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 (Exclusive)

Porshia Zimiga’s long, brown hair flicks in the wind as she races a horse so fast across the open plains that a cloud of dust is left in her wake. A pickup truck speeds alongside on a dirt road as the teen’s mom, Tabatha Zimiga, cheers her on from the passenger seat, a cellphone in her hand to film the wild ride.

The moment, captured in the new film East of Wall, is one of many vivid scenes showcasing the mother and daughter’s connection with their horses — and each other — outside of South Dakota’s austere, but beautiful Badlands National Park.

“Horses have telepathy, they really do. Horses feed off of your vibes, your emotions, your energy,” Tabatha, a 37-year-old horse trainer, tells PEOPLE in a joint interview with her 18-year-old daughter ahead of the modern-day western’s release on Friday, Aug. 15. “The way Porshia presents her energy and her emotions to the horses — they want to be with her. They trust her. It’s always been that way.”

Tabatha shares her daughter’s almost magical ability with horses as she works on her late fiancé’s ranch, the Flyin N, located just 11 miles north of Interior. The mom of three has made her living by saving more than 1,000 horses so far. She rehabilitates them and sells them on TikTok and in sale barns across the country.

With her half-shaved head of long, blonde hair, and a team of teens and young adults who are quick to show off their skills on the horses they helped train, Tabatha has made waves in the “New West,” as she calls it. “They see me and they’re like, ‘She can’t ride a horse,’ ” says Tabatha of people’s first impression of her when she entered the male-dominated industry. “Now everybody knows who I am.”

The rancher has also had a profound effect on the teens who have come to live on her 1,200-acre ranch over the years. Either seeking a safe haven or freedom, the teens help break the horses that nobody else wants. Now Tabatha’s story is being told in the semi-autobiographical film that opens in theaters across the U.S. on Friday.

Tabatha says she has some anxiety about appearing in the film. (East of Wall stars some seasoned actors like Jennifer Ehle, who plays Tabatha’s mom, but Tabatha, Porshia and others on the Flyin N Ranch play themselves.)

“I feel like I’m being cut open for everybody to kind of poke and prod,” Tabitha says.

Despite the nerves, Tabatha is unapologetically herself. As she told the film’s director and her good friend Kate Beecroft when they first met, “You want to see some cowgirl s—?” 

Raised on a ranch in southwestern South Dakota, Tabatha was just 16 when she had her first child, son Chevy, in 2005, followed by Porshia two years later.

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

With her mom and grandmother’s support, Tabatha earned a living by waitressing and taking on odd jobs until she started training horses. It was a return to the “cowboy way” of life she experienced as a kid, when she would work with horses on her family’s cattle ranch. 

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Tabatha and the father of her two eldest children split up when Chevy was 7 — and a new chapter of her life began when she fell in love with John Neumann, whom she affectionately describes as a gruff “old-school cowboy” with 80 head of horses on his family’s ranch in 2013.

“We learned a lot of different, old-school cowboy ways with John,” says Tabatha. “He’s actually learned a lot of softness from us.”

In December 2018, Tabatha and John welcomed their son Stetson. Six months later, John, then Tabatha’s fiancé, died by suicide.

“I was in a really, really dark place after John for a little bit there,” says Tabatha, who remembers drinking John’s favorite drink, even though she doesn’t normally consume alcohol, and then riding colts. It “wasn’t safe, but I would do it all the time,” she recalls.

Tabatha and Porshia both navigated their grief with the help of their beloved horses.

Tabatha says some of her grief eased after she met her current partner, Clay Pateneaude, 28, who has helped raise Stetson. (The ranch was left to Stetson, but as a representative of John’s estate, Tabatha will remain in charge until their son turns 18.)

Despite never having ridden a horse before meeting Tabatha, Clay now works with the horses in a way that awes both her and her daughter. Together, they make up a new kind of family, with horses at the center.

Jesse Thorson, 20, who also stars in the film, says Tabatha has taught him much of what he knows about breaking horses.

“I love the way that she can go around a horse and the way she can look at a horse and tell what’s wrong with it,” he says of Tabatha. “She could just tell that spot on. I love that about her because she raised me that way.”

While Jesse and his girlfriend come back to visit often, Leanna Shumphert, 16, and her mom have lived on the property since 2020. Being on the ranch has been life-changing, says Leanna, who made her acting debut in the film.

“You find love with people and animals, it really teaches you that blood doesn’t always matter,” she says, adding that the connection she’s found with the horses is “something that you cannot replace.”

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

Even after the cameras stopped rolling, her three kids and their friends — their chosen family — have continued to race across the Badlands and save the horses that other people dub “outlaws, renegades, not worth it.” 

As Porshia and Tabatha explore the new world of acting, the Badlands will stay with them. 

Says Tabatha, “Sometimes, it’s the danger that makes it so beautiful.” 

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