Zenhorse® is a nonprofit organization creating healing experiences for horses and humans. We aim to heal as many horses as possible through these experiences, particularly America's mustangs born in the wild. But how do the mustangs find their way to the ranch and how do we establish our beautiful connection with them? Read on!
Mustangs in the wild live on public lands run by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Because wild horses are federally protected and lack natural predators, the BLM manages population growth. To accomplish this mission, the BLM regularly monitors herd size and health, land health, vegetation and water availability and, when necessary, removes excess animals from the range to achieve balance. The BLM then works to place excess wild horses into qualified private care through adoptions and sales.
This is where Zenhorse® comes in! We adopt our mustangs through two avenues. One way is to adopt directly from the BLM, typically in an auction in which we can choose horses based on age, gender, etc. After the auction, the BLM transfers the horses by truck from their originating state to a designated drop-off location. We take our horse trailer to the drop-off location and then bring our mustangs home to the ranch.
The second way mustangs come to the ranch is through Evanescent Mustang Rescue & Sanctuary which rescues and rehomes at-risk mustangs. Despite the best efforts of the BLM to place mustangs in safe situations, many mustangs still find themselves being sold at auction and ending up in kill pen situations. Evanescent and its supporters have worked diligently to rescue as many of these mustangs as possible. Our role with Evanescent was originally as fosters to help them heal and then find safe adoption situations, but quickly we shifted to just keeping them with us!
There is typically a settling-in period for the horse after they arrive; we give them the run of the indoor arena so they can be safely contained, yet also stretch their legs, run, jump, and play after their long journey. Of course we provide lots of fresh water and hay to help them settle in. During this time we don't ask much of anything from the horse, we just show up every day and let them see and smell us, and be as curious as they'd like to be about us. Each mustang is an individual; some are inquisitive and open toward humans, some initially lack trust and just want to be left alone. At Zenhorse®, we meet the individual horse where they're at.
Once the horse has had some time to settle in and is showing signs of interest toward us, like meeting us at the gate or hanging out with us as we do chores in the arena, we start with some simple training, rewarding the horse in whatever way feels most comfortable to him/her for letting us stand close to or touch them. Training proceeds from there with introduction of the halter and lead rope, leading, stopping, turning, and all the other things horses need to do living in a "human" world of barns, gates, veterinarians, etc.
As time and training proceeds, it's time to introduce the new mustang to others in the herd at Zenhorse®, after all they will be a family herd soon. Typically new mustangs are introduced to the larger herd one individual at a time to ensure safe and uneventful integration.
Mustangs at Zenhorse® live a great life, but it's not all grazing in the sunshine for these horses! The herd has a rather particular and unique job partnering with humans to share that healing magic. In order to do this, they must be safe and predictable around humans (think of how they weave between chairs at a meditation circle), they must be fair and calm within their herd (everyone must be allowed to eat their fair share of yummy hay), and finally, each horse must want to do this work (if they don’t, we will absolutely respect that).
In all of our adoptions and foster/adoptions, we have had mustangs with many different personalities and levels of trauma. Despite all of that, we have had only one who after evaluating the situation using all of the above criteria was not a good fit for our herd. It's never an easy decision; we get emotionally attached to each and every horse that comes through our gate! But the bottom line is that we always want the best placement for every mustang so they can live their happiest most free life. In this instance, we reached out to the BLM with feedback about this mustang’s needs and preferences, and placed her back in the care of the BLM with our recommendations for an adoption situation that would provide her best life.
Zenhorse® is dedicated to empowering both humans and horses through shared healing experiences. Each horse’s well-being and individual needs are deeply valued, and we are blessed to partner with these amazing beings. We are so grateful to be a part of their healing and for the beautiful healing they share with us.
Working together for mutual healing is magic!
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