April Campfire

THIS SATURDAY APRIL 8th
SWB Mustang
Adoption Day at GEMS
9am-noon
BLM will be onsite to host the event,
bring your trailers!

• Adopters must be onsite and present to participate in the silent auction
• BLM will be able to approve adoption applications until 10:45am
• Adopters wishing to participate in the silent auction must pick up their bidder number prior to 11am that day, from the BLM booth at GEMS
• Silent auction will begin at 11am and promptly end at 11:30am
• GEMS will be able to provide overnight accommodations for out of town adopters, contact GEMS for more information:info@greatescapesanctuary.org
• Meet the horses at GEMS beginning Monday, April 3rd (open daily from 10am-noon)

If you have any thoughts about adopting, make sure that you get your adoption paperwork completed and returned to the BLM. Note “Sand Wash” on the top of your adoption application. You will need to be pre-approved by the BLM and onsite at the adoption event to bid on a horse. Visit our website for more information and links you’ll need to get the process rolling.

If you cannot adopt, yet would like to support our work, you can donate here. 

Saturday September 2nd
10am-3pm
Application Deadline: May 5th

The Great Escape Mustang Sanctuary is hosting a TIP Challenge in conjunction with the Mustang Heritage Foundation and the BLM. Participants will compete in different challenges all in the spirit of promoting adoptions through showcasing the value and trainability of these national treasures!

* In order to compete each trainer must go through the application process and be approved
* Horses that are adopted for this event are the only ones eligible to compete for buckles, awards and prize money
* Application deadline is MAY 5, 2017
* We have 2 divisions: Youth (ages 8-17) and Adult (ages 18 and over) *youth will participate with 12-24mo old Mustangs
* You do not need to be a current TIP trainer to participate and compete in this event
* All work will be in-hand only
* Trainers will care for and train the horse until the competition & will be reimbursed $200 for the care of your Mustang
* Trainers will compete in the following in-hand classes: Conditioning and Handling,Trail & Freestyle
* We will host a reassignment adoption directly following the competition for those wanting to reassign their horse

Interested or have questions? Contact us:storefront@greatescapesanctuary.org

GEMS & 4H
GEMS is partnering with BLM on yet another exciting opportunity! This time for Boulder County youth…

This past month we had our first mini-clinic with Jessica Dabkowski of Pony Peak Stangmanship to kick off our new Boulder County 4-H club, Spirits of the West, sponsored by The Great Escape Mustang Sanctuary and Rocky Mountain Equi-Rhythm.  This program involves 20 children learning how to gentle their new untouched, untrained Mustang weanlings, who will all be available for adoption after training, at the Boulder County Fair at the end of July.  Stay tuned for their progress!

Thank you to Bureau of Land Management – Colorado for the collaboration on yet another wonderful project for the mustangs.

For her 6th birthday, Radhika’s mother gave her a copy of “The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses”. This sealed the love affair that had begun a few months earlier when she had her first riding lesson. It wasn’t until the age of 36 that she finally got her first horse. The years between that first lesson and her first horse were spent building highly successful ventures in both business and non-profit work.

Karen Scholl became her first horsemanship mentor. This set her on a path of adopting and studying a psychology based approach to interacting, riding, and training horses. Shaping her journey was the care of her first horse, Hank; a grade appendix quarter horse gelding, who came with a slew of physical problems, and a gentle, special quality about him that evoked compassion in everyone he met. On the path to helping Hank’s physical state improve, she discovered the value of and her passion for, equine bodywork. She started Balanced Equine, a body-work and holistic practice for wellness and performance. She has Studied Masterson Method as well as under several other practitioners to create a whole-horse approach to physical care. Her bodywork clients include horses of all disciplines and breeds.

In 2015 Radhika decided to make a major life shift. She sold her very successful business in order to spend more time with her horses, and seek a more horse-centric career. She adopted first Mustang through GEMS in October 2016, and fell in sync with the mission and the passions of the people behind the mission. She is now combining her experiences, business acumen, and love of horses as the Program Director for GEMS.