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Bill,33,

wasalonefor 27yearsof his

lifebefore

comingto

Horses’Honor. He

liveddown the

streetbefore his

owner hadto move.

PHOTOS BY

MICHAEL MOTT •

AUBURN JOURNAL

BY MICHAEL MOTT OF THE AUBURN JOURNAL

Down a majestic country road, past humbleranch gates and gold and iron doors, lies a retire-ment home for 22 horses in need. Three more arecoming to Horses’ Honor in May, a nonprofit ranchwhere they’ll live out the rest of their days.

At 40, Cocoa is the oldest. His spinal column low-ered from lordosis, or swayback, and he was aban-doned. Brooke, the newest resident, came from awoman who lost her home.

And Tyko, 30, ran theTevis Cup before beingleft at a boarding stable.

“He’s a wonderful cit-izen. He’ll come run-ning up to you,” saidNiña Thompson, thefounding director ofHorses’ Honor, whoknows each of theirnames.

The nonprofit will behaving a large openhouse and tack sale onSaturday, in participa-tion with the ASPCAHelp A Horse Day. That is a national contest andcelebration for a portion of $100,000 grant fundingto help horse nonprofits.

Speakers will share tips on horse care, includingmedical attention, massage, senior feeding andmore.

On Wednesday morning, the elder horses ategreens and swung their head while others werebrushed. Seven to eight pastures and 83 acres aretheir home.

Wednesday was Jeanne Bonner’s second timevolunteering, which is open to anyone year-round.

“These horses have given so much of their livesfor humans. I like giving back to them,” Bonner, of

• SEE PASTURE PAGE A2

Horse sanctuary open house, sale Saturday

KNOW AND GOWhat: An open house,tack sale and seniorhorse education dayWhen: Saturday,10 a.m-4 p.m.Where: Horses’ HonorSenior Horse Sanctu-ary, 6600 Garden BarRoad, half hour fromLincoln or Auburn.Directions available onwww.horseshonor.org

BY TRICIA CASPERS OF THE AUBURN JOURNAL

Is Vitamin B12 absorbed intothe blood better as an injection?Do people remember wordsbetter if they’re written in differ-ent in color? Does expensivefood taste better?

These were a few of the sixth-grade science projects present-ed by E.V. Cain STEM CharterMiddle School students at Plac-er County STEM Exposition fairon March 4 and 5. Nine of the 60students took home awards, anda few will go on to the state com-petition in Los Angeles.

Of those, 35 students compet-ed and won honors at theregional level last weekend.

Students began brainstorm-ing topic ideas in November,said E.V. Cain science teacher,Don Scott. They researchedtheir ideas in December, formedhypotheses and began plans toexperiment during winter break.

“Depending on the students’resources and how committedthey were, the projects had vary-ing degrees of complexity,” Scottsaid.

More complicated experi-ments included the Vitamin B12study, conducted by Brazil,

E.V.Cainwins big atSTEM fairsFirst-place students tocompete at state, secondplace will attend as alternates

• SEE STEM PAGE A2

BY GUS THOMSONOF THE AUBURN JOURNAL

A new pedestrian bridgeacross the American River isstill a big, bright bold idea.

And nearly 15 years after ini-tial funding of $500,000 waspledged, the idea of spanningthe river below Auburn is gain-ing some renewed momen-tum.

Auburn’s environmentalgroup Protect American RiverCanyons (PARC) is taking alead.

A letter-writing campaign toState Parks officials has gener-ated hundreds of pleas for con-sideration of a bridge andimproved public access to theChina Bar area.

Located off Auburn’s Maidu

Drive, the China Bar area is inthe Auburn State RecreationArea on land owned by the U.S.Bureau of Reclamation andoperated by State Parks.

It’s part of the site of the long-delayed Auburn dam and wasonce a river crossing, when thestretch of the waterway wasunderground, flowing througha diversion tunnel built duringconstruction in the 1960s.

State Parks – in the midst of arevamp of its general plan forthe Auburn State RecreationArea – is providing encourage-ment.

“This is a good time to reallystart pushing these discussionsbecause we’re right in the mid-dle of the general plan

New American River bridge near Auburn gains traction

COURTESY T O THE JOURNAL

PARC board members Eric Peach and Deanna Marsh sit atpicnic table overlooking part of a stretch of the AmericanRiver near Auburn that they’re working to bridge.• SEE BRIDGE PAGE A3

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CALIFORNIA LOTTERY

Loomis, said whilebrushing Brooke, a GreyArabian. “I love to learntheir stories.”

Thompson started thenonprofit in 1999, aftermeeting horse rescuerJoe Shelton. A horse-lover all her life, she wasinspired and somethingin her changed, she said.

“It was all about thehorses at that point,” shesaid. She started askingranch owners if they hadspare land and eventuallyhad horses rescued fromslaughter or unnecessaryeuthanasia located at 12pastures.

In 2008, with the econ-omy crashed and manyhorse-owners unable tocare for their own, sherealized she needed tokeep them in her sight totake care of them.

Five years ago, she mether now-husband. She

didn’t know it, but he had83 acres, which wouldeventually become Hors-es’ Honor.

The horses receivehoof care, dental checks

and needed shots. According to the Ani-

mal Welfare Institute, anonprofit whose goal isto reduce animal pain byhumans, 144,656 horses

were sent to Canada orMexico for slaughter in2013. “Buddy”, one of thehorses at the sanctuary,was rejected fromslaughter since he was

thin and the meat buyerdidn’t want him.

