Faces of Rescue       Faces of Wildlife       Events       Store       About Us       Contact Us       Home

Faces of Rescue art show, a year long project of paintings of rescue animals by artist Henry Patton, tells the story of rescue animals while showing the beauty, grace and the kindness still present in their eyes. The purpose of this show is to help focus attention on the suffering of animals, what brought them to the rescue, and the rescue organizations that do a tremendous job for these animals.

It also focuses on some of the reasons for rescue and what we can do to help the animals that end up at rescues... Horses bound for Horse Slaughter for Human Consumption where over 100,000 horses are slaughtered each year in the United States, PMU mares and their foals that suffer as a consequence of Premarin drugs, and pets that are abandoned and abused due to over population, and end-up in animal shelters and rescues. With your help and support these animals do not have to continue suffering.

The show is being presented by Faces of Nature, Inc., a nonprofit corporation which uses art to teach about animals and promote their well-being, and as a way to help support and promote rescue, environmental, and wildlife organizations.

Join Our Email List

Each of these animals, for various reasons, have been rescued.

(Painting: 24"x48", acrylic on canvas, Price: $1100)

My name is Spirit. I am just visiting at the rescue but I wanted to introduce to a couple of new friends I met at the rescue, Chloe, the beautiful grey horse and Blackberry, kind of looks like his name.

Chloe is an 8 year old Thoroughbred mare. She was a former racehorse and was owned by several people trying to start different careers. A girl saw Chloe at a horse show being manhandled. The people were trying to sell her and she was underweight. The girl bought her and donated her to the rescue so she will not be mistreated again.

She has been at the rescue for 5 months and has put on weight. She can be ridden but needs confidence and a confident rider to work with her. She was adopted by one of the volunteers at the rescue last month.

Blackberry is a 5 year old Shire-Thoroughbred cross mare. She came from a feedlot in Illinois and was destined for slaughter.

She came to the rescue 4 years ago. She was adopted in the winter of 2006 and is in gentle horsemanship training with Ed Dabney. And her owner is also in training with Ed. He teaches both the owner and the horse so that they understand each other and what is required of both of them.

Now meet some of my other friends from the rescue ...

ArchiBravo - AKA Bravo   (Painting: "ArchiBravo" - 20"x16", acrylic on canvas, Price: $450)
Opera fans will know why he is called ArchiBravo (Nothing better than this could be imagined)! Around the rescue farm, he is known as Bravo. He is a 2 year old Shire gelding who would have been slaughtered, along with many other Shires, at the DeKalb, Illinois horse slaughter plant had it been opened for business.

For two and a half years the plant was closed after it burned down. Many Shires and other horses were shipped to Texas or Canada to be slaughtered. The plant reopened in June of 2004 and it is business as usual slaughtering horses for human consumption.

During that closed period, the Rescue was able to acquire some Shires. Many are bred at a farm near the plant. The unwanted ones are sent to be slaughtered. It's an easy, profitable way for the breeders to cull the herd.

Bravo is a handsome fellow. He will continue to grow for a few more years. He towers over all the other horses in his pasture but he is a youngster. He's curious and willing, a true gentle giant. He has become a mascot for the rescue, and is in gentle horsemanship training with one of our volunteers.

Without caring people intervening, horses will continue to be abused, neglected and slaughtered. It is unimaginable that horses can be discarded so easily and knowingly sent to be butchered into steaks for foreign dinner tables. But it happens every day with over 80,000 horses slaughtered every year in the US.

With your help, we can stop the slaughter of horses for human consumption. Legislation is in the US Congress to prevent horse slaughter (US House bill HR503 and US Senate bill S311) and if passed this year it will prevent the slaughter of horses for human consumption. Without your caring and kind generosity, we can not get these bills passed. Please contact your representatives and ask them to support these bills. Please support you local Rescues by volunteering your time or with generous donations.

Benny   (Painting: "Curious Benny", 20"x24", acrylic on canvas, Price: $500.00)
Benny is a beautiful 9-year-old half Saddlebred and half Tennessee Walker gelding. He was spotted lying in a pasture in Jasper, GA by an HRRRF volunteer on her way home from work one day. There was a group of people standing around him. She stopped to see if she could help and that's when Benny’s journey began. He had laminitis and had foundered in all four feet and couldn't walk.

Laminitis/founder is an inflammation of the live tissues inside the hoof. When the live tissues get inflamed they can die and separate from the hoof wall causing the coffin bone to rotate downward. This is usually a death sentence for most horses with this condition. Inappropriate feeding or overeating is one of the most common causes of Laminitis. Benny had eaten too much new spring grass. It is extremely painful....equivalent to the pain experienced if you close a car door on your fingertips/nail but much much worse since the horse must also put his weight (over 1,000 lbs) on the injured area.

