CLAY — Clay racehorse rescue organization Sunshine Horses is partnering with the EQUUS Foundation for a fundraiser that will benefit both horses at home and in the wild. “Stepping Out for March,” which runs through April 3, seeks to raise money for the care of Sunshine’s mustang cross, March, who has Cushing’s disease and insulin resistance.

An anonymous donor to the EQUUS Foundation, a national nonprofit that focuses on the welfare of horses, will match the first $25,000 raised in “Stepping Out for America’s Horses” campaigns across the country. These funds will go toward helping the nation’s wild horse population by promoting fertility control measures, protecting the ecosystem and providing safe sanctuary or adoptive homes for horses.

Sunshine volunteer Heather McCrone shared March’s story with the Star-Review.

“She came to us two years ago. She was surrendered by a woman who had a house fire and unfortunately lost everything,” said McCrone, who has volunteered for Sunshine Horses since 2011.

While the Sunshine team immediately fell in love with March, she soon started displaying a number of health problems, including hoof problems and founder, which occurs when the area where the laminae (coffin bone) attaches to the hoof begins to break down. A number of conditions can cause founder, including Cushing’s disease.

Sunshine’s vet diagnosed March with Cushing’s and insulin resistance, and she was put on a low-starch diet and given medication.

“She’s walking, running — she’s back to her old horsey self,” McCrone said.

While March has been able to wean off some of her medication, she will still need special care for the rest of her life. That is why Sunshine Horses joined the EQUUS Foundation’s “Stepping Out” fundraiser.

Participants can walk, run or ride at their own pace, whenever and wherever it is convenient for them — safe from crowds and COVID. They collect pledges from friends and family for each “step” they take.

In addition to helping horses, Stepping Out encourages participants to get outdoors and be active.

“With the spring coming, who wouldn’t want to help yourself as well? Go out and take some steps,” McCrone said.

Last year, Sunshine volunteer Christie Muldoon raised more than $650. She said she is excited that the anonymous EQUUS donor will match funds for the care of wild mustangs.

“There’s a certain level of spirit that comes with that mustang breed,” said Muldoon. “And that spirit is reflected in our March, a mustang cross, as she recovers from a painful illness.”

According to the Wild Horses of America Foundation, the federal Bureau of Land Management currently has about 45,000 feral horses and burros in holding pens and pastures on federal land. The Wild Horses of America Foundation seeks to reduce the number of animals in federal captivity through the use of an immunocontraceptive called Porcine Zona Pellucida (PZP) and the creation of animal sanctuaries.

“The use of contraception allows horse and burro herd growth rates to be managed without using the disruptive round-up and removal strategies that are commonly employed,” reads wildhorses.org.

McCrone said mustangs, which are descended from Colonial Spanish horses first brought to the Americas beginning in 1493, are intelligent animals who can be trained to live on private sanctuaries and farms like Sunshine Horses.

“Their intelligence, their ability to survive, their ability to adapt is so deep in them. A good natural horseman trainer can turn them around in 10 days,” she said.

To register or donate for Stepping Out for March, visit sunshinehorses.org and click on Current Fundraisers.