Horseytalk.net Special Interview
Yvonne Wall
“These animals are my calling,” says horse rescue founder. “They're my babies.”
“Gunnar, want a carrot?”
The buckskin horse stands in the sun, not moving for a minute.
“The vet was just here and he's a little groggy from the sedation,” Yvonne Wall explains, pointing out a bandage on the animal's front leg.
Wall is the mother and alpha female at Forever Free, a two-acre horse rescue in Bermuda Dunes. At each of the 16 misted stalls, she is greeted with instant recognition.
There's Rio, an 11-year old chestnut, born with three bad ankles. “His legs could have probably been fixed when he was a baby,” Wall says, as the horse snorts softly into her neck. “But he's a happy boy.”
Blue, rescued from a Hollywood riding stable, is more reserved. “They just left him to starve to death in his stall,” she says.
Bella was used unsuccessfully as a brood mare, but she miscarried her foals. By the time she came to Wall, Bella's harness had been on her face so long it had to be peeled off.
Maverick was found by the Riverside County Department of Animal Services wandering in the desert. The former race horse had a broken jaw and rope burns on his legs.
“Their stories will break your heart,” Wall, 54, says, holding back tears.
To make up for their pasts, Wall works every day to give the animals better lives. Since 2003, 38 horses have found a home at Forever Free.
“She is the most compassionate person I know,” Wall's husband, Doug, says.
If there is a way to bring a sick animal back to health — from medications to special diets — Wall will make it happen. She calls on doctor of veterinary medicine James Clark for their vaccinations, blood and dental work, and other needs.
And if the animals can't be helped and are suffering, Wall makes sure that they have a dignified death comforted by loving hands.
“These animals are my calling,” she says. “They're my babies.”
“Think of it this way,” Clark says. “If Granny is old and sick, you wouldn't turn her out, but that's what people do to these animals. Yvonne takes them in and cares for them.”
Before she took in Squirt, her first horse in 2003, the Oklahoma native had very little contact with animals — especially ones that can weigh up to to 1,400 pounds. “I wasn't around horses much before I met Squirt, but there was just something about him,” she says.
Wall had seen the horse standing alone in a yard close to her house. “One day I stopped and asked if I could pet him,” she says. “I didn't even know the right way to give him a carrot when I met him. But I learned.”
Squirt's owner asked Wall if she wanted to buy him, but at the time she wasn't ready for the responsibility. When a “horse for sale” sign appeared a few weeks later, “I talked to my husband about it and we went and got him.”
Squirt needed companionship, Wall figured, and when she saw an advertisement for Gunnar and Pentar, who came as a pair, “We got them, too.”
Before long, their family had grown.
“I looked up one day and the whole thing had snowballed,” Doug says. “We had horses everywhere. I told her, unfortunately her heart was bigger than my wallet.”
In 2005, Wall created Forever Free as a nonprofit, which meant she could apply for grants and accept donations. In addition to the nearly $5,000 feed bill, and $500 to $600 per horse for basic vet services, there are fees to the farrier for shoes and hoof care, and an annual salary for one employee who mucks out the stalls and keeps the yard clean.
“The rest of us are all volunteers,” says Wall. Recently, they held a garage sale. “Anything helps,” she says.
What Wall does at Forever Free, “is the work of the angels,” says John Welsh, of Riverside County Department of Animal Services. In past several years, the county has seen a spike in abandoned horses, “although it is slowing down again,” Welsh says.
“We still don't have enough people who can help these animals,” he adds.
Caring for the horses has meant personal sacrifices for the Walls. At a time in life when they'd like to spend more time together, “We can't just get up and go because the horses need to be taken care of,” Doug says. “But it makes her happy and I want her to have everything she wants.”
With summer coming, Wall will soon move the horses to their five-acre Garner Valley property.
“They can't take the heat,” she says, sweating in the afternoon sun. “They deserve to be comfortable.”
www.foreverfreehorserescue.com
Interview by Judith Salkin. Sourced from www.mydesert.com