June 11, 2025 • 12 mins
We spoke with Dee Doolittle Founder/Executive Director of Mitchell Farm Equine Retirement, Inc. talks about how the organization provides a safe and comfortable retirement alternative for aged and infirm horses to live out their lives and to offer educational opportunities on equine welfare.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning. Thank you for listening to Community Access. My
guest this morning is Dee Doolittle. She is founder and
executive director of Mitchell Farm Equine Retirement.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Good morning, good morning, how are you.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
I'm great. I'm so happy that you could be here today.
This is so important to talk about about.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Twenty one years ago. My husband and I saw a
real need in the equestrian community. There's a lot of
horses who are aged and probably have some arthritis and
aren't rideable anymore, or some even younger horses who have
had career ending injuries and where do they go? And
(00:42):
the sad answer to that is very horribly to flaughter
and there was just no place for these horses to go.
So here we are twenty one years later, and we've
given permanent sanctuary, safe sanctuary to one hundred and twenty
four horses.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Wow. Really, is that the current amount you have now
or that's over the years.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
That's over the twenty one years. Right now we have
thirty four and that includes our precious for little donkeys.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Oh, I love donkeys. I'm Italian, can't get away from them.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
They are the best.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Why is the need so great for equine retirement sanctuaries.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
As far as I can tell, we're pretty much one
of the only nonprofit sanctuaries in Connecticut for retired horses.
And as I said before, the alternatives for these horses
are really, really terrible. The horses aren't shipped to Canada
or Mexico for slaughter, and that's just no way for
(01:49):
an animal to go.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Is the need greater in Connecticut or is it all
over the world?
Speaker 2 (01:56):
No, it's I would say nationwide. I can't speak to worldwide,
but certainly nationwide there's there are quite a few retirement sanctuaries,
but not many nonprofits that are dedicated solely to retirement.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
There's animal sanctuaries. In fact, we have one here in
Connecticut for animals. I just can't imagine that anyone would
would slaughter a horse instead of bringing it somewhere where
they could live out the rest of their lives. Is
it because horses are expensive?
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Well, yes, there there horses are definitely expensive to keep,
and you have to remember in a lot of the
equestrian world, horses are still abysiness, and it's it comes
down to business decisions. Sometimes it's just people don't understand
(02:49):
when they send their horse wetion that that can be
what happens. So, you know, we just we need to
educate people that when you buy a horse and it's
you know, eighteen or twenty years old, you're going to
be the last owner and you really need to make
a plan, just like you would make a plan for
yourself for retirement or for your dog or your cat.
(03:12):
You know, obviously it's easier to keep your dog and
your cat at home when they have lots of arthritis.
And horses are athletic animals and they need to be
athletic in order to be useful.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Take me through what it's like for a horse to
be at Mitchell Farm Equine Retirement.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Sure. Well, we start our day at about seven am.
Our barn manager Amelia or myself or both of us
are out there sort of taking the temperature of the day.
There's thirty four of them out there, so we want
to make sure everybody's gone through the night comfortably and
(03:53):
it's okay. And at seven thirty our volunteers start to
show up and we've got a total of about fifty sixvolunteers,
so it's not uncommon for us to have five to
eight people every morning and again in the afternoon. So
then we feed the horses and while they're eating their breakfast,
(04:13):
we go out and set up the fields with water
and hay, and then we bring them out to the
pastures where they spend their day happily grazing and interacting
with each other. We like to say that some of
these horses are given a chance to remember what it's
(04:34):
like to be a horse. A lot of show horses
aren't really given the opportunity to interact with each other.
You know, they're they're protected and made sure that they
don't injure themselves or anything, so they're not really turned
out in fields with other horses. So some horses have
(04:54):
to learn that. So it's it's really a pleasure and
it's so much fun for us to watch that process.
So at the end of the day when it's time
to come in, the stalls have already been cleaned and
the waters have been changed, and we bring them in
for the evening and give them their dinner. And then
(05:19):
just before we go to bed, either Amelia or I
will go out and just check on everybody, make sure
they're okay. A lot of them get another meal. Everybody
gets a little bit of hay and we just tuck
them in for the night.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
It's like club men for horses.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
It's sometimes it's more like a nursing home. You know,
they are they are elderly, They have elderly horse issues,
so we have to deal with those as they come up.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
I joke because there's a lot of nursing homes that
are like club Med today. If I had a horse
that I wanted to retire, I would hope that it
would be a place like this. Can people contact you
if they'd like to retire their horse or these horses
that come to you.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
People find us mostly through our website and there's a
form to fill out if you have a horse that
you'd like to and I would urge people to plan ahead.
