My Nonprofit Reviews

As a critically endangered breed steward, Equus Survival Trust has educated me on true breed preservation and helped to lead my mission down the right path, avoiding the mistakes and pitfalls other breeds have encountered. Without Equus Survival Trust, my breed of choice would certainly be a crossbred now, bred to the current market via breed "improvement". The breed would then be touted as the real deal when it in fact would have been changed forever, essentially rendering it extinct, leaving an inferior copy in it's place along with the modern horse world's damaged genetics in it's gene pool. And to think, this is an all volunteer organization where all funds go directly to the mission, not to salaries or marketing themselves. This group actually helps breeders, not itself first. And that clearly shows when you work with them. Having been an organization for just about 20 years, they are the first, the best, and completely unique in the endangered breed horse world.

The Equus Survival Trust's mission is not only honorable, it is a breath of fresh air in the confused and muddled public sense of how to save endangered equine breeds. There is misinformation out there, and wrong approaches advised, that sadly damages the effort, resulting in increased endangerment and loss of breeds. Preservation is preservation, not cross-breeding or "breeding up". Cross-breeding/breeding up is creating a new breed. EST works hard to help breed groups and individual breeders wade through the confusion, difficulties, and challenges they face on their noble attempt to save their breed du jour. EST is always professional, and fair. What also amazes me is how much is achieved by EST without any one of us getting paid or profiting in any way. True dedication. I am proud to be involved with the Equus Survival Trust.

From the moment I first laid eyes on a Newfoundland Pony some 20 years ago, I knew they were special, but little did I know that they and the mission to keep them from going extinct would become a big focus in my life, including the founding of an all volunteer charitable organization known as the Newfoundland Pony Conservancy Center. Not only do these ponies mean so very much to me, but so do the people involved with the center. Hard-working volunteers give freely of their time and effort to these magical beings, but at times I wonder just who is more magical, the ponies or the people. However, there is a phenomena I've noticed with missions like saving rare breeds, what I call the Big Fish Little Pond syndrome. It takes me mere minutes to recognize why people are involved, perhaps more about themselves than the object of the mission.

At the NPCC, knowing and always remembering why we are here and basing all efforts, all decisions on that reason, the pony, is something I take great pride in saying all of the people associated with this org do an exemplary job of. Have a look and no where will you see selfie after selfie of a particular person with any of our ponies. All of our programs are above board, safe, professional and at no time are our ponies used for anyone's personal gain.

In the promotion of the breed we don't first focus on the use of the pony, and then oh by the way they have amazing personalities and important genetics to save for the health of the entire species. We do just opposite - we focus on their minds, their temperament, their healthy genetics, and then oh by the way they can do this and that. We wish that others did as well so the pony doesn't get melded and turned into just another standard breed, altered and adapted to suit human preference or market fad.

"Not every living creature needs to serve mankind in order to have a presence on this planet."™ (Emily Aho). The volunteers at the NPCC know and value this and I am so very proud to be a part of this organization. Our efforts are unique, visionary and all are fueled by our hearts.

Our Heal the Heroes™ program is an important example of how we not only address the needs of the breed but at the same time address the needs of our community. As everyone knows, to say this year has been a tough one is to put it mildly. While 90% of our regular programs were cancelled due to the risk of the spread of Covid, our volunteers did not cancel. They remained dedicated to the ponies, and to the effort.

Heal the Heroes™ is a certified life skills program that at its inception during the beginning of the Covid crisis, was the only program of its kind out there designed to address the specific needs of health care workers, especially nurses and doctors. Being an RN and also a person who lost two loved ones to this cruel virus, I stirred up our volunteers and got the program up and running asap. On top of that, as a professionally trained and certified facilitator, I made darn sure that our Health Care workers would attend for free by donating my services and seeking grants/donations to cover the cost of care and feeding of the ponies. We succeeded, receiving a grant from the Latham Organization and a Nutrena Feed It Forward grant, as well as a donation from the Jaffrey Rindge Rotary. In June of this year I received a congressional honor by US Senator Maggie Hassan for that program, however that would never have happened without the support and effort of the entire NPCC volunteer team and the amazing Newfoundland Pony. Way to go NPCC!

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EST goes above and beyond all in the best interest of endangered equines. We’ve worked with them for a few years now, helping an endangered breed. When it was unclear whether a new direction breeders wished to take with our breed was a benefit or a danger, EST carefully researched, discussed, and evaluated this proposed action. End result - it was clearly not a good choice for handling endangered breeds and the plan was abandoned. Thinking back, had EST not volunteered to look into it, our breed would have been forced into an even worse situation and would no doubt be extinct before very long. EST does this work with NO paid employees. This means that Donations to EST do not go towards paying employees or marketing in the best interest of ESTs public image; donations are used to help the intended subject directly -Endangered Equine breeds. We are so fortunate to have EST by our side, truly and humbly helping vs giving us a song and dance that many involved in rare breeds have heard before. This group really does what they say they do and that in itself is rare in the rare equine breed world. All told, this is where we turn to for all things endangered equines.