return to freedom, american wild horse sanctuary

I had the opportunity to participate in a 3 hour sunrise photo workshop this August with Roy. We were able to get close to a group of mares, as well as stallions. Seeing these magnificent horses up close left me speechless. The work RTF is doing is wonderful and I applaud all their efforts. By visiting and paying for a tour, you are helping them with the costs associated with feeding and maintaining the horses. Put it on your bucket list!

It was a wonderful experience to visit herds of wild mustangs in their natural setting. This sanctuary is dedicated to the protection and preservation of America's wild horse herds. Horses are such magnificent animals who deserve better treatment than they have received from the US government. I highly recommend visiting the sanctuary. Our guide, Kelsey, was friendly and extremely knowledgeable. Her love of horses was evident. I will definitely be back.

This was a fantastic hike through the beautiful wild horse sanctuary. Our guide was super friendly and knowledgeable about the history of the sanctuary and plight of wild horses in the U.S. You get to see the horses up close and hear stories about why many of them arrived at the sanctuary. Some of these stories are shocking! This tour is definitely worth the drive to Lompoc!

I drove up from Calabasas and the traffic was worse than rush hour on a weekday! I was about 30 minutes late but both the staff and the other guests were extremely understanding and kind enough to wait for me to arrive--thankfully they had other activities to do before my arrival. The tour was a blissfully leisurely hike, interesting, and the horses were present to within about 50-60 feet for 95% of the time! This afforded us outstanding opportunities for numerous photos no matter what kind of camera you have. I greatly appreciate the hiking tour and the opportunity to be this close to wild horses. I had planned to drive out to Nevada to just look for some wild mustangs to photograph, but that being a hit-or-miss deal, this hike was well worth the money spent, closer to home, and provided a sure-thing to see wild horses. Thanks, RTF!!!

This is the most amazing hands on learning experience about our Horses running wild in the United States. There is so much to learn & do to save them. Return to Freedom has dedicated their lives and countless hours trying to preserve all breeds of horses and group them together to live a healthier life. They cannot do this alone. We all can help. If you do not already have a charity to donate and if you would like one. I suggest Return to Freedom as your charity because you actually see your monies, other type donations go straight to the horses. Volunteering is a great way to donate time to help on the ranch. It was an amazing experience . Thank you RTF staff.

We had the opportunity to visit this wonderful place - they are doing such great work to help save America's wild horses! It is a very enjoyable hike, not strenuous at all. You get to see so many herds and the beautiful land that they are lucky to have been brought to! You first get to watch a short video about the owner and how her passion for wild horses started this sanctuary. Then you go on a very lovely hike, with some amazing views, with very informative guides. We were lucky enough to get pretty up close to a lot of herds, and also lucky enough to have several of them gallop pass us...that sound was awesome. The price is well worth it, knowing that you are helping to feed and care for these amazing animals! It's a hundred times better than going to a crowded amusement park, which would probably cost the same! If you can't go, check out their website, it is very educational.

Thank you for the input about your tour at Return To Freedom. California is currently experiencing (September 2013) one of the worst droughts on record and it has severely impacted our pastures. You may want to revisit the Sanctuary after the winter rains when the visual aesthetic is at its peak. When traveling through the high desert of California and Nevada, where many of the wild horses came from, the topography looks very similar and is in fact one of the main reasons that the U.S. Government is removing wild horses off the range. Return To Freedom takes exceptional care of the horses, using high quality grass hay to compensate for lack of current grazing areas.

Before I visited the famed wild horse sanctuary last August, I came to know Return To Freedom as an 10 year old who fell in love in an animated character named Spirit, a cocky mustang from a child's film.Little did I realize there was a real life Spirit in California. After searching the internet, I came across this beautiful Kiger mustang named "Spirit" at a sanctuary not too far from my then California home.Since then, I've been sending drawings and little letters.Fast forward to August 2012 (a 20 yr old college student). Me and my family decided to take a few day trip to the sanctuary where we got to meet face-to-face with Spirit, a beautiful wilbur-cruce stallion named Diamante (who's my personal favorite), and many of the herds that now consider the sanctuary their home.I love Neda and her dedication to preserving the natural lifestyle of various herds, such as Chief and his band of Sulphur mustangs, the rare choctaw herd and the kigers. Return To Freedom is my haven that I consider very dear to my heart because it has always been my lifelong dream to visit the sanctuary since I was a child.Now that I have less than a year until my college graduation, I hope to move back out West and find myself once again at the sanctuary.For anyone who loves horses and involvement, Return To Freedom is your place. It has changed my life, and I guarantee it'll change yours, too.

