We Ride Sport and Trail Magazine April 2017 | Page 18

18 / Sport and Trail Magazine

are ending up in the slaughter pipeline, shipping to death in Canada and Mexico.

And so, Skydog Sanctuary was born. Starting at her ranch in Calabasas, California with five horses and then spreading to another ranch in Malibu with more land, Clare realized that to save more horses, she was going to need a lot more land!

Skydog Ranch near Bend, Oregon is 9000 acres of heaven for horses. “These horses are special and people change spending time with them. They are both teachers and healers”, Clare says, gazing lovingly at the horses around her. “I spent a lot of years volunteering at various rescues and sanctuaries around the LA area and saw for myself the healing taking place. Both in the people who worked or volunteered there and through the different programs run to help veterans with PTSD or addicts in rehabilitation or sober living programs. It was incredible, the profound insights and shifts damaged people were having by interacting with these wild horses.”

Sheldon making an effort to trust, while mother Sooty (dun in rear), and Winter (paint) look on

Clare Staples with her riding horse, Buddy, a palomino mustang