OUR HORSES
Healing mentally, emotionally, and physically
The horses shown below are members of the Project ComeBack rescue herd. Each horse has a unique story to share as we help them through their healing process.
Wyatt
2000 Quarter Horse Gelding
Wyatt is a senior horse we were able to intercept before he went to an auction in PA. Wyatt was rescued by a woman who loved him very much a few years prior, but when she fell on hard times and could no longer keep him she thought auction was her only choice. We are so glad she reached out to us and we were able to take him in.
Wyatt's body tells us a lot about his past before he was rescued, he is completely blind in his left eye, covered in scars, and has a hole in his neck we are told was from a bull’s horn impaling him. He has white marks His arthritis is so bad in his front legs that he trips too much to be ridden anymore. As with most non ridable horses in this country once they cannot do their job anymore they are considered useless.
Not to us. He is not useless. He does not owe us anything. He is a gentle soul, a being that deserves kindness, regardless of what he has to offer in return.
Wyatt is partially sponsored by Shobha Sudhir.
Kismet
2017 Mustang Gelding
Kismet was part of our rescue effort to save the last 14 mustangs in a group of 31 mustangs that all ended up at a kill lot in Oklahoma. Some of those horses were rescued and sent to a re wilding program in northern California. But Kismet was dropped off with a halter on his head, which meant he did not qualify for re wilding because of the chance he had human handling.
We do not know much about this guy, we don't even know if he is halter broke. We do know he was captured in the North Hills HMA gather in Utah on December 19, 2019. He stayed in captivity at a holding facility until June 30th, 2021 when he was titled to an adopter. We do not know the circumstances that led him to the kill lot by February of 2023.
Kismet is partially sponsored by Sarah Parker in memory of Shamrock.
Blue
All Blue
2015 Thoroughbred Gelding
Blue was donated to Project ComeBack from Godolphin Racing. Blue grew extremely tall extremely fast, ending his racing career and leaving him with the horse equivalent of PD - Parkinson's Disease - called "Shivers". His condition causes his hind legs to "shiver" or shake. Not to worry, with gentle exercise/physical therapy, routine visits from the chiropractor, and holistic healing modalities we see Blue living a long healthy life without this condition diminishing the quality!
Blue is partially sponsored by Patience Carey.
Kele
"Little Sparrow"
2017 Mustang Gelding
Kele was part of our rescue effort to save the last 14 mustangs in a group of 31 mustangs that all ended up at a kill lot in Oklahoma. Some of those horses were rescued and sent to a re wilding program in northern California. But Kele was dropped off with a halter on his head, which meant he did not qualify for re wilding because he had some leading work done with him. He is the smallest mustang of the group and we are excited to get to know his personality more!
We do not know much about this guy, except that he is slightly halter broke. His kill lot video showed him frozen in fear when asked to walk forward with halter pressure. We do know he was captured from the Goshute HMA gather in Nevada on July 12, 2018. We do not know the circumstances that led him to the kill lot by February of 2023.
Kele is partially sponsored by Kevin Nolan.
Charlie Brown
Invested In This Machine
2008 Quarter Horse Gelding
Charlie was Lindsay's very first rescue, he was purchased at an auction barn in Western MA in 2013. Auctions are one of the first parts of the horse slaughter pipeline that we try to intervene in. In July of 2015 Charlie suffered traumatic physical injury. He came in from the paddock one day with his front legs shaking. We found out that he had somehow broken his withers (part of his back). Today Charlie Brown deals with residual nerve damage that acts up with the weight of a saddle/rider. It is important that even though Charlie will never be able to carry a rider like he used to, he can still have a meaningful job - it will just look a little different.
Charlie is partially sponsored by Goutam Sudhir and John Andon
ELcac
2020 Mustang Gelding
Elcac was part of our rescue effort to save the last 14 mustangs in a group of 31 mustangs that all ended up at a kill lot in Oklahoma. He is completely unhandled, which meant his chances of being rescued from the kill lot were less than favorable.
