Saving Baby (40 page)

Among these saviors was Judy Gutierrez, the first to volunteer to work alongside me. Her enthusiasm for saving horses knew no bounds. Peg Yordy galloped in to save Happy from slaughter. Brenda Lamb picked up Groovy from Quebec and lovingly cared for him for months before arranging transport of him back to me. And Leah Minc and family fostered innumerable rescue horses, including Twoey. It was Leah who officially named Twoey's goat companion Captain Kidd. A shout of whinnies from saved horses, and from me, go as well to Kristie Buckley Fillips, Kim Nietzka, Rebecca Baucus, Martha Denver, Heidi Rice, who lost the tip of a finger trailering rescued horses, Nancy Suttles, Keri Dutkiewicz, Jennifer Merrick-Brooks, Cathy Henderson, Sherry Hansen, Tiny Luick, Annika Kramer, Lenora Blood, Ginger and Larry Sissom and their daughter, Halley (Ginger began encouraging me to write the story of Baby nearly fifteen years ago), Karen Hunchberger, Barbara Moss, Eilene Sinelli, Cheryl and Jerry Johnson, and the students of Michigan State University, to name just a few. More whinnies and nickers for the equine veterinarians across the state of Michigan who provided services at a discount.

Of course, none of these people could have done their humane work without the good will of financial donors from around the country. Rescue cannot be possible without them, and it is humbling to know that so many trust someone they have never met to do the right thing with their contribution.

Others who must be thanked include the tenacious and tireless Victoria McCullough, who single-handedly has done so much in the effort to help stop horse slaughter; Ann Marini; Pat Mendiola; Laura Allen, founder of the Animal Law Coalition (
www.animallawcoalition.org
); and Joyce Moore, founder of Animal Advocates of Michigan (
www.animaladvocatesmi.org
). I am especially grateful to Susan Wagner, founder of Equine Advocates (
www.equineadvocates.org
) and a dear friend with a kindred heart who has helped out in critical ways. Gratitude also goes to John Holland and Vicki Tobin of the Equine Welfare Alliance (
www.equinewelfarealliance.org
). Ditto to Keith Dane, Director of Equine Protection for the Humane Society of the United States (
www.humanesociety.org
), and Humane Society equine protection specialist Valerie Pringle.

For accepting me as I am, always with hay in my hair or smelling like a horse, and also for their unending encouragement and good humor, I thank my sister and brother-in-law, Dianne (Dee) and Ron Winfrey. Little did Dee know when her annoying baby sister used to dominate the dinner conversation with horse talk that one day she and her husband would be of tremendous help in reading the initial drafts of this book. Thanks and love, too, to my and my husband's best friends, Dave and Carol Rhodes, who have put up with me for fifty years. When we go to a restaurant and the hostess tells us it's a forty-five-minute wait, Dave is fond of saying, “No problem. We can fill in the time. Jo Anne, how are the horses?”

Finally, I thank my coauthor, Larry Lindner. I did not understand when we first met that what lay ahead were uncountable hours over the course of years relaying my memories, many of them filled with tears as I relived almost hypnotically the most awful of moments. At those difficult times, Larry was tender and sympathetic and cried with me. It was also his job to rein me in when I rambled on, and rein me in he did! “Jo Anne, I am not listening anymore, and if you say another word off topic, I'm hanging up.” But indeed he was listening. From someone who did not know a pony from a foal or hocks from withers, he could now recognize and treat a colicking horse and, most importantly, understands these peaceful, sentient, magnificent creatures who rely on us—who consider us their herd mates—to save them from pain and suffering. Ours is a relationship that started as collaborators and continues as loving friends, not just with each other but also with each other's supportive spouses and children. Without you, Larry,
Saving Baby
would remain solely in my heart and mind, and I thank you from the depths of my soul.

Larry Lindner thanks:
Jo Anne, who has changed my life. I've always had a great love for dogs, each with his or her own attributes, but I never knew that horses were people, too. I resisted working on this book, in fact. I grew up in New York City—what did I know from horses? But because of Jo Anne, I will never again look at horses—or any other animal, for that matter—the same way. She has proven a magnificent, transforming friend to me, and has made me a better friend to animals.

I thank, too, my son, John, fellow animal lover who, through this work, understands our responsibility toward a species that has become an iconic figure in American lore and history.

Finally, I give my heart and my thanks and all I hold dear to my wife, Constance, who goaded me on when I feared no one would listen by insisting I follow the instinct that has always guided her: once you are aware, you may not turn away.

 

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Jo Anne Normile
, principal of Normile Racehorse Protection Consulting (shown here with Secretariat's granddaughter, Scarlett), advises senators, congressmen, filmmakers, legal firms, rescues, and humane organizations on all aspects of racing pertaining to the welfare of the Thoroughbred racehorse and the integrity of the industry.

