Published: July 25, 2008 12:52 am         

‘One man’s trash is another man’s treasure’

GREENVILLE — Linda “Hawk” Reeves, local animal savior, has come up with her own unique way to recycle.

It seems recycling is not just for garbage anymore. Reeves has salvaged many a horse from unappreciative — and often abusive — homes, and has even shown them, with winning results.

“One man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” she said.

“There are not a lot of equine rescues left,” Claire Reeves, the family’s photographer and close friend said. “It’s hard to place them right now because of gas prices coupled with the expense of caring for them. Finding a qualified home is a challenge, as well.”

Reeves first met Claire by chance, or perhaps it was destiny. She happened by her studio one day when a picture of an Arabian horse caught her eye.

“She came into my studio and said, ‘That’s an Arabian’, and I figured OK, this lady knows what she’s talking about. We starting talking and she told me ‘I have the most gorgeous stallion you’ve ever seen’. You know it’s kinda like babies,” Claire said with a smile. “Most Arabians are beautiful anyway. She wanted to start a portfolio for him (Valentino), so I came out to see him.”

When Claire arrived at the Reeves’ house she couldn’t believe her eyes.

“I walked out and said How old is this horse again?. She told me he was 4 and I said And you rescued him how long ago?, and she told me. She told me the story of how she got him and how wild he was at the other property. He’s a perfectly well-adjusted child for having gone through what he’s gone through. He’s absolutely, positively beautiful.”

Reeves wanted to start small with Valentino, eventually working their way up to Arabian horse shows, but once Claire set eyes on him all that changed.

“I said, No, he needs to go to Arab shows now. I nagged her and I nagged her and I nagged her. Arabs are refined and small; they are art objects and usually don’t do very well against other breeds, but Valentino still managed to win in classes with quarter-horse judges. She took him to his first Arabian horse show last weekend and he beat 13 horses in his class to win first place. So, besides being an incredibly sweet, loving and affectionate animal, even if he never did show, he’s an amazing specimen of the breed. She did a very good thing by rescuing him. It’s an incredible thing to take on. It’s one thing to take on a dog or a cat, but Arabs can live to be 30 to 45 years old — if they are taken care of properly — so there’s a lot of maintenance involved. She managed to rescue some incredibly well-bred horses.”

The horses have free reign of 80 acres, and all evidence of abuse and neglect has disappeared thanks to Reeves’ special blend of love and care. However, horses are not the only animals that Reeves rescues and rehabilitates.

She has several geese, one who was in line for the chopping block. His wings grow upside down due to what Reeves believes is a birth defect. It doesn’t slow him down a bit though, and he’s now learning to swim in the trough Reeves has provided.

She also has six rescued dogs, all purebred except one. She was a pit bull bait dog, and the sweetest little drooler you’ve ever seen. Her name is Scarface, though only one small scar can be seen on the left side of her nose, even though when Reeves first got her she was quite mutilated. They named her Scarface to remember that something beautiful can come from something so ugly — the ugly being how she was treating and not the condition in which they found her. Reeves stitched her up herself, using horse sutures she had lying around. She shows absolutely no signs of abuse and comes right up to strangers with a confidence not usually found in such animals. This, among other things, truly demonstrates the amount of love and care these animals receive.

“They know when they’re loved and it makes a big difference,” Reeves said.

They give love and care in return to Reeves and her family. In fact, Motorman, a hairless Chinese crested she rescued from a puppy mill three years ago, and whose haircut brings to mind Steven Tyler, has potentially saved the lives of Reeves’ grandchildren on numerous occasions.

On one such occasion Motorman would not leave the baby’s side. He started walking around the baby’s playpen, clawing at it. When no one noticed he started jumping in and out of the playpen — in and out, in and out— so Reeves went to check. The baby was feverish, and it turned out that they’d fed the baby tainted food without realizing it, and he got food poisoning.

“When we got to the hospital the doctor said if we had been 15 minutes later the outcome would have been very different,” Reeves said.

One other such instance occurred when another grandchild, who was quite inquisitive, wandered outside between 11 p.m. and 1:30 a.m.

“Motor got in bed with me and tried to claw me. I wasn’t paying attention so he put his mouth next to my ear and gave one solid, piercing bark, which is unusual as he doesn’t bark but has more of a chattering cry. I was up in an instant. I said ‘What?’ and he ran to the baby’s bed. ‘Well, where is he?’ I asked. He stood up, took his paws and slapped the screen door. I instantly picked up the phone and called the Sheriff’s office. I knew two of the officers working. I told them ‘My grandson is outside and I don’t know where he is’. The officer asked ‘How do you know? Have you looked in the house?’ and I said ‘No, I hadn’t bothered, I just called you and we’re going outside now’. He asked again, ‘How do you know?’ and I said ‘Motor told me.’ They were there faster than I could hang up the phone. They knew Motor well.

“Another time the kids were trying to uncork the chlorine bleach and anti-freeze, and he came and told on them. So, we say he’s saved our grandchildren at least three times,” Reeves said, gazing lovingly at Motorman.

Linda has been rescuing animals her entire life — a full 52 years — and she is way beyond a bleeding heart. She is part Cherokee and was given the name “Hayitowadi Ageyitowadi” by Leonard Crowdog at a Pow Wow when she was 19 or 20. It means “Red Tail Hawk Owl Woman”, which fits perfectly as she has nursed both hawks and owls back to health, not to mention the red tint to her hair and her piercing eyes that are as sharp as an owls’.

“Both the red-tail hawks and the owl are strong totems for a woman,” said Reeves. “The word woman in my name denotes an elder. Someone who will speak. Someone who will stand up for others. It’s not just someone of the female status. I didn’t understand the name at the time.”

Reeves definitely stands up and speaks for those who have no voice.

Linda has two doctorates, one in divinity and the other in theology. She has always been a great lover of horses, ever since she found out what a horse was when she was a little girl in Arkansas at her Granddaddy’s. She even spent two years in Austria at a Spanish riding school, which according to Claire is not even the Super Bowl of riding schools, but more like going to see the Pope if you were Catholic. Right now she is working as a dog groomer in Commerce, along with the more demanding, full-time job of caring for her horses, geese, dogs, cats, fish, hawks, and owls.

The only animal, or reptile actually, she has ever turned down was an alligator. After all, you can’t really bring in an animal that will try to eat the others.