Fletcher Farms Amarillo

We have to tell y’all something we’ve been sitting on. 🎉

Last week, some of you helped us save a mare and her foal out of Oklahoma. What you didn’t know because we didn’t announce it here is what happened next.

The extra funds from that rescue went straight to bailing out a Belgian Draft and a Quarter Horse from the McLean kill pen. Two bonded souls, saved together.

And then we found one more we couldn’t leave behind: a BLM Jenny b***o with her foal still at her side. She wasn’t part of the plan. We didn’t budget for her. We asked our Patreon family to help us pull it off with barely any time to spare.
They did. All four of them the Belgian, the Quarter Horse, the Jenny, and her baby are home.

We wanted our whole Big Hoof family to know: this is what your support makes possible, even the support we haven’t had the chance to shout about yet. Four lives out of that kill pen, safe.

Four lives are safe. Now they need care to match.
Your gift today goes straight to feed, farrier, and vet care for the Belgian, the Quarter Horse, the Jenny b***o, and her foal.

👉 www.bighooffoundation.org

There’s a little filly on this farm who reminds us every single day why we do this work. Her name is Lady Deanna, and she came into the world without the one thing every foal needs most — her mama.

Losing her mother to colic could have been the end of her story. Instead, it was just the beginning. She’s been hand-raised, bottle by bottle, hour by hour, by hands that refused to let her go without love. And now? She’s thriving. She trots around like she owns this place.

Lady Deanna is proof that a rough start doesn’t have to define the rest of the story. She is loved, she is safe, and she is living her absolute best life.

Want to see more of her daily antics plus everything else happening on the farm? Join us on Patreon for daily updates!
http://www.patreon.com/fletcherfarmsamarillo817

There's a place I've dreamed of, and I get to live it every single day,
it's the sanctuary.

Out here, past the gate, past all the noise of the world, there's just the sound of hooves in the dirt and the slow, steady breathing of a herd that trusts me. This is where my mind finally quiets down. Where the weight I carry from the day gets set down for a minute, and I remember why we do this.

Every horse and donkey here found their way to us carrying something…fear, pain, exhaustion. And somehow, this place gives it back to them differently. Peace. Safety. Time to just be, without anyone asking anything of them.

I think that's the real gift of the sanctuary, not just for them, but for me too. It's the one place I can breathe.

If this place means something to you too, help us keep it standing for the ones who need it most.
👉 www.bighooffoundation.org

Some days, the best thing I can do is sit down in the middle of the pasture and just... be still.

Today that meant sitting with the view of Tristan, Sketch, Wayne, and Alex.
They all decided my lap and my personal space were fair game the second I got comfortable. Big curious noses everywhere, sniffing, nudging, checking if I'd brought snacks (I hadn't, and they let me know they were unimpressed).

There's something about sitting low with them, at their level instead of mine, that resets everything. No task list. No emergencies. Just horses being horses, and me remembering why we do this.

Moments like this are only possible because of the support that keeps this sanctuary running. If you'd like to help us keep showing up for them: www.bighooffoundation.org

They made it home!
The mare and her foal are safely here at the sanctuary, off the truck, hooves on soft ground, and finally, finally out of danger for good.

There are no words big enough for what it means to watch them step off that trailer knowing what they were pulled from. This is the moment every fundraiser, every share, every donation was for.

They're going to need time to settle in, decompress, and learn what safety feels like. We'll be sharing more as they find their footing here,
so stay close or join us on our Patreon page for more updates.

https://www.patreon.com/FletcherFarmsAmarillo817

Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, to everyone who came together to save these two lives. You did this.

www.bighooffoundation.org

People ask me sometimes why we do this. Why we drive hours to a kill pen, why we come home smelling like hay and heartbreak, why we keep saying yes when the barn is already full.

Here's the truth: every horse standing in that pen was somebody's once. Somebody rode them. Somebody loved them, or should have. And then life happened…an owner got sick, a farm got sold, a horse got old or lame or just inconvenient and they ended up on a truck bound for slaughter with no idea why the world turned on them.

We can't save every horse, I wish we could. But we can look one in the eye, feel that impossible weight of hot breath and hope on our shoulder, and say not you. Not today. You're coming home.

That's what Big Hoof Foundation is. It's not just rescue. It's the promise that a horse who gave everything to somebody, somewhere, gets to end their story instead of a trailer. It's watching a senior horse who flinched at every hand, learning that hands can be gentle.

Every single one of our 200+ horses and donkeys has that story underneath them, even the quiet ones grazing like nothing ever happened. Especially the quiet ones.
This is why we keep going. This is why we need you too.

If this moved you even a little, that's the whole point because that feeling is exactly why these horses deserve a chance.

Come be part of it: www.bighooffoundation.org

Some days are just heavy. I don't always know why maybe it's just life. But there's one thing that never fails to pull me back to center: walking out to the pasture and being with the herd.

There's something about leaning into a 2,000-pound draft horse who just... stands there with you. No judgment. No advice. Just quiet, steady presence. Whether it's burying my face in a horses neck or watching the horses graze like nothing in the world could rattle them, the horses have this way of reminding me that everything is going to be okay.

They don't know they're doing it. They're just being horses. But for me, it's therapy I can't get anywhere else.
If you've ever had an animal pull you out of a dark moment, you know exactly what I mean.

Come meet the herd that keeps saving me right back → www.bighooffoundation.org