SWAP IN THE NEWS

(ARTICLES AND NEWS RELEASES)

Omni was written up this past week in the Chronicle of the Horse. Thought you would like the article. The article in the magazine is a little longer and there is an additional picture. Enjoy!

Fairmont Youth Raises Money for Adoption Horses and Rescue Program

 

Alma, WV. Eight Year old Taylor Miller, a third grader of Fairmont Catholic Grade School decided to do something different this year for her birthday. Instead of having her friends and family to give her presents or toys, she asked them all to make donations for the Second Wind Adoption Program. She then collected all the donations and went to Southern States and Tractor Supply to get all the stuff she knew horses would need for good care and for their help and rehabilitation and delivered them all to the Second Wind Adoption Program in Alma, WV, very proud of her work and rightly so, she had several bags full of supplies that the horses need and use on a daily basis.

 

The Second Wind Adoption Program does adoption, rescue and rehabilitation and rehoming of horses when their owner can no longer keep them for various reasons like divorce, family illness, change of job, moving. Currently Second Wind is housing 42 horses at the Program headquarters in Alma, WV and another 16 in foster homes located all over the country. Second Wind currently has 21 horses that came from two cruelty cases in Lewis County right here in WV but horses are sent to the Alma Headquarters from as far away as California, Canada, Florida, Texas and New England. To date, Second Wind has put 65 different breeds of horses into homes in 45 of the 50 states and Canada, horses from every background and profession, from Olympic riders to clear across the spectrum to horses that are seized for abuse or neglect.

 

Second Wind's Executor, Celeita Kramer feels that there are no bad horses.... only horses that need some help or need a different home. Being that having horses can be expensive and take a lot of time to take care of, as much as $2000. or more a year, not counting boarding so anytime a family with horses has a family crisis, the horses in the family are most likely displaced and need to find another home. Traditionally that happens several times over the course of a horses lifetime. Sadly as many as 120,000 US horses end up in slaughter to be sold as a delicacy in European and Asian countries, these are not old, crippled or so called 'troubled horses' but young healthy sound kind animals that could be a valued family member helping to teach kids responsibility, keeping kids out of trouble, giving them lots of exercise that keeps them moving and grounded.

 

Kramer is exceptionally proud of Taylor Miller because she thought of someone or something else that needed her instead of thinking of herself during her birthday celebrations. If a child of 8 years old is giving so much when they have so little to give (or they think they have so little to give), just think what she will do when she is an adult. Kramer has seen over and over again the kids like Taylor who have come to volunteer or give to the horses, who come and do internships during the summer, working hard all summer long with no pay just to help horses, these kids become the most successful in life, they become adults that we need more of in our community, our state and country.  These kids get so much more in return, even more than the horses because they learn the art of giving and caring for others. They learn to look around and stop thinking about 'what's in it for me' and they start thinking about 'how can I help, how can I make this better'. It truly can change a child's life. It really is a win-win situation because kids, young adults and animals are better because everyone has seen a need and just wanted to help. In the long run, the horses end up in great forever homes and the people are totally changed forever. Bravo Taylor Miller for being our hero!!

 

Anyone interested in adopting a horse from Second Wind or interested in helping them help horses can go to their website at www.crossedsabers.com or email secondwindadopt@aol.com or call 304-758-2384 or 2471 or visit the farm on Rt. 18 in Alma, WV.

 

Questions about Taylor and her gift can be addressed by her mother Karie Hardy at 304-363-5915. SWAP and Taylor are available for interviews.

 

Practical Horseman did an article on SWAP Adoption Horse, Center Stage "Hero" and his life as an

adoption horse and a successful event horse. Practical Horseman, March of 2006 (Its on the back inside cover)

 

just click on the picture to see the large view of the article

Ladies Home Journal Article (October 2005) copyright LHJ

just click on the picture to see the large view of article

Ladies Home Journal – October 2005
Animal Affairs
By: Jeanne Marie Laskas
Loving Enough To Let Go

After a four-year attempt to make peace, I knew it was time to say good-by to Cricket, our chestnut mare.

