Empowering Horses For A Brighter Future

Here are some of our heartfelt stories we like to share … 

BETTY’S GIRLS

BETTY’S GIRLS go into history as the Godmothers of Silent Voices.

Betty Kammer, a local horse lover, single handedly funded the rescue of 20 brood mares with 5 foals by their side. All horses were heading to slaughter in the summer of 2008. All of them were in horrendous physical condition and had had essentially no interactions with humans, including no medical care or basic maintenance.

Betty’s son Skip and his wife Tami Kammer housed and cared for the horses.

Within the following three months, through focus, dedication and true friendship each horse was physically healed and trained and new homes were found for all of them.

With volunteers showing up each day on such short notice, this prompt team effort on such a scale was powerful to experience!

Thank you, Skip and Tami!

DOLLY AND PAULINA

One of our very first rescues was “Dolly”, a severely crippled and starved mammoth donkey. Dolly had lost her entire hind hoof due to a long-term untreated infection. Despite her extreme level of pain, her unexplainable desire to stay alive became clear when she surprised us with the birth of “Paulina” shortly after her rescue.

With constant and daily care of her condition for over a year, Dolly’s stump eventually healed and she enjoyed raising her daughter for nearly two years. Through a tremendous effort and generosity, several prosthetics were eventually designed and donated by “Browning Prosthetics” in Boise.

Although every effort was made, Dolly’s physical condition remained challenging and painful. She left us in January 2011 an d we miss her dearly.

Paulina has remained a vital part of family and this community. She manages to draw attention to her sweet nature and incredible intelligence and is adored by everyone!!!

Koko, her 30 year old companion has been by her side since her birth. The two of them are inseparable and give us another example of true love :-)

Wild Horse Project

By the end of the summer of 2009, this photograph prompted Silent Voices to initiate the rescue of 21 mustangs from the recent BLM Challis, Idaho, Roundup.

In a tremendous joined effort with the Bureau of Land Management 21 un-adoptable wild mares were placed into our care that fall. The following spring, 11 foals were born! With the tremendous support of Glendale Farms and endless volunteer help, as well as continuous funding, we were able to care for the "Challis Sisterhood" for over 3 years.

Doro, who was the horse’s daily caregiver, refers to that time as her “most profound horse education”…

“It was the most powerful connection I have been allowed to experience in my lifetime with horses. I am deeply grateful for the time I was invited to share their beautifully pure world.”

Silent Voice’s mission was to preserve as much of the herd’s natural behavior and dynamic as we were able to. The herd, as a whole, was eventually returned to protected freedom into a 7000 acre private sanctuary in Northern California in 2014.

Since the departure of “the girls”, we have scaled down the size of our projects. We continue to follow our mission in many ways and large numbers of horses have found their way into a brighter future with our assistance.

Our focus has developed into the Phoenix Project and we are grateful for the financial support this project has so far received.

We will soon add more photos and stories ….