About Fleet of Angels
Fleet of Angels was founded in 2012 with the launch of a web site that included a small data base of horse trailer owners who wanted to help get at-risk equines transported from danger to safety for the least cost possible. A Facebook page was soon added to help equine rescuers network with trailer owners. Tax-exempt, nonprofit status was officially granted in January of 2015.
Since those early days, Fleet of Angels has grown and expanded our services tremendously. After financial priorities changed for other organizations that rescue directors and horse owners once counted on for emergency funds when times were tough, Fleet of Angels stepped up to fill that need to as great a degree as possible. Fleet of Angels now offers grants and micro-grants for emergency horse hay, veterinary supplies, emergency transportation, and other major emergencies to hundreds of recipients a year. On the services side of Fleet of Angels' operations is a network of thousands of trailer owners, lay-over facilities, quarantine facilities, and other service providers who are on full-time stand-by to help when there's an equine-related emergency in their area. Fleet of Angels provides emergency grant funds that help owners of over 5000 horses each year and provide on-the-ground services and transportation for hundreds more.
In 2017 Fleet of Angels was honored to be the first recipient of the ASPCA Equine Welfare Award in after taking custody of 907 wild, starving, and neglected horses that had been seized by authorities, and then set two records (most horses rescued in one event, and most horses adopted to approved homes in a year) in the process of rehabilitating them and finding them safe new homes, going in groups of two or more, so no horse had to go to its new home without its bonded companion. The effort gained national attention that grew as the project proved over the months - and years, to be a great success. The horses saved during that massive mission are now famously known as 'The 907 Hallelujah Horses'.
Our Founder
Elaine Nash
Founder
Executive Director
Elaine Nash grew up on a ranch in New Mexico, with horses as best friends in an otherwise isolated world. By age 12 she was training horses for neighboring ranchers, and after high school she operated her own training facility while in college. After graduating from college with a degree in Education and Communications, she moved to Nashville, TN, where she built an award-winning business in celebrity promotion, image development, and career management for entertainers, and she was a feature columnist for a leading Nashville entertainment industry magazine. She created 'Go West', the first art gallery in the south to feature western and southwestern art, and was frequently featured on Nashville'stelevision programs as an interior design advisor in all things 'western'. Elaine is a published author of many interviews, articles, stories, and jokes. Throughout her life, she has owned and had a passion for horses. After leaving Nashville to raise her family in the west, she opened a spacious equestrian facility in Colorado where she, trained- using natural horsemanship skills, showed, and cared for many horses including her own two national champion Andalusians, several rescued horses, and numerous family show horses and trail riding horses. She also became a certified equine appraiser and served as an expert witness in equine-related court cases. Now a dedicated advocate for at-risk equines, she devotes her time and resources to directing Fleet of Angels, as well as working to develop other needed systems and processes to help save and protect at-risk equines. “I’m just doing for them now, what horses have always done for me. Having horses saved my life.” says Nash.
Our Board
Letitia Glenn
Letitia Glenn grew up in the northeast, but spent most of her adult life in Colorado with her late husband, Art. Letitia and Art were co-founders of Natural Horseman Saddles, now known as Contour Saddles. As president of the company, Letitia has been researching saddle fit and designing saddles to facilitate the horse in motion since 2001. She has been invited to share her research with the veterinary profession and with top riders in every discipline. Letitia has a BFA from the University of Denver and served as an advertising agency art director, facilitating marketing programs for numerous agency clients. She later worked as an independent marketing consultant before setting work in that field aside to fully immerse herself in her many interests within the western way of life and the world of horses. She and Art were co-owners of "O'Farrell Hat Company" in Durango, Colorado, the internationally famous producer of some of the finest handcrafted western hats in the world. They discovered a passion for designing and developing the most comfortable lines of saddles known in the horse industry, and the rest is history. Letitia lives in Ocala, Florida. She is an avid rider who practices natural horsemanship, and adores her beautiful horse, Flash.
Marjorie Farabee
Marjorie Farabee is one of the the country’s foremost experts on donkey behavior, health, and nutrition, even being consulted by veterinarians regarding treatment of certain donkey-specific conditions. She has also become a powerful advocate for both domestic donkeys and wild burros, and is admired and respected by animal protection cause leaders in the US and across the world.
Farabee served as the Director of Wild Burro Affairs with Wild Horse Freedom Federation for several years, and founded the Wild Burro Protection League to bring public awareness to the plight of wild donkeys through advocacy events and presentations.
