Ashlee Petersen on Sobriety & Animal Rescue

00:00:05
Speaker 1: Hello, my gorgeous people. Welcome to the Give Them La La Podcasts. What a crazy weekend? What a crazy you know? Monday Tuesday. Well we're recording this on a Monday, so it'll air on a Wednesday.

00:00:25
Speaker 2: But how do you feeling, Jess, I'm feeling good. Welcome back, Thank you, Thank you you guys. I was home with a bit of a cult. But tis the season. I guess that's what I've heard.

00:00:37
Speaker 1: So tell me about your weekend. It's been a crazy weekend with Roe versus Wade. I won't lie that was a tough one. I'm not a podcast or person that ventures into my beliefs. I will say this is the one thing that I go this is my fucking body, and how dare you think you have the right to tell me what the fuck to do with it? That hits me closely. For anyone who read my book, I have had an abortion. This is a topic who has affected me personally, women who I know, personally, people I don't even know. It's affected And I got a lot of people when I posted about it. I wanting to go on rampages saying unfollow I think you should unfollow me, because if that's something you're not on my same page. I'm not the person for you, especially a woman who thinks that this doesn't affect them. If you don't see eye to eye with me on this topic, I'm not for you. Yeah, And I'm sure I lost a lot of followers. Great, goodbye.

00:01:51
Speaker 2: This is a heartbreaking time for all women in America and it's fucked up.

00:01:58
Speaker 1: That's exactly what it is. And I am just was. I was pretty devastated by all of what happened, and I think a lot of people were as well. And one person saying in the state of cal you'll be fine, you can just travel. I'm like, Okay, So the thirteen year old who gets pregnant in a horrific way, all she has to do is travel to a different stage, Yes, because that's easy.

00:02:24
Speaker 2: It's beyond ignorant and disgusting. And that you can just travel, What are you talking about? You think people everyone can just Yes, there are a lot of people can just travel. But you think that everyone can just pick up and just go to the next state.

00:02:38
Speaker 1: Your privilege is fine showing which you Yeah, and you've made it right a third or whatever.

00:02:43
Speaker 2: A young person. Yeah, someone who doesn't have I've got a ton of friends who've experienced this young fifteen years old. Not a ton of friends, but a couple of friends young fifteen years old got pregnant. If their parents would have ever found out, they would have forced them to keep the baby. So they made their a decision on their own. It's like beyond it doesn't amazing.

00:03:05
Speaker 1: And guess what I can get when things make sense, Jess, I can get down with it. If you can bring me something that makes sense in all areas, I can get down with it. Yeah, it doesn't make sense, So we're not going to venture too much further into it. We're going to talk about something happy. I have an amazing guest today. All of my guests are amazing. I won't even lie, but this guest has a huge piece of my heart because she is responsible for me getting sober. The first person I reached out to, but my guest, Ashley Peterson. She is a part of two horse rescues, one being wild sage horse and the other one Love this Horse. There's going to be in this episode a place where you can go to donate. I'm going to post it on my Instagram. It'll be on the podcast page. If you just venture over to their insta again Wild Sage Horse and Love this Horse. You click on the link in the bio and it'll show you where you can donate. You literally can donate a dollar. If I got one hundred people to donate a dollar, we could help feed a horse for an entire month. So that is incredible. Give what you can share the link. Maybe someone else you know can throw in some money. Anyway, with that being said, we're going to take a short break and we will be back with Ashley Peterson. Welcome back. Oh my gosh, I have a fantastic guest, Ashley Peterson. Hello, my angel. I call you my angel because and I call you this every time I hit another year of sobriety, because you were the first person that I called when I identified as an alcoholic. Were my very first phone call. I didn't know who you were, You didn't know who I was. Your name was given to me by a psychiatrist, and you swooped in like an angel and gave me a life that I was screaming for.