We have a waiting list and it can be a
couple of years to three years long, so you need
to plan ahead. So just fill out that form and
(06:25):
we'll get back to you with all the information.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Tell me how has it impacted your life to do
this kind of work.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
I can't imagine doing anything else. Honestly, it's hard work.
It can be very sad and emotional at times, but
most of the time it is just a pleasure. Imagine
waking up because we live on the farm, waking up
(06:53):
in the morning and sitting up in bed and looking
at your window and seeing grazing horses. It doesn't get
any better than that. It's it's a lifestyle, and we
love it.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
I live on a lake, and I didn't realize how
much I would love it. I have a beaver, I
have a geese family. The baby geese are getting bigger now.
And I got the food to feed them appropriately, because
you know, we're throwing them bread, and I got yelled
at for that, but I had no idea. You know,
thank god you didn't do that anymore. And I have
a big turtle. I have mallards that walk through my yard.
(07:26):
And again, when I hear about people slaughtering horses, I'm
just devastated. It just breaks my heart. So I'm so
grateful for a place like this. And I understand what
you say, what you mean, I'm not doing the work.
I just get to enjoy my Thomas Kinkaid looking backyard
with all of the wildlife. But what you're doing is amazing.
(07:48):
And so you mentioned a little bit about the horses
and how they adjust and how it's a wonderful life
for them. What have you seen in the good for them?
Speaker 2 (07:59):
Oh? My goodns. Well, you know horses who have lived
a sort of stressful, pressure filled pressure to perform life
and that was their job and they did it well.
They come off the trailer and look around and you
(08:21):
can just see all of that melt away. You literally
can just see it melt away. Watching them make friends
and bond with other horses when they really haven't had
the opportunity to do that before. It's just so heartwarming.
I could sit with my glass of wine in the
(08:42):
middle of the field any evening and just spend an
hour just watching them interact so peaceful and.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
It's beautiful, it really is. Now you have events that
are coming up that will help to fond all of
these animals so that you can take good care of them.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
So sure. In September, on the twentieth and twenty first,
we have our annual music Festival. I've lost track of
how many years we've been doing this, but it this
year features Broken Arrow and Laurel Canyon. On Saturday, Broken
Arrow with a Neil Young tribute and Laurel Canyon is
(09:22):
a Crossy Stills and Nash tribute band. And then on Sunday,
we have a really great local band called Mystic Dead
and they are obviously grateful Dead cover and we'll have
food trucks and raffles and again just a wonderful afternoon
(09:45):
surrounded by beautiful grazing horses. In October, we have our
Fall Festival with hay rides and that's that's always a
really fun event. The kids love it and we take
the hay ride through the pastures so the horses can
literally come right up to the to the wagon. And
(10:09):
that's on October twenty fifth, And.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
If anyone would like more information, just go to Mitchellfarm
dot org. That's m I T C h e l
L Farm dot org. Your volunteers have to go through
training if they want to work there.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
They do. We do an orientation meeting where we've sort
of give them the lay of the land and talk
about what volunteering entails. And then training is kind of
on the job. But we don't require people to have
horse experience, and in fact, most of our volunteers don't.
(10:45):
There are a lot of people who maybe they're retired
and just always love horses and never had the opportunity,
and they come to us and we teach them everything
they need to know, and they love it, absolutely do.
We've had volunteers here, oh my goodness, they ten years,
twelve years. They just come and stay.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
And there's a multitude of ways that people can give
through your wish list. The Harmony Legacy Society sponsors plan
giving donations.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Absolutely and anyway you want to give it, we're happy
to have it. Like you said, there's a wish list
on our website. There are multiple donation buttons on our website.
Come to the farm and visit. Yeah, if you just
(11:38):
come on down, drive down the driveway and if you
want to make a donation, we're happy to happy to
have you.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
And bring a bottle of wine so you can sit
with D in the center and look at all of
the horses being happy. Yeah, I'm speaking with d Doolittle,
Founder executive director of Mitchell Farm Equine Retirement. Again. That
web dress is Mitchellfarm dot org. They're right there in Salem, Connecticut.
(12:04):
I got so choked up today speaking with you. And
I do interviews all the time, but just something about
the horses not being cared about when it's time for
them to retire just breaks my heart and I'm just
so happy that you're there to do this kind of work.
