Meet the Animals of BellaSoul Farm: Horses, Donkeys & a Few Wild Neighbors
Ask anyone who has visited BellaSoul Farm what they remember most, and the answer is never the scenery (though the scenery does its best). It's the animals. The soft nose that found their shoulder. The donkey who insisted on being part of the conversation. The horse who stood quietly beside them while something heavy finally let go.
Our herd of horses and donkeys is the heart of everything that happens here. They aren't tools, and they aren't props for photos — they're partners. Every one of them has a story, a personality, and a particular kind of wisdom they bring to the people they meet.
There's Ghost, our gentle grey — wise, watchful, and famous for choosing exactly the person who needs him most. Horses like Ghost have a way of finding the quietest hurt in the room. Spend ten minutes at the fence with him and you'll understand why people drive from Knoxville and Chattanooga just to stand in a pasture.
The donkeys deserve their own introduction. If horses are the deep listeners of the farm, donkeys are the comedians with surprising emotional intelligence. They are curious, affectionate, deliberate, and utterly unbothered — and they have a gift for making guarded people laugh, which is sometimes the first step to everything else. Watching a horse and donkey greet nose to nose, with their woolly companion shuffling over to join, is the kind of small everyday miracle this farm runs on.
Because we are an 88-acre farm at the edge of the Cherokee National Forest, the animal residents don't stop at the fence line. Deer drift out of the tree line at dusk — we've watched a doe raise her fawns in our back meadow. Wild turkeys parade through like they pay rent. Songbirds, barn cats, butterflies in the wildflowers: it's a whole community out here, and our guests get front-row seats.
Every animal at BellaSoul lives by the same principle that guides our Equine Assisted Learning work: their welfare comes first. The horses choose to participate in sessions; they're never forced. We honor each horse as an individual, trust their leadership, and build partnership through respect. It's why the connection people feel here is real — because the animals offering it are free to offer it.
Want to meet them? Visits are by appointment — through our programs, workshops, events, and retreats, or a session crafted just for you or your family. No riding, no experience needed; just a willingness to be present. Fair warning, though: people come for an afternoon and leave planning their next visit. The herd has that effect.