05/14/2026
RIP our beautiful Penny 🌸✨🐴🌈
On Sunday, Mother’s Day, we laid our beloved Penny to rest in the most gentle and loving way one can leave this earth. It’s been difficult to find the right words to capture how much she meant to all of us, and this short post certainly won’t do her huge spirit justice… but maybe we can try.
At almost 32 years old (90-100 in human years) Penny had been on hospice care for some time now, being cared for and spoiled around the clock, and the time finally came to give her the gift of freedom from her aching body.
One final act of love.
Six years ago, we intercepted Penny from being unnecessarily euthanized and committed ourselves to giving her the safest, happiest, most free and autonomous golden years possible. What followed was one of the greatest honors of our lives.
Penny was the matriarch of the sanctuary. Her opinions were always known — good and bad — and her larger-than-life spirit touched the hearts of everyone who met her, and even many who never did. She taught us endlessly: about resilience, trust, boundaries, softness, joy, and the deep intelligence animals carry within them. She made us laugh every single day.
It feels impossible to put into words how much she meant to our team, our volunteers, and the countless people who followed her story over the years. There will never be another Penny.
In her absence, we are especially focused on caring for her best friend in the world, Charlie, who is grieving deeply alongside all of us. The bond they shared was extraordinary, and the quiet she leaves behind feels enormous.
I could write an entire book about the magical experiences we’ve had alongside Penny, and the lessons she taught me personally. She changed the trajectory of this sanctuary in ways I don’t even think we fully understand yet. She was one of our very first rescues, and now our first equine loss — a heartbreak that cuts deeply through every corner of Rewild Refuge.
But what a gift it was to know her.
What a gift it was to love her.
And what a gift it was to be loved by her in return.
Run free, Penny girl. We will carry you with us forever. 🌈
