Save Blue Star Now

Update June 2, 2017
While we catch up on farm work and spring clean up around the farm we took a little break from pushing our fundraiser. We are back now with some exciting updates bringing us to a new total!

GoFundMe Account - $5700.00

Private Donations via paypal- $5367.86

$7000 from Leo Walsh Foundation

Yankee Candle Fundraiser - $400+ (finished July 12) Erika Schellhase

Janallee Matching Gift - $2,000

Anonymous gift of $3000 for farrier and Vet care.

Totaling $23,400 towards the original $45,000.

I have adjusted the new goal to reflect this new total. We have approx. $22,000 to go putting us over half way!!

Our tractor is fixed. Hay from last Winter nearly fully paid. Vet and Farrier paid and we are keeping up with ongoing feed and hay and supplies costs. We are rallying in a strong way but we must continue to find more support.

There is always the constant need to fundraise. Until we get the Herd Members with monthly donations up in numbers to cover the cost of caring for the horses we need to raise money! We need 2000 Herd Members and we have nearly 500. With that monthly guaranteed donation of varying amounts we are able to hold steady and build a sustainable future.

It is really that simple. Providing our communities work horses with what they need is something we can all feel very proud of, with so few solutions for them now. Sharing respect and appreciation and providing care for our work horses in need is an important and meaningful step towards making life better for equines and our own kind too.

We know there are a world of issues needing attention and care and some devastatingly urgent. We look at caring for our communities horses in need as an opportunity to design better solutions for our horses. We see it as an opportunity to share in the responsibility of taking care of what we love.

Countless folks young and old visit Blue Star and learn, touch and feel the horses up close and personal and that has a special magic all of it's own. Horses make us feel better, they are nature.

Connecting to the horse in a relationship based on gratitude for their kind creates the potential to heal and restore our bond to nature and each other.

Last year we contracted work to be done with our pastures. The resurfacing of the pastures was mandatory and a final step towards stabilizing the sacrifice area that they horses use. The work was one of the most important improvements we could make for the horses. That resurfacing was well worth what it cost to do and it officially ended the era of the intense mud the herd has had to live with.

Today all of those sacrifice areas are dry and drain properly and the horses are much more comfortable than any years before. There is more work to do but we are nearly completely done with the overall pasture restoration project started over 5yrs ago.

Blue Star has a capacity of 32 horses, yet we feel the land would be better served with less impact. We will work towards reducing the herd on this farm in the most sensitive and appropriate ways we can. There are still a few on a critical waiting list hoping to get to come and find sanctuary here.

We are doing our job beautifully best we can. Everyone on the farm is working overtime, in their own employment and any time that can be spared on the farm. I continue to work overtime day to day and week to week, month to month giving whatever I can to help keep the fire going. With the limited resources we have had, we have performed miracles in the hopes that others would notice and join us in making the difference we want to see for our horses in need.

We know that with the longevity and success we have had over the years in our community participation, celebrations, workshops, advocacy, teaching at UMass, our public service engagements with our Share the Road Horses Paved the Way (now spread to 12 towns participating in taking to the streets.)

And so much more, we have shown that the horses are a real value to their community. Regardless that they are retired, disabled or homeless, every horse on the farm has something unique and special to share. All have a message that echoes deep into our ancient history, we are not alone. We have a noble "helper" that has walked alongside us for millennia and knows us well. By turning towards them and learning about them we turn towards our own history and culture and connection to who we are.

Please share and help us reach this goal so that we can begin to build our Join the Herd campaign, strengthen financially through memberships, sponsorships, grants and more. We have the committed team now we need YOU!

Come and see for yourself! This coming year we hope to have our fencing and pasture/compost management system up and running too!

We hope to also begin to design the walking park path around the pastures so that you can visit and learn about the great breeds that live here.

So much to do and so much to share and so much to look forward too! We are on our way. PLEASE HELP and lets get it moving strongly towards our goal....we are almost there! The horses most certainly THANK YOU!





Original Post!

If you have appreciated reading, meeting and getting to know the horses at Blue Star, like old man Doc and Jasper, and the many others that call the farm home  we need  a moment of your attention and support now. We have still not made up our short fall from the winter and we will be forced to make extraordinary cut backs (even more than we have) if we don't do so. 

We need more support or we will not be able to stay open. Plain and simple.  

We are asking the Blue Star fans on this page to give any amount if possible. The horses at Blue Star have countless friends all over the world, we are calling on you now to stand beside us and help us continue to be here for them! If all who haven't given gave even $5 towards what must be covered it could go a long way towards resolving this debt quickly. We know that there are lots of fans and this week we will be doing a massive outreach with all we got, as if lives depend on it, because they do. 

Fall/Winter costs have accumulated.

$20,000 - Pasture restoration work.  Excavating and resurfacing two pastures. This has vastly improved the turn out/sacrifcice areas for two of the herds of horses.

$8,000 - Past due Hay due. We are keeping current with our bills as we go but we have no extra resources to settle this past due aquired during the very difficult winter months. 

$2,000 - Vet, Farrier

$8,000 - Contracted work with landscaping, barn and fencing repair, barn work, hauling, equipment repair and managing. 

$6000 Advertising, services, administration  and operating costs.

Like so many other non profit charity organizations we have cut back and made do and worked extra hard and have done all that we can do with the limited resources we have and we have not been able to catch up or resolve this debt. There are many giving all they can in hours and resources but there needs to be more of us!

There is an amazing team of experienced and professional people giving all they can spare, believing that this work has a lasting value for us all, horses and humans. We have come through massive challenges and struggle and the farm continues to live and grow and develop, improving our lives and the lives of the horses we love, there needs to be a few more of us supporting it! 

We absolutely must raise $45,000 (NOW $40,000!)  for the short fall immediately.

Now is the time to do so if you have been waiting.  There is so much opportunity and great purpose for the Blue Star farm and especially the horses who call it home or could need it in the future. We hope to continue to develop and provide a safe and loving sanctuary for retired, disabled and homeless work horses where everyone in the community, including schools, clubs, organizations, veterans and many many more have an opportunity to meet and learn about the contribution and our shared path, past,  present and brillantly possible future... alongside our horses. 

Make a donation please! Any amount will help! By all means PLEASE SHARE! Horses like Officer Barney and his many retired, disabled and homeless friends will thank you in unexpected and profoundly meaningful ways. They can't help it, they are made that way.