2023: My Favorite Ranch with Clare Staples

On this week's episode, we learn about what goes into running a horse and burro rescue. Rancher Clare Staples talks about her passion for saving wild horses, the obstacles these creatures face, and how she's able to keep track of dozens of horses. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, guys, there he is Donald. You'll be very happy
to know that I don't have my sound effects machine,
so any sound effects drops that the audience likes, I
will be doing live.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
This is the best day ever. Oh my god, what
just happened? People? Everyone? Today is the best day ever.

Speaker 1 (00:18):
Because I don't have the sound effects machine.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
Yes, but none of that, none of that.

Speaker 1 (00:23):
I love you, ship, sound listen. I'm gonna do them live.
I just want the audience hear. What you're trying to
get into a day is soon. What you're trying to.

Speaker 3 (00:33):
Do, that's the only one that you can do that's
actually gonna sound authentic.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
Everyone else you don't sound like Meal tech.

Speaker 1 (00:44):
Forever Wu Tang forever? What Wo tang forever?

Speaker 2 (00:50):
It doesn't work. I miss I missed you too. This
has been a crazy, crazy, crazy summer. Holy Ship.

Speaker 1 (01:00):
Yes, it's very bizarre time in our town because nobody
can work.

Speaker 2 (01:07):
Yeah, and it's hot as balls outside.

Speaker 1 (01:10):
Yes, nobody can work and it's hot as balls outside.

Speaker 2 (01:14):
This is what I imagine hell is like, hot and workless,
hot and workless.

Speaker 1 (01:22):
Well, that just shows that you love your work too,
because a lot of people would imagine hell would be
hot and work full. You know what I mean?

Speaker 2 (01:34):
Well, not if you love what you do.

Speaker 1 (01:35):
Yeah, you love what you do.

Speaker 3 (01:37):
I'm one of the very few people in the world
that gets to do what he's always wanted to do.

Speaker 1 (01:44):
Yes, that's probably true, Donald, You're one of an elite
group of people that actually gets to do what they
love to do. Joel and Daniel too.

Speaker 2 (01:55):
I don't know how they feel about this job.

Speaker 1 (02:00):
Okay, no, but Donald's right. Daniel might be like, I
will kill them one day.

Speaker 2 (02:06):
If anybody got to hear what you're trying to get
into a day shune.

Speaker 1 (02:09):
One more fucking time.

Speaker 2 (02:10):
I have to listen to their voices even after the show.

Speaker 1 (02:15):
Was Yeah, because Daniel has to edit the show, so
for all we know, he's up late, and I'd be like, oh.

Speaker 2 (02:19):
Soon soon, Donald, if you don't get your mic right.

Speaker 1 (02:24):
Yes, if he reads that ad wrong, one more fucking time,
I'll blow. Yeah. Daniel will be in a visa being like.

Speaker 2 (02:37):
You got to show me off.

Speaker 1 (02:41):
Daniel, is that your dream? To be a well paid
DJ in a viza on drugs?

Speaker 2 (02:48):
It was for a little bit. It was for a
little bit.

Speaker 4 (02:51):
I'm not gonna lie though, I do love this job
and I love having a real home life. Being gone
every weekend and not having like friends to hang out
with during the week is tough.

Speaker 2 (03:03):
So what money DJ in man? That's for damn sure.

Speaker 4 (03:06):
Hell no, I wish.

Speaker 1 (03:10):
But he's not talking. I will never reached and he could,
of course if he tried. I don't know, but he never.
He never reached the he never reached the private jet
DJ status.

Speaker 4 (03:20):
I assume not not quite now. It was a long
road and there are many choices I may have changed
along the way. However, I'm very proud of that time
in my life and I'm happy where I am now.
So no regrets.

Speaker 1 (03:31):
You know I met and I hung out with the
dj Z.

Speaker 2 (03:34):
Do you know him?

Speaker 1 (03:34):
No, Anton, I do know Anton. Anton is paid. Yes,
he's he thinks. So if I made a song like Clarity,
then yes.

Speaker 2 (03:42):
I say, you are a piece.

Speaker 1 (03:46):
He's so talented. Is he super talented? I don't. I
don't listen to that music. So is he super good?
He must be, because rules he is super talented. He's
an amazing musician, like he was a classically trade pianist.

Speaker 3 (04:01):
So didn't watch McCalla write that song? Though he didn't
write that song, didn't Hillary Duff husband wrote that.

Speaker 4 (04:07):
Song the lyrics or the music the lyrics, Yeah, yeah,
for sure it is.

Speaker 1 (04:14):
It is his song.

Speaker 4 (04:15):
I can't remember the name of the singer, but she's
also very talented. But I mean he wrote the music
part of it. So that's the part that I give
him those most credit for. He also works with, I mean,
a bunch of talented writers. He's brought up so many people.
I got nothing but respect for that.

Speaker 1 (04:27):
Oh that's nice to hear. He was a very he's
a very nice guy. I just met him a few
times and he's, uh, he's super nice. I just I
also happened to see his house, so I was like,
damn anton.

Speaker 2 (04:41):
Man's question, do you have a movie theater?

Speaker 1 (04:45):
He just had one of those like I'm a rich DJ.
Holy shit houses?

Speaker 2 (04:48):
Yeah, Like did he have a tennis court?

Speaker 1 (04:51):
I didn't like survey the grounds. Donald. I was just
there for a cocktail party and it was like a
wow house and I was like, Wow, this is one
of those I don't know his music.

Speaker 2 (04:59):
Yeah, bake grass are real grass?

Speaker 1 (05:03):
Is that how you determine wealth?

Speaker 3 (05:05):
I'm just saying some people determine wealth whether they have
a swing in a cement that's Casey.

Speaker 1 (05:11):
You got to tell that story.

Speaker 2 (05:12):
Now.

Speaker 1 (05:12):
You can't leave the audience curious about that.

Speaker 2 (05:14):
My wife told us that when she was growing up.

Speaker 1 (05:20):
Are you going to tell this wright or do I
need to take over?

Speaker 2 (05:22):
I'm going to tell her wrong. You need to take over, dude.

Speaker 1 (05:24):
I need to take over Donald's wife's story just because
Donald's too high to remembory.

Speaker 2 (05:28):
No, it's so long ago.

Speaker 1 (05:30):
She was talking about how in Waco, Texas, and this
was many years.

Speaker 2 (05:33):
Ago, well Marlin, Texas.

Speaker 1 (05:35):
Marlin, Texas, that her grandmother had a really nice house
for very little money. And she and this is Casey
said this without any trying to joke at all. She
was like, y'all, she got this house for thirty thousand
dollars and this house was nice, y'all. I mean it
had a swing set in the seaman.

Speaker 5 (05:55):
Hell. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (05:57):
She wasn't trying to be funny. She was like, that
was one of the nice features of the house was
that the swing set was.

Speaker 3 (06:02):
Imbedded into the dirt.

Speaker 1 (06:06):
It wasn't one of those ones where when you swing
hard it comes up.

Speaker 2 (06:08):
No no, no, no, there's no chance of the swing.

Speaker 1 (06:11):
This fucker was in.

Speaker 2 (06:12):
It was locked up in that. But dude was joking,
He's going off to ods.

Speaker 1 (06:19):
But Donald, do you remember Casey wasn't joking. She wasn't
trying to be funny. She was like being earnest. She
was like, y'all it was nice, like the swing set
was in the semen.

Speaker 2 (06:28):
Yeah, she was bragging y'all. Oh no, it was a
nice house.

Speaker 1 (06:34):
Should we talk about going to te Swift because we
had a great mandate.

Speaker 2 (06:39):
Listen that Te Swift? Cody was hate.

Speaker 1 (06:44):
Yeah, well, Cody, Cody, Cody's Cody's not a fan. We
don't listen. Need to listen to Cody. Cody's Cody's all
in on beyond.

Speaker 3 (06:50):
We should listen to Cody because he gets you into
shape and everything like that.

Speaker 1 (06:53):
But no, but I mean he's not a te Swift fan,
and Donald and I are. And we had a really
nice date. We had a great night.

Speaker 3 (07:02):
I mean, hanging out with the people that we hung
out made it even more special though. Getting again, Yeah,
get to see getting to see bree.

Speaker 1 (07:14):
Uh and Lupin and Young Sarah and Sarah Paulson. It's
quite the crew.

Speaker 6 (07:21):
Oh my gosh, wait a minute. I have like three
friends who've met Lapita and they said, she literally stole
their breath. She's the most beautiful woman. Oh my god.

Speaker 1 (07:32):
Donald and I were like, we're like, you know, I
know Sarah Paulson, we know Elizabeth Banks, you know I've
met Brie Larson. We were we were in the Costa
Egos shout out to cost Egos for letting us watch
in the box. But anyway, Donald and I were like,
you know, we know these these those gals. And then
we saw and Amy Adams was there and I know her.
And then but then Donald and I both saw Lupina

(07:54):
and Young. We both just stopped in our tracks and
we're like, our jaws dropped. She's so pretty, dude, and
they're all beautiful. I just meant we hadn't met her before.
In our start, in our Star sightings.

