Since 1997, Lifesavers Wild Horse Rescue, a program of nonprofit organization, Lifesavers, Inc., has provided refuge, training and adoption placement for hundreds of horses in need. Our Lancaster, California, ranch is home to our rehabilitation and rescue operation, where our dedicated staff work with our rescued horses to provide them training, socialization and handling necessary to find them adoptive homes.
For those horses who have difficulty adjusting to the human world, or who have suffered, our natural habitat sanctuary in Kern County, California provides a permanent home.
Lifesavers specializes in the rescue of American Mustangs. Today's wild free-roaming horses are the descendants of the horses reintroduced to the North American continent by early explorers, and their ancestors. They were war horses, Indian ponies, cavalry remounts and ranch horses. The modern wild horse embodies the best traits of their forbearers, as well as the gifts given to them by nature: courage, strength, stamina, and heart.
Lifesavers cares for over 200 rescued horses between our ranch and sanctuary facilities, and that number is ever-increasing. The sad reality is that there is no shortage of abused, abandoned, neglected and slaughter-bound horses in need of aid. Our mission is to help these horses not just by providing refuge and medical care, but by finding new lifetime homes for the horses, and fostering lifetime learning, understanding, and advocacy among horse lovers.
Sanctuary. Humanity. Adoption. Rescue. Education.
SANCTUARY
Our Born To Be Wild Horse Sanctuary sits on 160 acres of beautiful wilderness in Twin Oaks, Kern County, California, and is a permanent natural-habitat home for some of our rescued mustangs. The sanctuary allows many of our mustangs -- those who are un-adoptable or not well-suited to life in captivity -- to live out their lives in an environment that is as close as possible to freedom on the range. We plan to expand our Sanctuary to 3,000 acres.
You can support the Born To Be Wild Horse Sanctuary by sponsoring a horse, or making a contribution to Lifesavers for our land purchase and fencing fund.
HUMANITY
Horses Healing Humans > > All of us at Lifesavers can honesty say our lives have been touched, enriched and improved by horses. We have decided to offer this unique opportunity to the community through cutting-edge outreach programs. Equine Assisted Learning and Equine Assisted Therapy programs provide an experiential learning opportunity in a natural environment.
Leadership, Corporate Team Building, Self Empowerment and At Risk Youth as well as Mental Health Therapy programs are now available.
ADOPTION
Lifesavers is always looking for loving, permanent homes for our previously rescued horses. Adopters may choose from foals, young mares and geldings, and even trained saddle horses. Our staff work to prepare horses for adoption by first teaching them basic ground skills, such as haltering, leading, and trailer loading. We help prospective adopters find the horse that will be right for them, and provide education to ensure that the adopter will be successful with the horse.
In the event that an adopter becomes unable to continue caring for their adopted equine, the adopter agrees to return it to Lifesavers. In this way, we ensure that none of our rescued horses will need to be rescued a second time.
Though Lifesavers frequently takes in pregnant mares and sometimes has foals available for adoption, we are a non-breeding facility and work to educate horse owners about the consequences of unnecessary horse breeding and the resulting "unwanted" horse crisis.
RESCUE
Wild horses > > Mustangs come to Lifesavers from a variety of sources and for many different reasons. Some come from the various government agencies responsible for wild horse management, such as the Bureau of Land Management and the Nevada Department of Agriculture. In these cases the horses are wild and are at risk of being sent to a slaughter auction.
Other horses are surrendered by their owners, who adopt or purchase them and later realize they don't have the time, knowledge or resources to properly train or care for a horse.
Sometimes we are contacted by local animal control agencies and asked to take a horse that has been seized from an abuse or neglect situation.
Many of our rescued horses were purchased from public auctions to prevent them from going to the "killer buyers," who buy and sell unwanted horses for meat.
Big horses > > Lifesavers Big Horse Rescue is a program of Lifesavers, Inc., which is dedicated to saving plus-sized horses from circumstances where they suffer or are in danger of being slaughtered. Big Horse Rescue focuses on larger-than-average sized horses, especially draft breeds, which are farmed for urine in the Premarin (PMU) industry. These horses are used as part of the production of drugs made for menopausal women. Urine collected from pregnant mares is the primary ingredient in "Premarin," "Prempro" and associated brands, and the foals born in the industry are typically sold for slaughter.
EDUCATION
In the hopes of building a future in which no horse needs to be rescued, Lifesavers offers a number of educational programs and clinics designed to support the horse-owning public. Clinics offered include basic horse care, safe handling, working with obstacles, saddle-starting and overcoming fears, as well as workshops providing an introduction to the concepts and practices of natural horsemanship.
Lifesavers also offers Wild Horse Boot Camp, an exciting hands-on experience in which participants learn to safely and effectively gentle, handle and train a wild horse, under the supervision and guidance of experienced clinicians. The objective of these workshops is to ensure successful relationships between horses and humans, using kind techniques based on horse psychology rather than forceful tactics to influence the horse's behavior.
