Alicia Goetz took her own money and purchased 3,800 acres of land in San Benito County, California to save hundreds of horses. She decided to do this after hearing the statistic that 100,000 horses are slaughtered each year and that triggered a feeling inside Alicia to do something about it.
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So she bought the land, built a ranch, and called it Freedom Reigns Equine Sanctuary. Within the first year of getting the ranch setup, she rescued over 150 horses that were on feeding lots about to be slaughtered. Now those horses roam free over the grassy hills and along with 350 additional horses that she gathered over the course of the next four years.
The horse population at Freedom Reigns is over 500 strong now and one of the reasons it grew so fast is because many times when she would rescue one horse, she’d end up rescuing two or three, or the whole family. She says she only takes a baby horse if the mom can come with it too because she says the mom teaches the foal how to be a horse.
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All the horses are properly fed and cared for and she brings them in twice a year for check-ups, to get their shots and make sure their feet are good. Other than that, they are mostly untouched and on their own in the fields as they would be naturally in the wild.
Alicia says in the YouTube video below, “Saving one horse will not change the world, but it will change the world for that one horse. I can’t rescue them all but the ones that I rescue I can guarantee they’re gonna have a good life.”