BECKY'S HOPE

Jamie Hoover spends some time with Reno (left) and Shiloh, two rescued horses, behind his Marlin home. Hoover, along with family and friends, has started Becky's Hope, an organization that finds new homes for abused, neglected and abandoned horses. Journal photo/David Stone BECKY'S HOPE A ride down Business 6 in Marlin last May changed Jamie Hoover's life forever. It also changed the life of a starving mare.

The horse, later named Becky, was standing by the highway near Falls on the Brazos County Park when Jamie passed by. He immediately hit the brakes.

Becky had broken a chain that had restricted her to a grassless junkyard. She had no food or water, and puss was oozing from infected wounds behind her withers. Her entire left side was black with dried blood, and her teeth had been shattered from a blow to the mouth.

Becky was a mess, and unless she received medical care, she was going to die.

Jamie contacted the Falls County Sheriff's Office to report the incident, but he didn't stop there.

"She was in bad shape and needed immediate help," Hoover recalled last week from his Marlin home. "I decided then and there I wasn't going to let this animal die. I wasn't going to walk away."

Becky, an abused horse, is examined by Jamie Hoover of Marlin of Becky's Hope Horse Rescue. The horse weighed only 450 when Hoover found her last year along Business 6. Journal photo/David Stone The Sheriff's Office gave the horse's owners several days to provide medical care and suitable accommodations for the animal, and Jamie kept a close eye on the case.

After six days passed and Becky still hadn't received medical attention, Jamie's persistence led authorities to give the owners an ultimatum: Give the horse up or face cruelty charges.

Becky was at her new home later that day.

"When I got her to a veterinarian, she weighed about 450 pounds," Jamie said. "Best we can tell, she's somewhere between 5 and 10 years old. She was so dehydrated that I could pull her loose skin to a point and it would stay that way."

That was a year ago. Today, Becky weighs a healthy 960 pounds and her wounds are healing. A vet at Texas A&M inserted drainage tubes in her wounds so fluid buildups caused by infections could escape. Jamie has kept her isolated from his other horses so her wounds can completely heal, but soon Becky will join Sheeba, Reno and Shiloh in a pasture behind Hoover's home.

Jamie's experience has led to the creation of a horse rescue organization aptly named Becky's Hope.

The rescue will focus on horses, but that doesn't mean Jamie and his colleages will turn their backs on other animals in need.

"I may be an ex-Marine, but that doesn't mean I don't have a soft heart," Jamie said. "If an animal is being neglected or abused, we're going to help."

Together with his mother, Janice, and several close friends, Becky's Hope soon will be providing refuge for neglected, abused and abandoned horses.

"When Jamie rescued Becky, he did it out of love," said Barry LeFlore of Dallas, Jamie's former employer and a close friend. "He and his mother have put a lot of time, love and resources into Becky's rehabilitation, and they never asked for outside help. I know it put a big strain on their finances. Jamie and I have talked about starting a rescue in the past, and this seemed like the right time."

Becky's Hope launched its Web site last week, and they expect to be certified as a 501c3 non-profit organization this week, said LeFlore, who is handling the business aspects of the project.

"I think this will be a perfect setup," he said. "Jamie and Janis will care for the horses, and I can handle fund-raising. I'm not able to be at the rescue every day, so this is how I can contribute the most."

Sue Chapman of Dallas, a member of the Becky's Hope board of directors, will pursue state and federal grants for the not-for-profit organization.

Jamie settled in the Marlin area after visiting Marine buddy David Mulsow at his Riesel home. David's dad, Bobby Mulsow, also is a Becky's Hope director.

After Jamie moved to Marlin, LeFlore came up for a visit and fell in love with Central Texas. He ended up buying 84 acres off FM 147 near Shady Grove Cemetery.

"I purchased the land to have a getaway from the big city," LeFlore said. "I have a business, a wife and two teen-agers, so my visits to the Marlin area are less often than I would like."

The land near Shady Grove will serve as the main rescue facility for Becky's Hope. Jamie also has acreage behind his home that will be used.

"We need to clear some brush at the main rescue," Jamie said, "but we will use the Marlin property until we get that done."

Although the Becky's Hope project is just getting off the ground, Jamie and Janis have been helping horses in need for more than a decade.

Janis, who joined Jamie in Marlin last year, was living in Pennsylvania in 1997 when she adopted Sheeba, who Jamie said can "still take you on the ride of your life, even though she's 27." The horse, a former barrel racer, was abandoned at a boarding stable after her career came to an end.

"The owners of the stable were taking good care of Sheeba, but they were looking for a permanent home for the horse," Jamie said.

Reno's past is more disturbing.

"Mom found Reno in March 2001," he said. "He had been abandoned and left in a manure-filled 10-foot by 10-foot stall without any food and water."

Shiloh, a paint, was adopted in December 2003. The 8-year-old had been locked in a pen for years, and he suffered from neglect.

"He was a wild horse," Jamie recalled. "His eyes would get as big as softballs when he saw a saddle, and he would come after you. I spent a week sitting on a bucket with feed in hand just to get him to come to me."

More than five years after his adoption, Shiloh is friendly but a bit mischievous.

"He's learned to open gates," Jamie said. "It's tough to keep him inside a fence."

In addition to taking in abused, neglected and abandoned horses, Jamie plans on finding permanent homes for retired race horses.

"We will be going to horse tracks around the state," he said. "Owners spend thousands of dollars on a race horse, but when it gets old or if it doesn't win, they will sell it to a meat truck for about $400. The meat trucks take the animals to slaughter houses in Mexico. Apparently, there is a high demand for race horse meat because they have higher levels of protein."

Jamie said some of the money Becky's Hope receives through donations will be used to buy unwanted race horses so the rescue can find them suitable homes.

LeFlore said donations also will be used to provide food and medical treatments for rescued horses.

"With hard work and the help from good friends and horse lovers, we can make a difference," he said.

WANT TO HELP?

Donations to Becky's Hope can be made at www.beckyshope. com or by mail: Becky's Hope Horse Rescue, P.O. Box 29168, Dallas, TX 75229. Donations are tax deductible.