Meet Joann Kelly

Today we’d like to introduce you to Joann Kelly. Them and their team share their story with us below:

Our story begins with Hasty, an off-the-track thoroughbred who was manhandled and beaten. He began rearing up out of fear and was thus labeled a “killer horse.” His owners then began looking for a vet to put him down, but many refused. When his barn owner found out they were going to sell him at an auction with kill buyers, they contacted a horse rescue in Florida. His journey from Ohio to Florida then began. When he was safely at the rescue in Florida, he met Kaitlyn. Their bond grew stronger every day. Joann, Kaitlyn, Kylie, and Kendyl volunteered at this rescue for almost a decade. Eventually, the time came for them to move to South Carolina and Kaitlyn was devastated that she may never see Hasty again. To her surprise, the owners of the horse rescue gifted Hasty to Kaitlyn and he made the move to South Carolina with her. Hasty was the inspiration behind starting our own horse rescue – Hasty’s Haven.

Hasty’s Haven is a family-run rescue. Joann and her daughters Kaitlyn, Kylie, and Kendyl are the backbones of Hasty’s Haven. They have found some amazing people to volunteer alongside them and help keep the rescue running smoothly. Surround yourself with the right people and anything is possible. This is evident in what we have been able to accomplish here with our amazing team of volunteers. Our rescue wouldn’t be where it is today if it wasn’t for these people working hard day and night to care for the equine here.

In the time we have been running, over 200 lives have been saved. Horses, donkeys, mini horses, ponies, even goats and dogs have come through our gates to start the road to recovery. In our care, they learn trust and compassion again. Two things that they have often forgotten due to years of abuse and neglect. They will never have to know hunger or thirst again. The majority of the equine who come to the rescue are adopted out while others find sanctuary with us. Those who we decide to sanctuary often are in their older years or have special needs due to the abuse they suffered. For these animals, we feel they are better off with us where we can be sure their needs will be met.

There have been many lessons learned since we started this journey and one of the biggest ones is that rescue isn’t easy. Seeing how broken these beautiful animals are when they get to us is heartbreaking. Despite our best efforts sometimes it just isn’t enough. That is when rescue is the hardest. When you know humanity failed them. It’s during those hard times we have to remind ourselves that we have done the best we can and that there are others who need us. We will continue to do everything in our power to save as many lives as we can.

We have been lucky enough to work with Robert Blackburn and his non-profit Operation Fallen Feather recently and are excited to see what we can do together. Operation Fallen Feather aims to give back to active/retired military, first responders, and their families through equine therapy. Several of our rescues now reside at Eagle Eye Farms where they will be involved in programs at Operation Fallen Feather to help create special bonds with those who serve(d) our country.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
There is rarely a smooth road in rescue, but when faced with difficulty, we push forward and problem-solve to the best of our ability. Raising funds through donations isn’t always easy and there have been times we have covered costs for the rescue out of pocket. Equines are not cheap animals to properly care for and when rescue funds are low, we do what is right for the animals even at our own expense.

As we have expanded to care for more animals at a time, we have had to deal with problems with space. Space is one of our largest limiting factors to how many equines we can care for at one time. While adopting animals out as fast as possible may seem like a quick fix, this would not allow us the time to make sure they find the right homes. So although quick adoptions would help with space, it wouldn’t allow for us to keep up our rigorous adoption qualifications. It’s challenges like these where sometimes you can’t compromise. We refuse to become neglectful in our adoption process, thus we face challenges due to our limited space. We have also dealt with running out of barn space for the equine. To combat that, we had additional shelters built.

Not all rescues come through as owner surrenders, some are legally seized from extremely neglectful and abusive owners. We had a case where we took in two horses from 30 that had been seized by Spartanburg County. Cases like this are extremely challenging because if for some reason they aren’t found guilty, they would have the legal right to take their horses back after covering the cost for their care here. Luckily for us, the man responsible was found guilty and we can continue forward and find the best new homes for the two we rescued from that starvation case.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.hastyshaven.org
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/hastys.haven?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Hastyshaven

Image Credits
Lezah Hanna
Joann Kelly
Brian Kelly