Happy Holidays and Winter Solstice from Starr Horse Retreats!

I wish you all a warm holiday blessing and a happy New Year as we enter the Chinese New Year of the Fire Horse in 2026.

Our documentary film, Letters from the Herd, has been selected as a Finalist for the Roy Dean Grant through From the Heart Productions, and we are now fully in post-production.

Letters from the Herd follows seven people who arrive at Starr Horse Retreats to learn positive reinforcement clicker training, only to discover that the horses are teaching them.

The film is currently being edited by Emmy-nominated director Chihiro Wimbush, with the goal of completing a rough cut by the end of January 2026.

Because the project is fiscally sponsored by From the Heart Productions, all donations are tax-deductible, and contributions go directly toward post-production.

If this speaks to you, you’re welcome to pass it along.

May your holidays be filled with peace, connection, and the quiet wisdom of the season.

Learn More www.lettersfromtheherd.com/

Warmly,

Melinda Starr

Letters from the Herd is a living transmission encoded with the ancient frequencies of the horse medicine remembered, reawakened, and returned for this pivotal moment in human evolution.https://www.lettersfromtheherd.com/

Project Overview

Letters from the Herd is a vérité-style feature documentary set at Starr Horse Retreats, a remote Nevada sanctuary where 17 rescue horses live in sacred partnership with humans. Filmed by Emmy-nominated director Chihiro Wimbush, the film follows seven participants through a month-long immersive retreat centered on positive reinforcement clicker training, intuitive horse-human communication, and deep spiritual transformation.This project is a transmission and a cinematic ceremony. Through intentional pacing, emotionally resonant storytelling, and reverent cinematography, Letters from the Herd invites the viewer into a visceral experience of healing, reciprocity, and inner awakening.

Thematic Depth

Letters from the Herd arrives in a time when our systems of care, mental health, education, and even spirituality, are strained and fragmented. This film responds to a growing collective yearning for grounded healing, heart-led leadership, and connection with the natural world.Horses, long relegated to roles of labor and obedience, are revealed here as mirrors, co-regulators, and sovereign guides in human healing. This project also intersects with the evolution of equine practices themselves. Moving beyond dominance-based training models, it centers on consent, presence, and intuitive partnership. This shift reflects a broader global movement toward reciprocal relationships in all areas of life and away from hierarchical, extractive paradigms.

Structure and Style

The documentary follows the arc of four primary participants whose stories reflect the richness and diversity of transformation. Filmed in vérité style, the lens remains close, intimate, and embodied, allowing the viewer to feel the texture of change as it unfolds. Wide, meditative landscape shots balance the emotional intensity of the human journeys, offering breath, stillness, and grounding. The horses are not props, nor are they silent. They are active participants in the storytelling, their behaviors, choices, and relational responses guiding the direction of the film. The retreat culminates in the reading of personal “letters”, poetic transmissions written as if from the horses themselves, channeled in collaboration with the human participants. These letters form the film's spiritual heart, offering encoded messages for humanity on how to return to relational wisdom and interspecies harmony.

Current Status and Needs

The film is currently in editing. We have completed production with over 100 hours of footage, including interviews, group sessions, one-on-one interactions with horses, and daily life at the sanctuary. We are seeking $120,000 to complete post-production, including editing, original score, sound mixing, color correction, animation, festival submissions, and distribution.

We have raised $30,000 to date through grassroots fundraising, private donors, and personal contributions. The remaining balance will be sought through grants, aligned investors, and continued individual donations. Fiscal sponsorship is secured through From the Heart Productions, making all donations tax-deductible.

Closing Intention

Letters from the Herd is more than a film. It is a living transmission that invites healing and activation in the humans who watch it. The horses’ presence carries a frequency of coherence that reaches beyond the screen. This project offers a timely, urgent, and quietly revolutionary response to the crises of disconnection and imbalance that define our era.May this film serve as a bridge between species, between realms, and between the old ways and the new. May it awaken remembrance in all who encounter it.

With reverence,Melinda Starr,

Associate Producer

Website: www.lettersfromtheherd.com

Contact: StarHorseRetreats@gmail.com | 415-370-7092