Resources

Horse Haven Montana occasionally offers special education workshops and clinics which aim to enhance education and understanding of the horse/human relationship and the role and responsibilities associated with horse ownership and equine management. Workshops focus on communication, respect, care, feeding, training and interaction with our equine partners. These educational seminars, special presentations and informational speakers focus on nutrition, health, and other equine related topics that help to improve the general welfare and well being of equines we care for. If you are interested in being involved, informed, in helping, supporting our efforts, or in participating in some other way, please contact us:
Horse Haven Montana - Email: jrt@montana.com or Telephone: 406-880-0683 to learn more.

If you would like to make a donation to support a particular horse, project, or help with feed, hay, veterinary or other specific needs, we welcome all kinds of support and are always very grateful.

This is our only source of support - your generosity!

You can donate now through PayPal and all donations are fully tax deductible. Thank you!

COMING IN 2012 - from the heart of the American West, the first

EQUUS International Film Festival®

Visit Us on the Web Soon: www.equusinternationalfilmfestival.com

Mission: To promote awarness, knowledge and understanding of equines

through excellence in film, television and other media

To learn about becoming involved, please contact us:

info@horsehavenmt.org or jrt@montana.com

Partnership * Awareness * Leadership
Through the Lanuage of Horses

Corporate Leadership Retreats
Communications Workshops
Horsemanship Clinics

The PAL Program was developed by Janet Rose and Chris Bohenek. It is an innovative new approach to provide
Leadership & Communications training for individuals, organizations, corporations, and groups of all kinds, through the language of horses. Participants in the PAL Program focus on Leadership Development and Interpersonal Communications skills through the Human/Equine interaction process --- the language of horses.

The PAL Program is taught by media specialist Janet Rose and well known horse clinician, Chris Bohenek. It is designed for both small groups as well as for individual participants. Team-building gone wild, as we sometimes call it, the program is geared to business and organizational leaders, managers, executives at all levels of the business and corporate hierarchy, as well as individuals who simply want to improve his or her interpersonal communications, leadership abilities and management skills whether in one's personal or professional life.

For more information, please contact us at (406) 880-0683 or email, jrt@montana.com

From time to time we will also include here, special articles, editorials or informational pieces, surveys and reports of interest to horse owners and horse enthusiasts.

Missoulian Guest Opinion by Janet Rose, Founder & Director of Horse Haven Montana.

Symbol of the American West Needs Our Help - By J. ROSE

It is a uniquely American tragedy that one of the most treasured and recognizable symbols of the American West is in crisis. That symbol, of course, is the horse.

Recent news stories and articles of abandonment, neglect, abuse, as well as human efforts to help, are not new, but the crisis is in the fact that their numbers are growing. And the problems that we are reading and hearing about are only the tip of the iceberg, and getting worse. Concerned citizens can and are helping; local rescue groups, humane associations, hundreds of individuals and a few caring animal welfare organizations are stepping forward to help. As a result, many of these treasured symbols in black, brown, gray and sorrel, tall, short, young and old, are finding homes, some temporary, others permanent.

But this is only a Band-Aid, a grain of sand in a desert of problems. Increasingly hard economic times, the rising cost of hay, vanishing land, loss of jobs and we’re going to see a meteoric rise in the number of homeless horses. From Montana to New Mexico, Colorado to California, this is a crisis and we need a big-picture solution. It is going to take a committed network of resources and problem solvers to have an impact of any significance.

We can address and we can alter the crisis; we humans are problem solvers if we put our minds to it and if we make the commitment. For starters, we need to change and increase the criminal penalties for abuse; increase the fines for neglect and abandonment; build a fund that funnels fines and penalties back into the solutions we achieve. Beyond that, we need a region-wide, if not nationwide, plan of action to address this problem or we are going to witness a cascading epidemic.

Consider a network of ranches, a consortium or coalition of public and private landowners providing temporary, if not permanent, shelter; build an information network of public and private entities working together on new laws that stem the tide of indiscriminate breeding; provide government and tax incentives for growing hay at a lower cost to consumers; provide for a program of low-cost or no-cost euthanasia for the very sick or feeble (as opposed to a cruel and painfully slow death by starvation or other inhumane means); provide for low-cost veterinary care and an equine vaccination program; create a network of foster homes and adoption services; and, finally, education.

Owning a horse may be a dream come true for many, but you can’t do it in your sleep and it is also a huge financial responsibility and commitment of time, energy, knowledge and care. Education would go a long way in solving many of the problems we’re seeing today.

Let’s start with the basics; let’s attack the problems, and face the crisis head-on. If we believe that the horse is the symbol of the American West, if we agree that its image is an international calling card for America, then we owe it to this magnificent creature to step up and take action now.

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