The Cozumel Rancho Universo is a non-profit organization that provides a permanent home for abused and neglected horses. The ranch rehabilitate horses they adopt and train the ones that are fit enough to provide therapy for children with different disabilities. The horses provide love to children and their motto says it all: HEAL A HORSE HEAL A CHILD. A major role of the organization is to create awareness and educate people by allowing them to be around horses in a semi wild state. Horses are healers.
The founder, Liliana Hough, was born in Mexico City and attended boarding school in England. Her life revolved around horses. She was trained by the British Horse Society; she owned and ran a riding school in London, and worked as an instructor and therapist. She was Certified by the Asociación Mexicana de Equitation Terapéutica (AMET Mexican Asociación for Riding for the disabled) and Riding Federation of Riding for the Disabled International (FRDI). She has loved horses all her life and studied them as a professional for some 30 years.
The Rancho Universo started on October 19th 2001 when a friend called Ms. Hough to report that a horse was tied up to a tree with PVC tubing on his legs, apparently abandoned and left to die. Since that rescue, the horses that have survived are rehabilitated and given a second chance in life.
In 2004 the horses began to give back by providing therapy to children with neurological problems. In 2006 they were awarded funds by the Mexican Federal Government to improve the infrastructure for a RIDING FOR THE DISABLED CENTRE. They became Non-Profit Organization in May, 2008. They provide:
| -Natural horsemanship management training/internship – Riding for the disabled – Hippo therapy – Early learning stimulation – Riding lessons -Camping – School visits – Trail riding, bird watching for students and accomplished riders – Relaxation therapy combining horse and yoga very effective whatever your age. |
Ms. Hough believes that ignorance is the cause of the most damaging things in life, and that for centuries people have referred to animals as dumb, unthinking, unfeeling creatures. Pretty often when someone does something atrocious we hear “they are worse than animals”. The horses at the sanctuary have endured abuse, confinement and starvation, and then were discarded as rubbish. When this happens to a human, people are appalled and yet it is so common for this beautiful creature to have to endure this abuse. She describes the Ranch as a Sanctuary and permanent home for the casualties of this kind of thinking, animals that are sentenced to death due to human ignorance.
Liliana Hough does everything at the ranch as she cannot afford to pay for help. The expense of feed, medicine, and medical bills are pretty high. The Rancho Universo needs financial assistance in order to survive. You can donate through and through PayPal at ranch.universo@gmail.com. (They are not related to the Humane Society of Cozumel, and do not receive funds through them.)
Rancho Universo Horse Santuario
Transversal Km 11.3
Cozumel, Quintana Roo, México
77600 Cozumel, Quintana Roo, México
Hours: Mon – Sun: 11:00 am – 5:45 pm
Phone: 987 113 4536 and 987 114 3670
Email: rancho.universo.horse.sanctuary@hotmail.com
Websites: http://www.ranchouniversocozumelsanctuary.org
