Bella Run Equine, a horse rehabilitation center in Athens, saves horses from being sent to slaughterhouses in Canada and Mexico.
As Rachel and Zack Bendler like to say, Faith is the luckiest horse in the barn.
The couple, who save and rehabilitate slaughter-bound horses, accidentally bet on Faith in an auction one day, and in turn, saved her life.
Faith is living at the Bendler’s horse rescue and rehabilitation center, Bella Run Equine, in Athens County, gaining weight and waiting for the right home.
“Bella Run Equine is a 501(c)3 organization dedicated to the rescue, rehabilitation, and re-homing of slaughter-bound horses responsibly,” the Bella Run Equine website states.
Co-founders and spouses Rachel and Zack manage Bella Run Equine with the help of several other board members, Emily Weithman, former volunteer and childhood friend to Rachel, said in an email.
“I pulled my first horse in 2007 and fell in love with it,” Rachel said. “Zack joined me in 2008.”
Rachel and Zack save slaughter-bound horses from the Sugarcreek Livestock Auction, where approximately 90 percent of horses auctioned are sold to three major meat buyers, Rachel said. Those horses are then loaded into semi-trucks and shipped across the border to either Canada or Mexico, where they are then sent to slaughterhouses, she said.
“We have 22.52 acres of land and currently 17 horses in our program,” Rachel said.
Rachel and Zack said the auction itself is very traumatic for the horses, with many horses packed into stalls like sardines and kept in very inhumane conditions.
“We assess the horses at the auction and look at their physical condition, as well as how much education they have and what we can do with them," Rachel said. "Then we place bids on them at the auction.”
Rachel added that she and Zack normally come home from the auction with between two and four horses, with the most after one auction being six horses.
“After we bring the horses home they have a 30-day quarantine, in which we further examine them and see how much education they have, as well as getting to know the horse’s personality,” Rachel said.
Zack said most horses stay with them for one or two months, but the longest stay was a year due to physical problems with the horse that needed to be addressed.
After the horses have been rehabilitated, Rachel connects them with families to adopt them from her “huge network,” Zack said.
Rachel added that she is very picky when it comes to placing the horses, and she will not place them somewhere she isn't comfortable with.
Rachel said an adoption fee is charged for every horse in an effort to cover the costs of the stay at Bella Run Equine, which ranges from a few hundred dollars to just over $1,000.
“We try and break even on our horses, but sometimes we lose money," Rachel said. "On some horses we make a little bit of money, which helps to balance things out after losing money on some horses."
From 2007 to 2013, the couple paid for the project solely out of pocket. In 2013 they applied for nonprofit status after several clients suggested it, Rachel said.
The average monthly cost of sustaining one horse is $362.50 to $484.00, according to an article from Back in the Saddle Project.
The couple said they have few cases that still stick in their minds.
“My favorite horse was Hickory,” Zack said. “She had this special bloodline I had always wanted in a horse, but when we found her she was over 200 pounds underweight and looked like a mess. But she was so sweet.”
Zack said Hickory was eventually adopted to a mother that wanted to get her daughter her first full-grown horse.
Now, the daughter competes with Hickory and wins awards all over the country, Zack said.
Along with clients looking for larger horses, Rachel said the couple often helps children with special needs.
Rachel said one day a boy with autism, who barely spoke, came to Bella Run Equine and talked to a horse.
“The mom started crying because it was the longest conversation he had,” Rachel said.
In addition to the horse rehabilitation program, the couple has also started a farm dog program, in which they save dogs from the Franklin County Dog Shelter from euthanization, Zack said.
Currently the couple is housing two dogs from the shelter, including Lucy, a pitbull they rescued in September, Rachel said.
Lucy was paralyzed and was what Zack called a “death row dog” before the couple rescued her. Now, she can walk and run again, Rachel said.
“Our goal is to get our hands on the most at-risk dog we can and save them,” Zack said.
Members of OU’s Western Equestrian Team have volunteered at Bella Run Equine, and Rachel and Zack are always looking for more people to help out.
“You just can’t put into words how good it makes you feel,” Zack said.
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