Sunshine Horses is looking for volunteers! Help horses find their forever homes

CLAY, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) — Rescuing, rehabilitating, and retraining… Sunshine Horses does it all for horses in need of a forever home.

It’s an operation that runs solely on volunteers.

“So, you’re giving back to the community, but you’re also making yourself keep going. You’ve got to do more if you want to be able to do more,” Anna Renfrew, a volunteer, said. “That’s how I keep fit. I’m farm fit. You come in and you haul some hay around and clean a stall and meet with your friends, it’s just a great way to start your day.”

There are two shifts every single day all year around where volunteers clean the stalls, tend to the horses, and so much more.

Most of the horses at Sunshine Horses are from the racetrack, like the horse Rakin. Rakin is twelve years old and won over $50,000 while he was a racehorse. Now, he’s adjusting to his new way of life.

“A lot of that training with him or schooling with him is focusing on desensitizing them to scary things,” Marisa Jones explained. “Like pigeons flying up in front of their faces walking over poles, going around different stuff. We do it over and over again until they get comfortable.”

For as much as the volunteers help the horses, the horses do their fair share of helping too.

“Some people come and maybe they’re going through some hardships with their family and they come here to find some peace and tranquility amongst the horses and amongst the people,” Diana Wellmon, a volunteer, said.

It’s a way of not just helping horses, but helping people too. If you are interested in volunteering at Sunshine Horses click here.

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