(New Orleans, LA) – Nike, Corona, Champagne, and Cheerio along with 12 other former parade horses have been adopted to new homes! Each year, Cascade Stables, to meet the demand for horses during Carnival season, purchase more than a dozen horses from a local horse broker and, in turn, lease them to krewes. In years past, if the horses were not adopted, they were auctioned off at sale barns and some, most likely, were sold for slaughter. To ensure that no further parade horses met that same fate, the Humane Society of Louisiana formed the Mardi Gras Parade Horse Adoption Program three years ago, which has proven to be very successful. During the past two years, volunteer adoption counselors found homes for 32 horses and this year, with the help of Cascade Stables and Barney’s Farm Sanctuary, located in Washington Parish, the counselors adopted 20 horses, a new record! four of the horses will remain at Cascade Stables to be used in its riding program and 16 others went to wonderful homes. The total number of horses adopted through this program over the course of the past three years is 52.

Allison Lee, co-founder of Barney’s Farm Sanctuary, Brian Henderson, an Assistant Vice President for a banking concern, and Rachel Ruth, a volunteer photographer, formed the nucleus of HSL’s volunteer adoption program. They photographed each horse, wrote its bio, and posted the information on the Humane Society of Louisiana’s Facebook page called “Mardi Gras Horses Available for Adoption.” They also read and screened each adoption application and completed the final transactions – all squeezed between their home lives, jobs and enjoying the parades themselves.

Brian Henderson adopted two horses last year and became an integral part of this year’s adoption team. Brian sums up his experience, “For those of us that choose to donate our time to animal rescue, there are few greater rewards than seeing the face of these horses with their new owners. I am so grateful to have the opportunity to help adopters through the application process and deliver some of these horses to their new homes.  The moment the horses arrive, you can instantly feel the peace that comes over them. The adoption program provides these horses with the opportunity to overcome their past with an incredible future ahead of them.”

“We are pleased that so many people around our state and country rallied to provide great homes for these majestic horses – and they deserve no less. We heard from folks from dozens of states, all cheering for the horses in their online comments and hoping that they’d be adopted. Thousands of folks from around the country were following the story of these horses and all seemed relieved, as are we, that all 20 horses were rehomed. It’s the perfect way to end another successful Carnival Season,” says Jeff Dorson, HSL Director.