11/18/2025
Today I went to the infamous New Holland sales stables, a large auction known for being the end of the line for many horses. While there are some really nice horses who will bring good money, and others who will be scooped up by private homes or lesson barns, many will end up with kill buyers to be shipped, or listed for double the price on kill pen rescue pages, and on and on. I was just here to pick up a corral gate, and told myself not to go inside because I knew it would haunt me, as it had many times before. But I wanted to make sure there were no mustangs, and luckily there weren’t. But there were so many other broken souls. The cast off Amish horses and their broken bodies, discarded. Injured horses, no one caring enough to treat their wounds. Horses with untreated Cushings, capped hocks, arthritis, swollen knees, sores, and lameness. So many underweight horses. And my heart broke, knowing my scratches and pocket of treats might be the only kindness shown to them for the rest of their lives.
It made me think of my herd at home, who had all started as just necktag numbers. It made me think of how tenuous life is for many horses, how one misfortune, one uncaring owner, one injury could land them here, reduced to a hip number and a price per pound. I see it happen to mustangs every day. Adopted by someone who got in over their heads and dumped them. Injured ones who would serve no purpose. Sensitive ones who didn’t become gentle within a human’s timeframe. Loved horses whose owners faced financial hardships and had little choice. And mustangs who were just money makers to unscrupulous folks who realized they could get them for cheap and sell for meat price for a tidy profit. Being colorful doesn’t save them. Having an education helps, but isn’t a guarantee. And that’s why we do what we do here. We guarantee that any mustang who comes through our gate will never have to know this pain, or this fate. While the hay bill is never ending, they will always be well fed, vetted, dewormed, hooves trimmed and teeth floated. They will learn at their speed, and be treated as sentient beings, not farm equipment. It’s a big promise to make, when to do it well, costs over $100k per horse easily over the course of its life. We couldn’t help the horses in our care or future ones without your continued support, especially that of our monthly donors and sponsors so we know how many we might be able to help.
We are currently assessing a situation for a vulnerable mustang, whose owner lost interest, and after being through three owners and still not gentled, is being threatened with auction. We would like to be able to bring him to the sanctuary before he ends up here, or purchased by a killbuyer who will slap a high bail price on him, while shipping him from auction to auction. No horse deserves that, let alone a mustang who was never meant to be part of this callous human world to begin with. If we can fundraise enough to get him and care for him while he learns the skills needed to find a home, we’d like to help. But as it stands, our hay fund for the horses already in our care is worrying going into winter after Dorado’s surgery expenses.
Standing there at that auction today I was overwhelmed with how little I alone could help. But there are so many of you with caring hearts on this page, and together we can help so many mustangs 💛 please help, if you feel led to do the good we can do in this world 🙏🏻