Speaker 2 (08:04):
We were surrounded by nothing but beautiful women.

Speaker 1 (08:08):
Other than Darren Chris, and other than Darren Chris, we
were the only guys that funny.

Speaker 3 (08:12):
And freaking like Ashley Tisdale came up in there, like
when we had a crew.

Speaker 1 (08:16):
And there was that famous TikTok girl's sister. I don't
know TikTok dancers, but.

Speaker 2 (08:24):
Remember her, the one that was on Dancing with the stars.

Speaker 1 (08:26):
There was a reality show about her family, the Damelio.
Yeahmilio's the older sister. Donald and I may have been
the only two straight men not accompanying a child there
in the all of Sofi Stadium. That is how I felt,
as well, Oh do you go? I did? It was great,
wasn't it? Dude? It was so incredible.

Speaker 4 (08:48):
Just the fact that she can go for three and
a half hours like that is mind blowing to me.
I was just standing there dancing and singing, sure, but
like she is performing, singing, bantering for three and a
half hours. That conditioning is unparalleled. She is such an
impressive performer.

Speaker 3 (09:04):
Man, she fucked up traffic in Hollywood. Man, I was
all gonna say, how about that?

Speaker 2 (09:07):
Look, it was cool. The first night. I was like, oh, man,
Taylor is in town. This is dope.

Speaker 3 (09:12):
Zach's taking me and we had a great time. I sang,
I did all of that stuff. But for the next
six days, traffic in Los Angeles was shit.

Speaker 2 (09:22):
Donald was all because of Taylor.

Speaker 1 (09:25):
Sweet I only I were loving the show. But I
looked at him like, because we were starting to time out,
we knew how long the show was, and I was like,
I want you to look at all these people, seventy
thousand people. I'm like, all these people are going to
try and leave the same time, right, So, Donald, we're
gonna miss some final tailor.

Speaker 2 (09:41):
Tracks, right, we missed all of that shit. We was like,
that's wrap.

Speaker 1 (09:46):
We love Taylor, but we don't love two hours of
traffic tailor.

Speaker 2 (09:49):
Now. No, no, no, no. I can't sit in the parking
lot for two no.

Speaker 1 (09:51):
I would have lost my mind. I would have lost
my mind. I saw the line for Uber and I
was like, there's no way it could not be caught dead.
And that least when and were like these big stars
like Lupida and Sarah Paulsen, they were disappearing for like
an hour and you're like, where'd they go? And they
would come back. They had gotten on the merch line.
They had been on the line for merch. I was

(10:14):
like Donald, I was like, Donald, do you need to go?
The cool thing to do would be for you to
come home with one of those sweatshirts for Casey And
he's like, oh, hell no.

Speaker 3 (10:22):
The only way I'm getting one of them things with
Casey is if, like if Lupita's like, would you like
a sweatshirt?

Speaker 1 (10:28):
You were hoping that Lapita was going to be like
I was free.

Speaker 2 (10:31):
Lars, and I was like, Brie, did you get anything
from me?

Speaker 1 (10:34):
You were hoping that Lupite and Young was going to
be like Donald, I googled your wife's sizes and here's That's.

Speaker 3 (10:43):
How good this freaking party was. That it wasn't just
a concert. It was a party, like we were hanging
out with some really awesome people who really liked Taylor Swept.

Speaker 2 (10:54):
That was the other thing.

Speaker 3 (10:55):
It was amazing that that all of these people really
really we weren't there just because it was the Casamigo Suite,
like that's the perk.

Speaker 2 (11:04):
That was one of the perks.

Speaker 3 (11:05):
Everybody who was there was a genuine Taylor Swift fan
and knew all the lyrics.

Speaker 1 (11:10):
And we didn't know. We didn't know Donald and I
knew a fraction of the songs because I think, I well,
I really I like Taylor a lot. But my I
was my favorite album is Folklore because she made an
album with the National So it was like, wow, that's
that's the most Taylor kind of music that can be.
I love a lot of the pop hits, don't get
me wrong, but for me, that's the album that that

(11:32):
I responded to most. So there were so many songs
that were played, but I didn't I didn't even know.

Speaker 3 (11:37):
Oh that shit was there's maybe like three songs, four
songs of the Whole Night that I was like, oh,
I don't know this one.

Speaker 1 (11:44):
I didn't know the era when she came out like
in the Princess dress, like that kind of music over
speak now. Yeah, yeah, I don't know the song.

Speaker 2 (11:53):
No.

Speaker 4 (12:00):
Uh, that is an album I'm honestly least familiar with.
I believe that is her third album.

Speaker 1 (12:05):
And the country something the Princess sparks.

Speaker 4 (12:09):
Oh that's what dear John mean, that's means, Yeah, I
don't know that ship.

Speaker 1 (12:14):
Yeah, but we like nineteen eighty nine and we like,
what's the reputation that.

Speaker 2 (12:20):
Oh that shit, what's the one where what's the one
where she has.

Speaker 1 (12:23):
The midnight hat over her face? But that was that
was red.

Speaker 2 (12:28):
Yeah, I know that. Yeah, I know all that.

Speaker 1 (12:29):
The dancers were incredible.

Speaker 3 (12:32):
Let's keep it one hundred, all right, let's be on
Taylor ain't no dancer. Let's be one hundred about it all.

Speaker 1 (12:38):
She's a great for me, It's donald.

Speaker 2 (12:43):
But I'm telling you right now, none of the all
y'all be cracking me up with the These motherfuckers can dance.

Speaker 3 (12:48):
They ass off and then not pay attention to the
fact about that there's a Beyonce out there.

Speaker 2 (12:54):
Come on, man, come on, buddy, there's a Come on buddy.
Let's keep it one hundred. Taylor is a great performer
and she has a great strut that she does. I'm
gonna keep it one hundred with y'all. That strut is powerful.
But when it comes to dancing, there's not a lot
at the show. There was not a lot of.

Speaker 1 (13:14):
Em Instagram comments right now. I know, first of all, guys,
it's Donald unders don't do it, and it's an underscore
in seven f because he was so high he typed it.

Speaker 2 (13:24):
Ronald No, I was drunk that night.

Speaker 1 (13:26):
Oh drunk. I I was talking about not Taylor, And
I'm not comparing it to Beyonce or Lady Gaga anyway.
I thought the dancers that were hired were very good,
and the show is just so pretty, the stage production
and the lighting and uh, it's it was, like I
described her to someone as like a halftime show that

(13:48):
went for three and a half hours.

Speaker 3 (13:49):
Yes, you know what the best part of it was
is when the stage is empty and it's just her
by herself on the stage, and you'll see how big
the stage and how she's commanding that big.

Speaker 2 (14:03):
Of a stage.

Speaker 3 (14:03):
It also helps that you have a giant freaking jumbo
tron up above. But when you look down and you
see just her in this big, giant tea of a stage,
Holy cow, it's like, Wow, you you buy yourself out there,
and you're doing.

Speaker 2 (14:22):
It right now.

Speaker 1 (14:22):
I know, and every and and seventy thousand people are
singing your lyrics back to you. What a feeling. That's crazy.
I'm gonna go see Coldplay at the Rose Ball on
September thirty. That'll be fun because you know that's my jam.
They're so fun live.

Speaker 2 (14:36):
They got any new music, I'm sure they do.

Speaker 1 (14:40):
I'm I'm going to see all my favorites I just got.

Speaker 2 (14:43):
Also, one of last thing. She opened the motherfucker up
with freaking the song that's popping right now, the summer shit,
it's the Summer Jamo. So that should make me want
to do the snake like you freaking back, like straight off, dude,
straight up.

Speaker 1 (15:05):
I also want to get a shout out. I want
to give a shout out to my very good friend,
one of the nicest people I've ever met in my life.
His name is Preston Boyd and he is currently playing
Javert in the tour of Lame Is Rob which is
currently in Los Angeles. And if you're listening to this
and you're gonna be in Los Angeles in the next
few weeks, I'm telling you go see it. He just

(15:28):
is extraordinary. I hope you're gonna go, Donald, I really
want to. You should bring Wilder. She'll love it. It's
so well done.

Speaker 3 (15:35):
It's it's it's le mis I don't know, I know
it's I know it's singing throughout the whole thing. So
I'm hoping that'll that'll be intriguing to her.

Speaker 1 (15:44):
But you can give her the basics of the story.
You could talk her, explain it to her.

Speaker 2 (15:48):
Yeah, that'll be Yeah, that'll be interesting.

Speaker 1 (15:51):
Anyway, it's a great production, and I'm so proud of
my friend because he's really great in it. So I
wanted to say, if you're in LA in the next
couple of weeks, go see it at the Pantages, which
is to beautiful theater.

