He can hear me unlock the back door 5 acres away! The lesson I have learned through all this is that horses are truly amazing. They can adapt to anything with the right leadership. It’s the humans that find it the hardest to change.

Archie and Leslie Scott

FYI: Since March 2020, Kari with HOC Rose Sanctuary Rescue started collecting Blind Horse Owner’s stories (I would love you to meet my blind horse) told in their own words from those horse owners who discovered their horse is blind, sharing their journey of owning and caring for their blind horse(s) because they want to give HOPE to others who seek HOPE for their blind horses. We post those stories every Sunday on our page and Blind Horses page.
There is a blind horse community among us that needs to be heard and seen.
Sharing Blind Horse Owner's stories is our most powerful tools in sharing awareness on blind horses. The more stories we can share then more people will realize it is very common and is not a rare occurrence.
Each one of us started knowing nothing about blind horses and we learned as we went along. If we can, so can anyone. Horses become blind in different ways: genetic predisposition, injury, eye diseases, or from natural aging process.
The stigma is very low with partial blind horses but when it comes to those fully blind horses, the reaction is a whole different picture. The stigma is still there for those fully blind horses.
If you have a blind horse, Please consider sharing your story with us so we can share your story on our platform and I would like to see everyone share their stories on their own platform and any other media source to spread ripple far as possible. Our email is [email protected].

P.S. If you already shared your story with us, please feel free to share any new update on what is happening with your horse so we can keep your story updated.

Hello! I would love you to meet my blind horses!My name is Amber Colliflower and I currently own 3 blinds here on my fa...
05/18/2026

Hello! I would love you to meet my blind horses!

My name is Amber Colliflower and I currently own 3 blinds here on my farm, Magnanimous Misfits Farm, in Gettysburg PA along with almost 40 other rescues. My journey with blinds started back in 2018 when I started volunteering at Maryland Horse Rescue where they specialize in taking in blind horses. I stayed with them for 4 years, the last 2 as their adoption coordinator.

Since then, I have adopted 4 blinds of my own and am currently starting ground manners training for one of my youngest blinds. I am sharing his journey on multiple social media platforms in hopes of bringing awareness to everyone about how amazing and capable blind horses are! My daughter and I have also starting working with some people who have rescued blind horses to help them better understand their capabilities, introduction into a new herd, and how to handle the disease that took their vision. One of our clients has a horse that's transitioning and can only see shadows. She is riding her, taking her on trails and working on her ground manners!

We hope to one day bring more horse people/trainers together to start a clinic where people can come meet our blinds and learn a training method that works for them, learn more about the diseases that cause blindness, the transitioning period and possibly how enucleations can help. I've assisted with numerous enucleation surgeries, including 2 of my own having both eyes removed.

I feel like the more people I can get next to a blind horse, the more I can spread awareness! I love this post you put up and hope you receive many more stories!
Please feel free to reach out to me, I would love help bring awareness everywhere, not just here in Pennsylvania and Maryland.

Sincerely,
Amber Colliflower

☆ Linc is the percheron
☆ Skippy is the bigger appolosa
☆ Bonnie is the smaller appolosa

FYI: Since March 2020, Kari with HOC Rose Sanctuary Rescue started collecting Blind Horse Owner’s stories (I would love you to meet my blind horse) told in their own words from those horse owners who discovered their horse is blind, sharing their journey of owning and caring for their blind horse(s) because they want to give HOPE to others who seek HOPE for their blind horses. We post those stories every Sunday on our page and Blind Horses page.
There is a blind horse community among us that needs to be heard and seen.
Sharing Blind Horse Owner's stories is our most powerful tools in sharing awareness on blind horses. The more stories we can share then more people will realize it is very common and is not a rare occurrence.
Each one of us started knowing nothing about blind horses and we learned as we went along. If we can, so can anyone. Horses become blind in different ways: genetic predisposition, injury, eye diseases, or from natural aging process.
The stigma is very low with partial blind horses but when it comes to those fully blind horses, the reaction is a whole different picture. The stigma is still there for those fully blind horses.
If you have a blind horse, please consider sharing your story with us so we can share your story on our platform and I would like to see everyone share their stories on their own platform and any other media source to spread ripple far as possible. Our email is [email protected].

