OPEN rescue

"Bunny"
munches grass.

FOR THE love of horses

OPEN raises awareness for rescues
Story and photos by Laura Foster
suMMeR 2019 | Living on the PeninsuLa 19
G
iving new life is Valerie
Jackson’s modus operandi.
Not only does she help rescue
the occasional stray cat, she devotes most
of her time to rescuing horses on the
North Olympic Peninsula.
During business hours, she’s a slots
manager at 7 Cedars Casino. But the rest
of her time is spent as president of the
Olympic Peninsula Equine Network,
aka OPEN, in Sequim.
Formerly known as “Eyes That
Smile,” OPEN has come a long way
since its inception in 2012.
BEFORE THE
OFFICIAL ‘OPEN’ING
Jackson’s past is marred by domestic
violence. While living in Colorado in
February 2002, Jackson said, she had
stayed in a bad situation with her now
ex-husband for too long.
She made the decision to leave with
the rest of her family, but living on a
40-acre property with a plethora of 4-H
animals and other pets made it difficult
to get out quickly.
Before a 10-day restraining order on
her ex, who was in jail, ran out, Jackson
and some of her closest friends and
family helped her move everyone and
everything off the property.
She was able to donate her fish to a
man who rehomes them in doctors’
offices, and the guinea pigs and rabbits
went to the local feed store. She also
found homes for her chickens.
“We had a whole farm,” she said.
When she was finally ready to leave
Colorado for good, Jackson had left
horses, some cats and a few dogs to move
with her family.
“We basically looked like the ‘Beverly
Hillbillies’ coming cross country,”
Jackson laughed.
On the way, Jackson’s sister tried
to find them a place to land. She kept
her horses on a cousin’s property and
was able to find a home in Gardiner,
site unseen.
After settling with her kids and her
pets, Jackson took a step back from her
situation to evaluate.
“Domestic violence shelters help
women and children, but they do not
have resources for pets, let alone horses
and farm animals,” Jackson said.
“You had to give up your pets just to get
you and your children safe. And that would
be a tough one, when the kids are being
ripped out of their world, to take their pets
away, as well as damaging to everyone.”
That realization was a turning point
for Jackson.
20 Living on the Peninsula | SUMMER 2019
“When I left Colorado and moved
back home, I really got a sense of what
happens in those murder family suicide
situations. I was right there.
“It hit home that a lot of women are
stuck in these situations. I had a family
to come home to and I had some friends
who stepped up and helped us, but a lot
of women just don’t have people they
can count on.
“That was one of the lessons I learned
from that whole experience is that a
lot of the time, women will stay in that
bad situation longer than they should
because of the pets.”
The feelings associated with this
situation stuck with Jackson, and, calling
herself lucky, felt it was her responsibility
to help where she could.
Dr. Sean Tuley and his assistant speak with Jeannette Gault, the owner of the mini horse,
“I’ve always been a sucker for anybody
that needs help,” she said. Max, after Max's teeth had been floated.
“I kind of joke that I have an invisible
tattoo that says ‘sucker’ across my
forehead. I was always bringing home
animals and strays and friends. It’s just
who I am.”
After getting to know her neighbor
Diane Royall, the duo started working
together to rescue, rehabilitate and
rehome at-risk horses around 2006.
Royall had worked many years
rescuing horses in California, where she
was a certified veterinary technician and
a barefoot-trim specialist.
She is now the vice president and
ranch manager of OPEN.
“In the beginning, it was just one or
two [horses] at a time,” Jackson said.
“Many times, we had to purchase horses
to save them.
OPEN’s entrance, adorned with used tack for sale during one of the group’s routine vet clinic
“We did whatever was necessary to
rehab horses and then try to find them a days, welcomes visitors.
new home.”
Jackson mentioned that there are
people who type “free” in online ad
services — free cats, free dogs, free
horses — and they don’t have the best
intentions in mind.
“We would consider those animals
‘at-risk,’ ” she said.
Each rescue effort is different,
Jackson said, with some of them being
purposefully harmful situations and
others being unintentionally so.
Jackson shared the story of one woman
who had a stable in Enumclaw.
“We went and visited her and she had
probably 20-25 horses on her property.
She had two barns and several pastures.
And she had had a traumatic head injury
a couple of years ago. So she’d go out
every day to feed the horses and she’d
feed the first four or five or six and
totally forget about the rest.” A mini horse dozes after having its teeth floated at a recent OPEN vet clinic.