Elcac, formally tag #209, lost his freedom on August 3rd, 2020 during the Shawave Mountains HMA gather. He was just a baby, less than a year old, when he was torn from his homeland and eventually separated from his mother in holding. By February of 2023 he found himself trapped again, this time in the inside of a kill pen.
Elcac's rescue was sponsored by David Cookman, who picked his name "in honor of our veterans and my civilian service to the ambitious warfare group, and USN landing craft, also used for humanitarian aid and disaster relief, please consider the name 'ELcac', as a representation of landing craft air cushion (LCAC)."
For more information on this gather click here and here.
ELcac is partially sponsored by David Cookman and Elizabeth Vernon in honor of Megan Feltham.
Percy
My Friend Bob
2011 Thoroughbred Gelding
Percy had a successful racehorse career and was loved deeply by his owners and breeders. When hard times hit their small family farm they had to find new homes for some of their horses. In hopes of giving their horses the best life possible, a local horse rescue was contacted to take them. Percy was eventually adopted out from that rescue, only to learn that a riding career just wasn't for him. Finding himself once again searching for a home and purpose, he landed safely with us.
Now Percy will forever spend his days sharing love and healing with people who are also searching for something that feels like home.
Percy is partially sponsored by Lynda Mockler and Laurian Pope.
Mithras
2020 Mustang Gelding
Formerly known as tag #233, Mithras lost his freedom on August 26th, 2020 during the Shawave Mountains HMA gather when he was just a baby. He was part of our rescue effort to save the last 14 mustangs in a group of 31 mustangs that all ended up at a kill lot in Oklahoma. He is completely unhandled, which meant his chances of being rescued from the kill lot were not good, so we stepped in saved as many as we could.
Nothing about this journey is easy for these horses, especially when they are captured as babies like Mithras was. They are chased with helicopters, scared and running for their life. They get separated from their mothers and herd mates. In the case of these horses their journey only got harder ending up in a kill lot, waiting to ship to Mexico for slaughter.
For more information on this gather click here and here.
Mithras is partially sponsored by Corina Wardwell.
Altivo
2016 Mustang Gelding
Altivo was rescued from Stroud, a kill lot in Oklahoma, in August of 2020. Altivo was completely wild, he had no handling or contact with humans except for a few traumatic experiences like being captured, gelded, branded, taken from his homeland & herd, then left for dead at a slaughter holding facility. Altivo spent his first few years living wild and free in the Snowstorm Mountains HMA.
As Altivo has settled into his new life we've gotten to see his personality start to shine through his trauma. He is brave, kind, extremely independent, and very gentle. As we take our time teaching him what it means to live in the domestic world, we try our best to preserve his incredible spirit.
Altivo is partially sponsored by Shobha Sudhir, Goutam Sudhir, and Susan Agostini.
Ferdinand
2020 Mustang Gelding
Ferdinand was part of our rescue effort to save the last 14 mustangs in a group of 31 mustangs that all ended up at a kill lot in Oklahoma. He is completely unhandled, which meant his chances of being rescued from the kill lot were less than favorable.
Ferdinand, formally tag #204, lost his freedom on August 25th, 2020 during the Shawave Mountains HMA gather. He was just a baby, less than a year old, when he was torn from his homeland and eventually separated from his mother in holding. By February of 2023 he found himself trapped again, this time in the inside of a kill pen.
For more information on this gather click here and here.
Ferdinand is partially sponsored by Madeline Bondy.
River
River Girl
2009 Grade Quarter Horse Mare
River was rescued from a kill lot in Oklahoma in March of 2019. River was close to impossible to approach for months. With gentle consistency and without force we were able to gain her trust and make our first touch. She is still very weary of strangers and even the people she has come to know and trust become untrustworthy if they carry a halter near her. It makes us wonder what happened to this beautiful girl once a halter was put on her. But we cannot change her past, as much as we'd like to, so we focus on making her future the best we possibly can.
River is partially sponsored by Kristine Bowring.
