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by Kristin Neperud Merz | Oct 19, 2023 | Take Action, Uncategorized

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We love to hear from our supporters, as well as anyone with questions about our life-saving work, about wild horses and burros in general, land you may have available for rescued wild equines and especially about your interest in helping us keep wild horses and burros safe, wild and free on America’s public lands.

(805) 737-9246
PO Box 926, Lompoc, CA 93438
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returntofreedom

#TBT Spirit arrives to RTF's American Wild Horse C

#TBT Spirit arrives to RTF's American Wild Horse Conservation in 2002, following the filming of the Dreamworks animated movie, "Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron".
#wildhorseconservation #savewild #wildhorses #horsesofinstagram #wildhorsesofinstagram #sanctuary #returntofreedom #spiritofcimarron #spiritmovie #spiritstallionofthecimarron #dreamworks

Wild Wednesday: Wild horse behavior. A herd of wil

Wild Wednesday: Wild horse behavior. A herd of wild horses will all start running for several reasons. They might sense a predator or an incoming storm. Sometimes they will hear a loud noise like a gunshot. Often it is very simply because one horse get a burst of energy like the little colt at the beginning of the video. He set off the entire Pryor horse running. So fun to watch them being wild and free like it should be. Pryor Mountain Montana
Have a question about wild horse behavior? Drop it in the comments and we will make sure to cover it in a post. video by Meg Frederick Photography
#wildhorseconservation #savewild #wildhorses #horsesofinstagram #wildhorsesofinstagram #sanctuary #returntofreedom #funnyvideos

Happy Tuesday. Mystic Gambler and his best buddy C

Happy Tuesday. Mystic Gambler and his best buddy Cisco are two geldings that love to play. Horses never cease to make us smile. Kisses ❤️Have a great day

#wildhorseconservation #savewild #wildhorses #horsesofinstagram #wildhorsesofinstagram #sanctuary #returntofreedom #funnyvideos

Mare Monday: A sweet video of mare Adeer grooming

Mare Monday: A sweet video of mare Adeer grooming her son Rajah. Born in the winter of 1998, Adeer came to RTF in the spring of 1999 when she was just a foal after her herd from Hart Mountain were rounded up. They were gathered on horseback so we were able to keep the family bands intact.
Adeer was one of the lucky ones who was able to grow up in a natural herd community made up of various family and bachelor bands. Another young colt named Freedom was also lucky and he and Adeer grew up playing in the hills at Refurn to Freedom’s American Wild Horse Sanctuary - after Freedom roamed in a bachelor band, Adeer became his lead mare!
Many of tne Hart Mountain horses , and especially Adeer and Freedom, possess the baroque phenotype of the early Spanish Barb horses that entered American in the 1600’s.
Adeer is a beautiful bay mahogany roan mare with black tipped ears, broadly placed eyes, thick wavy mane and tail.
Over the years Adeer had a few foals —- the fertility control vaccine in non hormonal immunity contraception and therefore not all
mares respond to it and Adeer is what we call a non- responder.
Her magnificent stallion Freedom has passed away. Besides Rajah she also has two other colts at the sanctuary who carry on Freedom’s legacy; sons Barack and Viggo.
She travels with Barack’s band and has kept a bonded relationship with Barack and Raj.
video by @megfrederickphotography
#wildhorseconservation #savewild #wildhorses #horsesofinstagram #wildhorsesofinstagram #sanctuary #returntofreedom #family

A beautiful afternoon for a pool day. A few of the

A beautiful afternoon for a pool day. A few of the horses at our San Luis Obispo sanctuary enjoying a nice splash in the waterhole.
video by @megfrederickphotography
#wildhorseconservation #savewild #wildhorses #horsesofinstagram #wildhorsesofinstagram #sanctuary #returntofreedom #horsesswimming

It was a good day @flagisupfarms for The Movement.

Alpine foals Saffron and Carlson have learned to g

Alpine foals Saffron and Carlson have learned to groom each other by watching the adults. These two foals were born at our Lompoc Sanctuary after they were rescued from an auction where they were being sent to slaughter. A special thanks to @allseatedinabarn and Salt River Wild Horse Management Group who helped Return to Freedom save them and their moms.
#wildhorseconservation #savewild #wildhorses #horsesofinstagram #wildhorsesofinstagram #sanctuary #returntofreedom #foals #foalfriday

The Movement June 21-23, @flagisupfarms @return

The Movement June 21-23,
@flagisupfarms

@returntofreedom @dutesco @monty_roberts @montyrobertslearningcenter @iamwildinc @iamwildglobal @iamwildllc

June 21-23

#buellton #california #wildhorseconservation #wildhorsesofinstagram #sanctuary #makeadifference #savewild #horsesofinstagram #returntofreedom #horsesofinstagram #wildontherange

Throw Back Thursday: Little Harlow was born April

Throw Back Thursday: Little Harlow was born April 25, 2022 at our Lompoc, Calif., headquarters sanctuary. Her mom Willow, a mare with roots in the Sulphur Herd Management Area in Utah, and Amante, a rare Cerbat stallion from Arizona. She has become such a beautiful and confident mare and still loves poeple.
Our sanctuary uses non-hormonal fertility control to allow stations and mares to live together in family bands while responsibly managing our numbers (Harlow is our second foal this year from among more than 450 wild horses and burros).
Some mares are non-responders to fertility control. Willow is somewhere in between, having had three foals in her 19 years.
#wildhorseconservation #savewild #wildhorses #wildhorsesofinstagram #horsesofinstagram #makeadifference #returntofreedom #foals #throwbackthursday

Enjoy the beauty and peace of watching wild horses

A few of our burros found the perfect place to nap

A few of our burros found the perfect place to nap and use the natural scratching posts at the San Luis Obispo Sanctuary. The burros will often spend their afternoons under the trees relaxing.
#wildhorseconservation #savewild #wildhorses #horsesofinstagram #wildhorsesofinstagram #wildhorseconservation #savewild #wildhorses #horsesofinstagram #wildhorsesofinstagram #sanctuary
#makeadifference #returntofreedom #burros #wildburro #wildburrorescue

Misun- surrounded by his family @returntofreedom ‘s wild horse conservancy.

