For many of Colorado horses, the auction can mean not a new beginning, but the end of the line—a place in a truck bound for Canadian and Mexican slaughterhouses.
But rescuers like Lauren Tipton see a different future: At her Ahimsa Ranch, she offers refuge, training, rehabilitation and placement for these horses, many of whom go on to find loving homes. As her operation succeeds, she’s been helped by even the “kill buyers” themselves, who are recognizing that healthy saddle horses can find homes—and bring higher dollars than those bound for dinner plates. Here, meet Tipton and the residents of Ahimsa Ranch, a mix of quarter horses, mustangs, draft horses and farm animals all on their way to a new start, and all up for adoption. For more information, visit ahimsaranch.org

5280 February 2008
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