Sonoran News – August 14, 2002
Triple C Corral
A round-up of horse happenings in and around Cave Creek & Carefree
By Peggy Dyer Brock
Last week we talked about “Super Mom” Debbie Gladding and her brood of kids, who care about and try to help other kids having trouble at home or at risk of ending up out on the street, possibly to a life of delinquency.
This week, we talk about another Super Mom – Holly Marino – and her brood of kids, who care about and try to help horses having trouble at home: being abused and at risk of ending up at the auction house, possibly to loss of life at the slaughter house.
Both of these women work in a loving family environment with a husband who supports their mission (Holly says “some wives get diamonds and fancy trips, but from Phil I get help with horses that need operations”). With kids who willfully absorb this training in compassion by working hard each day, and with volunteers who share their passion ... all in a labor of love. No one gets paid – in fact, the Marino’s personally shell out big bucks to haul, to house, to vet and to feed the equine charges they care for while seeking new, loving homes for them.
Holly’s credo ... “It's not what the horse can do for you, it’s what you can do for the horse” ... has driven her development of the “Horse Rescue of North Scottsdale” that she operates out of her family home in North Scottsdale.
Holly and Audrey Jilka go regularly into schools to “show and tell” about horses that once ran free in America, but now are almost totally dependent on man for survival. They encourage another right-thinking credo: “That horse has been there for you, you be there for it.”
Sgt. Polly White, who runs the Cruelty to Animals division of the Maricopa County Sheriff Office, calls on Holly frequently to help with equine needs called in to MCSO. Both Polly and Holly lament the antiquated laws on Arizona books that deal with equine abuse.
It was Holly who turned her kitchen into a war room, with her phone ringing hourly for the two weeks as she helped Mesa-based Beverly Clarich help White Mountain-based Matt Clarich fend for the horse families devastated by the Rodeo-Chedeski fire. But Holly is quick to give others she enlisted the credit:
The mom-and-pop Waddell Feed Store in the Buckeye area gave and gave; Fort McDowell Hay Farm (within two hours of her call) sent up squeezes; Los Cedros USA and its boarders gave pellets, feed, fly masks, etc.; Pet Food Depot on Tatum sent bales of hay; SouthWest Equine Hospital took care of a singed elk and helped horse owners work out injury problems; Chuck Lakin sent bunches of feed from Lakin Mills.
Holly implores our readers who can no longer care for their horse: don’t take them to the auction, bring them to her safe haven. She’ll care for them until she can find a new home. Her voice mail message explains “We are a non-kill, pro-animal country club of horse rescue. We take paints, appys, thoroughbreds, quarter horses, mules, burros ... if you need a home for an unwanted horse ... “
Holly joins other courageous and generous horse rescue people in the Triple C Corral that I’ve mentioned in this column before – Pat Fowler of Cave Creek, Carol Hobson of New River, and Leif Hallberg of North Scottsdale. Thanks, gals, for your compassion and true grit!
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If you’d like to help Holly brush, clean, groom, clean stalls or ground exercise these horses, call her at 602-689-8825.
