BEHS Officer, BOD and Volunteer Coordinator Profiles

Cheryl Ahlschlager

Cheryl Ahlschlager has always been an animal lover. As a child, their home was filled with aquariums, ferrets, raccoons, possums, cats, dogs, guinea pigs, birds, and any other animal that needed a place. Cheryl always had the mentality that animals were extremely important and still believes that today. Cheryl feels her mission is to save animals – one at time.

Cheryl has been involved in animal welfare for many years. She has been on several animal welfare boards for various organizations. She was also an advisor for city council and was part of the team that wrote the ordinances regarding animal welfare for the City of Corpus Christi. She has had training through Texas Animal Control Association and has been heavily involved in animal cruelty for the last six years. She is also Pet CPR Certified and Pet First Aid Certified. Whether it is a horse, dog or cat, Cheryl has been involved in numerous animal seizures. Cheryl was also the Katrina Animal Disaster Team Coordinator and was responsible for the transfer of dogs and cats to Corpus Christi from New Orleans. She raised over $10,000 through donations and grants to care for the animals that were brought to the area.

Cheryl has owned The Pet Nanny Pet Sitting Company in Corpus Christi since 1997. She has a staff of five that allow her to go back and forth from her home in Corpus to her country home in Cat Spring, TX. Cheryl and her husband Randy also own a bulk fuel plant in Columbus, TX. Cheryl is currently the Treasurer of PUPS – Prevent Unwanted Pets which is a low cost spay and neuter organization that helps people sterilize their pets in seven counties around Cat Spring. Cheryl is also on the board of Rott ‘N Dane Rescue in Corpus Christi, TX. Cheryl is part of the Animeals Program through Gulf Coast Humane Society which provides food for the animals that belong to people that are on the Meals and Wheels program in Corpus Christi. Cheryl also helps transport animals from kill shelters in the valley to save them from euthanasia. She has also been involved in horse seizures through BEHS for the past few years.

Cheryl always loved horses as a child. She had a pony that was not very broke and threw her quite a few times. She vowed to get her own horse one day. Today she owns 3 horses, 1 donkey, 1 guinea pig, 4 dogs, and 5 cats.

Regina Anderson

Regina Anderson owns Windy Hill Farm in Hays County just a short drive SE of Austin, Texas. Regina was always very much a city lady for the first 50 years of her life and never had a serious interest in horses, although she was always a dog and cat lover/caretaker. Her daughter Courtney became horse crazy 12 years ago and Regina's initial connection to horses was paying board and watching her daughter ride and excel in horsemanship. Then in 2000 her daughters horse became sick, was diagnosed with EPM, and was scheduled to be euthanized. Regina didn't want this to happen and through the Internet found Jennifer Williams and LSER. To make a long story short, because of the help received from Jennifer (referrals to other professionals, ideas, etc.) that horse is not only still here today, but she's active and healthy! Regina then joined LSER out of gratitude which started the beginning of a new volunteer career and passion for horses and horse rescue. She then sold her house in the city in 2002 and moved out to the country - the horse passion had struck and stuck! Regina served several officer positions with LSER from 2000-2003, resigned her last officer position in 2003 due to a family illness, but remained active as a volunteer, foster home, and inspector after that. When LSER was dissolved in February 2005 due to a merger with another rescue, Regina helped found Bluebonnet Equine Humane Society and has served as VP of BEHS and is now a Director. Regina's paying career is in the insurance field and she has worked in the insurance industry for 35 years as a policy coverage technical resource and does a lot of Internet research and has a professional designation in insurance. Currently, that once city lady shares her farm with her daughter's horse, adopted BEHS horse, 2 horses that she once fostered for LSER and then adopted, 4 goats, 1 sheep, rooster and chickens, 5 dogs, 8 cats, and a ferret.

Kathy Falkner

Kathy is a native Texan and lived in the Dallas metroplex until the late 90's when she moved to East Texas. She became involved in horses in 2006 when she found an old, malnourished mare, and arranged to donate her to BEHS. Kathy immediately became a member and began conducting inspections and investigations, then volunteered for the position of Inspection Coordinator.

