The Great Escape Mustang Sanctuary found its legs to stand and run with the vision and passion of Gerhard K. Sander. Carrying on his dream and vision is his proud daughter Michelle Sander, along with the expertise and helping hands of the Great Escape team. Our work never ends, our days are long, some days it’s hard to make ends meet. But through your support, we know that we’ll make it…we really have no choice. We do it all for the horses.

We are an innovative model of local area herd management on the range working to support the Bureau of Land Management and the Sand Wash Herd Management Area in Northwest Colorado. We provide assistance with herd documentation, fertility control, special range projects and promotion of the land and wild horses. Off the range, and at the sanctuary, we provide training, adoption and education about Mustangs and Burros, while offering a sanctuary for those in need. We foster a connection with children and adults through community outreach, tours, field trips, overnight retreat programs, therapeutic programs and clinics in order to increase awareness and education. As a 501c3 non-profit organization, we exist on your donations. We appreciate donations of any size for continued care, maintenance and training programs and value deeply the volunteer spirit!

With over 50,000 wild horses in short-term and long-term holding facilities nationwide and close to 50,000 in the wild, when Appropriate Management Levels (AML) are called to be closer to 27,000, something different has to be done, a new model for management needs to be explored. We believe that organizations partnering directly with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and specific Herd Management Areas (HMA) will not only help alleviate the pressures on holding facilities and tax payers wallets, but also keep manageable numbers of wild ones running free on their native lands for generations to come. This is exactly what we’re doing. By offering support on and off the range, we are able to be an effective solution to a growing need.

* numbers taken from BLM 2015 wild horse census