Anastasia and Letta were formerly named Anna & Ravenna. Anastasia (Anna) is on the left above, and Letta (Ravenna) is on the right.
Mustang Ravenna originally arrived to the former Twist of Fate in December of 2017 after being rounded up by the BLM (Bureau of Land Management)* in 2015 at only 6 years old. She was kept in a small crowded pen and denied her freedom and then put up for adoption. Horses that are not adopted are known as "3 strike" horses and are most at risk, as they will end up sitting in the holding pens to "fatten up" and then be sent to slaughter. Ravenna was a "3 strike" horse, even getting picked on by the other horses in the holding pen since she was smaller, but was fortunately pulled by Ashley DiFelice. Afterward she went through training to get more comfortable being around humans. While it's wonderful that her life was spared, it is still heartbreaking that she only needed to be rescued because she was stolen from her life as a wild horse.
Ashley and one of her board members, AnnaLisa, were trying to come up with the perfect name for this beautiful mustang. The name Ravenna randomly popped up and AnnaLisa sent Ashley the suggestion along with a passage:
"Situated in an inlet on the Adriatic coast below Venice, Ravenna has, from earliest times, impressed visitors as a strange and exotic city. In the fifth century, Gaius Apollinaris Sidonius described Ravenna as "a marsh where all the conditions of life are reversed, where walls fall and waters stand; where towers float and ships stand still; where invalids walk and their doctors take to bed... "
A quote from Ashley on the name announcement post on the former TOF Patreon, dated January 2nd, 2018:
"When I first read the line "where invalids walk" I got choked up a bit. It made me think of all of the animals we had taken in over the years who were not expected to thrive and ended up proving everyone wrong. At the same time, AnnaLisa replied with this: "Me too--and it kind of gave me goosebumps thinking of all the impossible rescues performed for crippled/deformed/etc animals under the auspices of your rescue." After that, we both decided it was the perfect name for her. Ravenna's way of life in itself has been reversed. From roaming free and being one of our countries wild horses, to being captured and now handled by humans on a daily basis. We know that she will also thrive and that she will become an advocate for wild mustangs all over the country. We cannot wait for Ravenna to come home and begin her journey with us!"
Ravenna spent an entire year in training and with two different trainers since Ravenna was so defensive, timid, and scared. Eventually she got to go home to a property in PA where Ashley was boarding horses and got to know a new horse herd family.
Anna originally arrived to the former Twist of Fate in June of 2018 along with another horse that she was extremely bonded to. The two bonded Shire draft mares had been together at a kill pen bound for slaughter. Ashley stepped in with the funds to bring them both to a holding facility so that it could be determined where they could go next and what place would have the room and funds to take in two additional horses. Anna had an issue with her hip and was looked at by a vet.
They were eventually taken in by Ashley and named Anna and Elsa. Unfortunately I don't know where Elsa is, what happened to her, or if she survived Ashley's cruelty and neglect. Ashley's last Patreon post about her was back on August 16, 2018, but she may have posted about her on Instagram. Elsa was not on the list of survivors or the list of horses that were surrendered at the offsite property, so it's possible that she died sometime before July of 2022 or she could be one of the four horses that Ashley did not surrender at the time. If/when I ever find out I will update this!
The last two horses from the offsite property to be placed were Anna and Ravenna, who were incredibly bonded. The sanctuaries that were working to place animals wanted to make sure that these two friends could be placed together, and fortunately both were taken in by Thor & Athena's Promise Sanctuary (@thor_and_athenas_promise). They arrived to their new home on January 8th, 2023 and were renamed Anastasia and Letta.
In the trailer on her way to sanctuary, Anastasia went down for the last half hour of her journey. They weren't sure if this was from exhaustion or something else, but this can be extremely dangerous. The vet did some tests, including a pin-prick test and found that one of her hind legs didn't react and wasn't moving, so she could no longer stand. Her gums were losing color and the vet was concerned about organ damage since she had been in this position for so long. Letta cried for her friend.
With the help of a tractor and many volunteers, they were able to "flip" Anastasia to her other side and she was miraculously able to stand once she got her good leg under her. It was also discovered upon Anastasia's arrival that she still had issues with her hip, which turned out to be broken and fused. Ashley never got her the help that she needed and because of this Anna was forced to suffer for at least FOUR YEARS with this pain. Ashley's Patreon post from August 16, 2018 that had a photo of Elsa includes this in the caption: "Yesterday we did an ultrasound on Anna's hips to see what kind of issue she had going on. It turns out her left hip is fractured, it is fairly new, likely within the past 6 months. It is healing but isn't completely healed yet. There is not much we can do other than keep her comfortable during the healing process. She should be fine, as long as it continues to heal and she doesn't injure it further. She will always have a dropped hip, but she will be ok and that's all that matters." Obviously Anna/Anastasia did not end up being "fine".
