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Hello and welcome to our GoFundMe Campaign for Peaceful Horse!
Four years ago I stepped up to help an abandoned horse. That decision led me to a handful of other horses in a similar boat. I became involved at the heart level, having no horse care experience whatsoever. Our interesting backstory follows. We hope that you will be stirred and motivated to be a contributor for our Project to get true liftoff. This is a Village Project and it needs a village to become viable: We are on the path of helping people and horses find a healthier, more fun way to relate, and for human self-discovery that is especially needed now, during the Covid pandemic. If you can help us, then we can help countless people and horses, as well as the planet, over generations to come. We are in need of big support to get to our next location, pay current bills as the project takes form, and root down in that new place to begin serving the public.
Peaceful Horse so far, has been a task of the heart of myself, Erika, shown above with Artemis, one of the rescued horses ready to educate the people in a new way.
Our Journey:
There was foreshadowing on my solo drive from Washington state to South Dakota, as a volunteer at the Black Hills of South Dakota Unity Concert Series, August/Sept 2016 (I volunteered again in 2017).
My trusty little Pontiac Vibe (which I still use for all my "truck" tasks) carried me solo 20 hours to the weekend event. One midday, I attended a random workshop on connecting with horses. The presenter helped us to tune in and learn from the group of seven equines brought there from a sanctuary nearby. One of them, named Zen, connected with me in the briefest of moments. She stepped closer, pressed her forehead into my belly and slowly but with clear purpose, drew her head up to my neck and released her contact with me. That was it. So brief. Yet it was burned into my very being, tears rolling down my face. Whatever she gave me or asked of me, it was set forever. She set something in motion...and still to this day, my eyes well up remembering her gesture.
At that time in Washington state, I had moved to the foothills of Mt. Baker, into a small house with a small field next door that had two horses living there. That winter was particularly rough, I spent 5 days snowbound with no electricity or heat. I could make do, but when I looked out at the horses, they were sentinels standing in abandonment, waiting. As winter was ending, curiosity getting the better of me, I began to make my way over to visit them. One of them in particular was clearly despondent. On occasion, hay would suddenly appear and there were footprints in the snow, but nothing more. The months leading up to and through the winter, there was no one there attending them. No interactions, no field cleanup, no care, no fresh water. One could effortlessly describe the pasture and open barn as a junkyard, a garbage dump with huge rusty machine parts, rusty fencing and actual farm trash. The pasture had more manure than grass for grazing. I discovered later that the barn inside was packed with more of the same where they walked in to take cover from the elements.
Before 2016, the last time that I interacted with a horse, was over 20 years earlier in a handful of riding lessons in a round pen. Basically, I knew nothing about horsemanship. So at this first step to meet and greet, the despondent mare, Maggie, was a new universe to me. With her head at the ground nearly 100% of the time, I had to get down low at the fence and meet her there. Her hooves were extremely long and one was split. Over the following three months, our connection slowly grew and we began to trust each other bit by bit.
I found out that Maggie and her pasture mate, Tiffany, were in that field for 8 years together. Their owner and the neighbor had a falling out over care and money and the horses fell through the cracks. No one was budging. But there I was, offering real physical help to the horses. The owner wouldn't collaborate with my offer of free horse care if she would simply supply the hay. She was too busy and her minivan wasn't big enough for hauling hay... Eventually, it culminated with my adopting Maggie formally on June 24th, 2017. That evening in the barn, I shared the news with Maggie. I was shaken to the core by my heart decision, deeply nervous at the thought of the new, huge responsibility. At one point, out of my mouth came the words:
"This decision needed to be made in order for the next chapter to open."
As if in response to it, immediately the single barn light went out for about three seconds then came back on. It had never done that before or since in my presence. I took it to mean that indeed yes, this was the correct choice, and a new chapter was now open. Support and education would come. It was a call for me to act, even though I knew absolutely nothing about horse care, nutrition, or any of the equine basics of safe interaction for both of us back then. I didn't even know the difference between a halter and a harness, or how to put one on a horse! I had no truck, no trailer, and certainly not enough money to support her vet bills. It wasn't a logical decision from any practical angle. However, I was making a basic difference in her life, and she was making a big difference in mine, which I needed very much to be of service to another being who was willing to receive. And so, only my gut instinct and heart led me, hoping that I would be an improvement for her quality of life. I clung to the lightbulb message that this was actually the correct choice, and a new chapter had formally opened. Trusting that the support I needed to help her would come. Maggie and I went into collaboration, education and friendship. It took 3 years of research online, to find the kind of horse trainers (all on line as none are in my area) who would match my vision of how to care for her.
Some months after adopting Maggie, her pasture mate Tiffany was taken away without warning by her owner. Maggie was left alone. Maggie went into deep trauma and panic for the two weeks following, and so I found myself searching for a new pasture mate to calm her down.