The owner of the horse didn't want to pay to have a vet treat him and wanted to put him down. Laminitis is treatable but it can take a significant amount of time, effort, and money. She offered to pay for the vet and he agreed. After the vet told him what it would cost to treat Benny he didn't want to pay for it and wanted him put down. The volunteer convinced him to donate Benny to the Horse Rescue and he did. Benny was very thin and had pressure sores all over his body where he had been lying down.

After the rescue took over his care, several vets and farriers said he could not be saved and he should be put down. We didn’t listen to them. Benny wasn’t ready to give up and neither were we. He had a will to live. He never gave us any reason to believe that he wanted to die.

It has taken almost 2 years for his recovery. He had frequent corrective trims and had to re-grow all is hooves. Today Benny is a very spoiled happy horse and he can run and play, just like the other horses. All of this because rescue volunteers cared and came to his rescue!

Rescue Puppies   (Painting: "Puppies", 20"x24", acrylic on canvas, Price: $450)
There were a total of six puppies. They came to the rescue after a lady in Cherokee County contacted the horse rescue to see if we could take some pups. Sometimes we are able to take other animals and work with various rescue groups to get them adopted. With the puppies, the horse rescue worked with K9 Rescue League to get them adopted out.

Her neighbor is 70 years old and has an American Bulldog who met up with the neighbor's Chocolate Lab. He was keeping the puppies in his basement because it was so cold outside and did not know what to do. He loved them all so much but agreed to give up the puppies as long as he could keep the mom. We took the puppies, got them spayed and neuter and found adopters for them.

With our encouragement the mom has been spayed. Much of our work goes toward convincing people to get their dogs spayed and neutered. Many of the dogs that come to rescues and humane societies are unwanted puppies that happen from dogs running loose that have not been spayed or neutered.

There are many clinics that offer low cost spaying or neutering. If you need one and don’t know where to look, call you local animal control or humane society, they should have a name for you. Overpopulation of pets causes so many cases of pets being euthanized each year and many of these could be avoided if everyone got their pets spayed and neutered.

Cricket   (Painting: "Cricket", 20"x16", acrylic on canvas, Price: $450)
Cricket is a 43 year old Paint pony mare. Her owners did not want her because she was getting older and they wanted to make room for a younger, prettier horse.

She had been a family pet for 30 years. She had been in the Pony Club, was dressage pony, and gave everything to them.

She came to the rescue 6 years ago. She has Cushing’s disease and takes Hepasperadine daily. She takes Cosaquin, a daily joint supplement for arthritis. She is a permanent resident at the rescue and will remain there for the rest of her life.

Molly   (Painting: "Sweet Molly", 20"x20", acrylic on canvas, Price: $450)
Molly is an 8 year old Racking Mule mare. An accident while riding Molly caused Molly’s leg to break and her owner to have several broken bones also.

Her owner was unable to wrap her leg and keep her in a stall. He was unable to attend to her needs. She came to the rescue to be cared for. Her leg is still in the process of healing and is being brought back to riding slowly to not overwork the leg until it is completely healed.

Molly has recently been adopted by one of the volunteers at the horse rescue who continues to work with Molly to help her leg heal.

Rocketman   (Painting: "Rocketman", 30"x24", acrylic on canvas, Price: $650)
Rocketman is a 20 year old Welch pony cross, gelding. He is a handsome horse. He was a hunter show pony for many years.

His owner was trying to sell him but wanted too much money. When they could not sell him, they decided to donate him to the horse rescue for a write-off. He has been at the horse rescue for 3 years. He can be ridden and was adopted in the fall of 2006.

For the most part most of the horses at the rescue are up for adoption. Sometimes they come to retire and live the relaxed life they deserve. For the ones that are up for adoption, whether they can be ridden or not, we look for the best situation and adopter for them. It’s not a quick process, we take our time and make sure we know the person who will be adopting the horse, the living conditions for the horse, and if they can afford the care, feeding and stabling they need. Many of the older or abused horses need medications and will need them the rest of their life.

For people interested in adopting a horse from the horse rescue, they need to be patient, spend time visiting and working with the horse before they adopt. They need to make sure they can afford the horse, afford to take care of the horse, and have a place for them.

Roy   (Painting: "Roy, the Big Boy", 20"x16", acrylic on canvas, Price: $450)
Roy is a 22 year old Percheron gelding. He was a carriage horse at Stone Mountain Park for many years and has been at the rescue for 2 years. He is one of the permanent residents that live at the rescue.

Roy’s owner had financial problems and he was not being fed and taken care of properly. He was to be euthanized the day we found out about him from one of our volunteers.

We were able to acquire him and he came to the rescue. With the proper feeding and care, he is doing great. He has some lameness from the constant stomping of his feet on pavement. Roy roams the rescue and greets visitors. Children love to pose with him and he has done a few PR jobs for the rescue, going to events and showing of his handsome self.

Roy almost lost his life because someone did not have the means to feed and take care of him. People get their selves into financial issues and often the first things they ignore are the animals in their lives. We are the stewards of this earth. It is not only up to us to take care of the environment but it is our job to take care of the animals because they can not take care of themselves.

