We care.
When it's below zero and blizzarding and we are walking among dead horses trying to encourage walking skeletons and scared horses to get into our trailers ... we ignore the cold and stay as long as is needed because we care.
When we get up every two hours to refeed a horse near death or provide medical care or foal watch, or rush out into a derecho or blizzard to frantically try to get horses in to safety ... we do it without a thought because we care.
When we patiently repeat ourselves to children for the hundredth time or quietly encourage them to make that first touch, that first ride, or comfort their fears ... we do it with a smile because we care.
When we smile through our tears and load a much loved horse onto someone else's trailer and manage to find the joy in them finally finding their own person even though it's likely we will never see that horse again ... we close the door with a quiet "have a good life" and walk away because we care.
And when we frantically rush through the night to get a horse in pain to the vet, and consider every single option until we ultimately accept that we can't do anymore, we comfort and hug and love and hold it all together, sending our friend to greener pastures with words of love and caring and a promise to meet again ... and then go home and get up and do it all over again or go to our day job and force the pain down ... well, you guessed it, it's because we care.
Horse rescue is a difficult calling, especially in our state, and the bottom line is that all of us - from those of us in the trenches to our donors and even you, our online support - all of us can only keep going and handle all of the extreme emptions involved because of one plain and simple fact.
The best thing we do is care.