The Big Purple Barn, A Sanctuary

The Big Purple Barn, A Sanctuary Providing a lifetime of comfort and care to our sanctuary animals and connecting our community.

The Big purple Barn, located at Hidden Haven Farm, is a non profit organization that seeks to promote the horse human bond through innovative education and outreach programs we offer to the community that utilize our resident equines. We provide a permanent home and care to 15 special needs equines from our work with local rescues. We provide volunteer opportunities, horse care education, riding l

essons, day camps and various programs throught the year. Our volunteer staff is highly trained, our resident horses are personable and eager to interact with people and our programs are are geared towards teaching people about the joys and responsibilities of horses.

Suzie is enjoying the last days of summer ☀️ before we push into the fall and holiday months!
09/03/2025

Suzie is enjoying the last days of summer ☀️ before we push into the fall and holiday months!

When neither of you are sure about Wednesday🤔 Bodi and Edward still say Happy Hump 🐫 Day!
09/03/2025

When neither of you are sure about Wednesday🤔 Bodi and Edward still say Happy Hump 🐫 Day!

Jewel has has had quite the glow up over the years! We still cant believe she was discarded in a slaughter auction 😱. We...
09/03/2025

Jewel has has had quite the glow up over the years! We still cant believe she was discarded in a slaughter auction 😱. We've found her to be the most perfect girl and we will never give up on her 🥰.

We say it all of the time: friendship is critical to the health and wellbeing of horses! They need time to BE horses. To...
09/03/2025

We say it all of the time: friendship is critical to the health and wellbeing of horses! They need time to BE horses. To engage with, and act in species appropriate ways. Jewel and Summer are best friends 🧡 You often find them side by side, every day!

Almost nothing beats a beautiful, quiet morning on the farm ❤️. Maggie agrees!
09/03/2025

Almost nothing beats a beautiful, quiet morning on the farm ❤️. Maggie agrees!

Good morning farm family!Yesterday we pulled Honor out for some updates photos. Now, he is not the best at standing stil...
09/03/2025

Good morning farm family!

Yesterday we pulled Honor out for some updates photos. Now, he is not the best at standing still for photos, and he gets easily distracted, lol, but you can still see the difference!

His ribs are we covered almost completely now, his sharp points have softened and rounded, his back has come up and he's gained weight and muscle in his neck. His color has changed! Having better quality food and being out of the direct sunlight constantly has helped his coat darken up to this richer chocolate hue and the beautiful blonde and silver he has un his mane is coming through! He can thank his grandma Summer for the lovely silvering in his mane.

He still has extreme anxiety over feed time and thinking he will be left out of food and treats. It is something we will be working on in the coming months as he continues to learn food will not be withheld. He has made great progress on standing for grooming and general care, and now it is time to add more halter skills that will make him safer to handle and allow him to participate in more activities!

We cannot wait to continue to watch his journey unfold here with us! You can support him and all of the animals here by sponsoring, donating, interacting with posts, sharing and attending our events.

Thank you for being a part of our farm family!

Yours in love ❤️ and light ✨️,
Tara

Good morning farm family, Some say, if it ain't broke, then don't fix it. Suzie and Bruce have a different motto: you sh...
09/02/2025

Good morning farm family,

Some say, if it ain't broke, then don't fix it. Suzie and Bruce have a different motto: you should see if you can break it, and if you can, do it, because then someone else has to fix it!

Labor Day on the farm always entails some kind of labor and these clowns are always adding to the list. I think we've repaired, renailed and replaced around 10 boards in the past week alone. That's NOT including the causalities of Honor, because he's been pretty good at not breaking fences lately. The goats also decided to break a portion of their fence that had to be replaced. They will not be outdone by those horses!

If anyone would like to donate lumber, or gift cards to place like Home Depot, Lowe's, Ace or 84 Lumber, we can use those donations! When we have to pay to repair and replace critical infrastructure, it can impact the feed and care budgets. But farm life doesn't stop for broken fences or budget shortfalls. Somehow we figure it out and keep everyone safe, happy and fed. We do it in part thanks to our amazing community of care!

Here's hoping for a week of no more broken fences!

