Team Adopt-a-horse keeps the mission going strong

  We are no longer allowed to offer riding tours to the public. Our advocacy efforts are still a large part of our efforts to help victims of child sex crimes. Our pony carts are still helping us hide a rape crisis program in plain sight.

  Newton County Georgia was the home base for my foundation, Adopt-A-Horse, Inc., for 17 years. The Newton County community received a horseback riding opportunity enjoyed by over 8,000 riders in sixteen years.  We entertained visitors from all over the world looking to enjoy horseback riding.  Some visitors were drawn by our riding tours while others came to us while visiting the community from other attractions.  Our horses were highly trained endurance Arabians.  Our ponies provided a saddle experience for young riders as well as a cart driving experience for riders of all ages.

  We operated for all those years without having a serious injury from our activities.  Our safety record was a result of a coordinated effort by an all-volunteer staff of highly trained instructors. Everyone involved was committed to both the horses and our advocacy mission.  We informed all of our guests about our efforts to help victims of child sex crimes.  Our guests routinely spent their time with us discussing their own abuse as a child.  We provided an opportunity for survivors to understand the beauty of equine therapy as a part of their visit. 

  Initially we offered our facility to the local law enforcement, juvenile justice, therapy organizations, and local youth nonprofit organizations to meet with their child abuse victims at the ranch. Oxford Police asked us to help a 13-year-old boy.  When asked if he was a victim of a child sex crime, we were told he was acting out.  The police chief told us he was being forced to live with a registered sex offender that was not his biological parent. It was clear that once he came to our place, we expected him to tell us of the pressure he was under at home by a known sex offender.  

  This referral started our Indepth contact with the criminal justice system and educational institutions in Newton County. We wanted to be able to tell him the services that would be available if he decided to come forward with his abuse.  I told everyone that I would not lie to this young man about the road ahead for him.  After coming out to my family at the age of fifty, I knew the road ahead for him was going to be hard and he would be treated like the problem. No one was going to be prepared to rule against the parent that put her son in this predicament in the first place.  

  After a series of meetings with local officials where hard questions were asked, we were quickly targeted for abuse.  Our fence lines were cut 36 times in the first year.  Our horses were let out on the road in an attempt to have a judge rule us too dangerous to have horses in Newton County. We had three attempted thefts of a horse. Valentino was finally stolen.  

  We found him with the help of the horse community in Florida.  The Newton County Sheriff's office slow walked the investigation until the informant went to her neighbor to tell her about her report about her new horse.  Valentino was quickly moved before the local Sheriff in Florida could conduct a proper Investigation.  All three Atlanta news station filmed a segment about Valentino's return and the footage was aired for a full week on every station. Newton County Sheriff Nichols told us that victims like us and his daughter need to get over it. 

  Sheriff Ezell Brown became Sheriff in the following year.  He had another investigator look into the case.  The perpetrator lied continuously to Investigator Sonny Goodson. He was told to drop the case because Sheriff Brown refused to send  Detectives to Florida to bring the suspect here for prosecution.  He said he did not want to spend the necessary money to bring the horse home. 

  I went to the county commissioners and asked them to give the Sheriff enough money to bring the suspect here for prosecution. That effort got me daily visits from the Georgia State Equine Division trying to seize my horses and close us down permanently.

  We survived these events and more due to the support from regular citizens expressing support for our organization and horses.  Individuals and families routinely asked us to help them find justice for their child that had been sexually assaulted.  We never charged a dime for our advocacy services.  We always spoke truth to justice.  We became a thorn in the side of every lazy public employee and trifling parent we encountered.

  Judge Horace J. Johnson Jr. threatened to remove us from his property on six separate occasions over the years.  He told us we were being heard by people in this criminal justice and therapy community. He also knew he did not want to be the target of our retribution for this action.  Since his heirs used his name to find a corrupt Judge to overrule a ruling in our favor in dispossessory court, his heirs now know the ruthless backlash he wanted to avoid at all costs. 

 https://zorrow.org/johnson-crime-family

  My family has not spoken to me during the last twenty-year period.  My missionary efforts were an embarrassment to my family.  My mother refused to even claim me as her child.  My mother refused to accept my abuse claims while my sisters were looking forward to removing me from my mother's will. Those chickens have now come home to roost after the death of my mother.  

  My mother ended her life suffering from crippling dementia. She was dumped in an assisted living facility she likened to being incarcerated. She is reported to have cried everyday about her circumstances. My sisters used the time prior to her death to steal everything in sight. My greedy sisters wanted to take everything and make sure I got nothing. These ruthless women never wanted to help me with my mission. I was frozen out by my sisters for their own selfish benefit. 

   I have always told survivors that discussing their abuse as a child could result in their banishment from the family. Unfortunately, the accountability my remaining immediate family is facing is a public repudiation of their criminal behavior. The infighting and arguments over my share of the inheritance and my search for justice for my mother has begun in earnest.  You can keep up with the family drama by going to my advocacy website at

https://zorrow.org/horion-family-treachery