WEST PARIS — There’s Atlas, a former New York City carriage horse who developed permanent bladder problems.
Apollo, a former Amish cart horse with knees that barely function.
And Smokey, a saddle-bred horse that lost his owner to cancer and missed her so much that for a time he was very aggressive.
These horses, and 15 others, have found a home with Bethel native Sarah Page at her Whole Horse Experience & Educational Equine Sanctuary in West Paris.
Page has been riding for 19 years, since she was 11. Her family bought the West Paris farm when she was 13.
As an adult, Page has managed barns in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Back in Maine, she works at the Sudbury Inn in Bethel.
Page said her progression toward operating a horse rescue started informally. She found that when people learned she had a horse farm they would sometimes tell her, “Oh, I know a horse that needs a home.”
Then she started offering trail rides to the public. In seeking horses to buy for that purpose, she realized there were many more unwanted horses than she could have imagined that end up at auction. They often went to a slaughterhouse because of age, lack of training, health problems or owner financial problems, or because they were simply no longer wanted or needed.
“I realized the immensity of the problem and that many of these animals still have so much to offer the right person,” she said.
So Page decided to do what she could to help some of them. She bought horses, sometimes with apparent behavior and health issues, and took them home, where they were quarantined, evaluated and cared for.
“All at once you wake up and realize your goal isn’t just to offer people the enjoyment of horses, but to restore these animals’ faith in people,” she said.
By building the horses’ trust, Page found that in only a short time the animals become calm and well-adjusted.
“It’s quite a transformation to see,” she said.
Smokey, 13, the horse who lost his owner to cancer three years ago, was very aggressive toward other horses at first. But with love and reassurance, Smokey today shares space with other horses and greets visiting humans calmly.
Page bought Atlas, 14, about two years ago from a dealer. After working as a carriage horse in New York, he spent a short time with Amish farmers before she bought him, she said.
His bladder problem requires medication and a regular cleansing process to prevent infection. The condition will eventually necessitate putting the otherwise healthy horse to sleep, but he and and Page are making the most of their time together. Atlas now pulls a carriage in weddings.
“He loves his job,” Page said.
She said some carriage drivers in New York punish their horses for urinating while working, prompting them to hold their bladder and potentially creating problems.
Apollo, 8, was a cart horse in Pennsylvania Amish country. His joints are damaged from years of walking on unyielding road pavement, Sarah said. He has to be shod in a particular way, and more frequently than usual. He wears a special “wedge pad” to change the angle of his feet in order to correct his weak knees.
A few of the horses Page has rescued are former summer camp horses. She said some dealers buy them at auction for $500 in the spring, rent them out to a children’s summer camp for the season for around $2,000, them dump them back into the auction process in the fall. It can end at the slaughterhouse.
“The kids and their parents at the camps have no idea what might happen to the horses,” Page said.
She said this time of year is generally a prime one for horses going to auction. In addition to summer camps concluding, it’s also the end of racing season. And this year’s drought will make hay scarce and expensive, prompting more horse owners to give up their animals because of cost, she said.
Besides Atlas, Smokey and Apollo, many more have gotten a new lease on life at Whole Horse Experience: Bo, Trucker, Diesel, Archer, Karizma, Charm, Tai, Mini Whinney, Belle and others. Several are available for adoption.
As she has expanded her efforts in what has become a passion, Page has formalized her rescue, adoption and education work with the formation of a 501(c)3 nonprofit, allowing her to fund-raise.
And she’s looking to buy a larger farm to accommodate her activities.
“My end goal is to utilize the horses in a program for veterans and children with special needs,” she said. Her rescued horses, she said, “have so much left to give. I have always found I get the most rewarding relationships with horses other people have given up on. They might take a little more time, but it’s so worth it in the end.”
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