This Mustang Life

08/31/2026

When a rescue or sanctuary takes in an animal, most of the time we’re stepping into a story that’s already been written without us.

We don’t get the footnotes. We don’t get the context. We just get the animal standing in front of us.

We always knew pieces of River’s story. He was born in a holding facility, wasn’t adopted until he was seven, and the person who finally adopted him neglected him.

What we didn’t know was everything in between. While digging into the history of our late senior mustang Eva, I decided to push a little harder for answers about River too. This time, a BLM employee was willing to dig. And what we learned stopped me in my tracks.

At just two years old, River was sent to an inmate training program. He remained in the system for another five years, was offered for adoption and passed over, and eventually was sent to Ewing Holding Facility.

Seven years before someone finally chose him.

I still have so many questions. River is a stunning horse with a floating trot. Why was he only offered for adoption once? What happened during all those years?

I also asked whether his deformity appeared anywhere in his records. It didn’t. When I explained it, the BLM employee told me that if an injury that severe had happened in the corrals, River likely would have been euthanized. So we believe it happened later, during the period when he was neglected.

And somehow, his body healed on its own.

Seeing River’s life laid out like this makes me love him even more. It makes me more patient on the days when his past shows up. Because behavior rarely comes from nowhere.

Sometimes the animals we call “difficult” are carrying years of things we know absolutely nothing about.

River survived all of it.

And now, finally, he gets to just be River.

If you’ve fallen a little bit in love with this complicated, beautiful boy too, River still needs a few more monthly sponsors to help with his care.

Will you be one of them? DM to learn how

08/26/2026

As a photographer who brings you the beauty of wild horses, I also feel an obligation to show you the other side of that beauty.

The heartbreak. The roundups. The souls lost to the slaughter pipeline. The decisions made behind closed doors that determine their fate.

This clip from Blue Zeus is from the 2020 Sulphur Springs roundup. Clover’s roundup.

I remember watching this foal fall and whispering over and over, “please don’t be dead. Please don’t be dead. Please don’t be dead.”

And then the foal got up. I finally exhaled.

Yesterday I told a new friend one of my biggest fears: that we could be the last generation to document America’s wild horses as we know them. That someday our photographs and films will be how future generations see what we once had.

That terrifies me.

So keep documenting them. Keep telling their stories. And it’s okay to get angry. But use that anger to educate yourself, learn what’s happening and figure out how you can help.

And because the world works in weird ways…

I documented this roundup in 2020. In 2021, I was sitting in Clare’s living room at Skydog Sanctuary when she got a message about a little mare named Clover. She looked at me, and somehow I decided to take her.

She was from this very roundup.

And years later, this footage ended up in Blue Zeus.

I believe in kismet and weird theories of time. Maybe sometimes we end up exactly where we’re supposed to be before we even understand why.

bluezeusthemovie is now available to rent or purchase on Amazon Prime. Watch it. Learn. Get angry, but keep hope. And if any of those things bring you into the fight to protect our wild horses, thank you. ❤️

08/22/2026

I’m still blown away by how many people who aren’t even horse people have been sending me and sharing the New York Times investigation into America’s wild horses, the Bureau of Land Management and the slaughter pipeline that came out this week.

I had nothing to do with it (my friends did!), but I knew it was being written, and the anticipation of it coming out has been crazy.

The fact that this investigation into BLM Sale Authority, wild horse roundups and federally protected mustangs ending up in the slaughter pipeline came out the DAY before bluezeusthemovie was released feels like some sort of alternate universe where maybe… what is this feeling?

Hope?

Because I see so many wild horse advocates pushing so damn hard. Fighting roundups. Fighting horse slaughter. Digging through records. Tracking horses. Rescuing horses from kill pens. Fighting in courtrooms and in Congress. Telling these stories over and over again.

Getting somewhere, getting knocked back a few steps, and getting right back up and going again.

I SEE ALL OF YOU.

I’ve been there. I’m still there… well barely, I’m kind of dangling with one arm still holding on :)

And lately, it feels like maybe all of those different efforts are starting to push in the same direction.

And the beautiful thing is, we don’t all have to do the same thing. We all have our strengths. Litigation. Boots on the ground. Advocacy. Storytelling. Art. Film. Investigative reporting. Rescue. Research. Education.

It takes all of it.

And for the first time in a long time, I feel really, really hopeful about what all of us might actually be able to change. It just needs to be soon, before there’s nothing left to fight for.

08/22/2026

08/22/2026

Today Blue Zeus the movie drops on Prime Video for streaming. And the theme song that everyone is talking about is Ashes & Arrows amazing song “Wild Horses” which uplifts the movie and has everyone up on their feet at the end. It took this amazing group to the semi finals of America’s Got Talent and we are so grateful to them for allowing us to use the brilliant song in the movie. We are so proud that this film is now getting out into the world for everyone to see after taking Film Festivals by storm last fall winning so many Best Documentary Feature awards. Enjoy the song and it’s available to download on iTunes or stream on Spotify 💙🖤🤍