I often like to think that if I had some degree of fame and influence in the world, I’d use it for good and not evil. I think there are many out there who agree, too. The saying goes that money and fame doesn’t change you — it reveals you and amplifies you.
If that’s true, well, we can all be thankful for Willie Nelson — but maybe not as much as horses can be thankful for him.
There are few more beloved public figures than country singer Willie Nelson.
He’s not just a recognizable for his voice and his braids, but a good guy, one of the guys behind Farm Aid, the benefit concert to help struggling family farms in America that became an annual tradition.
He’s also one of the best friends horses have ever had.
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Now 86, the Redheaded Stranger has long been an advocate for animal rights.
And one of his pet projects has always been horses. He’s a huge supporter of the Animal Welfare Institute and their mission to save both wild horses and horses bound for the slaughterhouse.
Willie has also worked with Habitat for Horses for a long time.
He joined the charity’s board of directors, and opened up his ranch to serve as a foster home for some of the horses they work with.
Of the more than 70 horses currently on Luck Ranch, Willie’s 700-acre spread in Texas’s Hill Country, a good chunk have been saved from slaughterhouses, and many others have been rescued from abusive situations.
He even made a video for Habitat for Horses called “The Love of Horses,” which earned a People’s Silver Telly award.
In the video , Willie explains how he would arrange for things like films and video to be shot on his ranch just to give him a reason to ride a horse.
His daughter, Amy Nelson, also appears in the video, so clearly he has passed his love of horses down in the family.
Luck is definitely a big word on Willie’s ranch.
“When you’re here, you’re in Luck, and when you’re not, you’re out of Luck,” he told KSAT . And you could easily say that the horses on Willie’s ranch are in luck, as well as being in Luck.
“My horses are probably the luckiest horses in the world,” Willie says.
“They get hand-fed twice a day, and they were just ready to go to slaughter is probably the last thing they remembered, so they’re happy horses.”
However, Willie still isn’t at his ranch as much as he might like.
Even in his mid-80s, he’s still going strong.
He still tours and spends about 200 days a year on the road. “It’s a lot of traveling and being away from home, but that’s what we do,” he said.
And it doesn’t sound like he’s about to slow down any time soon, either.
Or, at least, retirement doesn’t quite stick.
“I retire after every show,” he said. “I say, ‘That’s it, I’m not goin’ no more,’ but then we hang out a while and people feel like playing, and so we go play again.”
Just like that, he’ll be on the road again.
h/t KSAT
