Article December 16, 2002 Issue

A HEALTHY HABITAT FOR HORSES

S.C.

Ten years ago, Jerry Finch left his successful sales job in Houston and bought a 50-acre ranch in the small town of Santa Fe, 30 miles to the south. That was enough land for the 30 horses he had rescued from abuse or had taken off the hands of owners whose changed circumstances had forced them to give up their equine friends.

Five years later, when he could no longer pay for the upkeep of the horses from his own pocket, Finch formed Habitat for Horses, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation. He began to solicit donations to support the horses, both those for whom he provides permanent sanctuary and those he adopts out to new "parents." He dislikes the term "owner" because it implies that animals are unfeeling objects to be possessed and used—or misused.

Finch is far from the strident animal-rights activist stereotype portrayed in the media. He believes their brand of militancy, which sometimes employs violent tactics, harms the vital mission: to restore dignity and basic rights to horses who have been treated inhumanely.

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