It wasn’t her fault. I wasn’t our fault. We were just not meant to be.
Cricket was my present to my husband on our wedding day in 1997. We had just moved into our Pennsylvania

farm, and he had always wanted a horse, as had I. When she arrived, everyone stood around in awe of Cricket’s

distinctive beauty. With the lean physique typical of the American saddlebred, she had a white star on her nose,

one white foot and a velvety coat. Billy, the guy who sold her to us, took her for a ride, and we actually gasped

as she cantered. She was the supermodel of horses.

Alex and I knew nothing about horses except, in due time, that Cricket was . . . high-strung. The first time Alex

tried to ride her, she took off at a gallop – with him hanging on for dear life—straight down the hill and into the

barn. He would have gotten his head lopped off had he not leaped off just before she reached the barn door.

(He broke a rib in the fall.) I yelled at Cricket, “Hey, you’re a wedding present!” She looked at me, cocking her

head smugly. That, at least, was how I interpreted it. What I would later learn is that Cricket most likely had

something entirely different on her mind: “Look, I’m terrified of this joint. I need someone who knows how to

take care of me, and you ain’t it.”

Trainers who came by to five us lessons said, “Whoa. She’s too much horse for a beginner.” We were told to

trade in our touchy American saddle-bred for some reliable old nag, a horse that wouldn’t be afraid of us as we

learned how to ride.

We did eventually get a reliable old nag, but we kept Cricket. She had become a friend, despite her neurotic

habits. We hung in there for those four years, hoping something would happen to our horsemanship, or to her,

that would make for an easier relationship. In time Cricket was calm enough to let me brush her, braid her mane

and accept carrots. But neither Alex nor I were ever confident enough to ride her. As a result, she grew “barn sour,”

terrified of leaving the barn. One day, as we watched Cricket languish in the paddock, we agreed we weren’t doing

right by her. “She deserves a better life,” Alex said.

I put an ad in the paper but found myself mistrusting every person who came by. How do you let your “child” go

live at someone else’s home? I felt horrible for failing Cricket, and trapped by the knowledge that to keep her would

be to fail her even further.

Then one day, I saw an online site advertising the Second Wind Adoption Program, headquartered in West Union, West

Virginia. I wasn’t, as it turned out, alone. Celeita Kramer, 48, is dedicating herself to people like me or more accurately,

to their horses. I learned that there are scores of people who don’t know how to part with perfectly good horses. People

with retired racehorses, police and show horses. People suffering family hardships, with the horse falling through the cracks.

People like my husband and me, who fell in love with a horse that happened to have capabilities beyond ours.

Kramer is attuned to the feelings people have for horses. “They aren’t like dogs that will just love you automatically,”

she says. “You have to work to earn a horse’s trust. Once you do, it’s a bond for life. So many people feel this, and so

many are unable to keep their horses. There was a real need.”

So she became a matchmaker of sorts, determined to do something about the tragedy befalling thousands of horses

that end up being sold at livestock auctions, like so many nameless cattle.

She launched Second Wind Adoption in 1997, and so far she has placed more than 1,000 horses. The animals are offered

for “adoption,” not “sale,” and for a fraction of the cost they’d fetch on the open market. But there’s a catch: People must

sign a 14-Page contract that protects the horse for life and stipulates annual follow-ups. And if the match doesn’t work out,

adopters must return the horse to Second Wind.

It was the answer to my prayers.

The trailer arrived on a Friday. Cricket was so reluctant to go, so scared. I sat on a stump and sobbed, feeling glad

only that Alex wasn’t home to have to see this. I offered Cricket a carrot through the slats. “I know you don’t understand

any of this, girl, but I’m doing this because I love you,” I said. She was too freaked out to even accept the carrot.

Soon after I checked the Second Wind Adoption Web site and there was Cricket’s picture, with the description I had

written. “Needs an experienced rider. A good girl who wants to show her stuff.”

When her picture was removed a few weeks later, I know something had happened. Then I got a letter. It was addressed

from Manchester, Ohio, and was on blue stationery with little horse drawings running up and down it: “My name is Katie

Rigdon. I am 16 years old and I adopted Cricket. I wanted you to know I loved her the moment I saw her.”

Katie provided a phone number, so I called her right away. She told me that Cricket was, to her, a miracle. An accomplished

rider, Katie had six other horses at her family’s farm, but her one special horse, Weasel, the one she considered to be her

best friend, had just died. When she saw Cricket’s picture online, she nearly fell over. Cricket looked exactly like Weasel.

