In 1971, The Wild Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act was passed. In a tragic twist of irony, the Virginia Range horses who roam on state lands were not protected by this federal legislation.

Charlie was captured on State lands in Nevada’s Virgina Range. He ended up at the livestock yard where he would have ended up sold for slaughter. His mare and foal were spared and went to another sanctuary, and Charlie would have been herded into an auction ring and then onto a truck to Mexico for slaughter. We could not let that happen.

Charlie came to live at Return to Freedom Sanctuary where he is now part of a herd of 20 stallions from the Calico mountain range. Charlie and “the boys” are anxiously waiting for Return to Freedom to relocate to a larger preserve. In the meantime, they are being fed and cared for in the rolling hills of California.

Our Sponsor a Horse program is an automatic monthly donation program. It only takes a moment to sign up and your debit or credit card will be automatically billed each month. You can cancel at any time. Will you help Return to Freedom by sponsoring Charlie?

Return to Freedom took 106 horses from the roundup. The sanctuary is raising funds to expand and we hope when we can release the stallions with the 80 mares, El Presidente will be reunited with some of his herd.

For generations, ancestors of cavalry and ranch horses have interbred and survived in this remote and challenging habitat. They have adapted to this environment and returned to a natural state over the past few hundred years. These stout horses are a vital link to our Great Basin heritage.

Our Sponsor a Horse program is an automatic monthly donation program. It only takes a moment to sign up and your debit or credit card will be automatically billed each month. You can cancel at any time. Will you help Return to Freedom by sponsoring El Presidente?

Emilita is a wonderful mother and we hope that she will impart her wisdom and beautiful spirit to her daughter.

Our Sponsor a Horse program is an automatic monthly donation program. It only takes a moment to sign up and your debit or credit card will be automatically billed each month. You can cancel at any time. Will you help Return to Freedom by sponsoring Emilita?

#5398, now Black Moon, is a 20-year-old black stallion. RTF made sure that this stallion who has spent his entire life in the Utah Mountain wilderness, would not end up falling through the cracks. He and a 15 year old Bay stallion (#5422), who we have now named Merlin, had no bids at all and faced an uncertain future, so we spoke up for them and had them brought to the sanctuary. We did geld the Bay stallion, now . He has a difficult time seeing and may be almost blind and depends on Black Moon alot.

Caring for senior horses costs an estimated $2600 per year which does not include Veterinary care. Horses at the sanctuary often live well into their thirties.

Our Sponsor a Horse program is an automatic monthly donation program. It only takes a moment to sign up and your debit or credit card will be automatically billed each month. You can cancel at any time. If you need help with your automati billing or cancellation please email us or call 805-737-9246.

Will you help Return to Freedom by sponsoring Black Moon?

General and Commander stuck together through their long ordeal from the chase out of their home range into BLM’s trap pens where they became inseparable, then loaded onto a semi-truck to BLM’s holding facility… and finally to Return to Freedom.

Return to Freedom purchased 71 mares and 19 stallions through BLM Sale Authority for $10 each. RTF’s Calico Rescue Project was in response to the tragic Calico roundup of almost 2,000 wild horses which resulted in the death of close to 144.

General, True, and Commander all came to Return to Freedom. Commander, older than General, passed away in 2014.

General and True still thrive at Return to Freedom’s sanctuary. Caring for senior horses can cost $2,600 per year if they start needing more special care. Horses at the sanctuary often live well into their thirties.

Our Sponsor a Horse program is an automatic monthly donation program. It only takes a moment to sign up and your debit or credit card will be automatically billed each month. You can cancel at any time. If you need help with your automatic billing or cancellation, please email us or call 805-737-9246.

Will you help Return to Freedom by sponsoring General?

In 2010, life was never the same for this handsome young colt living in Nevada’s remote high desert. On December 28, 2009, helicopters penetrated the remote and pristine high desert and almost 2,000 wild horses were chased, captured, and scattered to government holding facilities. Freedom lost, families lost forever.

