A Bend horse rescue nonprofit lost its entire board of directors in a mass resignation last week, triggered by differences of opinion between the board and the organization’s founders.

Equine Outreach cares for abandoned and neglected horses on a ranch east of Bend and is owned by the group’s founder, Joan Steelhammer, and her husband, Gary Everett. The nonprofit makes a $2,200 monthly lease payment for use of the property, which Steelhammer said does not net her and her husband a profit.

Interviews with Steelhammer and Everett and two of the six former board members on Friday provided differing accounts of the dispute.

Everett said he and Steelhammer had wanted to step back from the day-to-day management of the horse rescue for some time. Last summer, Everett and Steelhammer stepped down from the board, while then-board President Woody Dow recruited three new board members to join the three remaining.

Steve Jeffrey was appointed to the board in July, and prior to Monday’s resignations, served as treasurer for Equine Outreach. As a board member, Everett had functioned as the organization’s treasurer for the prior 11 years.

Jeffrey said the organization was plagued with sloppy accounting processes, and that Steelhammer and Everett were resistant to surrendering control to the board. He said he has no reason to believe the founders were misusing Equine Outreach funds, but the organization’s bookkeeping practices made it impossible to be sure where all of the money was going.

Part-time workers were frequently paid in cash out of Everett’s pocket, Jeffrey said, and Everett would write a check from Equine Outreach to himself to cover the expense.

Everett acknowledged the organization was in need of a formal payroll system, but said all of these transactions, as well as all cash and in-kind donations received, were recorded on Equine Outreach’s books.

“We’ve put hundreds of thousands of our money into this, so if there’s any commingling, it’s only our money going in, no money going out,” Steelhammer said.

Jeffery said in his two months as treasurer, he was not given full access to the organization’s books and checking accounts.

Everett and Steelhammer dispute this in part, pointing to a plan to transfer treasurer responsibilities from Everett to Jeffrey by the end of the year that is laid out in the board’s minutes. However, Jeffrey said in his reading of the organizational bylaws, that transfer should have taken place as soon as he was selected as treasurer.

“They’ve gone 13 years that way, so what’s a couple more months in their mind?” Jeffrey said.

Everett and Steelhammer said Jeffrey and John Ostrander, both of whom joined the board in July, antagonized longtime volunteers who were necessary to horse rescue operations, and attempted to micromanage the ranch. Steelhammer said Ostrander’s conduct around the horses was a danger to himself and the animals.

“They have no idea what it takes to run a horse rescue, they’re narcissists at best,” Everett said.

Ostrander was traveling Friday and could not be reached for comment.

Everett said as tensions between him and his wife and the new board members continued, he decided that their ownership of the ranch and much of the equipment there could be used as leverage to force them out. The organization has been on a month-to-month lease since the first of the year, he said, and he felt if he threatened to end the lease, he’d be able to push the board to change direction.

Everett said he thought the move would force out the board members he viewed as most problematic, but instead, the entire board resigned.

Steelhammer said she believes the stress of the disagreement between her and her husband and the new board members spurred the more tenured board members to step down.

Former board President Dow said the new board members brought a different approach to running the organization, but the change was necessary. He said as it became evident Steelhammer and Everett were not willing to go in the same direction as the board, he and the other board members decided it was easiest to just step aside.

Dow said the board hoped to shore up the organization’s bookkeeping and management structure in order to pursue grants that would stabilize Equine Outreach’s finances while allowing it to offer new programs.

Dow said Jeffrey and Ostrander brought a business-oriented perspective to the board that Equine Outreach needed.

“I didn’t feel they were out of line, both of them have served on boards before,” Dow said. “I’m a horse trainer, I have no experience being on a board in my whole life, so when these people came on board, I welcomed it.”

Dow said Jeffrey and Ostrander convinced their fellow board members that the organization needed a paid manager, he said, even if it meant they’d need to boost their fundraising to afford it. Steelhammer and Everett, Dow said, were resistant.

Steelhammer and Everett said they were initially excited to have board members with a business background, but the personal conflicts eventually overshadowed their shared desire to improve the management of Equine Outreach.

Dow said he plans to continue working with Equine Outreach as a horse trainer, but does not have any interest in returning to the board.

“I trust them,” Dow said. “I don’t think they would ever do anything that would harm the mission or the organization, I just don’t agree with their style.”

Jeffrey said his involvement with Equine Outreach is finished.

“I don’t want anything to do with them, I think they’re just trouble ready to explode,” he said.

Steelhammer said two new board members have been recruited, and she’s hopeful a new board can be fully staffed soon.

Reporter: 541-383-0387,

shammers@bendbulletin.com