Coffee Clutch with Dutch Henry: Feature Friday

Friday, August 30, 2013

Feature Friday – "Volunteers"

Howdy Folks,

Live and Let Live Farm Rescue is a busy place. Teresa Paradise and the rescue welcome any sentient being that needs help, a place to recover, a new start. The lovely farm tucked in the forest of NH has horses, goats, donkeys, chickens, dogs, cats, pigs, parrots and guinea pigs, and many more animals in all stages of rebounding. This magnificent rescue was/is the dream of one woman, Teresa - but it is the devotion, and the dream of many other wonderful folks, too. They are the caring and tireless people who change bandages, sit up all night with a sick horse, feed over 200 animals each day, and do countless other chores, all with love and dedication. They are the volunteers.

Volunteers at Live and Let Live Farm Rescue attending my "Therapy for Therapy Horses" clinic

As I visited Live and Let Live this past weekend I was once again struck with admiration for the hard work, caring and love of the many volunteers going about their duties. Never a complaint, always happy to do whatever is needed to be done, and there is always plenty to do here - and at every rescue, therapeutic riding center, horse sanctuary or any of the thousands of non-profits that exist solely to help others.

Traveling about as I sometimes do to visit these wonderful organizations, or just visiting on the phone for interviews to write the stories about, "People and Horses Helping Horses and People," I always notice the volunteers. I thank God for them.

Volunteers give up large chunks of their lives, so that other lives may be made better. Volunteers spend their own money for gas, drive their own trucks and cars so that others might be transported to the healing and loving places. Volunteers work in the heat and the cold so that others might be a little more comfortable. Volunteers sit up late at night pouring over paperwork to fill out just one more grant application so hay, fuel, feed and equipment might be purchased. Volunteers organize fund raisers to keep the supplies coming. And the electric and vet bills paid.

Volunteers sharing love at Beauty's Haven Equine Rescue

Volunteers put their heads together to help solve problems. They share new and inventive ideas that create better ways to help those without voices. They travel at their own expense to get accredited, certified so that they might be of greater help. Volunteers cry with the lonely, the hurting. They wipe the tears from sad faces. They laugh with the joyous and celebrate even the smallest victories over challenges. They cradle those who cross the Rainbow Bridge. They hug those who must let go.

Heartland Horse Heroes therapeutic riding center

Many things make it possible for these wonderful organizations to help so many, humans and animals. Today there are hundreds of Equine Assisted Therapy centers helping folks with challenges ranging from Veterans with physical and emotional challenges to battered women and at-risk youths as well as many other healing places. And the hundreds of sanctuaries to protect our wild horses, rehabilitate ex-show and race horses, PMU mares and so many other horses who need our voice, our love, our caring. Those voices are the voices made possible by the devotion of volunteers.

As a writer and horse advocate I humbly tip my hat to the wonderful and selfless volunteers who help so many. God Bless and Thank You.

Gitty Up ~ Dutch Henry

2 comments:

Teresa ParadisAugust 30, 2013 at 9:42 AM
Dutch Thank you A wonderful, truthful and touching blog, bless all you also do to help the voiceless in need and beyond.
Teresa
Live and Let Live Farm Rescue
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Welcome to the Coffee Clutch

Welcome to the Coffee Clutch, a happy place to visit. I write uplifting stories about a wide variety of subjects from horses to birds and nature, to love and family and friends. Sometimes I'll post excerpts from stories I've written for Equine Publications. Sometimes I'll post about writing itself. Coffee Clutch got its name because I often write while enjoying my morning coffee in the barn with my mare Kessy, and all our critters. Join us here for fun conversation and stories I promise will make you feel good.

It's For The Horses

This is not a book about riding, or training horses. It is a book on my thoughts, ideas and suggestions on how folks might find the joy in doing things for the horse, with the horses’ point of view as the leading guide. My hope is to help as many people as possible learn to hear the horse, feel their spirit, and in that way help horses everywhere. Over the years I’ve met and worked with remarkable people and horses who taught me about their feelings, their joys, their sadness, and their spirit. As a horse advocate everything I do is from the horse’s perspective, including this little book. Every story, idea, suggestion and thought on these pages will be to suggest and share thoughts and ideas on how to maximize a relationship between horse and human—from the horse’s point of view.

Tom Named by Horse

The only man ever to offer Tom respect is Red Cloud. The only woman to give him love is Red Cloud’s granddaughter. Struggling with his own personal demons, Tom finds himself wedged between honoring that friendship and staying true to the depths of his conscience. Amid a backdrop of tumultuous social upheaval, he finds nothing prepared him, the woman he loves or Chief Red Cloud, for the changes about to thunder into their lives, sweeping them helplessly into the tides of human conflict and historical drama. Available on Amazon.

From The Banks OF Little Bear Creek

The Tom Named by Horse Saga continues. Three years after the death of Tall Dog, Tom Named By Horse and Soft Cloud have turned the little soddy, the lands granted them by Red Cloud, and the lean-to barn into a thriving horse ranch, fulfilling Tom’s dream. The Plains Indians Wars, or Red Cloud’s war, is mostly behind them, and the lands have had their transformation as Red Cloud’s vision had warned years earlier. Trailing horses from the ranch to Denver city has become an annual event for Tom, Buck and the rest, and this is the story of that trail. In the spirit of a good old John Wayne movie, vengeance, cattle and horse thieves, a dirty sheriff and corrupt mayor, and a wedding make this year’s drive a ride you’ll want to tag along on.