Wild Horse Sanctuary turns 30

Photo by Katey Barrett

HOME ON THE RANGE: Wild horses, including these magnificent specimens captured on film, roam freely on nearly 5,000 acres maintained by the Wild Horse Sanctuary near Shingletown and Manton. Originally scheduled to be euthanized, the herd of 80 has grown to more than 300 in 30 years, Wild Horse Sanctuary operators said.

Photo by Katey Barrett

What started as a small rescue of 80 wild mustangs due to be culled by the US Forest Service has grown during the past 30 years to a herd of more than 300 horses in the Manton area near Shingletown.

The horses graze on nearly 5,000 acres and also receive supplemental hay, said Diane Nelson, co-founder of the Wild Horse Sanctuary.

Currently, Nelson and her crew feed four to five tons of hay each day.

August 15th, the sanctuary will be celebrating 30 years of incorporation and service with an open house beginning at 1 p.m. and ending at 6 p.m.

Included in the celebration will be a parade of wild mustangs that have been successfully adopted out to individuals. Among them will be a special equestrian guest, Azoul Solamente.

Azoul is a blue roan stallion believed to be the last stallion of the Prior Mountain wild mustang herd, also believed to be related to Cloud, the stallion of the Cloud herd. He has also been featured in movies such as Ginger and Cloud.

The event will also feature question-and-answer sessions with local veterinarian Wally Leiberman, a horse shoeing demonstration, saddle and tack demonstrations, cowboy poetry, blue grass music and a barbecue and barn dance.

There will also be vendors from around the area featuring western items.

Horse rides for children 10 and younger will be available. Families wanting to view the horses will be led on a walk. Donations will be accepted to care for the animals' needs.

Terri Farley, author of the Phantom Stallion book series, will also be in attendance signing books for her readers.

The horse sanctuary is a non profit organization and donations are always welcome.

The sanctuary is located at 5796 Wilson Hill Road.

The sanctuary has some help from volunteers on the weekends and college interns that spend 10 weeks at a time at the rescue working on fencing, refurbishing different areas of the sanctuary and guiding trail rides.

Trail rides play a big part in providing finances for the rescue and adoption facility, and are available from April through early October.

Another part of the organization's financial support comes from the adoption of young horses that come in during a gathering in October. The young horses that are brought in are taught to accept a halter and wear a lead rope. This also reduces their fear of humans.

They are then sold in a silent auction.

To learn more about the event or the horse sanctuary, visit the organization's Web site at www.wildhorsesanctuary.org.

"We are so grateful for the opportunity to be able to run the wild horse sanctuary and to still be around helping all of these beautiful animals after all these years," said Diane Nelson.