• Subscribe
    • Franklin Living Magazine
    • Services
      • About Us
      • Subscribe
      • Policies
      • Terms of use
      • Submit a news tip
      • Submit a photo
      • Birth announcement
      • Birthday announcement
      • Engagement announcement
      • Wedding announcement
      • Submit a Classified Ad
      • Letter to the Editor
    • Classifieds
    • E-editions
    • Public Notices
      • Public Notices
      • Alabama Public Notices
    • Subscribe
    • Franklin Living Magazine
    • Services
      • About Us
      • Subscribe
      • Policies
      • Terms of use
      • Submit a news tip
      • Submit a photo
      • Birth announcement
      • Birthday announcement
      • Engagement announcement
      • Wedding announcement
      • Submit a Classified Ad
      • Letter to the Editor
    • Classifieds
    • E-editions
    • Public Notices
      • Public Notices
      • Alabama Public Notices

Franklin County Times
  • Home
  • News
  • Sports
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyles
  • Obituaries
  • Records
  • Subscribe
  • Services
  • About Us
  • Subscribe
  • Policies
  • Terms of use
  • Submit a news tip
  • Submit a photo
  • Birth Announcement
  • Birthday announcement
  • Engagement announcement
  • Wedding announcement
  • Submit a Classified Ad
  • Letters to the Editor
  • Classifieds
  • Public Notices
    Franklin County Times
      • Site logo
      • Home
      • News
        • Russellville
        • Red Bay
        • Phil Campbell
        • Franklin County
        • Photo Galleries
        • Sponsored Content
      • Sports
        • Belgreen Bulldogs
        • Phil Campbell Bobcats
        • Red Bay Tigers
        • Russellville Golden Tigers
        • Tharptown Wildcats
        • Vina Red Devils
        • College Sports
        • Sports Columnists
      • Opinion
        • Letters to the Editor
        • Columnists
        • Editorials
      • Lifestyles
        • Birthdays
        • Births
        • Couples
        • Food
        • Features
      • Obituaries
      • Records
        • Sheriff’s Report
        • Marriages
        • Land Transactions
        • Police Reports
      • Special Sections
      • Site logo
      • Home
      • News
        • Russellville
        • Red Bay
        • Phil Campbell
        • Franklin County
        • Photo Galleries
        • Sponsored Content
      • Sports
        • Belgreen Bulldogs
        • Phil Campbell Bobcats
        • Red Bay Tigers
        • Russellville Golden Tigers
        • Tharptown Wildcats
        • Vina Red Devils
        • College Sports
        • Sports Columnists
      • Opinion
        • Letters to the Editor
        • Columnists
        • Editorials
      • Lifestyles
        • Birthdays
        • Births
        • Couples
        • Food
        • Features
      • Obituaries
      • Records
        • Sheriff’s Report
        • Marriages
        • Land Transactions
        • Police Reports
      • Special Sections
    Serenity Saviors serves horses and humans alike
    Features, Lifestyles, LIFESTYLES -- FEATURE SPOT, Top News Stories FRONT PAGE, Z - News Main, Z - TOP HOME
     By  María Camp Published 
    4:56 pm Wednesday, October 26, 2022

    Serenity Saviors serves horses and humans alike

  • 🞬
    ❮❯

    FRANKLIN LIVING—

    “A horse rescue – but not just a horse rescue.” That’s how Allen Bornscheuer describes the nonprofit equine rescue and therapy center, Serenity Saviors, he operates with his wife Cherina. “We’re also a human rescue. That is what really drives us to make a change in our world with horses and humans.”

    For the husband-and-wife team, horses are a way of life. Allen said his love of horses started while he was a teenager growing up in Florida. “My dad always said it was a rich man’s sport. I could only start riding when I was able to pay my own way, so when I got a job, that was one of the first things I did – start taking riding lessons,” Allen explained.

    In his 20s and 30s, he was riding horses in Atlanta and Tampa, Fla., alongside his day job of international banking, working as a vice president for SunTrust bank. It was a stressful profession. “I dealt with my stress by riding horses, and I found that the horses had an amazing stress-relieving aspect to them,” Allen explained. “I forgot all about the tensions and everything that went with a job like that when I rode horses.”

    He rode twice a week to manage his stress levels, getting his own farm in 2008. He realized he wasn’t the only one who looked to horseback riding for stress management. “I just noticed that people were coming through the front gate, just like me, looking for stress relief; with anxiety issues; one of them a police officer with PTSD from losing a partner,” Allen explained. “When they started riding a horse, all of a sudden, their mouths started working, and they started telling me all kinds of things.”

