Golden Reward Sanctuary

About Us

Helping The Unwanted

GRS is a nonprofit retirement home for aging horses and dogs. We are located on 40 peaceful acres in beautiful Weatherford, Texas. We provide quality care and lots of love for animals that need extra attention due to their advanced age. A forever home where they won't be at risk ever again.

How We Got Started

As the founder of Golden Reward Sanctuary, this has been an amazing journey for me in the past few years. I had always wanted to own a horse, and when I moved to horse country – Weatherford, Texas – in my 40s, I had an epiphany – I could have a horse if I wanted one. So I signed up for riding lessons. Within 2 months, I found Romeo (or maybe he found me). He was in a bad situation and he needed help. I wasn't really ready to be a horse owner - but some things are just meant to be. Romeo was quite a handful --- a 12-yr-old off-the-track thoroughbred, 16 hands tall, with a lot of personality, and likely to fly sideways at an unexpected butterfly. Not ideal for a newbie horse owner! But what I quickly realized - an amazing thing about people who love horses is that they love to help other people who love horses too. So many people helped me from the very beginning. From the other boarders, to the barn owners, my vet, my farrier, people I met in the horse supply stores and more. What a fantastic community of people Weatherford is! And rescuing Romeo was the first step in my journey into helping other horses and dogs get the chance they deserved. Read our horses' stories and our dogs and cats' stories.

Animals Are Our Mission

So many animals deserve better. GRS is focusing on making a difference for a few. We are a small operation by design. We want to provide the highest quality personalized care, and we are providing a forever home. So there are a limited number of animals we can take in and continue to maintain the high quality of life. We hope in the next few years to be able to expand, with support from you, our community. Pictured here: founder of GRS, Melissa Hadley, with Romeo and Jessie Jayne.