On a fairly frequent basis, TREES is asked to take in a horse who is in good health, has an owner who "loves him," but can no longer perform well in competition. The email or call almost always includes the phrase "....and I can't afford to take care of a horse I can't ride/show...."
From that we infer that the owner could afford to take care of his or her horse if the horse was still able to meet some threshold of performance.
Here's the honest truth. TREES' current budget isn't big enough to help all those horses and their owners who truly need --repeat-- NEED help: those who have been abandoned or neglected; those whose owners have lost jobs or suffered illness or injury and literally can't afford the next load of hay or a veterinarian's services to treat a current illness or injury.
Those are the people and horses who have priority here. Those who are no longer able to pay horse-related expenses, not those who choose to not pay for horses they can no longer show.
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