Agee Memorial Wildlife Fund, Inc.
c/o Cindy Minghelli
4354 Town Center Blvd., Suite 114-245
El Dorado Hills, CA 95762
Phone: (916) 939-3418
Fax: (916) 939-4120
Cell: (916) 768-6966
e-mail: cmsquirrel@sbcglobal.net
Website Comments/Concerns:
webmaster@tiggertales.net
Being a horse girl brought me joy, happiness, peace, misery, a greater faith in God, and a wonderful feeling that is impossible for me to explain. It all started with a summer camp when I was 10. This was back when I had never heard of a canter. I could only walk and trot on a horse, and I had no idea what a posting trot was. The woman who ran the camp, Jo, had ridden with famous riders, so I knew I was in good hands.
Jo knew I needed a more difficult horse, so she told me, "I think I'll put you on Terrible Tails." That wiped away my assurance. I gulped. "Terrible Tails? What's so bad about him?" "Well, he does a lot of bucking, and he is pretty stubborn at times." Great. Now I was going to look like the most inexperienced of a whole bunch of 7-year-old kids.
I walked towards his stall and saw that he was a plain bay with a diamond face marking directly in the upper center of his forehead. He wasn't very tall, no bigger than 14 hands, but he was still beautiful. At least, he was in my eyes.
I went into the stall with a stable hand and was about to pick the back feet when she said "Let me do that. He's funny with his back feet. He almost always farts in your face." A horse with a sense of humor. Funny.
Jo told me, "Tails was at the pound, and he always chewed on the other horses' tails. Plus, some kid came by my stables in the middle of the night and cut half of his tail off. That's how he got his name." His tail was pretty short.
When the camp was over, I wanted to do it again the next year. I had cantered. Tails hadn't bucked me. He loved me, and I loved him. I was sad to leave, but I knew I would see him again one day. At least, I thought I would.
About a year after camp, I got a call from my friend. According to her sister, Tails caught some disease over the summer and had to be put down. My heart shattered into a million pieces. It felt like a huge part of me was torn out, or someone had stabbed me through the heart. I cried myself to sleep each night, and every time I thought about him. How could this happen? I didn't think I was ever going to ride again. It was unbearable.
About 3 weeks ago (3 years after the camp), I went to the Grace Foundation. My trainer had me ride a horse named Oak. When I saw Oak, all memory of Tails washed over me. Oak looked almost exactly like Tails! I rode him, and he acted like Tails! Being with him almost brought tears to my eyes. I felt like God brought Tails back to me. I felt whole again.
(Louie is in the right foreground looking at the gals with love and appreciation!) These four are angels sent from God to help us on Sunday morning. They are dependable and sacrifice all their Sundays to clean, scoop out cat boxes, wash dishes, sweep and mop, and all the "undesirable duties" that must be done everyday for the animals. They receive no money, just the pure satisfaction of what volunteering is all about. Joyce has now added a few more days to her already hectic schedule of being a full time mom, wife and volunteer for other groups, to help Agee.
Kaaren is a sponsor, member of the board, foster, volunteer and donates all her jewelry sales from Wild Hare Studio to Agee and two other charities.
Sharman is one of our wonderful fosters!
Kristan makes cat topiaries and donates part of the profits to Agee. See her website Curb and Mantle. She also helps socialize our cats, gives general support, etc.
These wonderful ladies volunteer to socialize the kittens and cats at Agee!
Nancy playing with kitten Eleanor.
Margaret donates all our "cat beds" and works with Vic on the earring sales for Agee.
Tiffany does a lot of fostering and helps out at adoption events at PetSmart.
Gina is our website and general office volunteer.
Kathy Raymond and Jenna Gabor our Puppy support team.
Here we are with some of our volunteers, without whom we could not function. From left to right are: Tyler, Chantal, Amy, Nikki and Lisa at a recent trip to volunteer their time and work to help clean up the sanctuary. They volunteer regularly and encourage their friends and neighbors to adopt our "little precious ones". Way to go guys!