We Ride Sport and Trail Magazine March 2018

48 / Sport and Trail Magazine

This is the Missouri Forget Me Not Horse Rescue and Sanctuary in Linn Creek, Missouri. It was founded by Connie Hendrix, who lives on the property, and keeps a watchful eye on all of the animals throughout the day and night. Connie started taking in horses many years ago, that had been abandoned or neglected by their owners. In 2011, she was contacted by law enforcement to help rescue four starved horses. Two of the horses were down. She enlisted the help of Donna Ogle and some other friends, and they were able to save three of the horses. The other one didn’t make it. Realizing that they couldn’t afford to care for all of the horses they were taking in, they decided to apply for 501(c)3 status so they could accept donations and help more horses.

Since 2011, MFMN has taken in 419 horses, mules and donkeys and 240 of these were adopted by approved homes through the end of 2017. The Sanctuary houses around 65 horses with another 20 at Donna’s property just up the road. Another 50 horses are in a network of foster homes in the surrounding community. Many of the horses at the Sanctuary are permanent residents because of age or medical condition. Several of these permanent residents are in their mid-thirties. Shiloh is one of them. He came to us in 2015, after spending his entire life with his owner, who was no longer able to care for him. He is 35 years old. He is picky about his food, so he is given apples, carrots, lettuce and soaked alfalfa cubes with his Equine Senior grain. All of the horses are fed in paddocks, or feeding pens, away from other horses, so that their food intake can be monitored and to keep other horses from moving them off their feed. Horses like Shiloh take a long time to eat. He is usually the first one fed and the last one to finish eating.

Many of the horses that MFMN takes in are neglected and under-weight when they arrive. Many are also in need of medical care, especially for founder and other lameness issues. The horses are evaluated when they arrive and a health plan is developed to restore them physically and mentally for a new life. If the horse can be ridden, then MFMN pays to have the horse trained, so that it can be adopted. Once a horse is adopted, it can never be sent to an auction barn, or given away. It must be returned to MFMN if the adopter no longer wants the horse. This protects the horse from winding up in the slaughter pipe-line.

The Sanctuary still gets calls from law enforcement and works with them to rescue horses that are in perilous situations. It takes in all breeds of horses, including some mules and donkeys. All stallions are gelded upon arrival, and a no breeding policy is included in any adoption or foster agreement. Veterinarian services are a large expense for the Sanctuary, as well as, farrier care. There are usually two or three horses in stalls in the barn at any given time that are recovering from surgery or rehabilitating from some medical issue, requiring stall rest. That Sanctuary also has a dry lot for foundered horses.

s you drive down the bumpy gravel road with the dust flying up from your tires, you come around a bend in the road and there they are. You start to see them. Horses! Lots of them. A whole herd of them. Grazing on hay bales and pasture grass. Some of them have already started to hang around the feeding pens, waiting for you to open the gates to the pens and let them in. As you drive up the gravel driveway, you start seeing the other inhabitants, peacocks, chickens, ducks, barn cats, a pot-belly pig and a miniature donkey. As you get out of the car, you are greeted by two old geldings, Champ and Durango. They start walking ahead to the barn, because they know that they will be the first ones fed. You have to move them away from the feed room door to get to the grain bins, gleaming metal trashcans, with the name of the feed written on each of them in magic marker. The feed room was recently added to the barn, to help keep the raccoons out of the feed and give the volunteers a place to mix the feed, supplements, soaked alfalfa cubes and any medications that are listed on an individual index card for each horse.

Grazing on hay bales and pasture grass. Some of them have already started to hang around the feeding pens, waiting for you to open the gates to the pens and let them in. As you drive up the gravel driveway, you start seeing the other inhabitants, peacocks, chickens, ducks, barn cats, a pot-belly pig and a miniature donkey. As you get out of the car, you are greeted by two old geldings, Champ and Durango. They start walking ahead to the barn, because they know that they will be the first ones fed. You have to move them away from the feed room door to get to the grain bins, gleaming metal trashcans, with the name of the feed written on each of them in magic marker. The feed room was recently added to the barn, to help keep the raccoons out of the feed and give the volunteers a place to mix the feed, supplements, soaked alfalfa cubes and any medications that are listed on an individual index card for each horse.

MFMN was founded by Connie Hendrix, who lives on the property, and keeps a watchful eye on all of the animals throughout the day and night.

We Ride Sport and Trail Magazine March 2018 | Page 46