The Sanctuary at Lakota Farms<\/a> in Groveland, caretakers are working around the clock to keep rescued horses warm as overnight temperatures fall into unusually cold territory.<\/p>\nWhile many people are covering plants during the cold snap, barn manager Kambrie Warner is focused on covering horses \u2014 nearly 70 of them \u2014 spread across the property.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a nightmare. It\u2019s a freezing nightmare,\u201d Warner said.<\/p>\n
She says the concern isn\u2019t necessarily freezing temperatures, but how the cold affects the horses\u2019 health.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, we don\u2019t worry about them necessarily freezing to death, but their stomach stops working, so they get unhappy. They stop eating, they stop drinking,\u201d Warner explained.<\/p>\n
To prevent that, caretakers provide electrolytes and constant food and water, ensuring the animals keep eating and drinking as temperatures drop.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s got a drink in this cold, so his gut stays working so he stays happy,\u201d Warner said while tending to one of the horses.<\/p>\n
Lakota Farms spans 50 acres and serves as a sanctuary for unwanted horses.<\/p>\n
Owner Bob McErlean said that many of the animals come from owner surrenders, abuse cases, and police seizures.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know, a lot of owner surrenders. People can\u2019t afford them any longer. Abuse cases, you know, police cases,\u201d McErlean said.<\/p>\n
Cold weather brings its own set of challenges for the operation, including protecting the property\u2019s extensive water system.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaking sure the water doesn\u2019t freeze all the piping. We have miles of piping and probably 75 to 80 spigots out here,\u201d McErlean said.<\/p>\n
It costs $800,000 a year to keep the sanctuary running, and McErlean says added expenses like extra blankets and heaters during cold snaps only drive costs higher.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GROVELAND, Fla. \u2014\u00a0A Central Florida horse rescue is on high alert as a cold snap moves into the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":134537,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[1011,274,1190,2174,115,139,141,140,11881,278,835],"class_list":{"0":"post-134536","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando","8":"tag-app-human-interest","9":"tag-app-top-stories","10":"tag-human-interest","11":"tag-lake-county","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-orlando","14":"tag-orlando-headlines","15":"tag-orlando-news","16":"tag-randy-rauch","17":"tag-top-stories","18":"tag-vod"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134536\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/134537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}