Galahad is a robust chestnut stallion captured in 2010 from the Silver King Herd Management Area in Northwestern Nevada’s Great Basin.

In the legend of King Arthur, Galahad was always known as the “Perfect Knight.” He was the very picture of nobility, purity, courage, gentleness, courtesy, and chivalry. It was Galahad who found the Holy Grail. For these reasons, it is also the name given recently to a heroic chestnut stallion when he and his family were captured in the Silver King roundup on October 3, 2010.

Galahad’s story is an awakening for us, clearly showing us the strong emotional bond that exists in the relationships between horses. In an inspiring demonstration to us of the loyalty that leadership horses have for their band mates, Galahad risked all to honor his responsibility as lead stallion to protect his herd. Even in the trap that robbed him of his freedom, he lived up heroically to his famous Knight’s name.

We can only imagine the terror, desperation and powerful will to survive and to protect that filled Galahad’s mind and body, and the sense of impending loss at the unfolding destruction of his family band — his very reason for living.

In April 2017, Return to Freedom celebrated the release of Galahad and his reunited family band onto RTF’s 2,000-acre satellite sanctuary in San Luis Obispo County. The chestnut stallion, his lead mare, Hope, and three other mares trotted out of the meadow where they had been getting acclimated to their new surroundings. They paused on a sunny hillside before heading up through the tree line and out onto the great fields of grass and wildflowers beyond.