Speaker 3 (16:00):
I can't And also, yeah, before we move on, shout
out to Rachel zales Man, Yo, thanks for hooking up
the Cosamigo's suite.

Speaker 2 (16:10):
That was really awesome. So shout out to her. Man.

Speaker 3 (16:12):
We've known her for a really long time and she's
always been really nice to us, So shout out.

Speaker 1 (16:16):
Yes. And Rachel, I believe, is the head of publicity
for Casa Ego, So she was the reason we not
that George Clooney doesn't love Donald and I places, but I.

Speaker 2 (16:28):
Mean, but he I mean, I'm sure he listens to
the podcast.

Speaker 1 (16:31):
Well, I know that George loves the podcast. George, I
don't think George was in charge of the guest list.

Speaker 2 (16:38):
But I'm sure that's part of the reason.

Speaker 1 (16:40):
I don't know, man with Donald in our minds, she
went to George.

Speaker 3 (16:44):
He's in town, and I think Donald and Zach, after
listening to the podcast, would love to be.

Speaker 1 (16:49):
Yeah, that's in our mind. That's how it happened that
George Clooney listens to the podcast, and he was like, Rachel,
come in my office please. I know we have limited
room in the suite and Lupita's already contacted me, but
are there two seats for Zach and Donald? And she's like,
aren't they straight. Yeah, are they going to bring children? No, No,

(17:12):
they're going to go on a date together.

Speaker 2 (17:17):
That's exactly what happened. Yeah, here's what happened. I need
the sweep for them, Yes, I need this to be
a purpose.

Speaker 1 (17:22):
He had to call Lupita and say, sorry, you only
get a plus one.

Speaker 2 (17:25):
Right, because originally she had the whole thing.

Speaker 1 (17:28):
Lupita had like plus five, and George had to call
her and calm that shit down. I'm sorry, Amy Adams,
no children alone, all right? So Donald's going to count
us in before he does, I want to say, you know,
we're not allowed to talk about scrubs, as you guys know.

(17:49):
So Donald and I are looking for cool opportunities to
invite really interesting people on the show. Sometimes they'll be
famous people, actors or creative types or other fame for
other reasons, Like Cody was an interesting to us. And
I've been fortunate enough to meet through Krista Miller, who
has a very good friend named Claire Staples, who when

(18:11):
I met Claire and heard her story and went to
her ranch in Malibu, I was just blown away by
what she has dedicated her life to. And I said
to Donald and Joelle and Daniel. I really want to
have this woman on because I've just become obsessed with
this woman's Instagram account. She has dedicated her life to

(18:34):
rescuing wild horses, and she will explain to us the
whole situation why the Bureau of Land Management rounds up
these horses, what they do to them, and how she
has dedicated her entire life and formed this charity that
rehabilitates and rescues these beautiful animals. And I've just been

(18:54):
so moved by it. I've been obsessively watching her videos.
She has an Instagram account, which we will send you to.
I turned my mom onto it, and literally, right before
I got on the podcast, my mom is like saying,
I can't stop watching these videos. I'm like crying because
they're so beautiful.

Speaker 2 (19:08):
You just go down a rabbit hole, you know what
I mean.

Speaker 3 (19:10):
You think like you know, you don't, you don't think
about stuff like that, and then all of a sudden,
it's you because you recommended it and I watched it.

Speaker 2 (19:22):
It was like, wait a second, well, let me go
down more of this. Don't realize the feelings that these
animals have and the long lasting bonds and friendship that
they create. And it's really it's really interesting.

Speaker 1 (19:35):
Yeah, and she's gonna tell us all about it. I
just want to give the instagram a shout out right
off the bat, because if you love animals, this is
just the most beautiful Instagram account. You see how she
rehabilitates these horses, and you follow their stories, and people
are so invested in their stories because Claire is such
a good storyteller. The account handle on Instagram is sky

(19:57):
Dog Sanctuary and join uh the four of us in
in uh in following them, and you will just fall
in love. And by the way, she'll go on to
tell you all about it. But the charity covers that
she raises money for these animals. It's also donkeys as well,
and and and and other you know, other equine you know,

(20:18):
zebras and the rescued from circuses and anything. She'll tell
us all about it. But I want you to know
that she it's her, it's a lot of it is
her money. She's she they're a wealthy couple, and the
charity helps raise money for food and vet bills, et cetera.
But she and her husband are the ones who bought
this nine thousand acre ranch in Bend Oregon and are

(20:40):
spending their own money to to rescue examimals. So it's
just really really inspiring.

Speaker 2 (20:45):
Donald counts and six seven eight stories.

Speaker 7 (20:50):
Sure, we made about a bunch of thousand stories natural.

Speaker 5 (21:02):
So sweet.

Speaker 1 (21:11):
All right, Daniel, please let in Claire Staples. Here she comes.

Speaker 2 (21:16):
Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for Claire Staple. There,
she is, there, she is.

Speaker 1 (21:30):
Hi, Claire.

Speaker 5 (21:31):
Hello, can you hear me?

Speaker 1 (21:33):
We can sound?

Speaker 2 (21:34):
Are you good to see you?

Speaker 1 (21:35):
Welcome to the program, Claire Staples. I am so excited
that you made this happen, that you're here with us.

Speaker 5 (21:41):
It's kind of a dream come true moment for me
to be on your podcast, to be speaking to you.

Speaker 2 (21:47):
We are very happy to make your dreams come true.

Speaker 1 (21:50):
That's what we do here one how we do it, Claire. First,
I want you to meet the legendary Donald Faison. Hello, Donald,
And that's a Joel and Dan, our partners in this endeavor.

Speaker 5 (22:02):
Hey, guys, I just.

Speaker 1 (22:04):
Want to tell the audience I had the distance incredible experience.
Christa Miller said to me, I want to take you
to my friend's ranch in Malibu. She rescues wild horses,
And I said, well, I love animals. That sounds really interesting.
And I went and I saw this ranch, which is
relatively small to what Claire has going on in Bend, Oregon,

(22:25):
which is nine thousand acres. And Claire started to tell
me the story of why and what's going on with
the Bureau of Land Management and wild horses, and I
was just blown away and the more she talked and
she was so captivating. I then followed her on Instagram
and Claire I was just telling the audience that my mom,
literally right before I got in this podcast, text me,

(22:48):
I can't stop watching Claire's videos. There's so moving. She's like,
I'm crying watching these videos. So you've already got my mom,
and I hooked. Will you please just start at the
very beginning, because I imagine most people like myself know
nothing about what's going on first and foremost, why is
the Bureau of Land Management rounding up these horses and

(23:12):
how do they do it?

Speaker 3 (23:13):
Okay, but before we start, sorry, I'm sorry. I had
no idea that this was happening. I thought this had
I thought horses were already bred in captivity. I didn't
know that there were still wild horses out there.

Speaker 1 (23:27):
Okay, So.

Speaker 2 (23:31):
Just to know, just the history of it all. This
land was once filled with horses like.

Speaker 3 (23:40):
Zebra in Africa, you know what I mean, herds and
herds of horses.

Speaker 5 (23:45):
No, and it's absolutely true. There used to be like
between two to five million wild horses all across the
Western States. And it is true when white man came
from the east to the west on the railroads that
were now built, actually they would give shotguns to the

(24:07):
passengers riding because as they went along they would shoot
buffalo or the wild horses just for entertainment, you know,
because they were bored on this cross country trip. That
and then I don't know if you guys know the
film The Misfits with James Deen and Marilyn Monroe. It's
an extraordinary film, but basically James Den plays a mustanger
back in the probably the fifties or sixties, and these

(24:29):
cowboys used to go out and round up hundreds of
wild horses and use them for a chicken feed and
pet food. And over that time the numbers diminished and diminished,
and eventually it got down to about twenty seven thousand
wild horses in the Western States, which from the millions
there were, was practically extinct. Yep, and this amazing woman

(24:56):
in Nevada happened. She was working as a secretary in
Reno and followed a slaughter truck that had blood pouring
out of it all the way to a slaughter house,
saw these wild horses being unloaded to be slaughtered. And
from that day in nineteen seventy one, well, in nineteen
seventy one, she actually got legislation passed. But she started
this amazing grassroots organization where she had kids right to

(25:20):
the president and ask him to protect America's wild horses.
And Richard Nixon actually brought in a bill to protect
the wild horses and wild Boroughs of America and.

Speaker 1 (25:31):
Just paused there because I had to google this. Our
wild boroughs means wild donkey. Yes see, I did my homework.

Speaker 2 (25:37):
You did.

Speaker 5 (25:38):
Yeah. So this amazing piece of legislation came in obstensively
to protect them and increase their numbers. And since then
it's really been a battle between advocates for the wild horses,
the cattle ranchers, and extracted mining companies because our public
lands where these wild horses live are also used to

(26:00):
mine uranium and plutonium and oil and gas and coal,
and so these so the government's intent is really just
to clear the public lands and wild horses because they
don't make any money off them, and they do the
cattle lobbyists have enormous pull and sway in Congress. But

(26:20):
you know, it is funny because we always used to
talk about the BLM rounding up these horses, and then
Black Lives Matter came along, and then.

