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I'm Mark McDonald in Dewey Illinois, in Champaign County.

At the only horse rescue operation in central Illinois.

There are 49 horses here, on this ranch right now.

Most of them need homes.

And the reason they're here is because of Linda Hewerdine, who runs SHARE Operation, the name of this horse rescue.

(chuckles) And the fact that she is trying to find adoptive homes for all of these horses.

You've saved 'em, haven't you Linda?

- Yes, we've saved them.

- Yeah.

- You and.

- All of us together.

- And your friends who help you here, your volunteer friends, and we're gonna meet some of them as well.

These two horses right, that bracket us here, these are your personal horses.

That's why they're so friend-- - Not this one.

(laughs) - Oh, this one's not?

- No, this one's-- - It sure is friendly.

- Up for adoption-- - My goodness.

- This is Sunshine.

- Well I think Sunshine is gonna get adopted pretty quick don't you?

- I think so, she's pretty.

- You know, this is an amazing story, 49 horses.

Most people who have horses know that one or two or three is a handful.

- Right.

- And here you are, with all these horses most of whom you've saved, from either a slaughterhouse or from neglect or abuse.

Are gonna be found homes, but it takes time, and it takes effort, and it takes land, and it takes food, and it takes all your time doesn't it?

- It does take a lot of time.

- Yeah, tell me about SHARE.

- SHARE is not-for-profit organization.

We started in 2003.

It's to rescue these horses.

We're approved by the State of Illinois, as a rescue operation and our investigators are approved.

They take tests once every two years, to see if they're qualified.

We do investigations on horses that people call us, and they tell us there's a neglect case.

We get calls from other organizations that need help.

We get calls from the State of Illinois, the Department of Agriculture.

If there's horses that need to be taken.

- They get reports they call you, 'cause they know you have investigators.

You're an investigator yourself.

- Right.

- You know enough about the ins and outs of that to know if an animal's being abused or neglected or whatever.

And then you have the wherewithal and the law behind you, to go ahead and take actions to get that horse to a better place.

- Right, or to get the owner education.

- Right, so the owner can take care of the horse.

- Yes.

- Yeah.

So you have all these horses, 49 horses that you try to find homes for.

How long do you keep a horse?

I mean, do you-- - Until it finds a home.

- Really, so you may end up with a horse, until that horse passes away.

- Yes.

- What's the adoptive process like?

- We have an adoption application that has to be filled out.

We have it online or we can email to someone.

We have to get a letter from the veterinarian recommending them and if they have a farrier already, from their farrier recommending them.

Then we ask them to pick out a horse.

We see if it's kind of a match between them and the horse.

Then we go to their place we take a look at their horses.

We take a look at how they keep their feed, how their horses and other animals react to them.

And we make a decision whether they get the horse or not.

Then after that, for two years we monitor that horse to see that it's well cared for and there's nothing going downhill.

- Wow so the horse remains, this one looks like a mule or something.

- It is, that's mine.

- Is that a mule?

It's yours too?

(laughs) - Yeah, that's a pony mule.

- That's a pony mule, okay.

How many horses, like for instance, last year, how many horses were you able to adopt?

- I think we adopted out about 12.

- Wow, yeah, yeah.

This time of year, I wanted to come here in January because you say that this is the time of year when you get the most calls, do the most investigations and end up with the most horses.

- Right.

- And it's sad during this time of year, that horses are being, I guess, left out in the cold and not taken care of.

- People run out of money, they run out of food and then the horses suffer.

- Yeah yeah, and so they end up at a place like this.

- Right.

- Well listen, we're gonna talk to some of your trainers and some people who help you here, and we're gonna meet some of your horses.

But I just wanna let you know that anybody who has any feeling at all for horses, to them you must be a real hero.

(laughs) - I'm a hero to the horses.

- To the horses, right.

Linda thank you, and let's talk more inside, okay?

- All right.

- All right.

- Thank you.

- Margaret Bojko, who have we here?

- This is Oliver, he's a three-year old pony cross.

We think he's crossed with a miniature.

We've had him here for a little over a month and a half now.

He came in pretty skinny we've been putting weight on him to try to get him built back up.

As far as training goes, he's just, you know, we walk him around, he's great on the halter.

He'll pick up his feet, do all the basic stuff.

We can't ride him obviously, 'cause he's small.

- Oh sure.

- And he's still pretty skinny.