Although Kathy didn't become involved with horses until later in life, she has loved animals since childhood. While living in Dallas, her home was always open to orphaned, abandoned and homeless critters. In addition to the parade of cats and dogs that found their way to her, she includes squirrels, ferrets, prairie dogs, birds and reptiles on her list of former charges.

Kathy's paying job is design engineer in the telephone industry. She has worked for one of the major telecommunications firms for 29 years, but is looking forward to retirement to spend more time at home.

Kathy now lives in Point, Texas, with her husband, one dog, and two BEHS fosters.

Patti Farley

Patti Farley was born in Kankakee, Illinois and moved to Houston, Texas as soon as she graduated from college at the age of 31 in 1982, with her four young children. She lived in the Houston area for almost 20 years and worked for various law firms. In late 1999, Patti met her husband at the Western Days Festival in Yorktown, Texas, they married in 2000 and she subsequently moved to Yorktown, thus becoming involved again with horses. Other than maintaining their small ‘ranch’ and working with the horses, on occasion Patti substitute teaches at Yorktown and Goliad ISDs.

Patti has three daughters (two of which are twins), a son and a step-daughter. She also has fourteen grandchildren (one of her twins has a set of twins) and four step-grandchildren, all ranging in age from 1 year to 20 years.

Patti was always a ‘horse crazy’ kid, always daydreaming about owning her own horse one day. After saving up all of her babysitting money, she bought her first horse at age 17, a palomino mare from a riding stable that spoiled her tremendously. She now currently has three horses of her own, one of which she shows, a palomino paint mare. They also have a German shepherd dog , Skeeter and a calico cat, Cali, as well as three, going on five, cows.

Patti began showing her paint mare three years ago when she was just a yearling and have earned year-end high points and reserve high points with various horse clubs in halter, color and showmanship, as well as earning reserve grand champion at a horse show held in Victoria, Texas in 2009. In 2010, Patti and her horse will be continue showing in the halter classes, however, will also be adding western pleasure, horsemanship and trail classes.

Patti has such a passion when it comes to horses that she became involved with Bluebonnet in 2009 volunteering to foster two horses, one of which she is now adopting. Besides taking on the task of district coordinator, she has also volunteered to do investigations and inspections, as well as hosting a clinic and helping in managing booths at various events, and the BEHS Expo.

In Patti’s free time (yeah, right!), she sews, quilts and dabble in folk art painting, as well as playing on the computer. For the last 20 years, she has also been working on her family genealogy (both parents’ lines), which, with the help of many cousins, have traced some of the family lines back to the 1600's and 1700's.

Carolee Frampton

Carolee lives on a small ranch in Florence, Texas. There, she and her family raise longhorn cattle and foster horses for BEHS. Carolee joined BEHS in 2008, after her 23 year old mare shed her winter coat, only to be found to be skinny. During the winter her mare had lost her molars, and increasing feed wasn’t the solution. To discover she was not as educated a horse owner as she thought she was, she decided to help educate other people who might experience the same problems, and felt BEHS was the means to do this.

In addition to her own 3 horses, Carolee fostered then adopted Apache from BEHS. She has trained and shown in Western Pleasure, English, Hunter/Jumper, and is currently learning dressage. She was part of an equestrian drill team during her high school years, as well as gymkhana events.

Carolee graduated from the University of Texas at El Paso with a bachelor’s degree in Computer Information Systems. She is the office manager at the family-owned moving business in Killeen, Texas.

Carolee is the coordinator for the Expo Volunteer Appreciation Dinner, as well as an inspector, trailering person, and foster home.

Jessica Frank

Jess has always been an animal lover and finally got her very own horse at the age of 48. Six years later, Jess and her husband Russell have 4 horses, 7 cats and two dogs. They live outside Hempstead, Texas. Jess is a part time potter and a full time sonographer. She has worked in the medical field for the last 30 years, but finds her 4 legged patients much more rewarding than her two legged patients.