    A few years later he met Cherina and her son Blake. “I really was not aware of the rescue side of the horse world for quite a few years – not until Cherina brought her son, Blake, to sign him up for riding lessons in 2011,” explained Allen. While Blake did some riding, it was Cherina who really embraced it. She had always had a love for horses – and over time she discovered she had a love for Allen Bornscheuer, too. “And of course, the rest is romantic history,” Allen noted.

    Cherina had a master’s degree in psychology, and the pair realized they could – and should – combine riding and psychology, plus the great need for horse rescue, and do something more. That’s how Serenity Saviors came to be.

    Since their work about saving not only horses but also humans, their motto became, “We save two.”

    Horse rescue is the foundation, of course, and is a huge part of what they do. “Cherina opened my eyes to the world of rescues,” explained Allen. “I had no idea horses were going to slaughter in the United States at the numbers they were – a practice that has since been stopped in this country.”

    The last three U.S. slaughterhouses – two in Texas and one in Illinois, all foreign-owned – were shuttered in 2007, according to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

    “Now, horses have to travel to Canada or Mexico, and in more recent times, Canada passed a law that horses have to stay in the country for six months before they can be slaughtered,” Cherina explained. The requirement has helped decrease horse slaughter, given the cost and logistics. “The numbers have plummeted, at least since 2011. It’s gone to half, but it hasn’t stopped horses from going for slaughter in Canada and Mexico.” Many horses the Bornscheuers have saved have been rescued from kill pens, horses destined for slaughter.

    Allen said even with all of that, horses are still being shipped out of the U.S. for slaughter on a weekly basis. “Most of the horses we have here were going to be slaughtered, and we were able to save them. When they go to a kill pen, posts are made on websites and Facebook, and there’s a very brief window of time for people to ‘bail them out.’”

    Although most of the Bornscheuers’ horses are kill pen rescues, many come from the Amish. “I’ve made more trips to Pennsylvania than I even want to count,” said Alan. He explained while the Amish don’t slaughter horses themselves, they take them to auction once they have outlived their ability to satisfactorily do the work needed, like pulling machinery and carriages. A horse at this stage has had a hard life and doesn’t command as much money. “The Amish send them to auction at cheap prices, buy a new horse, hitch it up and drive it home. It’s usually bottom dollar at this point, by the time they go to auction,” Allen said.

    Cherina said she and Allen love the American Saddlebred, the type of horse favored by the Amish for their appearance in pulling their carriages. “They were bred in this country, and there’s a lot of history in them.” The breed has long necks, bodies and legs and pop their knees high. “The higher their head is, the higher they pop their knees. They’re very fancy horses.”

    In total, the Bornscheuers estimate they’ve saved more than 250 horses, most of them American Saddlebred. “Most of the horses we’ve saved are not here on our property,” explained Allen. “Most of them were adopted out all over the country, from New England to south Florida, Seattle and California. I have driven to virtually every corner of the 48 states delivering or picking up rescue horses.”

    As for the horses that stay with the Bornscheuers, some of them remain because they aren’t able to do anything any longer. “They’ve been ridden and worked too hard in their lives,” explained the couple, “and they have back, leg, tendon and other problems. Some of them have emotional problems. For this segment of our horse population, we call them sanctuary horses. They’re just going to live out their lives with us, eating grass for a living, and we’re just going to take care of them.”

    The family is relatively recently transplanted to Franklin County from the west-central Florida area. “We needed to expand, but we couldn’t find a property big enough and affordable enough in Florida,” explained Allen, “due to the way the real estate market is going with everyone moving there. Prices have skyrocketed.”

    They looked at properties from Texas to South Carolina and all across the southern United States. The price and climate were right in Russellville, so they moved to town over Labor Day weekend 2021.

    “I lived in Florida for many years, and I don’t like the cold of the North. Here it is a little drier, less humid, and I like the people – how friendly everybody is,” Allen said. “I was determined not to move any further north than the Tennessee border.”

    Cherina was about eight months pregnant with their daughter, Phoebe, when the family made the move. Allen explained that with having a little one at home now, and working on building up the farm in Alabama, it has become important to him to stay home more – but that doesn’t mean their nationwide rescue efforts will stop. “I can’t be driving all over the country anymore, so we hire that part out.”

    Cherina said they are passionate about the difference they’ve been able to make in the lives of humans and horses. “We’ve seen kids on the autism spectrum, some that have never talked before, start talking to a horse, and we’ve had veterans wind up talking to a horse when they couldn’t talk to anyone else,” she explained. She said she doesn’t see herself as the therapist. “The horses are the ones that have the magic. We have veterans come through carrying ghosts with them from their experiences. We had one veteran who we got settled on a horse, and he started talking to the horse, asking the horse if he could feel his pain and know his emotions and thoughts. All I had done was put them together. It was all I could do not to just break down. I always say the horses are the therapists, not me. I’m just the facilitator. I bring the two of them together, and that’s when the magic happens.”