00:05:16
Speaker 3: And you know, La, La, thank you. And honestly, experiences like you and I had together, and the fact that you needed to reach out, you needed a connection and you needed something that was grounding for you in a safe space. Like that's why I do what I do for a living. I mean, the basis of alcoholics anonymous is one alcoholic helping another. But for some people, myself included, there's some really critical steps that need to happen before you can even get into the rooms of AA.

00:05:50
Speaker 1: What would you say those steps are before you get into a room?

00:05:54
Speaker 3: Well, I always believe there's a certain amount of desperation and willingness that needs to come with sobriety, and how people get there is their own journeys. And obviously, like once you reach a level of desperation and willingness, you've got to then have resources or you've got to have an opportunity because people that suffer with an addictive cycle, like we've all woken up and said, oh my god, I'm never going to drink again. So there's your desperation and willingness. It looks like, Okay, I think I'm finally ready to tell somebody what's going on with me, so I don't have to suffer in silence anymore, and I can allow myself to be supported. And then opportunity is what you had when we met, which is that you had that perfect combination of desperation and willingness and then you actually had access to somebody who was going to say I got you.

00:06:55
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh. It just gives me chills because so many people will slide into my dear, and you know, they want to know how does one choose the path to sobriety and how have you stayed sober. It's such a nuanced thing because I remember you when I hit a year and you called me a unicorn for me, you know, every situation is so different. Everyone's sobriety journey looks different. Yeah, And I love that you said that those are like the three things to really get you into a room, because getting into a room is very intimidating. And I remember I called you on a Monday. You said, I want you to call me every single day whenever until we meet on Thursday. I met you on a Thursday that Thursday, and I was in a room with someone who you introduced me to, who is still my sponsor today. And I was in an AA meeting with her that Thursday that I had met with you. It's crazy to me.

00:07:58
Speaker 3: It is crazy. Listen, you are a unicorn La LA because there's a lot of people who aren't ready to actually attach to the guidance and the resources. And there's plenty of people I've made suggestions for sponsorship to and given lists of meetings and said, hey, if you really want to be sober, this is this is going to help. This is a great community and a foundation for you. And how many people have said yeah, no, that's not for me, and I go okay, And so you know, I'm always amazed, like my time is not free. I mean people have to pay to come and see me. They will pay and come and see me for counseling and guidance, and I give them the counseling and guidance. They go yeah no, And I think, okay, Well they'll Eithery're either going to figure it out on their own or they're willing to come back when they're ready to hear what I'm saying. People want it to be easy, and you and I know that there is nothing easy about this experience. If it were easy, people like me wouldn't have a job, Alcoholics anonymous wouldn't exist. This is not about willpower. This is and that's all like a lot of ego and a lot of pride at the end of the day, Like, dude, you've got to be willing to like go, yes, take me, just tell me where to go and what to do. I'm so sick and tired of being sick and tired, and I want I'm going to face my fear of the unknown and I'm going to walk through it. And then when you get to the other side, which you and I have talked about so many times, you develop superhuman powers. You can do anything. And by the way, since you got sober, you have walked through more challenges in your life with grace and dignity and turned around and been a role model and a touchstone for other people struggling. That's your superhuman power and that's what you earned when you walk through your fear.

00:10:12
Speaker 1: Thank you for saying that. There's there's a lot of people who who have asked me, how are you staying sober through these times? To be honest, that's the easy part.

00:10:25
Speaker 3: Well, and with having a drink change the outcome.

00:10:27
Speaker 1: Yes, it would make it horrendous, It would make it worse. Yes, you know, and I had a whole other set of issues. When I wake up, my life is manageable. All of these things where when I have the worst day ever and I'm like, today's shit, I can fall into the fact that the day's shit and tomorrow I'm gonna wake up and it's going to be great. If I were drinking, the day would be shit and the inn the next morning would be even fucking worse.

00:10:54
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, not worth it. And your beautiful baby, oh my god, that beautiful baby.

