17667 Markita Dr. Jones, OK 73049
(405) 399-3084 or (405) 615-5267
Federal I.D. 43-2024364
Blaze’s Tribute Equine Rescue, Inc. located in Jones, Oklahoma, is a non-profit 501©3 organization that strives to improve the lives of neglected, starved, and abused horses. We provide equine rescue regardless of age or disability. We promote and teach horse care and humane, natural methods of training horses. Our primary focus is Animal Cruelty Cases. We work closely with the Oklahoma City Animal Welfare Division and the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office with their Equine related Animal Cruelty Cases. We also assist any other local/rural county sheriff’s office who requests our assistance.
Emergency Request for Assistance
Each Horse brought into our facility requires money to care for, rehabilitate and save. The Hay, Grain, Supplements, Fat Supplements, Medicines, Veterinary Care, Farrier Care, Shavings, Utilities, and everything in between. The work is never ending and the worry for funds is always there. Once the call for help comes in, there is no time to think about where the funds will come from. They just have to be there! We are here caring for the horses, 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, taking in hundreds of those who had nowhere else to go.
We have been extremely fortunate and have adopted out many wonderful horses into forever, loving homes. However, for every adoption, a new arrival comes in. We have taken in a lot of severely neglected horses in the last 3 months. This last year has been exceptionally hard on us, due to the cost of hay. Unfortunately, we have to purchase hay, year around for our horses, and the cost has not decreased yet. We pray for a hearty hay crop this year and hope that the prices will reduce as close to normal as possible. In the meantime, we desperately need your help!
Think of us if you have a little extra, and if you already have, please know that we couldn’t do this without your generosity.
If you can please help us, continue to save rescued horses, please make a donation to:
Blaze’s Tribute Equine Rescue
17667 Markita Drive
Jones, Oklahoma 73049
or you can donate on-line through paypal @
Noble & Lolita
Shelby & Duo
Spring Fling Benefit Trail Ride
Peace, Love and Carrots! We hope that you will join us at Prague lake for our Spring Fling Benefit Trail Ride. Bring your horse out for a great day of fun, friends and food. Our Trail Ride is scheduled for April 28, 2012 at Prague Lake, in Prague, Oklahoma. Check-in begins @ 9:00 am. Guided and self paced rides will begin to leave at 10:00 am. Lunch will be served at the pavilion at 12:30. Come join us for treats on the trail, door prizes, drawing, and good times with friends. All proceeds benefit Blaze’s Tribute Equine Rescue. Register early for $30 until Apr 20, 2012, $40 after Apr 20 and day of ride. Registration covers T-shirt, lunch, and trail fees! Pre-registration guarantees ride T-shirt in your size. Register online at www.blazesequinerescue.com and click on the trail ride banner! For more info please call Leslie Brown @ 405-245-7309 or Natalee Cross @ 405-399-3084.
Information about Animal Cruelty and How Blaze’s Equine Rescue works:
Animal Cruelty: We see it every day and many of us, don’t know where to turn when we see a starving horse, etc., The first thing you have to do when you see animal cruelty is contact your local County Sheriff’s Office or Animal Welfare Division and file an animal cruelty complaint. Please provide as much information to them as you can, what you saw, how long you have noticed the problem, etc., As with any complaint and investigation, they have to start building a case. Generally, they will go visit with the owner of the horses and find out what is going on. They can give the owners a time frame to comply and show that they are trying to provide proper care for their horses. They will continue to follow up with the owners to make sure they are complying. Once the owners are no longer complying, the Sheriff’s Department can file for a seizure warrant, which at that time, has to show probable cause. It is important that they have enough evidence to prove neglect in order to have a successful case. The last thing anyone wants is for the horses to be returned to the owner. I know when you are reporting animal cruelty; you are frustrated and want to see immediate results. Most of the time, law enforcement are doing what they can to get those horses assistance. Granted, there are a few counties that are not as pro-active regarding animal cruelty. It may not be that they don’t want to work the case, but lack resources to successfully handle the investigation.
So, most wonder, where do the rescues come in to play? For us, we don’t get involved until we are contacted by the County or City. Once they contact us and request our assistance, then we will start helping any way we can. For County, once the warrant is issued, we meet them at the residence and start seizing the horses. We never enter the property without permission from the sheriff’s department first. As a rescue, we are merely a 3rd party that is there to assist. Without rescues, law enforcement have nowhere to turn during these seizures. They don’t have the funds to properly house or care for horses. If law enforcement has to find the funds to care for the horses, generally once they gain ownership of the horses, they are forced to sale them at local livestock auctions, in order to recoup their funds. Once we assist with a seizure, we pull the horses, transport them back to our facility, document each horse, have our veterinarian do a full physical exam on each horse, deworm, float teeth, vaccinate, trim feet, etc., Our horses are always under veterinarian care. We follow her guidelines to properly rehabilitate each horse. We spend a lot of time and money caring for the horses in our program. We assist the law enforcement with as much documentation as we can, to prove the horses were neglected. An important thing to remember is once the horses are seized, they are evidence and you have to be careful not to jeopardize the case. We don’t release information about the case, until the Sheriff’s Department gives us permission. We don’t release pictures until the owner’s rights are forfeited.