In addition to her work with donkeys in Texas, Marjorie has also traveled to the states where wild burros are most at-risk, observing these critically endangered animals and working on solutions to their near-extinction because of mass removals from public lands by BLM. She has also traveled to the UK, Spain, Portugal, and Bonaire to meet with veterinarians, trainers and scientists who specialize in these animals and their unique health and emotional needs – and the dangers they face around the world.
Laura Hauenstein
Jon Ziarnik, PhD.
Emeritus
Jon Ziarnik spent his early years in Madison, Wisconsin, and by high school was living in Stockton, California. He went to college at the University of Oregon, majoring in Psychology, and then received his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at University of Nevada in Reno. Rather than plying his trade by providing individuals with psychological advice, he developed a highly successful niche for himself as what he termed a 'corporate psychiatrist'. He doesn't treat people. Whole corporations are his patients. When a company has a serious internal conflict to resolve, they call Jon to sort out the issues. When a corporation wants to hire just the right upper level executive who'll be the perfect fit with the rest of the administration and board, they call Jon to help review each candidate to determine who's right for the job. Decades of experience in working with some of the brightest, most competitive and goal-oriented leaders in the corporate world has made Jon a marvelous asset to Fleet of Angels, making himself available to consult on the internal workings of our organization any time needed. Jon is living the good life on beautiful Cudjoe Key, FL with his dogs. He is an avid student of gastronomy, frequently enjoying his favorite pastime of creating exotic new recipes and testing them on his friends.
BUT WAIT - THERE'S MORE! . . .
AMERICA'S AT-RISK EQUINES NEED HELP.
FLEET OF ANGELS DELIVERS.
Fleet of Angels is a grass roots not for profit organization that was originally created to get more at-risk equines rescued and adopted by making transporting them more affordable. Now, Thousands of trailer owners, over 2300 layover hosts, over 500 quarantine providers, and hundreds of other service providers have joined our network. As a result, FOA has been able to help thousands of at-risk equines. Fleet of Angels has expanded its services to include providing emergency grants for 5000 +/- horses a year in response to natural disasters and other critical situations that put equine at serious risk. We are also frequently asked to take on the management of large equine crises occurring across the country to insure that at-risk horses get the help and safe haven they need.
Anyone who wants to join FOA can easily SIGN UP by registering with us as a transporter or provider of one of our other services for your area.
2024! Our 13th year of helping people help horses
FOA's angels have assisted with thousands of life saving missions for at-risk equines
... and we're just getting started!
FOA offers emergency grants for horses in crisis, but we also offer on-the-ground assistance for hundreds of horses a year. FOA's registered members offer a variety of lifesaving services for at-risk horses, mules, and donkeys- both wild and domestic, by helping providing transportation that saves them from abuse, abandonment, starvation, or the cruelties of slaughter. We help get newly adopted horses to their new homes.
For horses making long journeys to safe homes, some of our members offer layover accommodations. And, in some cases, FOA members can even provide overnight sleeping quarters for tired drivers who are transporting their equine passengers for long distances.
An army of trailer-owning members are on stand-by to provide transportation for the evacuation of equines from floods, fires, and other natural disasters.
FOA Extended Teams participate with authorities and horse owners by organizing post-disaster equine search and rescue missions, coordinating foster care placement, doing equine fencing and facility repair, coordinating hay drive efforts, and offering other services as needed to save, protect, and care for at-risk equines.
Working through Fleet of Angels is an awesome way to be a good neighbor when you're needed!
Are you ready to help when horses near you are in trouble?
Register with FOA today.
Traveling is tiring. Can you offer an
at-risk or adopted horse a rest stop on its way home?
Register with FOA today.
*WHAT DO WE CONSIDER AN
'AT-RISK EQUINE'?
An at-risk equine is a horse, pony, mule, or donkey- wild or domestic, that is at risk of losing its life as a victim of abuse or neglect, slaughter, or is in danger due to a natural disaster.
Fleet of Angels is known for helping rescued equines get home, but our Angels are also happy to assist with transporting equines after adoption or purchase from a valid equine rescue or a BLM adoption facility. When an equine is adopted from a rescue, two are actually saved- the one being adopted, and the one who can take its place at the rescue.
Fleet of Angels strongly encourages rescuing or adopting horses that are in your area rather than purchasing kill buyer, feed lot, or auction horses that are a great distance from you.