How the Mustang A Day Challenge led to The Mid-Atlantic Wild Horse Project

In march of this year, I became painfully aware that simply painting a mustang every day wasn’t enough. The event that changed my heart on this was finding myself involved in helping raise money for a beautiful Mustang stallion named Spirit. I painted his picture several times and then sold the items and prints to raise money for him in sanctuary.

Like thousands of Mustangs hidden away on the East Coast  of our country,  his adoptive owners had bought him because he was beautiful.  They had other horses, yet absolutely loved him and his personality. However, they had neither the knowledge, nor the training support to really handle him, so that he could at least be safely cared for. He had his own paddock, had even bred a mare and had two offspring. And others of his relatives were close by. He was tame enough to feed cookies to  and pet. But beyond that, he was not handled. For 15 years: no grooming, no feet trimming and no vetting. He was very much adored as a pet, almost a big dog. And he was reasonably healthy in spite of his circumstances.

Then the inevitable happened. The owners had to sell up and move. This beautiful majestic horse needed to be placed in a home. They tried and tried but no one wanted a horse this old, with no training on their property. Most couldn’t care for his special needs. The choice was to find him sanctuary or put him down. They did not want to take the chance that their beloved pet would end up at a sale and maybe shipped to slaughter.

The reality is that all horses that come to the east coast must have absolutely the minimum of handling so that they can lead, load in a trailer, stand to be groomed and vetted. Also and because the ground is very soft and loamy in most places,  and sometimes even boggy at times, there is no way for a wild horse to wear down his feet, so they must stand to be groomed safely and stand to have their feet trimmed. All of these things are for the benefit of the horses in this highly populated place with small amounts of land that has rich grazing.

This photo of Spirit taken in his
pasture at his home in Delaware.

 A number of activists and advocates worked tirelessly trying to find Spirit a temporary home where he could receive some care and training, so that he might be placed safely in a foster home until a permanent solution could be found. It was coming down to the wire. Then a group that helps place wild horses , from the west coast came forward and agreed to take not only Spirit, but his mother,  the mare that foaled his daughter and son  and any other Mustangs that had no place to go to Black Hills Sanctuary in Wyoming.

As it turned out only two horses went that day, Spirit and his son. The three mares were the victims of a botched loading  event and another stallion was refused to be released at the last moment. All 4 of these horses to my knowledge are still in Delaware.

How different the out come could have been if the following had been in place:
1. A team with experience loading wild horses and the proper trailer to accommodate them
2. A facility where the health of the animals could be assessed, the vetting could be done and feet trimmed because mustang appropriate equipment was in place or could travel to the location.
3. A team of trainers and handlers could come to the home to trouble-shoot problems in training and gentling horses
4. A resource list had been available of local regional tip trainers and other resources was up dated and available. Including  seminars and training opportunities for new owners and trainers that wanted to branch out into Mustangs.
5. The communities could be involved such as the FFA, 4-h, local horse clubs,  and  County Extension offices, etc for special programs and events that give support to avoid such problems.
6. Adoption support for potential adopters including how to "mustang ready" their facilities and first step handling.
7. A special mustang specific layover location where untrained and un-handled horses could stay over night or for a few days to rest while they are moving to their new  adoptive location or to sanctuary.

These are things that the Mid-Atlantic Wild Horse Project could aid in once it is off the ground. These are in fact the goals I have for any non-profit that comes out of the project. And once a model is in place this could be repeated in every non-HMA state in the country. This model could even be adapted in Canada or Australia for their wild horse projects.

First order of Business:

Our first order of business is to build up volunteer support and raise money to take it to the next level. For me I want it funded before we put one horse on the property so we don’t have to worry about it failing and putting any more of these horses in jeopardy. Our first goal is to raise $5,000 or more to get the non-profit going. For my part, every product I design a portion of the royalty will go to funding this project after expenses each month. Remember I am also helping raise money by the sale of the Mustang A Day Challenge Paintings for other worth while mustang projects as well.

Ladies Summer Tank Top:
Buy it here:
Mustang Made in America Design

We are going to do that by both taking contributions as well as by selling products designed by me from the Mustang A Day Challenge Project.  The more products sold the more a portion of the money can go to the project. We need people who are willing to both buy the products and share them with their friends on Social Media so they can buy them too.

