The Equine Sanctuary

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The Equine Sanctuary is a 501(c3) where once forgotten and unwanted Racehorses are transformed into powerful healers, providing educational tools, therapeutic experiences, and solace to US veterans, children, and those in need of healing.

This little baby skunk found his way to The Equine Sanctuary today… and somehow, I am not surprised.Over the years, so m...
04/06/2026

This little baby skunk found his way to The Equine Sanctuary today… and somehow, I am not surprised.

Over the years, so many wild souls have passed through here, foxes, owls, bobcats, deer, bears, bunnies, raccoons, mountain lions, birds, dogs, feral cats and their kittens… and now, apparently, baby skunks too. Not sure where the rest of the family is hiding...

We don’t always know how they find us.

But somehow, they do.

Maybe animals feel things we forget how to feel.
Maybe they know when a place is safe before we do.
Maybe the land itself carries an ancient message of refuge:

You can rest here.
You will not be harmed here.
Someone will notice if you need help....

At The Equine Sanctuary, yes...we rescue horses.

But the truth is, our promise has always been bigger than that.
If a life is hungry, scared, injured, lost, abandoned, or simply looking for a softer place to land… we do our best to always help.
Birds. Wildlife. Feral cats. Kittens. Bunnies, Dogs. Horses. Minis, etc.

Honestly we help whoever God sends that day.

Because The Equine Sanctuary is not just a place for horses.

It is an energy.
A promise.
And a way of being.

And somehow, the animals know this truth in their spirits

Today we pause to remember those who never came home...The men, the women, the military dogs, and horses who gave everyt...
25/05/2026

Today we pause to remember those who never came home...

The men, the women, the military dogs, and horses who gave everything in service to our freedom.

It is a sacred debt we can never repay.

May we stop long enough to remember: freedom has always been expensive.

And somebody else paid the bill

This is one of those quiet Sanctuary moments that says so much.A young volunteer, sitting in the hayroom, helping with o...
24/05/2026

This is one of those quiet Sanctuary moments that says so much.

A young volunteer, sitting in the hayroom, helping with one of the everyday jobs that keeps the horses cared for. It may not look glamorous, but this is what sanctuary is built on.

Hay bags filled.
Stalls cleaned.
Water buckets scrubbed.
Arenas are dragged.
Feed prepared.
Animals checked.
Fences fixed.
Aisles swept.
Hoses rolled & repaired
Again and again and again.

It happens early in the morning and late at night. In the heat, the cold, the rain, the snow, and all the mud in between...and on holidays, birthdays and anniversaries. No days off as the animals need this routine 24/7 - 365 days of the year. Ranch life.

It takes a village to care for these horses, this barn, this land, and all the animals who call The Equine Sanctuary home. And we are so grateful for every person who shows up to help carry that work with us.

What touched me most about this photo is her shirt.
Jesus Loves You.
And there she is, doing exactly what love does.
Not just saying it.
Living it.

Love looks like hay bags being filled in a stall.
Love looks like showing up regardless of the weather.
Love looks like helping care for animals who depend on us.

To our volunteers, stewards, donors, and friends… thank you. You are part of the reason these horses and animals are safe, fed, loved, and continue to be held in grace.

Sanctuary really is built one small act of love at a time.

At The Equine Sanctuary, our hearts may have first been called by ex-racehorses… but healing has never belonged to horse...
21/05/2026

At The Equine Sanctuary, our hearts may have first been called by ex-racehorses… but healing has never belonged to horses alone.

Healing has whiskers.
Healing has soft noses and tiny hooves.
Healing has wagging tails, feathered wings, curious eyes, and sometimes...

As you can see here, a very serious therapy kitty holding court with his devoted fan club, reminding us that the language of healing is not always spoken in words.

Many families bring their children here to experience the quiet magic of connection. Some of our seniors can no longer walk out across the pastures to visit the big horses, so we bring the sanctuary to them through our miniature horses, barn cats, therapy kittens, dogs, chickens, ducks, and every beloved creature who seems to know exactly who needs comfort that day.

Because sometimes the medicine isn’t a designated program.

Sometimes it’s a purr.
A nuzzle.
A warm little body leaning in.
A moment of being seen, softened, and loved without needing to explain a thing.

Love In Motion : Behind every healing story at The Equine Sanctuary, there are people who quietly choose to show up.Befo...
06/05/2026

Love In Motion : Behind every healing story at The Equine Sanctuary, there are people who quietly choose to show up.

