Introduction to Mustang Mission

Hello, I’m Erin Phillips, a life-long animal lover and owner!  My love for wild horses began with the “Cloud, Wild Stallion of the Rockies” documentaries I would watch with my family when I was five years old.  I remember the thrill of watching wild horses race across their range in freedom, then the sadness when the whole herd faced a government roundup by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).  Wild horse bands (families) were separated from each other, and stallions would desperately fight to return to their mares and foals.

Two stallions living out their life in freedom - unless the BLM decides to remove them.

For awhile, we didn’t watch those documentaries again (probably due to how much we had watched them!), and although I always knew that wild horses and burros graced our western plains, I almost forgot about them and their struggles.  Then, in 2017, I began thinking about Cloud and his family again and found The Cloud Foundation’s website.  There were many changes in the Pryor Mountains (Cloud’s herd), including the death of Cloud and many special, new foals that are carrying on his legacy.  I also started learning more about what wild horses and burros face in the wild and how they are removed by the thousands every year at the cost of each American taxpayer.  This is mainly due to private livestock ranching that is taking over our public lands and is destroying our wildlife, public lands, and using our tax dollars.

Phoenix, Cloud's mother, is almost thirty years old.  She, too, faces a threat of being removed.

Since wild horses and burros are part of God’s creation, which He put into our care, there was only one thing I could do - I got involved!  I became a volunteer for The Cloud Foundation in 2018 and started contacting our elected officials, writing articles, and educating family and friends.  Through that time of volunteering and continuing to learn more, I developed a desire to save the mustangs that are in holding pens (where they are housed after being removed from the wild), to train them, and give them wonderful homes where they would be cared for their entire life.

This desire became a plan, and is now the beginning of a mustang and burro rescue called Mustang Mission.  Mustang Mission will be located in Effingham County, Georgia, where my family and I live.  In the coming months, we will be preparing our property for this rescue, as there is a need for much work due to our property previously being covered in planted pines.  This summer, I hope to rescue my first mustang, train him, and keep him as an ambassador for the mustangs and Mustang Mission.  He will also be a big help with training new horses and keeping them steady.  Then, I will begin training mustangs and offering them for adoption.

A little mustang that had been removed and was in danger of going to slaughter, but was rescued. ❤️

There are over 50,000 wild horses and burros in government holding pens across the country, and thousands more in slaughter pens.  That is why I am starting this rescue, Mustang Mission, to protect and save our wild horses and burros.  While we cannot save them all, we can make a difference for each of the mustangs and burros lives that we rescue.  The faces of the ones left behind will give us the urgency to keep pressing on to fulfill our mission - to rescue the mustangs.

Although I will always advocate for the mustangs and burros to remain free with their families in the wild, we must help those who have been removed and suffer in holding pens.  I’m very excited to see how this rescue grows, and I’m very thankful for each of you who are praying, donating, sharing, educating others on the plight of the mustang, or are following along in our journey -- it will be exciting!

~Erin Phillips

Please visit my website page “Mustangs & Burros” to learn more of the problems these horses face.

"The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof."

(Psalm 24:1)