In January 2007, Tinia Creamer watched as an apartment buildingin Huntington burned to the ground. Her sister and two brothers wereinside.
There was nothing she could do to save them, and in the void hersiblings' loss left in her life, she turned to her lifelong love ofhorses, and saving what she could save.
Her work soon grew from simply finding a horse here and there,working to heal it body and mind as best she could, to somethinglarger.
By 2008, a mission that had started so quietly and personallybecame a collective effort with Jessie and Tony Hardesty of Kentuckyand Sonora Winds of Hamlin. The Heart of Phoenix Equine Rescue wasborn.
In 2011, Creamer was instrumental in one of the largest horseseizures in the state when dozens of starving Arabians were takenfrom a Hampshire County farm.
'When we started, I realized that our state lacked the vastnetwork of rescue groups most other states possess,' said Creamer,who lives on a farm in Huntington with her husband.
'I saw when people observed abuse or neglect, they didn't evenknow where to turn and that county humane officers had littletraining or knowledge about what to do for horses in need. Wherewere horses to go if they were seized?'
By the time the Hampshire County case unfolded, Creamer and hergroup had made sure there was a place for those horses to go, fostercare in which for them to heal, and an adoption process to guaranteesafe placement and a future.
The Heart of Phoenix Equine Rescue, one of only two horse rescuegroups in West Virginia and the closest horse rescue to theCharleston area, serves West Virginia, Kentucky, and Ohio.
The primary thrust of their work involves rescuing horses inneed, bringing them back to health, and placing horses in new homeswith adoption contracts. They often work with police and humaneofficers in seizure situations.
They also offer networking services to assist owners who can nolonger care for their horses and wish to voluntarily turn them overto new homes.
'Horses used to have a value and price tag that made even thosewithout concern for their well being on a humane level willing toprovide for their needs in hopes of a return on their investments,'Creamer said. 'But that isn't true today.'
Creamer points to the economy as a driving factor in rising horseneglect, abandonment, and abuse.
When she started rescuing horses, she recalls her father'ssurprise. Her father, in his early 80s at the time, grew up in a daywhen giving a horse away would have been unimaginable. He shook hishead and said, 'My, my ... must be something wrong with them then.Nobody gives a horse away.'
As she relates, in her father's day a family couldn't survivewithout at least a work mule to ride and use in the fields. Manyfamilies purchased horses on payments. Boys worked summer aftersummer to afford a horse or pony of their own. The family mule orhorse was as important then as a vehicle is today and even more sobecause they needed their animals to produce food from the fields.
The horse's role in society has changed dramatically. It'speople, says Creamer, not horses, who are at fault as people cutcosts by turning horses loose or starving them in barren fields.Horses in rescues today often have the highest quality breeding andtraining behind them.
'Horses face an even more frightening future than neglected catsand dogs,' Creamer added. 'Because of their size, they are oftenstarved to a point which cats and dogs do not typically suffer. Fewpeople are aware of the state the American horse is in at thistime.'
The plight of horses today was no more evident than in theArabian horse seizure, which was the biggest case to date in whichthe Heart of Phoenix Equine Rescue has taken part.
In the fall of 2010, Creamer was made aware of a very largeArabian breeder in the northern part of the state who had manyhorses underweight and dying from neglect and abuse. The herd wasreported to be predominately Straight Egyptian desert-bred Arabian,a bloodline comprising less than 2 percent of all Arabian horsesworldwide.
'As an owner of Straight Egyptian Arabians myself, 'Creamer said,'and a girl who grew up reading and re-reading 'The Black Stallion'by Walter Farley, something about these horses I had not even seenpulled at my heart in a special way. This tug remained with me forover a year when I logically should have given up hope of seeingthem saved.'
The person who reported the horses didn't know the farm'slocation. She had only seen photos.
Creamer went to work calling, emailing, and researching recordsin an attempt to find the farm's location, as well as speaking withthe state Humane Society of the United States director, who joinedher in trying to locate the farm.
By early 2011, with many dead ends under her belt, Creamer madeemail contact with the daughter of the farm's owner. The daughterwasn't willing to disclose the location of the farm, but she didreveal enough to establish the initial report and also offered torelease two geldings, a stallion and two bred mares from their herd.