In addition to her consulting work, Normile founded two successful horse rescue organizations: CANTER, the first organization to take Thoroughbreds right from the track to safe havens; and Saving Baby Equine Charity (
www.savingbaby.org
), for which she currently serves as president. She is also on the board of directors and secretary of Animal Advocates of Michigan and is a member of the Equine Welfare Alliance as well as an active advisory board member for the documentary film,
Saving America's Horses: A Nation Betrayed
.

Normile has received the Catalyst of the Year Award from the Michigan Horse Council for her “significant contribution to the Michigan horse industry” and the prestigious national Dogwood Stable Dominion Award as an “unsung hero of the racing industry.” She was described in
The Thoroughbred Times
as having “rescued more horses than any other organization in the equine industry.” Normile has been written up in
The New York Times,
the
Chicago Tribune
, and
The St. Louis Dispatch
as well as in
The Blood-Horse,
the
Daily Racing Form, Equus, Horse Illustrated, ASPCA Animal Watch
, and numerous other publications. In addition, she has appeared on CNN and many local television broadcasts.

Normile's dedication to horses includes research on equine self-mutilation syndrome and compulsive behavior in formerly feral horses, which resulted in her coauthoring studies that appeared in the prestigious
Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association
and the
Journal of Applied Research in Veterinary Medicine
. She was also cited for her contributions to a research paper published in
Food and Chemical Toxicology
about the public health risk of selling horsemeat laced with phenylbutazone, or “bute,” routinely given to Thoroughbred racers.

Normile has provided exhibits for a watershed Congressional hearing on the use of drugs in racehorses and has been an invited speaker at equine safety meetings around the country, including the International Horse Welfare Conference and the American Equine Summit.

She lives in Plymouth, Michigan, with her husband, John; Scarlett, age twenty-two; a new barn friend, Cash; and two burros adopted by Saving Baby Equine Charity from the Bureau of Land Management, Marci and Winnie.

Lawrence Lindner
is a
New York Times
best-selling coauthor and collaborating writer on a wide variety of books ranging from memoirs to animal care to health topics. He also penned a nationally syndicated biweekly column in the
Washington Post
for several years and wrote a monthly column for
The
Boston Globe
. His freelance work has appeared in publications ranging from the
Los Angeles Times
to
Condé Nast Traveler
; the
International Herald Tribune; Reader's Digest
; and
O, The Oprah Magazine
. Currently, Lindner serves as executive editor of
Your Dog
, a monthly publication of the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University, and as secretary of Saving Baby Equine Charity. In addition, he is the Literary Cultural District coordinator for the City of Boston, working under the auspices of the writers group GrubStreet.

He lives in Hingham, Massachusetts, with his wife, Constance, and his son, John.

 

 

 

This is a true story. Some of the names have been changed.

 

SAVING BABY.
Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Jo Anne Normile and Lawrence Lindner. Foreword copyright © 2013, 2014 by Susan Richards. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin's Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

 

www.stmartins.com

 

book designed by Omar Chapa

 

Cover design by Lisa Marie Pompilio

 

Cover photographs: front cover horse and girl © Steven Carroll / Arcangel Images; back cover horse © Mary Vogt.

 

“Love of My Life” from the motion picture
This Is My Life.
Words and Music by Carly Simon. Copyright © 1992 C'est Music and TCF Music Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission. Reprinted by permission of Hal Leonard Corporation.

 

“
The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)” Words and Music by Paul Simon Copyright © 1966, 1967 Paul Simon (BMI), International Copyright secured. All rights reserved. Used by Permission.

 

Baby's win photo, courtesy of T. Abahazy; photo of Baby losing by a neck, courtesy of T. Abahazy; photo of Jo Anne Normile watching Lookalike's surgery, courtesy of Michigan State University College of Veterinary Medicine; photo of Happy after rescue, courtesy of Peg Yordy; photo of Happy Eventing, courtesy of Rebecca Baucus; photo of Scarlett eventing, courtesy of Shannon Brinkman; photo of John Hettinger and Jo Anne Normile, courtesy of Cot and Anne Campbell/Dogwood Stable; photo of Jo Anne Normile and Groovy, courtesy of Shelly R. Brock.

 

eBooks may be purchased for business or promotional use. For information on bulk purchases, please contact Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department by writing to [email protected].

 

The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.

 

ISBN 978-1-250-06119-5 (hardcover)

ISBN 978-1-4668-6684-3 (e-book)

 

e-ISBN 9781466866843

 

A different version of this book was first published in the United States by Powder Point Publishing.

 

First St. Martin's Press Edition: October 2014