Charity Campaign for New Draft Horses

Kids love horses and every child should have an opportunity to experience horses in person. Sid and Ice, Positive Energy Outdoors’ team of gentle draft horses, adore children!

Positive Energy Outdoors is located just north of Duluth, where at the turn of the last century, hundreds of teams, just like Sid and Ice, worked in the woods during the logging heyday in Northern Minnesota. One hundred years later, most kids don’t have any exposure to horses. For some, horses can even feel scary.

Sid and Ice have been lovingly groomed, harnessed and driven by thousands of children over nearly a decade of work together as a team at Positive Energy Outdoors. At 23 years old, they are still going strong, but we are getting ready for when they tell us it’s time to retire.

You can help us purchase a team of child-friendly horses by becoming a Grandma’s Marathon or Garry Bjorklund half marathon charity runner and raising funds through CrowdRise.com.

With your help, Sid and Ice can help train a younger team to take their place once they retire. Children participating in Positive Energy Outdoors’ programs will continue to have opportunities to drive a team of gentle draft horses, and the new team will have a loving, permanent home.

Without support from charity runners, a beginner-safe team will be out of reach financially. When Sid and Ice retire, our draft horse program may end.

We’re researching potential draft horse teams that are 12-15 years old within 200 miles of Duluth. Once we find the right team, we’ll bring them home to Duluth and get them ready to welcome kids in our programs.

As we have begun researching draft horse teams that meet our criteria, we have found that it will cost $5,000-$12,000 for a team that will work for our program. Our fundraising goal factors in the cost of purchasing a sound, gentle, well trained draft horse team, and the time it will take to transport them to Duluth.

Without support from charity runners, a beginner-safe team will be out of reach financially. When Sid and Ice retire, our draft horse program may end.

But with your help, Sid and Ice can help train a younger team to take their place once they retire. Children participating in Positive Energy Outdoors’ programs will continue to have opportunities to drive a team of gentle draft horses, and the new team will have a loving, permanent home.

We will then expand opportunities for children to groom, harness and drive draft horses once the new team arrives!

You can help us purchase a team of child-friendly horses by becoming a Grandma’s Marathon or Garry Bjorklund half marathon charity runner and raising funds through CrowedRise.com.

By joining our charity running team and meeting our fundraising minimum, you will have a guaranteed entry in the 2019 Grandma’s Marathon or the Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon on June 22, 2019. 

Runners will qualify for their guaranteed entry by raising a minimum of $750 by April 30, 2019.  We strongly suggest you set a goal above the fundraising minimum–you can continue fundraising until race day! 

You are personally responsible for meeting the fundraising minimum.  If your minimum goal is not reached by April 30, 2019, the difference will be charged to your credit card on file with CrowdRise.  For example, if you raise $675 by April 30, your credit card will be charged $75, which will allow you to reach the fundraising minimum. 

You will only receive a charity code once you have reached the fundraising minimum–there are no exceptions.  All donations are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.