00:10:59
Speaker 1: Who has a mama, who's just like who shows up? We're here? So you said you're expensive? Can you tell people? Because this leads into where you are right now?

00:11:11
Speaker 3: Yeah?

00:11:11
Speaker 1: Yeah, what were you doing? And are you still doing it? Ashley? Do you still meet with people like via zoom or yeah?

00:11:18
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah Yeah. I'm in a practice of primarily all female practitioners, psychiatrists, therapists, and I'm the counselor and case manager based out of Santa Monica. I only work virtually. COVID was really an interesting challenge for us because Stacy Cohen and I had just opened our office in Santa Monica and then we had a lockdown. Yeah, so it became like the Okay, let's pivot, let's figure this out. And I had, you know, being in recovery. I figured that this was going to be high time, like people were either going to drink themselves into oblivion or use themselves into oblivion alone in the privacy of their home and realize like, oh my god, this is really a problem, or maybe a loved one would or people were going to realize since they didn't have to go to the office, they could finally address the problem that they hadn't been able to address because they were so busy on the treadmill alife. So either way, we needed to be able to show up for people virtually, which we did. We did. It was really I think I've probably watched more people get sober and remain sober during the pandemic than I had it any other point in my career. So yes, I'm still a counselor, I'm still a substance abuse counselor. I work only virtually, and which will tie in to what we're going to talk about later. But I think people realized during the pandemic where they could improve the quality of their life, and in Los Angeles, not having to sit in traffic to get across town to find parking spot to get to an office, routing to sit down was a great way to save a few hours out of their day, and so, you know, I was prepared to go back to in person, but everyone we've normalized virtual support, which is a blessing, it.

00:13:15
Speaker 1: Really is, And you can get so much more done during the day, and there's so many times where things pop up, and if they're coming to meet with you when they've got a reschedule, it's not a big deal. Not a big deal. You hop on, you can do it on your phone.

00:13:29
Speaker 3: It's not a big deal to me. And I want people to be able to access the support in a realistic way. Right, We've all adapted, and I think for people that don't work conventional work hours to be able to still access virtual support is really important. Not everyone works nine to five.

00:13:48
Speaker 2: No.

00:13:49
Speaker 1: I love that you said that you saw a lot of people, more people get sober and stay sober during the pandemic than you've seen in your career, because there were so many rooms that I would go into virtually during the pandemic, and you know, men and women who I had seen before who had a lot of time under their belt coming back with twenty four hours and yeah, it was just crazy to me. There's a man who speaks at this meeting. He always gets up and he always says, I've been sober for thirty years, and it takes thirty seconds for me to be a newcomer. And it's a very that's a humbling thought to think you could have all the time in the world and we're all one slip up away from being newcomers.

00:14:31
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that. Gosh, I think the last two and a half years really, really really, I mean it was like a science fiction movie come to life. I mean there was no playbook for it. By the way, I rarely wash my face and brush my teeth to go to work, but I do to go ride my horse. So let's talk about what's become so backwards in COVID.

00:14:56
Speaker 1: You know what, I think, it's amazing. I love everything that you're doing. I love this setup you have. So I remember coming to your office in Santa Monica, and this was before the pandemic. You said, basically, fuck it, I'm getting a ranch. I just want to be around animals. You did it. Your Instagram account is the do over Ranch.

00:15:19
Speaker 3: Ye.

00:15:20
Speaker 1: It gives me all the life in the world because it grounds me. I actually want what you have, and I remember in AA they say surround yourself with people who want what you have or that have what you want. Well, I've done just that, So tell me about what made you want to do that kind of escape from you. You were in the Hollywood industry. Let's tell people like you were in it. You were doing makeup on nine O two one zero, like, talk about that and then tell me where you are now.

