In 2005, Lynn and Paul Cairney were living in Colorado Springs and saw a news broadcast about a local horse rescue; they decided to volunteer. There, they met Thor and Athena, who eventually became their first two horses for what today is Thor and Athena’s Promise Sanctuary.
Unlike a rescue, which rehabilitates animals with the goal of adoption, a sanctuary serves as a permanent home. Lynn Cairney said much of the work involves providing medical care, a spacious environment for horses to roam and healthy volunteers who help groom them and clean the stables.
During their time at horse rescues, the Cairneys learned how many elderly horses were abused — some from hard labor on farms without proper medical care, others from being Pregnant Mares’ Urine horses (PMUs) for harvesting horse hormones for pharmaceuticals and others from breeding practices to obtain desirable horses for competitive racing. Many of these discarded horses were left for slaughter…