Journey With Equus

Saving the Forgotten.
Healing the Hurting.

Because neither story is finished yet.

Some arrive here because the world decided their story was over.
Others arrive because they’re struggling to find their way forward.

We bring them together — and watch two lives discover that neither story is finished yet.

Help Change a Story Discover Our Story

100+ horsesSafe in sanctuary care

Serving since 2015Rescue · sanctuary · equine-partnered wellness

Weekly youth workIncluding our partnership with Sandstone Care

501(c)(3) nonprofitPowered by people who choose to stand in the gap

Dixie and her foal Rebel standing together

The first story

THE
FORGOTTEN.

Some come to us after the world has already decided they no longer matter.

Rebel was just 10 days old when he entered the auction pipeline. For nearly two months, he and his mother, Dixie, were pushed from sale to sale. His father, Macho Rocket — a Thoroughbred stallion once sold for $825,000 — had already been pulled from the slaughter pipeline at the end of May 2026. A little over a month later, we found Dixie and Rebel — and discovered that the baby we were fighting for was Macho’s son.

Here, their value is no longer something they have to earn. Rescue is only the beginning. We give the forgotten safety, dignity and the chance to discover that their story is not over.

Help Us Keep the Promise

A woman in an emotional moment as a horse wraps his neck around her

The second story

THE
HURTING.

Others walk through our gates carrying things you may never see — grief, fear, trauma, uncertainty, or simply the exhaustion of trying to hold everything together.

There are moments here when words stop mattering. A horse steps closer. A breath changes. A person realizes they do not have to explain themselves to be met with presence.

The horses do not ask us to perform. They meet us where we are.

Explore private + group equine-partnered wellness →

The reason Journey With Equus exists

THE MOMENT
THEY MEET.

There is no judgment. No expectation. No need to pretend. Just two beings standing together — each with a story, each carrying something, each discovering that what happened before does not have to determine what happens next.

This is where rescue becomes relationship — and where survival can become purpose.

Two lives discover that neither story is finished yet.

As seen on Denver7

“If I don’t stand in the gap, who will?”

Denver7 came to Raison d’Être Ranch to tell the story of the horses who found a second chance here — and the humans finding something of their own beside them.

Watch the feature and see why rescue is only the beginning — and why sanctuary, purpose and healing all belong to the same promise.

Equine Gestalt

Sometimes talking about the story is not where the work begins.

Equine Gestalt is an experiential form of coaching where the horse becomes an active partner in the process. Instead of only talking about what is happening in your life, you have the opportunity to notice and experience it in real time — in your body, your emotions, your boundaries, your choices and your relationships.

Facilitated Equine Gestalt session in the arena while a horse observes nearby

Presence · awareness · relationship

Equine Gestalt practitioner observing a participant standing beside a horse in the arena

Facilitated, experiential work with the horse as partner

THE HERE AND NOW

You do not only talk about the pattern. You get a chance to notice it while it is happening.

Gestalt brings attention to what is present now: the emotion you move past, the boundary you struggle to hold, the place you disappear, the choice you avoid, or the story you keep carrying.

Through carefully facilitated experiences, awareness can move from something you understand intellectually to something you can actually feel, recognize and respond to differently.

WHY THE HORSE MATTERS

The horse is not a prop. The horse has a voice in the process.

Horses live in the present and respond to what is happening in the relationship in real time — body language, proximity, pressure and release, boundaries, attention and congruence.

In Equine Gestalt, the horse participates with choice. That honest, immediate relationship can help bring awareness to something words alone may not reach.

No riding. No performance. No horse experience required.

01WHOLENESS

Gestalt means “wholeness.” You are not reduced to a label or diagnosis; the work honors the whole of your lived experience.

02PRESENT-MOMENT AWARENESS

We notice what is happening now — in your body, your emotions, your choices and the relationship unfolding in front of you.

03SOMATIC + EXPERIENTIAL

The body often knows before the words arrive. Guided experiences create a way to notice, explore and integrate what is already there.

04PARTNERSHIP

The horse is an active partner with agency and choice. We do not use the horse as a tool, and we never ask the horse to earn their place here.

Young person quietly engaging with a pony at Journey With Equus

The work we do

A second chance can become a new kind of purpose.

The horses who come here never have to earn their safety. Their worth is unconditional. But when a horse is ready and chooses to engage, that relationship can become part of our equine-partnered wellness work.

Our programs support emotional awareness, connection, confidence, self-discovery and personal growth. We work with individuals, groups and at-risk youth, including our ongoing partnership with Sandstone Care.

What does that look like here?

Sometimes it is one quiet person and one horse. Sometimes it is a private session, a small group, or a weekly youth program. The goal is not to “fix” someone. It is to create a safe, intentional space where awareness, connection and choice can become possible.

Explore the Equine Gestalt approach ↑

Facilitated by Candice Ensign
Founder of Journey With Equus · Certified Equine Gestalt Practitioner through Touched by a Horse

Private Sessions Individual and relationship-focused experiences for people seeking connection, clarity and personal growth. Groups & Organizations Equine-partnered experiences for small groups, youth programs, teams and community organizations.

Choose the path that fits you best. Both options open a direct inquiry to Journey With Equus.

Upcoming at the ranch

Donuts with Donkeys.

Come spend a summer morning at Raison d’Être Ranch with rescued donkeys, great coffee, donuts and the kind of connection that is hard to explain until you experience it.

Saturday, August 29 · Raison d’Être Ranch · Elizabeth, Colorado

Enjoy Dancing Jaguar Coffee, Hurts Donut, time at the ranch and the stories behind the animals who call Journey With Equus home.

