Our Team

Mountain Valley Horse Rescue relies on a small staff with the support and direction of a passionate Board of Directors in order to further its mission. 

MVHR Staff

Shana Devins

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Shana took her first horseback riding lesson in second grade. She began leasing her first horse in seventh grade, and showing at small local shows. As her interest grew, her parents purchased her first horse when she was a freshman in high school, a green broke 5 year old American Holsteiner. They grew and learned together, showing dressage extensively throughout the Midwest until Shana lost her to colic during senior year of college. The devastation of losing her became the catalyst for her move to Colorado.

Shana was lucky enough to meet a wonderful horse mentor here, Willard Forman, who helped her re-find horses, and get to know them in a more Western setting - trail riding, pack trips, and even horse drawn sleigh rides. Thanks to Willard, Shana soon found herself part owner of Indian Summer Outfitters at Bearcat Stables, offering daily trail rides, Vail to Aspen horseback rides, hunt camps, and horse drawn wagon, carriage, and sleigh rides. Dozens of horses and hundreds of miles on trails helped heal her heart and find a way forward.

After going on to start a family and develop horseback riding and other recreation at a friend’s ranch in Garfield County, Shana began fostering horses and offering pony rides as fundraisers for MVHR. In 2011, she joined MVHR officially and has been thrilled to be a part of the organization’s growth. Horses have meant so much to Shana throughout her life, it is deeply meaningful to work to help them in return.

With three kiddos growing up too fast, any time Shana doesn't spend with horses is spent chasing the kids around to their activities or working around her own small horse property in Eagle.

Marleen Bosch Hopkins

Director of Resources

Marleen was born and raised in The Netherlands before moving to Colorado in 2008 to be with her husband Warner. They live in Wolcott with their daughter Penelope & just added little Rhett to their family.

Riding horses at the local horseback riding school, Marleen got the horse virus when she was 8, and it never went away. Enjoying the draft type ponies & horses, she competed in English with a Fjord horse named Kobus for several years. Marleen taught dressage and jumping to children age 5 to 16 at the same horseback riding school she started. She worked with several young horses to get them ready under saddle and worked with advanced little riders to get new ponies ready for the lesson program.

After settling in Edwards, Marleen could not stay away from horses long. Learning about MVHR and the possibility of adopting her next horse instead of buying resulted in reaching out about two horses available at the time. Coming to MVHR on a cold December evening in 2011 to check out Foxy & Breezie, resulted in continuing to volunteer for feeding shifts and adopting a sweet mare named Grace from MVHR in 2013. Sassy, the little palomino pony joined Grace in Summer 2017. Both currently reside at the rescue where they help with programs!

Marleen joined the board in 2013 as the treasurer ensuring MVHR finances were managed accurately, bills were paid and established the budget & P/L process, we use today, and that was needed for the organization to purchase the McCoy property in 2016. Marleen has a bachelor’s degree in economics with a minor in marketing & communication, and worked in Front Office, Revenue and Financial Management in the Hotel industry for 13 years. She brings 25 years of horse and English riding experience. As Director of Resources, Marleen does the financial management for MVHR, Marketing, Donor Management and lots of other behind the scene tasks. In addition, Marleen runs a large amount of the programs and the administrative back end that comes with kids programming.

Olivia McGinty

Herd Manager

Olivia grew up in Minnesota, and has spent her adult life exploring the world, living and working all across the western United States and also abroad. Her love and deep compassion for horses is demonstrated most when cuddling her two geldings, Beau and Chips, both special needs horses that Olivia has committed to supporting and caring for to help them live their best lives. We are grateful that Olivia has brought this incredible dedication to animal care and understanding to MVHR, and the herd thrives under her diligent care!

Lela Beickert

HEAD TRAINER

Lela’s lifetime of horse experience growing up on a local ranch here in the McCoy Valley, coupled with a Ag Productions degree from Northeasten Junior College in Sterling, Colorado, combine for a breadth of skills with horses of all types that she brings to share with the MVHR herd. Her quiet methods allow each horse to grow and thrive under her tutelage, gaining skills to help them move towards adoption.

Harald Mikkelson

Director of Maintenance

As we prepared for the new barn to be operational, Harald joined our team in February 2022. Some of you might know Harald as he is a long time volunteer and helped with lots of ranch projects & hay hauling over the years.

A long-time MVHR volunteer, Harald joined our staff in February 2022. His previous work experience, coupled with his familiarity with MVHR, the ranch, our needs, and his passion for our mission, made him the standout candidate for this position. 

Harald moved to Colorado from Pennsylvania in 2001, to snowboard and, up until joining our staff, had been working in the restaurant industry. With dreams of “riding his own horse into the hills someday,” Harald found MVHR a few years ago and quickly set out to learn all he could about horses. He started volunteering for a regular chore shift early on and pitched in with hay, vehicle maintenance and repairs, and other projects around the Rescue. He will continue doing these things and more in his new position.

Since starting Harald has been cleaning up, cleaning out, further familiarizing himself with MVHR equipment and facilities, and helps us dig out of the snow. He’ll be taking on a number of projects as winter wraps up and conditions allow, such as irrigation repairs and fencing expansion, and of course - setting up the equipment side of the new barn!

Harald’s dream came true when he adopted Sierra in January, and now has is own horse to ride in those hills!