00:15:51
Speaker 3: Sure, So I'm just for the timeline of this story. I'm about to turn fifty three years old. You look, thank you, You're welcome. I attributed to sobriety and actually living a joyful life. So when I was seventeen, I started doing makeup in the film industry. So this was like nineteen eighty seven. I had a twenty three year career, and when my Emmys and had my A list celebrities, had a child. My son is twenty eight years old, and I was like a single mom in this traveling circus show. We just load up in the private jets and fly across country and fly to another country. It was just kids and dogs. It's how we rolled. And I secretly was developing a really really significant substance abuse problem, and I think probably there was plenty of people around me that knew that something wasn't right, but no one ever challenged me on it because I provided a service, I was good at what I did, and people also depended on me to make money and work, so there was a lot of like we was just going to kind of turn the blind's eye to the fact that, like something's going wrong. So eventually, like I became a liability and my substance abuse problem got so bad that I couldn't travel anymore because I couldn't actually access what I needed to stay well because it wasn't conventional what I was doing, And so I stopped traveling and it really limited my career, and eventually I just kind of slowly, quietly slipped away into active addiction alone in an apartment in Squaller. You know, this was like I had gone from like being married to the celebrity all the A list clients to like literally living in a two bedroom apartment that was filled with trash that I hadn't paid rent on in months. And I know the only reason he didn't evictimy because he knew my dad was a lawyer and he planned on suing him for the back rent. Once I got out, which, by the way, he did. And when I was forty one, my family did an intervention, and I think my son at the time was fifteen. I don't think they really knew the gory details of how bad it had gotten, but they knew it was bad, and so they hired an intervention. If my son said something to my mom along the lines of, like, my mom's dying, I don't like, I don't want my mom to die. My mom had been up probably for years at night worrying about me, so they did the intervention. I was forty one. I was like, hallelujah, Oh my god, Yay, finally someone's like realizes there's something really wrong here and they're giving me while I couldn't find a way to get off the treadmill, Like when I thought about getting sober, I was like, well, who's going to watch my son? What about the dog? What about the bills I can't already pay? But then everyone's going to know I'm not really paying all my bills, and like, I really needed to be rescued, but I also was mortified. I was filled with so much shame that like I'd had this spectacular fall from grace and nobody was talking to me, like why would you? I was like a hot mess. So they did the intervention. I said, yes, absolutely. I went to a fabulous nonprofit treatment program in Culver City called Bait Tishuva. It was literally the most incredible experience I ever had because I got to just focus on myself and that was the last thing they said. They're like, don't worry about anything else, just worry about yourself, and I was like, oh my god. They gave me permission to get better finally. So I stayed a very long time. While I was there, I decided I don't want to go back to makeup. I felt really disconnected from it. It felt like I'd fallen out of love with something that I'd thought I always loved. But I kind of grew up in that industry, and I also think I grew out of it. So I went back to college. I was forty two years old, and I went to call it.

00:20:00
Speaker 1: That's amazing.

00:20:01
Speaker 3: And I'd never been to college because I started when I was seventeen, and so I studied psychology and addiction. I was a straight A student, by the way, which I had never been ever in the history of my life, and I got my degree in substance abuse counseling, and I started working my way through like a bunch of kind of lower level jobs. It was like the first time I ever at like really was aware that I was like climbing the ladder, like, Okay, you got to do this, and then you got to get to this and then and by the way, the money was horrible and the work was brutal. So eventually, sort of like stepping stones on a path, I just kept taking another step forward. One job would lead to another, and ultimately I had this incredibly wise man who was part of my own recovery named Shiah Blakeney, and he said, actually, I see something for you that is much bigger than this, Like he showed me my potential of who I could be so I didn't have to necessarily keep working for other people, that there was a way that I could personally empower myself in this career and go into private practice. Mind you, when he saw that for me, it was three years before I actually did it because I couldn't envision it yet. I realized that there really was a demand, and you were one of those stepping stones. Along with this handful of private clients that I had with you, Like I would work all day in a treatment program and then stay late to see private clients. Okay, And I realized, like, oh, I can be helpful to people, like look at these people are doing really well with this one on one counseling. It's helping them they feel a sense of connection. So I went into private practice with Stacy Cohen.