In addition to hands-on learning opportunities, Lifesavers occasionally offers free public events, such as equine health and safety fairs, natural horse care seminars, open house events and training demonstrations. For a schedule of clinics and events, please go here.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
Lifesavers operates solely on public donations. At this time our greatest need is cash donations, which we can direct toward veterinary and farrier care, purchase of feed and medications, and other day-to-day necessities. We also appreciate donations of materials such as fencing, feed, pipe corrals, and tack. Anything that a horse needs, we need.
Volunteers are a very valuable part of our operations at the Lancaster ranch, and help us with everything from grooming horses and cleaning pens to public events and paperwork. Your participation would be most welcomed.
Please send your tax deductible donation to the address below, or call us for further information on volunteer and donation opportunities.
Thank you for your support.
The Bureau of Land Management is appointed by the Dept. Of Interior to manage the herds of wild horses on our public lands. They do this through the Wild Horse and Burro Adoption Program under the Wild Horse and Burro Act of 1971. Their job is to protect the wild herds and control their populations so they don't over breed and run out of forage and water. Each herd management area has a limit to the numbers of horses the area can sustain. When the horses grow beyond this limit, the excess horses are gathered by the BLM and offered to the general public for a nominal adoption fee.
The BLM retains ownership and title of these adopted horses until the adopters are approved to receive title from the BLM. This usually occurs one year after adoption. At this time the BLM relinquishes any rights to the once wild horse and transfers all right, title and interest to the new adoptive owner. The owner may sell or transfer their Mustangs as they please. This is when Lifesavers steps in.
Due to an undeserved poor public image, the Mustang horse is not in great demand. When offered for sale, it is often passed over leaving the owner with only the choice of either keeping the horse, or taking it to the livestock auction. At the livestock auction, the same problem exists. There are too many horses available, and the Mustang is the last one to get a good home. The slaughterhouse buyers end up with most of these horses.
Lifesavers attends these livestock auctions looking for ex-BLM Mustangs. Whenever possible Lifesavers will outbid the meat buyers and bring the otherwise doomed horse home to its ranch. From there the horse will receive whatever treatment and training it needs and will be adopted into a qualified, committed home that will love and care for the horse for the rest of its life.
This organization is also active in the rescue and adoption of Nevada's estray horses sometimes referred to as Comstock horses or Virgnia Range horses. These horses were once federally protected horses but wandered across border lines from federal land to private land in and around the Virgina Hills near Reno, Nevada. The state of Nevada has control over their management. At this time it is estimated that the Virginia Range is supporting nearly 1000 horses. The state feels that this number of horses is twice what it should be and wants to remove about 500 horses from the range. Lifesavers is working closely with local Virginia Range wild horse groups and the Dept. of Agriculture in the protection and adoption of these horses to ensure that none of them are captured and sent to sales yards where they could be bought for slaughter purposes. Since these horses don't have a federal law to protect them, extra care must be taken to make sure that they don't slip through the cracks.
Lifesavers Wild Horse Rescue offers adopter support and mentoring by holding "Wild Horse Boot Camp" workshops. These workshops feature wild horse clinicians who demonstrate and instruct wild horse adopters and other interested participants in safe and humane methods of gentling wild horses. It is a hands-on educational format that has proved to be a welcome resource for those who have adopted or will adopt wild horses. Through the efforts of the Boot Camp, the Adoption Program and their direct mail campaign, Lifesavers is actively helping to promote the image and welfare of the American Mustang.
Lifesavers was organized in July of 1997 and is in its fourth year of operation with a board of 5 officers and directors, many willing volunteers and a mailing list of thousands that spans across the United States.
Lifesavers operates solely on donations and contributions from the public. Funds are raised through direct mail, ranch events, and Internet exposure. Public support is growing rapidly as more and more people learn about Lifesavers' programs.
Lifesavers owns and operates on 46 acres in Lancaster, California and supports more than 130 equine residents. Lifesavers also owns a 160 acre parcel in Twin Oaks of Kern County, California. It is home to the Born To Be Wild Mustang Sanctuary. On that wilderness property a small group of rescued mustangs are allowed to live freely as nature intended.
Lifesavers takes the stand that America's wild horses have played an important role in American history. The American rangelands have been the home for wild herds since the Spanish Explorers re-introduced horses to this continent back in the 1500's. It was only in the 1800's that the wild horse numbers were estimated to be 2 million, now sadly, there are only about 25,000 wild horses and burros left. They deserve to remain there. They will do so if the public continues to fight for their freedom. This will only be achieved through education. Lifesavers aims to educate the public about wild horse issues.
Send donations to: Lifesavers, Inc., 23809 East Avenue J, Lancaster, California 93535
Phone for more information: 661-727-0049 or email lifesavers@wildhorserescue.org
© 1997 Lifesavers, Inc.