Yours in love ❤️ and light ✨️,
Tara

In an effort to continue to support Abby's progress and healing, she is dining al fresco in this beautiful fall like wea...
09/01/2025

In an effort to continue to support Abby's progress and healing, she is dining al fresco in this beautiful fall like weather! Being outside is critical to her wellbeing and we are supporting it in every way possible 💕. Updates coming soon! #

Shouting out HAPPY BIRTHDAY 🎂 to our one and only farm manager of many talents, Steven! Suzie is certainly thankful forn...
09/01/2025

Shouting out HAPPY BIRTHDAY 🎂 to our one and only farm manager of many talents, Steven! Suzie is certainly thankful fornall the shenanigans you put up with and all of the broken stuff you fix!

Somebody is getting funky chunky 🙌We are so so happy with the progress Honor is making! Thank you for being a part of hi...
09/01/2025

Somebody is getting funky chunky 🙌We are so so happy with the progress Honor is making! Thank you for being a part of his journey ❤️

Good morning farm family!Happy Labor Day from Maggie and the herd! While we celebrate the last official day of summer, w...
09/01/2025

Good morning farm family!

Happy Labor Day from Maggie and the herd! While we celebrate the last official day of summer, we hope you have enjoyed your long weekend and spent time with family and friends. The meteorological end of summer isn't quite here yet, so we will hold on a little longer!

The world, and even right here at home, in our own country, is an increasingly scary place for so many. As we move into the fall and holiday season, rest assured that we will continue to work to be a welcoming place and a beacon of light for our community. While planning out events seems almost disrespectful and delusional in this current climate, we know an escape to something more pure can be a lifeline to many. We will strive to foster a place to connect to whimsy and hope thorough our various events and programs.

As our community consistently comes together to support us, we will continue to be here for our community. Our organization was founded as a community organization, and one that strives to be an integral part of the fabric of lives of the people who we share our home with. We continue to work to be a resource not just for animals, but for humans as well.

Let's continue to come together ❤️ and share love, laughter and light with one another.

Yours in love ❤️ and light ✨️,
Tara

Good morning farm family!It's not often that we have histories on the horses in sanctuary, but the Statesman Morgans ar...
08/30/2025

Good morning farm family!

It's not often that we have histories on the horses in sanctuary, but the Statesman Morgans are different. Lynne Shpak was a dear friend, mentor and supporter of our work, so we are honored to provide forever homes for several of her horses.

Today I thought I'd post something light hearted and fun. The first photo is Summer as an adorable foal. The second is her grandson, Honor, as a foal. You can see Summer is taller and Honor has a shorter, more compact body. He definitely got a his grandma's coloring though but with that added splash of a white on his face 😍.

It's amazing for us to be able to keep a family together. When we first started out in 1991, we had a family group of Morgans. Today, we carry on that tradition! We hope you follow along as Honor finds his way in the herd and programs!

Yours in love ❤️ and light ✨️,
Tara

Address

Bowie, MD

Telephone

+12406876995

Website

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Our Story

The Big Purple Barn was originally called Hidden Haven Farm, and established as a sanctuary for special needs horses and ponies. Since 2001, we have cared for over 25 resident horses, ponies and minis, until their call home to the rainbow bridge. In that time, we provided countless outreach experiences to our community and began community based programs to allow youth and adults a way to learn about and interact with our residents on a personal level in a supportive environment

The concept for The Big Purple Barn emerged in 2010 as a place for people and horses to connect and have the opportunity to learn and grow together. We are pleased to announce our non profit application acceptance in 2013. Prior to this, The Big Purple Barn was part of Hidden Haven Farm, established in 1991 and finding a permanent home in Bowie, MD in 2001. The farm worked closely with local rescue organizations providing a permanent home for special needs horses and ponies and minis as well as providing opportunity and access to the animals and basic riding and horse care programs to the community.

As our relationship in the community deepened, The Big Purple Barn was born out of the needs of our community to provide more focused opportunity to discover horses and provide opportunities for special needs populations as well as community service learning opportunities for local schools. Since 2010, we have expanded our programs to include volunteer opportunities, school and event outreach as well as interactive and educational opportunities for special needs members of our communities. In 2013, we received our 501C3 designation. In 2015 we began accepting new animals into the sanctuary and now we proudly provide a home to pot bellied pigs, sheep and goats! Our programs focus not only on animal care and appreciation, but on land conservation and stewardship and urban agriculture.