Up on the second floor of Diane and Hal Brierley’s home, resident Labrador Retriever KC knew something was going on downstairs on Wednesday, March 6. Parties were unusual for the household, but this time something was definitely different. Out front a trailer had pulled up earlier in the day and a couple of horses disembarked. Was KC getting new roommates?
No, Equest therapy horses, Amigo and Hombre, were there for Equest’s Arabian Nights Gala patron party that the Brierleys were hosting.
Equest Operations Coordinator Joan Cutler had once again been in charge of decking the horses in Arabian dress to stand out front of the house to greet guests and for photo opportunities with Equest Director of Program Quality Amy Causey.
Inside the house, Equest Gala Co-Chairs Annie and Teal Griffeth explained that Griffeth family matriarch/Equest Women’s Auxiliary Founder Louise Griffeth was out of town and wouldn’t be on hand.
Equest CEO Lili Kellogg reported that the gala on Saturday, March 23, was with a few seats of being sold out at Sixty Five Hundred.
The 70+ guests including Gala Honorary Co-Chairs Bert Headden and Cindy Thomas, Equest Women’s Auxiliary President Cara French and her mother Prissy Gravely, Equest Founder Susan Schwartz, Equest Board Chair Lane Cates, Past Equest Board Chair Andy Steingasser, Melinda Rathke and Lezlie and Bill Noble were advised to move outside to the back terrace. Despite a chill in the air, Hombre was there already to showcase his therapeutic talents with four-year-old Equest client Elizabeth Laughlin in the saddle. The two amazed the crowd as if they were Dale Evans and Buttermilk.
At the end of the evening as Amigo and Hombre shed their costumes and headed for the trailer and guests picked up their wheels from valets, 2019 Equest Citation Awardees/Brierley next-door-neighbors Connie and Denny Carreker just strolled home.