Family rescues animals, provides therapy at Joyous Acres

By AMBER PERRY amber@appenmedia.com

MILTON, Ga. — Sitting on their backyard patio, a family described their surrounding small rescue farm — Joyous Acres, a place seniors frequent to visit with about a dozen of its animals.

Teresita Lim King, who gives warm, hardy hugs upon meeting for the first time, realized her lifelong dream in 2021 when she moved from Boston with her husband Andrew Nakrin and daughter Joy Lim Nakrin. When Joy was young, Andrew promised Teresita that they would have a farm when they retire.

“I didn’t realize when you retire, you’re decrepit,” Teresita said, wearing shorts, a T-shirt and rain jacket for the anticipated rain.

Teresita, 71, had knee surgery, and can’t stand for long periods of time. But she still manages to do much of the work, alongside her family. An early feminist, Teresita is blunt and independently minded.

Betty Lim King, 73, emphasized the condition of her sister’s hands, dirtied from a daily routine that begins at 3 a.m. with exercise. Andrew, who wasn’t feeling well on this particular day, joins Teresita in the barn to greet the horses in song a few hours later.

“My sister is very inspirational,” Betty said. “But she’s a pain in the [butt].”

Over time, the family accumulated 20-plus acres off Brittle Road in Milton to house animals left behind and rejected, using savings from Teresita’s career as a gynecologist and Andrew’s in anesthesiology.

They also rescued historic barns from development in the process, featured in Appen Media columnist Bob Meyers’ book, “Barns of Old Milton County.”

‘Seniors for Seniors’

A retired sociology professor, Betty spoke in broad, philosophical terms. Every so often, she dropped insight into what a fulfilled existence looks like, using Joyous Acres as a touchstone.

“We share a universe of meanings. So [Joyous Acres] will transcend all the human barriers of race, class, gender, politics, religion,” Betty said. “We share our humanity with one another through the power of animals — love, love...”

Wearing a sundress and sun hat, Betty described herself as a “pie in the sky.” She thinks of the ideas, while the rest of the family puts them in motion. It was her idea that the family share the farm with other seniors. The program started up in December.

But Betty said she’s realistic enough to know that humans have a “disorderly soul.”

“We want to get rid of whatever is inconvenient — disposable animals … the American society has become too materialistic, even in the horse industry,” Betty said. “It’s all about making money.”

With heavy consideration, Betty left city life to follow Teresita last July. After 44 years of marriage, Betty’s husband died in 2018, and she fell into a deep depression, struggling to find purpose. First, she looked to her role in the Asian American Commission. But the farm became Betty’s resolve.

“It’s such a happy place. The animals make me happy. I used to be so scared of the horses. Now, I scold them,” Betty said, gesturing and making noises. “Then, along the way you meet people … gives you purpose, you know.”

Around twice a month, the “Senior for Seniors” program invites residents from the Village Park Alpharetta retirement community to spend time with the animals.

While most of the seniors have significant memory loss, the family described moments when they return and recognize the animals. If some of the seniors are angry upon arrival, the family said the anger dissipates.

Teresita and Betty also meet the seniors where they’re at. They plan to visit again soon with the dogs, and they bought a trailer to transport their horse, Prince.

“[The seniors] become our friends, and we think about them,” Teresita said.

Second chances

The animals at Joyous Acres are well cared for with healthy diets, natural medicine, the freedom to roam and massages.

“What’s good for us — it’s got to be good for them,” Teresita said.

Teresita puts hyaluronic acid in her drink every day — a supplement horses take for their joints. She also swears by milk thistle. The plant has helped Bella, the herd leader and the family’s first rescued horse, who has Cushing’s disease. It has also helped one 27-year-old dog. Before Teresita migrated from the Philippines with Betty, she did rural medicine on horseback. That’s when she fell in love with horses. She later instilled that love into Joy, who grew up riding and returned to the sport when she moved to Milton.

There’s six horses — Bella, Prince, Geronimo, Onaqui, Johnny and Honor. There’s also a pig named Humphrey, who obliged Joy with tricks, a few small dogs and a couple of cats.

Most of the horses arrived at Joyous Acres with severe post-traumatic stress disorder. Onaqui, named after his suspected mountain home in Utah, had the worst case. He was born in the wild, rounded up then taken to an abusive home where his pasture mates starved to death.

But the family described a total transformation, from a horse with alarming behavioral quirks to one with a more even temperament. Onaqui, the “Lieutenant Stallion,” now acts as shepherd to the other horses. He also knows how to kiss — in the pasture, Teresita demonstrated with a piece of granola between her teeth.

Honor, Joy’s $2,500 rescue, began competing against imported warmbloods in under two years. He was adopted from Blue Bloods Thoroughbred Adoption and Placement, which pulls race industry rejects out of the slaughter pipeline. More than 7,500 former racing thoroughbreds are sent to slaughter from the United States each year, Joy said.

“One of the things I’ve been trying to do is kind of bridge the gap between the show world and the rescue world,” Joy said.

Last year, Honor won as the overall champion in the Green Hunter division at the Georgia Hunter Jumper Association Finals & Grand Finale.

Geronimo and Prince were hovering around the patio table, Prince sometimes warding off Geronimo — he’s known to be a bully. Prince is the first ownersurrendered horse, given away because he refused jumps and bucked a child off his back.

“They say he’s a very bad boy, but look, is that a bad boy?” Betty asked, pointing to Prince innocently sniffing around in the grass.