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This is a short but sweet rebuttal regarding the News Journal article published on Sunday, June 26, 2007.

First and most importantly, the monetary figures listed in the article are not correct.

Secondly, my "husband's salary" has NEVER suppored this horse rescue - we are self sufficient and VERY proud of it.

Lastly, all the animals that came to us were in dire need of help. While we do turn away horses due to space restrictions, we provide the very BEST care to our current residents.

A horse saved is a savior
Summerwinds Stables specializes in reclamation projects, equine and otherwiseBy KIM HOEY, Special to The News Journal Read Comments-->
Molly Johnson (right) greets Merlin at Summerwinds Stables in Hartly. Elena DiSilvestro founded Summerwinds in 2001 to help neglected and abused horses. (Buy photo) Special to The News Journal/CHUCK SNYDER 12/01/2006 -->
Summerwinds Stables was founded to rescue horses, but it's saved more than a few people as well.
"I think my life would be a lot different without it," said Ashley Eckeard, 13, of Felton.
Ashley, who won a volunteerism award from Gov. Ruth Ann Minner last year for her work on the farm, started off as a kid with troubles of her own.
Today, she not only helps to care and train the horses but also trains and counsels other children. She said it was being with the horses who needed so much care that made the difference for her and so many others.
"If you're sad or mad, you can go to the horse. It can't despise you or say anything rude to you. It just helps you," she said.
Elena DiSilvestro, 31, who lives on the grounds with her family, founded Summerwinds in 2001 on their 10-acre farm in Hartly.
It all started with George. DiSilvestro met George, a severely neglected horse, while traveling in the country. He was too sick and malnourished to stand on his own in the horse trailer.
DiSilvestro, who had built a large barn for her own horses, knew she couldn't leave George where he was. She bought him and called her husband on the way home.
"It's been a flood ever since," she said.
Once she rehabilitated George, who was adopted and went on to become a champion show horse, people started calling, saying they heard she was running a rescue facility. DiSilvestro, who studied veterinarian medicine in school, quit her day job and opened the stable as a full-time, full-service, nonprofit rescue.
Today, the stable, which can accommodate 10 horses, is always full, and there is a waiting list to get in. As soon as one horse is adopted, another takes its place.
The Summerwinds mission is to care for neglected and abused horses, to find permanent homes for them and to educate the public to promote their humane care.
The idea of involving youth volunteers came from working with Ashley, DiSilvestro's neighbor. After seeing how much Ashley benefited, DiSilvestro knew people and horses could benefit from each other.
She now runs formal programs with troubled children, home school groups and anyone else who is interested. In fact, the stable was certified in 2005 to run a psychotherapy program that pairs children with a horse and a therapist.
"The kids get to see the horses come in who are abused and neglected," DiSilvestro said. "They see the horses heal, and they heal themselves."
Working with so many horses and children doesn't come cheap. Summerwinds always needs donations, volunteers and more land to accommodate more horses.
Next year, it plans to expand to a 200-acre farm near Cecilton, Md., which was granted for lease through the Thoroughbred Charities of America. Although Summerwinds will be able to help more horses, the costs and need for more volunteers will increase as well. But DiSilvestro is sure everything they need will come from somewhere.
"It's a blessing," said DiSilvestro. "I feel like Cinderella."
TO LEARN MORE
For more information, or to find other ways to help, visit www.summerwindsstables.com or call Elena DiSilvestro at 492-8038.

This is a photo from our dock at Greener Pastures in November!

This is a photo from our new farm in Warwick, Maryland! Such a pretty view!

Remember when we told you that we were bursting at the seams here on our 10 acre site? Well, that's not a problem anymore!

The SummerWinds Stables announces plans to open a second facility at Greener Pastures Equine Sanctuary in Warwick, Maryland, in April, 2007.


Read more about this terrific news, and see more pictures of the idyllic location here!

I'm so excited! As your web designer I really shouldn't go around "jumping in" like this - but as the Summerwinds Stables staff is too busy saving the world to stop and tell you about it - I just can't stop myself from butting in!

If you weren't tuned in to WHYY in the Delaware Valley tonight at 5pm you missed seeing the Summerwinds Stables feature on the Delaware Tonight show. But, all is not lost - you can see the August 14th show rebroadcast here for the next week!

And if I can figure out how to save it, we'll add it to the website.

The feature, which was the third on the show, highlighted the summercamp programs and the common sense (horse sense if you will!) in bringing together children and horses who can both benefit from the others care and friendship.

Okay - that's some sloppy writing there. I told you I was excited! Maybe Elena can say it better one day when she has time to sit down for a moment.

silly.jpeg
Originally uploaded by summerwinds_stables.

Hello everyone! This is actually Gimbler, your web fairy posting under Elena's "handle". I suppose most of you have noticed the changes... I hope you're pleased with the new look of the website!

I know it's been a flaky two weeks, what with the ongoing "construction", test posts, etc, but we're nearing the end of the project and I wanted to say thank you for allowing me to do this again. I think you're all amazing!

It's hard to believe it's been a whole year since we last gave the site a facelift. And I hope you can see that I've learned how to incorporate a few new features since the last time around. It's my hope that they'll serve you all well and make your jobs a little easier. So please don't be afraid to explore and experiment with the new "site search" and "event calendar".

Summerwinds Stables now has a Flickr account (it still needs to annotated!) but so far we've used it to create the nifty slide show on the Gallery page and Elena can use it to post photos and text to the blogger powered pages.

Speaking of "blogger powered" several of the sites pages are now powered by Blogger. In other words - they LOOK like a regular web page, but they're really a blog! This means you'll be getting a lot more information from the site on a much more frequent basis. Putting new text and photos onto those pages is nearly as simple as sending an email - so keep your eyes peeled!

Thanks again, everyone, for the opportunity. I'll see you again next year (if not sooner...) If any of you have any questions about the new site or encounter any problems - please email me at gyringgimbler@gmail.com. If I'm in the house I'm in front of the computer!

Bye all and have a great summer!