The Touch of a Mustang

The notice gave them seven days before the Salt River wild horses would be impounded. Simone Netherlands and the people who knew these horses refused to let them disappear quietly.

Today, visitors still see wild horses along Arizona’s Salt River. But keeping them there requires far more than winning that first fight.

Simone shares how years of photographs, herd records, and public pressure helped protect these horses. We talk about the difficult choices behind humane wild horse management, why she supports fertility control, and the daily work of keeping horses in their families and on the land.

It is also a story about continuing when you’re tired, discouraged, and facing opposition after years of effort. The horses are still here. What will it take to keep them here?

ABOUT SIMONE NETHERLANDS

Simone is the founder and president of the Salt River Wild Horse Management Group, an Arizona nonprofit dedicated to protecting and humanely managing the Salt River wild horses. Its work includes herd monitoring, fertility control, emergency rescue, and sanctuary for horses who cannot return to the wild.

CONNECT WITH SIMONE AND THE SALT RIVER WILD HORSE MANAGEMENT GROUP

Website: https://saltriverwildhorsemanagementgroup.org/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/srwhmg/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/saltriverwildhorsemanagementgroup
Ways to support their work: https://saltriverwildhorsemanagementgroup.org/what-you-can-do/

CONNECT WITH THE TOUCH OF A MUSTANG

Website: https://thetouchofamustang.org/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetouchofamustang/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheTouchofaMustang

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Follow The Touch of a Mustang as we uncover the places and principles that lead to healing, resilience, and freedom of mind.

How do you rebuild when the life you loved is no longer there?

Nearly four months after a wildfire burned the forest around our home, we are still finding our way forward. Our horses are recovering from injuries sustained during evacuation, and the mountains look nothing like the place we imagined spending our lives.

People say it will grow back. But what do you do while you’re standing in the middle of what’s been lost?

In this solo episode, I share what caring for my horses and restoring our land are teaching me about grief, healing, and resilience. Whether you’re rebuilding a relationship with your horse or facing a life change you never wanted, there is a place to begin, even when you can’t yet see what comes next.

CONNECT WITH THE TOUCH OF A MUSTANG

Website
https://thetouchofamustang.org/

Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/thetouchofamustang/

Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/TheTouchofaMustang

SUPPORT THE PODCAST

https://buymeacoffee.com/thetouchofamustang

Follow The Touch of a Mustang as we uncover the places and principles that lead to healing, resilience, and freedom of mind.

Leila King was undergoing treatment for two forms of cancer when a friend introduced her to a rescued horse. She did not know whether she would survive. Beside that horse, she and her three daughters found a release from the stress and anxiety surrounding treatment.

Someone had given that horse another chance. The time Leila spent with him helped shape what she wanted to do with hers.

Leila founded Kihoi Ranch to help wild Mustangs build lives beyond government holding through patient training, trust, and partnership. Now she is working toward the nonprofit’s first adoption. But getting started has exposed a difficult contradiction: the horses she knows can bring people peace are often seen as too dangerous to welcome.

We talk about the horse-human connection during her cancer treatment, what observing wild horse families at McCullough Peaks and the Pryor Mountains has taught her about belonging, and why protecting Mustangs requires understanding more than their beauty. Leila also shares the barriers to bringing her vision to life and her plans to make horsemanship accessible to young people who might otherwise never encounter a horse.

A rescued horse offered her something she needed during an uncertain chapter. Kihoi Ranch is her effort to carry that gift forward.

ABOUT LEILA KING

Leila is a paramedic, mother of three, and founder of Kihoi Ranch, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to wild Mustang rescue, training, and advocacy. Its current focus is bringing its first Mustang home and documenting the journey to educate others and build a foundation for future rescues.

CONNECT WITH LEILA AND KIHOI RANCH

Website: https://kihoiranch.org/
Facebook: Leila’s Facebook
First Mustang adoption fund: Donate through Zeffy

CONNECT WITH THE TOUCH OF A MUSTANG

Website: https://thetouchofamustang.org/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetouchofamustang/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheTouchofaMustang

SUPPORT THE PODCAST

buymeacoffee.com/thetouchofamustang

Follow The Touch of a Mustang as we uncover the places and principles that lead to healing, resilience, and freedom of mind.

