Rescue group provides horses with food, home, love

North Stonington - When Cedar arrived at Phoenix Rising Equine Rescue, he was just bones with skin over them, and his body had started to shut down.

The horse, between 30 and 40 years old and blind, was so weak from lack of nutrition, he almost fell over when a veterinarian examined one of his feet, said Susan Kreutter, president of the rescue operation. If he had fallen, the vet told her, he would never have gotten up.

Eight weeks later, Cedar has gained at least 100 to 150 pounds, Kreutter said Saturday at a Phoenix Rising open house, where visitors could meet horses saved from neglect. Some were spirited, nudging their heads out of their stalls to demand food or attention; others, still recovering, merely abided their guests with soulful eyes.

"It's so rewarding," said Kreutter, who started Phoenix Rising 10 years ago. "We love them all the same but there are some that touch your heart more than others."

For Kreutter, the horse that will always stay with her is McCloud, who was with her for six years until he died recently. He was beloved by many, including a child whose framed picture on the wall says, "He still grazez in heaven."

"He was the sweetest animal, mellow and kind," Kreutter said, adding she could put a toddler on his back and he would stay still.

Not all the horses at Phoenix Rising could do that. A sign on each of their stalls Saturday explained their medical conditions - from blindness to respiratory problems to leg injuries.

Cedar was discovered by chance when a volunteer, looking for a tractor, found him on a farm in Willimantic and persuaded his owner to surrender him. Others come from auctions, horse schools or race tracks, such as Plainridge in Massachusetts, after they can no longer race.

Kreutter started Phoenix Rising, which became a nonprofit in 2006, with just two horses, after she befriended the owner of another horse rescue in Coventry.

She housed them in two- and four-stall sheds she put up herself and then added more, with a donated shed from The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. A volunteer couple, Gary and Aileen Weller, donated and built a larger barn a year ago.

On each stall Saturday, a paper listed the horse's age, breed, color, medical issues, ability and a bit of biography.

Socrates, for example, is nicknamed "Sox," and "the spice of his cayenne pepper coloring is starting to be reflected in his growing and outgoing personality." Merlin has mastered the art of opening the latch on his stall and, once he escapes, is known to help himself to food.

Maverick "is a bit of a Don Juan" as he tries to lay claim to Georgia. Georgia, meanwhile, is "like a prom queen. She knows when the guys' eyes are on her and she takes every opportunity to strut her stuff shamelessly."

Phoenix Rising depends on donations and fundraisers to care for the horses, which costs about $3,000 a month. They have about eight volunteers, like the Wellers, of Gales Ferry, who have no horses of their own.

"It's such a peaceful thing," Aileen Weller said. "It's kind of like therapy."

They starting coming two years ago and sponsored a rescue named Dallas.

"He just seemed like the one who was needy," Weller said. "He was timid and underweight."

"He's just a sassy brat now," she said, with a smile.

www.phoenixrisingequinerescue.com