News Search

ArticleS

Laughlin Historian helps save horses

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Nathan Maysonet
  • 47th Flying Training Wing Public Affairs
LAUGHLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  Working with local horse rescuers, one of Laughlin's own has made the task of caring for an abused horse a personal mission.

Jack Waid, 47th Flying Training Wing historian, has joined forces with Memo Montejano, an Amistad Physical Therapy technician and 12-time successful horse rescuer, and his son Memo Jr., to care for one such malnourished horse.

"I am honored to have played a small role in helping the Montejano family rescue a horse," said Waid.

Waid became involved in the process of rescuing and caring for neglected horses after meeting Montejano while undergoing physical therapy, the historian said. The two became fast friends as Montejano explained the arduous process of bringing the horses back to health.

The first step is to acquire a neglected horse, but most owners are hard to contact and often just a message is left on a fence gate offering to care for the animal, said Montejano.

"I offer to buy the horse off of them," he said. "At times they ask for an outrageous price when the horse is struggling to survive."

Montejano pays out of pocket what is asked and moves the horse to his ranch outside Laughlin.

"It hurts my heart that some grownups care so little for life," said Memo Jr. "Some of the horses my dad and I rescued had so little life left in them."

The next and most difficult step is caring for the animal, making sure it is well fed, sheltered and provided medical care.

With Waid's recent acquisition, these challenges are now his and his family's to bear as a rescued horse named Gracie now resides on his residence.

"When Gracie was found, she only had an empty five gallon bucket of water and was trying to live off dirt," said Waid. "I couldn't believe someone would treat a horse like that."

After four months of care by giving Gracie the freedom to roam, providing hearty meals and offering plenty of water to drink the mare has regained its strength and can now be ridden, said Waid's 11-year-old son Joshua, whose constant care and attention allowed Gracie to trust him enough to ride her.

"I rode her for the first time the other day and felt like a cowboy," Joshua said.

The Waid family has taken to the rescue mission completely. They have taken on the full cost of caring for Gracie and hope others will help Montejano in his endeavors.

"I am always looking for support, such as feed, tack and lumber for stalls but I would prefer that people take care of their horses," said Montejano. "If a horse cannot be cared for, I am here to care for them and find a family to adopt them."

For more information on how to help rescue abused and neglected horses, contact Montejano at 734-1538 and montejanomm@aol.com.