Still in its first year of operations, Rescue Ranchito, an equine rescue based in Oakley, has hit the ground running.

Having started the rescue officially in February, Erin Brown and her sister Casey dove head first into the dark underbelly of the horse industry, where equines are sent to kill pens around the country to be shipped across borders for slaughter.

It’s a heavy subject, yet somehow the two women maintain a contagious, joyful energy, motivated by each animal they bring to safety. And already they have saved seven new equines since taking on the name Rescue Ranchito.

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Recently, the grassy backyard of Brown’s home and the three acres of fenced pasture for the rescues hosted the first in a series of dinner parties. These fundraising events, coined Horse Bathing Dinners, are intended for guests to spend time with the animals their money is supporting. And no, they’re not giving horses a bath.

“It’s more akin to forest bathing. It’s this idea of being with the horses in their pasture, on their time, in their space and not asking anything of them, not requiring anything from them, but just being with them. And it’s actually quite magical,” said Brown.

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Around 25 guests attended the sold-out evening. In the first hour, people mingled at the edge of the pasture, where more curious horses hung their heads over the fence in hope of a scratch or a carrot. Snacking at a charcuterie board, people chatted about their shared interest: equine rescue. 

Tim, a longtime Park City resident originally from South Africa, shared stories of disrupting Bureau of Land Management helicopter roundups by flying planes through the airspace. Sahna talked about hours spent in the Onaqui Mountains to photograph the Onaqui mustangs. Ralph expressed concern for donkeys, whose skins are being sold and traded to countries like China for ejiao, a traditional remedy extracted from donkey hides which is believed to be anti-aging and sleep improving.

In May, the Brown sisters and their Herd Trainer Lizzie Lynch had visited a kill pen in Bowie, Texas, and the three of them spoke of the horrible experiences they witnessed.

“Going into those auctions, it’s brutal. We carried out an aborted baby last month. We helped deliver a baby. We euthanized three horses within 10 minutes because they were in such rough conditions,” said Lynch.

She showed a picture of a dark gray horse laying on its side, ribs and hips painfully visible. They knew she was barely alive, sick with something, but they still had to purchase the animal in order to put it out of its misery.

“There’s a whole part about why this industry is so messed up. Because the humane thing to do is the trader would shoot the horse, I don’t care. It’s 70 cents for a bullet, right? That’s the humane thing to do,” said Lynch. “But instead he made $850 off of it. But we did the right thing that other people failed to do, so that’s what we take home.”

They brought a few home, like Robin and Hawk, two mustangs who are currently in training with Lynch with the goal of eventually finding their forever home.

“They both were completely unhandled,” Lynch said. “For them, it’s super important that they trust us and they know that they’re safe.”

Another horse, a gray-and-white paint with blue eyes named Etta, was rescued and will be a permanent resident at Rescue Ranchito, said Brown.

“I went into the pen with her before she went through the auction and just had a real connection with her,” said Brown.

So when she was sold to someone else, they couldn’t let her go, finally locating and purchasing her from the trader who got her first.

“We have this thing called no pennies left behind and it’s like, if you have a feeling about a horse, you take it home no matter what,” said Lynch. “We took her because she would just get traded and traded and traded and just tossed around, so we stopped that cycle.”

Though shy, Etta mingled with guests and accepted carrots from a few. 

As the sun set, a home-cooked dinner of chili, cornbread, salad and rice was served family-style on three picnic tables. As the meal finished, the Brown sisters and Lynch spoke to the group briefly about the Rescue Ranchito mission.

“The rescues, the goal is to rehab them if necessary, retrain and then rehome them,” said Erin. “Even though I could easily keep all of them, that’s not what I’m going to do. Rehoming a rescue to someone is a pretty special thing, so that’s our goal in the long term.”

Casey, who serves the nonprofit as the lead misfit storyteller, explained her role.

“I have the amazing privilege of telling the stories of these animals from day zero when we rescue them through the retraining process, which is Lizzie’s job, and then the ultimate rehome,” she said. “We get these horses home, they go from being so fearful, shut down, neglected … and you just give them a little love and then you see this spark come back in their eye.”

With that, they invited everyone out into the pasture to mingle with the Ranchito residents, who pranced around the group in an impromptu show before coming to greet people.

Rescue Ranchito has three more Horse Bathing Dinners scheduled for the summer on July 27, Aug. 10 and Sept. 21. Tickets are a $100 donation and can be purchased on the website at rescueranchito.org/rr-events. 

Other events are scheduled throughout the season, like a series of kid-friendly hours called Rascals @ Ranchito, and their inaugural Ride for Ranchito event on Aug. 17. Follow them on Instagram @rescueranchito or visit the website, rescueranchito.org, to learn more and sign up for their newsletter.

“I had a friend ask me, ‘If you could explain rescue in one word, what would it be?’ and I said ‘It’s magical,'” said Lynch. “It’s hard. Erin and I started our day yesterday with a lot of bad news, and it sucks a lot. But, we’re so lucky to be able to do it.”