The Horse Protection League

I love, love, love, love this place!
I’ve been volunteering here every Saturday since mid-​February. Everyone is friendly and the horses are so sweet. It’s amazing to me that HPL has no paid staff. It’s entirely run by volunteers, so if you donate money to HPL, you can rest assured that the money goes towards caring for the horses and not overhead. The horses come from a variety of backgrounds — some are turned over by their owners, some are turned over by the state, some are purchased by HPL.
If it were not for HPL, many of these horses would not have found a home. It’s very likely they would have found themselves at the slaughterhouse, as, sadly, many, many, many horses do. Most of the horses at HPL are elderly and cannot be ridden. Many of the horses require a special diet or treatment for their health issues. So many of the horses are sweet with wonderful personalities. I’ve fallen in love with Teddy, Jackie, Mattie, Romeo, and so many others.
HPL really seems to do right by the horses. Despite being 100% operated by volunteers, HPL ensures that each horse gets proper care. Emie, in particular, is truly dedicated to HPL and personally oversees many farrier visits, vet visits, trainer visits, etc.
Volunteer days are Wednesdays and Saturdays. Volunteers are to arrive by 9am and volunteering usually concludes between noon and 2:30pm. The day begins with mucking — HPL is an equal opportunity mucker. Every one mucks regardless of their «importance», experience with horses, or tenure with HPL. After mucking is complete and when weather allows, the horses are groomed. This is everyone’s favorite part and allows the volunteers to bond with the horses. I typically volunteer on Saturdays, and I can tell you that each of the Saturday volunteers are kind, wonderful people. They patiently explain how HPL would like you to perform certain tasks.
The horses are up for adoption and are on HPL’s website:

If you’re looking for a companion horse, stop by HPL! If you love horses and want to «give back» to the community, stop by HPL on a Wednesday or Saturday! If you’re curious and want to talk to someone about HPL, stop by HPL on a Wednesday or Saturday! If you can’t volunteer your time, consider making a monetary donation. The more funds available, the more horses this wonderful organization is able to rescue! :)

This is one of the greatest organizations, and groups of people I have ever encountered in my entire life.
The operate entirely on donations, fund raisers, and the kind help of volunteers. Sometimes I wonder how they get it done, but they always seem to find a way. They feed, house, clothe, care for, and protect a number of horse that might otherwise be forgotten by society. They have one horse there that is over 42 years old!
These are all sweet, precious animals cared for by sweet, precious, caring people. There’d be a lot fewer worries in the world if more people had hearts like the folks down at the Horse Protection League. Come on by sometime, (Wednesdays and Saturdays for volunteers), I’d love to meet you!

As a regular volunteer feeder I’m obviously a bit biased, but as someone who takes horse rescue and rehab very seriously I still think I can give an honest review. HPL looks admittedly shabby from the road, and wandering around the property you may see some things that don’t make you 100% comfortable (eg barbed wire, a pile of old lumber right in the middle of everything). Get the tour, however, and you’ll realize that these people are doing it right in spite of a few City of Arvada-​related setbacks: That pile of lumber is a «historic building» that cannot be moved, and the barbed wire mess surrounds the hayfield, no horses turned out there. The big pasture has some sections of barbed wire but they’re working to have it replaced (changes are slow with non-​profits on historic properties, there’s an astounding amount of red tape). The rescue horses are primarily turned out in the electro-​braid section, the boarders sometimes use the big pasture knowing the risks.
All the t-​posts are capped, the pens are safely fenced in spite of the hodge-​podge of materials (some are still wood fencing, some are newer panels, and some gates are the original iron contraptions from when this was a dairy). For an organization that runs entirely on donations and volunteers, they do 100% right by the horses. They work with a horse nutritionist to create the perfect feeding plan for each individual horse and they rehab starved horses properly. The farrier is patient and really talented, and they even have acupuncturists, chiropractors, and masseuses for the horses!
They need to take more first-​day photos for comparison, because I’ve seen horses arrive that looked like death. The starved mustang babies with bald patches who were too weak to run away from people, the Arabs that hadn’t been fed in months, the filly rescued from a kill pen with strangles because the rescued mule wouldn’t load without her… it makes you really start to hate people. And then you see these horses a few months later: The mustangs playful, curious, and fat; the Arabs shiny and sound, in training for their new carriers; the «filly» turning out to be 5 years old, grown nearly a foot now that she’s healthy and being fed properly, also in training for her new home.
HPL is relatively young and has a few kinks, but they are actively working to find flaws in their system and solve them and for that I give them tons of kudos. If you want to volunteer somewhere that truly needs and values anything you have to give, and that lives up to its mission statement, check out HPL on a Wednesday or Saturday morning!