Injured Racers and Abused Animals Getting Second Chance to Thrive
Rick Langenberg
The Green Mountain Falls’ equestrian heritage is making a heroic comeback with a new humanitarian twist.
This theme dominated the ground-breaking and ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Green Mountain Falls Horse Wellness Meadow project, an effort aimed at saving the lives of performance, race animals, as they chart a new course and transition into a new career and hopefully secure an adopted home. The facility, which is slated for completion in September or sometime this fall, involves a partnership between the Historic Green Mountain Falls Foundation and the Elite Equine Rescue group. It also is backed by the Kirkpatrick Family Fund. From a regulatory and political standpoint, the project plans have already gotten the okay by the GMF Planning Commission and the GMF Board of Trustees.
The goal is to provide an area to rehabilitate performance horses so they can serve a new purpose, other than racing down the track.
The project was hailed by community leaders and project proponents during the recent ceremony. It was cited for its humanitarian goals and for bringing an important tradition back to GMF. The town once boasted an active equestrian lifestyle and sported a commercial stables operation, frequently used by tourists and summer visitors and even by locals.
The GMF Horse Wellness Meadow effort definitely got the thumbs-up by town leaders and residents during the tail-end of the Green Box Arts festival, with a fairly large turnout occurring at the project site for a July 13 ceremony.
“Never doubt that a small group of citizens can change the world,” said Gina Hluska, the founder and president of Elite Equine Rescue, who spoke quite passionately about their mission and the community support she has received from the community, at the official groundbreaking ceremony.
She said the facility will serve as place for performance horses to decompress and heal from the rigors of competition. “Here, they receive the support and care they need to transition to a new career and find their forever home,” according to the group’s brochure.
Hluska outlined the problems many race horses encounter, as they get older, and either get injured, or are no longer competitive. She cited horrific tales of abuse, an ugly fact in the race industry. The depiction of this situation has received nationwide attention and was part of a major “60 Minutes” TV investigation. Unfortunately, the plight of animals who can’t race any longer or compete often serves as a death sentence for many performance horses.
A Strong Level Of Community Support
At the ceremony, Hluska especially praised Jesse Stroope, a key representative of the Historic Green Mountain Falls Foundation for recognizing the importance of establishing a quality horse rehab center. “This project may never have happened without Jesse Stroope,” admitted Hluska.
Stroope said the effort could be traced back to 2019, when he had frequent conversations with the late Dick Bratton, a former mayor and town leader who was also regarded as the community’s passionate trail guru. Bratton served as chairman of a former trails committee and set the wheels in motion for many of the trails that currently exist, including the current routes up to the GMF Skyspace attraction.
Stroope believes the horse wellness project will bring back a vital tradition to the town. The sight of horses in a key section of town, located in a 35-plus-acre area near the old Joyland Church site near the Red Butte trail area, also could serve as a big bonus.
Saving a Vital Tradition
Former trustee Margaret Peterson, who is now a member of the new Building Ute Pass Community group, recalled equestrian heyday times 40 years ago, when the town sported a commercial horse stable operation. It wasn’t uncommon to see dozens of families galloping across town with their horses. People often visited area businesses and bars/restaurants on top of a horse. And this became the patrol technique used by formal marshals.
Mayor Todd Dixon echoed similar sentiments,and sees the project as the first step in bring the horses back to Green Mountain Falls.
Chris Keesee, the co-founder of Green Box and the trustee of the Kirkpatrick Family Fund, stated that with the urbanization of much of Colorado, it is important to preserve this tradition for GMF.
In a joking manner, Keesee made it clear that locals won’t see him galloping away at the Horse Wellness Meadow. “You won’t see me on top of a horse,” quipped Keesee.
Stroope cited the partnership with the Elite Equine group as a key ingredient to the project. He said he toured a variety of horse rehab organizations and their respective sites in Colorado, and the Elite group easily ranked at the top of the list. Stroope mentioned behind the scenes research as a critical component of the project.
Due to the community’s strong interest in the equestrian tradition, Hluska stated she may bring other horses used by their business site, locate in the north section of Colorado Springs, to the GMF area for locals to rides.
As for the Wellness project, she said their group wanted to started out in helping close to 10 horses, with a horse genny. Eventually, the horses will be able to be ridden again, but they will never be capable of returning to the race arena. According to Hluska, it is not hard to find horse in need of rehab and physical and holistic therapy.
The race arena is something that the rehab group leader is quite familiar with. She spent years in this industry, and in the horse performing circuit, and is quite knowledgeable of the abuse these animals face.
For the project in Green Mountain Falls, the new facility will require much volunteer support. If interested in getting involved, locals are advised to email the group at info.eliteequineGMF@gmailcom or call them at 719-428-0104. The group also has a website at eliteequineCO.com.
