About the Director
I am mother, grandmother, wife and avid horse lover. I am a simple woman with deep roots in the farming industry. My mother has often stated to me that my first word was pony. My first sentence was, I want a pony. My deep love affair with horses began the summer I turned 6. My family went to visit a cousin who raised quarter horses. As we pulled in the driveway, I laid eyes on the most beautiful palomino stallion I had ever seen. Hancock's My Bobby was everything a horse crazy little girl had ever dreamed of.
I grew up in a farm family of 6 children. There was not allot left over for
things like, horses, riding lessons and the dream horse I wanted so badly.
When I was 7, my dad gave me my very first dairy calf to raise. I was so
disappointed, I wanted a pony. So I raised my calf and she was broke to ride and would come when I called her. She had a halter of rope and I rode her all over the place. When I was 10 we got a set of ponies, They were bad tempered little guys and I spent more time dusting off the seat of my pants than I did riding. I would beg borrow and ride any time the chance was given to me. When I was 15, I bought my first horse. He was a 3 month old foal named Cochise. I raised him for 2 years and learned a lot from him. When I was 16 I bought a 17 hand warm blood named Chief Joseph. He looked like Black Beauty and was a dream to ride in an arena.
Outside the arena, I learned every reason he was sold to me so cheaply.
Hard mouth, running away, under tree branches was a favorite trick of his to remove his rider. He could jump anything and I learned how to stay on a jumping horse. I loved him and he was a great lesson in many ways. When I was 18 I spent the summer working on the very quarter horse ranch, where My Bobby was owned. However he had died the previous year in a fight with another stallion. Over the summer I trained horses, cared for a stallion named Four Socks (Bobby's son and twin).
I was lucky to know these horses and to have the opportunity to learn from one of the best breeders and trainers in the area at this time.(the late 70's) I would watch buyers come and purchase his weanlings for $2000 to $7000 unhandled. I knew then these were indeed special horses.
I rode horses frequently and at every opportunity, until my marriage in
1980. After this time I did not have horses until 2003 when my husband
bought me a little PMU stud colt that we named Gus. He was a joy and a handful. It was at this time I learned about the plight of the American horse and it sickened me. In the spring of 2004 I started Epona Horse Rescue. It was then and still is a total labor of love.
The only real requirement for running a successful rescue is, a true desire to help the horses, a willingness to learn all that is needed to care for them properly and a desire to always keep the horses first. The biggest mistake made in rescue is thinking with your heart and not your head. There are so many horses that need all of us.
We struggled in the beginning and it was a very hard time. I learned a lot about horses and a lot about people. When I do not know something, I ask for help. When a situation arises I have not experienced before I learn from it. I have had to cope with the "you are not qualified" attitude. I will not apologize for what I did not know when I started rescue. I will promise the horses they will always have the best I have to offer.
Hold a dying foal in your arms, and say good bye. It will hurt. Make the decision to have a weary senior with health problems euthanized. It will hurt. And then have the honor of knowing some of the best the horse world had to offer. The horses need all of us, with our unique gifts, talents and desires to help each horse. Ego has no place in rescue or in our hearts.
Unified we can make a difference for every horse we come in contact with. I believe it is only through unity we can be the most productive in the
struggle to save the horses.
My name is Lin. I love horses. With your help Epona will work to save them until the work is no longer needed.