Please meet Hawk…

Hawk was one of 25 wild stallions that were rounded up from tribal lands in 2012 by the McDermitt Tribe in Nevada. Because these horses don’t have federal protection, they were sent to auction and were bound for slaughter. We went to the auction to save the mares and foals but when we saw this group of 25 stallions, we decided to step up and rescue them also.

Hawk before he began training. Photo by Tara Arrowood

The horses that come from McDermitt are strikingly beautiful. We brought this stunning group of horses home to MCR, gelded the stallions, and released them out onto our 2,000-acre sanctuary.

The youngsters went into our adoption program, and we decided to try gentling one of the young stallions. We asked renowned horse trainer Jim Neubert to select a horse out of the group of geldings. To our surprise, he chose the most scrawny and fearful little bay and we named him Hawk. He was the epitome of a diamond in the rough.

Jim worked with Hawk for six weeks, and he has been one of our favorite horses ever since.

Five years later, Hawk is the ultimate versatile mustang. Comfortable English or Western, great on trails, and does a little jumping and dressage on the side.

If you look carefully at the top left of the blaze on his face, you will see a hawk flying free.