For over 20 years, Edgewood has been the home for a non-profit organization that has been working to help better the lives of horses all around the state.
Walkin N’ Circles Ranch is a New Mexico Horse rescue that works to rehabilitate, train and find adoptive homes for abandoned, abused and neglected equines. Even though horses are the majority of rescues received and cared for, they also take in donkeys and mules. In 2023,Walkin N’ Circles rescued 41 horses and donkeys and found adoptive homes for 26.
Many of the equines received by the rescue have been seized by the New Mexico Livestock Board. “The New Mexico livestock board takes horses that have been abandoned or abused or neglected in some way,” said Lauri Micheal, Board President of New Mexico Horse Rescue at Walkin N Circles Ranch. The ranch will also take in equines that were surrendered by the owner.
Once the rescue receives an equine, they start the process of training and rehabilitating the animal so they can work towards being able to rehome the horse.
For the trainers at Walkin N’ Circles, the process starts with earning trust from the equine and also having the trainer learn to trust the horse.. “It’s a lot about getting the horse to understand that it needs to respect my space and my cues,” said Colton Smyth, Lead Trainer at New Mexico Horse Rescue at Walkin N’ Circles Ranch.
A lot of the training process also comes from the sense of herd mentality within the horses. The trainers will watch the horses in herds, see how they interact with other horses and build their training concepts off of that horse to be able to train them to their best way for that specific horse. “My goal is to establish myself as the leader of the herd, and then work with the horse to really trust or respect me, and then be able to pass that on to our volunteers,” said Smyth.
Once the horse is ready, it is then passed on to one of the volunteers at the rescue to continue working with the horse. A big part of what helps Walkin N’ Circles to be able to operate and work with all these horses is from the help of their volunteers.
The training for volunteers starts with talking classes taught by the rescue’s lead trainer or assistant trainer. “Both of us to train the volunteers and our base level classes, we have 4 main classes that they’ll go through,” said Smyth.
In the first two classes, volunteers will learn the basics of how to lead a horse, groom a horse and how to safely be around a horse. The third class will teach volunteers how to move a horse forward, backward, sideways, diagonally, and all their body parts independently. Finally for their last class, the volunteers will be shown the process of saddle training the horse and the process of training a completely wild horse, because it not uncommon to the rescue to receive a feral horse, but no matter what the Executive Director and trainers at the horse rescue will always make sure to work with the volunteers are regularly as possible.
The team and volunteers are a huge part of how the horse rescue is able to do what they do, however they still need funding to be able to give the animals that come in the proper care that they need.
The rescue does not receive any government funding; all of their income comes from donors, sponsors, legacy gifts, endowments, trusts, grants and the Walkin N’ Circles Ranch Thrift Store 8 George Ct, in Edgewood. The thrift store operated by the nonprofit is currently the rescue’s only predictable and ongoing source of income. “They generate nearly 40% of our operating income, which allows us to continue to save these horses,” said Michael.
The rescue along with the thrift store are constantly taking donations to be able to keep rehabilitating these animals to be able to rehome them for a better life. The thrift store accepts donations of horse tack, furniture, clothing, shoes, artwork, kitchen items, books, and more. They are open Tuesday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Visit wncr.org/donate to make a donation directly.