OVERVIEW

Eagle Hill Farm Equine Rescue is one of the largest horse rescues in Virginia, and one of the newest.  We regularly have over 80 horses available for immediate adoption. However, we do receive a number of horses that arrive underweight or in need of special handling. These may be "reserved" until they are full of energy and ready for their"forever" homes. Most are weanlings  and yearlings, as well as a few young mares rescued from PMU farms and at auctions frequented by "Kill Buyers".  We are a full care facility situated on 40 rolling acres just inside Culpeper County, west of Fredericksburg, and 11 miles from I-95.

We are currently working toward our 501c3 non-profit status

MISSION STATEMENT

Our mission is to provide a safe loving environment for rescued newborn, weanlings and yearlings that would otherwise fall into the hands of killbuyers. We nourish and nurture these young horses and help find them loving "forever" homes. We require a detailed adoption application, which is permanently assigned to one of our volunteers for periodic review. We require updated photos of all those horses placed to insure proper care and a safe environment.

Ann Delp
Eagle Hill Farm Equine Rescue

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

The PMU industry exists to provide hormone replacement therapy (HRT) manufactured for postmenopausal women. Millions of women around the world take replacement hormones to offset the symptoms of menopause. This medication is most often derived from the urine of pregnant mares who spend roughly five months of the year in stalls as small as three and a half feet wide and are attached to collection bags to collect their valuable urine. Thus, PREgnant MAre uRINe becomes Premarin, the medication, and an innocent foal is the byproduct. Only recently it has been learned that there are negative side effects to taking this drug resulting in a significant decline in women choosing this form of HRT.

WHY ARE THE RESCUE NUMBERS SO HIGH?

Because Premarin HRT has lost ground to safer alternatives, roughly 30% of the PMU horse farms which previously provided the mare’s urine to the pharmaceutical manufacturer have lost their contracts. This percentage is expected to increase and, as a result, the number of PMU mares and their unborn foals available for adoption will continue to grow. The most common alternative to adoption is the slaughter house.

Early 2004 found rescue organizations looking for homes for these impregnated mares that had “lost their jobs” as well as the foals who were weaning late in the fall. To date, the inventory of PMU mares has been reduced from 60,000 to about 40,000.

Because of their young age, the foals are essentially an economic burden as they are too young to breed and participate in the manufacture of HRT.  Unless rescued, it is not unusual for them to meet a fate in a slaughterhouse.  The horsemeat (or foal meat, depending on how you choose to look at it) is then shipped to European and Asian markets where it is considered a culinary delicacy.  The number of foals slaughtered for this purpose has not been accurately pinpointed, but is believed to be in excess of 20,000 annually.

For more information on how you can get involved, please call 540-399-1983 or email us at one of these two email addresses:   eaglehillfarm@att.net or info@eaglehillfarm.com.  Please check our website regularly which will allow you to preview horses and foals available for immediate sponsorship and adoption. Eagle Hill Farm is located on the Rapidan River on Route 610 and is roughly 11 miles west of I-95 Route 3 West Exit.