The Kind of Yes That Lasts
There is a version of rescue that runs on intensity…The urgent story…The heartbreaking photo…The last-minute deadline…It’s easy to pull people into that energy…Most of us are wired to respond to crisis…So, that version tends to make money…
But at Missed Path Sanctuary, we build from values not crisis…
We are a forever sanctuary…
We do not rehabilitate horses only to send them back into the same system that failed them… We do not risk our horses ending up in a dogfood can or as zoo meat; by cycling them through…We do not rely on resale to sustain our work…We do not rehome…And we do not take them in with the vague hope that it will somehow work out…
When we say yes…we are saying yes for a lifetime…
A decade…Maybe two…
Feed, Farrier, Veterinary Care….
Land, Shelter, Infrastructure…
Herd integration, Nervous system impact…
End of life care…and burial…
That is what ‘yes’ actually encompasses…
And, when your resources are limited, you don’t have the luxury of doing what your heart aches to do…You must work from a different metric…Structure…
The reality is, we must choose from the values that support our future…Even when it breaks our hearts to do so…
Recently, I had to choose between two horses…
Emil…a younger horse with metabolic issues…
And Dusty…an older horse with a serious heart condition….
Dusty is not a stranger to me…He is one of the first horses I ever worked with…
I rode him…I cared for his wounds…I tended him through illness…I love him dearly…
Years ago, I promised myself I would keep a space for him at the sanctuary if he ever needed it…And now he does…
Dusty would require significant medical expense up front…And because of his condition, bringing him here would likely mean our herd would go through integration…and then loss…within a short window…My heart would risk it all to take him in…Because I know that he doesn’t have much time left, and I want him to spend it with me……
Emil, on the other hand, will cost more over time…
Not less!
But Emil has more time ahead of him…More years to settle…More years for relationships that serve humans…More years for regulated presence within a stable herd…
So, I chose Emil…
It kills me to have to choose practicality over love…
Because my heart would rescue every horse that needs it…
But the sanctuary cannot be built on my heart alone…
Our bank account…
Our acreage…
The capacity of our volunteers…
The nervous systems of the horses already living here…
They create a reality I do not get to ignore…
The needs of the many already entrusted to this land…Outnumber the needs of the one I wish I could save…
That is a bitter truth…And it does not make the love smaller…But, it does makes the limits harder to ignore…
I once promised myself I would keep a space for Dusty.
I meant it…
But a space in a sanctuary is not a concept…
It is land…
It is money...
It is the nervous system of an entire herd…
And if keeping that promise fractures the larger one…The promise to protect what is already standing here…Then I am not keeping a vow…
I am breaking one…
So Emil is here.
Because the promise to this sanctuary must come first.
Making this decision was brutal…And I will carry the ache of it with me forever…But Emil will thrive here…Emil loves children and will make them feel safe and confident…Emil will bring joy and peace to countless people…And Emil will put the least amount of strain on our ecosystem…He’ll make a great addition to the herd…
Welcome Emil.
