Red Feather Equine Sanctuary

11/09/2025

Join us at BunFest 2025! 🐇

10/09/2025

The stunning Johnny Cash 🖤

Oh my heart, friends. This week you’ve blown us away... from new folks joining our Patreon herd, to gifts for our fundraiser, to the mystery angel who bought our entire Chewy wishlist (!!). Your kindness keeps this sanctuary running and gives horses like Johnny Cash a forever home.

Cash is a total Maddox lookalike and one heckuva good-looking Thoroughbred. His family surrendered him due to health challenges, but they were determined to find him a true sanctuary, because whenever he was saddled, he became so distressed he’d literally get sick. They had purchased him out of the broker/auction cycle and we have made the promise that he will never go back.

Thanks to you, he’ll never be forced to carry that fear again. Just safety, peace, and love... forever.

If you want to help more horses like Johnny Cash find sanctuary... Please join us on Patreon or donate 💜 Every act of support truly changes lives.

I will post more in our stories today about what it actually costs to run a horse sanctuary, and why your donations are so important. Thank you for being here - you're part of our herd.

www.redfeatherfarmnc.org

06/09/2025

Most horses who end up unwanted aren’t "bad horses," they’re just misunderstood.

We believe education is one of the most powerful tools for change. Our volunteer workshops aren’t just about teaching people how to handle horses, they’re about teaching them how to truly understand them. When you can speak horse, you start to see their world through their eyes: their body language, their fears, their needs.

This knowledge doesn’t just make for safer handling, it can prevent trauma, keep horses out of the auction and slaughter pipeline, and build a future where fewer horses are written off or thrown away.

Every person who leaves here a little wiser helps create a ripple effect of kindness and understanding for horses everywhere. 🩷

Thank you for your guidance and horse leadership, and to Red Feather volunteers for your service and dedication!

03/09/2025

Do you believe in sanctuary? Part II

Don’t even get me started on the Alpine wild horses.

These poor souls have been through everything humans could possibly put them through. In 2022, their wild herd in Arizona was gunned down by a still-unknown person, with more than a dozen horses killed. The ones who survived were later rounded up and auctioned off in a system dripping with greed and politics.

And it doesn’t stop there. Groups that shouldn’t even call themselves rescues swoop in to exploit them for donations, only to dump them later… sending them right back into the same broker and slaughter pipeline they were supposedly “saved” from. This isn’t in the past. It’s happening right now. Some of these horses are always at risk, disappearing into that dark Neverland where horses go to never be seen or heard from again.

Red Feather is here to do something completely different. We are building a system that steps in before the crisis, that prevents suffering, and that promises forever safety.

But a true safety net doesn’t just appear, it has to be built and maintained every single day. Please don’t turn your back on these horses just because they are safe today. They deserve to stay that way.

For Sundance, Katsina, Chico, Roulette, Aveline, Otter... and all the wild hearts who are still waiting.

02/09/2025

Do you believe in sanctuary?

This is Cavallino. As he was helping us unload hay bales today, I realized I haven’t told his story in a while, and he’s such a powerful reminder of why we fight so hard to prove that every horse, no matter their age or ability, deserves a lifetime safety net and individualized care.

Almost two years ago, we came across a Craigslist post for a Thoroughbred gelding being sold at “meat price” - just $600. He was only 30 minutes away from one of the East Coast’s largest kill buyers, which meant his next stop could have been the slaughter pipeline, never to be seen again. We moved quickly to purchase him before a broker did (we ended up paying $500), and learned through his microchip that he was a registered 5-year-old Thoroughbred, bred for racing.

A quick search and some phone calls revealed he’d recently been sold by a lesson barn on a no-slaughter contract. They believed he was safe with a young rider and her family, but by age 5, he’d already been passed through four homes. That’s the reality for too many horses... the average horse will change hands at least seven times in their lifetime.

When Cav arrived, it was clear he would never be rideable. He’s pasture sound but shows signs of chronic pain that we manage with daily medication and supportive care. At just 7 years old, his body is already worn... an all-too-common fate for horses who are worked before their skeletal systems are fully developed.

But here, Cavallino is safe. He’s happy. He lives every day in peace alongside his best friend, Willow, another young OTTB with scars of her own.