Speaker 1 (26:32):
Wait, what does Black Lives Matter have to do with
the wild horses? You've already lost me.

Speaker 5 (26:37):
Why are they out there rounding up all world horses?
It was a very confusing pivot that the organization made.
So I try and say the longer version as you
just did. Bureau of Land Management.

Speaker 1 (26:47):
Okay, but Claire, why so just to go slowly because
there's a lot to digest. Yeah, is the cattle lobby
at the heart of why they are rounding up these horses?

Speaker 5 (26:59):
A lot of the yes, they have just historically in
a state like Wyoming for example. You know, you don't
have to watch Yellowstone and these these cattle barons back
in the day had so much power and they really
treated public lands as a free grazing asset for their
cows that they would turn out onto public lands. They
would fatten them up and then bring them into slaughter

(27:21):
and make a lot of money from it. But these
days a lot of the people that own these massive
cattle ranches are really doing it as a tax break.
They're massive conglomerations like the Koch brothers in Hilton and
these they get so many tax breaks from running this
kind of scam where the tax payers are paying to

(27:44):
not only round up the wild horses in favor of
cows and sheep, but also because they're the people that
are electing the people in these states. So the cattle lobbyists,
you know, put money into their campaigns and get them
elected and change. They keep rounding up the horses and
skeep goating them as being the most detrimental thing to

(28:05):
public lands, when really cows and sheep out number horses
fifty to one sometimes on public lands.

Speaker 2 (28:11):
They're just saying that the horses are grazing too much?
Are you fucking kidding me?

Speaker 5 (28:16):
Now?

Speaker 1 (28:16):
And the percentages are tiny. Clear, I look this up
and you'll know if this is accurate not. But I
was just again trying to be a good interviewer, because
Donald and I are going teaching ourselves to be really
good interviewers. It looks, you know, the percentages of horses
to livestock is minuscule, minuscule. How do they get away
with blaming the loss of whatever I'm assuming is the

(28:40):
feed to the horses if the number of cattle outnumber
the horses by so much of a percentage.

Speaker 5 (28:47):
Yeah, and I know this is going to come as
a huge shocker to you, but the government lies. What
The BLM are an agency, government agency under the Department
of the Interior, and they saw of make up a
whole bunch of reasons for why the horses have to
keep being rounded up. But really it comes back to
the same reason the buffalo went extinct, or you know,

(29:08):
the Native American Indians were put on reservations. It's no
different to the wild West that it used to be.
It's a land grab. It's let's get rid of everything
that's inconvenient and not making us money. And that's their
primary purpose they think for being. And it's just it's
been an amazing thing in the last few years because
there because of social media, there are now so many

(29:31):
groups photographers that go out and photograph these wild horses,
which are so beautiful, and I think most of the
American public would rather see, you know, herds of picturesque
horses that all have names now and you know, are
very well known. And then and then the BLM comes
and rounds up, you know, three thousand of them at
a time, and it's heartbreaking for a lot of people.

(29:54):
But there just doesn't seem to be anything that we
can do. They have the law on their sides, and
it happening.

Speaker 2 (30:00):
It's so crazy, man, because it seems like horses, mustangs,
all of that. It seems so American, you know what
I mean. It seems it's like it's like apple Pie
almost the horse, you know what I mean, Cowboys, all
of that stuff. And it's really interesting that the government's
trying to round them.

Speaker 1 (30:21):
Up and take us into chapter two of the story
just to just to go through it all. So then
when they do talk us through the round up, they
round up these wild horses using all using helicopters. I
believe you're gonna tell us about it, and then they
put them in these sort of holding pens that, as
you can imagine, are not ideal conditions at all. So
tell us about that part of it.

Speaker 5 (30:43):
Yeah, So they announce a round up, they ask for
public comment, they ignore them all and then they come
during a certain you know, they'll say, okay, this round
up is going to take two weeks, and helicopters come
and push all these round horses, all these wild horses
into a trap which kind of has just burlap on

(31:03):
either side, and they use a judas horse, which is
really interesting that it's.

Speaker 1 (31:08):
Called judas horse. What's that.

Speaker 5 (31:10):
So they hold on to a tame horse who's trained
to run into the trap, and when he starts running
alongside the other horses, they all follow him in, which
is why he's so I know he's a judas he's
betrayed all his Yeah, he turns on them. So that's
always interesting. But I mean, the roundups are horrific and brutal.

(31:31):
A lot of the horses die or are a shot
at the trap site for having any kind of impediment,
like if they've can't see out of one eye, or
they have you know, a broken knee, puffed up me.
It's things they've been living out in the world and
they were just chased by helicopter and managed to survive that,
and then sadly they shoot them at the trap site

(31:51):
for if they think they're unadoptable, and they're then taken
to short term holding facilities which are all over the
Western States, in every state, and they're kept there. Some
are adopted out, but most tend to go to these
long term holding facilities, which is yet another way for
ranchers and cowboys to make money off these wild horses,

(32:14):
because they get paid millions to have wild horses on
their land or stockpile them or keep them in pens
until they die. So it's a pretty sad life from
the day.

Speaker 2 (32:26):
Wait, I'm so confused.

Speaker 3 (32:28):
Why are they paid millions to house horses but not
millions to take care of the horses. So you don't
have to take care of the horse. All you have
to do is house the horse.

Speaker 5 (32:37):
Yeah, how's the horse? And you get paid a certain
amount a day. And it really is a black hole
that horses disappear into and there's very little way of
finding out where they went or so.

Speaker 3 (32:48):
They could be turned into they could be slaughtered and
turned into food.

Speaker 1 (32:51):
Yeah, talk about the slaughter piece, Claire, Because Claire was
telling me that the government has a program where they
say you can adopt one of the horses and they'll
actually pay you one thousand dollars to take on one
of these animals. Yeah, but then they discovered that there's
a loophole where people are quote unquote adopting them and
then selling them for slaughter for meat in Mexico. Do

(33:14):
I have that right?

Speaker 5 (33:15):
Yeah, Mexico and Canada. So yeah, that's exactly what happens.
People come and they might take four or eight or
twelve or sixteen, because you can adopt them in groups
of four, so they get their entire family to each
adopt four, bring them to their place, and then as
soon as they get the title for the horse, and
it means they own them, they take them to the

(33:37):
local auction livestock auction and sell them from meat money,
which is the price per pound that they're selling out
at that time, and then they're shipped to either Mexico
or Canada because Americas shut down horslaughter plants a long
time ago, just because Americans decided we don't eat horses,
their companion animals. They have helped us found this country

(33:57):
and pull a plow and go into war with and
we don't.

Speaker 2 (34:00):
Eat and we don't want them here anymore.

Speaker 1 (34:04):
Apparently, Yeah, I now clear explain to me the loophole
how does if we have outlawed slaughter. But the loophole
is that you can sell it to someone in Mexico
who can.

Speaker 2 (34:17):
Slaughter it and you still get paid.

Speaker 1 (34:19):
You get one thousand dollars per horse to take it.

Speaker 2 (34:22):
Yes, they pay you to take care of it too,
Am I correct?

Speaker 1 (34:25):
No, they're adopt it. Yeah, exactly, you can adopt I mean,
correct me if I'm wrong. Clear, you can literally take
a thousand dollars per horse to adopt it and then
turn around and sell it to slaughter in Mexico.

Speaker 5 (34:35):
Yeah, so you sell it to a kill buyer. You
sell it at a livestock auction, but it's usually going
to be a kill buyer that buys up these large
numbers of unhandled wild horses because there's not much other
use for them, and then they will ship them in
huge semi trucks across the border to Mexico where they
are killed in the most horrifying way. So we won't

(34:57):
even talk about that. It's too horrible to even think
about it.

Speaker 1 (35:00):
Okay. Now, when we come back, we're gonna do a
quick break. That's all the bad news. When we come
back after this break, we're gonna tell you what this
angel of a human being sent from the heavens above,
has dedicated her life to doing to save the animals.
Will be right.

Speaker 2 (35:14):
Back and we're back.

Speaker 1 (35:24):
We're black with Claire Staples Claire one of the videos.
So I want you to tell us all about the
foundation you founded. I sent listeners to it already. You
have to follow her on Instagram Skydog Sanctuary. Do I
have that right?

Speaker 5 (35:39):
Yes? Correct, you will.

Speaker 1 (35:40):
You will be like my mom and I or wait,
it's my mom and me Krista your friend christ By
the way, you know this one thing about Christa is
if you don't say the right me and I version,
she corrects you.

Speaker 2 (35:54):
But there is no eye version, is what she said
to us originally.

Speaker 1 (35:56):
No, there is. You just have to say. The trick
she taught me is you you take out the name,
so I would. I would say you have to join
me in watching Skydog Sanctuary Instagram. So then I add
my mom and I go, you have to join my
mom and me? Right, you wouldn't say you have to
join I. I think I got that right.

