By Ethan Nahté
Part Five
Throughout our five-part series about actor Dawn Olivieri rescuing horses, some people may wonder how she came to be in Arkansas instead of being in or around Hollywood? Additionally, some may wonder about her equine background beyond being an animal lover. Did she just begin to randomly save horses, or did she have a history involving horses and riding?
Olivieri explained, “I have a little bit. I mean, I didn’t grow up with horses. My mom was born on a dairy farm, and she grew up with horses. When my sister and I went to college, she and my dad decided to move to the country in Oklahoma and get horses, get cows and do the whole thing. That was probably when I was in my 20s. So probably the better of 20 years, I have been sort of learning and riding.
“In the beginning, it was only when I’d come home for holidays or come back to see my parents. Then we started up on this trail ride that we would do twice a year called the Okie-Arkie Trail Ride. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of this trail ride, but it’s been going on for 50-plus years.”
The trail riding club is for moderate to advanced trail riders. The wilderness ride starts in southeast Oklahoma and ends in western Arkansas. The Cross Country Trail Ride is a week-long ride that occurs in May and ends with the Fort Smith Memorial Day Parade and Rodeo. The Fall Clover Leaf Trail Ride is a four-day ride in October.
“We would do this ride twice a year and it became such a family bonding experience we would do with the horses,” Olivieri said. “You travel with your rig, and you sleep in the rig. In the spring you travel to each location. In the fall, everybody camps and stays for the whole week. So, you get both of those experiences and the spring one is really hard. But it’s part of what makes it incredible because you feel like you’re almost on this, like wagon train thing. Every year we would do that, and I probably learned more about riding on these trail rides than any other way in my life.
“After doing that for seven or eight years, I decided I wanted to leave L.A. because I wanted to have horses and I wanted to have them in a way where I got to care for them, I got to live with them, and I wanted them at my place wherever I was. That’s how I ended up in Arkansas was because there was so much space and Mena, this particular area, is so beautiful and there was so much National Forest that you could touch with just by putting your finger out. I wanted to be able to saddle my horse and ride it straight out into the National Forest. That’s how I ended up on the property that I’m at now.
“I call it a land hack for sure. And I run about 40 to 50 goats. They are my brush clearing extravaganza. Being on the edge of a national forest, there’s always food. I feel like it’s a hack and the goats don’t bother anybody. They can do their thing and the goats were my first sort of foray into animal medicine, and in a really intense way, because for the goats they just got sick with every single thing you could possibly imagine. I had to learn about all these illnesses and all these medicines. Then I amassed this sort of apothecary in my house because I was treating with herbals. I was treating with meds with different pharmaceuticals for them.
“A lot of that has paralleled the horses. I felt really ready for war — like war on the pathogens. I think the goats really prepared me for this level of healing.
“Yeah, goats they kind of crack me up. I played with the goats because I didn’t know if I wanted to have a dairy farm or if I wanted to make cheese. Maybe I was just like, ‘What do I wanna do here, you know? Is it because I love goats so much?’ I eventually ended up with just that I just loved having them. I didn’t really wanna make some sort of like commercial venture with the goats.
“Then the horses showed up and I was like, ‘Oh, maybe this is what I’m supposed to be doing.’ You’re always trying to figure it out.”
After quipping that she’ll be raising llamas and alpacas next, she laughed and replied, “I know. What am I gonna be rescuing? Bison? I don’t know. But for now, the horses are what are asking for the most attention. So that’s what I’m doing.
Finding a purpose
Olivieri spent much of her time during the actors and the writers strikes rescuing mare and foals that were potentially headed for kill pens if the horses were not successful in being adopted or purchased at auctions. By mid-to-late October, Olivieri had rescued approximately 44 horses — considerably more than she had originally thought she’d receive backing for from donors, both from individuals and companies.
“I literally know that people know that I’ve done this now. It’s full steam ahead,” Olivieri said. “I had a woman message me this morning just about a really heavy bread mare in a kill pen in Stroud, Oklahoma. She’s like, ‘If we can get her to you, can you house her?’ And I’m just like, ‘Oh boy, here we go. What’s one more momma with a baby?’ You know, I think I’ve kind of established myself as a niche for pregnant mares or foals and kill pens. I think that seems like what’s going on here.”
