Photos by Kevin Briles

Divot Finds a Home

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When Elaine Smallridge got the phone call from her son and daughter-in-law, she assumed it was going to be about a puppy.

“They went to the Humane Society to look at puppies, but Andrea from the Humane Society started telling them about their foster programs. They went out to look at Divot and immediately fell in love with her,” says Elaine, in her home off Pullman Road. “They called me and asked if I’d be interested in adopting her. I said I wanted to look at her first.”

And rightfully so. Four-year-old Divot was rescued by the Humane Society last year when she was found nearly 900 lbs. underweight as a result of neglect and abuse. (The veterinarian who treated Divot named her after the indentation in her skull.) Not only was Divot on the verge of death, she was angry. Just when euthanizing her seemed like the humane thing to do, the folks at the Humane Society saw a spark of life.

“They decided to give her a chance, but it was hard to place her because of her attitude,” she says. “It’s understandable to be irritated by people when you’ve been beaten and starved by them. Divot was a difficult case, and they didn’t know if she could be rehabilitated.”

Instead of adopting the part-Quarter Horse, part-Arabian outright, Elaine agreed to foster her. She and her son, Aaron, built stalls and fence lines, and agreed they’d do what they could to make Divot “a little friendlier.”

On the day they brought Divot home, it took them a couple of hours to back her out of the trailer, which was the first time Elaine had second thoughts.

“She would rear up and paw at us. She’d turn around and act like she was going to step on us. She was just very aggressive,” says Elaine. “Several times I had second thoughts, but I could see what Andrea meant about her – there was something in Divot that told me she’d be all right.”

It was close to four months before they noticed a change, and it wasn’t gradual. Elaine spent a lot of time sitting in a lawn chair next to Divot’s stall, talking to her, singing, and rebuilding long-lost trust. It took patience and developing a sense for how Divot was feeling.

“It’s just instinct. I’d see what kind of mood she was in, and I did whatever I thought was best,” Elaine says. “Then all of a sudden, one day, it’s like someone flipped the light switch in her. She suddenly seemed happy. She was like a new horse.”

Instead of trying to bite, Divot now allows people to approach her and even pet her. Twice she’s allowed someone to sit on her, even if briefly. Part of Elaine’s trust-building routine involves walking her in circles, taking halters on and off, and continuing to work towards riding.

In addition to Divot, Elaine fostered, and subsequently adopted, two more formerly abused horses – three-year-old Hope and two-year-old Aurora. Both are stunted in growth due to starvation, but each possesses a gentleness of which Elaine couldn’t let go.

“Little Aurora is for my grandchildren. She’s small and gentle by nature, which is perfect for them to learn how to handle horses,” she says. “And my oldest grandson, Blain, really connected with Hope, so I had to adopt them.”

Her compassion – as a mother of four and grandmother to 12 – doesn’t stop with horses, either.

“We knew we’d like to have horses again, but I never thought we’d foster like this. I’ve now adopted from the Humane Society three horses, four chickens, two sheep, a goose, a duck, a goat and a partridge in a pear tree,” she laughs. “We also have four rabbits and nine new baby chicks.”

Just when you think she’s got a full house, she finds more room for animals in need.

“We have two small inside dogs, as well as a cat who was rescued from Hurricane Katrina. Her name is Juliet. It was Romeo when we first got her, but then she had kittens,” she says, as Juliet weaves around her feet. “They just need to be taken care of, and that’s our job. It’s what we’re supposed to do.”

As for Divot, she appears to have found a home where love, patience and respect grow in abundance. And while Elaine will continue to foster horses in need, Divot won’t be going anywhere.

“She’s home,” says Elaine. “She’s home to stay.”

by Jennie Treadway-Miller

Jennie was a columnist for the Chattanooga Times Free Press for eight years prior to moving to Amarillo in 2008. She is an avid reader, runner and writer.

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