Speaker 5 (36:16):
I don't want to get in trouble.

Speaker 1 (36:17):
Chris has been lecturing me on that for twenty three years.
But I think I finally.

Speaker 2 (36:20):
Got since I've known her, Yeah, every time.

Speaker 1 (36:23):
Because every she is shameless. If you don't say the
right version, she corrects you and it's wrong. Since we're here,
I always say it wrong. But now we're for in
front of her friend Claire. We got to get it right.
Join my mom and me in watching Skydog Sanctuary videos.
The way you Claire is such a good story. Tell
her you know every single one of these horses names,

(36:44):
tell us about the foundation. And there was a viral
video that I recommend. There's a there's an account called
the Dodo, which I think focuses on on animal stories and.

Speaker 2 (36:55):
You have a few. You have a few stories.

Speaker 1 (36:56):
Yeah, the Dodo is a big fan of Claire. But
talk about I just watched it and tears came to
my eyes. This is kind of like a beautiful distillation
of what Claire does. And tell the story of the
of the mustang that was that you photographed, that was
photographed jumping out of one of these pens and trying

(37:17):
to escape, and then Claire was able to reunite him
with one of his man Please don't give it away, Okay,
sorry spoiler, but Claire tell the story, please, because this
this is the kind of thing that Claire does, and
it's detective work, and it's it's just amazing.

Speaker 2 (37:33):
Please the fact that you were able to and also
last thing, the fact that you were able to put
two and two together.

Speaker 3 (37:41):
Look, I look at horses. Them things all look alike.
I'm gonna keep it one hundred.

Speaker 2 (37:45):
I love. I think they're beautiful.

Speaker 1 (37:48):
They don't all look alike.

Speaker 2 (37:49):
Donald, I mean, yeah, some are darker than others. But
like you put a white horse in front of me,
I'm gonna be like silver. You know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (37:56):
All Right, Claire, Please tell the story of this beautiful mustang.

Speaker 5 (38:00):
That was just such an extraordinary thing for us, because actually,
someone that does a lot of techie stuff sent to
me a screenshot of us trending at number seven on
YouTube or something like that that day, and I was
just mind blown because I think I'm living in this
little world of horse people. And then the fact that
it had gone so viral, and that was a horse

(38:21):
named Phoenix who it really just started with a photograph.
I follow some of the advocacy groups and I saw
this photograph of this distinctive horse jumping a seven foot
panel after he'd been chased by helicopter, pushed in and
his family was sort of looking up as he went
over the fence, and I just thought, because it was
my local corrals, which is like two hours away, I thought,

(38:44):
I'm just going to go there and see if that
horse survived, you know, is he there? And there he
was with another horse that was in that video. It
was his kind of lieutenant in the band. And I
saw his mayor and then I inquired about him, and
they told me that he was going to be released
into the wild and he you know, because of his

(39:04):
genetics and stuff. Anyway, months and months went by, and
I used to go to the crowds and every time
I would see him and tell him he's going to
go out and be free again. And then one day, yeah,
they was lying, Yeah, it's a common thread. But anyway,
he was still there like a year later, and I
asked about him because his friend had now gone and
they'd sent his friend to Germany to a Mustang event

(39:27):
and he was now available for adoption. So I adopted
him because I was like, that horse wanted to be
free more than any horse I've seen, Like he jumped
like higher than any horse I've ever seen. So I
was like, let's give him back his freedom. But I
could never find his mayor. And it was I think
a year and a half later. I always look on
the internet adoptions and there she was. And I literally

(39:48):
was like wait, and I was looking at the pictures
of her and looking at her and looking at the pictures,
I was like, it's her. How long?

Speaker 3 (39:56):
How long were you looking at? Like that's the question?
Like it was, it's definitely not split. You had to
freaking pay attention to things that you had to find again.

Speaker 5 (40:06):
I was like, Okay, she has orange ears even though
she's white, and orange knees, and she has this mark
on her shoulder and her tail is like this. I mean,
it really was like zooming in all the pictures, going
I think that's her. And then when we brought her
home and reunited her with Phoenix, we called her ghost.

Speaker 2 (40:25):
Ghosts yeahs because she was like a ghost.

Speaker 1 (40:27):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (40:28):
Not only was she not only is she a white
horse with which reminds you of like a ghost with
a sheetoverer and everything like that.

Speaker 2 (40:37):
She's literally a ghost.

Speaker 3 (40:38):
After you adopted Phoenix, it's impossible to find ghosts.

Speaker 2 (40:42):
Literally. I thought she was disappeared. Yeah, gone, yeah.

Speaker 5 (40:46):
Because I looked for her at the corals and never
found her there, so I was like, where the heck
has she been, you know, suddenly to appear on the
internet adoption so long afterwards, and their reunion was really beautiful.
All of the families that we've reunited, it's been one
of our most popular things. Even though it's a small
fraction of what we do, it is something that has

(41:08):
touched people's hearts. They think really.

Speaker 1 (41:11):
Deeply because this is something I didn't know, Claire until
I spoke to you, But these these are these families
stay together in the wild.

Speaker 2 (41:18):
That's what I was about to say. I was going
to say, Can you talk about how to talk about that?
How horses are like the bond is forever?

Speaker 1 (41:26):
Yeah, a male horse will have a group of mayors
and then their children and they continue to hang together
as a family, right.

Speaker 5 (41:36):
Well, they actually the males kick out the young cults,
the boys at about two years old, because they don't
want them competing with them within their family, which kind
of it's good because it creates diversity. And then the
young phillies will be stolen by other young stallions. So
there's kind of a stallion in his mayor and they

(41:56):
might be having children, but then those children go out
and have their own family. But yeah, the bonds they
form out there and they have their own little societies,
and it's really we have we rescued one family. That's
four generations of like a grandmother, her daughter, her daughter,
her son, and they had stayed together. If a stallion

(42:17):
stole one, they would all go with him. And it's
just very cool to watch and be around them. They're
such deep, deeply thinking and profoundly sentient beings, you know.
And that's why the whole slaughter pipeline, I think is
really hard to watch because you know, they know, you know,
they know they're in a bad place. They've lost their freedom,

(42:38):
their family and now their lives, and it's it's just
a horrible it's a horrible underbelly that so. And I
really do appreciate you having me on because there are
so many you think everyone knows I know all.

Speaker 1 (42:54):
I love animals, did I love animals? Horses? I had
no idea about this, And that's.

Speaker 3 (42:59):
Why I had no idea that the dopamine levels and
horses was so high. Man Like, that's the we feel
love on such levels because of the dopamine that we
have in our body, right like that.

Speaker 5 (43:10):
I love that.

Speaker 3 (43:11):
And when you know, we don't ever look at other
animals as unique and as special as that's because they
don't have communication, or we don't look at them as
intelligent and stuff like that. But to hear that these
the bond is not it's a I don't know, man,
There's something special about staying together, you know what I mean.

Speaker 2 (43:34):
We make movies about that shit. All of the best
movies in the world are how we stay together as
a family. Nothing could break the family apart. Yeah, And
to know that horses like this, it's really it's really,
it's really like mind blowing. It's also inspiring, Like, you know.

Speaker 1 (43:49):
What Claire's creating is a really special sanctuary where all
these animals that have been separated in the most brutal
way can be brought together there.

Speaker 2 (44:00):
Let's take a break.

Speaker 1 (44:01):
We'll be right back after these fine words. And I
also want to segue into there's the animal reunification, the
family reunification thing, which is so beautiful. But also a
lot of the stories on your Instagram I noticed are
how you and your team are rehabilitating these injured horses

(44:23):
because obviously a lot of them come in really messed up,
and some of them are blind, some of them have cancer,
every every issue you can imagine a wild horse who's
been in captivity in poor conditions might have. So talk
about that, how you how you and the and the
vets decide how much you can do when when when

(44:47):
when when is an animal beyond your ability to help
it and needs to be put down? Can you talk
about that.

Speaker 3 (44:52):
Well also, and also talk about how like the you know,
the illnesses and stuff like that, a normal rancher would
just put down that animal right away and not give
the animal a chance, and how.

