Animals

“I had never thought of Marley as any kind of role model, but sitting there…I was aware that maybe he held the secret for a good life. Never slow down, never look back, live each day with adolescent verve and spunk and curiosity and playfulness. If you think you’re still a young pup, then maybe you are, no matter what the calendar says. Not a bad philosophy for life….”

– John Grogan, Marley & Me

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‘Providing peace and dignity’

Author Melanie Sue Bowles and her husband Jim take in horses that have been written off — abused, neglected, even abandoned. Every horse that has been lucky enough to come into their care at Proud Spirit Horse Sanctuary in Lincolnton, Ga. gets a new lease on life, as well as a new family. Today, Proud Spirit, one of the country’s largest privately run horse sanctuaries, also provides safe harbor for dogs and even a few wayward pigs. In the introduction to her first book The Horses of Proud Spirit (also the subject of an Emmy Award-winning PBS documentary), Melanie recounts an important lesson imparted on her and her siblings from their parents: namely, that “it’s possible to attain higher levels of happiness, feelings of self-worth, and a genuine sense of accomplishment if we take the focus off ourselves — what we have, what we don’t have, what we wish we had.” If you’d like to learn more or help out, click right here.

“I did not go searching for the horses I have encountered along my journey and brought into our family…the reality is that they have all found me.”

– Melanie Sue Bowles