We showed up. You showed up. And they made it out.
Every single month we walk into that auction knowing it is going to be hard. We see things no one should have to see. We make decisions in seconds. And every single month, you show up for us, and for them.
September was extraordinary. In six days, this community stood between 44 wild horses and the kill buyer's trailer, and said: not on our watch. Two families stayed together. Mommas kept their babies. Bonded friends never had to say goodbye. Lonely souls finally had someone choose them.
This is their story. And yours.
We walked up to the processing chute at the Bowie Auction just as a tiny wild colt was being tagged in. He had gone through with one of his brothers instead of his mom, and because he came in with a boy, they labeled him an orphan.
He wasn't. His momma, Dixie, was answering his calls from the next pen. They could hear each other. They just couldn't reach each other. He spent the whole weekend calling for her.
On sale day, Dynamite went through the ring alone. His family, all eight of them, went through separately. Wild reservation mustangs don't attract buyers looking for a horse to ride. The kill buyer would have been the only one bidding.
You saved all eight of them.
Today Dynamite is home in our quarantine, right back at his momma's side, exactly where he belongs. As soon as the whole family is healthy, we will watch them take their first run in freedom together.
“No one wants a wild, skinny, beat-up firecracker mare. But we do.” That is what I wrote the morning Promise and her baby boy went through the sale.
There is nothing quite like watching a wild mare in a kill pen try to keep her foal close. The way she positions her body. The way she never takes her eyes off her baby. Promise knew exactly what was at stake.
Because of you, her baby gets to grow up with his mother's guidance, just like God intended. Wild and free. Healthy. Safe. Protected.
These five reservation mustang mares came into the Bowie auction with a huge group of more than 50 mares, all dumped off of a recipient farm. A recipient mare carries another mare's embryo until birth, for people who pay to have it done. Year after year after year, until she is too old, too worn out, or too wild from what humans have put her through.
They kept pulling my attention all day Friday and Saturday. Over and over, in a sea of horses, I would end up looking at them. When I finally took a closer look, I could sense the wild in them. I added all five to our list immediately.
They came in together, and they are staying together. No more carrying babies to line someone's pockets. No more scary experiences. Only the peace and freedom that was taken from them a long time ago.
A brand stuck out to me from across the auction grounds, on the most beautifully painted neck, like the red hills of the West.
Horizon once roamed wild, leading her family. Then a helicopter swept them into a frenzy, chased them for miles, and surrounded them with bars. She was separated from her family and her babies, loaded onto a trailer, and never saw them again. Someone eventually bought her. And then she was dumped at the Bowie auction, where kill buyers buy the wild ones to ship to slaughter.
Lucky for her, her brand caught my eye. The Nirvana community rallied, and she is home for good. Soon she will have a clean bill of health and run free again. Slowly, the wounds of the past will fade. That is what is on the horizon.
We lost two we were fighting for. We carry them with us, and they are a big part of why we will walk back into that auction in October.
But 44 made it, because people who had never met decided these horses were worth saving, and that the bonds of a family were worth fighting for.
All 44 are in quarantine now. Gaining weight. Getting the care they need. Learning what safe feels like. In the next two to six months, once they are cleared, we will open those gates and they will run free on sanctuary land for the very first time.
We will not miss that moment. Neither should you.
Every auction, I walk in asking God to show me what He needs me to see. This month, He showed me that purpose doesn't always look the way you expect it to. It doesn't always come wrapped in a miracle moment. Sometimes it comes in the form of a terrified horse who just needed one person to choose them.
And sometimes that one person is an entire community of thousands. That's you. And I don't take that lightly for a single second.
Thank you. From us. From every single horse in that quarantine pen right now. From every horse that gets to run free because you said yes.
— Kourtney
On Friday, October 2, we head back to Bowie. Every dollar raised before then is another wild horse we can say yes to.
Nirvana Mustang Sanctuary is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit · EIN 87-6699274
6,000 acres near Texarkana, Texas · Home to 600+ rescued wild horses