    “There’s something more special about horses than most people realize,” Allen agreed. “There’s a deeper connection. They can sense our heartbeat four or five feet away, and they can match us. They’re very sensitive creatures, and they know when we’re anxious or angry or depressed.”

    Cherina said she’s seen numerous occasions when a horse consoled or comforted someone. “There’s a special connection. They’ll nuzzle the person, rub up against them, provide comfort for severely depressed people, without even being able to say a word,” she said. “It’s such a wonderful connection, and it makes an incredible difference. It’s amazing.”

    Right now, they have a handful of people coming for riding lessons and three coming for therapy sessions. While they want to grow, there are changes they need to make first. “We don’t have a riding arena or a round pen, and we really feel the control of having an arena and rails is important for safety, so that’s definitely a priority.”

    For more information, call 256-902-8389, email serenitysaviors@gmail.com or visit their website, www.serenitysaviors.org, or Facebook page.

    Also on Franklin County Times
    PHOTO GALLERY: Jam at Sloss Lake
    Franklin County, Galleries, Lifestyles
    PHOTO GALLERY: Jam at Sloss Lake
    Griffin Traylor 
    July 9, 2025
    Auditor says city’s financial health is very good
    Main, News, Russellville, ...
    Auditor says city’s financial health is very good
    María Camp maria.camp@franklincountytimes.com 
    July 9, 2025
    RUSSELLVILLE -- The city has received what its auditor called a “clean opinion” on its fiscal year 2024 audit, meaning no significant deficiencies or ...
    {"epopulate_editorials_prism":"epopulate_editorials_prism"}
    Place of Grace opens recovery home in Franklin County
    Franklin County, Main, News, ...
    Place of Grace opens recovery home in Franklin County
    María Camp maria.camp@franklincountytimes.com 
    July 9, 2025
    The Place of Grace has opened a new recovery home in Franklin County, offering women a structured, faith-based environment to continue their journey a...
    {"epopulate_editorials_prism":"epopulate_editorials_prism"}
    Hamilton: Title II funding freeze is a concern
    Main, News, Russellville, ...
    Hamilton: Title II funding freeze is a concern
    Alyssa Sutherland For the FCT 
    July 9, 2025
    R U S S E L L V I L L E – Franklin County Superintendent Greg Hamilton is concerned about the status of more than $6 billion in federal education gran...
    {"epopulate_editorials_prism":"epopulate_editorials_prism"}
    Fire Department receives new $2.2M platform truck
    Main, News, Russellville, ...
    Fire Department receives new $2.2M platform truck
    María Camp maria.camp@franklincountytimes.com 
    July 9, 2025
    RUSSELLVILLE Firefighters and city officials showed off the Fire Department’s new $2.2 million 100-foot platform fire truck in a safety demonstration ...
    {"epopulate_editorials_prism":"epopulate_editorials_prism"}
    Palmer certified for fourth term on Russellville Council
    News, Russellville, Z - News Main
    Palmer certified for fourth term on Russellville Council
    María Camp maria.camp@franklincountytimes.com 
    July 9, 2025
    RUSSELLVILLE – The city council approved a certificate of election stating Councilman David Palmer was the only candidate to qualify for Council Distr...
    {"epopulate_editorials_prism":"epopulate_editorials_prism"}
    Summer camps nurture faith, friendship and growth
    Columnists, Opinion
    HERE AND NOW
    Summer camps nurture faith, friendship and growth
    July 9, 2025
    Susie Hovater Malone Columnist During the summer many Franklin County youths enjoy attending summer camps, where they engage in hiking, swimming, spor...
    {"epopulate_editorials_prism":"epopulate_editorials_prism"}
    The prosperity we enjoy depends on Sea Lanes of Communication
    Columnists, Opinion
    The prosperity we enjoy depends on Sea Lanes of Communication
    July 9, 2025
    The Pax Americana, the period since World War II when there have been no major world wars, has led to the greatest period of freedom the world has eve...
    {"epopulate_editorials_prism":"epopulate_editorials_prism"}

