Peace Ridge Sanctuary now caring for 16 horses rescued from Burnham farm

FREEDOM, Maine (WABI) - Sixteen horses seized from a Burnham farm where their owner was convicted of animal cruelty are now living at Northeast Equine Sanctuary, a 642-acre facility in Freedom.

Alexis Ingraham was sentenced in October to two years in prison on four counts of animal cruelty, including two aggravated felony charges. During her trial in August, jurors heard details of severe neglect to horses and other animals on her farm.

Northeast Equine Sanctuary owner Daniella Tessier said she was aware of Ingraham for 15 years before her arrest.

Sanctuary owner describes rescue effort

“A lot of people in the community will be able to think back to Fair Play Farm,” Tessier said. “Obviously as a shelter, getting a lot of phone calls from people who are really concerned because they’re driving by and seeing the bad conditions of the animals.”

In March 2025, Tessier learned an animal control officer was removing cats and dogs from Ingraham’s farm in Burnham. Because of that, Ingraham had reportedly sold her horses to avoid having them seized as well.

“One thing that we don’t do is buy animals,” Tessier said.

In this case, Tessier said she took extraordinary measures to save 16 lives.

“So we purchased all of the animals that she had secreted away, um all of the animals that we could find,” Tessier said. “And the minute we had them in our possession, we called the animal welfare program. So that’s when the case was finally opened.”

Horses adjusting after neglect

Ingraham’s horses now live at the Freedom sanctuary.

“We had to start all over with desensitizing them to touch,” Tessier said. “Because they were quite a few of those horses that were just like-they expected the worst from us.”

Tessier said one horse was one of Ingraham’s main breeders and was pregnant when she arrived at the sanctuary.

“Honey actually gave birth to a son pretty soon after we got them in from that case,” Tessier said. “I’m always really happy when a mother animal gets to come in and have her baby and doesn’t have to experience any trauma.”

Tessier says the non-profit spent more than $100,000 just on Ingraham’s horses. “It was a lot of horses to take in all at once, and a lot of rehab to do. It was very expensive.“

All 45 horses have a story

All 45 horses at the rescue have a story, including one named Dusty. Tessier said she received a call from a local animal control officer about a horse that was down in a field.

“And when I saw the pictures, he was in like end stage muscle wasting,” Tessier said.

Tessier and her crew began an intensive re-feeding program for Dusty. He didn’t just survive, he’s now thriving at the horse sanctuary.

“Another example of a horse that deserved much better,” Tessier said.

Dusty is also the inspiration for legislation soon to be proposed by Tessier, in cases involving long-term animal starvation.

“When animals are shown to have been depleted because of long term starvation, we would like to have special considering for changes,” Tessier said. “We’d like to call it Dusty’s Law.”

Sanctuary faces high costs, limited space

Tessier said it costs about $30,000 a month to run the program at Northeast Equine Sanctuary. The sanctuary goes through more than 1,000 bales of hay and about 1,000 pounds of grain per month, along with medical costs.

Right now, the sanctuary is at maximum capacity. And Tessier says, winter is typically when they get the majority of calls for help.

“And that’s why we’ve started this active adoption program, where we’re really hoping that we might be able to start adopting horses out to people that really embrace like, the force-free model for companion horses,” Tessier said.

The sanctuary has about 150 acres it would like to use for the horses, but the land needs to be fenced in first. The sanctuary is looking for a company to sponsor the fencing project.

If you’d like to help the Northeast Equine Sanctuary in its mission, or would like more information on the horses for adoption, click here.

To watch the second part of this report, click here.