<\/p>\n
GEM VILLAGE \u2013 The 10 acres on which Diane McCracken operates Spring Creek Horse Rescue doesn\u2019t allow much wiggle room, but it\u2019s not the tightest situation in which she finds herself.<\/p>\n
McCracken, who has rescued abused, injured, starved and unwanted horses for 38 years, has lost her lease. She has to be off the premises by the end of the month.<\/p>\n
A deal on 80 acres in Montezuma County fell through when she couldn\u2019t get a brand inspection in time. State regulations require brand inspections when there\u2019s a change of ownership, when equines go out of state or move at least 75 miles within the state.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe property owners wanted us there before they left for the winter,\u201d McCracken said in an interview Thursday. \u201cWe had volunteers with trucks ready to move us, but we missed the deadline.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, McCracken and 17 horses \u2013 down from 22 last week \u2013 await their fate. La Plata County Sheriff\u2019s deputies can evict her if she\u2019s still there Oct. 1.<\/p>\n
It will be a great loss to the county if McCracken leaves, Jon Patla, director of animal protection at the La Plata County Humane Society, said Friday. He recalled his first encounter with McCracken in 2005.<\/p>\n
A dozen horses were seized near Tiffany after a cruelty investigation, Patla said. Half were in horrible condition, including a pregnant mare that was a walking skeleton, he said.<\/p>\n
McCracken, who was present during the seizure, took all the horses, some of them not really socialized, and nursed them back to health, Patla said.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe is fantastic, a vital resource to the county,\u201d Patla said. \u201cMy dealings with her have been exceptional and positive ever since.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bailey Thers, the Spring Creek trainer, said the tension is palpable.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s scary, but it\u2019s hard to put into words,\u201d said Thers, a transplant from Virginia where she turned \u201cno-heart\u201d Thoroughbreds into family horses. \u201cWe need donations.\u201d<\/p>\n
Donations and grants have sustained McCracken as she moved from her first rescue sanctuary in Bayfield, to Ignacio, then to Durango and finally to the current location almost out of sight behind a strip of commercial outlets.<\/p>\n
Spring Creek Horse Rescue also serves as the winter hay bank for La Plata County, distributing donated hay to those who can\u2019t afford it.<\/p>\n
\u201cLa Plata County has changed,\u201d McCracken said. \u201cThe big parcels of land are now 2- and 3-acre lots. It\u2019s hard to find a place large enough for us.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve had offers of land in Montana, Arizona and Texas,\u201d McCracken said. \u201cBut this is home.\u201d<\/p>\n
A departure from Gem Village means she will lose her largely Bayfield-based volunteers, some of whom have been with her for 20 years, McCracken said.<\/p>\n
The services of a veterinarian and a farrier, each only minutes away, will be lost, McCracken said. The farrier works for free.<\/p>\n
The Spring Creek sanctuary is a series of sheds, bare-earth corrals and roofed structures adjacent to a house where McCracken lives.<\/p>\n
She pays $1,000 a month.<\/p>\n
Unwanted equines arrive at her place from the La Plata County Humane Society, horse owners who no longer want or can keep the animal, the Southern Ute Indian Tribe and humane societies elsewhere.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe economic crunch is still with us, which is when people surrender horses,\u201d McCracken said. \u201cIf a horse is in trouble, our door is open.\u201d<\/p>\n
Upkeep per horse is $200 a month if pasture isn\u2019t available, which is McCracken\u2019s situation.<\/p>\n
When she nurses horses back to health, McCracken looks for foster homes. She sometimes is able to transfer horses to other rescue sites.<\/p>\n
A couple of her boarders will never leave:<\/p>\n
Colton, a 9-year-old gelding, was so abused that he is unadoptable.<\/p>\n
Betty, a Belgian mare, is unsound because of early neglect. She was never wormed and never had her hooves trimmed.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, Thers is training Tara, a warmblood rescued at 3 months of age from a sales barn by a concerned horse lover. Tara\u2019s mother was put on the meat wagon, McCracken said.<\/p>\n
McCracken has her eye on a piece of land in Marvel. But it\u2019s really not set up for horses \u2013 too much sage brush.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always lucked into a good place,\u201d McCracken said.<\/p>\n
The larger her sanctuary, the more horses she can help, McCracken said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m on the phone or checking emails for offers of land,\u201d McCracken said. \u201cBut nothing yet. I\u2019m so broken up.\u201d<\/p>\n