Regional, Monthly All-Breed Horse Magazine
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By Dorinda Troutman, RMR Staff Writer

      Able, the now 15-year-old bay horse found collapsed and abandoned on a trail in the Bitterroot Mountains August 1, 2008, has finally found a permanent home.

      A week after Ravalli County Commissioners voted that three of the four confiscated horses – Able, Diamond and Casino – should be awarded to Willing Servants, a Hamilton, Montana, horse welfare organization, a second meeting was held March 24, 2010 due to public outcry and support of the Bitter Root Humane Association (BRHA), who had cared for the the four horses after the horses’ ordeal.

      Supporters and members of the BRHA said that they had not been aware of the meeting and impending vote, while members of Willing Servants had been present and were able to sway the vote.

      The County Attorney and the District Judge had both recommended to the commissioners that the horses be given to the BRHA, which would find them suita ble adoptive homes.

      A second Commission meeting was scheduled, at which a standing-room-only crowd of supporters of both groups had their say. After an hour of comments, the Commisioners voted in a three-to-one vote, again in favor of Willing Servants. Consequently, no motion was made to overturn the first vote.

      However, in an agreement with the commissioners at the end of the meeting, Theresa Manzella, head of Willing Servants, agreed to allow people who had fostered the horses to adopt them if they wished to do so.

      The BRHA had been caring for the Heydon’s four horses since August 4, 2008, the day they were confiscated, and placed in their care, and had invested a lot of time, money and energy into bringing them back to health. BRHA staff had testified about the horses’ condition and veterinary care at the Heydon trials. BRHA foster families had cared for the horses for more than a year once they had been brought back to health.

      Willing Servants is a Christian-based, non-profit “safety net for horses and their owners,” and was founded in response to Able’s plight and rescue. Manzella told the commissioners that Willing Servants wis hed to use Able as an educational good-will ambassador, and to exhibit him at as many as five events in 2010.

      Kathy Good, president of BRHA, told the Commissioners that BRHA had a list of suitable potential adopters to choose from for all the horses. Theresa Manzella had applied to adopt Able and was on that list, but the BRHA was concerned about finding the best possible and least stressful homes for all the horses.

      The fate of the fourth horse, 10-year-old Magic (who was the subject of two not-guilty verdicts in the second trial), is still up in the air. It may be decided upon soon in an agreement between the county att o r ne y and the Heydons’ lawyer. If that agreement cannot be met, Magic’s fate may be decided by a civil action.

Click here for a link to archived articles about the Heydon Abuse Case published in Rocky Mountain Rider Magazine.

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