00:21:52
Speaker 1: I had Stacey Cohen on the podcast just for my listeners. Stacy Cohen, if you go back, she was fantastic. People went crazy over her episode. She is the one that gave me your number. So there's the connection there.

00:22:08
Speaker 3: And Stacy is the one who reached out to me long before I was ready and said, Hey, I'm opening this boutique practice in Santa Monica. I want you to be my substance abuse counselor. Like I need to have you in my practice. And I was like, oh my god, that's the scariest and most exciting thing I've ever heard in my entire life. Let me think about it. So ultimately I said yes, and Stacy and I about six months before the pandemic hit opened the moment she opened it and I joined her. There was something else happening in the background of my life just as a woman, which is that at the time that a lot of these changes were going on in my career, I was also approaching fifty years old and I had this, like I know people talk about midlife crisises, Mine was a midlife awakening.

00:23:00
Speaker 1: Wow.

00:23:01
Speaker 3: I don't know what happened, but like I literally woke up and I was like, oh my god, what's happening. I'm going to be fifty years old? Let me look at my life. The question that I kept asking myself is is there something that if I don't do it now when I can, when I'm physically and financially able to do it. If I don't do it and I get to like seventy or eighty or the end of my life and I look back, am I going to regret that I didn't see the opportunity?

00:23:35
Speaker 1: And the answer was yes, Oh my gosh, I love this.

00:23:39
Speaker 3: And that's how we That's how we got the do Over ranch. Like the do Over Ranch was me getting my do over. And then as a result, these animals that I have at the ranch were of all rescues and they came here to get their due over. And so you know it's been this path journey of like self discovery and awakening and realization that like I don't have to live my life based on what others expectations are of me.

00:24:10
Speaker 1: I have chills. I just want to say all over my whole body, like the midlife awakening is brilliant. I think more people should start talking about that. I've talked to you about this. My mom, you know, worked for the Humane Society like you and I share a love for these sweet animals, and I love you posting about them. You came to me last week and spoke about a force rescue that I believe is a nonprofit. And we all know that we are in tough times right now. I mean, people are sitting here going do I put food on the table for my family or do I do this? The choice is obviously very easy, and when things like this happen, they're there are animals that suffer. That is your biggest passion. I relate to that. I want to hear about this horse rescue and I want my listeners to know how we can help, even in a small way, big ways you tell us amazing.

00:25:17
Speaker 3: So the rescue that I reached out to is called Wild Sage Horse Rescue. How I got associated with Wild Sage Horse Rescue is through the horse rescue where I rescued most of my horses, which is called Love This Horse Equine Rescue, And there are two single women who have started these two separate rescues. One is very breed specific, so like Love This Horse primarily rescues Arabian horses, where Wild Sage rescues all breeds. And so right now I'm going to talk about horse rescue in general because I think what happens is the trickle down economics of life. It started before we hit the sphase that we're in right now with gas prices and food prices, but even during COVID is that people started abandoning their animals and dumping their animals. And so these types of organizations like Love This Horse and Wild Stage take them in and they rehabilitate them and they feed them and they retrain them and they adopt them out. When people were home during the pandemic and we were all getting you know, people, we had more money in the bank because they weren't out doing whatever they do in life, weren't driving, weren't going out and having dinners. People got really connected to like giving, which was really a beautiful thing. I think what's happened is everyone is afraid, and I understand I live in my own fear, and I have to sometimes make choices between do I buy hay and make sure we have hay for three months or do something that's more personally driven, like I'm not going to buy the expensive boots or the handbag right now, I'm going to feed my horses. So these horse rescues depend on donations. They're nonprofits and grants for the grants are not easy to come by for the little people. And so I realized that when I got more personally involved with Wild Stage, it was because a family reached out. This is just an example of what kind of what we deal with. A family reached out and their dad was ill, had dementia and his beloved herd of horses needed to be taken care of, and they donated. They surrendered them to the rescue. So when they come into the rescue, we have to feed them, we got to vet them, they've got to have their feet done, they've got to be retrained, they've got to be All these things cost money. So the best way to help is even if people like, listen, if one hundred people donated a dollar, we're almost feeding a horse for a month, you know what I mean. But if you break it down to a micro level, like you know, it's about one hundred and fifty to two hundred dollars a month to feed a horse. Okay, but by the way, every day, hay prices are going up because of gas prices, right because of water prices, And so I really encourage people to or they can. You can sponsor a horse monthly. You know, you can go visit the horses at the rescue like they love to have people involved, but the volunteering has fallen down, the donations have fallen down. And I'm watching two really special friends of mine, like trying to figure out how they're going to keep their rescue together. If we can't keep the rescues going, then what happens.

