Places of Hope

This all started with a magazine article I wrote about animal sanctuaries for Yellowscene magazine, a Colorado publication. The article covered several local sanctuaries, but I did miss a few. Michelle Sander the Director of Great Escapes Mustang Sanctuary called the editor asking why we hadn’t included them. I called her and told her that they had not shown up on my Google search.

She was so sincere and so disappointed, I decided to write an article about her sanctuary and marketed it to other magazines. It was published in Boulder (CO) Magazine.

On my visit two years ago, I had a close encounter with a band of wild horses on the property. I was out for my morning walk, and the band was heading for water. The horses were silhouetted against the rising sun. It was breathtaking. As they came closer, three horses broke off and came toward me.

I was transfixed.

The Roan mare came and sniffed me from toe to head. She then presented her neck for me to stroke. I was amazed. She must have told the other two horses that I was safe because they came over and let me stroke them.

I was surrounded by wild horses.

I was not the least bit afraid because I knew that these were gentle creatures who were curious about me, as I was about them. I was transported.

Later Michelle told me that this just doesn’t happen. The band stays away from people. I was honored.

This experience led me to visit other sanctuaries with the intention of writing a book.

As our video filming goes on, I will write a chapter for each sanctuary and elaborate on the individual animals we profile. These chapters will form my book exploring the place of animals in our society. The working title is Places of Hope: Animal Survivors and the People Who Saved Them.

The journey has just begun.

Please subscribe below to be kept up to date with my teams’s sanctuary visits, new videos, the nonprofit, and book updates.