Dallas Equestrian Center
As the destruction from Hurricane Harvey ravaged the coastal section of our state, members of Dallas Equestrian Center watched barns and stables flood and worried: “What will happen to the horses?”
Their sister stable Great Southwest Equestrian Center in Katy, a Houston suburb, immediately sprung into action.
“They got their trailers and just cruised around looking for horses all over,” says trainer Happy Conly, who works at the Lake Highlands facility. “They put themselves in danger to make sure these horses got somewhere safe.”
So far, the Katy facility has taken in 250 animals, with more coming in every day. The equestrian community up here is rallying to help those horses, with the biggest need being hay.
“They do not have enough hay and grain to feed those horses, and none of the feed stores are open for supplies,” Conly says.
She says the SMU equestrian team, which keeps its horses at the Park Lane stable, immediately sent a truck load of feed, and center volunteers plan to continue to run donations down to the horses. Since it’s not super practical to drop off a bale of hay (although it won’t be turned away either), the Dallas Equestrian Center is collecting monetary donations online to buy feed. They are also looking for medical supplies, mosquito repellent and skin soothers for horses.
“The mosquitos will be terrible with all that water so we need something to protect them,” Conly says. “Anytime you have horses standing in water, there’s going to be skin conditions to deal with.”
Eventually, the center may be looking for volunteers to house the horses, but right now they are giving evacuees time to claim their animals.
