RAISIN TWP. — Every horse has a personality. And for Michelle Wild, the founder and CEO of Wild Acres Horse Rescue, there’s nothing quite like seeing that unique character emerge when they feel safe and secure.
“I just love the way the personality comes out when they start feeling safe and they get fed,” she said. “You just really start to see a horse blossom.”
Wild grew up doing 4-H and has been around horses her entire life. She worked for 30 years for the 34th District Court in Romulus. She now lives in Adrian Township, and she started Wild Acres Horse Rescue in 2021.
The nonprofit rescue’s first home was in the Brooklyn area, but in May 2023 the organization started leasing land at the Britton-area home of Don and Stephanie Findley.
“We have access to nine acres so we can grow if we need to,” Wild said.
Unlike a sanctuary, which is a place where horses can go to live out the rest of their lives, the goal of Wild Acres Horse Rescue is to get horses out of bad situations — or, sometimes, intercept them before they end up in bad situations — and ultimately find them a suitable permanent home.
Most of the horses who have come through Wild Acres were surrendered. One common situation involves owners who are getting older and just aren’t able to take care of their horses the way they used to. But the reason doesn’t really matter, and in fact the rescue has a “no questions asked” policy.
“We don’t want to pass judgment on them,” Wild said. “We’re just glad they contacted us.”
The rescue will also sometimes buy horses at auctions to keep them from being purchased by a “kill buyer,” someone who buys horses to be slaughtered.
Wild said the organization has rescued about 15 horses so far. There are three at their current facility, and one more who’s still living at their former location near Brooklyn.
The rescue has no paid staff. There are three board members and one regular volunteer; board members all help out with feeding and cleaning.
“Everybody’s pitching in,” Wild said.
The rescue is currently looking for more volunteers, both for tasks like cleaning the fields and for publicity. Marketing and fundraising are major focus areas this year.
At its current population, and with a lot of feed and hay being donated, Wild estimated the rescue can get by on $10,000 per year as long as none of the horses has any significant veterinary bills. But there’s room for more horses on the land they’re leasing — and Wild said she’d like to get annual fundraising up to about $35,000.
Seeing the difference it makes in a horse’s life makes all the work worthwhile, Wild said.
“When they come here, they’ve got all this room to run,” she said, “and that’s what they do. They just run around, and you can tell they’re happy.”
For more information about Wild Acres Horse Rescue, call 734-748-9057 or go to wildacreshorserescue.org.
