OUR HORSES
“The air of heaven is that which blows between a horse’s ears.”
Arabian Proverb
Each of our horses is unique in mind, body, and spirit. We honor that by treating each of them individually. We know their likes and dislikes and are in tune with their emotions. We offer our horses the best care, including high-quality food, farriery, and veterinary services. We also understand that they need emotional and behavioral care as well. Our horses are all gentled with scientifically based methods of Positive Reinforcement. We never train with methods that cause fear or pain. Our horses love to be around people, as they've had such positive experiences with us as their guardians. We also provide enrichment as often as possible to keep our horses mentally stimulated, engaged, and active.
Photo by Hollyn Lee - Wanderlust Wild Horses by Hollyn - editing by Lisa Mallory
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Twister is our 7 year old Off The Track Thoroughbred. (OTTB). Twister is composed, quiet, alert, interested, eager, and intelligent. He came to us as a 4 year old when his racing career ended due to injuries. We've been battling multiple injuries and health conditions with Twister over the years. He has a condition called Kissing Spine, which causes pain in his back when he is ridden, and arthritis in his hocks and rear ankles. Twister is currently being managed with injections for his back and the joints in his rear legs, along with a farrier specializing in Equine Podiatry.
Despite his health limitations, Twister is a wonderful boy and quite a character. He's a big horse, standing a solid 16.2 hands. We often call him the "Big Boy." But even with his size, he is very gentle. He loves kids Due to his need for ongoing medical treatments, he will remain at Halfway to Heaven Equine Rescue for his lifetime.
Pascha(Pah-sha) was born on Easter Sunday of 2021. He is a Gypsy Vanner/Friesian/Paint Cross. He has a spirited, fun, goofy personality. His favorite activities are eating, training, napping in the sun, and playing jokes on his people and herd mates. Pascha injured his hip when he was just 7 months old. Our veterinarian walked us through his rehab. He healed quickly, no doubt, because he was a healthy young horse, and we followed all veterinarians' recommendations for treatments and rest. Since he completed rehab, we have seen no indication of any lameness or other issues with his hip. Pascha will stay with us until we know he can be a sound riding horse.
Pascha is extremely smart and willing to train at any time. He enjoys learning new things and figures out new behaviors we teach him quite quickly.
In 2025 Pascha will begin his training under saddle.
Jewel is our lovely Blue Roan mare from the Green Mountain, WY Herd Management Area (HMA). She came to us through a Bureau of Land Management adoption event with no previous human handling. Jewel is an extremely sensitive soul. She would never do well in a home with any form of punishment. She excels with the use of Positive Reinforcement Training. Jewel also has a slab fracture in her left hock. Our veterinarian has not recommended surgery as it is a complex area to work with. She is sound and comfortable now, but we will monitor her closely and adjust her routine and management as needed. She has come such a long way, but her sensitivity is inherent. Therefore, we will keep Jewel with us for her lifetime for safety, ethical, and medical reasons.
Jewel is loved by everyone who visits the farm and walks with us to the fields to meet the horses. She is the epitome of an "in your pocket" horse. She greets visitors by snuffling them with her soft nose and then follows people around to see if there may be scratches involved. If people scratch her, she will be in horse Heaven!
Sally is a 5-year-old Mustang mare from the Range Creek, UT Herd Management Area. She was gathered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in 2020 as a yearling. She has always been laid back and calm with us except when it is feed time - Sally LOVES her domestic horse food and does some "dancing" at mealtimes!!
Sally is gentle and gets along well with all her herd mates. She is a very gentle and kind soul.
In the winter Sally is a deep, stunning black, and in the summer her coat changes to a very dark bay with dapples!
Bella is a 2017 mare from the Onaqui Mountain, UT Herd Management Area. Bella was gathered with her herd on July 15th, 2021. She was adopted from an online BLM corral event in January of 2022 and was gentled by her first adopter. In July of 2022 Bella was reassigned to us and shipped from her first home in Wisconsin, to us in Virginia. Because the Onaqui horses are on a range that has good access to the public, Bella has been photographed in the wild almost since the day she was born.
Bella is a very small Mustang, only 13.2 hands, but we call her "The little horse that could." She seems to think she can do anything a big horse can do, and do it better!
Bella was green broke in 2023 and her riding education will continue on with the years. She is an opinionated girl when it comes to how she believes her herd should behave, and seems to run the show when out on the field with her horse friends. She enjoys scratches and hanging out with people, especially when they are trying to get a project done - she's always there to help!
