Kawayo, the sanctuary rescuing vulnerable mares in Nuevo León, founded by Arturo Islas

At a ranch in Linares, Nuevo León, horses with painful histories are beginning a different life. Among them is Galletita, a mare found pregnant and in terrible condition after being abandoned in the street. Another horse bears an open wound on its back and a spinal deformity after years spent hauling heavy loads as a cart horse.

Those cases led actor and activist Arturo Islas and Miguel Flores to create Kawayo, a sanctuary intended not only to rescue horses but also to restore the dignity taken from animals subjected to abuse and neglect. Flores said the project began after he and Islas rescued their first horse. During the second rescue, he said, seeing an animal that had spent 14 years pulling tons of material moved him deeply.

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When Arturo and I rescued the first horse, I told him, ‘Adopt the first one, it won’t matter, there is room at the ranch.’ But on the second rescue he invited me to, when I saw the animal’s eyes and understood that it had pulled tons of things for 14 years, it touched my heart, and that is how this project was born.

Islas described Kawayo as a movement for Nuevo León and Mexico. He said places like the sanctuary can make people more sensitive to animals and reconnect them with their responsibilities as human beings, while reminding society that humans are not the planet’s only owners.

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It is a beautiful movement, not only for Nuevo León but for all of Mexico. These are places that make us more sensitive and can help us reconnect with who we are as human beings.

Flores said Kawayo is a personal project, separate from politics, although his family is involved. His father, businessman Miguel Ángel Flores Garza, provided a large area of the family ranch in Linares. The site has corrals, pasture, ranch workers and veterinarians who help care for the animals.

Fourteen horses now live freely across 1,100 hectares of open pasture. They move there after quarantine, veterinary treatment and rehabilitation, once staff determine that they can safely join a herd. Kawayo can receive up to 200 horses, a limit chosen so the sanctuary can maintain a high standard of care, which Islas said is costly for each animal.

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We have the corrals, the pastures, the ranch hands who are like family, and the veterinarians who are a team, so let’s do it. Let’s give the horses back some of the happiness they have given us.