by John Dowd
With the West seeing growth unparalleled since the days of the Oregon Trail, some local ranchers and horse owners have noticed something disturbing, which they believe needs to be remedied. According to Jane Heath, co-founder of the Montana Horse Sanctuary, and Leslie Nalls, a rancher and horsemanship educator in the valley, there are a staggering number of new horse owners in the valley. Along with newfound ownership of equines, many more people are approaching the women with basic questions on how to care for their horses. However, the two are also seeing a lot of mistakes that can be bad for the horses these people take on.
To get ahead of this problem, Heath and Nalls have partnered to offer horse ownership 101 classes to anyone interested in what it takes to take care of horses the right way. “Better educated horse owners keep horses longer,” said Heath. She believes that is something many people may not have grown up with, and she has started seeing the issue more and more. She should know, because the main focus of her organization deals with horse abuse.
“It’s not like most people are being intentionally cruel, but they just may not be aware of what it really takes,” said Heath.
Montana Horse Sanctuary is based just outside of Stevensville. However, they work across much of the state to help individuals and organizations gather funding and apply for grants to care for horses that have experienced abuse. One of the main groups the sanctuary works with is law enforcement. According to Heath, Montana has a difficult time processing equine-related animal abuse cases. This is partly because the process of seizure of the horses involved, and the subsequent care and fostering of the animals, can be extremely expensive and difficult to organize. In fact, it can be so difficult that it can slow, halt, or even prevent investigations in these cases. Once an animal is seized, the enforcement agency needs to provide for the care, lodging and often rehoming of the animals. The Montana Horse Sanctuary helps get the funding and aids agencies in applying for grants to care for “horses in crisis” in Montana, said Heath.
For Nalls, the issue is close to her heart as well. She volunteers with an organization called the Five Valleys Pony Club. Through that program she works with both youth and adults, and deals with horses and their owners at all ages. She has noticed more people attempting ownership that are asking basic questions about it. Those questions keep coming, and Nalls realized that it may be a growing issue across the valley.
“There’s a need for this education, and for it to be given publicly,” said Nalls.
Nalls reached out to the sanctuary seeking to do a class that might help new horse owners, or prospective horse owners, see what it takes to buy and care for equines of all kinds. She described the class as benefitting, “people moving here from out of town who don’t know about horses but want to have them.” Heath jumped at the opportunity, as their organization had already been considering the idea.
Nalls commented that “there’s not much in the way of courses on the basics of ownership.” For Nalls, it is important to “educate them first so they don’t have problems down the road.”
Interested parties can sign up at montanahorsesanctuary.org. Once on the site, parties can go to the education page where they will find information about the courses. The classes will be $50 for adults, and $25 for youth accompanied by an adult.
The partnership is trying to keep the costs down in order to keep the opportunity available for everyone.
“We make no profit, but we don’t intend to. We wanted to make these classes available to as many horse owners as possible,” said Heath.
These classes will start inside a classroom setting, with nothing hands on. The first stage is meant to focus on the “getting started” portion, beginning with buying a horse. Nalls will teach these courses, speaking during this first section on the entire process of getting a horse. This will include the costs, avoiding scams and finding a horse that fits the owner’s needs. It will go into the reality of the venture, and will spare no detail. The goal is to give students a realistic idea of what owning a horse really entails. Nalls stated that ownership may not be for everybody and they need to know that before it negatively affects the health of a horse.
The second class will be on how to set up a property for a horse, and will focus on the actual care, health and management of horses. Nalls hopes these classes will give new owners a good start on horses. Both women hope there will be an interest in the valley for these classes, and if there is then they would like to make these a regular occurrence. Eventually, they are discussing the idea of providing more offerings throughout the year. They even hope it can grow to the point where they turn to doing some courses virtually, open to the nation for everyone. According to both Nalls and Heath, they believe there are nationwide trends toward self-reliance, and the “farm lifestyle” is becoming more mainstream. Their hope is to provide this education so that everyone has the potential to be excellent horse owners, and to prevent horse abuse.
The first classes will be May 18 and 19, and are open to anyone who wants to register and attend. They hope this can be a strong early start for anyone who may find a passion in living with horses.
Heath is excited to work with Nalls, saying, “Leslie has a lot of experience and I admire her curriculum.” For Heath, everything they want to achieve is, all in the interest of the horse, and in the safety of the human.”
“Working on this class together has been awesome,” said Heath. “Horses offer a lifetime of learning.”