When Katie first road her, Cricket too off like the maniac she was. But Katie wasn’t afraid. The challenge of taming Cricket

thrilled her. By the time I spoke to Katie, she was already grooming Cricket for shows. “She’s the answer to my prayers,”

she told me. That was four years ago. I still hear from Katie from time to time. “Now I’m thinking of breeding her,”

she told me. “I thank she’d be a great mom!”

“Aw, Cricky,” I thought, staring at the picture of her I keep on my desk. “This is the happiest ending I could have ever

imagined for you.”

Kramer is used to these sorts of endings. “I just love it when I know a horse is going into a family,” she said. “Especially

a teenage girl. She’ll always remember the horse that taught her to build a relationship, to protect and cherish it.”

I know about that now, too, thanks to Cricket, the horse I could love only by saying good-bye.

US Treasure Department highlights SWAP executor to kick of their Combined Federal Campaign for Charties (October 2005)

This story is about a woman whose reputation for fairness is just about larger than life. She is Celeita Kramer,

from West Union, WV, and she runs a horse farm. Sounds nondescript, doesn’t it? Her story is anything BUT

that. She is solely responsible for saving the lives of thousands of horses and even a few hundred dogs and

cats along the way, for that matter.

 

Celeita owns and operates the nonprofit Crossed Sabers Stable in West Union, about 35 miles from Clarksburg,

which she opened in the summer of 1996. She has carried on an idea about horse adoption with the [also nonprofit]

Second Wind Adoption Program (SWAP) in 1998 begun by a former mentor, Evelyn Duhr. SWAP was extended

nearly worldwide in response to the increasing need to give all horses safe and healthy homes, whether they are

retired from the international racing or show worlds, or just a mixed breed from down the street. This great program

today is mostly the brainchild of Celeita Kramer, whose own life ranges from being the girl next door to being an

intercontinental woman of some celebrity herself.

 

She was born in Huntington, WV, the youngest daughter of four.She always had a soft spot for animals that were

lost or hurt, often targeting friends and family as the ultimate destination for her furry friends.

 

Once out of high school, Celeita went on to obtain an extensive education, as a civilian and as a member of the Armed

Forces. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science, ROTC, and Art from West Virginia State College at Institute, WV in

1980, and then a Masters of Science in Aviation Management at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach,

Florida. In between those two and since then, she’s attended many classes from Aerospace Marketing & Business

Development to US Army National Guard Battle Focused Instructor Training at Camp Dawson, WV, to US Army Command

and General Staff College in Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas. She has a certificate in equine sports massage therapy from a

course in Loveland, Colorado in 1997 and a got her FAA Rotary Wing Commercial Pilot with Instrument Training license in

1981. She took training as a PADI qualified open water, advanced open water, and rescue scuba diver in 1991. These are

a few of the more tame classes she’s taken.

 

She also took a US Army Aviation Water Survival Course on the Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands, in the South Pacific.

And, more to the point of this story, she took Equine Breaking and Training Course and Equine Horseshoeing and

Farrier Certification at the Oklahoma Horseshoeing School in Oklahoma City! This means she can break the horses in,

train them, and be her farm’s own blacksmith as well. Versatility at its best!

 

She’s also a member in many organizations – Army Aviation Association of America, American Helicopter Society,

The 99’s – International Women Aviators, the US Trotting Association, the US Equestrian Team, and USA Equestrian,

to name but a few...

 

Among her many awards and accomplishments are: Awarded Army Aviator Wings (24th woman to ever earn military

aviator wings); First woman in Department of Defense to fly and test-fly the UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter; Over 14 years

of incident and accident free Aviation Service and 3000 hours of flight time;and the Sikorsky Helicopter Rescue Award

for saving a life using a UH-60 Blackhawk

 

The list goes on and on with education and accomplishments, not to mention jobs that Celeita has had, including being

a commercial helicopter pilot in the Marshall Islands; Army & Special Ops Program Manager in Washington, DC; and

Marketing Rep, Airborne Weapons Applications, GE, in Burlington, VT. Her military assignments range from Williamstown,

WV as a Captain, Aeromedical Evacuation Pilot to 1st Lieutenant, US Army, Camp Humphreys, and Korea.

