Please help Ferdinand's Rescue get on our feet

Ferdinand's Rescue started in San Diego, the Gentleman that started it, has some life changes a few years ago and realized he would no longer be able to run it. We have been wanting to become a non-profit for years, but always managed to get by and take care of everyone without it. It has taken some time, but we decided to take over Ferdinand's instead of starting a new one. For over 20 years, we have been Horse Trainers, specializing in what I call, "the ones that slip through the cracks". This means that they weren't handled, maybe had some traumatic experiences effecting their ability to be trained and ridden, many had physical issues that made it to uncomfortable to be riding horses. While we do have a few horses of our own, the ones that people realized that they didn't want to put the time and money into or were going to take a long time, kind of accumulated here. Several are unable to ever be ridden due to physical and mental trauma, some are just starting to get a bit older and aren't really going to be safe trail horses. We kept them here because while we are able to handle them safely, they aren't really appropriate to be handled by the average rescue and we know that if we let them leave the property that they will most likely end up in the slaughter pipeline!

My life has been devoted to handling and training horses to be safe, dependable riding partners, so, would like to get to a place that we can start taking in new horses to be trained and adopted or networked to an appropriate place if they can only be a companion animal. My husband and I have participated in many Horse events in California over the years like the Extreme Mustang Makeover, Super Horse, Cowboy Dressage, Working Equitation and many more. We have given many clinics over the years ranging from Equine Biomechanics to Riding in a way that keeps the rider safe and the horse sound. Between Covid and the economy, we had to put everything on hold. Now that we have Ferdinand's Rescue, we can offer our knowledge and time to give back to the nonprofit and cannot wait to start scheduling Events and Fundraisers this coming year!

There are many animals on the Ranch besides the Horses, we have a Donkey, Chickens, Cats and Dogs. The Dogs are all Rescues from different circumstances, one of them we were contacted by a friend that runs a nonprofit network because he was going to be euthanized at a high kill shelter! His name ironically enough is Ferdinand....... he has taken some work this past year, but has settled in to life on a ranch with all of the other animals. That has inspired us to want to take a couple dogs at a time and when they are ready, adopt them out. Many large dogs don't get the handling they need to be introduced to animals and strangers, so end up not being adopted, more people with animals would take a dog if they knew it wasn't going to hurt the other animals or kids. Our cats were either brought to us by people who found them or born here to cats we took in. It is a large property and we garden, so, they are a much needed part of our infrastructure doing rodent and squirrel duties. Many of our cats would be a wonderful addition to a family or farm as they are well socialized and very friendly. The more we place, the more we can take in.

The Birds of Ferdinand's Rescue are an interesting menagerie...... mostly chickens that free range and live a very healthy existence with their friends and families. We have always had our door open to Roosters in need of a home and it is amazing how well they co-exist if there are enough of them! We have a pair of Peacocks, one Coturnix Quail and One Guinea bird. Being as Ferdinand's Rescue is an All-Species Rescue, we are looking forward to expanding our work to the other animals that live on a ranch and providing some great enclosures for those that can't be loose!

For now, we need to provide Hay, Dog food, Cat Food and Chicken food and have a few cats that need to be fixed. Also, there are a few sorely needed repairs to equipment that makes this place happen, like the tractor! As everyone knows, prices for everything just keep going up and it is a bit tough keeping up with it on my own dime. This is the first ever request as Ferdinand's Rescue by us and we are trying to get to a place where we can buy in bulk to keep prices down as much as possible. Fundraisers and Events will be scheduled for next year with a possibility of having one or more by Christmas. It would be a blessing to have the support we need getting from here to there. I've had to also go out of pocket to attain the transfer and necessary paperwork to acquire Ferdinand's Rescue. All animals that currently reside here are welcome to stay, however, adoption is offered if you see someone you just can't live without! One of our future goals is to network with other animal nonprofit to make sure the right animals go to the right places, we all have our own specialties, taking in hard to handle or unhandled horses is ours.