Success Stories!

Hope, previously Brownie, is a sweet mare who had some experience leading, tieing, and standing for the farrier. After some training with our rescue, we were sure she had so much potential, which she is living up to! Hope was adopted by another 501c3 charity where she works as a Special Olympics horse! Her new owners are so pleased, and we love to see her success!

Dixie was an owner surrender who came to us extremely underweight. Due to her advanced age (30+) and significant nourishment needs, we determined that Dixie needed to stay here at the rescue. She has gained weight exceptionally well and will live the rest of her golden years as our first Sanctuary horse!

Beltane (Bel) is the son of Sandy, one of the American Saddlebred mares we took in from a large owner surrender. He was hesitant to be caught and aloof for quite a while here, but his adopter fell in love anyways! Once weaned and adopted he was sent to training where he learned to accept both a halter and affection. When he is old enough, Bel will be trained as a trail horse and go on all sorts of adventures with his adopter!

Kora is a beautiful redhead American Saddlebred registered who came in with our large owner surrender. She took some time to catch, but once we got her in the round pen only took a few days to halter and learn to lead! Kora is 5 gaited (a genetic Saddlebred trait) which her adopter loves! Kora will be assessed under saddle at her new home, and hopefully will be a show pony one day soon!

Kommander (Kam) is the son of Cheyenne, one of the American Saddlebred mares we took in from a large owner surrender. He is so curious about life and eager to learn, which got the attention of his adopter right away! He will continue to explore the world around him in Minnesota, where he will be joining a small herd of equines owned by a Saddlebred lover! We are so excited to see how Kam does as he continues to learn! Kam developed a rare type of pneumonia shortly after being adopted and his new owners spent over $10k and countless hours to help him recover. He has since made a full recovery and is loving life as a young healthy horse.  

Cinder and Smoke were two mustangs that had been running loose in the county, their owner unable to contain them. Animal control reached out to us for assistance and we started working on a plan to catch these 2. Several long days of trial and error and getting so close but not quite there, we were finally able to get them into a catch pen. Unfortunately, after a training evaluation it was determined that Cinder would not be a candidate for domesticating as he was much too aggressive with people. And while Smoke was calmer, she has a swayed back that left little chance of her ever being more than a pasture pet. This didn’t leave us with a lot of options. So we started networking! And in the process we reached out to Engler Canyon Ranch Mustang Sanctuary. This sanctuary exists solely for mustangs that are unable to be domesticated and let’s them live a re wilded hands free life on thousands of acres. They graciously agreed to take in both mustangs! 

In order to get them there though, they needed to have a coggins test and Smoke needed a negative pregnancy test. We knew this would be no small feat. It took 6 of us several hours to get the necessary blood draws. Despite many challenges our amazing vet persevered and got it done, with the help of a lot of rope, a dart gun, some pannels and a whole lot of sweat, curse words and sheer will.  Then our team made the long drive to Colorado to the Engler Canyon Ranch Sanctuary. It was breathtaking and watching those 2 take their first steps back to a re wilded life was absolutely worth it!! They are living out their lives EXACTLY the way they were meant to before they were rounded up. 

Sandy came to us from a large owner surrender case. She was thin and had a foal on her and was untouched. We weaned her foal, got her to a healthy weight, vaccinated, dental done and got her haltered and leading. Then we had the great opportunity to send her to Heart of Phoenix (HoP) to participate in the 2024 Appalachian Trainer Face Off (ATFO). She had to have a name change as they already have a Sandy, so her new name is Sonora. She was selected by a spectacular trainer to participate in their 100 day ATFO challenge. Sonora excelled with her trainer and did great at the show and was adopted at the end!

Sonora's registered name with the ASHBA is Cork N Bubbles.

Blue Jeans is an AQHA mare who is a gorgeous perlino. She is also a sweet mare. Blue Jeans has muscle atrophy in her top line, and so was available as a companion only adoption. Luckily, she found the most amazing home and is thriving there!

Cheyenne is a 13 yr old registered American Saddlebred. Cheyenne's registered name with ASHBA is Golden Sands! She came in with a large owner surrender case where we partnered with several other rescues. She came to us thin and a with a foal on her side. Cheyenne is very sweet and likes to get scratches from her people. She was placed with a foster/trainer at Kevy Go Riding in Ohio. Kevy did an excellent job working with Cheyenne to build her confidence and skills! Cheyenne's hard work and trusting nature caught the attention of the perfect adopter, a family experienced with the Saddlebred breed who wanted a steady mare for their young daughter to learn to ride on!

Ash is a gorgeous mare who is around 14yrs old and is about 14.2hh. Ash came to us from Animal Control after being abandoned by her owner. She is a sweet mare and has a great personality. She was staying at a foster home to be a gelding's friend and riding buddy, and the family fell in love with her and decided to adopt! We are so happy Ash is in a great home where she can keep working on her skills and live the good life!