Jerry, don't be so modest - here's the whole article about you:

Art


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Man marvels at horse's spirit


.By Scott E. Williams
The Daily News

Published September 27, 1999 12:08 AM CDT

HITCHCOCK -- Animal lovers speak of a rainbow bridge leading to heaven. At
the base of the bridge animals that have died wait until their true loves
arrive to accompany them across.

When Jerry Finch gets there, he might find a herd of horses waiting for him.

For six years, Finch has operated a nonprofit group that gives shelter to
abused and injured horses and lets them heal.

"See this one?" he asked, stroking the snout of a dark-maned mare at the
area near state Highway 6 his organization leases. "This was a $40,000 show
horse. She won all-around honors in a lot of contests.

"They were using her as a breeder when she had a hernia -- the scar's right
there along her stomach -- and they were going to put her down because she
was all used up for breeding. Instead, we got her, and she'll be here for
the rest of her life."

Finch decided to form Habitat for Horses after hearing from numerous people
calling him to tell of horses with severe injuries or of horses that had
suffered extreme abuse or neglect.

"We started getting badly abused animals, and the more old and ill they
were, the more attention I wanted to pay to them," he said.

The organization works with police agencies to seize abused or neglected
horses, and La Marque Police Chief Ed Goad said he was proud to list his
department among those in the county that have worked with Finch.

"I have an incredible respect for what he does," Goad said of Finch.

Finch said the horses themselves deserve the credit.

He pointed to a pair that neglect had left so hungry they were eating bark
off of trees to survive. He showed another that was spooked by lightning
and suffered a shoulder cut that went all the way to the bone when it tried
to jump a fence.

That horse's owner wanted to put it to sleep, but Finch took it on instead.

"Now," he said, "she can run with the best of them."

All those horses have one thing in common, Finch said - the will to live.

"No matter what anyone says about how much a horse needs to be put down,
we'll keep working with them as long as there's even the remotest chance
they can get back up," he said. "You can just sense their struggle to
survive, and you can see in their eyes when they have that strong will to
live."

Finch works with Santa Fe veterinarian Dennis Jenkins, who said working
with the horses is at once painful and inspiring.

"You see what happens to some of these horses, and it's pretty sad,"
Jenkins said.

"But we've had a lot of animals we've worked on who wouldn't be alive
without Jerry. We had a mare last week whose owner turned it loose right
out on the road. It's got bad cancer, and probably doesn't have much of a
life expectancy, but she'll at least get to live the next six months in
comfort. And who knows? She may just make a liar out of me, like a lot of
these others have."

The healing is a two-way street.

Finch, who was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease about eight years ago,
said working with the horses was better than any other therapy he had tried.

"They're just so easy to be with, and the communication is there," he said.
"When they snort, nod and turn their ears, they're talking to each other.
They'll try to talk to people, too, if they'll listen."

The habitat is funded largely through private donations from people in the
northeastern part of the country who learned of the organization via its
Web site.

Finch is hoping to raise funds and create access to his animals at the same
time by building his own version of the rainbow bridge, one brick at a time.

Anyone who wants to can pay $50 to dedicate a brick that will form what
Finch hopes will become a polychromatic path.

Finch said he hoped to raise funds to build facilities for the horses.

He would like to allow people to come and interact with the horses, and
eventually, he would like to use the Habitat for Horses as an outlet for
at-risk youths to get involved with something positive.

"They could get a lot out of the one-on-one relationship you can have with
a horse," he said. "A horse is not very likely to be impressed with a $100
pair of Nikes. What impresses a horse is the gentleness of your voice, your
mannerisms."

He stressed, however, that asking for donations was not the point he wanted
to make.

"The main thing for people to know is that, no matter how bad things get,
these horses will always fight for life," he said.

The organization leases horses to people who would like to care for them,
but Finch said he is very selective. The organization puts applicants
through a rigorous inspection to ensure the horses will be cared for
properly. Of all the applications he has received, he has only approved
about 10 percent.

"These guys have been through so much, they should never have to worry
about going down again," he said.

As long as Finch is around, they probably will not have that worry.

"I'll do this as long as I am physically able," he said.

Beyond that, he said, the rainbow bridge is waiting.



•For information on how to contribute to the Habitat for Horses, call Jerry
Finch at (409) 935-0277, or look up the organization's Web site at
www.habitatforhorses.org .

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