Marissa Martindale

PROGRAM COORDINATOR

Born and raised in south Routt County, Marissa comes from a local ranching family to support MVHR Programs with a passion for sharing horsemanship with others. A lifetime of riding horses, coupled with a degree in Natural Horsemanship from University of Montana Western in Dillon, Montana, her equine skills are diverse. We look forward to all that Marissa has to share with our MVHR community!

Cat Stone

PART TIME PROGRAM LEAD STAFF

Like many in our valley, Cat graduated from college and moved to Vail to be a ski bum. After checking that item off her bucket list, she migrated to Denver where she taught elementary school for 13 years and started to raise a family. She, her husband and 2 boys made the move back to Eagle County four years ago to rediscover the mountain lifestyle.

Having always loved horses, Cat enjoys learning more about them through her time at the Rescue. Cat feels it is important to give back to the community and says the most rewarding part of volunteering is learning from the horses.

Cat helps MVHR facilitate Service Groups, Homeschool Groups and Summer Day Camps, as well as volunteers her time doing daily ranch chores!

Leigh Carlson-Hernandez

PART TIME PROGRAM LEAD STAFF

Leigh has been passionate about horses for as long as she can remember. She grew up in Silverthorne, Colorado, where her father shared stories of working with his Uncle Johnny Bell. Johnny Bell was a Show Jumping Hall of Fame recipient and one of the most colorful and popular open jumper riders in the 1950s and ‘60s. These stories sparked Leigh's interest in horses. As a teenager, she was fortunate enough to have her own horses: a sorrel Arabian named Laddie and a chestnut quarter horse called Extra. Extra was abandoned in a pasture with other horses, so he was named “Extra”. Leigh and her horses competed in local 4-H horse shows, and she learned valuable lessons from them.

Leigh's love for horses never faded, even though she took a break from the horse world during college and adulthood. In 2020, she adopted her heart horse, Miss B, from MVHR. After Miss B passed away, Leigh wanted to continue to share her love for horses with her family, so they bought two mini horses named Sophie and Diego to enhance the mini horse heroes program. After working summer camp, Leigh’s husband Miguel fell in love and adopted Boomer from MHVR.

During the week, Leigh works in early childhood education as the Manager of Eagle County’s Early Head Start Program. Leigh is also studying for her Animal Assisted Intervention Specialist credential to incorporate more of her passion into the programs she leads at MVHR. Leigh loves being around horses and helping others discover the magic of these beautiful creatures!

On weekends, Leigh facilitates MVHR’s Mini Horse Heroes program for preschoolers and other horse-related programs.

MVHR Board

Cookie Murphy-Pettee

Board President

In 2013, Cookie moved to Gypsum from her home state of California (mostly the Bay Area), to live nearer to her daughter.  During her career in local government service, Cookie served on the board of the International Association of Facilitators, started her continuing joy of creative non-fiction writing and, after retiring, studied Feldenkrais somatic education, and consulted in strategic planning and organizational improvement. 

As part of her move to Colorado, Cookie made the explicit commitment to be directly involved in animal welfare – always a passion.  Her daughter (now owner of MVHR adoptee Buffalo) introduced Cookie to Shana at an MVHR event.  Cookie started volunteering right away and joined the Board in 2015; hoping that her organizational, budget, facilitation and administrative skills would be helpful resources, as she learns more each day about MVHR’s equine charges and their needs.

Sallie Clark

Vice President/INTERIM TREASURER

Sallie was born and raised in the south but fell in love with Colorado during the summer of 1981. She completed medical school and residency in Tennessee and returned to Colorado forever. She is a retired General Surgeon, living in Gypsum with her husband, Bob, and their dog Maggie. She was late to horseback riding but developed a passion for horses and riding in the early 2000's. One of her goals in retirement was to volunteer at Mountain Valley Horse Rescue. Since February of 2020 she has been nearly a weekly volunteer, enjoying interacting with the horses and meditating while scooping manure. She is excited to have the opportunity to contribute more to the organization as a member of the Board.

Nancy Lindbloom

Board member / director of volunteers / INTERIM SECRETARY

Following her retirement from teaching for over 30 years at Battle Mountain High School, Nancy's lifelong love of horses brought her to MVHR.  As a volunteer she has been able to continue to do what she loves--working with school-aged kids--by helping with the many school programs and summer camps held at the Rescue.  And adding horses to the mix, really is the perfect combination.  Getting in her weekly dose of horse time while completing her chore shift in the serene beauty of the ranch is one of the highlights of her week.  The remainder of her time is spent with her husband, Carl, their two kids, and three grandchildren.  (Granddaughter Annie has already fallen in love with Racey and Roman.)  Nancy is honored to be part of the MVHR Board and looks forward to working with the amazing people who lead the Rescue in helping to find loving, forever homes for the many horses in need.

Carrie Campbell

Board Member

Carrie Campbell joined the MVHR board in September 2023. While she never had a chance to have horses as a child, riding has always been one of her favorite activities. When she moved to Colorado in June 2022, she began volunteering at MVHR and working towards being able to adopt horses of her own.

Professionally, Carrie is the Director of Business Development & Operations at the Royal Conservatory of Music, a non-profit organization whose mission is to develop human potential through music and the arts. In addition to her work in community arts programs, Carrie taught musicianship at the San Francisco Conservatory Pre-College and serves as a member of the Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM) College of Examiners.

To satisfy her secret desire to be a Broadway star, Carrie spent her performing career in the pit orchestras of Bay Area musical theater productions such as West Side Story, Oklahoma, Beauty and the Beast, The Producers, and Les Miserables.