Mom of 3 Works on Late Fiancé’s Ranch with Her New Partner. Now She’s Playing Herself in a Movie Based on Her Life 

Porshia Zimiga’s long, brown hair flies in the wind as she races a horse across the open plains, kicking up a cloud of dust behind her. A pickup truck drives nearby on a dirt road as her mom, Tabatha Zimiga, cheers her on from the passenger seat, holding a cellphone to film the exciting ride.

This moment, shown in the new film East of Wall, is just one of many scenes that highlight the bond between mother, daughter, and their horses in South Dakota’s striking Badlands National Park.

“Horses have a kind of telepathy. They feel your energy, your emotions,” Tabatha, a 37-year-old horse trainer, told PEOPLE in an interview with her 18-year-old daughter before the movie’s release on Friday, Aug. 15. “The way Porshia shows her energy and feelings to the horses—they trust her and want to be with her. It’s always been like that.”

Tabatha says her daughter shares a special talent with horses. They work together on her late fiancé’s ranch, the Flyin N, just 11 miles north of Interior. She has helped more than 1,000 horses by rehabilitating them and selling them on TikTok and in sale barns across the country.

With her half-shaved blonde hair and a team of teens and young adults skilled in horse training, Tabatha has gained attention in what she calls the “New West.” “When people first see me, they think, ‘She can’t ride a horse,’” Tabatha says. “Now everyone knows who I am.”

The ranch has also changed the lives of teens who come to live there. They either look for a safe place or freedom, and they help train horses that others have given up on. Now, Tabatha’s story is told in a semi-autobiographical film that opens in theaters across the U.S. on Friday.

Tabatha admits she felt nervous about being in the film. While actors like Jennifer Ehle play some roles, Tabatha, Porshia, and other ranch members play themselves. “I feel like I’m being opened up for everyone to poke at,” she says.

Still, Tabatha is true to herself. She told the film’s director, Kate Beecroft, “You want to see some cowgirl s—?”

Raised on a ranch in southwestern South Dakota, Tabatha became a teen mom at 16 when she had her first son, Chevy, in 2005. Porshia was born two years later.

“It was hard, but he taught me a lot,” Tabatha says. “Your firstborn always teaches you… He calmed me down from being so wild.”

With her mom and grandmother’s support, Tabatha worked as a waitress and did odd jobs until she started training horses. This brought her back to the “cowboy way” she knew as a child, helping on her family’s cattle ranch.

Tabatha and the father of her two oldest children split up when Chevy was 7. Her life changed again when she met John Neumann, a gruff “old-school cowboy” with 80 horses on his family’s ranch in 2013.

“We learned many old-school cowboy ways with John,” Tabatha says. “He also learned a lot of softness from us.”

In December 2018, Tabatha and John had a son, Stetson. Six months later, John died by suicide.

“I was in a very dark place after John,” Tabatha says. She recalls drinking his favorite drink and riding colts, even though it “wasn’t safe.”

Tabatha and Porshia healed from their grief with the help of their horses. Tabatha’s current partner, Clay Pateneaude, 28, has helped raise Stetson. Even though he had never ridden before meeting Tabatha, Clay now works with the horses in a way that amazes both her and her daughter.

Jesse Thorson, 20, who also stars in the film, says Tabatha taught him much about training horses. “I love the way she can look at a horse and tell what’s wrong. She raised me that way,” he says.

Leanna Shumpert, 16, has lived on the ranch with her mom since 2020. Being on the ranch has changed her life. “You find love with people and animals. It teaches you that family isn’t just blood,” she says.

“Just as much as the kids need the horses, the horses need the kids,” Tabatha says about teens like Jesse and Leanna who spend summers at the Flyin N.

Even after filming ended, her children and their friends—now a chosen family—continue to ride across the Badlands and help save horses others have given up on.

For Porshia and Tabatha, the Badlands will always be part of their story. “Sometimes, it’s the danger that makes it so beautiful,” Tabatha says.