The Touch of a Mustang

Shalyce Cluff
  • 5.0 (6)
  • Alternative Health
  • Weekly

Through extraordinary stories and honest conversations, The Touch of a Mustang explores the places and principles that lead to healing, growth, and freedom of mind. We bring together horses, psychology, relationships, resilience, horsemanship, and nature to uncover lessons for living with greater awareness and purpose. We explore the wisdom horses offer, how they guide us through the human experience, and our responsibility to protect and preserve them—especially America’s wild Mustangs.

  1. 2d ago

    Saving the Salt River Wild Horses with Simone Netherlands | Episode 94

    The notice gave them seven days before the Salt River wild horses would be impounded. Simone Netherlands and the people who knew these horses refused to let them disappear quietly. Today, visitors still see wild horses along Arizona’s Salt River. But keeping them there requires far more than winning that first fight. Simone shares how years of photographs, herd records, and public pressure helped protect these horses. We talk about the difficult choices behind humane wild horse management, why she supports fertility control, and the daily work of keeping horses in their families and on the land. It is also a story about continuing when you’re tired, discouraged, and facing opposition after years of effort. The horses are still here. What will it take to keep them here? ABOUT SIMONE NETHERLANDS Simone is the founder and president of the Salt River Wild Horse Management Group, an Arizona nonprofit dedicated to protecting and humanely managing the Salt River wild horses. Its work includes herd monitoring, fertility control, emergency rescue, and sanctuary for horses who cannot return to the wild. CONNECT WITH SIMONE AND THE SALT RIVER WILD HORSE MANAGEMENT GROUP Website: https://saltriverwildhorsemanagementgroup.org/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/srwhmg/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/saltriverwildhorsemanagementgroupWays to support their work: https://saltriverwildhorsemanagementgroup.org/what-you-can-do/ CONNECT WITH THE TOUCH OF A MUSTANG Website: https://thetouchofamustang.org/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetouchofamustang/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheTouchofaMustang SUPPORT THE PODCAST https://buymeacoffee.com/thetouchofamustang Follow The Touch of a Mustang as we uncover the places and principles that lead to healing, resilience, and freedom of mind.

    Saving the Salt River Wild Horses with Simone Netherlands | Episode 94

  2. Oct 25

    How to Rebuild When Life Will Never Be the Same | Episode 93

    How do you rebuild when the life you loved is no longer there? Nearly four months after a wildfire burned the forest around our home, we are still finding our way forward. Our horses are recovering from injuries sustained during evacuation, and the mountains look nothing like the place we imagined spending our lives. People say it will grow back. But what do you do while you’re standing in the middle of what’s been lost? In this solo episode, I share what caring for my horses and restoring our land are teaching me about grief, healing, and resilience. Whether you’re rebuilding a relationship with your horse or facing a life change you never wanted, there is a place to begin, even when you can’t yet see what comes next. CONNECT WITH THE TOUCH OF A MUSTANG Website https://thetouchofamustang.org/ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/thetouchofamustang/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TheTouchofaMustang SUPPORT THE PODCAST https://buymeacoffee.com/thetouchofamustang Follow The Touch of a Mustang as we uncover the places and principles that lead to healing, resilience, and freedom of mind.

    How to Rebuild When Life Will Never Be the Same | Episode 93

  3. Oct 15

    A Rescued Horse Helped Her Through Cancer with Leila King | Episode 92

    Leila King was undergoing treatment for two forms of cancer when a friend introduced her to a rescued horse. She did not know whether she would survive. Beside that horse, she and her three daughters found a release from the stress and anxiety surrounding treatment. Someone had given that horse another chance. The time Leila spent with him helped shape what she wanted to do with hers. Leila founded Kihoi Ranch to help wild Mustangs build lives beyond government holding through patient training, trust, and partnership. Now she is working toward the nonprofit’s first adoption. But getting started has exposed a difficult contradiction: the horses she knows can bring people peace are often seen as too dangerous to welcome. We talk about the horse-human connection during her cancer treatment, what observing wild horse families at McCullough Peaks and the Pryor Mountains has taught her about belonging, and why protecting Mustangs requires understanding more than their beauty. Leila also shares the barriers to bringing her vision to life and her plans to make horsemanship accessible to young people who might otherwise never encounter a horse. A rescued horse offered her something she needed during an uncertain chapter. Kihoi Ranch is her effort to carry that gift forward. ABOUT LEILA KING Leila is a paramedic, mother of three, and founder of Kihoi Ranch, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to wild Mustang rescue, training, and advocacy. Its current focus is bringing its first Mustang home and documenting the journey to educate others and build a foundation for future rescues. CONNECT WITH LEILA AND KIHOI RANCH Website: https://kihoiranch.org/ Facebook: Leila’s Facebook First Mustang adoption fund: Donate through Zeffy CONNECT WITH THE TOUCH OF A MUSTANG Website: https://thetouchofamustang.org/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetouchofamustang/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheTouchofaMustang SUPPORT THE PODCAST buymeacoffee.com/thetouchofamustang Follow The Touch of a Mustang as we uncover the places and principles that lead to healing, resilience, and freedom of mind.

