Farm of dreams: Polk horse rescue gets new facility

WINTER HAVEN (FOX 13) - An anonymous Good Samaritan just helped Hope Equine Rescue get the farm of its dreams.  It’s triple the size of their old one in Auburndale and can accommodate twice as many horses -- sort of a Taj Mahal for horses with big beautiful pastures and solid, well-built barns lined with spacious, light, and airy stalls.

“I still wake up some days and think that I am dreaming,” Dani Horton, Hope’s founder, told FOX 13.

Horton says Hope had outgrown its last place years ago, but didn’t have the finances to move.

“We were always at capacity,” she said. “We never had any place to put any extra horses. We literally had to get something out the door before we could bring something in.”

Then one day, Horton got a call from a woman whom she had never met. The woman, who was moving out of state, asked Horton if she wanted to take over her farm.

“She sent me pictures, and I was like, ‘Oh, my!’” Horton recalled. “It is awesome, but I don’t think that’s within our budget. We’re a non-profit, and we just don’t have that kind of funding.”

To Horton’s surprise, the woman worked financial magic, and Horton was back in the game. They signed the paperwork and Hope just re-located.

LINK: To learn what you can do to help unwanted horses, go to www.hopeequinerescue.com.