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caption, page 2:
Left: The Hoover family of Safe Haven Rescue, from left: Jim, Teagan, Galen and Cory. Above: One of the rescues. Linda Lemmon photos.
Christmas
wish: a
501c3 OK
By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
PUTNAM — What would make an excellent Christmas gift for the Hoover family?
Notification that their application for 501c3 nonprofit status is approved.
Cory Hoover said her daughter Galen Hoover put in the paperwork for the designation for Safe Haven Rescue in mid-November and they are hoping to hear in the next week or two that the application is approved.
The Hoover family bought property on Heritage Road about a year ago with the goal of creating a safe haven for horses — and for humans, Cory Hoover said. Finding enough space in Connecticut is rare, she said. They moved to Putnam from Columbia.
The family, which also includes Jim Hoover and daughter Teagan, rescue horses, donkeys and mules.
Cory said they wanted a safe haven for horses, a place to teach and to have the horses here at home. Three generations live on the Heritage Road property.
Cory and Jim have pulled in rescues already. They have four currently and one has already been adopted out.
They go to local auctions in New York and Pennsylvania and save the animals from the slaughter house.
Once they have them back, they get their health back up, then assess what’s needed behaviorally and train them with the goal of adopting them out to a better life. One horse they saved was 400 pounds underweight.
Their goal is also to become known as a safe haven locally. Cory Hoover said if, for example, someone has had a horse for 20 years and finds they can no longer afford to keep it, Safe Haven Rescue will rescue it. And the original owner can even visit their horse if they like.
And if for some reason a horse adopted out does not work out, Safe Haven Rescue will always take them back.
Galen Hoover has Natural Horsemanship Training certification. Cory said if a horse has a behavior that might keep it from getting adopted, for example, if the horse is “head shy,” Galen is trained to correct the behavior.
And daughter Teagan is now a furrier.
And if a horse isn’t rideable he’s still worth saving — as a companion horse. Currently, Cory Hoover said, one of their horses is doing companion duty for a horse in Brooklyn after another horse there died. “Horses are herd animals,” Cory said. “They need to be with other horses.”
Cory is a Certified Horsemanship Association member. She is both a therapeutic and standard instructor.
The rising cost of taking care of the rescuees is one reason for the 501C3 filing — donations would then be tax deductible.
For example, she said, one bale of hay, weighing 50 to 70 pounds, but that feeds one horse for one day. The 800-pound hay bales are gone in 3 days.
Forty to 50 pounds of grain used to cost $10. Now it’s $30.
Dec. 9 the family held a “Photos with Santa” (and photos with one of the first rescue horses) event to raise funds. There were vendors including a huge table of items crocheted by a family member. There were also custom candles and hand-worked leather items.
Galen works with a jousting group and they have offered to come do an event this coming summer.
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