General Admission · $15Coffee, donut and time enjoying the ranch.

Donuts + Donkey Experience · $50 minimum donationHands-on time to brush, feed and connect with our rescued donkeys, plus a special Donuts with Donkeys mug. Only 15 experience spots.

Reserve Your Spot

Advance registration required. No tickets will be sold at the gate.

Another way to support the mission Colorado
Glamping Raison d’Être Ranch · Elizabeth, Colorado

Stay with purpose

Come stay where the mission lives.

Escape to 120 acres at Raison d’Être Ranch and experience the place our rescued herd calls home. Every Colorado Glamping stay helps support Journey With Equus — giving you another way to be part of the mission simply by coming to experience the ranch.

Explore Colorado Glamping

There is a place for you in this story

You do not have to do everything. You just have to be willing to do your part.

Some people can be here at the ranch. Some can help from home. Some can open a barn door. Every one of those choices gives us more capacity to keep saying yes.

Volunteer · On site + off site

Give your time. Change a life.

There is meaningful work to do from the ranch — and from anywhere.

On-site volunteers help with the real work of sanctuary life: feeding, cleaning, events, organization and caring for the ranch.

Off-site volunteers help move the mission forward through outreach, fundraising, business connections, administrative support, social media and projects that can be done from anywhere.

Apply to Volunteer

You do not have to live nearby to make a difference.

Foster · 30+ approved homes needed

Open your barn. Save the next one.

Every safe landing place gives us the ability to say yes again.

Every approved foster home increases our ability to help another horse still caught in the auction or slaughter pipeline.

Our goal is a network of 30+ approved foster homes — safe, committed places where horses can land, recover and begin their next chapter while remaining protected through Journey With Equus.

Apply to Foster

Foster capacity is what allows us to keep helping the next horse in the pipeline.

One person cannot save them all. A community can change what happens to the next one.

Another way to stand with us

A free way to help.

If you already shop at King Soopers, City Market, Kroger or another Kroger-family store, your everyday groceries can help support Journey With Equus — at no extra cost to you.

Kroger family of grocery brands, including King Soopers, City Market, Kroger and other familiar store banners — Kroger is home to many familiar grocery brands. Community Rewards participation is managed through your local Kroger-family store account.

Connect your Community Rewards account in about a minute.

Sign in to your King Soopers digital account and make sure your Shopper’s Card is linked.
Open Community Rewards and choose the option to search for an organization.
Enter Journey With Equus organization/NPO number JL694, then select Journey With Equus.
Click Save. Then use your Shopper’s Card when you shop. Your normal purchases can help generate support for Journey With Equus.

Set Up Community Rewards

Same groceries. Same total. Extra impact.

There is no added charge to you for participating in Community Rewards.

Help us keep the promise

The $5 Promise.

5,000 people. $5 a month. One promise that changes lives.

More than 100 horses depend on Journey With Equus for safety and daily care. Saving them is the beginning. Every day after that means hay, veterinary and farrier care, shelter, medication and the commitment that the horses who find their way here will never be forgotten again.

The $5 Promise is not about the size of one gift. It is about thousands of people choosing to stand in the gap together.

Join The $5 Promise Make a one-time gift →

Own a business?Your everyday transactions could help save lives.

Journey With Equus partner

A different way to give

Support Journey With Equus without adding another donation check to your budget.

If your business accepts credit cards, the transactions you already process may be able to create ongoing support for Journey With Equus. Through our partnership with Forever Funding, a portion of payment-processing revenue generated by ordinary transactions can potentially be directed back to our mission.

You already accept cards.Your customers keep paying the way they normally do. This is about the processing revenue generated by those transactions — not asking customers for another donation.

Have a simple conversation with Forever Funding.Their team reviews how the model works, looks at your current processing situation, and answers the technical questions so Journey With Equus does not have to be the payment-processing expert.

If it is a fit, your business helps create recurring support.Forever Funding can also review whether there may be an opportunity to reduce your current processing costs. There is no promise of savings — the goal is simply to see whether the model makes sense for your business.

You keep doing business. Your customers keep paying the way they already do. And your business may be able to help us keep the promise.

Schedule With Forever Funding

A no-pressure conversation directly with Forever Funding on behalf of Journey With Equus.

Founder story

The horses saved me first.

My story with horses goes back almost as far as I can see.

I was adopted into the arms of two amazing parents, and at three years old, I discovered something on the back of a horse that I did not yet have words for:

Freedom.

As I grew, the world outside was not always kind. There were places where I felt hurt, misunderstood and unseen.

But the horses were steady.

They became the place where I could breathe. The place where I did not have to explain myself or become someone different to belong.

They saw me.

They saved me. They shaped me. And over a lifetime, they gave me clarity about who I am and why I am here.

Years later, I began meeting horses the world had discarded — too old, too injured, too difficult, no longer rideable, no longer considered useful.

I recognized something in them.

Someone else had decided their story was over. I knew better.

That belief became Journey With Equus.

Today, as a Certified Equine Gestalt Practitioner through Touched by a Horse, I have the privilege of standing beside horses and humans as they rediscover safety, connection, purpose and the possibility of a different ending.

But this work began long before a certification, a nonprofit or a ranch.

It began with a little girl on the back of a horse discovering freedom.

And maybe that is why I will always stand in the gap.

Because the horses saved me first.

Candice EnsignFounder · Journey With Equus

One horse. One human. One second chance at a time.

Neither story is finished yet.

You may never meet every horse or every person whose story changes here. But your decision to stand in the gap can help make sure the next one is not forgotten — and the next person does not have to find their way alone.