Pick of the herd.

WIN continues to lease 2,000 acres of rolling grassy hills in Utah—we have 100 mares there, grazing in 400 acre pastures. Once a pasture is eaten down, the horses are moved to the next pasture. Moving the horses to Utah has helped financially. Horses can graze for $3,000 a month while it's warm.

During the winter, feed is $6,000 a month. WIN currently feeds the rescued horses a mixture of alfalfa and oat hay at an average of 150 $12-dollar bales a week or about $7200 a month per 100 horses. Grazing horses in Utah will allow WIN to concentrate on their many mothers with foals.

Many skilled and knowledgeable people from throughout the horse community have donated their time and knowledge to help care for the horses and raise the continuous flow of money required for their upkeep.

This is Sage. While horses naturally pair up for companionship, she's been a loner since losing her partner to maltreatment and starvation last year.

We call this pair Wind and Rain, good friends that who rarely are apart. Sadly, Rain's baby horse was killed in the original horse roundup in Nevada.

Willow is a gentle but gritty mare. She was near death after fighting through brush and nettles in the Nevada roundup (you can see some of the scars).

Some of the newly arrived Mustangs. This herd was moved off of their homelands in Nevada's Virginia Range after the government ruled that they did not meet certain Federal protection standards.

After helping to manage such a large herd, we've noticed that the horses often seem to bond by color, as you can see from this photo.

Meet Oak (right), Olive (center) and Pete (left). Pete lost his mother early on to mistreatment, but he didn't waste much time bonding with Olive and Oak. The trio is seems quite happy together.

Part of the Dann sister herd. Each horse eats about one bale of hay per week; multiply that by 700 horses, at $10 per bale, and you can see why our need for support is so pressing.

The need for water is enormous, as well. Our horses typically drink 20 gallons per day per horse, about 1400 gallons daily.

We've named this powerful, proud horse King.

Blaze is one of the most intelligent horses in the herd, and certainly the most curious. She followed us all day while we were shooting these images, very curious about what exactly we were up to.

Powder is a remarkable animal, and one of the herd's leaders. Upon arriving with a dozen other horses, Powder was the first off the large trailer; she took a moment to explore their new temporary home near Lake Casitas, then, satisfied, she returned to the trailer to lead the rest of the horses out.

This baby is Raven, who rarely leaves her mother's side.

Randy and friends at play.

Thunder is one of our gentlest animals. So gentle, in fact, he doesn't mind giving a ride to the small bird perched on his back.

Blaze (the endlessly curious one), Sunny and adopted son Randy pose for a portrait.

Powder and friends -- another example of how our horses often bond by color or pattern.

These stallions were originally from the Dann herd in Nevada, and they're some of the newest additions to the WIN herd.

Wildhorses genuinely needs your support. — Every little bit counts.

Wildhorses in Need  •  P.O. Box 208  •  Ojai, CA 93024; 805-649-1321
contact@wildhorsesinneed.org