Thank you so much for being here
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Well, thank you for having me, and we look forward
to seeing people
Good morning. Thank you for listening to Community Access. My
guest this morning is Dee Doolittle. She is founder and
executive director of Mitchell Farm Equine Retirement.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Good morning, good morning, how are you.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
I'm great. I'm so happy that you could be here today.
This is so important to talk about about.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Twenty one years ago. My husband and I saw a
real need in the equestrian community. There's a lot of
horses who are aged and probably have some arthritis and
aren't rideable anymore, or some even younger horses who have
had career ending injuries and where do they go? And
(00:42):
the sad answer to that is very horribly to flaughter
and there was just no place for these horses to go.
So here we are twenty one years later, and we've
given permanent sanctuary, safe sanctuary to one hundred and twenty
four horses.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Wow. Really, is that the current amount you have now
or that's over the years.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
That's over the twenty one years. Right now we have
thirty four and that includes our precious for little donkeys.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Oh, I love donkeys. I'm Italian, can't get away from them.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
They are the best.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Why is the need so great for equine retirement sanctuaries.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
As far as I can tell, we're pretty much one
of the only nonprofit sanctuaries in Connecticut for retired horses.
And as I said before, the alternatives for these horses
are really, really terrible. The horses aren't shipped to Canada
or Mexico for slaughter, and that's just no way for
(01:49):
an animal to go.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Is the need greater in Connecticut or is it all
over the world?
Speaker 2 (01:56):
No, it's I would say nationwide. I can't speak to worldwide,
but certainly nationwide there's there are quite a few retirement sanctuaries,
but not many nonprofits that are dedicated solely to retirement.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
There's animal sanctuaries. In fact, we have one here in
Connecticut for animals. I just can't imagine that anyone would
would slaughter a horse instead of bringing it somewhere where
they could live out the rest of their lives. Is
it because horses are expensive?
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Well, yes, there there horses are definitely expensive to keep,
and you have to remember in a lot of the
equestrian world, horses are still abysiness, and it's it comes
down to business decisions. Sometimes it's just people don't understand
(02:49):
when they send their horse wetion that that can be
what happens. So, you know, we just we need to
educate people that when you buy a horse and it's
you know, eighteen or twenty years old, you're going to
be the last owner and you really need to make
a plan, just like you would make a plan for
yourself for retirement or for your dog or your cat.
(03:12):
You know, obviously it's easier to keep your dog and
your cat at home when they have lots of arthritis.
And horses are athletic animals and they need to be
athletic in order to be useful.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Take me through what it's like for a horse to
be at Mitchell Farm Equine Retirement.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Sure. Well, we start our day at about seven am.
Our barn manager Amelia or myself or both of us
are out there sort of taking the temperature of the day.
There's thirty four of them out there, so we want
to make sure everybody's gone through the night comfortably and
(03:53):
it's okay. And at seven thirty our volunteers start to
show up and we've got a total of about fifty sixvolunteers,
so it's not uncommon for us to have five to
eight people every morning and again in the afternoon. So
then we feed the horses and while they're eating their breakfast,
(04:13):
we go out and set up the fields with water
and hay, and then we bring them out to the
pastures where they spend their day happily grazing and interacting
with each other. We like to say that some of
these horses are given a chance to remember what it's
(04:34):
like to be a horse. A lot of show horses
aren't really given the opportunity to interact with each other.
You know, they're they're protected and made sure that they
don't injure themselves or anything, so they're not really turned
out in fields with other horses. So some horses have
(04:54):
to learn that. So it's it's really a pleasure and
it's so much fun for us to watch that process.
So at the end of the day when it's time
to come in, the stalls have already been cleaned and
the waters have been changed, and we bring them in
for the evening and give them their dinner. And then
(05:19):
just before we go to bed, either Amelia or I
will go out and just check on everybody, make sure
they're okay. A lot of them get another meal. Everybody
gets a little bit of hay and we just tuck
them in for the night.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
It's like club men for horses.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
It's sometimes it's more like a nursing home. You know,
they are they are elderly, They have elderly horse issues,
so we have to deal with those as they come up.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
I joke because there's a lot of nursing homes that
are like club Med today. If I had a horse
that I wanted to retire, I would hope that it
would be a place like this. Can people contact you
if they'd like to retire their horse or these horses
that come to you.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
People find us mostly through our website and there's a
form to fill out if you have a horse that
you'd like to and I would urge people to plan ahead.
