Hospitality in Horse Haven for Horses and the Occasional Human

Photo credits: Lorcan Otway and the archival photo of Rosemary Farm Barn, Delaware County Historical Association

SOUTH KORTRIGHT — Let's face it, folks, there are few places on Earth as strikingly beautiful as the Catskill region. Yet still, one minor turn from a lovely main road such as Route 10 in South Kortright, leads one down into a gorge which would not be out of place in the Scottish Highlands. You find yourself gazing out at timeless beauty. 

I love the "mud season", as the lovely white hardships of the mountain winters melt into cascading streams, a promise of grass to sprout, and subtle colors begin to paint the countryside. Our red and rich brown mud can be washed off our cars, but the delight of the rebirth of spring is a permanent joy to the heart. 

Rosemary Farm Sanctuary is four hundred acres of horse heaven. Rosemary Farm was founded in the 1860s by a Highland Scot family named Rose. As the farm's Founder & Executive Director, Dawn Robyn Petrlik begins to tell me the history of the Rose family. The sanctuary's Percheron draft horse begins to get a tad aggressive in his interest in the farm's sole pig. Beatrice, the pig is enjoying her first day out in the next corral for the season. "Effie, I see you! Leave Beatrice alone!" 

Dawn explains that Effie the Percheron has not seen the pig in this environment, though they know each other, and she is not sure what the horse will make of this. Dottie, the farm's only donkey, has been standing back watching with interest as Effie returns again and again to bend her head down to examine Beatrice the pig.  Dottie  keeps trotting over to view her best friend. Effie, who is beginning to become more excited, so Dawn hops over the fence and guides Effie and Dottie back into the barn and slides the door shut. 

There are one hundred and six equines, mostly horses on the four hundred acres and Dawn knows the personality and the social networks among them, and manages to keep them happily in their own space, free to enjoy the company of other horses and the occasional human, without conflict. As she moves between horses and groups of horses, it is clear they want her attention and acknowledge her leadership, as she acknowledges their leaders in the horse peer groups. 

To return to the history of the land on which the sanctuary exists. When the Rose family first came to South Kortright, in the 1860s, they started with a small family barn. Stepping inside the barn from the 1880s, one can still see the original barn's roof line as one looks up into the barn's vestibule. In the 1880s, Dawn tells me, "Hugh Rose was tired of his father in law telling him he was 'a bad farmer.' so he decided to build the Taj Mahal of barns. the biggest anyone had seen, and yellow was the most expensive paint. it... represented gold." Built on a hill, from the side the barn is five stories tall. Today, Robert and Dawn live in the old Rose house, and are restoring it. They are replacing rotted floors and rebuilding the coppola on the magnificent barn, still painted yellow. 

At the bottom of the valley is Rose's Brook, a primary source of water for the herd, though there are a number of wells on the sanctuary's grounds also. At this time of year a stretch of pasture near the brook is fenced off, to allow the soft ground to dry and firm up at the spring melting, and allow the grass to become set for the summer grazing. 

Their mission is to provide a home for horses in need, who have no other options, where the equines are respected and free. The horses, donkeys and mules decide on important aspects of their own lives. Some horses enjoy being ridden, comfortable with the interaction with a human. But, if a horse tenses and bristles at the sight of tack, Dawn knows that being ridden was not a happy part of that horse's past. It will not be a part of the horse's future. This is not a riding stable, it is a place where horses can be horses. 

"Every horse here has a story", Dawn says. "We have a ten year club and a fifteen year club and we've only been here seventeen years!"

There are a number of ways resident equines come to the sanctuary. Madeline, the miniature donkey had run away from home. She was being spotted by local people and visitors running along the trails near Pine Hill. It being the 21st Century, people were taking selfies with her and leaving it at that. Rosemary Farm investigated and found she had been purchased at auction. For her own reasons,  Madeline  decided she'd rather live in a trail shelter. There was not talk online of looking for her and taking her home, but rather talk about sending her to donkey heaven rather than a horse haven. So, the sanctuary organized a trek to find her and offer her a better place to live than the trails could provide. After her rescue, the owners asked for her back, and were offered a check instead. All parties, equine and human, are now happy as can be.

There is a lot of work to maintain this many horses on this much land, Dawn seldom can get away for an overnight trip, "and I even have to plan a trip to the grocery store." But it is work that she and her devoted group love. The group is made up of both volunteers and staff. Staff are vital, as there are times when they need to be counted upon to be there in the difficult times as much as the best of times. It is a job to be there for the horses and the land in the dead of winter.

The care of herds of horses is not simply to have a place for them to live unattended. There are professionals who come and clip and care for their hooves, vets, and nearby veterinary hospitals. All this takes funding, and in order to get funding, it takes more than a well run organization. It takes verifiable results. Charity Navigator, which rates charities for potential gift givers, gives the Rosemary Farm Sanctuary four out of four stars, the highest rating for approval of charitable giving.  So, if you love horses, mules, donkeys and the occasional pig, you can be sure that your contributions to Rosemary Farm Sanctuary will go to an institution which provides care driven by the horses comfort and emotional needs. It is a place you can come and be surrounded by spectacular views of natural landscape and horses galore. There is a guest house to book a stay, with views of horses from every one of the large windows.

Dawn is taking the long term view of the work of Rosemary Farm Sanctuary. The plan is to keep building up the not for profit, so that in these days of independent farms being divided up for summer homes or other uses, she can reclaim as much of the original farm to be preserved as a home for horses in need of a place of their own. A place where people may come and learn about the importance, the value and pleasure of being humane humans helping horses. 

Dawn and Moonshaddow, a mustang, born wild and saved from a kill pen inTX

Looking from the 1860s barn into the 1880s expansion

Madeline, the miniature donkey