Central Pa Horse Rescue: A couple's labor of love saving horses from brink of slaughter

Frank Bodani, York Daily Record
·4 min read

Marty Petratos waited at a traffic light on Route 30 a dozen years ago.

A truck pulled up next to him.

"I looked over, and this horse was looking through the slats in the livestock trailer, just looking at me. So I told the lady to wind her window down."

Within minutes he had worked out a deal in York's Tractor Supply parking lot to buy those two horses, one missing a bunch of teeth. They came from the weekly auction at the New Holland Sales Stables in Lancaster County.

He took them home to his common-law wife, Connie Greenawalt. It had been a dream brewing. Within two years, they had bought a 108-acre farm in northern York County and rescued three more horses.

This was the spark of what would eventually become the Central Pa Horse Rescue a few miles from Lewisberry, their mid-life overhaul that's now a seven-days-a-week duty.

Marty Petratos smiles while standing outside the enclosed round pen at Central Pa. Horse Rescue, near Lewisberry, in February 2022. Petratos built the pen by hand and the rescue uses it as an indoor training facility for the horses.
Marty Petratos smiles while standing outside the enclosed round pen at Central Pa. Horse Rescue, near Lewisberry, in February 2022. Petratos built the pen by hand and the rescue uses it as an indoor training facility for the horses.

An expensive labor of love: Most horses never leave the rescue

Greenawalt said she uses more than $125,000 of her own money, annually, to keep it all running. Donations, unfortunately, register only a few thousand dollars a year − barely enough to feed one horse, no less pay for its medications and crucial dental and foot upkeep.

They care for 25 to 30 horses at any one time, with the goal of adopting out as many as possible to make room for others. It often doesn't work that way, though. Most horses come and never leave, she said, because of their physical and personality issues, often resulting from previous neglect or abuse.

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Their largest, an 1,800-pound draft named "Big John," stayed for five years. He was mostly skin, bones and sores when he arrived, broken down from years of farm work. He could barely stand and was a top candidate to be shipped for slaughter when they purchased him from a horse dealer.

Big John steadily recovered, though, under their care: regular farrier work, a few hundred dollars of medicines each month and daily helpings of oats and hay. He was able to walk again. He quickly grew into the favorite of volunteers and visitors, the gentlest of giants.

He died peacefully last summer.

Farrier Drew Myers (left) and his band of helpers prepare before providing hoof care for Big John, a draft horse. Marty Petratos custom built the stockade to accommodate a horse as large as Big John. Big John lived out his final five years at the rescue before dying late last summer.
Farrier Drew Myers (left) and his band of helpers prepare before providing hoof care for Big John, a draft horse. Marty Petratos custom built the stockade to accommodate a horse as large as Big John. Big John lived out his final five years at the rescue before dying late last summer.

"We thought we had to give him a chance. He had been punished his whole life," Greenawalt said. "We gave him a chance, and he gave a lot of love."

Their current roster includes a yearling plucked from a "kill pen" in Texas and a 20-something who was abandoned in a winter farm field in northeastern Pennsylvania. Mostly, their horses are resilient, forgiving, joy-givers despite their issues: asthma and arthritis, neurological disease, eating disorders and post-traumatic stress.

Greenawalt estimates that 100 of the approximate 150 they've "saved" over the past six years have come from livestock auctions − a common entrance, particularly in Pennsylvania, into the horse slaughter pipeline.

Connie Greenawalt and Angela Higinbotham pose for a photo with a dolled-up Big John at Central Pa. Horse Rescue. The 1,800-pound draft horse died last summer.
Connie Greenawalt and Angela Higinbotham pose for a photo with a dolled-up Big John at Central Pa. Horse Rescue. The 1,800-pound draft horse died last summer.

Her calling, it seems, was learned while growing up: Her father would buy a horse at a time from the New Holland auction to train and rehab. He'd eventually find them new homes.

"They’re beautiful creatures, same as a child," Greenawalt said. "Would you care where a child ends up if they’re getting abused? Of course. Someone's got to be (a horse's) voice ..."

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Rescuers like them can't truly keep up with the demand for care − saying they receive multiple calls each day to take in horses in some form of need. Funding always is an issue, starting with how they go through at least $300 in grain and hay every day of the year. Greenawalt and Petratos offset some expenses by selling a homemade fly spray, offering a horse burial service and holding 5K runs each spring.

Dedicated volunteers care for dozens of horses

They somehow make it all work with the help of a small cadre of volunteers. That includes Alabama-transplant Angela Higinbotham, who begins feeding and watering at 6:30 each morning and doesn't leave until each stall is cleaned and every horse is pastured for the night.

Greenawalt's at-home job brokering tax-deferred exchanges for investment properties provides their funding. Petratos keeps the operation flowing as the hay bale-loader, barn-builder, grass-mower, horse-transporter and fixer-upper specialist.

They constantly monitor their 55 fenced-in acres. They gladly give up sleep, hobbies, relaxing away from the animals.

Caring for the ones they have and those yet to come drive them on, simply enough. Greenawalt, 59, swears she's still inspired.

“I can’t stop now. What are we going to do with all the ones we saved? Send them back to an auction? You can’t.

"If I gave up I’d feel I failed, and there’s still a lot of horses to be saved."

Frank Bodani covers sports and outdoor stories for the York Daily Record and USA Today Network. Contact him at  fbodani@ydr.com and follow him on Twitter @YDRPennState.

This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: Central Pa Horse Rescue: Couple saves horses from brink of slaughter