 

Besides her love of all animals, she enjoys riding/teaching in all riding disciplines, watching and playing most team and

individual sports, flying, traveling, learning new things, enjoying all types of music, entertaining, writing, cross country

skiing, biking, dance, sailing, road racing, biathlons and rollerblading.

 

One of Celeita's most resilient qualities is her ability to laugh, especially at herself and to make others laugh. With all the

things she's done in her life, she still easily maintains her modesty.  She talks of her constant mistakes; she cherishes

the skeletons in her closet because they made her who she is. She will tell you her best quality is never being smart

enough to know she couldn't do something. After being around the world several times both in the military and as a civilian,

with thousands of experiences to tell, she knows she was meant to be right here doing the work she does so well today.

Celeita is responsible for all management of stable and adoption program operations, strategic planning, logistics administration,

legal, accounting and fiscal affairs, management of the internships and the training and foster parent program. She is also an

instructor/trainer, and a certified Equine Sports Massage Therapist. She is regularly involved with multilevel authorities in

several states in prosecuting and removing horses from abusers and is consistently used as a an expert witness by the

legal profession with litigation centered around the horse industry. She has been instrumental in influencing local, state,

and national laws on animal welfare, horses and their minimum care, and anti-slaughter.

 

Second Wind Adoption became a nonprofit program in the summer of ‘98 and the entire facility became nonprofit in the

summer of 2000. At that time, Crossed Sabers became aligned with Second Wind and its primary mission and vision. 

Second Wind has added foster homes all over the continental US and Canada to be able to address the great need and

the vast number of calls from horse owners worldwide looking for quality homes for their equine friends.

 

Many of these foster homes will house and care for a horse in transit from one owner to the Second Wind program, and

then on to the permanent adopter. These people provide a valuable service, especially when the cost of transporting the

horse would be prohibitive for whatever the reason. They make the system continue to work, and work successfully.

The Second Wind Adoption Program and Crossed Sabers Stable are dedicated to their combined mission, to prevent

animal abuse/neglect of all the equine species and to recognize the need for rescue through adoption. They make up

for the lack of state protection laws by having adoption contracts that are involved and complex and that govern the

care and use of each horse.

 

For instance, the adopter is not allowed to sell the horse. If they find that they cannot keep the horse for any reason,

the animal is to be returned to the program and adopted out again. It is a direct violation of the contract to sell any of

the horses involved. They are not to be exploited in any way.

 

To that end, there are litigations that arise from time to time. Right now, for instance, there is a woman in South Carolina

who adopted several of the horses over the years and it has come to light that she is selling them. Since some of these

horses either are or were prime racing stock, prize-winning show animals, or of the most impeccable bloodlines, their

value is great. But, when an adopter falls to temptation and sells one of them, that person is in violation and can be taken

to court. The woman in South Carolina has several aliases and tries to disguise the “paper trail” of the horses she’s selling,

but SWAP can identify and verify the registration of each horse in their rosters and can present that information in court.

Each horse is marked with a SWAP insignia or icon to identify it as a horse from this program. There can be no doubt.

They are freeze-branded in a process not painful to the horse. This type of branding – also called cryobranding –

essentially affects the hair follicles of their coat and where placed, the dark colored horse will have the letters S-W-A-P

turn out with white hair, the lighter horses will have the skin turn darker. Either way, it’s a definitive marking that is registered

and known all over the horse-business world.

 

Celeita believes that the adopters must meet standards before being considered and she provides extensive training to

them before they get the horse they want, during the acquisition process, and after. There are several “testimonial” e-mail

messages repeated on her website that come from excited or appreciative adopters. They will send her thank-you notes,

pictures, updates on the horses and questions about issues or concerns they may have. Celeita answers them all,

remembering each horse and its temperament or personality – this memory is an indicator of the deep devotion she has

to the horses and the business they’ve inspired.

 

Second Wind is a national program supporting the entire continental US and Canada. Their adopters come from every all

walks of life, blue and white-collar workers, including professionals throughout the horse industry, family situations and

individuals. Annual incomes of these adopters range as high as $1.3 million per year, but average around $75,000 per household.

