The mane event: Horseshoes & Heels Gala and Silent Auction helps rescued horses

The Tamaya Horse Rehab nonprofit helps unwanted equines and gives each one hope by turning them into well-rounded horses.

The nonprofit survives through donations, fundraising events and horseback trail rides it offers on Santa Ana Pueblo where most of the horses reside at The Stables at Tamaya, which is in partnership with Hyatt Regency Tamaya.

The rescue program will hold its Horseshoes & Heels Gala and Silent Auction from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 30, at Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort and Spa. Proceeds benefit the rescue program. The event will feature a cocktail hour, dinner, live and silent auctions, and music by Austin Van.

The mane event: Horseshoes & Heels Gala and Silent Auction helps rescued horses

“This gala is held once a year, and it always is the Saturday after Thanksgiving,” said Connie Collins, founder of Tamaya Horse Rehab. “It’s to raise money for the 108 rescue horses that we have.”

She said some of the rescued horses, as they get older, are not rideable, unfixable or are wild horses that take a lot to turn them around.

“They’re just living really good, happy lives with us, but our main thing is to take in horses that we can turn around,” Collins explained. “We get a lot of spoiled horses or horses with behavioral problems or a horse that maybe somebody got that they never worked with. And so, we get those kinds of horses and we try to change their personality.”

She said the rescue tries to figure out the horses’ issues so that they can become rideable and can take care of themselves.

“They have a purpose and they go to work for us,” Collins added. “And when you come riding at (The Stables at) Tamaya, you ride a rescue horse.”

The horses, for the most part, stay in the rescue’s care for the rest of their lives.

“We just try to keep them, give them good homes and maybe a good end of life,” Collins said. “That’s a big thing that we do is we get a lot of old horses that we take really good care of and then we try to keep them.”

She said in rare instances, a volunteer or somebody will come along and be a perfect fit as an owner of the horse.

“Sometimes we let that happen, but most of them, they just stay with us for the rest (of their life),” she explained. “They know they have a home.”

Collins said she has loved horses her entire life.

“I was always sort of a champion of the underdog,” she explained. “I was taking in horses people didn’t want long before we were a rescue, when we were just a trail riding business. I tried to fix horses that needed a job. And then one day, we decided that maybe we could do a little better job if we became a 501c3, and offered corporate incentives.”

She said many corporate groups that give back to the community come out to the Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort and Spa for meetings. She said some of the groups will come out and help with the horses and the stables.

“They build corrals, they clean stuff, they can do all kinds of things like that, and it really works well” Collins said. “We also do a rodeo that’s a team-building experience, and so that has been really a good thing for both the business (and the rescue). It’s kind of a win-win situation and people really like that. They’re going to do something that will help horses.”

Collins said many of the rescue’s volunteers are veterans or people with autism.

“The horses do amazing things for people that need to be needed,” she explained. “They’re just a reflection of the people that work with them. They give people purpose and they give them the idea that no matter how big and strong you are, you might need help.

“I think it’s a really good message to people who have been through a lot of things that they’re not supposed to talk about. It’s amazing to watch the transformation and watch people change and learn how to be patient and give them something to care about.”