Mary Ann Dillon Larkin

Hello my name is Erica Adams and I come to you today in hopes of fulfilling my greatest wish. I want to honor my late mother, Mary Ann Dillon Larkin by sponsoring an amazing Devils Garden Mustang. Please read below and help if you can.

You only had to meet my Mom, Mary Ann Dillon Larkin once to know how much she loved horses. From a very young age, she would begin this love that would carry her through to her last days. From watching every single John Wayne western movie dozens of times beginning when she was younger, growing up spending summers with her grandparents on their farm every year, to eventually having her very own, horses have always been her life.

Since Mom's passing on October 17, 2023 I have been thinking about how best to honor her. The most important thing in this world to her was always the horses (my sister and myself too) as well as Tom, of course. So this is why I've decided to start this fundraiser. Let's pull together to honor my Mom and your friend, Mary Ann.

Mom had a great love for the American Mustangs. She loved history and these horses come with rich history. So I got to thinking about this, and have come up with a wonderful way to honor my Mom this year for her birthday on November 28, 2023. To honor my Mom, I was thinking of a special tribute to her, which I know she would love and approve of as she looks down on us from Heaven. I would like to do a fundraiser for Palomino Ridge Ranch Horse Rescue & Sanctuary, who have recently acquired a most gorgeous Devils Garden Mustang who needs and deserves Sanctuary! Wild Hair will have ongoing expenses of hay, feed, hoof care, veterinary care, dewormers, calm and gentle training to help him learn to trust, and they are willing to build him a large paddock with shelter where he can feel safe, with the future goal of a move to more acreage with the Sanctuary for more room to roam again.

For those that are not familiar with these wild horses, they have a rich history and date back to the very earliest of our history.

This majestic horse represents all that is wrong with our government and their cruel and inhumane treatment of our wild horses. Wild horses were meant to live within their family units, wild and untouched. This majestic horse represents the beauty of the Spanish influenced wild Mustangs of the Devil's Garden area in Alturas, California. This poor Mustang has had to endure struggles he was never meant to have happened to him. He was chased by a helicopter with his family and other bands of Mustangs into a trap set for them, when he was 10 years old. Many of the Mustangs get trampled, beat up and injured in these traps. They are sorted out, stallions together where they viciously fight, mares, babies, yearlings...stripped from their family units in an instant. This Mustang was run through a chute, placed into a device that completely encased him with small hatches that open on it and then it rotates to turn him on his side. Imagine the terror he felt while standing sqeezed in a steel contraption that turned him on his side and all he can do is flail his hooves.... They grab each pastern (ankle) and place a rope around each one and tie his pastern tightly to the sides where he couldn't move his legs, then they take a grinder to his hooves to trim them. Imagine what must have been going through his mind as he felt his only defenses to fight or flee taken from him, tied completely immobile and hearing the loud, high pitched sound of the grinder while feeling the intense vibration on the bottom of his hooves.... They reached in the small hatches and jabbed him with needles to vaccinate him, they put a cord around his throat with a number on it.... he was now a number. They pierced his skin and placed a microchip in his neck. Imagine the pure fear he endured as they reached in and sliced open his scrotum and removed his testicles.... He was then released into a holding area with other horses who were stallions moments ago. These were his first experiences with humans. At some point, he was brought to an adoption location with a certificate saying that he was a 10 year old Devils Garden Mustang, and his name is Wild Hair. He was bought by a man for $125. He shuffled between several homes from that moment on. We know he went to a TIP trainer. We were told he went to a ranch and was broke to ride the cowboy way, and we know of at least 2 more owners after that. The last owner said he had reverted back to semi-wild when she hadn't ridden him for 6 months and he has became spooky and distrusting and couldn't be ridden. She lovingly donated Wild Hair, now called Harry, to Sabrina with Palomino Ridge Ranch Horse Rescue & Sanctuary, because she knew Sabrina could work with him and find him a good home. Once he arrived at PRRHR&S, they observed him, looked into his eyes.... There is so much sadness in those beautiful, large brown eyes. His spirit is broken.... he has lost all of his family, he has lost his freedom, he is worried about what will happen to him next. They have vowed to give this poor soul Sanctuary. They have vowed to research who his family was and if any of them made it to a Sanctuary and if it is possible for this sad, confused once wild and free Mustang to be reunited with one or more of his family someday.

My goal may seem large, but please know that you will be helping to provide life-changing

help with your donation. PRRHRS will provide updates on the progress Harry makes as he continues to find his place at the Rescue and Sanctuary. Please know that Harry is worthy of your support and kindness in every sense of the word. I know that Mom would appreciate your help too. So please, help me honor her life the best way I can.

Donations can be made from here (GoFundMe) or on the Palomino Ridge Ranch Horse Rescue & Sanctuary website:

PalominoRidgeRanchHorseRescue.org