Jess is a district coordinator and Art Expo organizer.

Kathy Fraser

Kathy lives on a small place just outside of College Station, Texas which has been affectionately dubbed the “Broke Horse Ranch” because Kathy tends to take in horses with “issues”. Her first rescue came to her place over 12 years ago and has never left (and he most definitely has issues). Since then, she has had quite a few different foster horses come through her place; all of them wonderful in different ways.

As with most places in the country, Kathy also has several dogs and cats. She is currently fostering an untouchable dog but making great headway with him.

Kathy graduated from Texas A&M University and has been a Video Producer with TEEX (part of the Texas A&M University System) for almost 15 years.

Kathy handles the records for BEHS, is a foster home and tra ilers horses around much of the state.

Gail Gantt

Gail was born in Houston, Texas. Her first experience with horses was when she was nine years old and met a very patient mare named Love. Gail and Love learned a lot about each other as they explored the 6,000 acre ranch Love called home in southwest Texas. Gail was hooked on horses from then on.

Gail moved with her family to Saudi Arabia when she was very young and she got her first horse there when she was thirteen. Sultan was a gelding who loved to run in the desert. Sultan was sold when Gail came back to Texas, but it wasn’t long before Willie came into her life. Willie was a quarter horse cross gelding who used to race barrels. For three years, Gail and Willie spent many, many hours together. Gail had to sell Willie when her daughter, Amanda, was born.

Although Gail has not had a horse since Willie, she has spent time with horses through friends. She shares her home with two dogs, Kilo and Tally, two cats, Chance and Spook, and an aquarium full of freshwater fish that her three grandchildren, Lana, Holly and Scott, enjoy when they visit “Grannyland”, as they call her home.

Gail has been a volunteer for Planned Parenthood, the Austin Rape Crisis Center, an animal shelter, and now with the BEHS family. She has experience working in veterinary clinics, a horse ranch and a dairy.

Gail quickly became involved in BEHS by volunteering to conduct pre-foster and pre-adoption inspections. She participated in the largest seizure BEHS has handled and became involved with abuse/neglect reports and is now the Assistant Abuse/Neglect Coordinator for BEHS.

Gail has worked in the legal field for 25 years and now lives in Conroe, Texas to help take care of her parents. She eventually plans to move to the San Antonio area where she hopes to have horses again, her own as well as foster horses.

Carla Gentry

Carla was born in Vernon, Texas. She says, "Not a lot of people know where this town is at. Right in tornado alley, so I am terrified of tornadoes. My dad was in Law Enforcement ever since I was a baby. We moved to Electra, right SW of Vernon about 25 miles, the rest of our kin on my dad’s side lived in Vernon and most of my mom’s family lived in Jacksboro. Now, if anybody knows the location of all these towns, we probably have the same accent."

Carla's mom and dad used to tak her and her sister, who is 11 months older, to the stables and they would pet and feed the horses’ sugar cubes. She says she's loved animals especially dogs and horses and still does. She just felt a kinship to these huge animals that were so gentle. So her mom and dad bought the girls a Shetland pony named Shasta. No one but Carla could get close to what became her horse. Carla was only 4, and she would walk out right towards him relaxed and he just stood there, she grabbed his mane and he walked anywhere she walked. It was a different story with Carla's sister. Every time she would get on and ride, she’d fall off. Their mom would put her back on, she’d fall off. After about a dozen times seem like she didn’t want anything to do with the horse. Carla could Shasta him without any tack; she would guide him with his mane. Her mom was so proud and surprised about the whole thing. One day, Shasta was gone, but Carla didn’t understand where he went. Her dad said they had to sell him because there was so sense in having such an expense.

Carla and her family moved to Ft. Stockton and she was about 15. Her mom and dad again bought a horse for their girls. It was the same story with Carla's sister, but Carla still could ride. The horse was an eight year old mare that was first trained for barrels, poles and flags. Then trained for roping. When Carla got her she was so confused. Carla says she didn’t know what she was doing but reading her responses and using common sense, they helped each other. Carla's plans were to travel with the Rodeo Circuit because her times were getting close to the pros. Carla loved her Lady so; she was my life. Then Carla got married. She also got pregnant, married, etc. Carla's Mom and dad sold Lady, and to this day, she still thinks about her.