After the horses are seized, the Sheriff’s Department files for a civil suit to be heard in court, within 10 days of the horses being seized. This is merely a civil suit to determine disposition of the animals. This is not were criminal charges are filed. Criminal charges cannot be filed until the civil suit is completed. This process is called the bond and forfeiture hearing. Both sides are heard in front of a judge. The judge will determine, based on the evidence, whether you are court ordered to forfeit your rights of ownership or place a bond. The bond is an amount, set by the Sheriff’s department which includes veterinary care, daily boarding, etc., it is usually an amount that will cover 3 months of care and must be paid within 48 hours of the hearing. The bond, merely allows the owner to maintain ownership rights of the animals, while in custody. The owner has to pay for all care during the duration of the trial. That does not guarantee the owner that he will receive the animals back.
What we provide law enforcement during a seizure:
Horses that are at OKC-AWD: Cruelty cases worked by Oklahoma City Animal Welfare Division remain there until the case is closed. Oklahoma City Animal Welfare may have those horses for at least a year.
Estrays: Horses are often found running at large in the Oklahoma City Area. It is not that they have been turned loose, it is merely a matter of they got out. Oklahoma City picks up those horses and transports them to the City Shelter. Horses stay at the Shelter for 5 days, waiting for the owner to reclaim. Owners can reclaim their horses anytime during that 5 day hold. Keep in mind, the owner has reclaim fee’s that are based on daily care to be paid, in order to get your animal back. A lot of owners do not come forward to claim their animal, merely because they don’t want to pay the fines, or they can’t afford them. After the 5 days, they are considered abandoned and become property of the City of Oklahoma City. They will attempt to adopt those horses out first to the public. After that point, we are contacted to pick up those horses. Our primary focus is to assist Oklahoma City Animal Welfare Division.
Despite what some may think, we NEVER seek out or look for horses. We ONLY assist law enforcement with animal cruelty cases. We no longer accept owner surrendered horses. We stay very busy, just with the neglect cases. We don’t generally purchase horses from the sale barns. Why? I can’t go to a sale and Pick and choose what is worthy of being rescued. I could never take one and leave the others behind. As a rescue, when you are called to assist with a case, you take them all, no matter the condition, no matter the disposition and no matter what the medical injuries or illnesses may include. Everyone operates differently! And that is fine, but at the end of the day, I need to know that I helped every horse that I can. Granted, there has been a few rare occasions that I have purchased horses from our local livestock auction, usually, someone we know called upon us to save a horse they observed while there. Our funds, donations, grants, adoption fee’s, etc., are used to rehabilitate the horses that come into our rescue. We do not have paid staff and are not government funded.
Our focus is to Rescue, Rehabilitate and Rehome. We are very proud of our adoption rate. We take a lot of time to assist our adopters in finding the right horse for their needs and family. We usually spend at least 2 hours per adopter. We show all horses at our facility and once the potential adopter expresses interest in a horse, if it is broke to ride, we will saddle the horse up and show them what the horse knows. We want the potential adopter to ride the horse before deciding, as we want both the rider and the horse to be comfortable with each other. We DO NOT send horses to the Livestock Auction, nor are our adopted horses allowed to be sold at a Livestock Auction. I ask you for the welfare of the horse, that if you ever see a horse in a Livestock Auction that you believe was once in our program, to please contact us immediately, so that we can assure that horses safety. Our horses are our number 1 priority and we invest a lot of ourselves to each horse. This is a family affair and we all give up a lot, in order to make sure every horse receives the care that they need and deserve. We made many sacrifices in our lives, in order to start and run our rescue organization. We take a lot of pride in what we do and our reputation is very important to us.
Thank you for reading the background of animal cruelty cases that we assist with. We are always available for questions. Anyone is welcome to schedule an appointment to come visit the horses in our rescue program. We are available by appointment Monday – Thursday after 5:30 pm and generally anytime Friday – Sunday by appointment. Thank you for your continued Support.
Thank you,
Natalee & Shawn Cross
Blaze’s Tribute Equine Rescue, Inc.
Jones, Oklahoma www.blazesequinerescue.com
Please take a minute to support Blazes Tribute Equine Rescue. Help us win $1,000 by trying our free GoodApp here: http://www.goodsearch.com/toolbar/blazes-tribute-equine-rescue. With our GoodApp you can earn donations for us every day when you search or shop online at no cost to you!
Blaze’s Ride to the Rescue Trainer Challenge: http://blazesevents.weebly.com/index.html
You can view a beautiful slide show about Blaze’s last 10 years here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0fox9FGcw4.
Become a Fan of Blaze’s on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/pages/Blazes-Tribute-Equine-Rescue-Inc/281046378744?ref=ts
