In the early spring of 2001, Hope for Horses received a call about a group of neglected horses living in Barnardsville, North Carolina. The concerned neighbors were afraid of involving animal control because they knew of the angry reputation that the owner of these horses had, but something had to be done. The situation was an emergency with one of the horses starving, badly injured and tangled in barbed wire, several malnourished, one suffering from a massive abscess and the saddest of all, Sarabelle.

Sarabelle was a beautiful, young mare who had been left with a halter on that had grown into her head. The first time Hope for Horses’ director, Whitney Wright, laid eyes on her, her head was covered in blood, pus and maggots.

“I couldn’t see if her eye was even there, under the infection. It was absolutely pitiful, mostly because she was terrified of people.” It was later discovered that a couple of efforts were made by other neighbors to catch her, all unsuccessful, that only frightened her more and left her completely untrusting of humans.

The horses were promptly all seized by Animal Control and put into the possession of Hope for Horses and a few trusted horsepeople in the community and they all healed from their injuries. All healed, except for the mental state of Sarabelle. Kept in the possession of Hope for Horses since then, she has never completely gotten over her mistrust of humans despite the efforts of volunteers and staff. She desperately needed one human who would give her the consistency that anyone so deeply hurt needs to learn to trust again.

Although Sarabelle was adopted out by a very special lady, circumstances have brought her back to Hope for Horses.

She is available as a companion horse at this time. Sarabelle needs and experienced, patient and loving person that will offer her the hope she needs.