Before the transformation can be seen in a horse’s eyes…
before a frightened spirit begins to soften…
before a wounded body can rest…
before a rescued horse can become a source of comfort and healing for others…

There are volunteers.

They are the daily heart of this sanctuary.

They are the hands that carry water, lift hay, clean stalls, mend fences, rake, sweep, organize, lead, listen, learn, and serve. They are the ones who give their time, their strength, their kindness, and their willingness, often without fanfar so this sacred work can continue.

This post is especially in honor of our youth leadership and community service volunteers, who remind us that compassion is not something we wait to grow into. It is something we practice.

It is something we choose.
It is something we become.

When young people step onto this land with open hearts and willing hands, they are not just “doing volunteer hours.”
They are learning stewardship.
They are learning responsibility.
They are learning that healing requires consistency, humility, and love in action.

And the horses feel it.

They may not understand resumes, school requirements, or community service credits... but they understand presence.
They understand patience.
They understand kindness that returns again and again.

As the saying goes, “Volunteers are love in motion.”

At The Equine Sanctuary, that love is in every full water bucket, every clean space, every repaired fence, every gentle touch, and every quiet moment when a horse realizes: I am safe here.

To every volunteer who helps carry this mission forward...thank you. You are not just helping us care for horses.

You are helping us create a place where brokenness is met with mercy, where service becomes healing, and where compassion grows stronger with every willing heart.

Behind every “big project day” at The Equine Sanctuary, there are a few steady hearts who quietly make the impossible… p...
30/04/2026

Behind every “big project day” at The Equine Sanctuary,
there are a few steady hearts who quietly make the
impossible… possible.

Today, I want to honor the trio who made it all happen:
Chaplain Captain Rebecca Petit of Buckley Air Force ... thank you for your leadership, your care for your people, and the way you gather willing hearts and guide them into meaningful service. You didn’t just organize volunteers… you brought mission, morale, and momentum. You helped build something that will outlast the day.

And to Kevin and Ron, the rocks of The Equine Sanctuary...
thank you. You bring the equipment, the brains, and the kind of calm, capable leadership that turns a willing team into a coordinated force for good. You see the whole project before anyone picks up a tool. You anticipate what could go wrong, and you make it go right. You carry the weight so others can serve safely and effectively.

Together, the three of you created a day where service became sacred...where strong hands strengthened safe pastures, and where the work done on the land quietly protected the healing happening within it for horses and humans.

This is what partnership looks like when people with mission meet a mission.

With deep gratitude and respect,
Alexis & the Herd

This weekend, Buckley Air Force Space Volunteers came to The Equine Sanctuary again…and brought strength with heart. Not...
30/04/2026

This weekend, Buckley Air Force Space Volunteers came to The Equine Sanctuary again…and brought strength with heart. Not for recognition. Not for a photo. For real work that protects real lives. The kind of work that strengthens a place from the ground up.

They ran electric wiring. Dug trenches for conduit. Moved hay. Pulled and concreted posts. The unglamorous, gritty, essential tasks that most people never see… but that makes everything else possible. Because when the infrastructure is strong, the horses are safe. And when the horses are safe, healing can happen…quietly, steadily, deeply.

I want to pause and honor what that means.

Our rescued racehorses come to us after careers of relentless demand, and discarded when they’re no longer “useful.” Here, they are no longer measured by what they produced or what they won. They are valued as the sentient, intelligent beings they are. And as they heal, something extraordinary happens: they become therapy partners…horses who can recognize pain, mirror it, and hold space for it… and still choose presence, trust, and connection.

That’s why this partnership matters.

Because these volunteers didn’t just strengthen fence lines and systems… they strengthened a mission: providing sanctuary for both horses and humans.

Their service becomes safety.
Their strength becomes stability.
Their time becomes a lifeline for healing…especially for the children, adults, and fellow service members who come here carrying grief, trauma, and transition.

And two of the volunteers returned after our first project day…proof that something
about this place stayed with them. That kind of consistency is rare, and it speaks loudly:

This Sanctuary matters. These lives matter.

To every Buckley Air Force Space Volunteer who showed up with integrity, humility, and heart…thank you.

You reminded us what it looks like when service becomes sacred.

And yes… this is what partnership looks like when people with a mission meet another organization with a mission.

With deep gratitude,

The Equine Sanctuary

True Starlight ✨There are some souls who arrive not just to live…but to illuminate.Starlight was once a force of thunder...
26/03/2026

True Starlight ✨

There are some souls who arrive not just to live…
but to illuminate.

