Kansas Equine Rescue Celebrates the Joy with Christmas at the Stables

Stalls glistening once again. Candy canes and silver lanes that glow. It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas in Junction Ciity, Kansas at the Rainbow Meadows Equine Rescue for Christmas at the Stables.

Karen Everhart, executive director and founder of Rainbow Meadows, says the organization helps rescue, rehabilitate and rehome horses. 

“What we want people to become aware of, more than anything, is that there are horses within our community that need a safe place to land and Rainbow Meadows provides that safe refuge,” says Everhart. 

Christmas at the Stables isn’t just festive for those who visit. It’s now an experience all can enjoy, which includes the horses. 

“And we thought how nice would it be, even though our horses generally do not come in at night, to bring our horses in one night a week for four weeks, allow them a special treat of alfalfa hay that makes them happy, and give our community an opportunity to walk through and see our horses and learn a little bit more about us,” says Everhart. 

In its third year, visitors have the chance to see more than 40 horses this year as the event has exploded in popularity. 

“We anticipated maybe on a good night, we might have 100 people come through here. And last week we had 600 people through here. We really are amazed,” says Everhart. 

The interest and growth may be because the mission at Rainbow Meadows extends beyond the holidays. 

“Rainbow Meadows is essentially a passion driven organization,” she says. “We operate typically somewhere between 45 and 50 horses on any given day.”

What’s now a 501c3, Everhart says started in the summer of 2005, right after she retired from the healthcare industry. She already had 10 horses of her own, with no plans for more. 

“By the fall I had 20 horses and went, ‘Wait a minute, I cannot live on retirement income and take care of double the number of equines,’” she says. “So in September of 2005, we incorporated as a nonprofit 501c3.”

In its 19th year of operations, Everhart says Rainbow Meadows helps horses in three areas. 

“The first is those that come in as direct intakes. And we probably bring 40 to 50 horses in each year,” says Everhart. “We also are involved in helping horses a little more indirectly. So, if there are large seizures of horses, they may not physically ever come here, just due to capacity, but I will help provide new homes for them through what we call a placement process.”

Since 2005, Rainbow Meadows has helped and aided thousands of horses, with the ultimate goal of helping rehome the rehabbed animals through adoptions. From physical rehab, to emotional rehabilitation, the work here has turned into several miracles, which includes one special horse named Fenix. 

“Fenix was sadly one of 55 horses that had to be seized out of the southern southwest Kansas City, Kansas area. And this little filly was three years old, she was the size of a horse that was about six months old, and she was lying in mud, and she was covered in feces. I literally thought she was dead,” Everhart says. 

Evehart, along with other volunteers, rescued Fenix and then immediately began her rehabilitation. 

“Within 30 days, she didn't even look like the same horse, she actually looked normal. Within 60 days, she was completely rehabilitated,” she says. 

And today, Fenix is seven years old, and in the words of Everhart, living her best life. 

“That's not uncommon for us to be able to bring horses from near death, literally. She was probably within a day or two of dying of starvation laying in a field, to having the possibility of a long future with somebody who loves and cares about her,” she says. 

It’s those stories that make all the volunteer hours an investment that’s well worth it. 

“That's what it's about," says Everhart. "Its doing better for these animals than someone has chosen to do in the previous past,” says Everhart. 

Rainbow meadows runs almost solely volunteers, and during December, the stables are able to celebrate the joy in all of it. 

“I think a lot of people perceive then an organization like ours is somehow funded through taxes, and we're not, we're funded through, if you will, grace. And that is what the people bring to us,” says Everhart. 

Enjoy more Christmas in the Country stories here.