Getting Results Award winners need help caring for horses

S&P Stables seek volunteers to help horses in need

ORMOND BEACH, Fla. – Susanna and Phil Raymond are this week's News 6 Getting Results Award winners.

The Raymonds own S&P Stables and Horse Rescue in Ormond Beach and are part of a network of nonprofit rescue facilities in Florida trying to find homes for horses that have been abandoned, neglected or abused.

"There's so much more abuse than people are aware of," Susanne Raymond said. "Every single one of them has a different story."

The Raymonds are caring for 24 horses on their 8-acre property. Many of the animals come in underweight, timid and afraid of humans. The Raymonds spend hours each day trying to get some of them acclimated to people. 

"Every single day a little more of that touch between me and the horse, a little bit," Raymond said while working with an Arabian that was beaten with boards. "A little bit means a lot. We try to do this every single day to get a little bit closer."

The goal is rehabilitate them and find them permanent homes.  

Raymond said financial hardship is the No. 1 reason many horses end up being neglected.

"Some of these horses were left to starve," she said. "We have a few that were basically a body score of zero. Now, they're happy, weighted horses."

Raymond said she's heard stories of unwanted horses being sold by the pound.      

According to the Humane Society, each year more than 100,000 American horses, working, racing and companion horses, are inhumanely transported long distances in cramped trailers without food water or rest. Then they are slaughtered for their meat, which is shipped overseas for human consumption. 

Until now, the Raymonds have been caring for the animals all by themselves.

"It's a 24-hour-a day, seven-day-a-week job," Phil Raymond said. "It's nonstop. I's a big task."

The Raymonds said they are looking for experienced volunteers to help care for and train the horses. 

For more information about volunteering opportunities, visit S & P Stables website.  

 


About the Author:

Paul is a Florida native who graduated from the University of Central Florida. As a multimedia journalist, Paul enjoys profiling the people and places that make Central Florida unique.