Straight from the Horse's Heart

This page is dedicated to giving you, the reader, an insider’s glimpse into the lives of the people who attempt to give a voice to those who cannot speak for themselves.

But it is important to remember that we are not here to either promote ourselves or each other as there is just one creed that we all live by;

“It’s all about the Horses!’

R.T. Fitch

Author of “Straight from the Horse’s Heart” and freelance writer/reporter, R.T. Fitch is a jack-of-all-trades.

In the past, he has worked with whales, dolphins, sea lions, and penguins at Sea Life Park in Hawaii.

First introduced to horses by his wife, Terry, his fondness for all things equine has become an obsession. They spent several years in Brazil where they met Terry’s current equine companion, Apache.

Once back in the US with Apache, their herd of rescued horses grew as they donated their time to support equine rescue efforts in Texas and Louisiana. The highlight of their rescue career came during the equine rescue efforts after hurricanes Katrina and Rita as outlined in Ky Mortensen’s book,Horses of the Storm.

An outspoken equine advocate, R. T. currently sits on the Board of Directors for Habitat for Horses and is the President and Co-Founder of the Wild Horse Freedom Federation.  He is a charter member of the Equine Welfare Alliance and fully supports the efforts of the Cloud Foundation.

You can find R.T.’s work in “Horseback Magazine“, “True Cowboy Magazine“, “The Equine Connection” and many other publications and journals.

He and Terry live on a small farm outside of Houston Texas where they care for and enjoy their rescued horses, two German Shepherds, cat, Koi and resident deer.

(R.T. can be contacted at either rt@rtfitch.com or rtfitch@wildhorsefreedomfederation.org)

Jerry Finch

Jerry Finch, President of Habitat for Horses- Jerry served in the US Navy and is a former youth crisis intervention counselor with a BA in Psychology, a member of the Texas Animal Control Association and a Level 3 Equine Abuse Investigator.

He has attended numerous classes in equine abuse investigations, equine nutrition and stable management. Certified as a horse professional in Equine-Assisted Psychotherapy by EAGALA, and a court approved equine abuse expert witness, Jerry is now active in bringing youth and horses together in a positive, healing environment.

Habitat for Horses maintains a foster home network throughout three states housing an average of 250 equine, plus a ranch housing an average of 50 equine, providing nutritional, physical and mental rehabilitation and adoption services.

Perhaps a more in depth and personal description of Jerry lies within the  pages of the introduction to R.T.’s book “Straight from the Horse’s Heart“:

“I almost don’t know where to begin when it comes to talking about Jerry; there aren’t too many people who walk on this earth that are like this man.  Perhaps the jury is still out if that is a good thing or a bad thing, but this I can say and confirm in print;  I have rarely, if ever, said “I love you” to another man, but I can speak those words to Jerry for I love him like a brother.  If there was a law requiring that you had to list an individual’s ingredients on the underside of your right forearm his would read something like this:

20% Magic, 15% Nurturing Mother, 10% Salesman, 5% Politician, 50% BS

And I mean that 50% BS in terms of not only being able to dish it out but the ability to take it in return.  You just cannot take yourself too seriously if you’re one and only 24/7 activity for the past 10 years has been exclusively horse rescue.  You need to have pretty thick skin if you hope to survive, and Jerry flourishes.

Mr. Finch is the illustrious Founder and President of Habitat for Horses.  Jerry is not only the blood and guts of the group but he is the heart that pumps the life into every human and horse that comes into contact with him.  Making sure that a horse does not suffer is Jerry’s passion in life and his fire has lit the candle of many people across the globe, including mine.

It was several years ago when Jerry Finch sat across a table from me, while we calmly sipped on ice cold beer, and told me that I should write.  He said that I should commit to paper what I had experienced with my mother’s death and how it not only affected me but how the power of the horses ran through that entire period in time.  He said that others would take heart from hearing such a story; so I did and the tale in question is the second story in this collection.

To have Jerry Finch tell me to write was a great honor as Jerry is an astoundingly profuse and passionate writer himself.  He moves me and those who know him…so I could not let him down.

