Sierra was found alone in a kill pen in Texas, the last one of a group of foals whose mothers had been shipped away to slaughter. She was so malnourished that her head and ears seemed malformed, her legs were gangly and crooked. She was, in short, an “ugly little thing.”

Paula Vincent took her in even before Willow Branch was a registered non-profit and gave her a name – Sierra. Paula and her crew re-fed Sierra under a veterinarian’s careful oversight. When she was well enough, Paula took Sierra to a local trainer where she could be brought along gently.