About Us

HHT was founded by Nina Margetson and a couple of other concerned individuals as a nonprofit rescue operation for abused and neglected equine because of what she observed while working within the animal welfare community.  Cruelty cases were not being investigated even when reasonable cause was found to remove the animals.  County animal shelters were ill-equipped or unwilling to house equine as there was no place to shelter the animals until a judgment was made by the courts.  In 1997, Nina and her husband, purchased 3.5 acres and began working towards building a temporary placement facility.  The plan, at that time, was to have a small equine holding facility with a network of foster people available in Knox and surrounding counties within three (3) years.   

Cases were being called in at a fast pace and law enforcement had no idea how to handle the situations.  Therefore in 1999, HHT was officially organized and received its first 4 horses which had been confiscated from their owner in an abuse case from a nearby county.  Because of the lack of knowledge within the law enforcement community, Nina found it necessary to earn an Animal Cruelty Investigator certification from the National Cruelty Investigators School offered through the University of Missouri Law Enforcement Training Institute.

After receiving numerous animals from around the state and continuing to work with law enforcement, it was determined that a facility to shelter the equine was desperately needed.  The 3.5 acres Nina had was not adequate and the need for more land was becoming quite apparent.  Because of the work that HHT does and the need for more land, a supportive neighbor stepped in to help by offering  a free-lease on their 47 acres for HHT’s use.  The land required clearing and fencing and after a lot of hard work approximately 7 acres was made acceptable for housing horses.  

In January, 2006, 10 acres in west Knoxville (thanks to another family’s generosity) was leased to HHT.  This property was upgraded to fit the needs of the animals HHT took in.  The donating family lived on the property and also worked hard as a family project with their young children to help with the horses. Horse Haven of Tennessee officially made that property in west Knoxville its first public facility home.  

In 2007, land issues quickly changed for HHT.  The owner of the 47 acres died and the daughter had put the land up for sale.  With this property gone we removed fence posts, our portable corrals and other items belonging to HHT.  In addition, the Humane Society put the land HHT occasionally used for containment up for sale, so other options were being pursued by the board of directors. 

Our lease on the west Knoxville property was not renewed in January, 2009, but luckily Nina had previously spoken with a very generous woman about bringing our horses to her property.  In early January, 2009 Nina connected with her again, and she agreed to free-lease her 20 acres located in the middle of Hardin Valley to Horse Haven.  Things always seem to come our way (thankfully) when we need them the most. With the help of some very fast and dedicated volunteers, the barn was cleaned, a few improvements were made and we moved our entire operation in 5 days.  That spring, vines and weeds were cleared by UT students and others helped make the property suitable for our rescued horses.

 Only 2/3rds of the Hardin Valley property is currently being used at this time.  In the near future we know our need for our own facility will be a necessity. Having our own facility will enable us to become more self sufficient, and open up additional opportunities to not only help the horses we currently care for, but others across the state. 

During the last two years our abused and neglected horse intake has exploded.  We have taken in more horses between January 1, 2009 – December 31, 2010 then we had in our first 8 years.  In 2006, our budget was $22,000 and we had cared for 183 horses by the end of 2006, today our budget is around $126,000 and we have cared for 525 to date.

By exhibiting and following a strict code of ethics and conduct, HHT has earned the reputation of being Tennessee’s Premier Equine Welfare Organization.

Watch our Video and Learn the Horse Haven of Tennessee Story