We have a waiting list and it can be a
couple of years to three years long, so you need
to plan ahead. So just fill out that form and
(06:25):
we'll get back to you with all the information.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Tell me how has it impacted your life to do
this kind of work.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
I can't imagine doing anything else. Honestly, it's hard work.
It can be very sad and emotional at times, but
most of the time it is just a pleasure. Imagine
waking up because we live on the farm, waking up
(06:53):
in the morning and sitting up in bed and looking
at your window and seeing grazing horses. It doesn't get
any better than that. It's it's a lifestyle, and we
love it.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
I live on a lake, and I didn't realize how
much I would love it. I have a beaver, I
have a geese family. The baby geese are getting bigger now.
And I got the food to feed them appropriately, because
you know, we're throwing them bread, and I got yelled
at for that, but I had no idea. You know,
thank god you didn't do that anymore. And I have
a big turtle. I have mallards that walk through my yard.
(07:26):
And again, when I hear about people slaughtering horses, I'm
just devastated. It just breaks my heart. So I'm so
grateful for a place like this. And I understand what
you say, what you mean, I'm not doing the work.
I just get to enjoy my Thomas Kinkaid looking backyard
with all of the wildlife. But what you're doing is amazing.
(07:48):
And so you mentioned a little bit about the horses
and how they adjust and how it's a wonderful life
for them. What have you seen in the good for them?
Speaker 2 (07:59):
Oh? My goodns. Well, you know horses who have lived
a sort of stressful, pressure filled pressure to perform life
and that was their job and they did it well.
They come off the trailer and look around and you
(08:21):
can just see all of that melt away. You literally
can just see it melt away. Watching them make friends
and bond with other horses when they really haven't had
the opportunity to do that before. It's just so heartwarming.
I could sit with my glass of wine in the
(08:42):
middle of the field any evening and just spend an
hour just watching them interact so peaceful and.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
It's beautiful, it really is. Now you have events that
are coming up that will help to fond all of
these animals so that you can take good care of them.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
So sure. In September, on the twentieth and twenty first,
we have our annual music Festival. I've lost track of
how many years we've been doing this, but it this
year features Broken Arrow and Laurel Canyon. On Saturday, Broken
Arrow with a Neil Young tribute and Laurel Canyon is
(09:22):
a Crossy Stills and Nash tribute band. And then on Sunday,
we have a really great local band called Mystic Dead
and they are obviously grateful Dead cover and we'll have
food trucks and raffles and again just a wonderful afternoon
(09:45):
surrounded by beautiful grazing horses. In October, we have our
Fall Festival with hay rides and that's that's always a
really fun event. The kids love it and we take
the hay ride through the pastures so the horses can
literally come right up to the to the wagon. And
(10:09):
that's on October twenty fifth, And.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
If anyone would like more information, just go to Mitchellfarm
dot org. That's m I T C h e l
L Farm dot org. Your volunteers have to go through
training if they want to work there.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
They do. We do an orientation meeting where we've sort
of give them the lay of the land and talk
about what volunteering entails. And then training is kind of
on the job. But we don't require people to have
horse experience, and in fact, most of our volunteers don't.
(10:45):
There are a lot of people who maybe they're retired
and just always love horses and never had the opportunity,
and they come to us and we teach them everything
they need to know, and they love it, absolutely do.
We've had volunteers here, oh my goodness, they ten years,
twelve years. They just come and stay.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
And there's a multitude of ways that people can give
through your wish list. The Harmony Legacy Society sponsors plan
giving donations.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Absolutely and anyway you want to give it, we're happy
to have it. Like you said, there's a wish list
on our website. There are multiple donation buttons on our website.
Come to the farm and visit. Yeah, if you just
(11:38):
come on down, drive down the driveway and if you
want to make a donation, we're happy to happy to
have you.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
And bring a bottle of wine so you can sit
with D in the center and look at all of
the horses being happy. Yeah, I'm speaking with d Doolittle,
Founder executive director of Mitchell Farm Equine Retirement. Again. That
web dress is Mitchellfarm dot org. They're right there in Salem, Connecticut.
(12:04):
I got so choked up today speaking with you. And
I do interviews all the time, but just something about
the horses not being cared about when it's time for
them to retire just breaks my heart and I'm just
so happy that you're there to do this kind of work.
Thank you so much for being here
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Well, thank you for having me, and we look forward
to seeing people
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