In 2020 Misun, his family and larger herd community were rounded up and removed from their home range in Wyoming’s Red Desert. Thanks to photographers @megfrederickphotography and @angeliquerea , we were able to find Misun’s harem mares (and their foals born in holding), his mother, sister and brother - who all stayed together on the range- and reunite them !

Safe now - Happy Father’s Day Misun!

#wildhorses #wildhorseconservation #sanctuary #horse #makeadifference #savewild #wildontherange #horsesofinstagram #wildhorsesofinstagram #returntofreedom #wyoming

From the Range-Happy Foal Friday! A new little foa

From the Range-Happy Foal Friday! A new little foal at the waterhole with his mom and dad. He was so brave wading around in the water. Salt Wells Wyoming

video @megfrederickphotography

#wildontherange #wildhorseconservation #savewild #wildhorses #horsesofinstagram #wildhorsesofinstagram
#makeadifference #returntofreedom
#foalfriday #foal #saltwellswyoming #wyoming #wyominglife

Everyday all day it’s Foal Fun Day! In Decembe

@green4ema Grateful to share our hands-on work on

@green4ema
Grateful to share our hands-on work on behalf of wild horses and regenerative holistic land management & grazing solutions RESTORING DESERT TO GRASSLANDS. Panel moderated by @gwennmalick_ . RTF founder Neda DeMayo @returntofreedom and RTF Advisory Board member @RodgerSavory, founder of Savory Holistics shared the vital work and our progress with #regenerativelandmanagement #holisticgrazing #regenerativeagriculture
joined by Michael Nathanson rewilding america now.

Thank you to Debbie and Asher Levin and @green4ema Environmental Impact Summit , for your leadership and giving a diverse group of people a platform to share their voice and good work to benefit all and the planet.

Thank you to all panelists and moderators over the two days of the 2024 EMA Impact Summit! Here are a just a few pics from today!

@returntofreedom @rodgersavory @gwennmalick_ #michaelnathanson @youthvgov @kalalapawinter @teddanson

#wildhorses #wildhorseconservation #horses #savewild #conservation #education #youth #commonground ##regenerativefarming #regenerativeagriculture #regenerativegrazing #climatechange #grassland #rewildinghope #rewilding #wild #like #share

It’s mind blowing that this area has always been

It’s mind blowing that this area has always been a dirt dust bowl! By keeping the herd moving and resting areas long enough, the land is restoring itself!

Biomass created…listen to all the insects!

Video: joanna manly

#wildhorses #wildhorseconservation #sanctuary #wildontherange #landconservation #regenerativegrazing #restoration #regenerativefarming #holisticgrazing #sanctuary #makeadifference #savewild #horse #returntofreedom

@loriessencecaptured Featured Image for June 2024

@loriessencecaptured Featured Image for June 2024

“Dahlia and Cassidy”

Dahlia (on the left) affectionately touches her son, Cassidy, who looks over his shoulder in my direction. Dahlia was rounded up off of public land by the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) along with her 3 month old foal Rose, who was taken from her after the round up. Cassidy was born in the BLM holding corrals at Canon City, Colorado. These two, along with other members of their family band now live at Return to Freedom on a sanctuary in San Luis Obispo, roaming free.

The process of putting family bands back together can be tedious and time consuming, but RTF works hard to reunite as many as they can. Sanctuaries often work together, as they did in the case of this family, slowly moving them to their forever home, while allowing them to get their health back, and allowing the foals to get bigger before moving them the longer distances. The mares were skeletons when they were rescued from the holding corrals in 2022. They look fabulous and healthy now.

Join us at a future Return to Freedom Photo Safari to see and photograph these horses in a natural herd environment.

This image has been added to the Fine Art Gallery.
Image ©️ 2024 Lori Sortino
View past Images of the Month on Lori’s web site.

#lorisortino #essencecaptured #wildhorsesanctuary #horsephotosafari #visitslo #equinephotographyworkshops #equinefineartphotography #horseart #mustangsbefree #horses #fineartphotography #horsewallart #dahliaandcassidy

🔴 Learn more and take action! — The Bureau of

Meet Saffron! Already changing color and loosing b

Erika and April emerge from the cloud layer. Alway

Erika and April emerge from the cloud layer. Always an adventure walking with the herd @returntofreedom ‘s #wildhorse #sanctuary

Being near the sea creates a wonderful microclimate blanketing the ground with moisture all year long —-this really helps in California’s brittle environment.

video @megfrederickphotography

#wildhorses #wildhorseconservation #regenerativegrazing #holisticlandmanagement #regenerativeagriculture #sanctuary #horse #savewild #wildontherange #horsesofinstagram #walkwiththeherd #makeadifference #returntofreedom

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Return to Freedom (RTF) is a 501(c)3 national nonprofit wild horse conservation organization. RTF depends on the kind and generous donations of people like you to keep our wild horses and burros fed, as well as to continue our invaluable work in experiential education, legislation, lobbying, and hands-on rescue.

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To donate by check, please make your check payable to RETURN TO FREEDOM and mail it to: PO Box 926, Lompoc, CA 93438 USA. Thank you!

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