True and his family band were part of this devastating event. True was born to General, a stout stallion who fought tirelessly for his family’s freedom and release from the descending helicopters. Thanks to advocate Laura Leigh, who photographed their ordeal, Return to Freedom was able to do what we could to “Save the Pieces”. We were able to find True, his father General, and two of General’s mares so that they could be reunited back at Return to Freedom’s Wild Horse Sanctuary.

True is curious and social and even enjoys a scratch on the neck. He has come into his own and stands his ground with other stallions including his father, General.

Our Sponsor a Horse program is an automatic monthly donation program. It only takes a moment to sign up and your debit or credit card will be automatically billed each month. You can cancel at any time.

Will you help Return to Freedom by sponsoring True?

Today, Mist — along with several other stallions captured in the same region — live at Return to Freedom’s sanctuary in Central Coastal California. They are patiently waiting to be reunited with the mares when Return To Freedom can purchase a larger property.

Mist is a peacmaker with almost a mystical quality about him. He is almost timid; he stays out of everyone’s way.

For generations, ancestors of cavalry and ranch horses have been surviving in this remote and challenging habitat. They have adapted to this environment and returned to a natural state over the past few hundred years. They are a vital link to our Great Basin heritage.

Our Sponsor a Horse program is an automatic monthly donation program. It only takes a moment to sign up and your debit or credit card will be automatically billed each month. You can cancel at any time.

Will you help Return to Freedom by sponsoring Mist?

When it was time for these newly captured wild horses to be sold to the highest bidder, Return to Freedom allies bid on and were able to secure Curly and 18 other wild stallions. After having lost their freedom, their families, and their homes, we had to do what we could to give them back a little of what they lost. Return to Freedom also secured 80 mares from the roundup.

At the sanctuary, Curly is an older stallion and enjoys spending his days with Silver King, Galahad, and Leaf. He also gets along with Charlie, Ludden, and El Presidente!

For generations, ancestors of cavalry and ranch horses have interbred and survived in the remote and challenging habitat of the Calico Mountains. They have adapted to this environment and returned to a natural state over the past few hundred years. These stout horses are a vital link to our Great Basin heritage.

Our Sponsor a Horse program is an automatic monthly donation program. It’s easy! It only takes a moment to sign up and your debit or credit card will be automatically billed each month. You can cancel at any time.

Will you help Return to Freedom by sponsoring Curly?

Anyone with any intelligence can clearly see that these horses, like us, are sentient beings with strong emotional bonds.

What Silver King did not know as he fought and defended himself and was loaded onto a crammed trailer and hauled away from his home range, his freedom, his world, was that there were people determined to protect him and to reunite him with his family. Return to Freedom will continue to do what we can to “save the pieces”.

Through the chutes and onto the semi-trucks to the prison, Silver King stayed very close to a flaxen maned stallion named Galahad who photographer Laura Leigh had also been tracking through the capture. She alerted Return to Freedom and we were able to get possession of Silver King and Galahad.

In order to simply view Galahad and Silver King, Leigh endured an intensive search of her person and vehicle. Only after that was she allowed to view the horses. Later, Leigh received notice that if she was to accompany the driver picking up the horse she had to notify BLM so they could notify S.W.A.T. These actions on the part of BLM were included in Leigh’s monumental win against violations of her first amendment rights in the Ninth Circuit, a case that has increased accountability and transparency related to wild horse handling during roundups an processing.

RTF tracked down Silver King’s mare, Grace, and a few others from his band and moved them to a leased holding area in Nevada. In the holding area, two foals were born after the roundup.

Thanks to the support given to our work by caring people all over the world, we found a way to undo one terrible injustice — the seemingly total loss of Silver King and Galahad’s family.

Since 2011, RTF has had to board the mares from both the Silver King and Calico roundups at our colleagues Dreamcatcher Sanctuary in Termo, California. Silver King’s colt, Haiku, and Galahad’s colt, Sterling, have joined their fathers at RTF’s sanctuary, but the mares have been roaming 800 acres in northern California.

During the holiday season of 2015, we were able to reunite Silver King with Grace and his two other mares at our satellite sanctuary in San Luis Obispo, California.