    A Rescued Horse Helped Her Through Cancer with Leila King | Episode 92

  4. Oct 9

    How to Rebuild Your Life After Rock Bottom with Barbara Parker | Episode 91

    Rock bottom rarely gives you the freedom to begin again with a clean slate. There may still be children to raise, bills to pay, trauma to carry, and relationships that make every decision more complicated. Barbara Parker knows what it means to rebuild under those conditions. She has experienced homelessness, financial instability, a painful marriage and divorce, and the work of reconstructing her identity while trying to create stability for her family. She did not transform her life through one dramatic decision. She began by remembering her value, reconnecting with people who could see and support her, learning how to manage money, and recognizing that another person’s anger did not require her participation. Those steps eventually took her from a homeless shelter and subsidized housing to becoming a licensed therapist, author, entrepreneur, and founder of BF Empowerment Center. We talk about how emotional regulation creates choices in moments that once felt automatic, why every invitation to argue does not have to be accepted, and how the body warns us when we no longer have the capacity for a productive conversation. Barbara also explains why helping someone in an abusive relationship requires more than telling them to leave. Safety may depend on money, housing, childcare, transportation, confidential documents, and having someone trustworthy who will listen without taking control. Real support protects a person’s dignity while helping them see and prepare for the choices available to them. This is not a story of overnight reinvention. It is a conversation about rebuilding your identity, stability, relationships, and future one decision at a time. ABOUT BARBARA PARKER Barbara L. Parker, MA, LPCC-S, is a licensed therapist, author, speaker, and founder of BF Empowerment Center. Her work focuses on trauma recovery, emotional regulation, healthier relationships, family support, and interrupting cycles of violence within homes, schools, and communities. CONNECT WITH BARBARA Website: https://www.bfempowerment.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bfempowerment/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bfempowerment/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/queenblparker DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SUPPORT If you or someone you know is experiencing relationship abuse, contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at https://www.thehotline.org/, call 800-799-SAFE (7233), or text START to 88788. Call 911 if you are in immediate danger. CONNECT WITH THE TOUCH OF A MUSTANG Website: https://thetouchofamustang.org/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetouchofamustang/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheTouchofaMustang SUPPORT THE PODCAST buymeacoffee.com/thetouchofamustang Follow The Touch of a Mustang as we uncover the places and principles that lead to healing, resilience, and freedom of mind.

    How to Rebuild Your Life After Rock Bottom with Barbara Parker | Episode 91

  5. Sep 24

    Your Emotions Don’t Define You with Brea Segger | Episode 90

    Success gave Brea Segger the security she believed she needed, but it also taught her to ignore herself. She worked 12- to 15-hour days until her health deteriorated, she began passing out on her farm, and even walking upstairs became nearly impossible. Her body had been warning her. She had not been willing to stop. Changing her life required more than rest. Brea had to question the belief that safety depended on productivity and money, recognize how easily emotions become identities, and relearn the difference between fear-driven thoughts and the quieter inner knowing she had stopped trusting. We talk about why sadness, anger, and anxiety do not define who we are, how judging difficult emotions can keep us trapped inside them, and why constant messages, scrolling, entertainment, and demands leave so little room to hear ourselves clearly. Brea also shares a simple place to begin: spending twenty minutes without distraction, noticing what is happening in the body without immediately trying to fix it. She recounts the medical emergency surrounding her daughter’s birth and the profound sense of knowing she experienced while navigating an uncertain outcome. Her story opens a larger conversation about intuition, self-trust, and how calm inner guidance differs from the urgent stories created by fear. This episode asks a difficult question: How much of the life you are living reflects what you truly value, and how much of it has been built around survival, outside expectations, and the fear that you will not be okay? ABOUT BREA SEGGER Brea Segger is a mentor, retreat facilitator, speaker, and host of the podcast Beneath the Story. Her work explores emotional integration, self-trust, relationships, nervous system regulation, and what it takes to build a life that feels honest and aligned. CONNECT WITH BREA Website: https://www.breasegger.com/Podcast: Beneath the Story CONNECT WITH THE TOUCH OF A MUSTANG Website: https://thetouchofamustang.org/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetouchofamustang/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheTouchofaMustang SUPPORT THE PODCAST buymeacoffee.com/thetouchofamustang Follow The Touch of a Mustang as we uncover the places and principles that lead to healing, resilience, and freedom of mind.