Speaker 5 (45:05):
Saving them yep, and I do appreciate it. Is one
thing we've worked really hard to establish a relationship with
our local crows that round up these horses, because they
do shoot a lot of horses for having small things
which really aren't death sentence. And we have really appreciated
the fact that they've now let us come and take

(45:26):
special needs horses or seniors that might be euthanized. And
we've just had such success with that, and I think
it's really informed a lot of people because often euthanasia
is the first place that let's go to or people
go to and thinking that this horse has this or that,
and a lot of the rehabs we've done have been

(45:48):
kind of groundbreaking in showing other people. We took on
this donkey Waldo and his hooves which are kind of
supposed to like that they had grown all the way around,
so he was kind of walking on his knuckles. And
even when the vet's first one, they were like, Claire,
I mean, this is you know, this is not what
we expected. But we did a lot of research and

(46:10):
we showed it to them. To be to be fair
to that vet, he called a lot of people that
were experts. They did these like two surgeries on his
legs and got his feet and now he runs around.
This donkey Waldo is so popular and it's he has
now used that as a sort of test study and
a case and it written a paper on it for
other people to do the same on horses or donkeys

(46:33):
that have the same issue. So those things are really
meaningful to us because it's meant that we've actually done things,
and they can be costly and it takes a lot
of rehabbing, a lot of kind of personal care from
the staff getting them back to normal, but then to
see them live, these wonderful lives and blind horses, you know,
be able to get around. And we've sometimes had a

(46:54):
pen of blind horses all start running and they're running
in between the trees, and you think, how is that
possible that they you know, but they learn it in
their mind. They mental map the whole thing, and they
know where their water is.

Speaker 1 (47:06):
And they saw that video. I got tears in my eyes.
You guys got to look for that video on her
Instagram and it's a pen of a large pen of
blind horses and they're all together and they're they're running
so fast and Claire is narrating. She goes, you'd think
that they would be in danger, but they have literally
memorized every tree, everything that they could run into. It's

(47:28):
so beautiful.

Speaker 5 (47:29):
Yeah, it was very cool. So we do a lot
of that. But also, you know, I think it's also
with what Donald was saying about the families and the
bonds they have, that was such an inconvenient truth for
the BLM, because they want to portray these animals as livestock.
They have a tag number. They are only useful as
a tool to be used by people and to then

(47:52):
rewrite that story and show through, you know, amazing evidence
that these animals do have these bonds and family malise
and love for each other. That's palpable and easy to see.
It's been a very thing that the BLM really fought against.
But now they've kind of put off their hands and
go find that they have families, you know, and then
other sanctuaries and other rescues have reunited families, which is

(48:15):
the coolest thing because I think, you know, then we
can recognize these animals as you know, who are we
as men to say we're the only ones that love
our children or we're the only ones that have deep bonds.
And so it's it's cool that's been I've been really
proud of that.

Speaker 1 (48:31):
And it's very spooky because all of these horses have
I mean, it's it's it's it's it's analogous to the
Holocaust with the numbers on on on people's wrists that
all of these horses when you watch the videos have
government what the brands brand government brands And Claire was
trying to explain to me when their hair grows out,

(48:52):
you can't really read the brand, but she was saying,
and they're kind of tricky to read anyway, what is that?
It denotes where they were captured, right, and yeah it don't.

Speaker 5 (48:59):
It says you asked that the property of the US government,
and then it gives them the year that they estimate
they were born, and then where they were rounded up
and attack number to identify them.

Speaker 2 (49:10):
Branded this or this is shaved into this branded.

Speaker 1 (49:13):
Yeah, it's branded. But when you watch the videos you'll
see that because their hairs grow around a bit, it's
a little hard to even decipher.

Speaker 2 (49:19):
You ever been branded?

Speaker 1 (49:21):
No, personally, No, I have not.

Speaker 3 (49:22):
They do it in college fraternities. Sometimes that shit gets infected.

Speaker 2 (49:25):
Man. That shit does not look good. Man. I know
a couple of people that have been branded. They got
that horseshoe on their arm. That ship don't look good. Bro,
that shit hurts too well.

Speaker 1 (49:34):
I think we should do I was a real friend,
I would be like I was infected for weeks. Donald,
would would you be open to a fake doctor's real friends? Brand?

Speaker 2 (49:44):
In opposite world?

Speaker 1 (49:45):
Danel you. I think I'm good, but I appreciate it.
I'll be there to supervised.

Speaker 3 (49:51):
I can hold somebody want to pay me that you
want to pay me that money, I'll get that ship.

Speaker 1 (49:54):
So I'm not going to pay you for a fake
doctor's real friends. Was it was a volunteer project.

Speaker 2 (49:58):
No, no, no.

Speaker 6 (49:59):
As a representative my heart, I'm gonna say we do
not condone Brandon.

Speaker 2 (50:02):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (50:02):
No.

Speaker 5 (50:03):
On that show Yellowstone, they brand the life as people
that are going to stay there for life. They give
them the why on their chest, and well, I love it.

Speaker 1 (50:15):
I think you can imagine that Claire might like Yellowstone
as she's dedicated her life to ranching.

Speaker 5 (50:20):
Yeah, I want to be Beth Bears, Beth Beth Bears,
Beth Dutton. I don't think Beth Beth Bears is the
sweetest woman in the world and very supportive of our
calls and sponsors a horse. Beth Dutton on Yellowstone is
a very she's She's a character.

Speaker 2 (50:34):
I've never watched the show.

Speaker 1 (50:36):
But Donald doesn't. But Donald doesn't watch most things that
don't have Star Wars, Marvel.

Speaker 2 (50:41):
Well he Harrison Wards and yellow Stone.

Speaker 1 (50:44):
That's so that's a prequel. You might want to watch
that prequal Yeah, you can pretend it's Hen Solo.

Speaker 3 (50:49):
I could pretend to Town Solo or Indiana Jones. Yes,
I'd prefer not to. I would prefer to pretend that
there are some black ranchers.

Speaker 2 (50:59):
There are yellow Ye who plays them? Who they get
to play the black manches?

Speaker 5 (51:04):
Donald Richards doesn't then and Richards is he.

Speaker 1 (51:09):
Well, will you please google? I never thought, I asked,
when you play Google the black actors who play the ranchers.
Donald wants to be mad at them forgetting a role
he could have gotten.

Speaker 2 (51:20):
That I could have gotten with Harrison Flord on Yellowstone.

Speaker 1 (51:23):
Oh my gosh, Claire, tell us a little bit about
as Joel looks that up the charity aspects. I was
explaining the audience that you do fundraise for individual causes
for surgeries and stuff and and and but but but
you and your husband pay for the majority of this.
As I understand, you've you've built this nine thousand acre sanctuary, right,
tell talk a little bit about how people can give

(51:46):
and and and what they're actually giving. Four.

Speaker 5 (51:49):
Yeah, I mean it all came about I had a
sort of epiphany at age fifty. I sort of looked
around and looked at my life, and I'd spent that
that part of my life believing in the things that
people tell you will make you happy. You know, if
you get to this weight, or you have this car,

(52:09):
or you live in this place, or you have that boyfriend,
and having had all those things, realizing that it wasn't
as a happiness that was sustainable it, you know, it
was very fleeting, and then you want another thing or
another person or another place, and just kind of realizing that,
you know, and also I'm in recovery, so getting back

(52:31):
into sobriety and realizing that I really truly wanted to
be of service and horses had been my deepest love
and passion, you know, in my childhood and throughout my life.
They'd kind of come back in and I just thought,
you know, if I can take that passion I have
and turn it into a life worth living, Like a

(52:52):
purpose driven life is a book I read at the time,
and I was like, that's really the key to happiness
for human beings, being of service, having a purpose. So
it really just shifted. I was like, Okay, how do
I do this? And I had some horses at the time,
but I thought there are so many need and so
many wild horses that I'm reading about the plight to

(53:14):
wild horses and how many were in the slaughter pipeline.
I just kind of went to my husband and went,
We're going to need a bigger ranch, and the famous ruds,
we're going to need a bigger ranch.

Speaker 1 (53:26):
This is nine thousand acres. That's not a small ranch.

Speaker 5 (53:29):
And if I have understood what nine thousand acres look like,
I might have had some paws.

Speaker 2 (53:33):
But I was about to say, like you have to
did you have to tear down tree? Like there's you did?

Speaker 3 (53:39):
Like I don't know what a nine thousand acre ranch
would look like either, but that's.

Speaker 2 (53:44):
A lot of maintenance. I do. I do know that.
And then you have like two landscaping right, just got
to be outrageous. And then you have all of the
horse a tack and field that you have to purchase
and stuff like that, like hey.

Speaker 1 (53:58):
And now, and all of them, the special needs horses,
a lot of them they need, they need incredible amount
of vet help.

Speaker 3 (54:05):
Like you could be I don't care if you're rich.
You gotta have some type of support coming in. You
can't sustain this type of lifestyle like this is like
buying kids times you know you need.

Speaker 2 (54:17):
Shoot, I don't know any horses you got. It's a
lot of money. Though. It was my point. Let's take
a break.

Speaker 1 (54:21):
We'll be right back after these fine words. How many
do you have on the property.

Speaker 5 (54:32):
We have three hundred equines. Two hundred and thirty of
them are horses wild horses, and the rest are mules
or donkeys BLM donkeys. And we have two z brands
as well, two babys and some zonkeys, which has a
cross between a zebraander donkey.

Speaker 1 (54:48):
I love a sonkey, I love a zonkee.

Speaker 2 (54:51):
So yeah.

