Four young horses stepped off a trailer last week onto a lush pasture at their new home, Saving Gracie Equine Healing Foundation.
Tux, Panda, Boone and Lil’Rain, 2-year-old mustangs, were the stars of the evening’s co*cktail hour before the Queen Bees dinner with Gracie’s Farm.
The horses had been rescued from Bureau of Land Management horse corrals by Clare Staples, founder of Skydog Ranch & Sanctuary, based in Bend, Oregon.
With 9,000 acres, the goal of Staples’ mission is to provide a “safe haven” for rescued mustangs and burros rounded up off BLM lands, creating a similarly wild environment for them to live and be reunited with other herd members. They have rescued over 300 wild horses since 2016, Staples said.
But this isn’t always the best fit for every rescued mustang.
“We really try and look at our rescue as looking at each horse individually and finding out what their needs are and then trying to meet them,” said Staples. “And for most of our horses, that means being as far away from people.”
But Tux, Panda, Boone and Lil’Rain — colts born in captivity after their mothers were rounded up pregnant off herd management areas — grew up less wild. They had learned to enjoy humans, the feel of a scratch and the pleasure of a hand-fed treat.
“These horses don’t need to be taking up sanctuary placement,” Staples said, gesturing to the four horses, heads over the pasture gates to greet visiting humans. “They really need to be in a place where people are going to love on them all day and pet on them, and be taken care of.”
So she began searching for the right home for them, drawn to do something in Utah.
“I think it’s really meaningful for me to do a collaboration with a rescue in Utah just because of how many (Utah mustangs) we have at Skydog that are some of our favorite horses,” she said.
When thinking of a horse sanctuary in Utah to partner with, Barbara Phillips with Saving Gracie’s came to mind.
The two women had met not too long ago, becoming fast friends with their shared philosophy and heart for the plight of wild horses in America.
Phillips had visited the Skydog ranch, and invited Staples out to her Wanship property for a tour.
Staples said she was impressed.
“The amount that they have invested in this rescue — they have a vet here full time and a vet intern — and the equipment they have. Everyone is always like, ‘You’re the gold standard rescue,’ and I’m like, ‘Oh no, there is a platinum standard,'” she said. “I’ve been to rescues all over America, and I have never seen anything like the setup they have.”
But no one knew about Saving Gracie’s, tucked in the hills of the Wasatch Back, Staples said. Skydog has over 1 million followers on their social media platforms, and Saving Gracie’s has nowhere near that exposure. So Staples said she was eager to spread the word, and knew Tux, Panda, Boone and Lil’Rain were the perfect horses to do that.
She drove the four colts to their new home, and last week Phillips got their adoption papers. The co*cktail hour was the first opportunity for the animals to meet adoring Utah patrons, and their first time meeting mini ponies.
For Staples and Phillips, the horses’ role as mustang ambassadors is to shine a light on the value of these often-mistreated and overlooked animals.
“I would love for people to kind of understand how incredibly versatile these horses are,” Staples said. “They’re the most hardy horses, they’re the most surefooted, hardly ever a vet bill. They are really an example of survival of the fittest. These horses have lived in the wild, and it really has been the strongest and toughest that have gotten through brutal winters in certain states and come out the other side.”
And they’re not all like the brown, short-legged mustang stereotype, she said. The four ambassadors have a variety of coats — brown-and-white and black-and-white paint, a copper-toned and a dusty-tan.
“In Utah, you have some of the most amazing herds of wild horses,” Staples said. She said she was excited for more people to fall in love with these animals, and adopt them from a poor life at BLM corrals.
To follow the young mustangs, and learn more about Saving Gracie’s, follow them on Instagram @savinggraciefoundation. To learn more about Skydog Ranch & Sanctuary, visit their website skydogranch.org.