“She couldn’t see that there was a
problem. So some of the horses were in
perfect condition and other ones were
skin and bones.”
Jackson and Royall helped the woman
by taking photos of her horses and
posting them online for people to buy.
“With each story, there’s usually
some kind of human element involved,”
Jackson said.
“There are people who set out to do
bad things, but the majority (have) lost
their job or there was a death in the
family or they’ve gotten older.”
NONPROFIT STATUS
After doing several rescues — and
going through the naming iteration
of “Eyes That Smile” — Jackson and
Royall, along with Mike Vaillancourt,
event coordinator and board member
for OPEN, decided they needed 501(c)3
nonprofit status.
“The big event that made us decide
that we needed help, we needed to grow,
was a large seizure here in Clallam
County,” Jackson said.
According to a Peninsula Daily News
article from February 2012, authorities
had seized 16 neglected horses, including
a foal, from a mother and daughter who
said they had rescued them.
The Clallam County Sheriff’s Office
said the horses were facing varying
degrees of starvation and malnutrition
and were estimated to be underweight by
between 50 and 200 pounds each.
In a later article, Buffy Campbell and
her daughter, Heather Gouldart, were
named as the owners of the horses. They
agreed to give up custody of the horses
in March 2012.
Their whereabouts today are
unknown to Jackson.
After taking in six of these horses
and helping the others find homes
with groups like the Back Country
Horsemen, OPEN (named Eyes That
Smile at the time) made the plunge and
achieved nonprofit status in 2013.
LOCATION, FUNDRAISING
After riding that high, the members of
OPEN had a “now what?” moment.
At first, OPEN didn’t have an
official location.
Dr. Sean Tuley and his assistant float a mini horse’s teeth at a recent OPEN vet clinic.
“We still didn’t have a facility. We looked
around and quickly decided we couldn’t
afford to buy one. … so we continued to
work out of my pasture,” Jackson said.
With her four acres, Royall’s three
acres and some seasonal pastures, they
got started.
Together, though, Jackson and Royall
also own 3.5 acres in their neighborhood
that was being used as overflow pasture.
In 2013-14, they decided to take
that acreage and start improving it for
OPEN’s purposes.
In 2014, they put power and fencing
in on the Roupe Road property. In 2015,
a covered work area and three paddocks
were added.
A haybarn was raised in 2016,
and in 2017-18, Western Treasures,
a by-appointment-only used tack “shop,”
was opened.
The next major project OPEN is
fundraising for is an enclosed shelter for
supplies, such as tables and chairs.
They were using carport-like
structures to house these supplies,
but the snowstorms last winter crushed
the structures.
SUMMER 2019 | Living on the Peninsula
To help with funding, OPEN is in the
running for a grant from the American
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals (ASPCA), called Help a Horse
Home, where $120,000 of grant money
is up for grabs.
That amount will be broken down and
installments will be given to different
animal nonprofits, with the largest
amount being $20,000.
According to the ASPCA’s website,
“Organizations have been placed
into one of four divisions based on
the number of adoptions completed
during the Challenge period last year
(April 26-June 30) and for all of 2018.
“Regardless of what division a group
is in, winners will be determined
by the biggest increase in adoption
numbers between the Challenge period
last year and the Challenge period
this year — which means groups are
competing against their own baseline
number of adoptions from last year’s
Challenge period.”
OPEN recently had their biggest
fundraiser of the year, the “Help a Horse
Hoedown” dinner.
21
 Valerie Jackson brings out Spirit, who was
adopted that day by Diana Smith.
OTHER PROGRAMS
OPEN has expanded exponentially in
the past few years, thanks to the help of
volunteers and board members.
OPEN hosts two to four veterinary
clinics a year, in which a large-animal vet
comes in and does whatever is needed.
At the most recent clinic, Dr. Sean
Tuley and his assistant saw a total of
15 horses.
They floated some mini horses’ teeth,
performed some castrations and did
some X-rays on a few newer rescues.
All eight of the newest rescues were
seen, and four horses that have homes all
received discounted vet care.
During these clinics, Western
Treasures is open, and people can browse
used tack and learn more about OPEN.
During theses events, rescue horses
also get adopted.
22 Living on the Peninsula | SUMMER 2019
At this recent clinic, a handsome older
horse named Spirit was adopted.
For older or semi-retired horses, OPEN
has the Golden Retirement program.
“Once we feel they are ready,
we look for long-term foster homes as
companion or light riding horses, where
they stay under our nonprofit umbrella,”
Jackson said.
OPEN doesn’t consider these horses
up for adoption, but if any expenses are
covered by the foster home, they qualify
as a donation to the rescue.
“As fosters, these horses go out for free
and, therefore, no adoption fees come in
to help cover their expenses.
“These horses can seriously deplete
our resources, but they are worth their
weight in gold and deserve a retirement.”
OPEN also makes it a point to work
with other nonprofits, such as the Back
Country Horsemen and Peninsula
Friends of Animals (PFOA).
According to OPEN’s website,
the nonprofit “joined a group run by the
Clallam County Sheriff’s Department
called LARRG, Local Animal Rescue and
Recovery Guidance Team. We are working
to create a program to deal with large
animals in the event of a natural disaster.
“We have contacts with three Back
Country Horsemen groups across the
Olympic Peninsula and with their help,
we could have a dozen horse trailers ready
to go within hours in case of emergency.”
OPEN board members include Jackson
and Royall, plus Steve Lange, treasurer;
Mike Vaillancourt, event coordinator,
who has been around since nonprofit
status was achieved; Ben Rowland, IT; and
Mona Griswold, Jennifer Stevenson,
Lynn Hawkins and Kenny Camp.
The work of OPEN is 100 percent
volunteer-based, Jackson said, and they
are always looking for new farmhands.
To be clear, OPEN is not a
“sanctuary” program.
They take in horses with the intention
of eventually finding them a new home or
finding them long-term foster care if their
riding days are behind them.
“We evaluate each horse, giving it
whatever may be needed: feed, veterinary
or hoof care, and time to recover from
trauma or just finish growing up.
“We then try to find the best match
for them in a new home situation.”
If you are interested in volunteering
with OPEN, learning more about the
program or are curious about adopting
a horse, search for Olympic Peninsula
Equine Network on Facebook, or visit
olypenequinenet.org.  