By Dr. Ferrell Miller
Karen Eastman-Everhart is the Executive Director of Rainbow Meadows Equine Rescue and Retirement, Inc. and shared information about her work rescuing horses, donkeys and mules. She described the facility as “being on Highway 57 on the way to Rock Springs Ranch and that the ranch will have been open for twenty years in March of this year.”
Her background is in health care, but she also has been an equestrian competition rider and has since wanted to give payback to horses for all the pleasure they had given her. Karen also said that “we offer a save and peaceful refuge for abused, neglected and abandoned horses, which we actively rehabilitate and adopt out to forever homes. Horses are not a commodity” to be enjoyed until they become ill or unwanted.
Karen assists law enforcement as an expert on how to deal with broken laws and with her volunteers makes effort to rehabilitate horses in days rather than years. When a horse arrives at Rainbow Meadows, they are provided with nutrition and training before being adopted out to a forever home where it is ensured the care it deserves for the remainder of its days. Rainbow Meadows also offers a “space available” retirement program for individuals wishing to retire their horses in the beautiful Kansas Flint Hills where animals can rest and relax. Rainbow Meadows has also become increasingly focused on educating horse owners in the areas of responsible ownership and proper horse care as well as detrimental effects of over-breeding.
Eastman-Everhart also shared that “community engagement is an important part of the work done at Rainbow Meadows. Third through fifth graders visit during the morning breakfast time and are given a book to read to the horses. The Manhattan Optimist Club donated mats for the children to sit on while the children read to the horses. Jobs for Americas Graduates in Kansas (JAG-K) middle school and high school age youth have also been involved in learning about ways to volunteer and serve the animals at Rainbow Meadows. Volunteers between the ages of twelve and sixteen need to have parents present to supervise the youth. After age sixteen, internships are available.”
For more information see the Rainbow Meadows Facebook page; the web site at Rainbow Meadows Ranch.com or call 316-648-5082.