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    ❮ ❯
    Latest Local News
    PHOTO GALLERY: Jam at Sloss Lake
    PHOTO GALLERY: Jam at Sloss Lake
    July 9, 2025
    Auditor says city’s financial health is very good
    Auditor says city’s financial health is very good
    RUSSELLVILLE -- The city has received what its auditor called a “clean opinion” on its fiscal year 2024 audit, meaning no significant deficiencies or ...
    July 9, 2025
    Place of Grace opens recovery home in Franklin County
    Place of Grace opens recovery home in Franklin County
    The Place of Grace has opened a new recovery home in Franklin County, offering women a structured, faith-based environment to continue their journey a...
    July 9, 2025
    Hamilton: Title II funding freeze is a concern
    Hamilton: Title II funding freeze is a concern
    R U S S E L L V I L L E – Franklin County Superintendent Greg Hamilton is concerned about the status of more than $6 billion in federal education gran...
    July 9, 2025
    Fire Department receives new $2.2M platform truck
    Fire Department receives new $2.2M platform truck
    RUSSELLVILLE Firefighters and city officials showed off the Fire Department’s new $2.2 million 100-foot platform fire truck in a safety demonstration ...
    July 9, 2025

    More Local News

    Latest Stories
    Municipal elections: Let your voice be heard on Aug. 26
    Qualifying for municipal races across the state, including Franklin County, closed on June 24 leaving several contested races leading up to the Aug. 2...
    July 9, 2025
    TVA surcharge to raise August bills for customers
    RUSSELLVILLE Electricity customers should expect higher bills in August as TVA passes along a surcharge driven by high summer demand and a recent outa...
    July 9, 2025
    Hutcheson participates in CCHS program
    Hutcheson participates in CCHS program
    PHIL CAMPBELL — Rising Phil Campbell High School senior Hudson Hutcheson spent most of his summer at the University of Alabama. An aspiring dentist, h...
    July 9, 2025
    Being struck by lightning was ‘shocking experience’
    Being struck by lightning was ‘shocking experience’
    RUSSELLVILLE — Lisa Henderson was lying on her bed, scrolling through social media sites on her phone and enjoying a cozy, rainy Sunday afternoon with...
    July 9, 2025
    Jeffreys named new head football coach at Red Bay
    Jeffreys named new head football coach at Red Bay
    RED BAY -- Tyler Jeffreys has been named the new head coach at Red Bay High School. Jeffreys is stepping in to replace Heath Childers, who recently re...
    July 9, 2025
    Latest Sports
    Jeffreys named new head football coach at Red Bay
    Jeffreys named new head football coach at Red Bay
    RED BAY -- Tyler Jeffreys has been named the new head coach at Red Bay High School. Jeffreys is stepping in to replace Heath Childers, who recently re...
    July 9, 2025
    Hamilton to play baseball at Blue Mountain College
    Hamilton to play baseball at Blue Mountain College
    RED BAY -- Red Bay High School’s Reed Hamilton has officially signed a scholarship to continue his education and baseball career at Blue Mountain Coll...
    July 9, 2025
    Allison tapped to lead Lady Bobcats softball
    Allison tapped to lead Lady Bobcats softball
    PHIL CAMPBELL -- A familiar face will be leading the Phil Campbell High School Lady Bobcats softball program next season. Darby Allison, a 2007 gradua...
    July 2, 2025
    6 local students accepted into FAME program
    6 local students accepted into FAME program
    Northwest Shoals Community College (NWSCC) has signed 6 Franklin County students to its 2025–26 Federation for Advanced Manufacturing Education (FAME)...
    July 2, 2025
    Junior golfers hone skills through summer program
    Junior golfers hone skills through summer program
    RUSSELLVILLE -- A young generation of golfers teed off this summer at Twin Pines Country Club, thanks to a local effort to create opportunities for ch...
    July 2, 2025

    More Sports Stories

    x

    Sections

    • Home
    • News
    • Sports
    • Opinion
    • Lifestyles
    • Obits
    • Special Sections
    • Sponsored Content
      • Home
      • News
      • Sports
      • Opinion
      • Lifestyles
      • Obits
      • Special Sections
      • Sponsored Content

    Services

    • About Us
    • Subscribe
    • Advertise With Us
    • Policies
    • Terms of use
    • Submit a news tip
    • Submit a photo
    • Birth announcement
    • Birthday announcement
    • Engagement announcement
    • Wedding announcement
    • Submit a Classified Ad
    • Letter to the Editor
    • Sign Up For Our Free Newsletter
      • About Us
      • Subscribe
      • Advertise With Us
      • Policies
      • Terms of use
      • Submit a news tip
      • Submit a photo
      • Birth announcement
      • Birthday announcement
      • Engagement announcement
      • Wedding announcement
      • Submit a Classified Ad
      • Letter to the Editor
      • Sign Up For Our Free Newsletter

    Follow Us

    Copyright

    © , Franklin County Times