By Tammy Allen
VALLEY CENTER — Ande Armstrong speaks softly to the frail red mare as she slips a halter over her head, slowly walking her to a trailer. The emaciated horse’s spine and hipbones jut out sharply as she hesitates, then, with Armstrong’s encouragement, steps in for a ride to the vet.
The horse — Dolly — has just been brought to Armstrong for care, and it’s the start of another day at Hope In The Valley Equine Rescue and Sanctuary.
Armstrong, who founded the operation more than 20 years ago, has been a lifesaver for both humans and horses, donkeys and mules.
Born to animal-loving parents, Armstrong describes their home in Valley Center as “the neighborhood Humane Society,” where injured or lost animals were brought for help. On weekends with her grandparents, she insisted on visiting Kiddieland for pony rides. Finally, on her 13th birthday, her grandparents bought Armstrong her first horse, a Welsh pony.
Horses remained part of her life as she earned her paramedic’s license, rode the ambulances with Sedgwick County EMS and graduated with a nursing degree from Butler Community College. Recruited by Wesley Medical Center’s air ambulance service, LifeWATCH, Armstrong flew with medical crews in fixed-wing planes and helicopters, responding to major accidents, medical emergencies and other traumas.
Adopting two girls convinced her to step away from LifeWATCH’s 24-hour shifts, and she moved into emergency room and cardiac nursing’s more stable schedules. She was drawn to livestock auctions. “I was seeing those sad, skinny horses at the auctions, and I’d think, ‘I could take that horse home and take better care of it.’”
One day she went to the Kansas State Fair with farrier and friend Lisa Allen. Several hundred horses were to be auctioned. Horses not purchased for riding or other work typically take their last ride from the auction to slaughter in Mexico or Canada. “In the first pen, I saw a horse standing by himself with his head down,” she recalled. “He was a walking skeleton, so weak. I couldn’t get that horse out of my mind. I said, ‘Lisa, I don’t care if he dies in my pasture tomorrow. I’m taking him home.’”
That first horse was Jim, who lived five more years after Armstrong nursed him back to health. “That’s how we got started,” she said. “We’d go to the sales and do what we could.”
At the start, Hope In The Valley was just Armstrong, feeding the horses every morning and evening, learning from veterinarian and longtime Hope medical director John Speer how to give medicines and watch for symptoms of horse health problems. Over time, a small core group of volunteers grew, and as word spread of Hope’s work, donations began to trickle in. Finishing her medical career with 15 years as a radiology nurse, Armstrong retired in 2015 after injuries required multiple surgeries. Retirement meant exchanging full-time health care and part-time horse care for full-time, unpaid horse care.
Hope In The Valley marked its 20th anniversary in 2025. The organization operates with no paid staff and more than 60 volunteers, about half of them 60 or older, including trainer Chuck Scott, who’s 81. This team handles the daily feeding and care of a herd of 50 to 60 horses, donkeys, mules and minihorses on Hope’s 80 acres. They also schedule vet visits, vaccinations, deworming and farrier care, order grain and medications and log every horse’s history and medical treatments.
Equine manager Peggy Johnson oversees equine operations, while Kelly Benton directs the rescue’s marketing, development, finance and administrative functions. Kelly’s husband, Rob Benton, is ranch manager, mending fences, buying hay, keeping equipment operating and installing new sheds for the horses. He also serves as adoption coordinator.
The ‘rescue’ part of Hope’s name refers to preparing horses for possible adoption, while the ‘sanctuary’ part is for horses who will end their days there.
Horses come to Hope with experience ranging from being completely unhandled to former champion performance and racing horses. Scott and a few other volunteers with horse training and riding experience spend time with Hope’s herd to help make horses more adoptable. That may include teaching ground manners, such as familiarizing a horse with standing for the farrier or loading in a trailer.
For horses whose health, age and level of training are suitable, Scott or Johnson may work with them in the round pen to reintroduce them to being ridden, refresh training cues for walking, trotting, and loping, or make younger horses comfortable with being saddled and then ridden.
Two former Hope horses — Chancer and Gem — have become part of the Wichita Police Mounted Unit, ridden by officers for crowd control and meet-and-greet opportunities. Horses are rigorously screened for these duties, being exposed to smoke, gunshots and fire to see how they react.
While the volunteer team at Hope is larger these days, a 70th birthday and a full head of gray hair haven’t slowed down Armstrong. Whether she’s wrestling a foal desperately ducking a syringe full of medicine, slinging heavy bags of horse bedding or hooking a stubborn trailer hitch to her truck, her energy and passion are evident.
That passion has saved the lives of more than 800 horses, donkeys and mules — animals who came from situations of neglect, abuse, owner surrender, law enforcement seizure and the occasional stray. Armstrong says her goal is to give them a better life through rehabilitation and rehoming.
And now, one more horse is safe at Hope. After her vet visit, Dolly returns to a pasture to quietly enjoy the fresh green brome hay that will start her healing.
Tammy Allen is chief marketing officer for Foulston Siefkin LLP and a volunteer at Hope In The Valley.
About Hope In The Valley
Hope In The Valley Equine Rescue is a local 501(c)3 nonprofit organization founded by lifelong Valley Center resident Ande Armstrong. To learn more, visit hopeinthevalleyequinerescue.org.
This article was republished here with the permission of: The Active Age