Speaker 5 (54:52):
My husband was amazing in helping me set up the
whole thing, and I said to him, if you help
me set this up, I promise after year three I
will be fully self supporting through my own contributions, which
is a thing that we say in AA And I
kind of got there in eighteen months because I just
I'm one of these people that when I put my
heart and soul and energy into something, I want to

(55:15):
be the best that I can be. And it just
kept growing, and especially actually during the pandemic, I realized
that our social media was really becoming this place where
people were coming to watch these videos of these horses
who ironically were being released to being wild and free
when we were all trapped in our houses and living

(55:36):
in fear and we didn't want to watch the news.
So people were saying you know, I was getting these
emails from people saying, you know, we watch I watched
this with the kids in my class in the morning,
you know, school teachers or in nursing homes, and we
watch your video in the morning. We talk about the horses,
and it is just sometimes we watch it ten times
on a loop to be in nature and to be

(55:56):
around these horses, and we cry and we laugh with joy.
And I sundly realized, Wow, this is something the people
that are on the journey with us there. It's a
way that they can emote, you know, kind of like
a good movie. You know, you want to feel all
those things. And I think they get so attached to
the horses, and when we lose one, for example, they'll
still cry about it, you know. If I mention the

(56:18):
name and it's it's been a beautiful journey for that.
And I sundly realized I had a responsibility, not just
I wasn't just helping horses. We were kind of helping
people get through and me myself, it was like good
for my mental health. So the videos got longer and
the stories got longer, and it just sort of became
more of a thing and grew beyond my wilder streets.

Speaker 1 (56:41):
And so when you fundraise on the Instagram or or
your other channels, often is it for a specific horse
like this horse needs this surgery if you want to contribute,
is that the idea.

Speaker 5 (56:52):
Often we only have a fundraise when a horse is
coming to us, and we are so incredibly well supported.
I mean, I'm so thankful that people it's really their
way of showing their love for the horses you know,
that inspire them and that they love and care for
and they our supporters have been incredible. So we tend
to fund raised one a horse comes. We rarely have to.

(57:14):
We have a vet fund where we have a platform
called Patreon. Patreon where people go on and you can
be on different tiers, and that's where a lot of
our funds come for for our vet fund, our hay fund,
fencing fund. So that's just things that are generally going on.
But yeah, our vet Belts are massive, you know, because

(57:35):
we take a lot of horses.

Speaker 2 (57:36):
You can horses be adopted from you guys.

Speaker 5 (57:42):
We have tried very hard to focus on the horses
that we take, being ambassadors for the amount of horses
that are in need, so people will because of us.
You know, I've helped so many people pull horses out
of the slaughter pipeline for them to rescue or from
the BLM coals. I'll help them go there and do
their paperwork and you know, tell them what they need

(58:04):
to do. So we haven't adopted out up until. Like,
what we've done a lot is work with other rescues
that do have adoption arms that are great, and we've
helped them save ten or twenty horses out of the
source of pipe and I think we've rescued about two
hundred and fifty additional horses that then got adopted out
through other rescues. It's just I think I'm not a

(58:26):
very good foster.

Speaker 2 (58:27):
I'm not you know, film you feel all the time.

Speaker 1 (58:32):
What's amazing about Claire is that she knows every single
one of these horses names by sight. And she told
me that sometimes she'll get it wrong and on the
Instagram videos and people will start correcting her. That's not Snow,
that's that's Cedar.

Speaker 5 (58:47):
Yes, totally, and it's extraordinary because I'm like, that's a sorrel,
which is a red horse like in the distance with
a blaze how on. But I think they take it
very seriously, and they're like, you know, that's not Jalapino.
That's so he's like here has one white sock on
his back left, and I'm going, what.

Speaker 1 (59:08):
But it is amazing that you know that you can
that you know the names of all those horses.

Speaker 5 (59:13):
Yeah, I can't remember the names of any people. But yeah,
Wh'll say, I don't know why. I guess because of
all of the stuff we go through at the beginning
when we take them in, you know, and I named
most of them, which is really fun.

Speaker 2 (59:25):
I can bond with them when they come in too.

Speaker 3 (59:28):
When you brought when you brought Phoenix home, just you
know how scared Phoenix was and how you coaxed them
into come on in.

Speaker 2 (59:37):
It's all right, don't worry. But it's all right, baby,
it's all right.

Speaker 3 (59:40):
And finally this, you know, the horse is now healthy
and and has grown, you know, the muscles are back
on its back, you know. And that was then just
in time for that beautify, just in time for Shorty
to show up.

Speaker 1 (59:51):
Shorty to show up. Then Shorty named Ghost shows up
and he's.

Speaker 2 (59:57):
Like, like, look at me, I've been working out, baby,
Let's go for a walk.

Speaker 1 (01:00:05):
So sweet, Well, Claire tell anyone who's listening if they
want to contribute or first of all, I'm telling you
to go to sky Dog Sanctuary the Instagram account. You
can also put that into YouTube. You'll see. That's where
I saw the Dodo videos, which are very moving. But Claire,
for those that are that want to contribute to the

(01:00:25):
Patreon when you tell them where to go to do that.

Speaker 5 (01:00:28):
Yeah, So our Patreon is just patreon dot com stroke
Skydog Sanctuary. We have a YouTube channel. We also have
a website that actually is Skydog ranch dot org and
you can donate through that. You can donate through any
of our social media platforms, or join us on Patreon
where you see a lot of behind the scenes videos

(01:00:49):
and I show a lot on there, and I talk
much more openly on Patreon to everyone, and I mean,
they're keep their amazing.

Speaker 1 (01:00:59):
You went in for a second. I think you meant backslash.
Is that what we say, guys, it would be it
would be patreon dot com backslash Skydog.

Speaker 5 (01:01:08):
Sanctuary, I said, stroke, I did.

Speaker 1 (01:01:11):
That's very English of you. We don't say that here.

Speaker 2 (01:01:13):
We do say that here, but it means something else.

Speaker 1 (01:01:16):
Donald, Please be don't be inappropriate in front.

Speaker 2 (01:01:19):
Of I wasn't being inappropriate.

Speaker 1 (01:01:20):
We managed to get through the whole episode with stroking.

Speaker 2 (01:01:22):
Your ego without stroking your ego trying in front of
I wasn't making different.

Speaker 5 (01:01:31):
I swear like a sailor, and I was laughing. I
watched the last podcast you did, I Think, and you
were talking about below Deck, and I was laughing because
I think my entire management skills for managing my crew,
because I have a chief stew who's my equal manager,
and then the equine staff, and then the guys who
are kind of the debt team. And I was like,

(01:01:51):
I'm always telling them, you just have to watch Below Deck.
You'll understand why.

Speaker 1 (01:01:55):
I don't know. I don't know if you want to
educate your staff to go watch Below Deck because they
all get they can hand up with each other encourage.

Speaker 5 (01:02:03):
Well, they're on a ranch in the middle of no
I know.

Speaker 1 (01:02:05):
I'm sure they're all honking up with each other. Anyway.

Speaker 3 (01:02:07):
Do you think they're all on farmers dot com Farmers.

Speaker 1 (01:02:11):
That would be a good by the way, we should
make a below Deck style reality show, but about Claire's staff, it.

Speaker 5 (01:02:19):
Would be I don't know, I'd.

Speaker 1 (01:02:23):
Sandy, Yeah, you would, you are Sandy. You're a badass woman,
Captain Sandy.

Speaker 3 (01:02:29):
But you can literally like if you do work as
a ranch and you could literally be like, I can
go on farmers only dot com because I've always wondered,
I've always wondered, what are the qualifications.

Speaker 2 (01:02:40):
I know it says farmers.

Speaker 1 (01:02:41):
Qualifications are you're down to get up at four in
the morning and milk cows as a wife.

Speaker 2 (01:02:47):
That is it.

Speaker 1 (01:02:47):
Joella is not going to be on farmers only dot com.

Speaker 2 (01:02:51):
Be hooking up on farmers only dot com. I hear
it's a good hookup place.

Speaker 1 (01:02:55):
You've heard through the gravevine in Los Angeles that farmers
only it is a good hookups.

Speaker 5 (01:02:59):
But you know, if I ever lose my husband for
other reason, for some reason, I would go there because
they are going to have skills to they'll know what
to do.

Speaker 1 (01:03:12):
But also clear will you will you please help me
explain to Donald that it's about choosing the lifestyle of
being in bumble fuck and getting up early and working.

Speaker 5 (01:03:22):
Yeah, it is a lifestyle.

Speaker 1 (01:03:23):
A typical female or male who's trying to meet someone
on there who's not in that lifestyle Farmer's only. Yeah,
we're also taught, Okay, let's say you're a nice Jewish gallon.

Speaker 3 (01:03:38):
No, let's say you're on j date and you're not Jewish.
Get the fuck off, right, that's what you're saying.

Speaker 1 (01:03:42):
No, I didn't say that. I think you're allowed to
not be Jewish on JD. I don't know the rules, Daniel.

Speaker 2 (01:03:46):
Good. But Farmers only strictly for farmers can you.

