Richard W. Rodriguez
Not far from where the Chisholm Trail Parkway and County Road 913 meet is a refuge where time slows and peace returns to the weary and wounded.
This is the 33 acres of the Humane Society of North Texas’ Equine Ranch Program in, aptly, Joshua, just a short drive from town down the tollway. Here, horses who have suffered abandonment or neglect are rescued and adopted out as companion horses to forever homes.
Just as Joshua led the Israelites from wandering into a promised land, the equine ranch leads neglected or mistreated horses from hardship into safety — their own promised land.
Most of the 80-100 horses sent here are older — more than 20 years — with a well-earned retirement their entitlement. Almost all here — there are 23 currently — have been removed from their former homes by law enforcement because of cruelty or surrendered voluntarily by families who can no longer afford to care for them. In addition, many come here with illness.
This is the largest such facility in North Texas.
Autumn is in a pen nearby, the newest arrival at the ranch. Hunger has carved its signature where muscle used to dwell, but her spirit has clearly returned. Her disposition is happy. Another curious horse walks toward us to say hello. Autumn ambles over to greet her new friend.
Autumn knows she is in a safe haven where she no longer has to worry about where her next meal or drink of water will come from. She grows confident each day that this is not only a second chance at life but her best chance to live well.
She knows she can trust again. She knows she will be loved here.
Since launching in 2015, the Humane Society of North Texas has rescued, rehabilitated, and rehomed more than 1,000 horses as companions.
Richard W. Rodriguez
Wonderful things happen here. It’s all about relationships made between man and horse, and horse and horse. Horses are amazing beasts, a gift from the Almighty to be in service to mankind, even though he doesn’t deserve it.
Longtime horse trainer Steve Stevens is the equine director, while his wife, Amanda, is the head trainer.
Nonprofit equine rescue is a vocation they’ve been at for eight years. They were inspired to do this after Amanda’s cancer diagnosis “with a very poor prognosis” 11 years ago.
“The horses saved her life,” says Steve. “We truly believe that. And from that kind of point on, we wanted to make our mission to really help these horses that have given humans so much.”
Amanda explains further: “I found that through my experience going through my treatment for breast cancer and even into my survivorship, dealing with all of the anxiety and PTS that I went through, that nothing really unlocked my emotions the way the horses did. I had two babies that I was raising, so I always had to be strong during the day. But the horses were the one thing where all of a sudden I could just cry and be myself. Horses don’t judge us. They just want to connect. They can offer this companionship to humans and peaceful interactions. They’re wonderful creatures in helping us get into the moment and let everything else go away.”
The ranch in Johnson County is outfitted with an 11-stall barn, covered arena, four quarantine pens, multiple pastures, and storage facilities. The Humane Society has been at this site for 10 years.
Between January 2023 and August of this year, the Humane Society placed 180 horses and donkeys into homes. If, for some reason, the new home doesn’t work, the ranch will gladly take the horses back. That, Steve says, has happened fewer than a handful of times since he and his wife arrived three years ago. The average stay here is 92 days.
“What’s more important than length of stay, which is important, is getting the horse to a good place,” says Andrew Fortunato, HSNT vice president of development. “They’re fully healthy physically, they’revaccinated and chipped and doing all the things that make the horse adoptable. And so they can be successful.”
This work is expensive, of course. HSNT operates the ranch through donors and grants. The organization is launching a $15 million fundraising campaign, structured in three strategic phases, which includes expanding pastures and building a “barndominium” to provide space for education, events, and on-site accommodations, strengthening both community engagement and operational capacity.
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Many donate and adopt.
“A lot of that has to do with the amazing state of Texas,” Steve says. “A lot of people love horses and have the property to take ‘em in. Maybe their other horse lost their companion, so they’re looking for a companion for their horse.”
The horses are sent off with a foundational program, a series of basic exercises that HSNT makes sure the new homes know. With horses that might be younger, “we find people that are qualified to continue with their process.”
Takoda is a great example of the work done here. A “beautiful” white Appaloosa, Takoda was a cruelty case who arrived here by way of law enforcement. He was skin and bones and blind in both eyes. He was so weak, he could barely walk. He eventually had both eyes surgically removed.
“The gentleman who hauled him to us said he didn’t think Takoda was going to make it,” says Amanda.
Takoda, though, did make it, demonstrating a will to live and get better. Like all the horses here, there is an intake procedure that includes a vet visit.
“Once he got into the stall and started eating … I feel like it was just a few bites,” Amanda says, “all of a sudden his head lifted up. He started to nicker and whinny.”
It was as if he was again finding his voice.
“You could just feel that he was just so relieved to have some food. It makes me want to cry,” Amanda says. “And once he started to put on the weight, we found that he was so affectionate to people and so loving and gentle. He was just a gentle giant.”
Most importantly, Takoda found a best friend. Jack Black took Takoda under his wing. To this day, Jack Black leads Takoda around the barn and pasture. That relationship was why they couldn’t be separated. They had to be adopted together. And they were. Steve shows me a video of the first day the two spent at their adopted home, in Central Texas, I believe he told me.
“This is literally their first time in the pasture,” says Steve. “And you can see, although he’s fully blind, he knows how to follow Jack.”
Says Amanda: “He’s continuing to touch lives every day. He’s one of the most content, happy horses I’ve ever met. And I’ve known a lot of horses.”