00:28:51
Speaker 1: I can't even imagine going to that place of what do we do if we can't get people to help us out?

00:28:58
Speaker 3: Yeah, And how I e and found my way into horse rescues is that I decided I was going to adopt a horse because I don't think people realize that sure, you can buy a horse that hasn't had any adversity in their life, that's always been with one person or had perfect training, and you're going to spend a lot of money likely on that horse. Or if you're like me, it's like, well, everybody deserves the second chance, animals included, right, Like like I've like, where's the horse that needs to do over? Everyone needs to do it over. And that's how I fell into it, you know, by the way my horse and I are like winning championships together.

00:29:45
Speaker 1: I know, I've seen it. It's crazy.

00:29:48
Speaker 3: It's crazy. This horse. You couldn't even put a halter on this horse three and a half years ago.

00:29:53
Speaker 1: Oh my Ashley, that is so cute.

00:29:59
Speaker 3: So it's like, you know, anything is possible. But we've got to take care of the grassroots, right, We've got to take care of the base of the operations, yeah, which is the rescues.

00:30:09
Speaker 1: Right. So do you know how many horses are in this rescue right now?

00:30:14
Speaker 3: So Wild Sage has I believe, twelve horses. And do you know how much we average in donations a month? How much fifty dollars?

00:30:24
Speaker 1: Okay, well we're going to change that. So you have there's twelve horses in the rescue. You could feed a horse for an entire month, let's just say around two hundred to two fifty YEP with inflation. How do we donate?

00:30:40
Speaker 2: So?

00:30:41
Speaker 3: You can donate through Venmo, you can donate through PayPal at Wild Sage Horse Rescue dot com. You can go to their instagram. We really need to like increase traffic, you know, on social media, and all the links for donations are on the social media for Wild Sage Horse Rescue for Love This Horse Equine Rescue. These are like hard wooking women who basically had to get second jobs in addition to their rescue to keep their families fed and to keep the horses fed. Wow, I just I really am so grateful that you're letting me talk about it because you have an amazing reach, and I don't think people realize how many. I mean, there's a lot of high profile horse rescues that already have the foot traffic in the donations, but I wanted to bring some awareness to some of the little guys.

00:31:40
Speaker 1: Well, I'm so happy that you did, and I'm going to make sure I post on my page will spread the word and to my listeners. If you don't have the funds right now. You can also spread the word. Yeah, that's what we need reposting. Like Ashley said, if we could get one hundred people to just donate one dollar, that's all it takes.

00:32:02
Speaker 3: Yes, and it's all tax deductible. And if someone decided they wanted to sponsor a horse monthly that you know they track their progress on social media. It's like, you're right there. If you're in southern California, you can come out and visit the horses. They love it.

00:32:19
Speaker 1: There's so much we can do. I'm thrilled that you approached me with this and thrilled that we could get you on the podcast so quickly.

00:32:27
Speaker 3: Oh, it was meant to be.