Speaker 1 (01:03:48):
Be non Jewish on JAD eight? Or do they check
your foreskin? Can you donald Farmers only? You wouldn't want
to match with someone and be like, Hey, I really
am crazy about you. But the whole milking cows in
the morning thing. I live in Manhattan, Oh.

Speaker 5 (01:04:08):
My god, it's too funny to imagine. I might have
to go on there just to find out what's going on.
Should die?

Speaker 1 (01:04:14):
I don't know, Claire, you should just do a little
recon for us and come back. Well, all right, Dane,
go ahead, it's going on.

Speaker 4 (01:04:19):
I'm thrilled to report that on jay D eight, individuals
do not have to be Jewish in order.

Speaker 1 (01:04:24):
To join Dale.

Speaker 4 (01:04:25):
You could join and on Farmers only. It isn't just
for farmers, it's for anyone interested in living a more
rural lifestyle.

Speaker 1 (01:04:33):
Well, let me tell you something you're gonna fall in
love with someone who's gonna be like you're you're down
to milk those cows at five thirty?

Speaker 5 (01:04:38):
Right?

Speaker 1 (01:04:39):
Like what now, that's my am I supposed to end
up at five thirty if I was up till two
am watching Below Deck men.

Speaker 5 (01:04:52):
Well, maybe that's what below Deck down Under is all about.
Maybe they Yeah, I don't know what they're doing on them.

Speaker 1 (01:04:58):
They're in Australia. Claire's trying to make sexual innuendo. Donald
Donald has a bad impression influenced.

Speaker 2 (01:05:06):
Let's take a break.

Speaker 1 (01:05:07):
We'll be right back after these fine words.

Speaker 3 (01:05:16):
This segment of Fake Doctor's Real Friends is brought to
you by T Mobile. When you need great coverage, especially
when enjoying your favorite podcast, check out t Mobile.

Speaker 1 (01:05:26):
Okay, today, Joel pulled a couple of fan letters that
she's gonna read to us now.

Speaker 6 (01:05:31):
So we get a ton of letters that are not
asking us for anything.

Speaker 2 (01:05:35):
They don't want, they don't want to try to be
on the show.

Speaker 6 (01:05:38):
Letter Joelle sharing some love, and I was like, how
do we honor these people who are just sending us
in these such lovely thoughts? So here we go. Our
first letter comes from Matt mulvaney. It's from the UK.

Speaker 1 (01:05:49):
He says, Hey, not Mick mulvaney, right, not mickt.

Speaker 5 (01:05:54):
Okay.

Speaker 6 (01:05:54):
So this is actually a question, but it's a fun question.

Speaker 2 (01:05:57):
I have a question that I've been wondering for a while.
This is the question. I'm listening.

Speaker 1 (01:06:00):
All right, looks like at the beginning, like you're looking
at your Farmer's only account.

Speaker 2 (01:06:04):
How did you know?

Speaker 1 (01:06:05):
Ahead? Oh my god, Donald Donald's looking down like he's
signing him for farmers Own. All right, go ahead, you ill? Sorry?

Speaker 5 (01:06:12):
Okay.

Speaker 6 (01:06:12):
So the beginning of the series, JD has the apartment,
but when Carla and Turk move in, it's JD that
has to move out.

Speaker 3 (01:06:20):
Why, well, no, JD and Turk didn't. JD and Turk
have the apartment right now? JD has the apartment, but
you did.

Speaker 1 (01:06:27):
Why Why don't y'all move out and find a new place?
Why do you evictim JD?

Speaker 3 (01:06:31):
They don't. JD decides to move out. He's living with
them for the longest.

Speaker 1 (01:06:36):
Yeah, but why can't they get their own place? JD's
got a nice apartment.

Speaker 2 (01:06:41):
Yo, That I don't know.

Speaker 3 (01:06:42):
JD decided to move out on his own, man, that
I do not understand.

Speaker 1 (01:06:47):
All right, Well, you don't have an answer for you, but.

Speaker 2 (01:06:49):
We because it's good for storytelling.

Speaker 1 (01:06:51):
Whenever the answer is donald and I didn't come up
with it, so there you go. Go ahead, Joelle.

Speaker 6 (01:06:56):
All right, so our next question comes from Mary Chandler.
Mary says, Hey, Joelle, I just want to say thanks.
I've been listening to the podcast since the very beginning.
I was religiously tuning in every day a new episode dropped.
But then in December twenty twenty one, my dad passed
away from COVID, and I struggled a lot. The podcast
is so funny and silly and happy, so I didn't

(01:07:17):
listen for a while because I didn't feel like I.

Speaker 5 (01:07:19):
Could be happy.

Speaker 6 (01:07:20):
I'm doing better now, and this summer I've been frantically
trying to catch up with all the episodes. I'm on
seven oh four right now. I quit my bar industry
job in order to help out my mom since my
dad passed away, so suddenly I left behind coworkers that
were like family, and I missed them a lot. Listening
to the four of you helps fill a little of
that void. I just wanted to say that I appreciate
the friendship you for have.

Speaker 2 (01:07:40):
It's been healing for me.

Speaker 6 (01:07:41):
It's incredible that you all met and care about each other.
It really comes through in the show. I could go
on and on, but I'm trying to be as brief
as possible. Thank you again.

Speaker 2 (01:07:48):
Cheers Mary, Mary.

Speaker 1 (01:07:50):
That's so sweet.

Speaker 2 (01:07:51):
Mary.

Speaker 1 (01:07:51):
I love you, Mary. It's exactly. I love you, Mary.
I love you Mary. I love you.

Speaker 2 (01:07:56):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:07:57):
I think Mary, I love you. I think if you
asked the four of us what we would make us feel,
the warmest in our hearts would be what Mary's saying.
The idea that we could make you laugh when you're
feeling sad, The idea that we could bring a giggle
to your day or your car ride or whatever it is,
is all we all really want to do.

Speaker 2 (01:08:15):
That's all we want to do. He's not lying.

Speaker 3 (01:08:17):
When I'm loud and when I'm making all of this
noise and all of that stuff. It's really for you, guys,
I swear all my life for real, I really do
want you, guys to enjoy your day and be happy
and feel the energy that you know, feel the energy
that we're sending through the airwaves. However you describe your podcast,
whether it's radio or not, you know what I mean.
We understand the responsibility that we have and you know

(01:08:42):
it's really important to us that you enjoy your time
with us.

Speaker 1 (01:08:46):
Yeah. We want to create an hour or so of
hopefully some laughs and some hopefully occasionally some thoughtfulness like
our guests today, and that's all we want to do.
And it brings us so much joy to hear feedback
like that. So thank you so much from the bottom
of our hearts. Thanks T Mobile. Did you know that
at T Mobile new inexisting customers always get the same

(01:09:07):
great device deals with go five G plus plans? It's true?
So why wait? Go check out t mobile dot com
slash go see why Now back to the show, All right,
Claire Staples, You're an incredible human being. You are inspiration

(01:09:27):
and I love that. I am so moved also that
this part of this spark came out of your recovery
and wanting to be of service to our country and humanity.
And I just think you're an extraordinary person. You know,
when they do those CNN Extraordinary people things.

Speaker 5 (01:09:46):
I think we should be abmitting.

Speaker 1 (01:09:48):
This is our version. You're our first You're our first
candidate for it's way more fun. Yeah, By the way
Donald that we should do that. We should have extraordinary
people like Claire on and then we'll do our CNN
version of Extraordinary Person of the Year. Yes, I love it,
but you're the first guest. You're no offense, no offense to,

(01:10:09):
no offense to Cody. But uh, you did.

Speaker 2 (01:10:14):
Great by most Americans, Cody.

Speaker 1 (01:10:15):
But yeah, Cody, we we love you, but you're not
a candidate for Special Human.

Speaker 2 (01:10:20):
Of the Year. And it's only because you don't like
Taylor Swift.

Speaker 1 (01:10:23):
Yes, that's one of the main reasons that you can
everyone well, believe it or not, Cody, Cody's.

Speaker 2 (01:10:29):
I didn't like Taylor Swift for six days.

Speaker 1 (01:10:32):
So if you know this, uh, Clara, but the haters
are gonna hate, hate, hate, hate.

Speaker 2 (01:10:38):
Hate, tell it. I told us that, and it was
I always forget what the haters are going to do.

Speaker 1 (01:10:44):
And I know they're gonna mind.

Speaker 5 (01:10:46):
Yeah, they're gonna hate.

Speaker 1 (01:10:48):
Shake it off and everybody, everybody, We're gonna end on
that note. If the haters hate, shake it up.

Speaker 7 (01:10:59):
Five six stories that show we made about a bunch
of talks and nurses in Canada who love me.

Speaker 1 (01:11:08):
I said, here's the stories that all should know.

Speaker 7 (01:11:13):
So gather round you here, our gather round you here,
our scotty

Speaker 1 (01:11:19):
My show is, and no