Moon Shadow
2009 Mustang Mare
Moon Shadow was rescued from a kill lot in Oklahoma in June of 2019. She is a mustang, a term that refers to horses that live/lived wild in this country. Moon was born in captivity in 2009 at the Rock Springs Corral, after her mother was captured during a wild horse gather in Wyoming. At only 7 months old she was separated from her mother and offered for adoption. Moon was lucky to be adopted out of the holding facility she was born in by a loving family, and for a little while she was safe and cared for. She had a new family to fill in the gaps of the family she lost during the round up.
One day, Moon's new adoptive mom got very sick and was no longer able to care for any of her animals. In best attempts to find Moon another loving home, she unfortunately fell into the wrong hands. She was picked up by a rough trainer who tried to break her spirit and force her to be his riding horse. But Moon is strong willed and not easily broken. After much abuse and force, this man finally realized she would not bend to his will. He sent her to the Amish, believing if she couldn't be ridden she could be broken to pull carts for them. But again, Moon would not bend to anyone's will. After suffering more harsh training she was deemed as useless and sent to auction, and then to a kill lot in Oklahoma, where we found her.
Moon had a lot of anxiety and "horse PTSD" when she first arrived at our sanctuary. Her triggers and reactions were extremely unpredictable, causing her to react often and become tremendously scared from seemingly minuscule things. Moon's emotional wounds run deep, leading us to believe she has had a very traumatic past. The number of hours we spent with her, doing nothing, are immeasurable. It took countless gentle interactions with a variety of people for her to start to trust again, but each time someone was with her who didn't force her to be anything other than who she was, she was able to heal.
Moon is partially sponsored by Carolyn Blair, James Andon, and Jenn Scott.
Moon is also sponsored in Molly Scott's memory
Spirit
New Sheriff In Town
2003 Thoroughbred Gelding
Spirit's first career was as a race horse. Like so many others in this industry, he was trained to do only one thing - run fast and turn left. The story of the racehorse is a sad one, most are taken at a young age and put through rigorous training, never knowing how to be a horse. Then, still at a young age, they are discarded with no transition to a second career. Discarded was how we found Spirit, more specifically at Stroud, a kill lot in Oklahoma, in March of 2019.
Spirit is partially sponsored by Tabitha Bedoukian
Kai
2017 Mustang Gelding
Kai doesn’t enjoy people much. When approached his ears instantly flatten as he communicates “stop. that’s close enough”. We know he was born a feral mustang in Wyoming, and at a young age he was taken from his home, his herd, and his mother. We can guess by his aversion to human touch he was abused. We respect that he doesn’t want to be touched, he’s allowed to tell us that.
As a growing baby horse Kai was put into an inmate program, forced to carry the weight of a saddle and rider at far too young of an age. He carries trauma from his early experiences that we are trying to help him heal from. Kai has met many people at our rescue. These people have all understood his boundaries, and never forced him to be touched unwillingly. With each patient encounter we see him become less defensive and more curious!
Kai is partially sponsored by Tea Leigh.
Fawn
2018 Mustang Mare
Fawn, formerly Tag #202 was part of our rescue effort to save the last 14 mustangs in a group of 31 mustangs that all ended up at a kill lot in Oklahoma. She is completely unhandled, which meant her chances of being rescued from the kill lot were less than favorable.
This girl lost her freedom on January 23rd, 2020 during the Eagle HMA gather in Nevada when she was only 2 years old. By February of 2023 she found herself trapped again, this time in the inside of a kill pen. Another one of our rescues, Jericho, was gathered during this same round up.
For more information about this gather click here.
Fawn is partially sponsored by Eva Mays in memory of her mare, Splenda.
Blaze
2018 Mustang Gelding
Blaze was part of our rescue effort to save the last 14 mustangs in a group of 31 mustangs that all ended up at a kill lot in Oklahoma. He is completely unhandled, which meant his chances of being rescued from the kill lot were less than favorable.
