Mission: The Dorset Equine Rescue’s mission is to rescue, rehabilitate, and re-home abused, neglected, and slaughter-bound horses. We work to restore hope in some of the most hopeless corners of the equine world.

Our rescues: Since 2012 most of our rescues have been local owner-surrenders and law enforcement seizures. We also, when time and space allow, rescue slaughter-bound horses from auction kill pens. Due to space constraints, we are often only able to help horses in the direst conditions. We believe every horse’s life matters, no matter their age, breed, size, or where they need to be rescued from.

2021 highlights and accomplishments:

• 35 horses rescues and 19 horses re-homed in 2021
• The Vermont Hay Bank launched in 2021, a safety net to provide feed assistance to horse owners in temporary hardship with application form on our web site. The Hay Bank can help prevent a needy horse from ending up at auction or needing rescue.
• First rescue in Vermont to be accredited by the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries, which sets standards of care, accountability, and transparency for rescue organizations worldwide. This accreditation documents high standards of care and operations and our commitment to those standards
• Guidestar platinum seal of accountability and transparency.
• Sweet Annie underwent successful and life-changing surgery for Kissing Spines in July and is now rehabilitating at Terry’s Equine Foundation at Boulder Brook Stables.
• Reached 20,000 followers on Facebook and 1,300 mailing list, which helps us share our story and educate about equine issues.
• News coverage in Seven Days, Vermont Digger, and the Bennington Banner also helped educate and raise awareness of equine issues and how DER rescues, rehabilitates, and re-homes horses in dire situations.