Throwaway Ponies is a healing place for horses that have been neglected or mistreated. It's for women and children who are victims, too.
Karen Bander and her family started helping horses on their 12-acre place east of Rockwall about nine years ago. Now she works with rescue groups and mental health and domestic violence counselors throughout northeast Texas.

Bander says horses have a lot to offer people.

"I raised two kids without horses and one kid with a horse," she said. "I wouldn't raise another one without a horse."

Many of the horses Bander makes a home for, like a 10-year-old gelding named Lynx, arrive in bad shape and need a lot of attention, including expensive veterinary care.

Lynx had foundered so badly he could hardly stand. Foundering is caused by a bad diet and shows up as softening hooves that can cripple a horse. He lay on the ground so much that he had pressure sores on his chest and legs.

He came to Throwaway Ponies in August, and his survival wasn't certain. Now he is doing much better.

Like most rescue operations, Throwaway Ponies relies heavily on donations. Help can range from $50 for an annual vet exam to actual or virtual adoptions. In the virtual variety, the horse stays with its friends at Throwaway Ponies.

The needs of rescue horses invite care from people with their own problems. In extending that care, women who have been victims of domestic abuse and children who have suffered at the hands of adults often come to a new understanding of their own needs.

Georgia Beard of Boles Children's Home in Quinlan, a faith-based nonprofit residential facility for children from 5 to 18, said her charges had a wonderful experience with Banders' horses last summer.

In a program overseen by a doctoral student at Texas A&M University-Commerce, the kids helped with the horses. Equine therapy is less about riding horses than taking care of them.

"It was a really good opportunity for our kids to work with animals that need nurturing just like they do," Beard said. "It was therapeutic and nurturing for them, too."

One of the things the Boles School kids work on is connecting, Beard said. They were told the horses' stories and the kids connected with the animals.

"That's a big bridge," Beard said.

In some cases, the need is different, but the rescue horses Bander selects for lessons and therapy seem to read people and sense what's needed.

Bonnie Hoffman lives near the Banders. Her 3-year-old son Grant has developmental challenges. She and her family were looking for a place in the country after a neurologist told them Grant might benefit from equine therapy.

It was a coincidence that the place they chose was so near Throwaway Ponies.

"It's a God thing," she said.

Grant rides often, with Mom and Bander walking along on either side. A few days ago, Grant rode a little paint named Jewel. When a young rider shifts weight on her back, Jewel stops so he won't fall off. That's what Bander means when she says horses are sensitive.

"Horses are forgiving, too," said Donna Orr, a Rockwall County neighbor who keeps horses and volunteers as a cruelty investigator for Habitat for Horses. "They trust humans."

Orr helped investigate the Fannin County case that resulted in the rescue of Lynx and several other horses. Among other things, the owner fed the horses deer corn, Orr said, and that caused the foundering.

Problems often arise because people who own horses don't know how to care for them properly.

"Fifty percent of the time the problem is a lack of knowledge, not cruelty," Orr said.