Rock bottom rarely gives you the freedom to begin again with a clean slate. There may still be children to raise, bills to pay, trauma to carry, and relationships that make every decision more complicated.

Barbara Parker knows what it means to rebuild under those conditions. She has experienced homelessness, financial instability, a painful marriage and divorce, and the work of reconstructing her identity while trying to create stability for her family.

She did not transform her life through one dramatic decision. She began by remembering her value, reconnecting with people who could see and support her, learning how to manage money, and recognizing that another person’s anger did not require her participation. Those steps eventually took her from a homeless shelter and subsidized housing to becoming a licensed therapist, author, entrepreneur, and founder of BF Empowerment Center.

We talk about how emotional regulation creates choices in moments that once felt automatic, why every invitation to argue does not have to be accepted, and how the body warns us when we no longer have the capacity for a productive conversation.

Barbara also explains why helping someone in an abusive relationship requires more than telling them to leave. Safety may depend on money, housing, childcare, transportation, confidential documents, and having someone trustworthy who will listen without taking control. Real support protects a person’s dignity while helping them see and prepare for the choices available to them.

This is not a story of overnight reinvention. It is a conversation about rebuilding your identity, stability, relationships, and future one decision at a time.

ABOUT BARBARA PARKER

Barbara L. Parker, MA, LPCC-S, is a licensed therapist, author, speaker, and founder of BF Empowerment Center. Her work focuses on trauma recovery, emotional regulation, healthier relationships, family support, and interrupting cycles of violence within homes, schools, and communities.

CONNECT WITH BARBARA

Website: https://www.bfempowerment.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bfempowerment/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bfempowerment/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/queenblparker

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SUPPORT

If you or someone you know is experiencing relationship abuse, contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at https://www.thehotline.org/, call 800-799-SAFE (7233), or text START to 88788. Call 911 if you are in immediate danger.

CONNECT WITH THE TOUCH OF A MUSTANG

Website: https://thetouchofamustang.org/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetouchofamustang/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheTouchofaMustang

SUPPORT THE PODCAST

buymeacoffee.com/thetouchofamustang

Follow The Touch of a Mustang as we uncover the places and principles that lead to healing, resilience, and freedom of mind.

Success gave Brea Segger the security she believed she needed, but it also taught her to ignore herself. She worked 12- to 15-hour days until her health deteriorated, she began passing out on her farm, and even walking upstairs became nearly impossible. Her body had been warning her. She had not been willing to stop.

Changing her life required more than rest. Brea had to question the belief that safety depended on productivity and money, recognize how easily emotions become identities, and relearn the difference between fear-driven thoughts and the quieter inner knowing she had stopped trusting.

We talk about why sadness, anger, and anxiety do not define who we are, how judging difficult emotions can keep us trapped inside them, and why constant messages, scrolling, entertainment, and demands leave so little room to hear ourselves clearly. Brea also shares a simple place to begin: spending twenty minutes without distraction, noticing what is happening in the body without immediately trying to fix it.

She recounts the medical emergency surrounding her daughter’s birth and the profound sense of knowing she experienced while navigating an uncertain outcome. Her story opens a larger conversation about intuition, self-trust, and how calm inner guidance differs from the urgent stories created by fear.

This episode asks a difficult question: How much of the life you are living reflects what you truly value, and how much of it has been built around survival, outside expectations, and the fear that you will not be okay?

ABOUT BREA SEGGER

Brea Segger is a mentor, retreat facilitator, speaker, and host of the podcast Beneath the Story. Her work explores emotional integration, self-trust, relationships, nervous system regulation, and what it takes to build a life that feels honest and aligned.

CONNECT WITH BREA

Website: https://www.breasegger.com/
Podcast: Beneath the Story

CONNECT WITH THE TOUCH OF A MUSTANG

Website: https://thetouchofamustang.org/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetouchofamustang/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheTouchofaMustang

SUPPORT THE PODCAST

buymeacoffee.com/thetouchofamustang

Follow The Touch of a Mustang as we uncover the places and principles that lead to healing, resilience, and freedom of mind.

