Chapter 5
Sterling pulled up outside the horse-boarding stables and hopped out.
An older man, slightly bent over and looking as if he’d seen better days, walked out slowly to meet him, giving him a quizzical expression. “Hey,” he muttered.
“Hello, I’m Sterling. I was just speaking with Lindsey from one of the animal shelters in town.”
“Oh yeah, I know Lindsey well,” he stated, with a smile. “How’s she doing?”
“She was bringing some animals to the new sanctuary, the one called the Haven,” he explained.
“I’m staying there now. We took in about fifty dogs that the shelter in town was overloaded with from some breeder-turned-hoarder situation.
While we were getting the dogs settled, Lindsey told us that you guys might be looking to close up shop sometime in the near future. ”
He frowned. “We haven’t really put the word out yet, but I was talking to her about it,” he conceded. “What has that got to do with you?”
“Maybe nothing,” he noted, “but we were trying to figure out how your business operated because we have hundreds of acres of land over there, and we’re wondering about setting up something similar at some point.”
The old man nodded. “It would be a good time to do it,” he said.
“My son doesn’t want to keep this up. In fact, his wife wants to move to Los Angeles, California, where it’s more glamorous.
” He almost spat that out in disgust. “I admit that this isn’t exactly a glamorous lifestyle here.
I just look after the horses.” He coughed a harsh, gurgling sound that made him lean up against the wall for support.
“I’m a retired veterinarian myself, and my son is one as well, but he is looking to get into other kinds of animal work to make his wife happy.
” He shrugged. “So, we are looking at closing it down.”
“Sorry to hear that. I suppose that may be a tough thing for all the horse owners too.”
“Exactly, and that’s why I’ve hung on as long as I have,” he shared. “Yet you can only hang on as long as you’re capable of doing the work, and that’s what it’s come down to now,” he muttered. “You say you’re from a place called the Haven, but I’m not sure I know that one.”
Sterling explained about Timber’s place and suggested he speak with Lindsey too, as she had been out there and could confirm what she saw of Timber’s operation.
“Oh interesting,” the old man murmured. “And he’s got that much land?” He looked around and frowned. “That’s always been a challenge here. Does he have lots of pasture?”
“He does, though quite a bit is wooded area too. Still, a good share of it is just open fields.”
“If he could get some hay off that, it would be a good thing and would really help him with costs, especially in winter. The grass will never keep growing all the time, even if we want it to,” he pointed out, with a shake of his head.
“Keeping animals can be quite pricey, so their feed and the rest is something you really have to look at. Everybody always thinks we just put them out to pasture, so what’s the big deal?
However, with boarding, it’s not that way.
These are people’s babies, and they expect them to be looked after very closely,” he shared.
“As with any species, the very old and the very young are more vulnerable and need extra attention.”
Sterling nodded. “I don’t think that will be an issue.
A lot of volunteers live there full-time right now, as we construct buildings and take care of the animals.
Plus, Timber’s partner is one of the local vets.
In addition, one of the other vets in town, the one who does exotic animals, comes out and volunteers her services too. ”
“Hmm, that must be Keisha. I’ve known her off and on too,” the old man replied.
“I might even know the other one as well, if you’re talking about Tiffany.
I’ve met her. I might be retired, but I still keep my hand in everything once in a while.
” He frowned and added, “I wouldn’t mind coming out and taking a look at that place, that Haven.
I sure can’t recommend anything to anybody if I don’t have a good idea how it’s run. ”
“Feel free,” Sterling offered. “I’m sure Timber would love to meet you, and I know everybody there is more than happy to show people around, since I’ve just arrived myself,” he shared.
“It’s a crazy place right now, with all the building going on.
But we did just intake over fifty dogs, and I think Lindsay was due to come back today with more dogs and maybe some cats,” he noted.
“I don’t really know for sure, since I haven’t been there all day. ”
The old guy nodded. “It’ll happen very fast, and then it will slow down as you hit the intake levels you can handle,” he shared, “but then you’ve got to find a way to get all these animals to good homes.”
“And I’m not sure how they plan on doing that yet,” he said, with a laugh. “Since I just got there and haven’t had that conversation with anyone. Plus, the whole thing has evolved pretty quickly.”
