08/12/2026
And now, a very important update on the emergency intake from last week.
This isn’t the introduction we had hoped to give you.
When Renegade arrived, we hoped we would have time to introduce him properly—to let you watch him settle in, learn who he was, and someday see him healthy and whole.
But his wounds were too great, and too difficult to share. We never wanted the hardest images of his life to become the way you remembered him.
Because Renegade was so much more than his wounds.
So although you won’t get to meet him the way we had hoped, we want you to know him for what he truly was.
Renegade’s trail ended with us today,but his story began long before he ever walked through our gates.
We’ll never know all the people who loved him,all the miles he traveled,or whose face once lit up when they saw him coming.
But I would bet my last dollar that somewhere, sometime,Renegade was somebody’s favorite horse.
We’ll never know the hands that once held his reins, the stories written beneath his saddle,who taught him what he knew, or who once called his name and watched those ears turn toward them.
But somebody loved this horse.
You could see it in him.
He was talented. He was gentle. He was willing and eager. He was incredibly sweet.
Even after everything his body had endured, there was still a light in his eyes and a willingness in his heart.
He wanted to live.
And maybe that is what made today so terribly hard.
I thought that because we had only known him a short while, letting him go might hurt a little less.
I was wrong.
This world lost a great horse today.
And as much as I wanted to reach out to all of you and rally to stop his fall, there are some battles that money cannot win, some wounds that love cannot mend, and some endings we simply cannot rewrite.
His illness was aggressive.His wounds were great.And there was simply no way to outrun this fate.
So instead, we gave him one last week.
A week of dignity.A week of soft hands and kind voices.A week of good food, sweet treats, and people who asked nothing of him.
No more work. No more expectations. No more being asked to endure.
And when the time came, we stood beside him.
Then we called the vet to help our old cowboy home.
Run now, Renegade. Run faster than you’ve ever known. Past every fence and every gate, where aching bones no longer wait. May your legs be strong, may the grass grow high, and may you finally know peace on that big farm in the sky.
How I wish we could rewrite the last year of his life.
We can’t.
But we had the honor of writing the ending.
And his ending was gentle.
He left this world surrounded by people who cared about him, with his dignity restored and compassionate hands beside him.
Sometimes rescue means fighting with everything you have to save a life.
And sometimes love means having the courage to stop fighting when the fight is only asking an animal to suffer longer.
Today, loving Renegade meant letting him go.
His wounds may have been how he came to us, but they will never be how we remember him.
To everyone who supports this sanctuary, thank you. You make choices like this possible. You allow us to say yes when an animal needs somewhere safe to land—even when we know our only job may be to give them comfort, dignity, and a peaceful goodbye.
We may never know who Renegade belonged to before he came to us.
But I know this much:
He was somebody’s favorite horse once. And before he left this world, he became one of ours.
And now, we’re asking you to help us keep going.
Please, if you can find it in your heart, follow the links below and consider making a donation to Briscot Farm and Sanctuary.
Renegade’s story did not end the way any of us wanted it to. We couldn’t save him. But because this community made it possible for us to open our gates, we could make sure that when his time came, he was safe, loved, comfortable, and surrounded by kindness.
And Renegade will not be the last animal who needs somewhere to go.
There are more horses standing at the beginning of stories we haven’t even heard yet. More animals who need someone to say yes. More lives that can be saved. More endings that can be changed.
There are still so many stories left to write.
So please, donate or sponsor if you can. Share his story if you can’t. Help us keep our gates open for the next Renegade who needs a soft place to land.
Let his last chapter help us write a better first chapter for another.
Ride on, sweet boy.
Run free, Renegade. You’ve earned your open range. 🤎🐴
In memory of Renegade, and for every animal still waiting for someone to say yes.
An eternal thank you to Northwest Equine and their team for being such loving devoted deliverers of peace to our herd and Day Break Equine for delivering him back to the earth.
An extra special thank you to Angel Tracy Burns for taking time to sit with him, love him, bring him treats and make his last days here the best they could had been.
https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/donate-to-change-lives-17676