I owe a lot to Jerry and hope that we can grow old, or older, together as I just can’t imagine a world without my “Older Brother” in it.  Nor can many other people and horses alike.  Thanks Jerry….”

Simone Netherlands

Simone is a 39 year old horse advocate of many years. Originally a business woman, she became a natural horsemanship trainer about 10 years ago. She says this did not do her bank account any favors, since she does not manage to make much profit this way. She trains mostly unwanted horses so they may find new owners. She trains wild horses at BLM adoptions so they are more likely to get adopted, and she performs Freedom Training shows with her own Friesians to show audiences that you do not need a halter, bridle or even a crop, to make a horse do what you want him to do. Simone also has her own small horse rescue facility on 15 acres, where she rehabilitates emaciated horses, wild horses and slaughter bound horses of any kind.

As of lately Simone has switched her gears to 6th to make a stand for ALL horses. She has been  relentless in her lobbying efforts for all horse related bills, S 727, S 1579, H.R. 503 and H.R.305. With her efforts of trying to raise awareness, she has become an accidental writer as her passion to end horse suffering in this country seeps from every paragraph she writes. She seems to know how to keep things tactful while at the same time certainly not beating around the bush.

You can read her very important article on the issues currently facing our wild horses and our domestic horses, including solutions here:  www.Respect4horses.com

She was recently on the front cover of  Prescott Woman Magazine, with an article about her horse rescue. (which was written about her, not by her) You can read the article here: CLICK

You may also become her friend on Facebook by looking up Simone Netherlands.

Steven Long

Sample News Interview: Story won Emmy and Murrow Awards for KHOU Reporter Brad Woodard http://hsus.typepad.com/wayne/2008/12/horse-slaughter.html

Steven Long has spent more than 2,000 hours in the courtroom, more time than most practicing lawyers spend there in a lifetime. He has covered some of the most important cases of the last two decades. Few can capture the drama of lawyer vs. lawyer quite like him.

His most recent book, Every Woman’s Nightmare (St. Martin’s Press) tells the story of the fairytale marriage and cold blooded murder of Utah’s Lori Hacking, whose body was left in a city dump to rot. She was killed in her sleep by her husband Mark after catching him in the lie that he was about to begin medical school. The book has sparked heated opposition from members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the Mormons.

Steven’s true crime tale, Out of Control, (St. Martin’s Press), chronicled the strange murder of Dr. David Harris by his wife Clara. Long’s story, set in a wealthy suburb of Houston, is not a typical grisly true crime paperback. He tells the tale of a woman who loved too much, so much that she was willing to kill to keep her man from his paramour.

In his first book, Death Without Dignity, (Texas Monthly Press, 1987) Steven Long wrote the sad story of catastrophic failure in a nursing home. The work prompted the Austin American-Statesman to call it the “literary equivalent of the movie Platoon.” The book won a State Bar of Texas Gavel Award for distinguished journalism. Yet among the numerous awards he has received throughout his career, Steven Long istill covets the merit badge for journalism he received as a Boy Scout when his first story was published at age 11.

Death Without Dignity is found in the libraries of many medical and nursing schools. However, it is not a dry factual tome. Instead it is true crime writing at its best, reminiscent of the style of the late Tommy Thompson.

Steven Long does not consider himself a true crime writer, although his work falls into that genre. “I write books about lawyers and judges,” he says. “Murder is boring for the most part, but the pull, tug, and theatrics of the courtroom is high drama indeed.”

Long began his career in radio but quickly moved to print. For most of 11 years, he served as editor and publisher of Galveston’s In Between Magazine, an award-winning alternative weekly famed for its gritty investigative work.

His first freelance piece appeared in the respected Texas Observer.

In the 1982 Texas election for governor, Steven Long asked the incumbent, Bill Clements, a question that changed the state’s history. “Would you appoint a consumer, for example a housewife, to the Texas Public Utilities Commission?” The governor blundered and answered, “There isn’t a housewife in Texas qualified to serve on the PUC.” He lost the election.