We can’t offer sanctuary to every horse, but Cavallino is proof of why it matters so deeply. Our dream is not just to save individual horses, but to change the systems that put them at risk in the first place. Together, we can make the world kinder for them.

🙏 Please help fund sanctuary for Cav and our other ambassadors like him. Our expenses rise with every life we save: hay, grain, farrier visits, and vet care all add up. Your support keeps bellies full, hooves trimmed, and horses like Cav safe for life.

02/09/2025

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A SMALL PART

Every single interaction matters. Whether it’s a donation, a supportive comment, sharing one of our posts, becoming a monthly sponsor, or even just shifting how you see horses’ sentience and worth, you are helping build the kinder world for horses that we envision. 🩷

We especially love the creativity in how you show up for the Red Feather herd, both on and off social media. The Simpson family, for example, has made a tradition of collecting and donating pumpkins at the end of every fall. This year, they also ran a lemonade stand with all proceeds supporting our sanctuary horses!

Thank you for putting your kindness on full display. Together, you remind us that no act of love is ever “small.”

31/08/2025

It’s disappointing, though not surprising, that instead of engaging with the substance of my recent Paulick Report op-ed, Colby’s Crew Rescue chose to respond with name-calling and personal attacks. Ad hominem is the lowest form of communication. It’s a distraction from facts and data, and earnest readers should see it for what it is.

The irony is that their “rebuttal” claims they don’t disparage other rescues, yet it is written as an attempt to discredit and embarrass me personally rather than share meaningful data-based information that supports their position. The op-ed was not about CCR, but if the shoe fits, they’re welcome to wear it.

To be clear: I have never told anyone not to support them, and I don’t “hate” CCR. What I do object to, loudly and unapologetically, is the exploitative model of kill pen bailout schemes, which even kill buyer David O’Dwyer admitted was essentially a marketing tactic when he announced that a recent lot of 11 Thoroughbred yearlings with a posted "ship date" were never at risk of being killed.

The facts are not in dispute:

-Shipping manifests show the horses who go to slaughter are young, healthy, and overwhelmingly Standardbreds and Quarter Horses—not minis, donkeys, or drafts.
-Records from Canada confirm this.
-Slaughter exports from the U.S. to Canada are actually increasing.

These are documented facts, not opinions. If someone tells you not to question them, but only to “take our word for it,” ask yourself why.

Our position is simple: prevention should be prioritized over response. That means focusing on owner surrenders, breeding restrictions, aftercare programs, and long-term solutions that reduce the number of horses entering the pipeline in the first place. If you don’t agree with that, then you’re essentially saying you’d rather wait until a horse is in the hands of a kill buyer.

I know many individuals and organizations quietly support this stance but stay silent out of fear of retaliation. An organization bullying others into silence is unacceptable. Respectful debate should always be welcome in this space.

So let’s bring it back, once again, to facts and data - not rhetoric, or insults. Because the horses deserve better.

30/08/2025

My recent op-ed in the Paulick Report sparked a wide range of opinions. The greatest thing about a free country is the ability to speak and act from our own values. I celebrate that, even when others disagree with me.

What I don’t celebrate is when debate turns into name-calling or personal attacks. That’s not only unproductive, it’s hurtful. True progress in horse welfare requires respectful dialogue, even when the conversations challenge the status quo.

At the end of the day, I believe most of us step into horse rescue because we care deeply about helping horses. We would all be better off if we remembered to treat each other as such.

Still, I won’t shy away from the tough conversations. Real solutions are rarely the easiest or most emotionally convenient ones... but they are the only ones that can bring lasting change for America’s equines.

As the old saying goes: “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” That’s work worth doing.

Photos of Tonka and Lisa for tax. They were both rescued from rescues who rescued them from slaughter, in two separate neglect cases.

29/08/2025

Big news: Red Feather’s voice is in the Paulick Report today.

We’re calling out the truth: “slaughter dates” are marketing tactics, not rescue. Compassion should never be manipulated for profit.

Ethical rescue is about solving problems, not creating them.

Read + share the op-ed:

https://paulickreport.com/horse-care-category/when-rescue-isnt-rescue-the-problem-with-saving-horses-from-kill-penshttps://paulickreport.com/horse-care-category/when-rescue-isnt-rescue-the-problem-with-saving-horses-from-kill-pens

"We owe it to the animals to stop confusing marketing with rescue, and to put our resources toward solutions that last."