This poor guy lost his freedom on August 24th, 2020 during the Shawave Mountains HMA gather in Nevada when he was only 2 years old. By February of 2023 he found himself trapped again, this time in the inside of a kill pen.
For more information on this gather click here and here.
Blaze currently has no monthly sponsors
Shamus
2019 Mustang Gelding
Shamus, formerly tag #206, was part of our rescue effort to save the last 14 mustangs in a group of 31 mustangs that all ended up at a kill lot in Oklahoma. He is completely unhandled, which meant his chances of being rescued from the kill lot were less than favorable.
This poor guy lost his freedom on August 3rd, 2020 during the Shawave Mountains HMA gather in Nevada when he was barely a year old. By February of 2023 he found himself trapped again, this time in the inside of a kill pen.
For more information on this gather click here and here
Shamus currently has no monthly sponsors
Onso
Alphonso - Noble / Battle Ready
2016 Mustang Gelding
Onso, formerly known as tag #207 was part of our rescue effort to save the last 14 mustangs in a group of 31 mustangs that all ended up at a kill lot in Oklahoma. He is completely unhandled, which meant his chances of being rescued from the kill lot were less than favorable.
This poor guy lost his freedom on December 16th, 2020 during the Delmar Mountains HA gather in Nevada when he was 4 years old. The Delamar Mountains HA consists of approximately of 183,558 acres of BLM-administered lands within the Mojave Desert. By February of 2023 he found himself trapped again, this time in the inside of a kill pen.
For more information on this gather click here and here.
Onso currently has no monthly sponsors
Valor
2020 Mustang Gelding
Valor, formerly tag #208, was part of our rescue effort to save the last 14 mustangs in a group of 31 mustangs that all ended up at a kill lot in Oklahoma. He is completely unhandled, which meant his chances of being rescued from the kill lot were less than favorable.
This poor guy lost his freedom on August 26th, 2020 during the Shawave Mountains HMA gather in Nevada when he was barely a year old. By February of 2023 he found himself trapped again, this time in the inside of a kill pen.
For more information on this gather click here and here
Valor currently has no monthly sponsors
Sid
2019 Mustang Gelding
Sid was part of our rescue effort to save the last 14 mustangs in a group of 31 mustangs that all ended up at a kill lot in Oklahoma. He is completely un handled, which meant his chances of being rescued from the kill lot were less than favorable.
Unlike our other mustang rescues of this group Sid and Tag #472 came to the kill lot together and we were lucky to be able to keep them together. Both horses were sale authority (SA), which is a label given to horses that were not adopted a three different BLM adoption events, SA horses sell for only $25. They were both captured a few days apart during the Jackson Mountain HMA gather. This guy was captured on September 23rd, 2021 when he was 2 years old.
By February of 2023 he found himself trapped again, this time in the inside of a kill pen.
Sid currently has no monthly sponsors
Arrow
2019 Mustang Gelding
Arrow, formerly known as tag #472 was part of our rescue effort to save the last 14 mustangs in a group of 31 mustangs that all ended up at a kill lot in Oklahoma. He is completely unhandled, which meant his chances of being rescued from the kill lot were less than favorable.
Unlike our other mustang rescues of this group, Sid and Arrow came to the kill lot together and we were lucky to be able to keep them together. Both horses were sale authority (SA), which is a label given to horses that were not adopted a three different BLM adoption events, SA horses sell for only $25. They were both captured a few days apart during the Jackson Mountain HMA gather. This guy was captured a few days before his friend, Sid, on September 21st, 2021 when he was 2 years old.
By February of 2023 he found himself trapped again, this time in the inside of a kill pen.
Arrow currently has no monthly sponsors
Meleys
2018 Mustang Mare
Meleys is as strong as she is fearless, just like her namesake! She was found shortly after our our rescue effort to save the last 14 mustangs in a group of 31 mustangs that all ended up at a kill lot in Oklahoma. She and two other mustang geldings got abandoned in a Texas kill lot. Unlike the other mustangs from this massive rescue, this mare was halter broke and said to ride. We find these horses are sometimes the hardest to work with because whoever trained or adopted her dropped her off at the kill lot shortly after.