The horses were delivered to a Heart of Phoenix rescue contact atSleepy Hollow Stables in New Martinsville.
'The daughter of the breeder dropped the starving horses offwhile driving $70,000 worth of new truck and horse trailer,' Creamersaid.
'Out of the trailer, over a few deliveries, came the five horses.The mares and one of the geldings were so emaciated they were barelyable to stand, small shadows of the proud desert horses one whoknows equines would expect in this breed. They had awful skinconditions and parasite loads so heavy that I doubted a few of themcould possibly survive.'
All of these horses survived, even thrived, in foster care. Allfound homes, some in Milton and others in Indiana. The mares bothwent on to deliver healthy fillies.
But this rescue did not end there.
Convinced there were more horses at the same farm, Creamercontinued to make inquiries in a dogged pursuit to leave no starvinghorse behind. Over a year from the time she had first heard of thecase, a young woman messaged Creamer on Facebook saying that sheknew of people who were starving their Arabian horses on a farm inHampshire County.
In a matter of days, through Creamer's unflagging nose on thetrail, the Hampshire County Animal Control seized 22 starvingArabians. Together with the state HSUS director, Summer Wyatt, andone of the board members from the Heart of Phoenix, Sonora Winds,Creamer made the six-hour trip to assist in the rescue.
Creamer described the scene: 'When we arrived and walked into thefield, we were met with swollen bellies from parasites, horrifyingskin conditions, neglected hooves, and skeletal frames. The mareswere mostly pregnant or had foaled recently. There was not a healthyhorse among the group.'
Wyatt asked Creamer to identify the horses, which were allbelieved to be registered, and to screen and place the horses.
She used old photos, markings and online records to get started,soon turning to a network of Arabian preservationists for help bothin her research and in fostering horses during their recovery andhealing. She received calls from all over the United States and theworld, some from people who had previously owned the horses. It tookthree months for all of the horses to be identified and placed inscreened homes.
While she has been involved in many rescues now, the case of theArabians is close to her heart.
'To have been a part of that rescue was a proud moment in mypersonal life,' she said.
When Creamer relates how she felt when her two brothers andsister were killed in that fire, she says, 'I was left with barebones,' describing herself in much the way she describes the horsesshe rescues. She heals herself as she heals them. She intends tokeep saving horses for the rest of her life.
President of the Heart of Phoenix Equine Rescue, Creamer notesthat 2012 started for the group with their 501(c)3 non-profit statusofficially pending. Heart of Phoenix has placed horses in almostevery state across the United States and even into Canada.
'America was built, wars were won, and families fed on the backsof horses,' Creamer said. 'They have been icons in our countrythroughout our history. Horses saw Americans through so many timesof need. We have to find a way to help them now during their time ofneed.'
While not everyone can offer a home to a horse, people can alsodonate money for feed, vaccinations and other supplies for horsesundergoing recovery or share information to build awareness.
Creamer also needs volunteers who have stable space to househorses while they recover and before they are adopted.
Visit the Heart of Phoenix Equine Rescue website atwww.equinerescue.weebly.com for more information about how to help.
CRAIG CUNNINGHAM/DAILY MAIL Tinia Creamer, co-founder of TheHeart of Phoenix Equine Rescue, was instrumental in one of thelargest horse seizures in the state last year when dozens ofstarving Arabians were taken from a Hampshire County farm. Shownhere with Snow, one of the many horses she is nursing back tohealth, Creamer lost three family members in an apartment fire in2007. In the aftermath of that tragedy, she said she turned to herlove of horses.
CRAIG CUNNINGHAM/DAILY MAIL Rescued horses graze on grass at afarm in Ashland, Ky.
Creamer holds Snows head while veterinarian Chad Brown performsdental work. A horses teeth are integral to its health. If it cantproperly chew food, it wont be able to properly digest it and willlose weight. At right, Creamer gives some love and affection toDodger, one of several horses getting a second chance at life at anAshland, Ky. farm.
Writer Suzanne McMinn lives in Roane County, where she writesevery day in her blog, Chickens in the Road, atwww.chickensintheroad.com.