A few weeks after losing his twin brother, a young boy met Cowboy K and his horse on a Chicago street. His mother said she had not seen him happy in a long time. Then he climbed into the saddle and smiled.

That moment captures why Cowboy K, also known as K Walk, brings horses from The Daisy Ranch into Chicago neighborhoods. Many of the children he meets have never touched, fed, or ridden a horse. Once a horse arrives, differences in age, race, and background begin to disappear as the community gathers around it.

Cowboy K did not grow up riding. His journey began when his uncle, The Big Bopper, convinced him to get on a horse at a family gathering. He returned to the ranch the following morning, determined to learn. What began with fear became a life with horses and a mission to make horsemanship accessible to the urban community he came from.

We talk about what horses have taught him about patience, confidence, responsibility, and the consequences of rushing the process. Cowboy K also shares what it takes to prepare a horse for Chicago’s streets, the conflict and confusion he has encountered surrounding urban horseback riding, and why he continues giving children free experiences with horses even when the work leaves him exhausted.

This is a story about the happiness a horse can bring, but it is also about access. Cowboy K wants children throughout Chicago to understand that horses and horsemanship are not reserved for people from somewhere else. They can belong in their lives too.

ABOUT COWBOY K

Cowboy K, also known as K Walk, runs The Daisy Ranch in Illinois. His mission is to bring horses and people together, introduce horsemanship to inner-city communities, and teach more young people how to ride and care for horses.

CONNECT WITH COWBOY K AND THE DAISY RANCH

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@cowboy.k.kwalk
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cowboyk1/ 

Fundraiser: https://gofund.me/936d406ec

CONNECT WITH THE TOUCH OF A MUSTANG

Website: https://thetouchofamustang.org/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetouchofamustang/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheTouchofaMustang

SUPPORT THE PODCAST

buymeacoffee.com/thetouchofamustang

Follow The Touch of a Mustang as we uncover the places and principles that lead to healing, resilience, and freedom of mind.

What happens when the place you have always gone to heal is suddenly devastated?

The Aspen Acres Fire swept across our property outside Beulah, Colorado, leaving the mountains transformed and setting off a chain of events that left two of my horses seriously injured. While the horses were evacuated, a mountain lion attacked one mare and the herd fled through 11 fences.

The land and horses that had carried me through difficult seasons suddenly needed care of their own.

In this solo episode, I share what this Colorado wildfire taught me about grief, gratitude, and the uneven nature of healing. As the burned landscape and my horses recover, I explore why loss should not be rushed toward a silver lining, what setbacks reveal about the healing process, and what it means to care for the animals who once carried you.

Healing does not always restore what was there before. Sometimes the landscape remains changed, the scars remain visible, and life still begins growing again.

CONNECT WITH THE TOUCH OF A MUSTANG

Website: https://thetouchofamustang.org/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetouchofamustang/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheTouchofaMustang

SUPPORT THE PODCAST

buymeacoffee.com/thetouchofamustang

Follow The Touch of a Mustang for more stories about horses, the people they meet, and what those relationships reveal about healing, resilience, and being human.

Horses cannot heal us—and expecting them to may place a burden on them that was never theirs to carry. They can reflect how we are showing up, reveal what we have been unwilling to see, and guide us toward the truth we are seeking. But the work remains ours.

In this episode, Michelle Peterson of Medicine Horse Healing challenges the romanticized idea that horses are here to save us. We examine what healing with horses actually means when we stop casting the horse as the healer and begin taking responsibility for our own transformation.

Michelle explains how releasing ego can strengthen our relationships with horses, why genuine connection requires time and attention, and how horses can act as mirrors without doing the work for us. We also confront the responsibility humans have toward horses when involving them in our healing and personal growth.

The truth is less magical—and more demanding—than “horses heal.” They may help us uncover the path, but they cannot walk it for us.