Carla worked two jobs and then went to college in Midland as a single mother with 3 kids. She says, "Man, that was hard, I look back today and don’t know how I did it. I guess because I had to. I starting driving a school bus and still went to college. I wanted to be a Vet including large animals, but they said clerical in Medical was needed. Anyway I made the Dean’s List and graduated with a 4.0. I found a better job and then met my current husband David who is District Manager for Mrs. Bairds Bakeries. That was 13 years ago. I managed a 4 storey office building, then went to work for a prominent attorney in Midland and with her help and I purchased a book, “How to Be a Legal Secretary” and boom, I was a Legal Secretary."

Carla has three grandchildren. Her oldest daughter Jennifer, 29, has 3 and the oldest is 4, and the twins are 3. Her son, 27, just had his first child, a little girl. Carla and her husband have one dog that is 6 years old.

Carla says, "I sat in the house, disabled. I was terribly bored and depressed until I found Bluebonnet Equine Humane Society. I was leery at first, but everyone has been wonderful."

Norma Hatch

Norma says that she was one of those kids who always wanted a horse, read every book about horses (Walter Farley's Black Stallion was her fav!). When she was about 11, her brother's best friend, Harry, got a horse. Rusty was a blue roan, and Norma says she loved him, and rode him every time Harry let her!

Norma was in her thirties before she actually owned her first horse, a young QH named Miss Gold Thistle. She was a buckskin, and smart as a whistle. Norma trained her, with the helpful instructions from her husband. she rode her every day, and even started her on barrels. But, too soon, Norma was forced to sell her, which she says literally broke her heart.

It wasn't until Norma was in her fifties that she got another horse. She was a five year-old Egyptian Arabian...a beautiful bay. Then, because she was alone, Norma went to Paul's Valley, OK and adopted a mustang yearling. Norma's daughter wanted a mustang, so Norma adopted one for her, too. Her mustang, even after being trained by one of the best trainers in their area, was still half wild, and in 2004, her ride on him resulted in a CareFlite and 10 days in intensive care.

Norma recovered fully, and the mustang was sold to a young cowboy who wanted one that bucked so he could practice for the rodeo. Norma still has her mustang, old faithful Cash.

When Norma bred her mare to Hot Golden Scotch, a dark golden palomino paint, she produced a beautiful palomino filly...which she rejected! Norma hand-raised Dazzle, and were looking for a companion horse for her. That's when Norma found Bluebonnet Equine Humane Society.

The rest is history, as they say. Norma has been a foster mom, and has helped in any way she could. She has been sewing tote bags (from plasticized feed bags), doing booths, and most recently made a new Before & After DVD. When she's not “doing” horse things, she likes to work the New York Times crossword puzzles.

Tammi Kozlowski

Tammi is 42 yrs old, lives in Monticello, Arkansas with her husband and two children, Holly and Justin. She grew up in Washington State and rode horses whenever possible at the neighboring farm. After graduation, it was another 15 years before she was able to buy her own horses and spend time in the barn. Work took her family to Alaska where they couldn’t have any livestock due to weather and the astronomical cost of hay ($22 sq bale!) The Kozlowski family loved fishing and the beautiful scenery of Alaska, but Tammi always missed the barn and the horses.

Tammy and her family moved to Arkansas two years ago from Alaska and love their new home! They're situated on 15 acres with pasture, a pond and a barn that continually seems to need work. Tammi joined BEHS two years ago and has been a proud member ever since. She keeps several foster horses for BEHS, a mare that the family adopted and three geldings of their own. Tammi says, "It has been a wonderful experience taking in foster horses and seeing the change from neglected/abused to a strong, healthy horse. Each foster horse has taught me something valuable as they are shining examples of courage, faith and determination. I can’t think of an animal that has more spirit and pride than a horse, even when they are starved, neglected and abused. It is an honor to try to help them and try to educate others about the continual onslaught of abuse here in Arkansas.

