Veganacious » horses

Fall at Serenity Springs

veganacious — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 09:55:47 +0000

For our November trip to Serenity Springs Animal Sanctuary, a couple of new critters had come and a couple had gone on to their final resting place. Our task was to build a chicken coop for the birds, so they can be kept safe at night from the predators that come around after dark. The design was simple, with a walkway for Terry, the director of the sanctuary, to gain access to feed the birds and check on them. They will be free to run and peck around the property during the day, and will be safely inside their coop after hours. According to the latest census, Serenity Springs now has: 90 pigs, 11 cats, 6 horses, 3 mini horses, 4 donkeys, 7 dogs, 1 goat and 2 steer. Oh, and one human, Terry DeGaw, who keeps the whole thing operational. She maintains an “open door” policy, so feel free to stop by for a visit.

One of the new residents is a cute but somewhat shy little gray and white pig; adorable, but still a little people-leary. And a new dog arrived, too, a part border collie with the whitest white and blackest black shiny coat, Josie Mae. She couldn’t get enough attention and was content to follow the visitors around the property as they worked. Like many of the dumped or abandoned animals Terry rescues, she was in bad shape when she was discovered, but you would never know it to see her today, with her healthy, happy demeanor.

A new program has been started to help with fundraising for the sanctuary. Anyone in Texas who has a Kroger card can take a printed barcode in when they next shop, and once scanned by the checker, a percentage of all purchases go to the sanctuary at no cost to the card holder. When you are supporting over 100 animals, it all helps. Imagine the vet bills alone! Please download and print the bar code, take it to Kroger is you shop there, and help the sanctuary out at the same time.

Going back to the sanctuary and getting more and more familiar with the animals makes it harder to leave every time. The fall weather was lovely, and all the leaves were every hue from gold to green to red and orange. The pigs were starting to nestle down in their hay; the cats were hiding in their little plastic bins (each has a hole and each is filled with blankets, so the cats can stay warm inside). When I approached, one after another little nose suddenly appeared, curious to see who was visiting them. I went with our Meetup director Briggitte Dix to feed the pigs and horses some veggies she brought from home – mostly home grown and organic. Brigitte went back to give all the animals their Christmas presents. Happy Holidays, Serenity Springs!

Serenity Springs Sanctuary

veganacious — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 09:35:19 +0000

Meetup director working at the sanctuary

On twenty-five wooded acres in Forestburg, Texas is an animal rescue and sanctuary called Serenity Springs. Forestburg is steeped in old west history; but there are lots of untold stories right in the sanctuary. Our vegan meetup goes out periodically to try to render some assistance, so I had perused their website prior to my first trip out to see the animals. Despite the website photos, I was ill-prepared for all the animals (well over one hundred) and their amazing guardian, Terry DeGaw. Terry has been at this game of tending her flock for nearly twenty years now. She is a compassionate woman whose kindness has allowed many animals to survive and flourish in a peaceful setting when others tossed them aside. Many of the animals had been abused and neglected, or nearly slaughtered, prior to coming to Serenity Springs, so Terry truly offers them a second chance. It also means her days are long and hard, but you will never hear her complain. There are dozens of water troughs and bellies that need to be filled, and animals that need grooming, nursing, loving, spoiling. Terry does it all.

Buddy abandoned

Behind the beautiful serene setting and the happy and healthy animals, lies tragedy and suffering. This is a photo of Buddy, a beautiful little miniature horse that was left by the side of the road with no way to care for himself. But once in the care of Terry, he quickly filled out and today is a sweet and feisty young gelding. Some of the animals came to Serenity Springs because their people got tired of them, or had to move, or felt they could no longer afford their care. For Terry, this is a lifetime commitment. The only day off she has had in the past nearly twenty years was to take two days off for surgery. She does not do just the bare minimum, either. When we joined her in feeding the animals, it was not a fast process, because Terry chats with each one and checks anything that seems amiss. To sponsor Buddy or one of the other animals, go here.

