INSPIRED BY A GENTLE GIANT NAMED GULLIVER, SAVING CASTOFF PMU MARES AND THEIR UNWANTED FOALS IS THEIR MISSION
BY DUTCH HENRY
PHOTOS COURTESY OF EQUINE VOICES RESCUE & SANCTUARY
T e year was 2004. Karen was working at
a wild horse rescue in California when one day she learned more than she wanted to know about PMU farms. T at very night she searched the Internet for more information and discovered a PMU farm in North Dakota that had lost its contract to produce pregnant mare urine, and the horses needed to go. Anywhere. Gulliver was not the most handsome horse, and his destiny was slaughter. Karen’s heart immediately connected with young Gulliver and she made arrange- ments to rescue him. Even though they had not yet met, Gulliver touched her so profoundly she knew she’d found her life’s purpose. She’d already been on
the search for a place to re- locate her two rescue horses and now the additional four PMU foals. She found the perfect location tucked in the foothills of the Santa Rita Mountains in Southern Arizona. She set led in, and Gulliver and his three herdmates were trucked to their new home. Once they were all relocated, she realized she could do more, and charted her mission. She would begin to do all she could to help save
Karen Pomroy, founder
and president of Equine Voices Rescue & Sanctu- ary and Gulliver, the horse who started it all.
“Karen’s heart immediately connected with young Gulliver and she made arrangements to rescue him. Even though they had not yet met, Gulliver touched her so profoundly she knew she’d found her life’s purpose.”
these foals and their mommas, who are forced to live a nightmare, while at the same time try to raise awareness of this practice. She would devote herself to fi nding ways to not only raise awareness but also to educate about alternatives to the drugs produced with pregnant mare urine. T e cancer risks and other dangers of these drugs to the women who use them have been known since the 1940s. Karen won- dered if the women
prescribed these drugs knew not only of the potential dangers to themselves, but what the horses endured to produce them. Karen’s inner being wrestled with the idea of such a huge but
necessary commitment. She sat with Gulliver and discussed with him the reality of saving more of his friends. Karen had spent years in the corporate world and knew of risk-taking, the disappointment of failures and the exhilaration of success. She set out for success. She incorporated Equine Voices in 2004 and became a non-profi t 501 c-3 in February 2005, with a dedicated focus on PMU foals and mares. Since Gulliver found Karen and raised his plea for help, Equine Voices has helped rescue over 400 mares, foals and other horses. While their central mission is to rescue PMU mares and foals, Equine Voices is there to help any horse in desperate need. During the height of the PMU experiment there were reported to
be 450 PMU farms in the US and Canada, each with as many as 1,000 horses. So you can imagine how many foals were born each year just to go unnoticed, unwanted and discarded. Many were, and are, shipped overseas for slaughter for human consumption. T ese darling babies were born just to die, to produce a product that is potentially harmful to the millions of women who use it daily. T ere is suff ering on both ends. T e suff ering of the women who may not realize the negative side eff ects of Premarin, including breast and ovarian cancer, blood
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Rescued mares enjoy their new life at Equine Voices.
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