Melinda Bytella’s love for animals began while she was growing up on her father’s dairy farm. Now with her own farm in Fulton County, she provides rehabilitation to former racehorses and finds them loving, new homes.

“I always wanted to help animals,” Bytella said.

Bytella grew up on Kramer Farm in Clearfield Township. She graduated from Butler Senior High School in 2002 before continuing her education at Westminster College.

It was there that she joined the equestrian team and spent many years learning about horses.

Bytella rehabilitates and rehomes thoroughbreds, a breed developed for horse racing and known for its speed, agility and spirit.

“A lot of people who are searching for horses will say no (to) thoroughbreds,” Bytella said. “They don’t want to deal with the fact that they can be a bit reactive and high-strung (when) handled in different ways.”

With a combination of compassion and patience, Bytella has noticed how these “intimidating” animals turn into highly affectionate horses that even give kisses.

“We had one that loved if you scratched her neck in the perfect spot, she would stick out her tongue,” Bytella said. “She would stand there all day with her tongue out while you scratched.”

“(With) the first couple that we got in, we realized that underneath, they have this loving personality,” she said. “They want to feel compassion, too.”

Four years ago, Bytella and her husband, Joseph, bought their farm, Timber Valley. Since moving in, they have rehabilitated and rehomed 20 horses.

“We moved in with one horse, and then we got him a buddy,” Bytella said. “Then we quickly started going to auctions and realized how many horses needed help, and things have grown from there.”

Bytella said there typically are around 100 horses at each auction they attend.

“Some of them can fall into really good hands, and some of them have been in good hands before, but then you see ones that have been neglected or mistrained and are scared and can end up in a bad home,” Bytella said.

While attending the auctions, Bytella said she was “amazed” when she became aware of the full scope of the mistreatment of thoroughbred horses once they retired from racing or breeding.

“There’s a stereotype that comes with the off-the-track thoroughbred, that it’s extremely hard for the trainers and owners to find them a home,” Bytella said. “Unfortunately, they can fall in the wrong hands. I think that was what sparked us.”

At the start, Bytella and her family would purchase one horse at a time from the auctions.

For the past year, Bytella has been working with a horse breeder in Charles Town, W.Va., to rehome her retired racing and breeding horses when her estate needed to be liquidated last fall.

“When her horses are ready to retire or she is downsizing, those are the horses we’ve been getting to rehome,” Bytella said. “In a weekend, we got eight. It definitely has increased (while) working with her, because she might call on a Wednesday and needs a horse gone by Friday.”

In addition to across Pennsylvania, the horses have been rehomed to multiple neighboring states, including Maryland, West Virginia and New York.

The majority of the horses have been purchased by their new owners. Bytella said they also have leased two horses to families.

“We have leased to people who had children, so they weren’t looking to necessarily buy,” Bytella said. “Most of them have been personal horses, and there have been some lesson horses. The trouble with selling is that you might not keep in contact with them, whereas if you lease, they maintain your (horse) so you can keep a better eye on them and make sure that they don’t fall into bad hands.”

Most of the horses come to Bytella healthy, just needing to be groomed or have vaccinations updated. However, some horses occasionally arrive sick.

She decided to keep one horse for her family after it came to them following a medical emergency.

“I fell in love with her,” Bytella said. “She miscarried, then got sick and needed help through that process.”

Another horse living at Timber Valley earned more than $400,000 during her racing career.

“She was extremely competitive, and now she’s just old and happy to plod along,” Bytella said.

According to Bytella, most of the horses take around six months to be rehabilitated and feel like “part of the family.”

“We’re not pushy with it,” Bytella said. “Our approach with them has been to teach them to calm down and that they are a part of the family. We have four kids, and they help brush them. We have goats running around and things like that. They get to see all of those things and learn what it’s like to be a part of a family versus being all business.”

In addition to rehabilitating retired racehorses, Bytella is a second-grade teacher.

She has taken horses to school, camps, and Halloween trunk-or-treat events where the horses arrived in funny hats.

Six horses currently are being rehabilitated at Timber Valley and will be available to be rehomed in the future.

Bytella hopes to begin taking more than one horse in at a time so she can increase the number of helped and rehomed horses.

One of the mares Bytella took in during last fall had a foal at the end of May.

“The plan is to eventually send her to the track, but (we) know that when she is done with that career, she has a good home to come back to,” she said.