Twist of Fate
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Gretchen Kay Stuart
Team Luster
Mary Lou Spellmeyer, who volunteers at Longmeadow Rescue Ranch, saw videos online of zoo animals painting with their mouths. After some research, she began teaching the skill to Twister, a mischievous and mouthy horse.
Grieving the loss of her husband, Spellmeyer, found purpose when she began volunteering at the ranch. She forms special bonds with the neglected and abused animals being rehabilitated.
Today, Twister benefits from the enrichment activity and paints regularly with Spellmeyer to raise money for the ranch. His paintings are framed and sold in the ranch’s gallery and are available for purchase online where they have been shipped around the world.
Each morning that Spellmeyer volunteers, she springs to life as soon as that “barn smell” hits her nose. “I miss it so much when I’m away," she said. "When I had surgery and couldn’t be there for a while, I went out to my garage and smelled my boots.”
Mary Lou Spellmeyer, right, offers a paintbrush wrapped in tape to Twister, a horse she taught to paint, at Longmeadow Rescue Ranch in Union.
Twister creates an art piece that will be sold to raise money for Longmeadow Rescue Ranch. Mary Lou trained Twister to paint.
Staff at Longmeadow Rescue Ranch laugh after Twiste completed two paintings.
Mary Lou frames and hangs a painting by Twister in the barn gallery at Longmeadow Rescue Ranch. Recently, 17 of Twister's paintings were sold.
Mary Lou, a training assistant, heads toward the Longmeadow Learning Center as she volunteers. The ranch rehabilitates neglected and abused farm animals preparing them for adoption.
Mary Lou gives a rescued pig some treats.
Mary Lou grabs reigns to retrieve a horse from its stall for a training session.
Mary Lou embraces a horse at Longmeadow Rescue Ranch. Volunteering at the barn is therapeutic for Mary Lou.
Mary Lou trains a rehabilitated horse in the arena at Longmeadow Rescue Ranch.
Mary Lou Spellmeyer sits with a dog named Puppy in her home in St. Louis. She and her husband, Arthur, rescued Puppy after it ran in front of their car while traveling on a rural road one night. After an unsuccessful search for Puppy’s owners, Mary Lou planned to find the flea-ridden stray a home. But her husband, who was suffering from Alzheimer’s, was quickly attached, so she reluctantly kept the dog. Today, Puppy is Mary Lou's beloved companion.
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