Meet Soleil Dolce of Arizona Equine Rescue Organization in Scottsdale

Today we’d like to introduce you to Soleil Dolce.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
In 2001 Carol Hobson was driving by a horse kill pen buyer’s property and saw a horse that had severe injuries standing in the sun. As she thought of how much horses helped her through her difficult childhood, it motivated her to call a local veterinarian to help her retrieve this horse out of the lot so that it wouldn’t suffer the long transport to slaughter and she began intensive medical care. She named the horse Windwalker who did not make it in spite of many veterinarians, neighbors and strangers who stepped in to help care for this horse. She decided then that she needed to help horses in Arizona and create opportunities to have children help in the care so that they could heal too.

Arizona Equine Rescue Organization has three main focus areas: rescue and rehabilitation which includes livestock emergency response services, community education, and at-risk youth programs to promote communication, social skills and leadership. Services of emergency livestock response across the state is also provided free of charge to police and fire.

Has it been a smooth road?
The hardest part of running a rescue is the balancing act between how much time, space and funding can be planned and the spikes of need that occur. The biggest struggles are balancing what growth means from a time commitment and what can realistically be supported….we have opted to stay small and powerful with a lean and mean model. Ironically we have been able to rehab and place more horses in a year on a very small budget by limiting our numbers to something fairly low than allowing our numbers to get larger. Placement goes down and costs go up the more horses we hold at a time is what we learned over the years.

A couple of other general struggles in our world:

1) Providing a service – It is very hard to keep up with the demands that come in every day from every direction and as a result there is a term called compassion fatigue which becomes a very real struggle over the years for the many people that make a rescue work. On the other side of compassion fatigue is the joy of seeing the very best traits of people coming forward to help the very worst of traits of people that caused the animals to be in our care and it gives hope that keeps everyone moving forward.
2) Funding cycles – especially in large animal rescue it is very expensive to do and not alot of funding sources to do it so as with all non-profits keeping something running is not easy. If you hire staff, then your overhead grows and the amount of fundraising becomes exponential. If you stay all-volunteer, then the assistance can be inconsistent and limits how much can be done. If the funding comes in chunks at the end of a quarterly cycle and a big rescue case comes in before enough funding is in place, then nail-biting occurs. If funding is designated to a specific purpose, then you can have funds but not enough money to feed the horses in your care. All non-profits deal with these issues but it seems in horse rescue it’s even more exaggerated and the failure rate is very high. We work hard to help new rescues learn from our experience so they can be set up for success.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
Our rescue is an incredible tribute to a lot of dedicated people who love horses. We are most known for our emergency response services where we train and respond to livestock emergencies that involve horses in trailer accidents, etc. We are also renown for our ability to rehabilitate medically difficult cases and that is because we have an incredible network of service providers that help us use every tool in the toolbox to make these animals better. Normally you would say that getting a horse out of trailer accident safely and back to a happy family or bringing an animal from as near death as they get because of human neglect or abuse to the best quality of life in a loving home would be the most incredible parts of doing rescue, but the memories that stick out the most are seeing the horses and their positive impact on kids. Kids who are struggling in their lives completely change and I am always amazed when a kid we helped shows up to say thank you all these years later and tell me what impact the horses had on their lives. Our program won a Golden Bell Award in education many years ago and now many others use it to help kids….knowing we started so much in Arizona to help our community and that others are carrying it forward is a tribute to how much more good we see in the midst of the very worst we see.

We are not as large as other rescues and we certainly barely cover our overhead but we have the most loyal group of people that helps when we help and keeps us going all these years later. If you want to see how horses in need bring out the very best in people, then this horse rescue demonstrates that every day in every way.

Is our city a good place to do what you do?
I think Arizona and Phoenix in particular is a very supportive and generous community to non-profits and businesses. There is a diverse culture and population that makes it unique. On the downside, I do see some of what makes the culture so great in Arizona and Phoenix related to its history is getting a little lost at times in its growth. For example, a state started by cattle ranchers and miners should continue to keep, emphasize and celebrate its western heritage and its Hispanic heritage. At some point, the growth is not sustainable and we see that better planning and limits on growth are needed to ensure the resources, like water, are able to support the population. I can tell you that Phoenix cares about animals and the Phoenix Police do a great job of prioritizing and addressing the cruelty cases.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.azequinerescue.org
• Phone: 623-465-1519
• Email: info@azequinerescue.org
• Instagram: @arizonaequinerescue
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/azequinerescue/

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