- Yeah, did you say how old he was?

- He's three years old.

- He's three years old, okay.

- And he's a stallion still.

Once he puts more weight on we're gonna get him gelded.

- Do they live to be pretty old, these horses?

- The little guys usually tend to live anywhere from 35 to 40 if they are well taken care of.

- Oh, he's just a kid then.

- Yeah he's just a baby.

- Now has he had any problems.

I mean, he came here obviously because he wasn't well taken care of, but has he had any problems that you identified?

- The only problems that he has is he has a common problem that a lot of miniature horses have where their back legs slot tend to lock up.

And that is pretty much worked out when he's walking around a lot.

That's why they're outside.

You know, as much as we can get 'em, we turn 'em out.

These other two minis that we have back here have the same issue.

- Okay we'll take a closer look at them in just a little bit.

I noticed you've got some tools out here.

When you come to train these horses, obviously you got these little ones, you got the crosses, you got the miniatures, you got some draft horses.

- Yes we do.

- And you've got everything from this big to this big.

- Yeah.

(laughs) - So you got a variety of things to do.

But what for instance, how would you treat this horse?

What would you do to train this horse today.

- With this little guy basically all we're gonna do is just groom him and just basic handling, you know.

So he's used to people, he stands well for the farrier.

Does all the basic things that a horse should do.

Well not any, any other training really isn't gonna get done until he gets more weight on, you know, possibly eventually we could teach him to drive or carry some little kids around, stuff like that.

So, but normally we just, we pull out the brushes and we'll just groom him, starting with the curry comb and just get them used to, you know, just the touch.

- Yeah, 'cause a lot of these horses obviously they've all been neglected in some way or another.

And so many of them aren't used to people in any way.

- Right.

- They have to be used to being luxy and touched not necessarily ridden, but they have to be, feel familiar with humans.

- Right.

- Before they'd be a good match for anybody.

- Right.

- Okay.

- Yeah, and these guys, he's pretty good.

He's been handled a lot since he was born.

So he's, I mean, pretty good.

As far as the people aspect goes, you know, again with him it's just a matter of putting some weight on him.

They get him castrated, gelded so that we can find them a good home.

- If that horse behind you will stay still.

Let's take a look at her too.

- That's Kiwi.

- Who's this now?

- This is Kiwi.

- Kiwi, hi Kiwi.

- She's a miniature, she's also three years old.

- Can you touch Kiwi?

Is she okay with it?

- Yeah she's a good girl.

- Oh yeah, Kiwi you are a good girl.

- We think she might be pregnant 'cause she was kept with two stallions, Oliver being one of 'em.

- Okay, and she came with two other horses is that right?

- She came with Oliver and she came in with another horse that looks just like her.

- And she's a miniature.

- She's a miniature yes, she's a registered miniature horse.

- And actually, if we look down over the left or to the left here we can see the other horse that looks like her, that came with her, right?

- And that's Macho man.

(laughs) - Macho man - And he's also a three-year-old he's a little bit more skiddish when it comes to people.

I mean, he's handleable, you can put a halter on him, he'll stand to get his feet trim.

- Wow.

- You can groom him.

- He looks like he's in very, I mean good health.

- Yes.

- I mean, he just looks strong and ready to go.

- He just needs to be gelded and then he's ready to go.

He's ready to be adopted, so.

- And then, right behind him Linda's holding onto a larger miniature horse there.

- That's Angie.

- Okay Linda can you bring Angie over here so we can see Angie.

Hey Angie?

Oh, what a sweet girl.

what's her story.

- And she's 30 years old.

- Thirty?

- Yes, she was a companion for an average sized horse.

And they had to euthanize the horse because of medical reasons.

And they were just going euthanize her too because they had no use for her.

So we decided to take her.

- Well, you literally saved her 'cause she was gonna be put down.

- Yes she, I mean, she watched her companion get put to sleep and everything, so.

- Oh my goodness.

- So, but she has no front teeth or she, yeah, she has no front teeth.

- Really, could we see that Linda?

Could you show us?

Cause I don't think anybody's ever seen a horse with no teeth my goodness.

So how do you feed her if she has no teeth.

- She gets, she gets mush mush.

Basically we soak some hay and stuff for her.

We have a senior feed, which is a complete feed for her and she eats that real well.

