Rapidan Equine Sanctuary

06/17/2026

Remember to tag your friends and family to like/follow RES & enter to win a gift basket including some RES swag and $50 coffee gift card! We are over 850 followers and pushing to 1,000!

Hey friends, we are approaching a milestone in the social media world! We’re under 200 followers away from hitting 1,000 followers and we need your help to reach this goal!

We are working to grow our social media following not only so folks can appreciate our funny herd in action - but more importantly so that we can share the mission, vision and values of Rapidan Equine Sanctuary far and wide. We believe wholeheartedly in the work that we do, and want as many people as possible to learn more about our herd, equines in general, or resources for their own equine stewardship.

So, here’s where the help of our existing friends and followers is needed! From now until when we hit 1,000 followers on Facebook, we are offering everyone who recruits more folks to follow RES a chance to win a great gift basket with an RES shirt, a custom-etched mug, and a $50 coffee gift card! Here’s how to enter:
- tag friends and family on this post (on IG & FB) and let them know to follow RES
- every person you tag, *who then follows RES* is one entry
- when we hit 1,000 followers, we’ll randomly choose a winner from all the entries

Any questions? Just ask! We are grateful for your help in sharing about our mission to provide sanctuary to neglected equines while embracing the bond they share with humans.

06/16/2026

It’s Tracker Tuesday!

Well… it appears Beans has been sharing his secrets with Frank. 😅

After weeks of Beans perfecting the art of removing his tracker, Frank has apparently decided to join the rebellion and is now tossing his tracker off too. Because of that, our data collection has been a little limited lately!

Thankfully, Emme stepped up to the challenge. She was voted by all of you to wear the tracker, and she has been an absolute lady about keeping it on.

Emme has had her tracker since Sunday, so we only have one full day of data so far, but here’s how our trackers compared:

🐴 Emme (4-acre field): 2.62 miles
🐴 Frank (0.48-acre paddock): 1.53 miles

It’s pretty impressive to see that even with over eight times the space, Emme only traveled about a mile more than Frank did in his much smaller paddock. It just goes to show that horses don’t necessarily use every inch of available space unless they have a reason to!

What do you think Emme’s mileage will look like over the next week? Drop your guesses below!

06/15/2026

When you’re the only eligible bachelor in the neighborhood…

Our lone full-size gelding Pops was simply minding his own business, when suddenly Mireya, Fiona and Tesha became VERY interested.

“Where are you going? What’s over there? Wait for us!”

The staring, the following, the complete lack of subtlety. These girls were locked on.

Sorry, ladies I think you’re a bit intimidating for Pops.

06/14/2026

Hey friends, we are approaching a milestone in the social media world! We’re under 200 followers away from hitting 1,000 followers and we need your help to reach this goal!

We are working to grow our social media following not only so folks can appreciate our funny herd in action - but more importantly so that we can share the mission, vision and values of Rapidan Equine Sanctuary far and wide. We believe wholeheartedly in the work that we do, and want as many people as possible to learn more about our herd, equines in general, or resources for their own equine stewardship.

So, here’s where the help of our existing friends and followers is needed! From now until when we hit 1,000 followers on Facebook, we are offering everyone who recruits more folks to follow RES a chance to win a great gift basket with an RES shirt, a custom-etched mug, and a $50 coffee gift card! Here’s how to enter:
- tag friends and family on this post (on IG & FB) and let them know to follow RES
- every person you tag, *who then follows RES* is one entry
- when we hit 1,000 followers, we’ll randomly choose a winner from all the entries

Any questions? Just ask! We are grateful for your help in sharing about our mission to provide sanctuary to neglected equines while embracing the bond they share with humans.

06/12/2026

Well, despite our best efforts, Beans has officially decided that his exercise routine is classified information. 🤣

We’ve tried different tracker locations and various ways to keep it attached, but Beans insists on maintaining his privacy and doesn’t want everyone knowing just how much (or little) exercise he’s getting each day.

Since our little mystery man won’t cooperate, we’re thinking about putting the tracker on one of our full-sized herd members and comparing their daily mileage to Frank’s.

Now we need your help deciding which group gets the tracker next!

The Golden Girls: Emme, Babe, Lizbeth, and Princesse. These ladies might be up there in age but don’t let that fool you, we have seen them all running through the fields with the eldest one leading the way!

The “Grumpy” Crew: Happy, Joy, and Pops. This group isn’t really grumpy but they definitely can pretend to act like it. Happy with her iconic side eye, Joy with her one-eyed head turn.

The Thoroughbreds: Fiona, Tesha and Mireya. These former racehorses once logged miles on the track… but how much distance are they covering in their pasture days?

Cast your vote in the comments! Which herd are you most curious about? We can’t wait to see who wins and just how many miles they rack up each day!

06/09/2026

We are proud to announce that we have been accepted into The Homes for Horses Coalition .

This is an incredible milestone for our organization, and we are honored to join a network of equine welfare organizations dedicated to providing safe, lifelong care and advocating for the well-being of horses across the country.

We are excited that the Homes for Horses Coalition believes in our mission as strongly as we do, and we feel that this partnership is a wonderful fit. As we continue working to provide sanctuary to our herd, this opportunity will help us connect, learn, and grow alongside other organizations committed to making a difference.

Thank you to our supporters, volunteers, donors, and community members who have helped make this achievement possible. We couldn't do this without you!

Here's to the next chapter in creating a brighter future for equines in need.

06/09/2026

06/07/2026

Beans is getting his tracker all charged up and hopefully will have it placed today so we can start monitoring him again.

In the meantime, here is a little clip of Frank and Beans showing off the track system and how it encourages movement around the paddock. Beans has had some weight loss along with Frank and they are both looking amazing and healthy which is the most important part!

06/05/2026

It’s $5 Friday! As we enter the summer months, we look forward to keeping the herd cool, calm and fly-free 😎

With a herd of 12, we go through a LOT of bug spray. If you have the means to contribute $5 for us today, that helps contribute to us keeping the herd protected from pests. We also use fly masks and boots as well as preventative measures like fly predator. Here’s some photos of our herd looking like super heroes in their gear!

06/02/2026

Tracker Tuesday!

Beans is still making it very clear that he is not a fan of wearing his tracker, so we’re continuing to work on finding a solution 😂

Meanwhile, Frank has been happily collecting data for us! Since our last update, his daily mileage has been:

Day 7– 2.66 miles
Day 8 – 2.07 miles
Day 9 – 2.42 miles
Day 10 – 2.25 miles
Day 11 – 2.88 miles
Day 12 – 2.30 miles

At first glance, those numbers may not seem like much. But keep in mind that Frank lives in a half-acre paddock with a track system, so every mile is made up of lots of laps, grazing, exploring, and keeping an eye on what everyone else is doing!

So now we’re curious…

Based on what we’ve seen so far, how many miles do you think Frank will average over the course of a month?

Drop your guesses in the comments! Winner gets bragging rights.