Alexis Ferri is the CEO of the Tierra Madre Horse and Human Sanctuary, Phoenix nonprofit. On Tuesday, she gave ABC15 a look at a place caring for 26 horses in desperate need of compassion.
“A lot of these horses come to us having been through some challenging times, we have seen some pretty horrific cases of abuse and neglect,” said Ferri.
Many other horses are abandoned or surrendered but one thing they all have in common is when they arrive at Tierra Madre, they become family.
“Once these horses walk through these gates, they are home forever,” said Ferri. “If they didn’t come here they would most likely be sold to slaughter, so this really is a last chance for them.”
The horses are treated medically and emotionally by caring volunteers daily. Once in a good place, their healing is used to heal others through their equine experience program.
Face-to-face therapy has also been shown to work wonders.
“We’ve done a lot of work with children with special needs, we have adults here going through recovery or trauma, we’ve served vets with PTSD,” said Ferri.
But founder Jim Gath says the good also comes with a tight budget every year.
“It’s really expensive, not only is it the feed and the supplements and everything else, there’s a lot of medicines and vet visits,” said Gath.
It’s a cost that may get a little easier thanks to an incredible gift left to them by the late renowned artist Patricia Wozniak.
“It really kind of warmed the cackles of this old heart you know what I mean,” said Gath.
A lifelong horse lover, Wozniak willed 42 original pieces of art to the sanctuary to be auctioned off on October 7th from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at The Holland Center in Scottsdale. Every dime raised with the sale of the charcoal drawings helps to further the mission of nurturing these incredible animals and the bonds they form with those who need it most.
“What we like to say is we’re a circle of healing between human and horse and with that gift, this circle is going to continue forever,” said Ferry.