“And that’s not necessarily a good thing.”
“No, it’s not, but I think Timber’s pockets are deep enough to handle what we need right now. However, nobody’s pockets are ever deep enough, not when it comes to looking after that many animals on a long-term basis,” he pointed out.
“If I wanted to come up, how would I get there?” Sterling gave him directions, and the old man nodded.
“You never know. Maybe I’ll take a drive and come up that way.
I’m not too sure what my long-term people will think, as they’ve been boarding here a long time, and I don’t know this Timber guy at all. ”
“Meeting him would be a good start,” Sterling stated. “Do you happen to know Kat, the prosthetic engineer in the area?”
“Yep, I’ve met her too. What does Kat have to do with this?” he asked, a perplexed look on his face.
“She and her husband, Badger, are part of the reason Timber’s sanctuary came together and grew so quickly.
They work with a lot of retired veterans who need a chance to rehabilitate and a place to land after coming out of post-surgery therapy.
Some of them just have nowhere to go, and others are trying to get used to their new reality in terms of injuries and such and aren’t quite ready to go home.
Badger and Kat put them to work building housing for other vets or a few related programs they are involved with.
For some, it gives them a chance to learn new job skills.
For others, it’s learning to work as they adapt to prosthetics and things like that.
For everyone it’s a transition with built-in support when they are feeling, well, lost.”
The old man shook his head but didn’t seem to know what to say.
“Anyway, a lot of the people who are or who have been in that Sante Fe program have been coming out to volunteer their time and energy helping Timber get this new rescue going, and that is how the Haven became a reality so quickly.”
“There is no shortage of people out there who need that kind of help too,” the older man noted, with a sage nod.
“I’ve heard an awful lot of good things about Kat, and she’s even doing some prosthetics for animals, which is how I heard about her to begin with.
Obviously we need her skills for the people out there who have those needs,” he said, “but to think that she’s also doing it for animals?
That really piqued my interest. I’ve attended a couple conferences with her in the past, mostly out of curiosity on my part, even though I’m way too old to practice and this place is too big for me to look after now,” he admitted.
“Yet you never really let go of something like that.”
“No, you don’t, and, if you have any questions about the Haven and about Timber, Kat would be a good one to talk to about that.”
“You’re really trying to sell it, aren’t you, son?”
He laughed. “No, not necessarily, just gathering information really. How many horses are here right now?”
“Thirty-two,” he stated, “and all of them will need somewhere to go, if I shut down this place.”
“Wow, I can see why you’re concerned. Obviously I can’t speak for Timber, but he definitely has the space and the infrastructure to make it work, if he wanted to,” Sterling shared.
“I’ll keep it in mind, but I would have to come out and take a look first before I made any recommendation to my boarders.”
“Of course you would. I wouldn’t expect otherwise,” Sterling replied. “I don’t think I’ve met everybody out there yet, but the ones I have are definitely a bunch of animal lovers.”
“So, what about you? I’m guessing you’re among those trying to figure out how and where you fit back in the world again. What are you thinking you’ll do?”
“You’re right about that. I’m not sure, but I’m considering working with some of the rescue dogs they’ve got and doing some K9 training,” he shared.
“I used to train dogs for airport security, so I might set up something like that. I haven’t taken a look at too many of the animals they’ve got there, other than that load of dogs they got yesterday, but they seem to have a whole lot of everything and a little bit of nothing, so it’s an eclectic mix.
Wildlife too. I was told they even had a bear come through, needing a medic a while back. ”
The old man’s eyebrows shot up. “Most ranchers around here would have popped him.”
“Timber’s place isn’t a ranch. It is an animal rescue, a sanctuary really, so popping them isn’t the first reaction.”
“That should be interesting to see,” he muttered. “Anyway, I’ll give it some thought.” And, with that, he started to turn, then looked back at him and asked, “If it’s a decent place for horses, what about other animals?”
“Like what?”
“I’ve got a few llamas here, plus a donkey and a mule, all family pets. I’m not quite sure what to do with them, and my son, … well, that’s not an option.”