Tammi spends most of her time home with her children, the horses and their other pets: two dogs, two cats, three bunnies, two gerbils and one guinea pig. Tammi says, " I suspect that I will be going back to work when school starts. I’m also finishing my BS in Interior Design with graduation in sight for Spring 2010 and volunteer my time as a Girl Scout leader and 4-H leader here in Monticello."

Liz Magyar

Liz has loved horses as far back as she can remember and has shown for many years in the hunter/jumper discipline.

She started to feel several years ago that horse owners need to become more active in ensuring better conditions for all equines. Liz became a supporter of the Hooved Animal Humane Society and the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation but increasingly wanted to do help out closer to home, so Liz started doing volunteer work for BEHS. Her first project was a donations drive at large boarding stables in the Houston area to collect items for the BEHS Expo “garage sale”. While doing this she found that a lot of people had heard about Bluebonnet and were interested in equine welfare but were not clear on how they could personally contribute.

Consequently one of Liz' main goals for BEHS is to expand the reach of the organization to areas and groups of people that are currently not very familiar with it. For example, she has contacted the organizers of major events at Houston’s Great Southwest Equestrian Center, such as the Houston Dressage Society Annual Championships and the Pin Oak Charity Horse Show, and set up booths at these shows where there hasn’t been BEHS presence before. Liz also plans to look for opportunities ranging from informal presentations to local riding clubs to meetings with local law enforcement in order to raise the profile of BEHS.

Penny Sather

Penny Sather made her way to Texas via Michigan almost 15 years ago. She said she'd never stay here for more than 5 years because she missed living somewhere that had actual seasons but, lo' and behold she's still here. She is a complete mystery to the rest of her family as she didn't grow up with animals, no one else in her family has animals and she certainly didn't grow up around horses or other farm animals. She's pretty sure the rest of her family thinks she's nuts. Currently she has 2 kitties and a goofy black lab named Jordan at home. Penny adopted her first horse - a gorgeous Palomino named Comanche - from BEHS in February 2010. Currently she's not in a position to have horses on her personal property so is boarding at a nearby farm. When she's not working as an IT Specialist in the Oil and Gas industry or coordinating inspections for Bluebonnet, she can usually be found riding, tending to or playing with her animals and playing video games.

Michelle Stockton

Michelle has loved horses since her parents took her to riding lessons when she was 9 years old. She got her first horse soon after. She quickly discovered the world of horse shows and began competing in speed events, western pleasure, trail and halter classes. Today, Michelle prefers to ride the trails on her adopted BEHS horse, Harley. She also enjoys showing the kids’ paint horse at the American Indian Horse Registry (AIHR) shows.

Michelle graduated from Texas A&M University in 1991 with a B.S. degree in Psychology and Animal Science. She intended to continue her education in Psychology but got married and ended up becoming a stay at home mom instead!

Michelle became involved in animal rescue in 1995 after adopting a shelter dog through a humane society in need of help. She enjoyed working with dogs and cats as an adoption counselor, until she suddenly developed allergies to cats and had to quit the job! Soon after, Michelle discovered that equine rescue groups existed and has been volunteering for such groups ever since. She started working for BEHS in 2006 and plans to stick around for a very long time.

Rachelle Stridde

Rachelle Stridde was born in Beeville, Texas to Stewart and Geraldine Jameson. She has 8 older brothers and sisters. Rachelle married one of her best friends, Scott, and they have 5 children ranging in ages from 23 yrs old to twin 4 yr olds.

Rachelle and her family live in the small town of Orange Grove, Texas. They love their small town country life. The family has a ranch in Freer that they love to go relax at.

Growing up in the country all her life, Rachelle always had a horse and a huge variety of animals. She never could and still never can pass up a stray dog or cat. Rachelle carries a bag of cat and dog food good every where she goes, just in case she comes across one that looks hungry. Rachelle owns one horse and is looking forward to adopting and fostering a few more soon.