Interest is growing, too. The Crossed Sabers/Second Wind website has had visitors from 103 different countries and every

continent to the website (www.crossedsabers.com), totaling 5 million hits each month, according to the site host.

 

Celeita doesn't want to turn away any horse in need. However, last year 35,000 people went to her donor page for information

about putting a horse into the program and she can only take between 150 and 300 at any one time, depending on how much

money is available to care for them.

 

When the horses are in her care, they are seen by representatives of the medical world as well – veterinarian, farrier, dentist,

and so on. They work with each horse and the Stable/Program keeps meticulous records. All the horses have a complete

file on them comprised ofbirth records, lineage, previous owners, special circumstances, current situation, feeding needs,

medical records, and markings/habits peculiar to each animal. This information is kept at the business, but a CD is made for

each adopter with the same information on it. Frequently, the previous owners want to know their horse has gone to a good

home, and Celeita makes an effort to keep all parties informed. Not all horses are there as rescue animals; some are lovingly

placed there because conditions just were not proper where they had been staying.

 

Celeita’s group has placed gaited horses and the south’s finest saddle horses into homes, as well as many Grand Prix Show

Jumpers (even one Nations Cup Winner) and Grand Prix level Dressage horses. They even placed a horse that won an Olympic

Silver Medal in show jumping and a horse who won a Gold Medal in Dressage. Several horses have been placed that were

trained by Olympic-level riders, even horses that were owned by Breeders Cup Winners in the racing world.  They have also

placed nationally ranked steeple chaser horses and fox hunting horses from various hunt clubs.

 

They have had the offspring of great sires find lasting, happy homes through the Second Wind program: Secretariat, Man O’ War,

Alysheba, Alydar, Buckley Boy, Blushing John, Chiefs Crown & Mr. Prospector, for example, and the progeny of great sires in the

Harness Racing world: such as Albatross, Niatross, Abercrombie, On the Road Again, Jaguar Spur, Meadow Skipper, Super Bowl &

Bret Hanover 

 

Dedication

 

The Second Wind Adoption Program is dedicated to Evelyn Duhr who owned Second Wind Farm in Accokeek, Maryland.

Evelyn ran the Standardbred Adoption Program for Maryland, from which Crossed Sabers adopted it’s first horses, and began

their appreciation for adoption programs. Evelyn quickly became a good friend and mentor to Celeita’s stable and allowed the

SWAP executor to adopt horses, when many other programs had turned her away.

 

Even though Celeita had a Masters degree in Equine Management, she had never owned a horse. She had never been able to

live her childhood dream of having a horse. Evelyn was the only one that would give her a chance and took the time with her,

showing her how to make sure horses were properly cared for.

 

Evelyn died of cancer the summer of 1997. She will always be remembered as a generous, caring woman who had the tenacity

of a bulldog, especially when it came to her Standardbred horses. She was always more concerned for the horses in her

program than anything else, including herself.

 

Evelyn was able to find loving homes for hundreds of Standardbreds just coming off the race track, many that needed huge

veterinary and therapy bills, all she gladly paid. These horses went on to have productive happy lives as family pets, pleasure

and show horses in every discipline, and excellent breeding stock

.

Evelyn Duhr was literally, a “Second Wind” for Celeita. Her legacy lives on – today SWAP does not turn away first-time owners

who have no experience but looks for someone who has a good heart and who is willing to learn. Everyone must start his or

her horse experience somewhere, which Crossed Sabers staff understands. They are pro-education and will always help every

adopter to learn because the more the adopter knows, the better and more enjoyable their horse experience will be. Evelyn

taught that first-hand.

 

 

 

Keep your fingers crossed for a safe, lucky and talented weekend

 

**** Congrats to adopters Melissa Silverman and Kristen

Kelly and SWAP Adoption Horse Center Stage "Hero" for

coming in 4th place in the New Jersey 2 Star event, Fresh

Start!!  YEA!! I'm sure we will be seeing this horse in the Fair

Hill 3 Star and maybe the 5Star Rolex someday. Bravo for a

job well done.

Wild Wonderful West Virginia Magazine Article (February 2004)

By: Judi Tarowsky                                                                                                                 

The soft rustle of a plastic bag full of carrots evokes a predictable response in the darkened barn.