Also we need people who can share with their friends this story and other stories to come.
Will I still be painting the mustang a day challenge? YES! Only it will be abbreviated a little until we can find people to take over some of the things I have to multi task on.

Woman's Summer Tank Top
Buy it here:
Born Free-Live Wild Design

This is an amazing project! Anyone who 

loves wild horses on the East Coast should want to be involved in it.

Remember tucked away in the hidden places is a stallion that has been in a 400 by 400 BLM approved pen for his entire adopted life. He is standing almost knee deep in mud during rainy season. He is alone with no companionship.He and his owners need the help this project could provide for them. Remember it probably isn't that they don't love the horse; its that they really don't know what to do to change the situation. Please help. Become involved in this project now.

Here is what you can do to help now!

These two items are ready right now ! Lets take them Viral on the Internet! Share them with your friends and encourage your friends to share them too.

Just a note: If you or your group would like to donate to this project please understand that it is early days yet. We need all the financial support and volunteer grass roots help we can get to make this project a reality. However until we form the non-profit 501c3 we will not be giving tax receipts for donations.

Mid-Atlantic Wild Horse Project: Stage #1

This little black filly faced an uncertain
future at the Burns Oregon Adoption
Facility last year.  Not only is she black
but her tag number came up as 666.
Sometimes there are many silly and irrational
reasons  a horse might go unadopted.
However with the 3 strike management
policy in a slow adoption year
this filly is destined to Long Term Holding.
Once a horse goes to long term holding the
chances of adoption are reduced by 99%
unless you know the number of the horse.
By painting this filly and telling her story
her chances of adoption improve greatly.
Prints, Notecards, even a shirt with her image
can not only create more awareness, they can
Raise funds for this project and the Non-profit
that submitted her photo for reference.

Good Morning everyone! Lets talk a little about Stage #1

This is the important grass roots foundation building that needs to be done before we begin intense work on the organization.

As most of you know Ive been using the paintings, prints and product designs from the Mustang A Day Challenge to try to help raise support for a number of  persons and organizations surrounding work with mustangs as well as supporting the continuing work of keeping the face of a living mustang before the public each day. All of the work is done on Spec. Meaning that there is not usually, unless someone commissions a painting, any guarantee of money for any specific painting until some one buys it or it is auctioned off.

 Of course the amount of the donations is  dependent upon sales and sales are dependent on  two things: Getting new potential supporters and pleasing the ones who are already there. Right now I'm only tapping maybe 1% of the fund raising potential because I'm spread a little thin. The only thing stopping me from forming a non-profit this week and purchasing property for 5 mustangs I know need sanctuary today, is that the fund raising potential needs to become reality.

This is where you all as volenteers come in.

What I am going to do is show you a design on the Mid-Atlantic Wild horse Project Page in Facebook. I need you to be very honest and tell me 4 things:

1.What do you like about it
2.What you would change about it
3.What price would you pay for it or one like it
4.If the price is too High or too low what price do you think would be good

Then if you like the item I would ask you to write a brief review on the hosting sight and Share the product in your face book groups, pages, and profiles and on twitter and/or other social media you are involved in.

If the majority of you don't like the item I will redesign it or remove it from the store.

Why I am doing this is simple:

 Rescued Mustangs in Shelters and Sanctuaries, Adoptions and mustang mentoring programs and  and the on going documentation by private individuals of public herds.

Each product I design, that is not a commission, a portion of the royalty goes to the photographer or organization that provided the reference photos for continuing documentation of that herd or donation to that specific organization. And A portion of the royalty over expenses will also go to the development of the Mid-Atlantic Wild Horses Project.

This is called building a Sustainable Non-Profit using a companion business as fund raiser. Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream was one of the first to pioneer this type of giving model.  We of course will also be taking donations and doing traditional fund raising however my goal is to build a well funded non-profit that can withstand our economy while at the same time contributing to the economy. I want no more failed rescues.

To read more about building a sustainable non-profit and using this model you can read this post on my American Wild Horses Project blog: http://americanwildhorseproject.blogspot.com/2011/11/3-questions-how-you-answer-may-decide.html

I will be  posting the first design very soon. Thanks so much for your help in this. For those of you who would like to volunteer for a little more intensive marketing we are organizing that this week. Contact me through info@llmartin.com if you would like to be involved.