No matter how you express it… it is love.
For the Love of Wild Horses: A Valentine (and Introduction)
By WHE Volunteer, Colette Kaluza
Valentine’s Day is a celebration of love — love that takes many forms: devotion, courage, and compassion. For all of us at Wild Horse Education (WHE), that love lives in the wild hearts who roam our public lands. The bond we share with America’s wild horses and burros is our constant inspiration.
WHE’s founder, Laura Leigh, built this organization from that same love. Her decades of dedication — from landmark court victories against abuse, to driving the first humane handling standards, to opening roundups and holding corrals to public view — have transformed what’s possible for wild horse protection. Yet Laura’s work has never been hers alone; she will adamantly tell you so. Wild Horse Education (WHE) is the collective “we” and why she chose the name of the organization so the acronym, when pronounced, is “we.”
This Valentine’s season, we are proud to celebrate with our “For the Love of Wild Horses” fundraising match, running through February 21st in honor of Valentine’s Day, Laura’s birthday, and the Year of the Fire Horse — a year symbolizing independence, courage, and transformation, perfectly reflecting both our mission and Laura’s spirit.
This Valentine’s message is our love letter to them — and to you, who make this mission possible.
Wild horses are extraordinary beings. Their family structure, tenacity, resilience, and beauty remind us why protecting them matters so deeply. Watch a wild family band on the range and you’ll see loyalty and tenderness — a stallion guarding his mares and foals, a herd protecting one another through wind and dust. They are intelligent, tightly bonded, and profoundly connected to the land they call home. Their grace — that quiet defiance of hardship — is why we love them. The wild horse is a living expression of freedom, a heartbeat on our public lands. To fight for their protection is to fight for our shared wildness.
If you’re new to our work, welcome. If you’ve been with us for years, thank you — your presence is part of our story. Wild Horse Education was born in the fight to expose abuse and demand transparency in the treatment of America’s wild horses and burros. From those early courtroom battles and frozen mornings at roundups, we’ve grown into an organization active across every layer of wild horse advocacy — from the open range to the holding corrals, from policy discussions to the courtroom. Though our efforts have evolved, the foundation has never changed — love: love for the horses, for the land they belong to, and for the promise of a fair and humane future. We remain what we have always been — a movement born of love.
WHE is more than one person. It is a collective — a body of work made up of every volunteer, supporter, and ally who believes these wild lives are worth fighting for. Each of us leaves a footprint on this organization, a piece of our DNA in its mission. Together, we are Wild Horse Education — the “we” that stands for love and accountability on the Western range. Our existence is a love letter to the wild horses and burros who are too often unseen, underrepresented, and even discriminated against on their own public lands.
So this February, we invite you to join us — to give, to share, to stand beside the wild hearts who remind us what freedom truly means.
For the love of wild horses — today and always, thank you for being part of this journey.
Every mile we travel to cover roundups or assess a herd, every court case we bring, every win, every action we take is only possible because of your support.
A very generous donor will match every gift dollar-for-dollar up to $5,000. until February 21st for the love of our wild ones.
Thank you for standing with us as we strive for justice, mercy and freedom. We cannot do this without you.
Categories: Wild Horse Education
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