Others suffered fromhorrific abuse or neglectbefore arriving at thesanctuary. Many of themwere surrendered byowners who could nolonger take care of them.

“One owner was termi-nally ill and needed help.It was my honor to dothat,” she said. Sheadvised owners to con-sider euthanasia overslaughter, thougheuthanasia is a moreexpensive option.

At the sanctuary, thehorses are rotated onmost of the pastures, eat-ing where suitable. Someof the oldest horses arefed special senior feed forextra nutrition. One pas-ture is for troublemakers.

Bonner and Thompsonlaughed out on the pas-ture, where Bonnerbrushed Brooke and the

horse’s gray hair floatedoff into the breeze. Theyremembered trottingaround the playgroundas girls.

Thompson is proud ofhow the nonprofit hasprogressed. She wouldlike to grow and havemore horses (“The phonerings off the hook everyday,” she said, for ownerswanting to surrendertheirs). But she doesn’twant to take on morethan can be cared for.

She spends her daysweed-eating and caringfor the horses, which sheloves.

“They’re creatures thatbend to man’s will withlittle choice of their own.They’re capable of magicunder the right hands,”she said. “There’s a partof me that believes suchan honorable beingdeserves an elevated sta-tus.”

MICHAEL MOTT • AUBURN JOURNAL

Three of Niña Thompson horses live on the ranch as well, Sasquatch, Tesoroand Ragnar. They were getting hoof care together Wednesday.

continued from A1PASTURE: The horses receive hoof care, dental checks and needed shots at the sanctuary

which required that sub-jects have their blood test-ed in a lab.

The sixth-grade scientisthas been interested in thetopic since she read abook about it in the schoollibrary in second grade.

“I found a book abouthow people died from lackof vitamins,” Brazil said. “Itcan really mess your bodyup.”

The most challengingportion of Brazil’s project,she said, was finding sixpeople who were willing toget their blood testedtwice, as well as pay for thedraws.

“I would have had topay more than $1,000, if Ihad provided the (fund-ing),” she said.

In one comparison,Brazil’s research showedthat a person’s Vitamin

B12 absorption couldincrease by close to 900milliliters when injected.

“It’s a nice thing to beable to discover and getvery pumped up about …what you can do to helpthe world,” Brazil said.

Arsenith’s experimentcomparing the effective-ness of different types ofpreservatives required thatshe grow bacteria in a ster-ile lab over time.

All students wererequired to present a 20-page paper that included ahypothesis, procedure,findings, and five-pagesummary and opinion.

“Science is somethingthey are getting a lot ofevery day,” Scott said.“Doing the science fair hasbecome the cool thing.”

At the county STEM fair,Cain students dominatedboth the Scientific Inquiry

and Rube Goldberg cate-gories. In the ScientificInquiry Amaya Shumakerwon first place, Kirstenjilot, second, and MateoPackard, third. Also in theScientific Inquiry, AddisonArsenith won an invitationto compete in the StateScience Fair in Los Angeleson May 23 and 24 alongwith Brazil and KirstenJilot as alternates. In theRube Goldberg category

Packard won first placewhile Jilot and HannahBruce tied for third place.

The Placer County fairwas the first of two fairs inwhich these students par-ticipated. On April 1 and 2,along with Scott, they trav-eled to Sacramento tocompete in the annualSynopsys SacramentoRegional STEM Fair heldat American River College.There they competedagainst the brightestyoung minds from all overthe region, represented by12 different counties.

Emily Valdez won firstplace in behavioral andsocial sciences for herresearch into music’simpact on cognitive per-formance.

Valdez worked with 60test subjects, giving themthe same game to playtwice, once while listeningto classical music andonce while listening topop.

She was surprised tofind that her hypothesis –that people concentratebetter while listening topop music – was provenwrong.

“Classic music did farbetter,” she said. “I thinkbecause when you listen itgets you focused andcalms you down.”

With popular songspeople got distracted, shesaid.

Valdez plans to test theresults during her ownstudy time.

“It would be smart to tryit out,” she said.

Together, E.V. Cain stu-dents earned close to 30awards and recognitions.

It was the only Auburn-area school to participatein the regional fair, accord-ing to Ryan Endean,spokesperson for theSacramento event.

Reach reporter Tricia Caspers attriciar@goldcountrymedia.com

STEMcontinued from A1

E.V. CAIN AWARDCOUNT

• Behavioral SciencesFirst- Emily ValdezSecond- Cheyenne

SmithThird- Hayden BoseHonorable Mention -

Kirsten Brisco

• Biological SciencesFifth-Tristan Halog

• Chemistry and Health

SciencesFifth- Addison ArsenithHonorable Mention -

Bailey Brazil

• Energy and Transporta-tion Sciences

Second- Victoria Eich-horn

Third- Josh Shuttle-worth

Honorable Mention -Weston Sellers

• Engineering SciencesSecond- Ben Panasyuk

• Physical SciencesSecond- Ashlee Ziegle-

mannHonorable Mention -

Asa Barnhart

• Special Award WinnersAmaya Shumaker- First

Place, Civil AmericanEngineers, plus $100.

Bailey BrazilAddison ArsenithDanielle UribeWeston SellersDayanara Zamora

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