Current projects

The mustangs have officially been with us for a week! Quite a lot of progress has been made with their handling. All horses will take food from out hand and three of the four can be touched on the nose. We are beginning to understand the horses' individual personalities which have become apparent while training them. 

Bonidy (Appy Mare) is the most trusting of the four. We could almost immediately feed her and touch her nose when she arrived. She was the first horse in a training session where Matt was able to touch all over her head and neck. Bonidy arrived with a halter and severed lead rope, so perhaps she had prior handling. After an hour of working with her, she trusted Matt to cut the rope halter off with a pair of scissors. Bonidy remains the most friendly and trusting of people, so we are hoping to see even further progress with her in the next week.

Carbone (Buckskin Gelding) has also made great progress this week. He is always the first horse in the round pen where the training happens. He will willingly accept food and is beginning to tolerate touch to his face. He is still quite nervous and unsure of people, but he is showing interested in trusting us. 

Dragon (Grey Gelding) has shown interest in us during feeding time. He will approach us to eat hay from our hand. Dragon had his first training session but unfortunately sustained an injury from trying to jump the gate. We are giving him his space while his leg fully heals and will continue to work with hand feeding him.

Bolding (Black Gelding) is the most untrusting of the horses. He is incredibly stubborn and is the only horse we are unable to touch. While the other horses could be touched in about an hour of training, Bolding will only tolerate a touch from the training whip on his nose. He is incredibly intelligent and understands what is being asked of him, but he will be the most challenging horse to tame. We are confident that with patience and perseverance, he will become an excellent horse.

February 1st, 2025 was a very exciting day for the Righteous Life Rescue Ranch: The first four wild mustangs arrived at our facility. All of these horses were part of round ups purchased from the Navajo nation and diverted from kill buyers. Luckily, they found safety at the Moon Mountain Sanctuary in Arkansas. Matt drove made the 30-hour round trip to transport the horses back to North Carolina where they will begin their training at the ranch. All of the horses will be trail mounts for veterans with PTSD once they graduate from their training. The process will be long, as the horses cannot even be touched yet.

These mustangs are an incredible start to the ranch and many more wild horses lives to be saved. It is only fitting they are named after some remarkable people:

Bolding (Black Gelding): Bolding was a brother Matt served with and was killed in action

"Dragon" (Grey Gelding): Lost his life to suicide

Carbone (Buckskin Gelding): Matt's first leader in the Marines who passed away in July 2024.

Bonidy (Appy Mare): Dedicated to our dear friends, Tab and Debbie Bonidy, who graciously donated the land the ranch is getting started on. 

We will be looking for sponsors for each of these horses to support their care and training. You can visit Our Animals Page to follow their individual updates.

https://www.zeffy.com/donation-form/donate-to-save-wild-mustang-horses-and-death-row-dogs

December 20th, 2024 was a big day for the Righteous Life Rescue Ranch. Our first rescued wild mustang "Sigured" (Sig for short) found his forever home with veteran Josh Warren in Kentucky. Sig was part of a large round up purchased from the Navajo nation and diverted from kill buyers. He was among a group of 50 horses organized by Dawn Olivieri and her rescue, the Moon Mountain Sanctuary. 

Despite being less than 30 days out of the wild, Sig loaded into a trailer and traveled 15 hours from Arkansas to Kentucky. He is incredibly gentle-natured for a wild horse and is already starting the process of trusting humans. Sig is in great hands with Josh, an experienced horseman, who will train him from scratch. Sig's expenses will be ongoing and provided all by the RLRR. We are turning to sponsors and donations to help with this special boy's every day care. Please visit Our Animals page or follow the link below.

The Righteous Life Rescue Ranch is currently being started on a small scale. 10 Acres have been graciously donated by the Bonidys to help get the rescue process started. A 60x20 paddock with an attached round pen has recently been completed in preparation for the first 4 mustangs to reside at the ranch. 6-foot livestock panels were used to ensure the mustangs cannot jump the fence. The final steps will be constructing a 10x20 shelter that can accommodate 4 horses as well as proper footing to ensure the horses' hooves can stay out of the mud. These projects are on schedule to be completed in the next week. 

Donors for these materials were in place, but many fell through after the hurricane. We were still determined to make progress for the ranch, so all of the building supplies have been funded by us personally. We are looking for donors once the mustangs arrive to help reimburse these costs as well as for future building projects.

Beyond the work of the ranch, the RLRR is dedicated to helping veterans in need. A Marine brother Matt served with is facing difficult times going through a divorce. He has had to relocate into an apartment and start fresh while caring for his young son.  He was in desperate need of a washer and dryer for his new place, so the Righteous Life Rescue Ranch called local appliance stores in the Groton, Connecticut area. Several stores turned the donation down or did not call back until we reached Shore Appliances. A kind young woman named Lillian answered the phone and was determined to help to cause after hearing the veteran's story. After a talk with her supervisor, Tara, we received a call back from Lillian that Shore Appliances would gladly donate a brand new GE washer and dryer to the veteran in need. We are in awe of Shore Appliance's generosity and highly recommend them to any one in the area. 

 Shop appliances and appliance repair in Connecticut | Shore, Hallocks & Morrone Appliances | Clinton, CT