She's also on a medication for heaves, which is basically like a horse asthma and being outdoors really helps a lot with that because she's not getting all the dust and all that stuff.

- Okay, so she stays out most of the time you bring her in to.

- Yeah.

- You bring her in to feed her?

- Yes, so everybody gets brought in except for a few horses that we don't have stalls for but everybody else gets brought in at night and they're out during the day and depending on the weather.

- Oh my goodness.

So in the little miniatures like this I assume that when you bring horses in, you kind of keep them separate because they might get kicked or hurt.

if they're with the big ones.

- We have a various groups that we put everybody out in, we don't put all the horses out together.

We try to figure out groups that best suit them just so that they all get along and nobody gets hurt.

And so yes obviously, you know these little miniatures are going to go out together and they're not gonna go out with the big Belgians that we have so.

- Right and are we gonna get to meet any of those Belgians?

- Yes you are.

- That'd be great, okay thank you.

- Margaret, What kind of horse is Tucker?

- He's a Belgian.

- He came, actually he was pulled off of a truck that was going to the slaughterhouse when he was three months old, by a rescue that I used to work with back up in Chicago.

And they closed it down about a month and a half ago which is how we ended up with him to find him a good home.

I actually trained him when he was younger and I've handled him a lot.

I taught him how to basically carry a rider.

You know, how to go down trails and just be an overall good horse.

- Yeah stuff that every horse should know huh?

- Yes.

- How old is Tucker?

- Tucker is five.

- And will Tucker ive a long, a good-ripe age too?

- Yeah and they usually, you know, the bigger horses tend to live usually about 20, 25 years.

You know, they can live longer.

(laughs) It depends on basically how well they're taken care of.

- And Tucker's pretty well taken care of.

Yes, oh yeah, so he's a very good boy.

- Yeah you've known him for a long time.

- Yeah.

- And he'll be adoptable one day.

- Yes he actually has an adoption pending right now.

- Excellent.

- So we just have to go and check out the facility.

And if the facility checks out, then he'll be going to his new home.

- That's gonna break your heart isn't it?

- It is, it really is.

(laughs) But that's, I mean, in order to save more you have to let some go.

- Yeah yeah and Tucker and other Belgians, they eat a lot of food don't they?

- Yes they do (laughs) - Now I noticed you mentioned riding him.

Can you ride this horse?

- Sure, yeah we can.

We don't have a saddle that's big enough.

You have to have a special saddle to put on him just because he's so wide.

If you just put a normal saddle on him it'll pinch the withers up here and then he won't wanna be ridden anymore.

- So how do you ride on him if you don't have a saddle.

- I ride him bareback.

- You do?

- Yep.

- Well then you must have a step ladder.

(both laugh) - Yeah, just a ladder you know, pop up against him.

We usually, I can use a mounting block or most of the time I just have somebody boost me up.

- Do you mind showing us?

- Sure.

- You get up on him?

That'd be great, that'd be great.

- Let me grab the saddle lead halter first.

(mumbles) (chuckles) - Ready?

- Wow Tucker there you go.

(chuckles) Oh, wow.

You're way up there.

- Oh yeah.

(laughs) - Yes it's pretty high up here.

And you don't wanna fall off this big guy.

- No you should not and he's really very comfortable with that isn't he?

- Yep he's comfortable right now he's kind of looking at the hay.

He wants to eat the hay that's on the ground.

- Wow.

- But he'll ride, I mean, he's had kids on him.

People riding him, multiple people on him at a time.

His biggest thing is he needs the big area to go much faster than a walk because he's got such a long stride that he trips over himself.

So he can't really do too much in here but he's a great trail horse.

He'll go down trails all day long.

He hasn't squeak at anything, he's just a big gentle giant.

- He's beautiful, hey, thanks for showing us.

- No problem.

- Bonnie Coats this is Molly?

- Yes this is Molly.

She is a 13 year old Belgian mare.

We got her a couple months ago.

We had a vet tech in the area that called and said that they needed a new home for her.

When we got her, she looked completely different.

She had a lot of muscle wasting in her backend so she just looked very funny.

She didn't look like a normal horse and she was very very unstable.

And she has a genetic disorder that's common to drafts.

It's called PSSM.

And basically she is unable to digest carbohydrates which is a big deal if you're not using the right diet.

So she is on a very high, fat diet and she has gained a lot of weight, which is fantastic.

She is much more stable and we're not as worried about her going down.