Trudy and Charlie   (Painting: "Asleep in the Shade", 20"x24", acrylic on canvas, Price: $500)
Trudy has a fear of humans and deservedly so. Her safest place is surrounded by horses. She is also protected by Charlie, known at the rescue as Trudy’s boyfriend. She does not kick or strike even though she could easily get revenge for her horror and pain. All she does is blow very loudly and hard through her nostrils and looks for a way to escape. Trudy will also tremble at her shoulders and arch her neck as she holds all the fear in her neck muscles.

Once she is haltered, she will lead or load in a horse trailer without a problem. It is heartbreaking to be near Trudy and not to get her to understand that we will never hurt her or let her be hurt again. She doesn't believe us, we're humans. Why should she trust us? It breaks your heart when you feel the fear in her heart. It is so unfair but it cannot be taken away, by anyone, just eased a little.

Trudy was lucky enough to be 'joined-up' with Monty Roberts. Monty worked with her for about 25 minutes. It started out with Trudy trembling and fearful, he patiently waited for her to change her mind and finally she put her nose on his shoulder. When that moment happened, the audience broke out in tears. Trudy's emotional wounds are too deep. We can offer her kindness and understanding, but she will only accept what she feels she can.

Trudy will always be a permanent resident of the Rescue. It's been her safe place for 8 years. Change would only frighten her.

Charlie is a 15 year old thoroughbred gelding, a former race horse. He was purchased by a local therapeutic riding center. He wasn’t very happy being a therapy horse; we think he was bored going in a slow circle all day long, probably part of having been a race horse.

He was sold to a family with autistic children, but he had a hard time handling those demands and was given to the rescue. When he first arrived he was angry and confused.

The rescue has given him time to become “just a horse” again by allowing him to chill out in the pasture without the responsibility of having riders on his back. He soon found his companion and girlfriend in Trudy, a blind horse in the pasture that sometimes other horses wanted to pick on. Charlie stepped in to be her protector.

He even protects her from people, nosing his way in between Trudy and humans that try to pet her – he sometimes even does it with volunteers that want to brush or work with Trudy.

Charlie has calmed down a lot and he is not as angry as before. He enjoys his days in the pasture with the other horses and his responsibility of protecting Trudy.

Wishbone and Clementine   (Painting: "Constant Companions" - not for sale)
Clementine, the beautiful blonde girl, came from the humane society where she had a litter of puppies. I adopted her but she had many issue with being aggressive toward other dogs. She became very protective of me when around other dogs and still is. I wanted to find a companion for her but it was hard finding a dog she got along with.

I had Clementine about a year when I was notified that one of her puppies, Wishbone, was back in the humane society. I was asked if I would like to foster him. I decided this could be the best answer to finding a companion for her and fostered him.

I still wasn’t sure how she would react and would she remember him. When Wishbone came to the house, he looked so much different from his mother, much bigger, and taller than Clementine with a brindle color. He was still a puppy, a big puppy but still had lots of energy, that puppy attitude and still wanted to chew everything in sight.

I put them together and that got along famously … mom ruled even though Wishbone was so much bigger. Wishbone loves to run in the yard, and Clementine tries to chase him without putting too much effort into it but it keeps him encouraged. They love to play fight but Wishbone always ends up on the bottom. After a year of being together, mom still rules.

Bringing the two of them together has been a great relief for me. I adopted Wishbone right away and they are constant companions, supporting and helping each other. For a while, Wishbone would jump the fence on occasions and run around the neighborhood … if I was home, Clementine would bark at me and let me know that Wishbone was out. One morning, I awoke to all the neighborhood dogs barking from one end to the other. I got out of bed and found both dogs were missing … a tree limb had fallen, breaking the fence and they took off to explore the neighborhood. I called them and they came running down a neighbor’s driveway, Clementine in the lead with Wishbone following closely on her heels, a big panting smile on his face. Life is so much better for both of them.

Wyoming   (Painting: "Wyoming", 20"x24", acrylic on canvas, Price: $500)
Wyoming is a 12 year old Appaloosa mare that was donated to a children’s camp in North Carolina. When the camp did not need her anymore they opted to sell her at an auction. The problem with selling horses at auctions, they can fall into the hands of "killer buyers" who ship them to slaughter plants to be slaughtered for human consumption.

One of the long time campers was not going to let her be sold at auction. She decided to spend the little money she had, buy her and send her to the Horse Rescue.

She came to the rescue three years ago, she can be ridden, and is available for adoption. She is prone to Uveitis, an inflammation of the middle eye, and she needs a Guardian Mask during the summer.

All paintings shown here are available for purchase except for "Wishbone and Clementine." Donation prices range from $450 - $1100. If you are interested in purchasing a painting, please contact Faces of Nauture, Inc. at 505-516-0055 or by EMAIL. All paintings are acrylic on canvas.