Winter necessities
Besides monetary donations, if local people are looking to help, especially with winter coming in, Olivieri said, “My answer is gonna be round bales. It’s gonna be hay. I had a great resource for the hay, and then just a couple weeks ago their barn burned down. So, I lost that hay connection. Since then, I have been hunting [for hay]. If there’s anyone locally that would… these guys go through roughly, at the height of what I’m doing, it’s about eight round bales a week. We’re crushing round bales over here. That would be my request.
“It’s alfalfa bales, which I get through Andy Horton, who does a lot of everybody’s hay in the area. He does a lot of the alfalfa. I buy roughly, or I try to purchase, three big bales of alfalfa every week and they’re about $250 a bale. I buy three of those a week and then eight round bales a week. If someone wanted to help, that’s how. I would beg for that help because everything else I’m crowd sourcing. I do that, too, with donations for the hay and that does come through. I am able to skirt by on the skin of my teeth a lot of the time. This is certainly a full trust exercise in praying for something and then it’s showing up for you. Those are my main needs.”
The best way for somebody to reach out if they’ve got bales of hay is either through her website, social media accounts or, Olivieri said, “If somebody knew Debbie Miner from A&B Miner’s Tire shop, they could stop in there. She’s sort of been one of our biggest help advocates. I call her the unannounced mayor of Mena.
“That also may make someone locally feel more comfortable about the whole thing just going to someone local [like Debbie] that they know and has been a pillar in the community for a long time. She’s a big advocate for us and she’s been helping us along the way since the beginning. We’re also about to set up a business account there at one of the banks if someone wanted to go through the drive-thru. We have a p.o. box number, too, so someone could send a check there if they felt compelled to do it that way. Or they could just reach out. We’re very available and we’re very transparent about everything that we’re doing. There’s a ton of ways to get ahold of us.”
Seeing what the funds are going toward and how they’re being used is easily seen on the social media pages. Olivieri has also been documenting the Momma Baby Army journey with the help of photographers and video production.
“Samantha Maechler is doing a lot of our stills. There are a lot of people that follow her on Facebook and can see a lot of that. We’ve got her shooting some, just the story line as we go.
“I have another team that has been coming out shooting video,” she said. “We’re trying to put together something together. We don’t know what it is quite yet. Maybe it’s a TV show, maybe it’s a documentary, but whatever it is, the story wants to be told.
“I would say people that follow my Instagram, if you don’t now, do it so that you can stay sort of abreast of the latest. That’s where I post everything first. I’ll do it on Instagram and anything that feels like the local community might be really interested in, I’ll then also share on Facebook.”
“Yellowstone” and “1883”
With the popularity of “Yellowstone” and the spinoff “1883,” both of which rely heavily on horses and riding, it would seem only natural that she would have some support, be it financial or moral, from other actors or crew members Olivieri has worked with from either production.
“Yes, moral support for sure,” Olivieri said. “I have a camera guy that works on ‘Yellowstone’ who’s been very supportive from the beginning.
“I have one donor who’s been very supportive also, who knows me through that world, which is cool. This piece of content that I’m cutting actually is out to their camp right now. So, fingers crossed. They’ve sort of alluded to the idea that because I’m in the family, it would just make sense to make a piece of that content that’s connected.
“I feel like it’s just building. I’m not worried about it. I’m mainly just focused on getting these babies healthy and getting some of them some homes. That’s what I wanna do.”
Listening to Olivieri speak, it’s obvious she is passionate about her quest to rescue the horses, but it’s also apparent that she is appreciative of the outpouring of support and assistance.
“I love what this community has done so far — the help and the support. There are a lot of lovers of the horses and livestock out here as you know.
Holiday party and fundraiser
Moon Mountain Sanctuary will hold their First Holiday Party and Fundraiser at The Ouachitas, 821 Mena St., Mena from 5-9 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 22. They invite you to come eat, drink, be merry as well as bid on a silent auction and help save the horses.
Social media and contacts
New Website
Moonmountainsanctuaryandrescue.com
Instagram
Moon_mountain_sanctuary
dawnolivieri
Paypal
https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/EternalDawnInc
Venmo
https://account.venmo.com/u/Dawnolivieri
Amazon gift registry for the horses
https://www.amazon.com/registries/gl/guest-view/3BYZH895LSXZF
Go Fund Me to build a well
https://www.gofundme.com/f/t5h6e-help-us-dig-a-well
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