As far as her training goes, she knows how to plow but we're not gonna really use that as an adoption point, but.

- But she used to be a draft horse.

I mean, that's what she did.

She worked on a farm didn't she?

- Yes she did, she did.

And now she just gets to spend her time eating and being outside with Tucker.

(laughs) So it's a pretty good life I think.

- It is a pretty good life.

- She is very very sweet, she's got great manners.

When you put a halter on, she'll even lower her head 'cause she realizes that she's a little bit bigger than you, which is very very nice of her.

We don't know whether we are going to see if maybe she can pull like maybe a wagon for people or if she will maybe be taught to ride, because of the diet requirements that she has.

She will probably stay here for the rest of her life.

So it's sad being 13 that you know she won't be able to find a different home but she's very very happy here.

- Yeah.

- As you can see, she gets spoiled.

She gets quite a bit of food every day and she gets to go outside and run and play.

- Sure, sure.

She'll miss Tucker when Tucker goes, won't she?

- Oh well, I kind of feel like Tucker's maybe a little bit fonder of her than she may be of him.

(laughs) He loves her and she kind of tolerates him, so.

- Maybe she likes being an only child.

- Yeah it might be that.

(laughs) It will be sad though, because of his size is one of the only other horses we can really put with her.

Because when you have as horse big you have to be careful 'cause you don't want her accidentally injuring another horse.

Save you put a mini in with her.

If the mini tries to go underneath her and she starts walking, that means he's gonna get kicked and it could get really hurt.

So, but she doesn't really seem to mind, you know, she gets a lot of attention and so she probably, you know doesn't really need that herd to be really happy.

- Now you're a pre-vet student at the U of R, right?

- Yes I am.

- And you come here four or five days a week, - When I can yep.

- Is it true it's a volunteer thing for you?

- It is a volunteer thing.

- Wow.

- I joined a club when I was in my freshman year and it introduced me to this place.

And since then, I've gotten to know, I didn't know anything about horses when I came here.

First time I rode was under Margaret's tutelage for a horse that we got adopted.

And Linda is just an amazing person.

And what she does is amazing.

And I just wanna be part of it.

So I come out here and I do what I can.

I help Margaret with training when I can.

I mean, my knowledge is, is not very vast compared to hers but I do what I can.

And you know, when you see a horse like this and you see what she looked like when she came in, you know I have pictures cause we if you try to take pictures on intake, and then you see her now you can see the difference that you're making.

And for me, that makes it worthwhile.

And you know, when you see a horse that's been here for several years, get adopted.

There's really no better feeling than that.

So this is, you know, my home away from home and this really, it makes me feel like I'm making a difference.

And you know, it's something that I really really enjoy here at college.

And if I go to vet school, I'm gonna really miss it but I'm gonna keep in touch.

- Thanks Molly.

- No problem.

- Well Stephanie, now this is an unusual looking horse.

She's got a blue eye and a brown eye.

- Yeah.

- And you tell me she's deaf.

- Yeah she was actually born deaf and that (neighs) makes her special needs horse.

So she reacts differently to a lot of things.

So she requires a lot more on her side.

(neighs) So that also makes her a little bit more flighty 'cause she has required more on her side.

She sees things more than other horses would Because she's obviously, because she's, that's her dominant sense.

She doesn't have hearing organ.

- Exactly.

- Wow.

- Well, a lot of horses require a lot on their hearing because they pray.

- It's just amazing to me that this operation can take an animal like this, that most people, I mean most people would admit, who's gonna want enough horse but you can keep a horse alive and possibly somebody will.

And in fact isn't there a group that's seriously considering adopting Dazzle?

- Yes, exactly one of our Pyrenees people who adopted one of our horses spirit is up looking into Dazzle for a special needs force for their facility.

Which will be a great place for her because having a special needs horse there, it makes it that much better which would be a great home for her.

- You know and you girls are pretty special too because now you're pre-vet at the U of R right?

And you come in and help I guess you do it voluntarily just because you like to learn and like to help out, don't you?

- Exactly, I love coming here.

Like since I was little, I loved horses and I've tried to bug my mom for a long time to let me have a horse, never worked.

So once I came here and heard about SHARE I've been coming out here ever since about three to four times a week, as much as I can.

And I just love it.

- Yeah.

Linda, Noel is a particular touching story.

This is a beautiful horse.

