The Horses

Dixie doing her part to remove non-native mustard!


Dixie is a beautiful, smart and sweet lady. She has worked with veterans doing therapeutic riding and is always gentle under the saddle. Her favorite things are mints and a nice roll. When she does her back legs go straight up in the air! She also loves her special shoes for when she goes out on trail, we call them her tennies!

Dixie is loved and generously shared with Helping Hoof by Nicole Winner.

Miss Ruby getting her trail and braid on!


Ruby is a contemplative and dignified mare. She used to work in a rental string of horses but now enjoys a much slower paced life! As a lady of a certain age, Ruby has a lot of horse wisdom to share with people who open their hearts to her!

Ruby is loved and generously shared with Helping Hoof by Nicole Winner.

Hajime looking oh so pretty

Meet Hajime, a formerly wild Sulphur HMA mustang Kuniko adopted as a yearling. While we wish she was still wild and free with her family, Kuniko felt strongly that if she ever got a horse of her own, they would be a mustang. Often mustangs and donkeys, after losing their freedom through the traumatic round up, are stuck in holding facilities (equine jail) for the rest of their lives, which can be over 30 years. They might be adopted only to be sold to slaughter by unscrupulous humans looking to make easy money. They might be adopted and abused, neglected or broken instead of being started or gentled. And, even if they win the mustang lottery and end up with a kind human who wants to love and care for them, they might end up with someone who doesn’t know how to work with a wild horse and they can be labeled as unmanageable and dangerous. From there they can be passed around with trauma layering on top of trauma. In the end they might end up in a kill pen or being put down. The prospects are bleak to say the least.
With the help of Adiane Dewolfe, Kuniko is working with Hajime to be safe and comfortable in a domestic setting using positive reinforcement and she will never know pain, pressure or fear as a “training tool”.

One of many loving moments with Suede


Sadly, our sweet Suede left this world, we miss him so much and are so grateful for the time we got to share with him. Suede had the biggest heart of any horse we knew! He was a Primitive Dunn which means he had tiger stripes on his legs, which we thought was very, very cool. And, though he had those stripes, he was most snugly! So much so, that a young friend who doesn’t speak with words very often told Kuniko, “Go Suede” so he could go and get some love!

Suede was loved and generously shared with Helping Hoof by Nicole Winner.