    Your Emotions Don’t Define You with Brea Segger | Episode 90

  6. Sep 17

    He Takes His Horses Into Chicago with Cowboy K | Episode 89

    A few weeks after losing his twin brother, a young boy met Cowboy K and his horse on a Chicago street. His mother said she had not seen him happy in a long time. Then he climbed into the saddle and smiled. That moment captures why Cowboy K, also known as K Walk, brings horses from The Daisy Ranch into Chicago neighborhoods. Many of the children he meets have never touched, fed, or ridden a horse. Once a horse arrives, differences in age, race, and background begin to disappear as the community gathers around it. Cowboy K did not grow up riding. His journey began when his uncle, The Big Bopper, convinced him to get on a horse at a family gathering. He returned to the ranch the following morning, determined to learn. What began with fear became a life with horses and a mission to make horsemanship accessible to the urban community he came from. We talk about what horses have taught him about patience, confidence, responsibility, and the consequences of rushing the process. Cowboy K also shares what it takes to prepare a horse for Chicago’s streets, the conflict and confusion he has encountered surrounding urban horseback riding, and why he continues giving children free experiences with horses even when the work leaves him exhausted. This is a story about the happiness a horse can bring, but it is also about access. Cowboy K wants children throughout Chicago to understand that horses and horsemanship are not reserved for people from somewhere else. They can belong in their lives too. ABOUT COWBOY K Cowboy K, also known as K Walk, runs The Daisy Ranch in Illinois. His mission is to bring horses and people together, introduce horsemanship to inner-city communities, and teach more young people how to ride and care for horses. CONNECT WITH COWBOY K AND THE DAISY RANCH TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@cowboy.k.kwalkInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/cowboyk1/  Fundraiser: https://gofund.me/936d406ec CONNECT WITH THE TOUCH OF A MUSTANG Website: https://thetouchofamustang.org/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetouchofamustang/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheTouchofaMustang SUPPORT THE PODCAST buymeacoffee.com/thetouchofamustang Follow The Touch of a Mustang as we uncover the places and principles that lead to healing, resilience, and freedom of mind.

    He Takes His Horses Into Chicago with Cowboy K | Episode 89

  7. Sep 11

    When the Place You Go to Heal Is Gone | Episode 88

    What happens when the place you have always gone to heal is suddenly devastated? The Aspen Acres Fire swept across our property outside Beulah, Colorado, leaving the mountains transformed and setting off a chain of events that left two of my horses seriously injured. While the horses were evacuated, a mountain lion attacked one mare and the herd fled through 11 fences. The land and horses that had carried me through difficult seasons suddenly needed care of their own. In this solo episode, I share what this Colorado wildfire taught me about grief, gratitude, and the uneven nature of healing. As the burned landscape and my horses recover, I explore why loss should not be rushed toward a silver lining, what setbacks reveal about the healing process, and what it means to care for the animals who once carried you. Healing does not always restore what was there before. Sometimes the landscape remains changed, the scars remain visible, and life still begins growing again. CONNECT WITH THE TOUCH OF A MUSTANG Website: https://thetouchofamustang.org/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetouchofamustang/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheTouchofaMustang SUPPORT THE PODCAST buymeacoffee.com/thetouchofamustang Follow The Touch of a Mustang for more stories about horses, the people they meet, and what those relationships reveal about healing, resilience, and being human.

    When the Place You Go to Heal Is Gone | Episode 88

  8. Sep 3

    Horses Can't Heal You, But They Can Show You The Way with Michelle Peterson | Episode 87

    Horses cannot heal us—and expecting them to may place a burden on them that was never theirs to carry. They can reflect how we are showing up, reveal what we have been unwilling to see, and guide us toward the truth we are seeking. But the work remains ours. In this episode, Michelle Peterson of Medicine Horse Healing challenges the romanticized idea that horses are here to save us. We examine what healing with horses actually means when we stop casting the horse as the healer and begin taking responsibility for our own transformation. Michelle explains how releasing ego can strengthen our relationships with horses, why genuine connection requires time and attention, and how horses can act as mirrors without doing the work for us. We also confront the responsibility humans have toward horses when involving them in our healing and personal growth. The truth is less magical—and more demanding—than “horses heal.” They may help us uncover the path, but they cannot walk it for us. CONNECT WITH MICHELLE PETERSON Website: https://www.michelle-peterson.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/medicinehorsehealing/Rescued Hearts: https://www.rescuedheartsfilm.com/Dance of the Wild: https://www.danceofthewild.com/ CONNECT WITH THE TOUCH OF A MUSTANG Website: https://thetouchofamustang.org/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetouchofamustang/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheTouchofaMustang SUPPORT THE PODCAST buymeacoffee.com/thetouchofamustang Follow The Touch of a Mustang so you don’t miss more conversations about how horses can guide us toward healing, wellness, and greater freedom of mind.

    Horses Can't Heal You, But They Can Show You The Way with Michelle Peterson | Episode 87
See All (95)

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
6 Ratings

About

Through extraordinary stories and honest conversations, The Touch of a Mustang explores the places and principles that lead to healing, growth, and freedom of mind. We bring together horses, psychology, relationships, resilience, horsemanship, and nature to uncover lessons for living with greater awareness and purpose. We explore the wisdom horses offer, how they guide us through the human experience, and our responsibility to protect and preserve them—especially America’s wild Mustangs.

Information

  • Creator
    Shalyce Cluff
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    95
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Shalyce Cluff
  • Show Website
    The Touch of a Mustang

You Might Also Like