- She is a beautiful horse.

- What is her story?

- She was in New Jersey.

She'd gone through a two auctions at Camelot and she was scheduled to be slaughtered.

She was going to be sent to slaughter in about an hour and a half, over the time that we agreed to buy her.

We bought her out of slaughter.

She's only seven years old, she's perfectly rideable.

There's nothing wrong with her.

We named her Noel because we didn't know what her name was when she came here Three of the four horses that we took in have papers.

And we had the registration on them.

We have nothing on her, but she's a wonderful old horse.

She's a Quarter horse.

- How did you find out about her?

- Some of the rescue operations that were trying to get them out of this particular place, were texting and emailing Margaret, who was with me on a trip down to approve a home for another horse.

And originally there were 49 horses in there going to slaughter, and between all the rescue operations all 49 were saved.

- Wow.

- But we got the last four.

- Oh, you got four that day.

- We got four that day.

- Do you still have any of the others?

- Yes, we have the other three they're standard breads.

One may be pregnant, in fact, all three might be pregnant.

We have a vet coming out to palpate them tomorrow and check them, this one's not.

- Yeah.

- She's not pregnant.

- Now they still slaughter horses in Canada, is that right?

That's where that would have occurred.

- That would have gone to Canada because they were in New Jersey.

But they slaughter in Canada and Mexico.

- And Mexico.

- We're trying to get a law passed so that you can't transport horses across the US for slaughter.

Because you can't slaughter in the US and you can't eat horse meat.

Both are against the law.

(horse neighs) - You know we talked a little bit before about investigations but I wanna pursue that a little bit, now that we're indoors where it's a little warm.

(both laugh) You're a licensed investigator and you have another person here I think who also does investigations.

You get reports from either let's say the Illinois department of agriculture or somebody who's just an interested citizen would call, - Yeah - And you would get, hear about a complaint.

What's the next step in, in an investigation.

- The next step is to two of us go out on the complaint and check out the horses to see if it's an actual complaint or the people.

It's some, a neighbor that doesn't like the other one.

Sometimes we get false complaints.

When we go out, we're not allowed to cross a no trespassing sign and we're not allowed to go in a barn without the owner's permission.

But usually you can see things from outside.

And very few people have up the no trespassing sign.

We go out and we talk to the owner, look at the horse see if it's truly a neglect situation.

We try to educate them.

You know how to take care of your horse what you should do to get this horse in good condition get their agreement to do so.

We also write them a violation 'cause they violated state law.

State law says they have to provide sufficient food, water, shelter, and veterinary care to prevent suffering.

And then if they, we give them 24 hours maybe less than that in the summertime, I have given people one hour to get water to a horse, 98 degrees and there's no water.

- A horse really would suffer and could die in that period of time, I guess.

- So we can give them up to 48 hours to correct the situation.

Many times we ask for a veterinary check on the horse and if they don't comply, then we go back and check and we write another violation.

And it's that point if they don't comply we'd contact the Department of Agriculture and asked for an impound on it.

- Yeah and then the legal system takes over I guess you've actually had to go out and take horses away.

And I would want a law enforcement officer there with me.

- We do.

- If I were you.

- Yes, we want a Sheriff's department.

- Yeah.

- I have someone from the Sheriff's department.

- One that's Very interesting, very interesting process that you would think that people who go to the time and expense and everything of owning a horse, would then treat the horse well, but that just doesn't happen all the time, does it?

- No sometimes people think that it's a status symbol to have a horse, or they overextend themselves.

They think they can take care of the horse and then finances aren't good.

Winter and they don't have enough hay.

They think they could buy more they can't, they don't have any money.

And that's the situations where they'll usually relinquish one to you.

Okay I can't take care of it, I'll give it to you.

Then we have to see if we can find room, to put that horse.

- And you always do.

- We have so far.

(laughs) Well, if we can't, we'll try to find somebody else to take it.

- Yeah.

- We have one in foster care right now.

Noel is a fine example of an adoptable horse.

She can be adopted for $500.

And for that, you get a horse that's had its health tests, its feet trimmed.

She's had her shots and been warmed and can be adopted almost immediately.

With another Illinois story near Dewey.

I'm Mark MacDonald, thanks for watching.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] Illinois Stories is brought to you by The Corporation For Public Broadcasting, Illinois Arts Council Agency.

And by the support of viewers like you, thank you.

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