00:32:30
Speaker 1: It was meant to be, and I'm I'm excited. I think that you inspire me. You do amazing work. You're not only helping people, but you're helping the voiceless, and that to me, just it it gives it gives me a lot of hope to see you're doing what you're doing.

00:32:54
Speaker 3: You made me cry. I love you so much, well.

00:32:56
Speaker 2: I love you.

00:32:57
Speaker 1: I just we're in such a weird world and you start losing faith in humanity.

00:33:02
Speaker 3: Yeah, Oh so did you feel like you really had a voice when you were drinking. Was there a part of you that felt silence just from the I felt silence from the shame and the guilt.

00:33:13
Speaker 1: I mean there was shame, There was guilt. I looked in the mirror. I didn't even know who I was. What do you believe in? What do you think about certain things? And I didn't know. It was like I could tell you that I want a vodka soda in my system right now to numb myself to my very core. But as far as having a voice or a thought about anything that didn't exist, well.

00:33:35
Speaker 3: I think it was a natural segue for me when I found my own voice, and I wanted people in recovery to find their voice again and find a sense of purpose and belonging and meaning. And then when I turned around and I looked at these animals, and I was like, well, who's going to tell their story?

00:33:54
Speaker 1: Right?

00:33:54
Speaker 3: They don't have a voice, Like how do we get people to care about what this animal has gone through? If we don't talk about it, if we don't raise awareness. And I full sledge to become the crazy animal lady.

00:34:09
Speaker 1: I love it. I think it's great. I think you got it figured out.

00:34:13
Speaker 3: But you know what, it's totally unconditional.

00:34:16
Speaker 1: I know, I see it.

00:34:19
Speaker 3: And when I get a little burnout on the human race, which I'm not going to lie, I'm like a little burnout right now watching everything that's going on in the world. Like I just go sit with my chickens, I just go sit with my horses, and it grounds me again. And so even if people are living in an apartment in the Midwest and feel disconnected, just to be able to follow some of this social media and feel connected to one of these horses journey from entering the rescue to where they find their forever home is really really beautiful. You don't have to donate to be part of it. Just be aware it's going.

00:35:03
Speaker 1: On, right and spread the word.

00:35:06
Speaker 3: Spread the word that's free, that doesn't cost anything.

00:35:09
Speaker 1: No. I know when people you know sit there and go but I can't do anything, it's like, yes, you can spread talk about awareness. Let's have a conversation because there's going to be people out there who who can't afford to you know, say, I've got five bucks here. It is amazing. That's what we need. Nothing is too small.

00:35:29
Speaker 3: Nothing, and it's so appreciated because you know, these rescues start to feel alone.

00:35:37
Speaker 1: I can't even imagine it, you would start feeling alone.

00:35:42
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's like, well, where's the humanity? You know, no one cares?

00:35:47
Speaker 1: Yep, you feel like you almost feel like you're in the middle of the ocean drowning and everyone around you is sitting there watching it happen. Yeah, we're going to change it, so repeat one more time. Where people can go to.

00:36:01
Speaker 3: So there's Wild Sage Horse Rescue, which is both the horse rescues I talked about today are both on social media, Wild Sage Horse Rescue and Love This Horse Equine Rescue. They have Instagram, they have Facebook, they have donation links through PayPal, through Venmo. The tricky thing about the social media sites is, I know people like convenience. They're like, oh, I'm going to donate through Facebook, but the really or I'm going to donate straight through Instagram, which I think it's amazing they've made that available. The problem is they hold the money for thirty to forty five days, so the rescues don't resource. They can't access the money for a month or a month and a half. So people are going to donate. I encourage them to donate through PayPal or Venmo because they get it immediately. Okay, and I will send you everything in our little private text change, so you've got both in front of you and they're both on social media.

00:37:01
Speaker 1: Amazing. I love you so much, Thank you so much for being on my podcast.

00:37:05
Speaker 3: I love you too, anytime. I love