Starlight was once a force of thunder and breath...
a fierce competitor who gave everything she had to the track.
She ran with fire in her veins,
with courage stitched into every stride,
winning not only races… but respect.

Until one day,
the fire shifted.
Not extinguished…
but transformed.

Because Starlight was never meant to belong to the noise of the crowd forever.
She was meant for something quieter… deeper… eternal.
Now she walks different ground.

Sacred ground.

Where the measure of her worth is no longer speed...
but presence.
Not performance...
but connection.

At The Equine Sanctuary, she has found her herd…
a circle of mares who speak in the silent language of belonging.
And within that circle,
Starlight has become exactly what her name has always promised. Not just seen but deeply felt...

She is the one who notices.
The one who softens.
The one who steps forward when a broken heart enters the field.
There is a wisdom in her…
a knowing that cannot be taught, only carried.

A grace that moves through her like breath through wind.
She meets people where they are...
without judgment, without hesitation...
and somehow…
they leave changed.

Not because she tries…
but because she is.
This is her true victory.

Not the finish lines behind her…
but the lives she now helps others cross back into.

Today, we celebrate not just the day she came into this world…
but the quiet miracle of who she chose to become.

Starlight…
you are beauty incarnate, yes...
but far beyond what the eye can see.
You are heart.
You are healing.
You are grace in motion.

And we are endlessly, humbly grateful…
that your light now lives here with us.

Happy Birthday, beautiful girl.
You didn’t just win races…
you became the light that guides others home.

Today, we celebrate a different kind of victory...A quieter one. A deeper one. A special one...Happy Birthday, beautiful...
18/03/2026

Today, we celebrate a different kind of victory...

A quieter one. A deeper one. A special one...

Happy Birthday, beautiful Jewel!

Once, you thundered down the racetrack...muscle, fire, and spirit fused into motion… chasing finish lines the world could see as the crowds cheered your name...

But your greatest race… was never about speed or winning...

It was always about becoming.

Now, you stand in stillness… and somehow, that same fire burns even brighter.

Not in competition, but in compassion.
Not in pursuit but in presence.
Where once you crossed finish lines…

Today, you help others cross back over the invisible ones...
the lines of grief…
of lines of trauma…
of forgetting who they are.

You meet the brokenhearted without judgment.
You hold space where words fall short.
You shine light into places others are afraid to look.

And in your quiet way you remind them:
You are not lost.
You are not alone.
You can come back home to yourself.

Jewel… your life did not slow down.

It expanded here at The Equine Sanctuary.

And the fire that once carried you across the track…
now carries others back to their own hearts.

We honor you today...not just for the races you ran…
but for the souls you help restore.

Happy Birthday, sweet girl.

You are still crossing finish lines…
and these are the ones that truly matter.

In the eye of a horse, there is a holy kind of knowing.Not the knowing of words… but the knowing of the soul.They don’t ...
03/03/2026

In the eye of a horse, there is a holy kind of knowing.

Not the knowing of words… but the knowing of the soul.

They don’t just look at us … they actually see us.

They read the places we’ve learned to hide: the grief we tidy up, the fear we mask with strength, the heartbreak we carry so quietly we forget it’s still there.

And somehow… without judgment, without agenda… they hold it.

Horses are sentient beings, exquisitely tuned, deeply present, listening with their whole bodies.

They mirror what is true, not to expose us, but to invite us back to ourselves. To the breath we’ve been holding. To the softness we’ve been protecting. To the parts of us that are tired of “being fine.”

At The Equine Sanctuary, we witness this again and again:

A horse will stand with someone who can’t explain their pain and gently, faithfully, become the energetic container that says:

“You’re safe here.”
“You don’t have to perform.”
“You don’t have to carry it alone.”

Because healing doesn’t always begin with a breakthrough.
Sometimes it begins with a stillness.
A quiet moment beside a warm shoulder.
A shared breath.

A presence so steady it reminds your nervous system what peace feels like.

If you allow it… a horse will meet you in the depth.

And in that wordless communion, something hidden begins to soften.

Something locked begins to open.
Something heavy begins to lift.
Not because the horse “fixes” you.

But because the horse tells the truth your spirit has been waiting to remember:

You were never too broken for love.
You were never too much.
You are still worthy of coming home to yourself.

If you’ve ever felt a horse reach a place in you that no human could touch… you understand.

Tell us in the comments: What has a horse healed in you or revealed to you?

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