How Willie Nelson, 93, Transformed a Movie Set Into a 700-Acre Ranch for Rescued Horses

Willie Nelson with a horse in Texas in 1988Credit: CBS/Getty

More than 70 rescued horses live at Willie Nelson’s Texas property, where they are hand-fed twice daily

Luck Ranch was built for the 1986 film adaptation of Nelson’s album Red Headed Stranger

The ranch also hosts the annual Luck Reunion music festival and other artistic events

Willie Nelson may be best known as a country music legend, but he’s also a devoted animal lover who is so passionate about horses he once saved hundreds from slaughter.

Nelson, 93, owns a 700-acre property in Texas where more than 70 horses roam. All of them were rescued before they could be sent to a slaughterhouse.

The musician opened up about the property — dubbed “Luck Ranch” — in a 2019 interview with KSAT 12 News, saying, “When you’re here, you’re in Luck, and when you’re not, you’re out of Luck.”

— sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Willie Nelson rides a horse down 9th Street near the Texas Capitol while filming a music videoCredit: Robert Daemmrich Photography Inc/Sygma/Getty

“My horses are probably the luckiest horses in the world,” he added at the time. “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.”

In addition to serving as a horse sanctuary for the animals, Luck Ranch doubles as a Western-style movie set.

The property was built in 1985 for the film adaptation of Nelson’s album Red Headed Stranger, and it now features a frontier town complete with saloon, a jail, a chapel, and false-front storefronts.

The set was also used as the backdrop for the acclaimed 1989 miniseries Lonesome Dove, per Texas Highways.

It’s also home to a regenerative farming operation and to Luck Presents, an experience-based collective that hosts the annual Luck Reunion music festival each March, along with other artistic events throughout the year.

The property will open its gates to the public for just two days in 2027, on March 18 and 19 for the 15th Luck Reunion, with attendance capped at 3,500 guests a day.

Nelson himself also lives on the property, along with his wife Annie D’Angelo, who he met on the set of his 1986 TV movie Stagecoach. The couple share two sons: Lukas and Micah.

The “On the Road Again” musician is also father to five daughters — Lana, Susie, Paula, and Amy, as well as the late Renee Butts — and son Billy, who died in 1991.

As for the future of Luck Ranch? Matt Bizer, the co-founder of Luck Presents, told Texas Highways: “We have an internal policy, which is we don’t talk about a world where Willie’s not in it.”

Source: Entertainment