Hi everyone,

I am Maury Jones, “Jonesy” to my friends. In 2008, Colleen Gillings and I co-founded Jackson Hole Regional Horse Rescue. I am currently the Executive Director. In the spring of 2011 I was hired as Manager/Caretaker of Trinity Ranch, a private 256 acre ranch just west of the Jackson Hole Airport. The owner agreed to provide 40 acres of irrigated pasture for the Horse Rescue, in exchange for me taking his family and friends horseback riding when they visit. A win-win situation.

On December 9, 2024, Scott Maller, the rancher who keeps our horses in the winter, called and said one of our horses has died. He went out to the pasture to check the horses, as he does every day, and she was simply lying there dead. He described her and I recognized her as Hattie. Since July 20, 2023 Hattie has been doing poorly. That is when Chiquita, Hattie’s soul-mate, had a broken leg and had to be put down. Here was my Horse Rescue Journal entry at the time;

7/20/23 Our hearts are broken this evening. Chiquita-Banana has gone to the Great Pasture in the Sky. I took an 11-year old guest out in the pasture to see the horses.
Chiquita was with a group of horses, including Hattie—her best friend. When Chiquita moved, I instantly saw that she had a broken leg. Compound fracture of the right rear leg just above the hock. It was bleeding and she was in obvious pain. Evidently some horse had kicked her. I sent the young girl back to her parents at the Lodge and called Linda to bring me my rifle. After we gave Chiquita a hug and expressed our love for her and our sorrow, we sent her to the Great Pasture in the Sky. Linda and I were in tears, as was Hattie. It was 2:45 PM and the dump—where we can dispose of a dead horse—closes at 3, loaded her in the trailer and early tomorrow morning will take her to the dump. (which I did) Chiquita was one of our best and gentlest horses. This is the part of this job that I hate, putting down a horse for various reasons, usually old age and illness, and it happens several times a year. It goes with the job because we take in old horses, many of them in poor health. But it is especially sorrowful when a really good horse has to be put down because of an accident. Tragic. This makes three times in my life that a horse suffered a broken leg because of getting kicked by another horse. Heartbreaking for us and especially for Hattie. Hattie literally had tears running down her cheeks and kept nuzzling Chiquita, trying to comfort her.

We acquired Hattie and Chiquita about five years ago. A man called and said he is a caretaker for an older man here in Jackson Hole and the old guy just isn’t able to ride his horses anymore. So he asked his care-giver/maintenance man to give his two horses to the Horse Rescue. I asked about the horses and was surprised to find that they were both healthy and gentle riding horses, in their late teens. We very seldom get good horses at Jackson Hole Horse Rescue. We mainly get old or lame horses with health issues.

Well, since Chiquita’s death Hattie simply has not been the same. For days she wandered around the pasture fences, whinnying and moping around, looking for her
soul-mate. We had locked her in a paddock so she couldn’t see me load Chiquita in the trailer and haul her away. Hattie never did buddy up with another horse, always

remaining a loner. On two different occasions we put her in one of the paddocks with another horse that was kind of a ‘loner’ to see if they would pair up. No luck. Hattie went downhill from Chiquita’s death, we presume from a broken heart and also getting older, although she wasn’t that old, about 23. Horses usually live to about 30. We gave her extra grain and hay supplements because she was getting thinner. She recovered from being too thin but then she finally expired. Why? Cancer? Other illness? Broken heart? We don’t know.

Farewell Hattie and Chiquita. Have fun running through the clouds of Heaven until we Horse Rescue Volunteers get there to give you a hug!!

You can learn more about us by going to   https://www.jacksonholehorserescue.com/

If you'd like to donate to our organization please use this   link. 

-Jonesy