Vickroy: Helping out horses helps people, too
DONNA VICKROY dvickroy@southtownstar.com | (708) 633-5982 November 9, 2011 7:36PM
Caitlin Satalic, 15, of Beecher, works with horses at Illinois Horse Rescue of Will County. | Brett Roseman~Sun-Times Media
Charges filed
Gladstone Valentine and Raymond Dust were charged Tuesday with one count of animal cruelty and two counts of violating owners’ duties, a Will County state’s attorney’s office spokesperson said.
Valentine, who owned the two horses that were seized by Will County Animal Control on Nov. 1, and Dust, who owns the stables where the horses were being boarded, were cited for failing to provide sufficient food and veterinary care to one of the horses.
The severely malnourished horse is receiving veterinary care.
For more information on Illinois Horse Rescue of Will County, visit illinoishorse
rescue.org/index.html
Article Extras
Updated: May 9, 2012 9:59AM
Tony Pecho rescues horses.
The horses rescue people.
Pecho runs Illinois Horse Rescue of Will County in Beecher. It’s a career he came by fairly recently but one that took him right back to his roots.
Like many, Pecho was chugging along as a real estate developer and carpenter in 2009 when the economy sent him careening down a new path that, oddly enough, he was all too familiar with.
“I’ve always loved horses,” said Pecho, who grew up on a family horse farm in Tinley Park.
He continues to work in real estate, but his primary focus now is the nonprofit that saves and rehabilitates neglected and abused horses.
With 28 stalls, Pecho said the farm hardly meets the need. Times are tough for horse owners. Too many abandon the animals, leaving them to starve in fields or turning them loose in forest preserves.
On Nov. 1, Will County Animal Control contacted Pecho about two badly neglected horses in Chicago Heights. Pecho went and picked them up. One, which they’ve named Lazarus, was so starved it couldn’t stand on its own.
“We had to tie straps around him and then tie them to a tree and pull the trailer out from under him,” Pecho said. “He’d been starving for about three months.”
The animal’s ribs and hip bones protruded, and its legs were swollen from lack of use. It was hard to look at, Pecho said.
Within a few days Lazarus was back on his feet and his eyes had regained signs of life. The prognosis, however, remains uncertain.
Veterinary care and medication is costing the rescue about $25 a day for this particular animal.
“It angers me when I see other shelter owners misuse funds,” Pecho said. “Do you know what we could do with that kind of money?”
For one, he could rescue a lot more horses. And in doing so, could help a lot more people.
There’s something about horses — maybe it’s their size or the way they move or their ability to dispense unconditional love — that tugs at a human’s heart, Pecho said. Being able to nurse an abused horse back to health has a healing effect on the caregiver.
Caitlin Satalic has been there. The 15-year-old Beecher teen volunteers at the rescue every day, even when it rains or snows.
“I come out here at 6 in the morning, and there’s Caitlin’s jacket,” Pecho said.
“Last year, a lot of my friends started getting involved with things they shouldn’t have,” Caitlin said. “I was hanging with them, but I didn’t feel like I belonged. I didn’t really know what to do. Working here changed everything.”
Now, every day has purpose. Instead of just following the crowd, she has her sites set on college and becoming a psychiatrist and, of course, owning her own horse.
Her mother, Terrissa Voorhees, said, “She was lost. Now she has a new direction.”
The sick or injured horses are kept in a secret location until they are ready to be placed with the others. Those that can’t be used in the rescue’s programming, which includes riding lessons and outreach excursions, are put up for adoption.
Pecho’s wife Gina and his son Zac, 20, also tend to the animals.
Sue Bartecki, of Evergreen Park, boards two horses at the rescue. She travels to the farm as often as she can, to check on her animals and help care for the others.
“I do whatever I can,” she said. “I especially like to help care for the abused animals.”
Myra Young, of Chicago, helps retrain newly acquired horses and gives riding lessons.
As the mother of a 4-year-old child who has been on life support since birth, Young understands what it’s like to live with a disability. Many of her riding students have been diagnosed with autism, depression or other conditions.
The horses seem to bring them out of their shell and help them focus on something regal, she said.
Pecho said if he had the money, he’d extend the farm’s reach even further by bringing horses to veterans and people with special needs. But most of the funds his rescue — a 501c3 organization — receives these days go toward reversing the damage done by bad horse owners.
As disturbing as horse abuse is, Pecho said he’s driven by the positive.
“These are special animals, they give as much as they receive,” he said. “People will come out here, set up a chair and just sit and watch them in the field because it makes them happy.”
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