Nearly 30 pairs of hopeful eyes focus intently over their stall doors toward the source of the noise.

Nearly 30 inquisitive muzzles beckon the visitor to bring those carrots over here, please, no, over

here! until the horses at Crossed Sabers Stable in West Union settle to wait their turn.

Confined to their spacious stalls for the moment, these special horses are living the good life. They

have all been donated to the Second Wind Adoption Program headquartered at Crossed Sabers

Stable. Through the tireless efforts of program executor Celeita Kramer and her volunteer crew,

these horses will all be placed in good homes for the rest of their lives. They live under the solemn

promise that they will never be sold.

Kramer set out to establish the Second Wind Adoption Program with the same dedication that led her

through a cum laude bachelor=s degree and a distinguished flying career in the U.S. Army. The Huntington

native served for 21 years with the U.S. Army, Army Reserves and Army National Guard as a helicopter

pilot, test pilot, Battalion Executive Officer, Aircraft Maintenance Officer, Fielding Officer and Company

Commander. She was the 24^th woman to earn military aviator wings, and the first to fly and test the

UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter. She holds an FAA Commercial pilot=s license with an instrument rating

and has over 3,000 flight hours. She once flew for  Pan American Airlines in the South Pacific.

Her military career led to many honors. In 1995, she was the youngest woman to be inducted into the

West Virginia Women=s Hall of Fame by the West Virginia Women's Commission and she is represented

in the Women's Military Memorial in Washington, D.C. She was awarded the Sikorsky Rescue Award for

saving a life using a helicopter and she was chosen one of the 2,000 Most Notable American Women.

When Kramer retired from the army with the rank of Major, she found herself drawn to her childhood

dream of owning a horse. She convinced the department chair at Salem-Teikyo University to let her

enroll in the Education in Equine Science and Management graduate program, although she had no

experience with horses. It will be some of the hardest work you=ve ever done, she was warned, but

she figured if she could pilot Blackhawk helicopters, she could manage a master=s degree.

Upon graduation, Kramer set out to fulfill her childhood dream of owning a horse, and she inquired with

several programs about adopting. Despite the fact that she had an equine-based master's degree, no one

would let her adopt, citing a lack of hands-on experience. Finally, Evelyn Duhr, who owned Second Wind

farm in Maryland for the adoption of Standardbreds, agreed to let Kramer adopt a horse. As Kramer

developed Crossed Sabers Stable as a  training stable, Duhr became her mentor. When Duhr died of

cancer in 1997, Duhr=s daughters encouraged Kramer to continue their mother's work. Kramer picked up

the reins of the Second Wind Adoption Program and expanded it to take in all breeds. By 2000, Second Wind

Adoption Program had become a non-profit organization. Now more than 850 horses of more than 58 breeds,

all ages and all training levels, have been placed in adoptive homes.

Kramer points out that SWAP is not a horse rescue operation. Our operation is rescue prevention, she says.

We place horses in a new home before a rescue situation ever arises. That is not to say, however, that

SWAP does not conduct rescues. A notable case involved 30 horses that were rescued when the owner

was poised to contact a slaughterhouse. In other cases, county prosecuting attorneys will contact Kramer

to take in abandoned or seized horses. They, too, are placed in loving homes.

In most cases, horses come to SWAP because their owners can no longer care for them, for a wide variety

of reasons. Some owners physically may no longer be able to ride, or their financial circumstances may

have changed with a  job loss or a divorce. In some instances the horses themselves are no longer able

to compete at the level the owners would like, or the owner may have advanced in riding skills beyond the

horse's capability. When a horse owner donates his or her horse, SWAP takes legal ownership. The donor

can claim a tax deduction based on the appraised value of the horse.

Adopters don't simply walk into the barn at Crossed Sabers Stable and choose a horse on the spot. Each

adopter must submit a 29-page adoption application that assesses the adopter=s financial ability to take

care of the horse, the adopter=s riding skill level, detailed information on where the horse will be housed,

among other in-depth information. Once the adopter is approved, he or she can browse through the

horses available for adoption posted on SWAP's website (www.crossedsabers.com) , and notify Kramer

of their selection.

We highly recommend that the prospective adopter visit the horse in person before making the final

decision,