TIME TO CELEBRATE!

June 2003

Dear Friend,

We told you in our last letter the miraculous news of the commitment from the James Family Foundation to make it possible for us purchase some of the grazing land here in Shingletown. I've been waiting to write this letter until I could tell you that the purchase is complete and escrow has closed. On June 16th the land was titled to the Wild Horse Sanctuary! We only wish the sale could have been completed sooner, but we couldn't be happier! Again, we thank everyone who helped us realize this longed for dream come true!!!

And--we have more wonderful, incredible news! Just after I wrote to tell you about our ability to purchase part of our land, we were contacted by a wonderful woman, henceforth referred to as our conservation partner, who wanted to help us buy the remaining 2800 acres that had been the horses' home for the past 20 years. A land developer had already made an offer to buy the 2800 acres the horses needed and it was being considered by the owners.

In spite of there being an existing offer on the land, our conservation partner began the negotiations in early January to buy this land for the horses and the Sanctuary to use. I couldn't write until I knew the final outcome. Now I can share the news. On June 20th that escrow closed and the horses will be able to go back out and graze all the land that has been their home for so many years!!!!!!

Saturday, June 28th, we opened the gates and let the horses out of the holding field they had been waiting in since our lease ran out last December! Even as I write, it's hard to believe it's really all happened. So many people have worked so hard. So many horses need their home. I continue to get calls every week about horses that need to be returned to freedom. Now we can continue our rescues and all the other programs that have helped wild horses and educated children and adults down through the years.

Though I haven't written for awhile, we have not been idle. The trail rides began in May and during that month we hosted a group of travel writers from the United Kingdom. We'll share whatever articles they may write as we receive them. Also California Heartland, a PBS program, filmed a segment on the Sanctuary in June. We don't know yet when it will air, so watch for it in your local programming. One of our trail rider writers will have an article on us in the Weekend Getaway section of the LA Times in July.

We have six interns again this year from universities as far away as N.Y. We're grateful for their help in caring for and training some of our horses.

We're now using two of our wild "babies" on the trail. Pathfinder is now 12 years old (born at the Sanctuary and bottle fed after being orphaned) and Cloud, a beautiful black and while paint, is four. We're also repairing and painting fences as well as doing a multitude of general maintenance tasks.

We're all so thrilled that the horses can remain on the only home they know. We want to celebrate this momentous year with an Open House Celebration on August 23rd. We're inviting everyone to please come celebrate with us from noon until 7 p.m. All the festivities will be sponsored by local businesses and we'll have a BBQ and barn dance with exhibits, a silent auction, saddle raffle and much, much more! Please mark your calendar and let us know if you plan to attend or if you have questions.

The horses look beautiful and we have over 40 foals so far this year. It looks like most of the mares have foaled, but we may have a few still due.

The creeks and the hills are dry again, so, of course, we're feeding hay now.

The land purchase doesn't ease our budget strains. The funds raised for our land purchase were just enough to cover those expenses. We will enter a new lease with our conservation partner and continue fund-raising so we can purchase from her in the next few years. More about that in a future letter. For now, we want to celebrate and express our gratitude to everyone who has helped this Sanctuary exist.

Please continue to be a part of our future as you have been a part of our past. Without you the Sanctuary couldn't succeed. You make our success possible--we can never thank you enough!

Warmest regards,
Dianne Nelson

P.S. Your contribution makes life possible for the wild horses here at the Sanctuary--Please continue to help with any amount you can.

Wild Horse Sanctuary
P.O. Box 30
Shingletown, CA
96088-0030
(530) 335-2241

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