The American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) Foundation announced on Feb. 22 a donation of more than $26,000 to two relief efforts for horses affected by hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Both efforts are providing hay and other supplies to horses in Mississippi and Louisiana whose pastures have suffered salt water damage.

The most recent Foundation funding recipient is Sara “Sally” Warner, PhD, and her group, Horse Owners of Florida. Since September 2005, Warner and several friends have been delivering feed every two weeks from their homes in north Florida to horses in Lakeshore, Miss. The AAEP Foundation has donated $5,200 to this effort, which thus far has helped to purchase 500 bales of hay and two tons of feed.

According to Warner, “This funding will help us get the much-needed tractor trailer shipments of hay to the area, allowing us to reach more horses in a timely manner.”

Warner is currently arranging a large hay shipment, but acknowledges that as winter progresses, hay supplies might become scarce. “We may have to go as far away as Tennessee and Kentucky to get hay for the Lakeshore area. During every trip we see other areas besides Lakeshore where people who are living in tents and FEMA trailers desperately need to feed their horses. The struggle in Mississippi is not over