Foster care doesn't just apply to children. Some animals need temporary shelter and care until a permanent home can be found. It's not easy finding people who can take in a horse, let alone an entire herd.

Before a herd of starving horses could be rescued in Carroll County, Iowa last weekend, volunteers willing to care for the animals had to be rounded up. Jill Amoruso opened her stable doors in Council Bluffs for two of the rescued horses. “Without people to foster for Forever Homes they wouldn't survive.”

Two-dozen malnourished horses seized in Carroll County are temporarily stabled with 18 volunteers in eastern Nebraska and western Iowa. They seized four horses that are less than a year old. In foster care now, all will need permanent homes.

More could be on the way with a few expectant mares. “We need more folks like us to step up and take this challenge on and give these horses a place to stay and place to live,” said Daryl Amoruso.

Those who volunteered for foster care are saddled with the bills. “We wormed him on Tuesday and the worm size was about like this,” said Jill. An average of $500 for medicine, $20 for a feedbag and hay bales costing up to $75 each. So horse lovers willing to adopt are needed.

“We need permanent homes for 18 horses,” said Genea Stoops of Hooves & Paws Rescue. And what if it doesn’t get them? “That puts stress on our foster homes and when we do our next seizure it's harder because our foster homes are all full.”

Volunteers may keep the rescued horses a month or through the winter, but its hard for Jill to rein in her attachment to Buddy. “It was our intentions to just foster, but I wouldn't have an issue keeping him.”

Hooves & Paws Rescue near Glenwood, Iowa is handling both foster care and potential adoptions for 26 horses. Anyone interested in providing a foster stable or becoming a horse owner can call the rescue at 712-355-3721 or e-mail it at legs1212@aol.com.