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Faulkner County’s Sallis Ranch Gives Sanctuary to Horses in Need

7 min read

Greg Sallis has been rescuing horses from bad situations for 30 years.

In the early days, Sallis would even resort to buying neglected horses so he could tend to their medical and nutritional needs. After nursing them back to health, he would train them and resell them to recoup some of his out-of-pocket costs.

“I’ve just never been able to let one down or pass one by that needed help,” Sallis said. “I couldn’t let them be. It was just important to me.”

His practical experience breeding and training quarter horses enabled him to indulge his charitable ventures. His success and growing reputation as a big-hearted equine caregiver led to more hoofed creatures coming his way.

“Most horse rescues won’t do 150 in the lifespan of their operation,” said Sallis, executive director and on-site manager of Sallis Ranch Large Animal Rescue Inc. “We’ve rescued more than 400 since 2011 alone.”

Most of his work is done in Arkansas, but he’s traveled as far afield as southern Missouri and Mississippi to pick up horses and haul them back to his ranch 7 miles west of Greenbrier in northern Faulkner County.

“We try our best not to turn anyone down,” said Sallis, who roped steers 16 years for the United States Team Roping Association. “Some things don’t work out for you. Horses always worked for me. I always felt like I owed ’em. I do it because horses have been so, so good to me.”

Usually, the horses come from owners who can’t or won’t look after them properly. About half the time, the owners surrender animals to him after realizing they are unable, physically or financially, to deliver the necessary care.

Others are forced to give up ownership through legal action overseen by a county sheriff. Sometimes law enforcement officials contact Sallis directly. Other times, a seizure is initiated by a local animal control agency or a local chapter of the humane society.

“We’re on their on-call list,” said Susan Helton, a board member for his nonprofit rescue operation.

More calls are coming as word has spread about Sallis Ranch. This time of year is the busy season for his horse rescue, too. Pasture grasses are going dormant, and some owners can’t or won’t buy hay to feed their horses through the winter.

Sallis laid up $15,000 worth of hay in preparation for what might come his way this winter, and some questioned the wisdom of making that kind of investment with the uncertainty of what the future might bring.

“I had nightmares of getting too many horses and having to scramble to find hay,” he said. “I didn’t want to get caught unprepared.”

Each rescue horse can eat 12 pounds of grain or half a bale of hay each day. For horses that are undernourished, multiple daily feedings are the most effective way to put pounds back on them.

“The more times you can split that up to, the faster they will come around,” Sallis said. “God made them to eat small meals grazing all day.”

Rescue horses rarely stay longer than the time it takes to nurse them back to health. Finding a permanent home for the horses that come through his ranch is a point of pride for Sallis.

“That seemed to be an area of weakness for others, and we were having success with it,” Sallis said. “With my connections, I can find them forever homes.”

Activity at Sallis Ranch began picking up with the recent cold snap.

The lower the temperatures, the higher the intake of calories needed to generate body heat. Horses can eat up to 35 pounds daily during colder weather.

The rescue herd at his ranch numbered four horses at the beginning of the week of Nov. 16. The group was joined by two mules and three horses from Pulaski County on Tuesday.

Two horses arrived from Bella Vista on Wednesday. Sallis was supposed to pick up two more horses near Enola on Thursday.

“I’m expecting to find out today when two more horses will arrive from Bella Vista,” he said. “A lady adopted two horses and bit off more than she could chew. She was paying $500 a month to board them plus the other costs to take care of the horses.

“She was overwhelmed and asked me if she could surrender them to me. Of course, I said yes.”

The most animals he’s sheltered at one time is 44 last winter. Half of those horses came from one rescue call to Jefferson County in late February.

Sallis Ranch Large Animal Rescue was among a roster of groups coordinated by the Humane Society of the United States to deal with the seizure of 121 dogs and a menagerie that included cats, bunnies and exotic birds.

According to Sallis, many horse rescue operations have only a small amount of ground to work with and typically can accommodate only 10 horses or fewer.

He has a 120-acre spread to work with at Sallis Ranch and owns 26 acres near Plum-merville. Sallis also has access to an additional 90 acres of pasture at Phelan Pharm just west of Damascus.

“Greg is a regular horse whisperer,” said owner Dr. David Phelan. “He helps me with my horses, and I’m glad to help him out with his.”

Beginning of the Trail

His first rescue was back in 1983 near Mount Vernon in eastern Faulkner County. Sallis came across five horses in a pasture in serious need of fodder. The owner wasn’t interested in spending much money on them, but he would sell them for $125 each.

“I told him it would cost $250 a piece just to fatten them up to make them worth $125 to resell,” Sallis said. “He was letting them starve, and I had no choice but to buy them.

“I eventually gave in and fed them over the winter. This was a guy who just didn’t care. To him, they were just young, low-quality horses.”

Some rescues can be comical while others are grim.

Sallis still shakes his head at the guy who was using his garage as a stable and using his front yard as a pasture. The stressed horse was kicking the garage walls due in part to only receiving a tiny fraction of its daily requirements of food and water.

“He said he couldn’t afford to feed more than that,” Sallis said. “Lord knows why he got the horse in the first place.”

The recent pickup in Pulaski County was rough. He found three dead horses still in halters and leads and tied up in a junk-filled pasture.

The two mules and three horses were on the downward slide to dying from dehydration as well. One of the mules was so frenzied with thirst, it all but dragged Sallis to get to a pool of dirty water.

“That’s the hardest way to die, to die of thirst,” Sallis said. “Some people seem to think that these animals are a four-wheeler, just something to have that doesn’t need care and food and water.”

On Valentine’s Day 2011, his passion for horses was codified with the establishment of Sallis Ranch Large Animal Rescue Inc.

The nonprofit corporation’s stated mission: “To take in ne-glected, starved and/or abandoned horses or other large animals. Through proper veterinary care, nutrition and training, we will strive to place each horse in a new suitable home.”

Sallis credits his ex-wife, Tresa Adair, with suggesting and founding the charity as a vehicle for his good deeds: “Greg, you do this for free. Why don’t you form a 501c(3) to at least try to help pay for all this?”

So far, increased demand for his service hasn’t overwhelmed his know-how and hands-on abilities, but the mounting cost of it all has challenged his financial capabilities.

In 2012, Sallis started moonlighting with a second job to make more money. The extra cash provided a reserve to help cover horse rescue costs, especially hay.

“I’m going to sleep a little less and work a little more to see if I can get things to work out better,” the 50-year-old horseman said. “We’re in it for the horses. We have no administration fees. We don’t have a paid person on the payroll.”

Even after forming the nonprofit, his horse rescue efforts remain largely a self-funded operation.

“I went through $109,000 during 2011, 2012 and part of 2013,” Sallis said. During 2013, the charity only recorded about $6,000 in revenue.

Lisa Evans, barn manager at Hearts & Hooves in Sherwood, got involved with his horse rescue operation during the summer of 2012 and serves on the Sallis Ranch board of directors.

“In the nonprofit world, people have a warm fuzzy feeling for people, for dogs and for cats,” Evans said. “Horses are at the bottom of the list.

“I made it my mission to help Greg build a board, to bring in more people to help him do what he does so well.”

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