After closing In Between, Steven Long carved out a career as a feature writer with the Houston Chronicle. One article resulted in the indictment, conviction and disbarment of the late Houston adoption lawyer Leslie Thacker for buying and selling crack babies from mothers in several Texas county jails. Another series of investigative stories ultimately resulted in the indictment and conviction of the head librarian of the oldest medical school west of the Mississippi for stealing rare and historic medical texts, some dating to the sixteenth century. He exposed the Texas prison system’s wholesale practice of allowing the use of inmates as subjects for medical residents to hone their skills in cosmetic surgery at public expense in a state teaching hospital. The facelifts, tummy tucks, breast reductions, and brow lifts, came to a halt.

Steven Long covered the Andrea Yates murder case for the New York Post from the scene to conviction. For the same paper, he located rogue CEO Ken Lay who was in for ten days when the Enron scandal broke in the balcony of his Methodist church. He covered the lengthy and complex trial of the Arthur Andersen accounting firm for Agence France Presse, as well as Crain’s Chicago Business. He has appeared on Inside Edition, the CBS Early Show and Catherine Crier Live, as well as Mugshots on Court TV. Steven worked as a consultant to Dateline’s segment on the sensational Robert Durst Case. He has appeared on Northwest Afternoon on ABC/KOMO in Seattle. Steven appeared on the E Network’s series, “Women Who Kill.”

Long served as courtroom analyst and special correspondent with CNBC for its extensive coverage of the Lay/Skilling Enron trial. During the proceedings he frequently appeared on the popular business channel’s “Squawk Box” and “Power Lunch” programs.

Steven and his adopted horse Façade have appeared on Animal Planet’s “Animal Cops Houston.” Façade is an SPCA rescue animal. Steven and his wife Vicki recently adopted Flying Algonquin, a retired race horse saved from slaughter.

His most recent assignment was for Cowboys and Indians Magazine for a story on Willie Nelson and his Paint horses. He was just on assignment for the same magazine on a story on actor Tony Curtis for the same magazine.

An avid horseman, Steven Long has been a contributor to Western Horseman magazine. Long also serves as owner and editor of Horseback Magazine, (www.horsebackmagazine.com). His work has appeared frequently in the Houston Press.

Steven Long is a regular contributor to the respected true crime forum, In Cold Blog http://incoldblogger.blogspot.com. His most recent journalism award came from the American Quarter Horse Association for his “Hoofbeats on Hollow Ground” which appeared in the respected Texas Parks and Wildlife Magazine. Besides his writing career, Steven Long holds a certification in corporate community relations from the Center for Corporate Citizenship at Boston College

Steven Long is a co-founder of the National Alliance of Urban Literacy Coalitions (Literacy USA), and completed three terms on the national board of CASA, the Court Appointed Special Advocates Association, based in Seattle. CASA volunteers throughout the nation help the courts place abused and neglected children in safe and permanent homes. He currently serves on the organization’s prestigious Emeritus Advisory Board. He is also longtime vice president of the Greater Houston Horse Council where he also chairs the Governmental Affairs committee.

Steven and Vicki Long, a fiction writer, live in Houston, Texas.

Maureen Harmonay

Maureen Harmonay has been a passionate equine advocate since the 1970s, when she bred and raced thoroughbreds and worked as a thoroughbred bloodstock agent. More recently, she has spoken out on behalf of horses in her blog, and in her Boston Animal Advocacy column. Maureen is an avid supporter of the efforts of Americans Against Horse Slaughter, and she is the proud “mom” of a retired Premarin mare, Hayley, whom she adopted from Bay State Equine Rescue in Oakham, MA.

Vicki Tobin

Vicki is a free lance writer, co-founder of the Equine Welfare Alliance and serves on the board of directors of Manes and Tails Organization founded by Ellen Cathryn-Nash. Vicki hails from Chicago and became involved in anti horse slaughter efforts at the prompting of family members that own a farm in rural Illinois. Several years ago, she met John Holland, started working with him and the rest, as they say, is history.

She is heavily involved with horse slaughter research, wild Mustang protection and equine rescues, particularly with Michael & Diane Blowen of Old Friends in Georgetown, KY. Vicki maintains the Equine Welfare Alliance and A Voice for our Horses websites and collaborates with the EWA board, SMEs and members on press releases, editorials, research and study papers.

Her “day” profession is technology procurement.