Anastasia and Letta were also treated for neglected infections (Anastasia had painful scratches on her back legs that Ashley had also neglected), and they were tested for worms. They were given dental treatments and farrier care since their teeth and hooves had been neglected for years. They were also immediately given love, affection, and cookies!
Sadly a few months later Anastasia went down again and after multiple attempts with straps, tractors, and numerous people that loved her they were able to get her up but she could not stand, and she passed away in April of this year. While she may have only been in a real sanctuary for just a few months, she knew so much love in that time and was surrounded by the human and animal family that loved her.
Letta continues to thrive at Thor & Athena's sanctuary. If you would like to show your support for them, please give them a follow on Instagram @thor_and_athenas_promise. You can also make a donation to them through their website, PayPal (thorandathenasp@gmail.com) or Venmo (@thorandathenapromisesanctuary). You can also send them something from their Chewy Wishlist!
Regarding the other horses at the offsite property: when Ashley's cruelty and neglect was discovered in late July of 2022, she surrendered 8 of the 12 horses from the property where she was boarding them. Unfortunately I do not know the names of the four horses or what happened to them - Ashley either kept them, sold them, or gave them away.
The other surrendered horses at the offsite property in PA along with Anna and Ravenna include:
Joe Kelly, a Bay grade type gelding around 12-13 years old that was originally surrendered by his previous "owner" after Joe grabbed the hood of her grandson's shirt and lifted him off the ground. No one was hurt, but she was too afraid to keep him so she planned to have him euthanized because she was afraid that if she sold him that he would just end up going to slaughter, but fortunately she instead chose to surrender him to Twist of Fate.
Yuma* originally arrived in 2018 from Nevada and was also from the BLM roundups.
Buck - a Bay Paint gelding around 12-13 years old that was rescued from auction and came with an old stifle injury. (A stifle injury is typically the result of repetitive stress on the joint or a traumatic injury).
Remington aka Remmy, an Appaloosa gelding around 12-13 years old who was saved from shipping to slaughter in Texas in April of 2018 and arrived to TOF with a horse named Spirit. (I don't know where Spirit is, what happened to him, or if he survived). When Remmy was rescued from Ashley in July of 2022 he had very dry hooves and significant cracks in a few of them.
Lily - I don't know Lily's origin story, but I believe she also came from the BLM roundups. She is a Bay mustang mare, around 15-16 years old. She was overweight when she was rescued from Ashley in July of 2022 and had lots of tearing and swollen lumps under her jaw. Upon further examination by a vet it was suspected to be from a severe pollen allergy. Unfortunately Lily had severe colic in December of 2022 and since the vet didn't feel that surgery was a viable option, she was euthanized. We love you, Lily, and you'll be in our hearts and memories.
and
Bubbles, a Palomino Haflinger mare around 10-11 years old . When Bubbles was rescued she was overweight and had a possible fly bite allergy and a wound on her nose. She had previously had her right eye removed due to Squamous cell carcinoma (a type of skin cancer). Bubbles was given medicated baths for her allergies and antibiotics for her nose wound. A few months later she ended up going to the hospital to have the wound checked out since it wasn't healing, and a Squamous cell carcinoma was found on her left nostril. A treatment plan was set up and in the meantime more growths showed up but were also treated. In July of 2023 she was finally cleared for placement to a new home. I'm looking into getting a more current update on her health.
Yuma had his story shared a few weeks ago and is currently living at a sanctuary, and the other horses were adopted into private homes and are doing very well. As far as I know they all still have their original names!
I want to thank Jackie of Last Chance Ranch (@lcanimalrescue) for working to place all of these horses AND for providing me with so much info about them including their medical rundowns. She also sent me photos of them which I will be sharing in the next few days on my Instagram @ispellithaley.
Thank you so much for reading.
*You can read more of the BLM's horrific activities as well as Yuma's full story here.
Ashley's next court appearance still has not been scheduled, but I will post about it when it is! In the meantime, please continue to share the petition. Thank you!