Mother, daughter sell art to cover cost of horse care

MAPLE PARK, Ill. -- It all started with a blind horse.\nDianne Hooker said her daughter Fawn, now 14, went horseback riding for the first time when she was 7 years old and became completely enthralled with the animal.\n"She fell in love with horses the instant she saw them," Hooker said. "A friend had a horse for sale, so we went and looked at it and bought it."\nHooker said the family didn't realize the old horse, Chief, was blind. Regardless, she said he was a great companion to Fawn and started her down the path of adopting more special-needs horses.\n"We decided not to just purchase horses but only to take in horses that needed us," Hooker said.\nSeven years later, Dianne and Fawn Hooker have four horses and have buried two, including Fawn's beloved Chief. Unfortunately, the care the horses require does not come cheap.\n"It costs me $1,100 a month just to board these horses," Hooker said. "But they mean everything to (my) little girl, whether she can ride them or not."\nTo support the horses, Dianne and Fawn Hooker began an arts and crafts business last year. They collect scrap wood and materials and recycle them into crafts they sell for $5 each.\n"Nothing we sell is over $5 because we want people to be able to afford it," Hooker said, displaying several large wooden signs. "Every penny goes to support these horses."\nHooker said she's not running a horse rescue, just trying to support the special-needs horses she has.\n"Without us, the next stop for these horses would be Cavel (slaughterhouse)," she said.\nHooker began selling her artwork to people she knew, but as the family's finances grew tight, she thought if she could sell more, she could cover the care of the horses. Now she and Fawn travel to flea markets all over the state to peddle the crafts.\n"We don't make enough to support our family or anything, but we're doing pretty well," she said. "We're running out of wood. Fawn and I go junking every Sunday and Monday night. Other people look for good stuff, but we just pick up junk."\nHooker named the business Creations for Gracie after one of Fawn's horses. \n"It's extreme what that little girl will go through for her horses," Hooker said.\nHooker said she is always looking for more wood she can turn into art to support the horses.\n"If anyone has an old wood pile they want to get rid of, we'll come haul it away if they donate the wood to us," she said.