Build a Hay cover for 300-Plus Wild Horses, Burros

Unless you have a horse—or over 500 horses!—it’s hard to understand how precious hay is. It’s like nutritious, fragrant gold.

And once you lay in a supply, it must be protected like the treasure it is. For that reason, we asked for your help in building a protective structure for the RTF horses’ hay, and you responded generously, as you always do. 

We’ve kept you updated on the process of building the new shed, hard work interspersed in the daily hard work of caring for hundreds of horses and burros and maintaining the sanctuary overall. 

Now, with recent disasters around the world and in the US, we’ve all been reminded that Mother Nature is in charge.

On a smaller scale, RTF is no exception. The photo above shows what has happened to our precious shed since the last update. The wood panels you helped us to buy are attached securely on the sides, but recent especially-strong Santa Ana winds have torn and damaged part of the roof!

This setback hurt, but luckily, no hay was damaged, as the weather was dry. When we rebuild it, we will make sure nothing short of a tsunami will budge the smallest screw!

As well as the roof repair, more beams need to go up to complete the structure, and we need to pour a permanent slab to replace the pallets which currently hold the hay safely up off the ground. We have an estimate of $5,600 for materials, equipment rentals and additional labor to complete these final stages for the structure.

Although the shed is well on the way to completion, and in use, as soon as possible we have to do this work to “harden” it even further to ensure that it does its important job well into the future. The RTF Hay Shed will be prepared for the next strong winds.

As you know, the costs of caring for hundreds of horses is high, so we just haven’t had surplus funds for roof repairs, as critical as they are. 

So, we still need our friends to chip in toward our goal for the remaining work to complete the project.  Every little bit goes such a long way toward reaching our goal. It’s miraculous how it all adds up and how much every gift of every size helps the horses and burros living in safety at the Sanctuary.

In the end, it’s all for the horses and burros, so we don’t mind doing it, and we’re grateful you’ve taken this ride with us. Knowing that we have an army of friends out there makes everything we do much easier.  It’s like you’re standing on top of the shed waving “hello” as we load up hay for the eagerly awaiting horses. 

Be careful up there!

Thanks from all of us at RTF