P.S. If you already shared your story with us, please feel free to share any new update on what is happening with your horse so we can keep your story updated.

Grazing....
05/16/2026

Grazing....

Teresa, Julie and Kari wearing our new shirt design for Blind Horse Day, May 1st.Still available for purchase all year a...
05/15/2026

Teresa, Julie and Kari wearing our new shirt design for Blind Horse Day, May 1st.

Still available for purchase all year around through bonfire link on our website store tab. They are available in several colors and choices such as tee shirt, long sleeve, sweater or hoodie.

Today, Teresa, Julie and Kari checked all pastures, making sure the fences are good and looked for holes in ground needi...
05/15/2026

Today, Teresa, Julie and Kari checked all pastures, making sure the fences are good and looked for holes in ground needing fill in. We use marker flags to mark those needs attention.

Oliver, Reba and Ty got hoof trims tonight.Thank you Liz for taking good care of our horses.Liz with Uno and Oliver in p...
05/14/2026

Oliver, Reba and Ty got hoof trims tonight.

Thank you Liz for taking good care of our horses.

Liz with Uno and Oliver in photo

05/12/2026

Esel and Ty

I would love you to meet my blind horse!Meet Charlie,So this is Charlie. Around 7 years ago I found out Charlie suffers ...
05/10/2026

I would love you to meet my blind horse!

Meet Charlie,

So this is Charlie. Around 7 years ago I found out Charlie suffers from Equine Reoccurring Uveitis which has left him blind in his right eye. I've had Charlie since he was a 3 year old, so it was a massive shock to find this out from the vet. We assume he has been blind in one eye since a very young age, as he's never gone through a 'spooky' or notable change in attitude and personality.
After a lot of tears and worry (from myself, Charles couldn't care less!) I did as much research as possible and found out what I needed to do to protect his 'good' eye, and keep the blind one comfortable. He currently wears a UV block mask 24/7, he's actually gathering quite a collection of different masks! We recently purchased a set of eQuick eVysor goggles for riding too, so he can be constantly protected.
So now as a 16 year old, Charles is still enjoying all the things any normally sighted horse would enjoy. We still dressage, jump, hack, and even enjoy a bit of Trec! This is my horse of a lifetime, and I will do everything in my power to keep him happy and comfortable.

Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed our little story, and sorry for all the pictures I couldn't choose just one haha.

Kind regards,

Rhianne Holroyd and Charlie

FYI: Since March 2020, Kari with HOC Rose Sanctuary Rescue started collecting Blind Horse Owner’s stories (I would love you to meet my blind horse) told in their own words from those horse owners who discovered their horse is blind, sharing their journey of owning and caring for their blind horse(s) because they want to give HOPE to others who seek HOPE for their blind horses. We post those stories every Sunday on our page and Blind Horses page.
There is a blind horse community among us that needs to be heard and seen.
Sharing Blind Horse Owner's stories is our most powerful tools in sharing awareness on blind horses. The more stories we can share then more people will realize it is very common and is not a rare occurrence.
Each one of us started knowing nothing about blind horses and we learned as we went along. If we can, so can anyone. Horses become blind in different ways: genetic predisposition, injury, eye diseases, or from natural aging process.
The stigma is very low with partial blind horses but when it comes to those fully blind horses, the reaction is a whole different picture. The stigma is still there for those fully blind horses.
If you have a blind horse, Please consider sharing your story with us so we can share your story on our platform and I would like to see everyone share their stories on their own platform and any other media source to spread ripple far as possible. Our email is [email protected].

P.S. If you already shared your story with us, please feel free to share any new update on what is happening with your horse so we can keep your story updated.

May 6th Interpreter Appreciation Day!Julie and Jordan have been volunteering their time as ASL interpreter for years....
05/07/2026

May 6th Interpreter Appreciation Day!

Julie and Jordan have been volunteering their time as ASL interpreter for years. Julie is our Interpreter Coordinator and she also mentors intern interpreters through her work at Metro University. This is how Jordan started volunteering for HOC Rose through Julie. We cannot forget Joan too! Thank you to the interns too.

We appreciate you all!❤️🤟

Address

6804 320th Street
Stacy, MN
55079

Telephone

+16512733960

Website

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