Community

Sea Star Horse Sanctuary is a healing place for equines and humans alike.  Though our primary mission is to locate and help neglected and abused horses,  what we have found is that as the horses thrived, the people helping them thrived too. The profound impact that the horses were having on volunteers inspired us to make the sanctuary available for the community to experience.  We offer the opportunity to connect with the horses in their natural environment, either through scheduling a private visit or through one of our workshops, events, or programs.
 
People from Monterey County and beyond, adults dealing with loss and grief, participants from Healing Touch workshops, firefighters, ER doctors, nurses, children, and teens: all come with the intention to help the horses, only to realize that the horses are helping them. The horses each have had a unique journey of healing just as the visitors who now come to spend time with them are often on their own healing journey. By being in the presence of these horses, the members of our community have the opportunity to reconnect to themselves and to the natural world. And it’s a lot of fun!

“Bentley”
A poem by volunteer Charlie Deweese

On a hill by the sea, grazing green grass,
a little round brown pony stands.
 
He no longer hears the call of cruel words
or endures the touch of harsh hands.
 
His home is a haven where healing is done,
a chapel of kindness and love,
 
Where pine and oak sigh in the wind and give shade
with gray mist and blue sky above.
 
Does he remember the dark in his past
a time with his life almost taken,
 
Does he still feel the fear of his fate
but by grace he was not forsaken.
 
He is not alone in this place of goodwill,
there are others with sad stories too.
 
But here that has ended, here they find peace
and a chance to begin life anew.
 
His friendship cannot be easily won,
he must know you well to forgive.
 
But his heart is now open, he’s learning to trust
and find joy in a new life to live.

Starberry inspires Sarah & Michael to sing “Faith” by Debbie Nargi-Brown