It was amazing and I learned so much about Wild Horses and what has been happening to them. It is so sad and it makes you want to save and protect the horses and stop the government from taking away their land and killing them off. The people there were very friendly and informative.My grandkids loved seeing the horses.

We made the trip up from Mission Viejo to attend Return to Freedom's End of the Trail Closing Day event, and it was more than worth the drive! The horses are gorgeous, and theirs is such a worthy mission, to preserve the last of an American Icon - the American mustang, before they're driven to extinction by the greedy cattle industry. We had an amazing time watching, and actually interacting, with the mustangs - it was an awe-inspiring experience. And the after-party, with food and music provided, was a blast. We plan to go back next year and take our granddaughter for their Kids Day. We can't wait!

We took my Mother up to Lompoc, as she was visiting from Europe. This was a bit of a commitment with a drive at 2 hours+, but well worth it. It is a neat ranch and amazing how few people are running the place with such efficency.The surroundings are beautiful, even though the relentless Summer sun had turned all the hills into dried, yellow and barren sights. We were imagining how gorgeous it must look in the rainy season with green hills and the horses. Almost like a little bit of Ireland? :-)We were greeted very promptly and super friendly by Jessica and also the resident cat Thor. He was a big hit with all, because he decided to sit right in front of oncoming traffic - so as to say "listen - I get attention first, then the horses". It was the cutest.The founder, Neda, gave the tour group an overview of the issues at hand and we also watched a video about the foundation's goals, etc. Then we were off to meet the "stars of the show". Beautiful Mustangs, Chaktaws, and so much more... all so pretty and many very tame and eager to get a nice scratch behind the ear. It was very interesting to see how they all have such very distinct personalities that can be observed so very quickly. Just neat.The foundation also put some fruit, water and chips/dip out on the back patio for refreshment, which was very nice. The local scrub-jays also loved that fact as we observed several having a nice little brunch. :-)My only downside (but I am usually a little sour on this point) - are kids running crazy and some parents simply not caring to do anything about them. This drives me absolutely mad. I realize children get excited, but especially in some of the front pens - where Spirit was and Sutter - you could not even get a decent look. The children running straight up to each pen, climbing up on the fences, hogging the rail and then basically just enveloping that horse.Not just was it annoying at some point (hello - oblivous parents - other people wish to see the horses, too), but it got even downright dangerous (which again, apparently the parents always think they leave the responsibility to others) so that the owner had to stop everything and give a safety briefing.Again, these were not all children/parents, but it always does take just a little bit of enjoyment away from a perfect experience when some people feel the indulgences of theirs needs to stand above all else.A big thank you to all the staff for making this wonderful visit happen for us. I am so excited that we were able to get such and insight into the issue and I feel like I need to learn so much more. I was very impressed with the cleanliness of the ranch and all the horses just seemed "happy". We hope to be able to return for another visit some day.PS: Sunscreen and/or long covers are your best friend. Even though we caught Lompoc on a relatively mild day (around 70s) - the sun gets hot real fast and beats up on you. :-)

Just loved this place! The area is pretty and the horses are gorgeous!If you love horses you have to stop by here!Is it nothing less than awesome!!!

What a great facility! What a brilliant idea! An organization and cause worthy of support. The tour was led by a well-versed, animated young lady. The interns and volunteers were happy to share their knowledge and experience. The resident cats were an added bonus!

Oh, my, what can I say that can possibly capture the essence of this beautiful, educational, and emotional experience? Our trip from Santa Barbara for the Freedom Wild Horse Sanctuary Tour was a top highlight of the summer for myself, my daughter-in-law, and my two grandchildren, ages 6 and 9. In the short span of 2 hours we learned so much about the plight of the wild horses in this country, of the different genetic groups, and of the importance of the family unit. Freedom's mission to preserve the freedom, the diversity, and the habitat of the wild mustangs is so incredibly important. Be prepared for hot weather, especially later in the summer. Wear closed shoes (it is dusty), bring a hat and water. Next for me will be the Wild Horse Walk in the spring.

We had a lovely visit from Santa Barbara. A nice drive to a very special place. To see a place dedicated to preserving wild horse genetic lines was an unexpected treat, and one that tied our American history to these horses. My daughter and I brought a picnic lunch, which we enjoyed after our walking tour. A very unique place to visit in this part of California