TIERRA MADRE HORSE SANCTUARY, a 501(c)(3) non-profit charity, is simply a very nice, very loving home for horses who, through no fault of their own, have no better place to go. Good food, good care, a lot of room, a lot of love and understanding and a lot of treats – a place where horses can enjoy being horses. No pressure to perform just to assuage fragile human egos.
What started out as a boarding stable has evolved into Tierra Madre Horse Sanctuary more by chance than by design. Because we had a little extra space now and then, homeless horses began finding their way here. A half-blind Quarter Horse, a young Thoroughbred who had broken his knee in a race, and ex-trail string horse, a horse so abused he wouldn’t let a human touch him for months, a couple of show horses that had outlived their “usefulness” - they began trickling in one at a time. Basically, because I knew that no one would take better care of them than I would.
One day, I was talking to my good friend Holly Marino, who runs The Horse Rescue of North Scottsdale (AZ). In a moment of weakness, I was lamenting that so much of my time and energy and funds were being taken up by my rescued horses that I had little time to work with my boarded horses and their humans.
Holly said, “But, Jim, you’re all they’ve got.”
And that did it right there.
It made me realize that my real gift is that of loving and caring for horses that have had some lousy breaks along the way. Maybe they’ve been shuffled between humans too many times. Maybe they’ve been injured. Or abused. Maybe they’ve just been misunderstood by those unwilling or unable to try.
Doesn’t really matter, does it? What matters is that they need me and I need them.
And my own personal belief is that in the Great Circle of Life our lives were meant to intersect at a certain place at a certain time. Tierra Madre Horse Sanctuary is that place and now is that time.
And we’re all having a ball.
~Jim Gath
We’re located in an unincorporated part of Maricopa County, Arizona, situated between Phoenix and Cave Creek (although we have a Cave Creek mailing address).
Situated on just under three acres, we presently have the capacity to house about 30 horses and we generally run at or just under that number.
We have one very large field that presently holds ten horses and several large paddocks or pens, all with good shade and water. Our barn has five large ‘in-n-outs’, each featuring an inside stall with an open gate leading into a large outdoor pen. We also have seven oversized covered pipe stalls, four singles and three doubles. The barn and pipe stalls are equipped with self-waterers and the field and paddocks have large water tanks that are cleaned and filled each day.
We have a large, deep arena that is in constant use, either by riders or by the horses who are turned out to run around almost every day of the week. Adjacent to the arena is a large, padded round pen.
We’re on a dirt road and all the roads to our west are dirt and the state land trails are but a short ride away.
Each horse is fed a minimum of three times a day, plus a full complement of daily, weekly and monthly supplements. Oh, and treats galore.
We care for cuts and bruises, sore legs and feet, infections and a myriad of problems, including complete rehabilitation of major injuries suffered on the race track or somewhere else along the line. We have one of the nation’s best equine veterinarians a simple phone call away.
Our facilities are modest and unassuming. “Tierra Madre” is Spanish for “Mother Earth”, so we do our best to keep our desert home as natural as possible. In addition to the horses, Tierra Madre Horse Sanctuary is home to hundreds of rabbits, prarie dogs, lizards, quail and other birds. Oh, and my dog, Mikey. Afternoon feeding time generally means fine pickings for hundreds of birds. We even have a couple of resident mice, who do their best to stay out of sight.
We have ample space to put in additional fields and paddocks to give more horses a great home and it is our sincere wish to do so when the timing is right. And the universe will let us know when that time comes.
