Sponsor a Horse
Do you love horses as much as we do? Have you always wanted one of your own but don’t have the time, space or ability to make such a life-long commitment? The once-forgotten, previously abandoned, no longer neglected horses that call the sanctuary home need YOU!
If you are interested in pursuing your horse care journey, read on to learn more about the horses at the ranch. If one of the horses happens to steal your heart, there are a couple ways to pursue your passion. You can visit to make a one-on-one connection with the animal of your choice. Or, you can admire your horse from afar.
The sponsorship amount is $100 a month. We invite individuals, families, church groups, clubs, and businesses to become sponsors. The difference you make in the lives of these animals is beyond measure, but we’ll try to quantify our on-going thanks!
Horses available for sponsorship
Twix
Twix was the ranch’s first resident, coming to live here just before Christmas 2020. Purchased from a local auction, she was likely headed south as part of a meat convoy, where she would have been butchered and shipped overseas for human consumption. But God had other plans for her. Here, she was restored to health, diagnosed with the horse version of diabetes and put on daily medication to manage her symptoms. On her best days, she loves the world and all in it. On her bad days, she likes to be left on her own by the other horses. No matter the day, she loves to eat. But more than anything, she’s a people persona and she loves attention (and apples and Coke).
Snickers
Snickers, as her name suggests, reminds us of the famous sweet treat. Her arrival on the ranch wasn’t the result of sugary celebration but a bitter pill. The second horse on the ranch, she’s a survivor. There is nothing about her that doesn’t emulate life and the pursuit for it. She should be dead. She was the last of her previous herd mates left standing. The others starved to death in her paddock. She would as well. She was extrapolated and rehomed at the ranch. Since then, she’s overcome her fear of (most) people, has put on hundreds of pounds, and she fell in love! She also enjoys working with the kids that visit the ranch, but she’s still not quite ready for rockin’ and rodeoing – but soon!
Angel
Angel is, by all accounts, the ranch beauty. Flaxen mane and flowing tail paired with a strawberry-orangish coat, she’s everything you might expect from a Tennessee Walker. Smooth, sliding through the fields with only a care in the world for her herd mates and a little grain. She’s one of of the most breath-taking creatures roaming the property. What she possesses in beauty she lacks in confidence. A former show pony, before her retirement on the ranch she traveled the local circuit but eventually ended up on a nearby derelict property without daily care, her only protection a ramshackle barn, and bog-filled water. Angel was purchased out of her near-abandonment. The third horse to join the herd, she reminds the ranch hands of Dory, the forgetful fish – some days she’s full of energy and grace and ready to work; other days it seems she’s forgotten who the humans are and she disappears into the herd. She’s as lovely as she looks, but prefers the company of others, especially Twix.
Faith
Faith is the fiercest horse of the herd, brought about by her insatiable desire to live and thrive in a place where she lives in peace and love after being abandoned to the fate of a meat market. She’s a papered bay quarter horse, which means at one point in her life someone spent a lot of money to train and raise her up, but she ended up at auction, probably the result of her going blind in her right eye. Faith is fast, full of heart, has risen to become a favorite of the herd, and is currently training to compete in barrel and other speed events. Known as the “one-eyed horse” to those who visit, she’s proof that no handicap can keep a winner down.
Grace
Grace, an elderly draft horse with a heart as big as her body, can from the same auction as Faith. Had she not been rescued from her fate, she likely would have ended up on a truck to Mexico meant for a plate in Europe. The Lord had other plans for her. In the time she’s been at the ranch, she’s gone from being completely terrified of any ropes near here to being a gentle, soft, albeit slow, ride. She’s earned the name “Grace-in-your-pocket” because of her truly gentle nature and her desire to be close to human companions. Despite her massive size, she is a gentle giant who has embraced her new life here and shows us that grace comes in all shapes and sizes.
Molly
Before coming to the ranch to live out her life, Molly spent the first 10 years of her life in a metal caged dog pen. Ten years living in such a small space that she couldn’t live freely, could run and move with the ability God granted her with, in a space no larger than for us what would be a closet. Imagine yourself living in your hall closet for a decade and imagine the sense of incredible freedom she must feel now as she runs with the herd across the acres of land available to her. And, while she is a bit stubborn at times, she’s soft-spirited, aims to please when you can catch her, and much-loved by the children who visit the ranch.
Honey
Of all the horses on the ranch, Honey is probably the only one without a horrific origin story. She was surrendered to the ranch by an east Tennessee family. Though she has arthritis in her front knees, she has been a wonderful partner for some of the smaller session children when they climb into the saddle for the first time. Honey is incredibly patient, loves baths on hot summer days, being groomed, and is well suited for people participating in ground work exercises and those of us beginning to learn to work with horses. While she’s only in her mid-twenties, Honey is currently in semi-retirement and as she ages, she’ll need regular medication to combat the effects of deteriorating joints.
Shadrach
If there’s ever an animal that shouldn’t be living, Shadrach is that horse. Purchased from a kill pen in Texas, there was nothing salvageable about him but his spirit. For all that he lacked physically (he lacked everything possible and to still be alive is a miracle in itself), he’s filled with a playful vigor and pride that kept his head high and likely saved his life. In our years of horsemanship, we’ve seen no worse physically conditioned animal at least 600 pounds underweight (for an animal that should have weighed more than 1,000 pounds) he was starved to near death. Making his situation more difficult, because of this treatment and condition, as a colt, he was near feral and wouldn’t let humans touch or interact with him. For nearly a year, he ate and was loved, put on weight, and, finally, allowed himself to be touched, then trained. Since the early days, he’s fully recovered, surpassing 1,200 pounds (full weight) and has become a leader of the herd (when Twix allows) and has become the resident ladies’ man.
