Father and daughter team up to rescue horses

MEDFORD, Ore. --Kim and Jerry Kreiner want to take their horse rescue, Hopeful Hearts Horse Rescue, to the next level.

The father-daughter team are trying to buy land in the Rogue Valley that will let them operate a horse rescue shelter.

"I was the little girl that always wanted a horse," Kim said. "In one of our first rescues, a horse's adoption fell through and I got to keep him. I totally fell in love with him."

The nonprofit agency saves horses, which have been abandoned, abused or are at risk for being euthanized.

Funding is slowly coming in through grant money. She says it mostly pays for postage, gasoline (to rescue horses) and supplies the organization needs.

"We are still sending out grant proposals to as many places as we can think of on a regular basis and we've had a few trickling that helps," Kim said.

The next step buying a plot of land to run a shelter that would let them take in horses either permanently or until they are placed in a home, she said.

Hopeful Hearts Horse Rescue also sends hay to owners who need it. Recently, they donated hay to evacuation victims in Turner, Ore.

Kim says they need the community's help to raise the funds for the shelter.