Buddy today

Gyro

Terry DeGaw

The Sanctuary is a 503c non-profit organization, but Terry is not receiving much help. She does offer sponsorship for the animals and a few do have sponsors. The sponsors send a monthly check to provide for their animal and often send treats to make that animal’s life extra special. When I arrived and approached the Keystone Klan, a group of farm pigs, they started nibbling on my shoes and chatting at me; I think they were scolding me for not bringing them the oatmeal cookies their sponsor usually provides. Next time I will know better than to come empty-handed! Terry has a large family to feed, and the recession has not helped out much since, like most non-profits, donations are down. There are always vet bills as you might imagine, and the feed bills, and then the bills the rest of us have to pay just to keep a roof over our heads. Terry has to deal with those as well. To make ends meet, she takes on another job in the evenings, at the local hospice organization. Comforting others til the very end of a very long day is typical of Terry.

Along with numerous farm and pot-belly pigs, there are cats, dogs (including a three-legged dog that can run and keep up with the others), a peacock, several chickens and roosters, cows, horses (including a blind horse), two miniature horses, donkeys, goats, and a variety of fowl that live at the sanctuary. Some of the horses are in large paddocks, others roam around the property, always staying near other animals or humans. After grooming the horses and delivering hay to animals staying on a nearby property, it was feeding time. This is a long process, because there are so many animals to feed. Terry knows each and every one by name and will proudly tell you their personal history, no different than any proud parent.

Potbellies

Keystone Klan

Calypso

Chacka and Kia

Jazzy Joe

Pig barn

Bogart

The sanctuary is aptly named, for there is a sense of peacefulness that permeates the area. There is so much Tender Loving Care that you can tell just by walking about that the animals are loved. The pigs have igloos, barns, and shelters along with water troughs, feed troughs, and swimming pools. There is an area looks like a pig spa where several pigs seemed to enjoy splashing about. One little character was walking around with his igloo on top, doing a good impression of a turtle. There are lots of trees and shade from the sun in each paddock and pen. It is very clean and well kept, despite the lack of help. The dogs roam about freely and the cats own the back porch, where they have multi-level housing. Some of the cats are not very sociable, so Terry just gives them their space. All of them, though, as with all of the animals, were so lovable and deserving of their lives. I think the only animal on the property that is not getting enough attention and care is Terry herself. Let’s change that if we can!

Ways to help

Even if it is not possible to sponsor an animal, please consider giving what you can. A $10 donation from several people will really help with vet and feed bills.

Click here to donate via Capital One:

To vote for Serenity Springs to receive part of a $25,000 grant, please go here.

To donate to the sanctuary using PayPal, go here.

For more information about donating or volunteering, contact Terry DeGaw:

email her at serenitysprings@wisewb.com or call (940) 964-2318

Summer Friends

veganacious — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 09:43:10 +0000

I had a privileged but isolated childhood. I used to drive every weekend possible to get away from home and visit my father on his horse ranch in the Bradbury hills near Santa Anita. I loved horses fiercely and longed to have my own horse to love. I took equitation and dressage, as well as jumping classes, but had to be content with the rental horses. In fact, I spent most of my spare time at the public stables, walking the horses, brushing them, and being a general nuisance. It was the best part of my life. Still there was the niggling little bothers that crept up – like the fact that my two cousins both owned horses which were privately stabled across the street from the public stables. The final injustice from my youthful perspective was when my little sister, who rarely went down to the barn, was given two Shetland Ponies, and later a Palomino. My little sister was cute as a button, I will agree; but I was the only one in the family that was truly horse crazy. My father and I had a very distant relationship; he had married the widow of his horse trainer, who had died suddenly of a heart attack. My new stepmother came complete with three kids, all very sweet, who won my father’s focus. It wasn’t fun to be the throw-away kid from the first marriage, the one reduced to the status of visitor. Since my father owned a stable of thoroughbreds, though, it seemed reasonable to hope I might get some attention from my him in that area, but it never seemed to happen.

