Holiday Hope for Jack: A Mustang Ready for a Fresh Start
The following is from All About Equine Animal Rescue:
It’s hard to believe we’re already approaching the mid-point of December! We hope these daily stories have added a little warmth to your inbox this season. From rescues to adoptions, quiet triumphs to hard-won progress, each update is a reminder of the hope you help bring to every horse who enters our care. Thank you for reading, and for walking through this month of stories with us.
JACK
Jack arrived at AAE in February 2021 alongside his longtime companion, Nash. A striking mustang born around 2008, he spent many of his years at a struggling sanctuary that eventually fell into crisis, prompting law-enforcement involvement and removal of all the horses on the property. After six years at the sanctuary, Jack had never been haltered or handled. He learned well how to avoid and evade humans. He shared a few acres with a mixed herd of horses and two donkeys and was known as an easygoing, middle-of-the-pack kind of guy. We were told he originally came from a tribal reservation, once owned by the Chief, but beyond that, his history remains mostly unknown.
From the moment he arrived, Jack showed us two things: a gentle disposition and a very clear and firm personal bubble. He was comfortable being near people, but not too close. Once that invisible line was crossed, especially in tight spaces, his confidence evaporated, and he became highly reactive.
Not long after quarantine, Jack entered a five-day workshop with Patrick Sullivan of Modern Day Horsemanship. He made meaningful progress and accepted touch with minimal stress, but haltering was still out of reach. He later spent some time at the Monty Roberts International Learning Center as a project horse for their wild horse gentling program. There, he continued to be challenging to halter, but once haltered, he allowed full-body handling. The initial touch with each interaction was the hardest part for Jack, like 4,985 first dates.
Back at AAE, Jack received the care he had long needed: hoof and dental work, vaccines, deworming, and microchipping. Since then, his hands-on work has continued in small steps. He can now be haltered in a confined area and genuinely tries to be brave, but trust is still a concern and doesn’t come easily for him. He accepts touch, though it’s clear he doesn’t yet welcome it. His bubble is slowly shrinking, but it’s progress! Jack is a horse who will need time, maybe a lot of it, and he may or may not become a reliable riding partner in the future. Your patience and commitment to developing a trusting relationship will tell.
Jack is available to someone with substantial mustang experience and at least one other horse; one that is calm, confident, and social. Considering he was a free-roaming mustang for years, and he has enjoyed life in a large pasture since landing at AAE, housing at home in a large pasture environment with a small paddock/roundpen for continuing groundwork is ideal. He’s not a good candidate for a boarding facility. His person should have a relationship over riding agenda, with greatest interest in developing a bond with this handsome guy and helping Jack build confidence and trust in humans. He’s got an incredibly gentle soul!
If you have the experience, patience, and compassion to guide a once-free Mustang toward a new chapter, Jack may be the horse you’ve been searching for. Please take a moment to complete this form and a member of our team will reach out.