Attention, horse lovers: ASPCA Help a Horse Day is coming up, and there are many ways you can make a difference for equines this weekend. While Help a Horse Day is Sunday, April 26, the ASPCA and equine rescues, sanctuaries and animal shelters across the nation will be celebrating April 24-26.

Here are three ways you can participate:

Attend a Help a Horse Day celebration in your area.
Help a Horse Day is the perfect time to support your local equine rescues, which work hard to save animals who have been starved, abused or abandoned. These groups will host open houses, education programs, spring festivals, hoedowns, barn raisings, 5K walks and other fun-filled events throughout the weekend. Visit our directory to find an event near you.

Urge Congress to pass the SAFE Act, a federal ban on horse slaughter. 
Horse slaughter is a cruel, predatory industry, and although there is currently no horse slaughter within the U.S., approximately 150,000 American horses are trucked to Mexico and Canada to be slaughtered for human consumption every year. Please email your U.S. senators and representative in Washington, D.C., and urge them to pass the Safeguard American Food Exports (SAFE) Act of 2015. This legislation would ban the stateside slaughter of horses for human consumption as well as the transport of American horses over our borders for that purpose.

Enter our Help a Horse Day Photo Contest.
Share a photo of your favorite equine on your social media networks using the hashtag #HelpAHorseContest—tell us what you love most about him or her for the chance to win a special ASPCA horse lover’s prize pack!

Thanks for helping us protect horses on this special day and all year long.