OUR STORY
IT ALL STARTED WITH CHANCE
When founder, Billie Athanas, moved to the farm with her husband and daughter in 2016, she knew she wanted to rescue a draft horse. Owning standardbred horses her whole life, a draft horse was something she always wanted. It wasn't long before a draft horse was listed on a kill lot page and she knew she had to save him. So she did, along with three others! She named him Chance. After Chance and his friends, the first two donkeys were welcomed to the farm. They were lonely, sitting on an auction lot, needing a lot of TLC, and pregnant. It wasn't long before their amazing souls revealed themselves and it was decided that the farm had to be used to help these amazing animals with a second chance of life, love and happiness.
ABOUT HILLCREST FARMS
Hillcrest Farms is 115 acre farm in Washington County, Pennsylvania. It is the personal farm for Billie, Chris, and their daughter, Sydney. Billie's parents and Grandmother also live on the farm. In addition to the rescued animals, they have retired horses they personally own as well and 4 goats, about 60 chickens, rescued dogs and abandoned cats that have been left at the farm. Everyone works as a team to keep every animal safe and healthy. Chris and Billie have professional careers that they work as well.
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The farm houses two larger barns. we have several fields fenced in, one large field designated for the mini donkeys and mini horses with their own small barn and shelters. Our goal in the next few years is to build a quarantine barn in order to quarantine on our farm. As of now, we have the ability to quarantine a few animals at a time. We also are working on a building to grow fodder for our animals. We have a large hay field that is being conditioned to also supplement our hay needs. every year we go through about 150 round bales and several hundred square bales of hay.
When rescue souls meet
Here is a picture of quarter horse, Sassy, one of the original rescued horses, with two rescued boxers adopted by Billie & Chris. In addition to the donkeys and horses, Billie & Chris have rescued dogs for the last 18 years. The picture to the right is the day the pups got to the farm and Sassy was the first to greet them. One should wonder what these souls are saying to each other. Our hope is that Sassy is assuring them, "You are safe now."