Post by Sugarmama on Nov 29, 2009 22:04:11 GMT -5
By Karen Workman, Journal Register News Service
Entertainer offers to assist struggling horse owners.
Animals may not have any concept of human holidays, but if they did, some local animals might have found themselves giving thanks to Kid Rock on Thanksgiving this year.
"I've always tried to help out where I can locally; I do a lot of things nationally and worldwide too, but if I can't start out by helping in my hometown, then why bother?" said Robert Ritchie, the Clarkston-area celebrity musician best known as Kid Rock.
After reading about the faltering economy impacting peoples' ability to care for their horses, Ritchie felt compelled to help.
Ritchie offered to house the horses for free at the barn on his home's property in the Clarkston area while their owners "try to get back on their feet," he said.
Four horses and their owners are now getting help from the county's bad boy musician.
"I wanted to open my home to strangers, and when you think about somebody like me, that might be something where you say, 'Wow. That person is going to open their home?'" Ritchie said.
What he wanted to do and what he was able to do ended up being two different things, and that still doesn't sit well with him.
First, the few remaining insurance companies which still afford him coverage threatened to drop him.
Then, his lawyers warned him that if the slightest of accidents were to occur, he'd be 100 percent liable. Nothing at that point could prevent a complete financial ruin — not even a liability waiver or other measures.
"It absolutely made me want to throw up," Ritchie said. "Attorneys and politicians have screwed things so hard for the public person."
Ritchie was shaken by the idea that he couldn't help people directly, but is all too familiar with frivolous lawsuits being filed against him just so someone can get a pay day.
"Any time I've been in an altercation, there's countless attorneys from all over the country calling those people like piranhas when a fresh piece of meat hits the water," he said, clarifying that it's not the people but the attorneys which make him sick.
Ritchie said he doesn't want to complain, though, because he is grateful for the lifestyle his fans have afforded him and accepts the hurdles that come along with being famous.
And he remains determined to help the people who needed help for their horses.
In lieu of being able to house the horses on his own property, Ritchie instead offered two local women financial support for one year's worth of boarding at a facility of their choice.
Brook Coleman, a recently married Ortonville resident, was the first to submit an entry and was chosen to receive help. At 18, she is attending college and working part-time, but not making enough to board her horses.
Coleman said her grandparents first provided housing for her two horses when she got them as a high school student. When the horses got to be too much work, they requested she find them another home.
"I decided to donate (them) to Amazing Wings, a therapeutic horseback riding center in Goodrich," Coleman wrote in her entry.
While her one horse, Remy, worked out well for the center, the palomino quarterhorse named Banner was a bit too skittish. Coleman found a friend who would house her horse, but she found out she had to find Banner a new home again after health problems forced her friend to reduce the number of animals she kept.
Her grandparents accepted Banner back at their property temporarily and also took in a miniature horse to keep him company.
"It's not healthy for horses to be by themselves because they're herd animals and you could tell he was upset," Coleman said.
Coleman was notified that she was selected for help and has since moved both horses to Twillingate Farms in Brandon Township. She did not find out Kid Rock was behind everything until last week when a letter arrived in the mail.
"I had wondered if maybe he was (the anonymous benefactor) because I'd heard before that he was a horse person," said Coleman, who added that she is a big fan of Kid Rock's music. "It's such a blessing for my husband and I."
Faith and fate
Julie Lanivich, a Clinton Township resident, met her mare years ago when she was working on an Animal Science degree at Michigan State University. The horse, a rare Gypsy Vanner, recently had been imported from Ireland and had contracted a bad virus on the way over.
Lanivich worked with the mare often, whose name is Blaithin, a Gaelic word meaning little flower. She nursed the mare back to health and fell in love with her in the process. Lanivich arranged to purchase the horse, but not before spending months "squirreling away whatever money I could toward her."
"It took a number of years to pay her off, but I did it," Lanivich said. "And the day I paid her off, she foaled."
The mare gave birth to a colt named Clover. Times were happy for a while and Lanivich even landed a job at an engineering company that supplies products to General Motors.
As the auto companies faltered in recent years, Lanivich saw her hours cut as her company struggled. She went through a divorce, moved far away from her horses and enrolled in school again, this time to become a minister.
She was struggling to make ends meet and two weeks before hearing about Ritchie's offer, she prayed for guidance.
"I prayed to God and said, 'I need a way to know; if the horses are not meant to be a part of my life, then I want to be obedient to you,'" said Lanivich, preparing herself to find a new home for her horses. "But within two weeks, I'd written that letter."
Lanivich said she wasn't a fan of Kid Rock because of his music, but has learned a good lesson from the entire situation.
"This is like an answer (to my prayers) and here's a gift from a person you never would've thought in a million years would've extended this to you, and it's caused me to evaluate how I view people and judge people," she said.
Since learning Kid Rock was behind the offer to pay for a year's worth of boarding, Lanivich said she's learned more about the rock star and is impressed with all his good deeds.
"He's given back quite a bit and I think he's taken quite an active role in the community at large," she said. "I just have to give kudos to him."
Kid Rock, who was named Detroiter of the Year by Hour Detroit magazine in its July issue, said he is happy to hear that he has inspired others.
What is he giving thanks for this year?
"Everything," he said. "Just everything — even winter. To be alive and breathing during a Michigan winter with friends, family and my son around, what else is there, really?"
