Temple horse rescue farm may be forced to close its doors permanently

TEMPLE, Texas (KWTX) - Peaceful Acres, a horse rescue farm in Temple, announced it is unable to take in any more rescues at this time due to rising costs and a lack of funding.

Sherry Stewart, the owner of the farm, opened its doors in 2017, hoping to “pay it forward” by starting her own rescue center.

Since then, Stewart and a handful of loyal volunteers have rescued 90 horses and been able to adopt out 66 of them so far.

“I started out here almost two years ago, and since then I’ve adopted three horses,” Jenna Gunshinan, a volunteer and adopter, told KWTX.

“I never really thought about adopting a horse, but then I saw this beautiful girl, and Sherry rescued her and allowed me to adopt her,” another rescuer, Jennifer Marsh, said of her horse, Caramel Sundae. “And we’ve been together ever since.”

The horses at Peaceful Acres come from a variety of circumstances. Some were originally meant to be slaughtered in kill pens, while others are owner surrender horses from folks who weren’t able to care for them any longer.

For the people that have adopted them, they say Peaceful Acres has forever changed their lives.

“It has been the greatest experience of my life,” Marsh said, holding back tears.

But with these rescues often come high costs – medicines, daily upkeep, and food – and with the compounded impacts of inflation, Stewart says less people are adopting.

She can no longer afford to keep her doors open, she says, at least for the time being.

“Everything’s really expensive,” Stewart told KWTX. “We haven’t gotten rain in Texas for several years now, so the hay crops have been very minimal. And of course, the price has doubled, plus. The cost is immense.”

To get back up and running again, she’s asking Central Texans for their help.

“We always have the volunteer program, we can always use treats,” Stewart continued. “Monetary donations are actually a good thing, which our riding program kind of supports that. Anything that you can think of that could be used on a farm is anything that we can use.”

More information on how to help can be found here.

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