04/19/2025
UPDATED Last night every horse persons worst fear happened on Middle Ground.
Several of our structures, building materials and horse trailer were set on fire.
I have strived to share as much as possible publicly with our donors, supporters and followers about my work here with the feral herds, the journey of taming and building Middle Ground on raw mountain land and some of the adversities and hardships we have faced while bringing this old mountaintop and forgotten horses back to life.
The reality is, there is alot I have not been able to share in regards to the very real dangers I have faced in the process.
It's a risk I've always known. However, I have always felt it was a risk worth standing strong for, to further ALIs work and mission. It has never been a risk taken lightly and it has been a risk I have paid for dearly countless times.
In between the beautiful posts of healing horses and healing land, there have been shoot outs, robberies, harassment, I have dealt with countless drunk men coming to the cabin in the middle of the night, threats of my own life, as well as others I hold dearly, relentless trespassing, vandalism, fireworks shot AT the horses who came here to heal and that I have build a home for. I have stood in the way of bulldozers on multiple occasions and looked into the eyes of people aiming to kill and had to stand my ground to protect our facility, my home and most importantly the horses I have promised to keep safe.
This has been extremely taxing and not something I ever really felt I would share publicly, even now I find myself holding back from expressing the extent of the "behind the scenes battles" endured to create a place like Middle Ground. Even posting this could very likely escalate things, but with every option carefully analyzed, there is no other choice.
It is too time sensitive.
After this past weeks events (much more than last nights fires), I am now in a position where I have to bring these things to light.
It's incredibly important to understand we operate in one of the most rural sectors of Central Appalachia. Counties here have extremely high needs and very low resources to keep citizens safe. Being ontop of a mountain doesn't help much either.
By and large the people and communities we share have been full of some of the greatest, most hard working men and women you could ever meet, but in a place like this; the ones who are bad are as bad as it gets.
The reality is, Middle Ground is no longer safe, for now anyways. It really hasn't been for a while, but with recent escalations, impossible decisions have had to be made. Whether we leave for now and fight this battle from a safe distance and return later or walk away from the entire property, losing our enormous investment here entirely, is still being weighed.
But either way, we need to leave.
At the end of the day I had to come to terms with whether or not continuing here was worth my life or my sons, the life of staff members, visitors and the animals who have no choice but to count on me to make the best decisions possible for them.
And the answer is no. I have entirely too much work to do with my years left to have it come to and end in a battle that really isn't my battle at all.
Nor is it a fair fight.
Not like this.
I wasn't much older than my son when my own father died and that is not a phone call I ever want my son to have to experience.
Not if I can help it.
Our current plan is to get one of our other properties completely locked down, secure labor (always local hires I might add), build basic infrastructure and road work to make the property accessible to be able to get the horses and myself moved to safety as quickly as possible. This also means going back to the "out door living" lifestyle as it will take quite some time to get the roads worked on enough to be able to move the cabin.
This literally means starting from absolute scratch, walking into raw wilderness all over again. However, it is a safe property (or as safe as one can be on a mountain in Eastern Kentucky).
We need to raise IMMEDIATE funds to be able to make this happen.
In order to fully secure the property access, rent all the proper machines and build enough to house our critical care bunch, we will have to raise a minimum of $25,000.
This couldn’t have come at a worse time for us as it has been an extraordinarily difficult year for nonprofits nation wide, but especially for the little guys like us.
So I come to you, those who have watched Appalachian Legacy's and my own journey unfold over the years, with an impossible ask once more to help me continue to help the Wildlings. I would not be posting this if it were not an urgent, dire need.
I will be posting a link to a Go-Fund me as well as our regular giving options below. Every donation is 100% tax deductible and every cent will help us in this seemingly impossible time of need.
Or if you have an equipment company and would like to donate your time and skill to come help us get things done even faster, we need you!
I can not thank each and every one of our donors, supporters, followers and fans enough for your continued support through both good times and treacherous 🩷
Gofundme link: https://gofund.me/762e99ff
Give directly through our website or become a reoccurring donor, further helping us with the longs months to come at AppalachianLegacyInc.Org
PayPal:
[email protected]
Venmo:
Mailing address:
PO Box 1 Lovely Ky 41231
Direct link to donation platforms: https://linktr.ee/FeralErin
Please help share 🙏
*any comments that are not helpful will be deleted. An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind after all.*
UPDATE
My apologies for the delay in getting the Links updated and posted. We have had 2 more incidents (not fire this time) since this was posted. I know folks want more details on all that is happening, given the sensitivity of this matter, I can not share any more that what is posted.
There will be a time and place but that is not here and now.
Just know, there is action being taken.
No horses or animals have been harmed in the fires.
The go fund me is now live and I've added a direct link to PayPal and venmo for those asking.
Thank you ALL for the absolutely overwhelming support to our tiny but mighty rescue. It truly means the world is is a true light in trying times 🩷
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