SAOIRSE

Saoirse was rounded up by helicopter in 2020 and captured from the wild when she was 13 years old. Taken from everything she had ever known in the Twin Peaks HMA (Herd Management Area) on the Nevada side of the California-Nevada border, Saoirse was picked up by a TIP (Trainer Incentive Program) trainer from the BLM Litchfield Corrals and brought to the central Oregon coast with dozens of other wild horses and burros. As this trainer failed to meet the most basic requirements of preparing Saoirse for adoption, she arrived ungentled and untrained. The halter and rope that she arrived with had been left on her face for the several months that she was at the facility, so she was not used to being captured and handled, and had not been taught to pick up her feet for cleaning and trimming. While thankfully free from physical injury (unlike Satya who was injured by the same experience with the same TIP trainer), Saoirse was untrusting, afraid, and emotionally shut down by her long ordeal. 

 

Saoirse was gentled and trained by our founder. She is affectionate and loyal with a quiet and sensitive disposition. While she is deeply bonded to her equine companions, sometimes she can be caught staring off into the distance. At those times, it seems as if Saoirse is remembering her old life in the wild and all the loved ones she left behind. Our of our herd members, Saoirse was in the wild the longest, and knowing her sensitive nature, we can only imagine the terror she must have experienced in being chased into a trap pen by a helicopter, separated from her family, and taken into captivity.

 

Saoirse loves cuddles, dust baths, scratches, and food.

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Saoirse is pronounced SEER-sha), which means Freedom in Irish Gaelic.