Rachelle and Scott own Stridde, Callins and Associates, a mechanical, electrical and plumbing firm. Rachelle says, "God has blessed us in so many ways, we both do all that we can to give back as much as we can."

Rachelle adds that her dream has always been to have a pasture full of horses and try to train her own colt. One day soon she will fullfill that dream. Joanne Terry

Joanne has been a Director of Bluebonnet Equine Humane Society since it began in March 2005. Before that, she was a staff member of Lone Star Equine Rescue, Inc. and served as a Regional Representative, foster home and Marketing Coordinator until LSER was dissolved in 2005.

She began taking riding lessons at the age of eight. After a fifteen year absence from horses, she began riding again while living in Moscow, where she rode Arabian stallions as well as some unique Russian breeds, and had the opportunity to ride Olympic show jumpers. When she returned to the United States she became involved in hunter-jumpers before buying a farm and moving to the country. She owns five Paso Finos of various ages. Her Paso mare Larisa has ridden on the Salt Grass Trail Ride for the last several years and is an avid competitor in team sorting. Joanne also has a mule, Jelly Bean, who is the resident clown. Joanne always has BEHS foster horses, too.

Joanne has a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing and a Master’s degree in Business Administration and works as a legal nurse consultant. She lives on her farm in Navasota with an assortment of former stray dogs and cats, in addition to her horses.

Paula Weisskopf

Paula and her husband Mike grew up in a suburb of Houston but knew they were meant for the country. They bought 7 acres in Elgin in 2005, got married, and settled there to get involved with the community. Paula is the Treasurer for the Elgin Humane Society and for her church, as well as owning her own Accounting firm, serving small businesses in the Elgin/Manor/Taylor area. Growing up, she and her sister were always horse crazy. Her parents got her her very own Welsh pony at 7, but the mare was virtually untouchable and had to be sold. Some of her best memories are the summers she spent at Texas A&M with her older sister helping her work with the school's two year olds in their equine program and going to equine science classes. Later on, she would work other people's horses at the various stables her sister boarded, but never had another of her own. When she graduated college in 2002, she decided the very best graduation present to herself would be her very own horse. She went to an equine event in Houston where she saw a booth for LSER and became involved immediately, learning to do inspections and investigations. When Bluebonnet was formed, she decided it was a better fit and continued volunteering. Honey Pot Ranch is the forever home to one gelding, a small herd of Boer goats, 2 rabbits, Charlie, the cat who came with the house, 12 chickens, and three little dogs, Lizzie, Emmy, and Kate.

Jennifer Williams

Jennifer Williams is co-founder and has been President of Bluebonnet Equine Humane Society since its inception in March 2005.  Before that, she co-founded Lone Star Equine Rescue, Inc. and served as President from the rescue's formation until it was dissolved in 2005.  During that time, LSER grew from a small organization of 25 members who took in only 8 horses in their first year, to an organization with hundreds of members spread throughout various states.

Jennifer's involvement with horses began with riding lessons at the age of 12, and she's been riding ever since. She's shown Arabians, Quarter Horses, and National Show Horses and rides sidesaddle, saddleseat, huntseat and western pleasure. She's also done some driving and is currently taking dressage lessons on her 10 year old Arabian gelding, Jawhari.

Jennifer earned her BS in Psychology from Northeast Missouri State University in 1996 and earned both a Masters in Animal Science in 2001 and a Ph.D. in 2002 from Texas A&M University. While working on her Masters and Ph.D., Jennifer did research primarily in equine behavior and learning. Jennifer is also an author publishing in EQUUS, the Chronicle of the Horse, The Andalusian Magazine, Young Rider, and other local magazines. Her first book, How to Start and Run a Rescue, is available at howtostartarescue.com. She is currently working on two books and several more articles. Jennifer and her husband, Spencer, share their lives with their two horses Elvis and Jawhari, their Australian Shepherd Maggie, and their cats Oreo, Pepper, Loop, Lil, and Ginger.

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