Spirit's Birthday & Opening Day
Join us for the opening day of Return to Freedom's 2025 program season and Spirit’s 30th birthday! Celebrate with us at the Return to Freedom sanctuary headquarters in Lompoc, with a Native American blessing of the horses and land; beautiful items for sale in the store; eclectic locavore food; wine pours from local wineries; meet Spirit, the whole Return to Freedom team and get a personal photo with Spirit! A staff-guided walking tour of the sanctuary with some time for herd observation along the way will be included.
Spirit was the muse and model for the artists and animators during the making of the 2002 DreamWorks animated feature film, “Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron.” Animators needed to create realistic movement on screen, and needed to find a horse that embodied the characteristics and movements needed to tell the story of the wild mustang. Spirit was selected by the animation directors because of his beautiful conformation, wide-set eyes, and thick, wavy, multi-colored mane and tail. An Emmy Award-winning spinoff for small children, “Spirit: Riding Free,” has now run for eight seasons on Netflix.
In April 2002, after the completion of the film, DreamWorks selected Return to Freedom’s Wild Horse Sanctuary to be Spirit’s new home, where he serves as a prominent ambassador. Spirit is not only a wonderful representation of the Kiger mustangs, he also serves to engage youth and adults alike worldwide to know about the existence, history and plight of America’s wild horses and burros.
May 10, 3:00 pm – 6:30 pm
Return to Freedom Sanctuary
4115 Jalama Road, Lompoc
Throughout the month of May we'll be featuring our special release of 2021 Celebrate Freedom Pinot Noir. We donate 40% of each bottle purchased to Return to Freedom. Come on in the Tasting Room and sample it. We'll also be pouring it at Spirit's Birthday Celebration.