CONNECT WITH MICHELLE PETERSON

Website: https://www.michelle-peterson.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/medicinehorsehealing/
Rescued Hearts: https://www.rescuedheartsfilm.com/
Dance of the Wild: https://www.danceofthewild.com/

CONNECT WITH THE TOUCH OF A MUSTANG

Website: https://thetouchofamustang.org/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetouchofamustang/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheTouchofaMustang

SUPPORT THE PODCAST

buymeacoffee.com/thetouchofamustang

Follow The Touch of a Mustang so you don’t miss more conversations about how horses can guide us toward healing, wellness, and greater freedom of mind.

What if the reason you cannot relax is that you are trying to think your way out of a state your body is still holding?

Modern life can leave the nervous system stuck on alert—even when no immediate danger exists. Craig Goldberg, co-founder of inHarmony, believes sound and physical vibration may help the body find its way back to calm.

After one sound session gave Craig a level of relaxation he had never experienced, he began exploring vibroacoustic therapy—an approach that combines audible frequencies with vibration you can physically feel. That experience eventually led him to help build inHarmony and introduce thousands of people to the practice.

In this episode, we examine what sound healing actually is, how vibroacoustic therapy interacts with the body, and what emerging research suggests about its potential role in relaxation, sleep, mindfulness, and stress regulation. Craig also explains how sound can be incorporated into meditation and breathwork—and why deep rest may require more than simply telling yourself to relax.

This is not a promise that one frequency will fix your life. It is an honest look at whether sound and vibration can help an overstimulated body finally let go.

ABOUT CRAIG GOLDBERG

Craig Goldberg is a certified Vibroacoustic Therapy Practitioner and co-founder of inHarmony. His work focuses on the intersection of sound, physical vibration, relaxation, and human well-being.

CONNECT WITH CRAIG

Website: https://iaminharmony.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/inharmonyinteractive/

CONNECT WITH THE TOUCH OF A MUSTANG

Website: https://thetouchofamustang.org/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetouchofamustang/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheTouchofaMustang

SUPPORT THE PODCAST

buymeacoffee.com/thetouchofamustang

Follow The Touch of a Mustang so you don’t miss more conversations about how horses, nature, and science can guide us toward healing, wellness, and greater freedom of mind.

A wild horse advocate and a hunter are supposed to be on opposite sides. But public lands will not be protected by people who refuse to speak across the divide.

In this episode, Kurt Belding of Western Obsessions TV joins me for an unapologetic conversation about ethical hunting, conservation, and what modern life is costing us as we become increasingly disconnected from nature.

For Kurt, harvesting an animal is not about domination or trophies. It is a sacred responsibility rooted in fair chase, discipline, gratitude, and respect for the life being taken. His perspective challenges the assumptions many people hold about hunters—and reveals unexpected common ground with those fighting to protect wild horses.

We explore why the most difficult paths often create the deepest meaning, how time in nature can restore something modern life strips away, and why protecting wildlife and public lands will require cooperation between people who do not agree on everything.

This episode does not ask you to agree with hunting. It asks a harder question: Can those who care about Mustangs, wildlife, open spaces, and the human need for wildness protect any of them if we remain divided?

At its heart, this is a conversation about one of the central ideas behind The Touch of a Mustang: wild places do more than give animals somewhere to live. They can guide people toward greater purpose, responsibility, humility, and freedom of mind.

ABOUT KURT BELDING

Kurt Belding is the driving force behind Western Obsessions TV and Hunt Adventures. His work promotes fair-chase hunting, ethical conservation, and a lifetime of meaningful outdoor adventure.

CONNECT WITH KURT

Website: https://westernobsessionstv.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WesternObsessionsTV
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/western_obsessions_tv/

CONNECT WITH THE TOUCH OF A MUSTANG

Website: https://thetouchofamustang.org/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetouchofamustang/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheTouchofaMustang

SUPPORT THE PODCAST

buymeacoffee.com/thetouchofamustang

Follow The Touch of a Mustang for more conversations about the places and principles that can guide us toward healing, wellness, and greater freedom of mind.