Enter Artemis. A horse of the Greek Gods, without question. A draft horse needing a home. Artemis was adopted and came to live with us June 22nd, 2018. She presented her own trauma responses as an ex-dressage horse. I became her student in the ways of soothing and assuring her, giving her the new opportunity to learn that people can be kind and protective. In the nearly 3 years we've been working together, she (and I) have come a very long way together. We've bonded in a way that has no adequate description.
In August 2019, the three of us moved to a temporary location, where there just happened to be three more abandoned horses: a 12-week-old colt named Duncan, his mother Gracie, and another mare, Luna. Literally starving, long hooved, and the mares in constant pain. Gracie and Luna were neglected for at least 2 years while being bred in spite of all that. Gracie was bred for a filly to sell while having deep wounds on her legs. She gave birth to a colt rather than a filly, so the neglect continued. After six months of back-and-forth with their owner, he reluctantly gave the three horses to me. This allowed me to immediately make legal decisions in their care. Unfortunately however, all the horses had been made to stand daily for months and this made Maggie and Gracie too weak to travel to our next home. Four equine professionals all independently said the same thing: they won't make the trip. So, my equine education then included having to make the decision for Gracie and Maggie to be put to rest. That happened on the only day the vet could come: Valentine's Day 2020, as the pandemic was ramping up. That decision and circumstance will be with me for the rest of my life. I have learned a great deal about horses in my initial commitment to Maggie and now Artemis, Luna, and Duncan carry on with me. During that winter, I had started this GoFundMe campaign to help support their feeding and vet care. When the pandemic truly took hold of the world, the campaign fell by the wayside for months.
The week after putting Maggie and Gracie down, I moved the horses to a quiet home farm, while I relocated separately from them for the first time, nine miles away. Over the pandemic, I was given the reprieve of healing my exhaustion from working full-time as a massage therapist (my job ended in March), while caring for the horses daily, morning and night. Continuing with Artemis, Luna and Duncan was soul-therapy for me while sheltering in place. Late last summer, we were called to save another young life in eastern Washington from the meat truck. His name is Zen. He's been cared for by a wonderful foster mom in Oregon since then. His amazing story will be told at another time. Zen will be coming to live with us to be companion to Duncan, giving us a much-needed balanced herd of two males and two females for our Project.
Last summer, I registered Peaceful Horse LLC in the state of Washington as a legal business. The commitment and personal investment is relentless and there is a clear vision now for our next chapter to open. I am no longer working as a massage therapist, having retired after 30 years with the help of the pandemic. It's time to focus on supporting a new approach to the equine industry, and people's relationships overall to the world we live in.
The Peaceful Horse Project is an educational community center, inspired by these horses and countless others still in need.
We'll be helping people learn how they can nurture their horses in such a way that costs less overall, and improves their quality of relationship and care. They'll be able to participate in workshops, classes and lectures on a range of related topics led by professionals in their field, including: native pasture management with a demonstration pasture to experience, holistic horse husbandry, and holistic personal development including meditation and sitting vigils with the influence of the horses' presence. We'll offer storytelling gatherings and inspirational speakers on healthy approaches to living closer in relationship with the seasons, and personal life seasons; and much more, as we get our Project established. The world is in need of what we'll be offering. Meditation with the horses and a mini-course on equine body language has already had the opportunity to start.
What we need right now:
We are in earnest looking for our foundation, the land and barn and house for Peaceful Horse LLC. The best location that I can find is in Sequim, Washington where pasture is still available. We need financial support to cover costs of feed and vet care, acquiring the land, to set up the facilities, and to support us all along the move. We can then begin preparations to welcome the community for their education and inner development. Sequim is perfect for horses as it is the driest and sunniest place in the region, while being accessible from the peninsula, greater Seattle area, and Vancouver Island, BC, Canada. Making this an international community center, which is part of the vision.
We are on Patreon.com/peacefulhorse, which will hopefully grow to become a larger community for the ongoing support and success of Peaceful Horse. The visionary focus is entirely on being Community-centered. We welcome funds from GoFundMe and Patreon in order to allow all people who are moved to make a difference, participating in our Project as they can afford. I will be reaching out with a public talk about our Project in the months to come wherever possible (as limited by the pandemic). At this time, we are in great need of the funds to offer on the purchase of land while supporting our daily maintenance for the horses and myself to keep this moving forward.
If you have a group who would be interested in a talk and to participate in a Q&A, to hear more about our start, and the amazing stories that got us here to today, please reach out to me and we can organize that as a fundraiser. Our move must be made this summer and we have a long way to go to finding the property and moving there, then beginning putting roots down into the community!
Thank you for your support! We can do this together!
Warmly,
Erika, Artemis, Luna, Duncan, and Zen
Organizer