Glory is 5 years old in 2025. She was gathered from the Sulphur, UT Herd Management Area (HMA) in 2021. Glory was taken to 3 different adoption events sponsored by the Bureau of Land Management in 2021 and 2022 but was, unfortunately, never adopted. In late summer 2022, she was offered through a Mustang Storefront (a place where people could go to adopt or purchase a wild Mustang) as a Sales Authority (SA) horse. Sales authority horses are what some call "Three Strike" horses. These horses have been offered in at least three in-person adoption events or online corral adoption events and have been passed over each time by potential adopters.
We'll never understand how Glory was passed over like that. She has a lovely Dun color with two matching socks in the back and the most beautiful big brown eyes you'll ever see. She is a very quick learner and once she understands a training concept is ready to move on to the next. She loves to train and will stand at the pasture gate nickering softly to plead for you to come train her.
Trip was named for the literal trip he took to get to us in Virginia and then on to SC. He was offered on the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) Online Corral Auction. The public may bid to adopt these horses. Bidding starts at $125. Many horses are adopted at this level. Other horses that may be more desirable (color, size, known on the range, etc.) can go into the thousands of dollars. These horses can then be delivered by the BLM to several different locations in the US where they are having adoption events. Trip was bid on at the auction, but never picked up at the destination in Florida his adopter chose.
Halfway to Heaven Rescue picked Trip up and brought him back to Virginia. He is from the highly documented and popular Herd Management Area (HMA), the South Steens in Oregon. Although Trip is still a young horse and will be 3 in 2024, he shows amazing potential as a future riding horse. He is built thick and heavy with large hooves and good bone. He is very curious, inquisitive, friendly, and playful. We are looking forward to the journey ahead of us training Trip to be a wonderful riding horse and companion for someone.
Adopted!!!
Reigny is Bella's half-sister from the Onaqui Herd Management Area in Utah. Their mother was a lovely mare named Rosalita. Bella's sire was a beautiful, majestic stallion named Rocky. Reigny's sire is unknown. She will be 6 years old in 2025 and is a tiny mare, just like Bella, standing 13.3 hands.
Rainy and Bella knew each other in the wild. We have many photos documenting them together. They were also rounded up in the same group. Bella and Reigny went through a BLM Internet Adoption, and a wonderful woman in Florida adopted Reigny. She spent her first year out of the wild with her. During this time, she had a beautiful red and white Pinto colt.
When Reigny and Bella were re-introduced after being apart for over a year, they knew each other immediately. They are the best buddies in the pasture and stay close together like old times out on the range! Because Bella and Reigny grew up on the range together, we plan to keep them together for the rest of their lives here at Halfway to Heaven Rescue. Our goal for Bella and Rainy is to add other family/ herd members to bring them together again if they ever become available.
Butterscotch came to us as an unnamed, unwanted horse. He was dropped off at the Stroud, Oklahoma Kill Pen in January 2024. We believe it was Divine Intervention that brought him here to us at Halfway to Heaven Equine Rescue. We rarely have time to be on Social Media, but one morning we saw him posted on the Kill Pen website. Immediately we knew we had to save him. Arrangements were made and he arrived here at our Rescue on a freezing cold January night. His photo above is the very next morning. We know that Butterscotch came from the Sheepshead/Heath Creek Herd Management Area in Oregon. He will be 5 years old in 2025. We were told he has never been handled or haltered. Because of this we treated and trained him as we would any other wild horse. We guess that he has not had the best nutrition and will continue to grow for at least 1-2 years. He is curious, has a kind eye, has turned to have a very solid temperament. In 2025 we will continue to train Butterscotch to prepare him for adoption in the future. We can't wait to see his daily progress!
Jackpot came to us in early July 2024. He will be 8 years old in 2025. Jackpot was rounded up from the Diamond HMA in Nevada with 1,195 other Mustangs in 2020. Adopted from the BLM Internet Auction, he began a miserable journey of being passed from owner to owner and cruel trainer to cruel trainer. The physical and mental abuse done by these humans will be with him for a lifetime. We are committed to Jackpot and have promised him he will never have anything but gentle love and care from us here at Halfway to Heaven.
Willow is our newest addition to the Rescue. A local family having financial difficulties contacted us to see if we could take Willow. Willow came to them from a horse flipper, a known buyer of auction horses, which he would then sell to a kill pen for slaughter. Thankfully, this family bought her, and she went to live with them for a year. When Willow came to live with the family, she was emaciated and in poor health. After she shed her winter coat, they noticed a BLM brand on her neck. They were told she was a Quarter Horse. Willow has no training and must be gentled like any other wild horse. She is a four year old mare.
We look forward to working with Willow to bring her back to health and begin gentling her with our Positive Reinforcement methods.