Abednego (Bedna)
Blind Bedna. Beautiful and bold Bedna. While fully blind, the disability has not impacted her ability to live a full and rich life. She showed up on the meat truck along with Shad. Unlike Shad, her final destination was supposed to be a meat auction in Mississippi. We couldn’t let her go, so we bought her off the meat wagon. While introducing a blind horse to a herd of horses for obvious reasons, there is a tremendous amount that such animals can teach us about living peacefully together. Her other senses are enhanced because of her lack of sight, but it’s not like she doesn’t have eyes, she just borrows them from a herdmates. In her time on the ranch, she’s assimilated three other horses that serve as her eyes (Shad, Honey and Faith). These horses also work to protect her from danger and keep her from trouble. Because of her disability, she is not ostracized but is put aside and protected and an individual member of the herd for the betterment of the herd. Because they work together, they can all thrive. But she is no shrinking violet; she’s more than a pasture ornament. She is strong and smart, and kind in a I-am-no-victim sort of way, and she’s a wonderful session horse for the visiting children. There’s few horses on the ranch that stand better under saddle and encourage young riders to lead than Abednego. For her physical limitations, she’s full and unlimited in other ways, proof that God has individual plans for us when the world thinks of us as nothing more than meat.
Annabelle
While the ranch is home to several proven survivors, unlike the others, Annabelle really should be dead. It’s a miracle she survived her former owner. Surrendered to a local front-line rescue, she is a forever resident of the ranch. When found penned at a local hay farm, the sight of her physical condition was appalling, mouth dropping. Her physical condition was so horrific that the worst of it wasn’t her rear leg cut to the bone nor the 12-inch puncture hole into her chest, but the soccer ball-sized open and decaying wound on her abdomen is what caused the most concern. Dead, black flesh encircled an opening so dramatic that it’s a miracle her entrails didn’t lie tangled among her feet. For 10 days she suffered without pain medication or any sort of doctoring, her owner admitted to the deputy when she was surrendered. After extraction and emergency medical care, she spent several weeks in the hospital, receiving life-saving care. When it was clear her life was no longer in danger, she came to the ranch. Strong, stubborn, beautiful, and proud, Annabelle is a champion, fully loved and respected by her human caretakers, and has begun a new journey on the ranch – training to serve some of the program’s more advanced riders, and learning some of the necessary skills to potentially compete in area barrel and speed events – because if nothing else, Annabelle is fast, very fast!
Lainey
The softest most loveable animal on the ranch, Lainey was also once one of the weakest we’ve ever met. Cast aside in a pasture far too small for the six horses, she received no food while the others were well nourished. She wasn’t the land owner’s horse, so was kept from feed and hay the others were given. Lainey survived on nubs of grass between dry dirt oceans that were covered by feces and little else. Sickly, waiting for death, she was a friend from the moment we laid our eyes on her even though there wasn’t much to see. So thin and emaciated, a slight wind might have knocked her over, despite her physical condition, she seemed to smile a knowing and wise grin that seemed to say, “Even if you’re not here to take me from this place, I just wanted to say hello and try to make your life better by being in it for a moment.” She’s done just that, but her journey hasn’t been easy or without its share of struggle. Shortly after relocating to the ranch, she nearly died because of her poor health, and after making the decision to try to save her (rather than put her down), she spent a month in emergency care until she made it through the worst of her ailments. She’s fully recovered, through no shortage of prayers and miracles, but still is in the process of putting on weight. She’s in the final stretch as we’re working to put on the final 100 pounds or so from trying to recover the 500 she was short upon her arrival. A Tennessee Walker, she’s still too slight for a saddle, but her beauty, grace, and majestic run across the horizon is the encyclopedic definition of God’s greatest creature creation.
Donkey (aka Billy Bob)
Donkey was feral when he came to the ranch. He’d been beaten regularly with a piece of 2×4 lumber, just for his previous owner’s kicks. When he arrived, no one could get within 100 feet of him. If so, he’d bolt for any available exit and tear across the pasture in pursuit of freedom from potential torture. But he’s a wiley boy of first-class caring that was buried shallow beneath conditioned terror – created by a human hand. But his eyes give him away. They are soft and large and missing the tell-tale white rims that give away an animal in fear of his life. Despite his fear and quick step, after many months of constant attention, he began to let down his guard. Ferrier sessions that previously required sedation eventually required nothing but some calm reassurance. Now, he seeks human attention and, despite his wiry look, he’s actually quite soft and cuddly.
When you sponsor a member of the Home Safe herd, you’ll receive regular updates about their care and well-being, training, and their adventures as part of our session and camp programs. You’ll also receive a photo of the animal, our grateful thanks for your commitment and, if allowed, a mention on the ranch’s social media as a way to publicly express our gratitude for your support.
To sponsor your horse:
- Select the horse you would like to sponsor from the pictures above. Click on the “DONATE” button below and follow the instructions.
- Once you’ve put in the amount of the donation there is a place where you can write a note. Please note the name of the horse you wish to sponsor in this section.