Today’s November Giving Nomination is Arlene Atkins – submitted by D Culp

Here’s one for you. How about a person who has made a huge difference in the horse world by

  1. being an equine nutritionist and convincing Maryland farmers that old horses are not always thin;
  2. helping form a 501(c)(3) that places hundreds of cats in horse barns all over the state. Cats that would have been killed at the shelter because they are not good pets or have a life of living outdoors that makes them hard to contain. In doing this she gives cats another chance at life, with the right care and nutritional needs being met, for example, checking out nutra thrive for cats reviews to see how cats can be cared for correctly, she is then able to give them a new lease on life;
  3. By virtue of meeting all the horse people who need feed advice and placing cats in barns, she also matches people who have horses they can’t keep with people who need horses they don’t have.

Arlene knew that Diane’s mother had passed and Diane had moved her horse Chief because of losing her mom’s home/land. Chief wasn’t doing well at the new place and Diane was running out of options. Arlene also knew that my over 30 year old horse had died and I still had an over 30 year old in need of a companion. So she made a match.

She knows the type of horses that each feed customer keeps, prefers and has expertise for. Chief is HYPP het and a club foot. While he’s well trained and even still ridable, he needs attention to what he can eat, regular farriery, and exercise that adjusts for his abilities. What do you know? A perfect match. And she does this all the time.

I just happen to be the recipient of her maven connections because Chief lives here. He’s been here six years now and we have two new horses from Days End, so Chief is now our oldster at under 20!

I believe that there may be a gray area here as Arlene’s 501(c)(3) affiliation with a cat placement is odd but her direct supply of feed to almost every other 501(c)(3) horse group, from GAIT to Izzy’s to more, as a nutritionist makes up for it. Because she travels to all the horse barns, she is in a unique position to help all the 501(c)(3)s with what they need most–making matches. There are enough homes for the horses who need them, they just don’t know where the horses are. Arlene does!