Kai came from a similar situation, he got a quick and dirty start as a baby that left him with nothing but fear and bad memories of anything that has to do with riding. We hope the same isn't true for this mare, but her ending up at the kill lot tells us someone did not care about her.
Meleys was rounded up when she was a yearling, barely a year old, on July 10th, 2019 during the Antelope Valley HMA gather in Nevada.
Meleys currently has no monthly sponsors
Tex
2018 Mustang Gelding
Tex, formerly called tag #120, was also found shortly after our our rescue effort to save the last 14 mustangs in a group of 31 mustangs that all ended up at a kill lot in Oklahoma. He and two other mustangs were abandoned in a Texas kill lot, just over the boarder from our big Oklahoma rescue.
Tex was rounded up when he was 3 years old on January 15th 2021 during the Eagle HMA gather in Nevada, a year after Jericho and Fawn were gathered from that same HMA.
Tex currently has no monthly sponsors
Jericho
2018 Mustang Gelding
Jericho, formerly Tag #86, was also found shortly after our our rescue effort to save the last 14 mustangs in a group of 31 mustangs that all ended up at a kill lot in Oklahoma. He and two other mustangs got abandoned in a Texas kill lot.
Jericho was rounded up when he was 2 years old on February 16th 2020 during the Eagle HMA gather in Nevada, during the same gather as Fawn. We are not sure if they remembered each other when they were reunited, or if they were even in the same herd, but we do know they were captured from the same area. We know they once shared a home, and are grateful they can do that again here.
Jericho currently has no monthly sponsors
Dolce
2022 Mustang Colt
Dolce was rescued from Stroud with Vita, an elderly mustang mare. He was mislabeled as a 5 year old mare, but we quickly realized he was just a young colt and very attached to Vita. The title he came with says he is 7 years old, but his teeth and body say he is no more than 2.
Until he sheds his winter coat and we can read his brand we will not know much of his history. It is always frustrating when mustangs get dropped at the lot/auction with the wrong title, but his brand will tell us the truth.
Another clue that he was sent with the wrong title is the description saying he has white markings on his left hind leg, which he does not. We are looking forward to spring when his winter coat sheds and his brand will be legible, giving us some more insight into his past.
Dolce's rescue was fully sponsored by Tina Haseotes, and we are so grateful for her support in saving this baby's life.
Dolce currently has no monthly sponsors
Thala
2017 Mustang Mare
Thala, meaning "the brave one", was rescued from a kill lot in Kemp, Texas with Onyx. She was gathered from Arapaho Creek HA in the Red Desert in Wyoming, on October 16, 2020 when she was 3 years old. The Red Desert of southern Wyoming is one of the last high-desert ecosystems in the United States. This vast 9,320 square mile area is home to an abundance of wildlife and federally protected wild horses.
She seems to have had some handling, but is very fearful of humans right now. Aside from knowing that buckets usually have food in them she is really all set with human interaction at the moment. In our experience it is usually the horses that have had handling that are the most skeptical and fearful of humans. It makes us sad to think about all she endured, from once running free in Wyoming to losing her freedom and having negative handling experiences leading her to be so fearful of humans, the last 4 years must have been so hard on her.
Thala currently has no monthly sponsors
Onyx
2018 Mustang Gelding
Onyx was rescued from a kill lot in Kemp, TX with Thala. He was gathered from Pancake HMA in the Great Basin region of Nevada on January 31, 2022 when he was 4 years old. The area consists of 849,613 acres of BLM land and 309 acres of a mix of private and other public lands for a total of 849,922 acres. To see photos of this gather, click here, and to learn more about this gather click here.
Onyx seems to be completely un handled and like Thala, very skeptical of humans. With time and patience we hope to see him come out of his shell and realize no one is going to hurt him, chase, him, or scare him anymore.
Onyx currently has no monthly sponsors