The Summer of Hope

One summer, my father’s hired hand took me to see a wonderful show horse that was for sale, and I thought my turn had finally come. He took me to inspect the horse and let me ride him – a beautiful animal with top-notch bloodlines. I was thrilled beyond all imagination. But when we went home, things quickly fell apart. Someone called my father, or so he said, and told him that the horse was too much for me and they were pulling him out of the sale. I was crushed. I was struggling with the difficulty of a relationship with the father I adored; I was the awkward middle child. My older sister spent several years living with my father in the household before my parents divorced and they were close; and my little sister seemed to trigger his guilt, as she was born during their second doomed-to-fail attempt at marriage so she got most of the gift-giving. I had no special position.To make matters worse, I looked the most like my father, and I secretly believe I triggered some horrible self-loathing that he had. That summer of being 15 I prayed: just let me have one good summer with my father, just this one, just this one. But it was not to be.

Later, my father had one of his race horses recuperating in one of the paddocks. This horse had an injured tendon and was most likely going to be retired. I spent every day walking alongside him in the paddock, talking to him, until he began to run up to the fence when he saw me coming. His name was Lucky Cover and he was a beautiful, sleek, black animal, proud yet friendly. He was my sole companion that difficult, dreadful summer of my adolescent longing. My father finally told me he was going to give me Lucky because he was not of much use for racing any longer. I was elated and hopeful, but not so secure that I could fully exhale. I was old enough to know how these things usually turn out, but the flame of hope was still flickering. And I waited and longed for the day we could ride together and get out of the confines of the paddocks.

Summers and Winters

Of course, I did have to go back to my unhappy childhood home and readjust to the travails of my everyday life. But when a weekend would come, I would be traveling whenever possible to the ranch. I couldn’t wait to get down to the paddocks and see my pal Lucky, but one day, to my dismay, he was gone. In his stead was a beautiful baby steer with the most soulful eyes I had ever seen, gazing at me with intensity and fear from the center of the paddock, where he usually stayed. I gave him my usual patient presence, but he was always very skittish and never approached the fence. I felt so badly for him – so little, so alone. I knew just how he felt.

I asked my father what had happened to Lucky, who was supposed to be my horse. Oh, he said, I sent him to Mexico to try to get a few more races out of him before we retire him. I was very upset, because I knew this was not a safe practice for Lucky as he was still recuperating from an injury that I was told rendered him unfit for racing. Before much time had elapsed, I heard that he had to be destroyed after a further injury following a race at Calexico. It seemed so disrespectful to send him down there, to die all alone, that beautiful and proud animal, my friend. I was devastated and ran back to the bathroom and locked the door. My father was never much for emotion, so I had to let mine out privately. I was filled with grief. My father seemed to think it was quite quizzical that I would be upset – he didn’t suffer, he told me. But I did: I thought we were both invisible to my father, Lucky and I, phantoms that floated through his life and disappeared in the mist.

Baby, Too

The little baby steer was my only companion over the next several visits. I fell in love with his beautiful muzzle and his sweet face, but he never really seemed to trust me, never allowed me to get near. I soon learned why he might have been so fearful, for his was to be a short and vicious life; the approach of a human must have signified absolute terror for him. One day my father told me not to go down to the barn. He was very stern so I obeyed him. Later I learned they had slit the throat of the baby and hung him up to bleed out. I was sick.

Lucky and the baby both had short, lonely lives because they were treated like commodities, like things rather than beings. The beautiful and privileged setting of thoroughbred horse racing affords a privileged life for some, but hides a nightmare of suffering for many of the animals. I survived my childhood and felt the confusion of my early, erratic life into my adulthood. Experiencing the life of thoroughbreds and horse people by summer, being a kid with a single mom during the winters, gave me a breadth of experience that helped me when I later became a psychotherapist; I learned a lot from my childhood. In later years, my father and I have become acquainted and forged a positive relationship. And animals have helped me get through some of the tough times in my life; I have come to know them, to see how they have individual personalities, to recognize their feelings, their ability to dream and their wish to avoid pain and suffering. I was only beginning to see how cruel the racing industry could be. But I can tell what I now know, I can try to make the world a little less brutal. I can respect their lives enough to give them this space on the white paper of my life.

Please consider the animals and please go vegan!