Therapy horses need help in Silverthorne

SUMMIT COUNTY — When horse trainers John and Rose Longhill moved their life-long dream, an animal sanctuary, from Georgia to Summit County last summer, they lost their support — including funding options and long-time volunteers. Now 38 horses, four sheep, three llamas, one alpaca, one mini-donkey and one mini-horse need care from local helping hands.

The Longhills are housing numerous rescued animals on a 300-acre ranch 15 minutes north of Silverthorne with little outside aid — they need people to help groom the animals, muck their stalls, build fences, train them, take care of tack, irrigate pastures to grow hay, cut and bale hay, raise funds and anything else that comes up. People could also volunteer their time in exchange for riding lessons.

“We must take care of the ranch, but earn income to support the animals,” John Longhill said, noting that having volunteers to help with the animal is imperative to the success and survival of the Swan Center. His wife drew him into working with horses 25 years ago, and together they've made helping abused animals and people their passion.

Swan Center Outreach, a place for unwanted, elderly and abused animals, originated in Georgia in 1987. The organization's goal — to bring unadoptable animals back from the brink — also encompasses helping people through animal therapy, riding lessons and other free and for-profit clinics that support animal care.

While in Georgia, the Longhills were able to run many for-profit and free programs to support the Swan Center, but since moving the animal sanctuary to Colorado last June they've had to put much of their program on hold. The Longhills moved to Summit County semi-permanently in 2001 for health reasons — the dry air was better for Rose Longhill's bronchial condition — and then they moved the animal sanctuary to its current location outside of Silverthorne after deciding it was too difficult to run it from out of state. Now the couple spends their days on a picturesque ranch, complete with verdant pastures and mountain vistas.

The horse trainers have personally funded Swan Center Outreach for the last three years — “We'd live in the barn before we wouldn't take care of them,” Rose Longhill said — but they're now eligible for grants in Colorado and they'll start doing for-pay programs, like riding lessons and clinics, dog training, corporate team building and leadership programs, on a limited basis.

The origins of the sanctuary

Swan Center Outreach was the life-long dream of Rose Longhill — as a child, she felt a closeness to animals, particularity horses, and wanted to help them.

“It started with the idea of having a sanctuary where people and animals could come and feel safe, loved and healed,” Rose said. “The majority of our horses are rescue cases.”

The Longhills have animals sent from rescue agencies, or in a few cases they bought horses that were being sold for meat. And, Rose, an animal communicator, specializes in neglect cases, where psychological damage plays a major role in an animal not being adoptable.

Horses in particular are abused because lots of people view them as vehicles, she said.

One horse was given to the Longhills because it was almost beaten to death when no one bought it at a horse sale. And two very pregnant horses were rescued from slaughter — now all four live comfortably at the sanctuary. Another horse at a riding school was thought to be overweight, but instead it was pregnant. By the time the owners knew, the mare had been starved and overworked almost to death.

The animal sanctuary also tries to act as a catalyst for change in people who are abused and sick through programming.

“There's a connection between learning about ourselves and animals,” John said. “At Swan Center Outreach, the animals act as teachers, healers and friends. ... The horses have restored life to people.”

Rose remembered one little girl who suffered sexual abuse but wouldn't talk about it with anyone. The girl came to Swan Center Outreach for an event and poured her heart out to a horse after hearing that the horse was abused, too.

“She felt the horse would understand,” Rose said.

Caitlin Row can be reached at (970) 668-4633 or at crow@summitdaily.com.