>> Sponsor Willow – An American MustangBorn in 2014 after a BLM Roundup, Willow was held at Ridgecrest Corrals until (we believe) she was either part of the TIP program or at least some competition involving prize money for training a wild horse in 100 days. This is what we have been told and we cannot verify it at the moment. Willow has been passed around a lot, been to trainer after trainer and ended up at the SPCA in Monterey. But here’s the problem: we believe that at some point Willow has had some rough treatment likely using a Natural Horsemanship method – a method that when overdone can cause over de-sensenitisation and fear.
Although kind and gentle Willow has some emotional/trauma issues when it comes to humans. When she first came to us, we were told the handlers could not pick up her feet, could not be haltered, and it had taken three people to halter her for the vet to sedate her, one person to hold her halter, one person to feed cookies, and the vet to give her the shot. Unfortunatly, the handlers gave up and called it a day. Please bear in mind that we have not had any major difficulties with Willow. Yes, she was scared and would tremble, and she is uncomfortable picking her back feet up but we are working with her in a quiet, calm way. always asking for her consent) not literally of course.
After just over a month with us, Willow is now meeting us at the gate and popping her head into the halter, she no longer trembles, and is allowing us to lift her front feet. Willow is a very pretty horse with soft eyes and the longest eyelashes. She has fitted into our herd nicely, and it would be wonderful if we could get sponsors to cover the cost of her training and daily care.
You can watch Willows Journey Via Our You Tube Channel – One Rescue At A Time.
What a sweetheart Jamaal is. Jamaal was part of a round-up of Alpine Wild Horses by the Arizona Forest Service and sold at an online auction in December 2024. Given our commitment to advocating for our nation’s wild horses we made the decision to help just one of them. And it’s a good job we did as he could have ended up being neglected along with other horses at another “horse rescue”. When Jamaal arrived at around 7 months he was scared, untrusting and unwilling to interact with us. Our volunteers worked with him, giving him attention when we felt he was ready. We ere soon able to halter him and he has progressed in leaps and bounds since then. He now, leads, hops into a trailer, allows us to pick his feet, loves to play with Sunset and is absolutely stunning to look at. He is very smart and picks things up very quickly both literally and figurifty.
Ruby was rounded up by the US Forest Service and taken from the only family she had ever known . When she came to us she was pregnant and gave birth to a healthy baby, April Moon. April has since been adopted. Ruby found it difficult to adjust to domestic life initially but will a lot of care, compassion and kindness she is now somewhat of a love bug who can’t get close enough to our volunteers. She can be haltered, lead, groomed, tied and we are working on her accepting a bareback pad. We have also been working on trust by playing games in the round-pen. She picks her feet up for the farrier, loves to be groomed and especially likes to roll in the dirt. Unfortunately she has developed a skin condition/allergy. The condition makes her very itchy and she scratches so much she takes the skin off her chest and belly. We are working with our vet on allergy testing and hope to have an answer soon.
ZiZi was part of a animal control seizure and had some deep emotional scaring. We were told that they found ZiZi with a ladder stuck on her head, likely left leaning up against a tree. Needless to say, ZiZi took a long time to recover but is now considered part of our rescue family. She can now be ridden, goes on the trails, and although she is somewhat healed she is still susceptible to anxiety when her head area is touched abruptly. ZiZi is such a sweetheart. She is the horse that first time volunteers work with. She is wonderful with children, is patient and kind and is a great addition to our Horses Helping Humans Program.