Who Stole Spring?

Cricket grazes happily

I'm not a big fan of Junuary, I don't think. To drive home earlier this month in snow, and now to have it exit in a blaze of heat (we hit the mid 90's here yesterday), is not my idea of fun. And somewhere in there I think it was supposed to be spring, but I must have missed it.

It's been too hot to do much these past few days. Not just the heat, really, but the humidity that comes along with it. Even when the breeze blows, it's a wet, balmy air that hits you. It dawned on me yesterday that while I'd been training in the rain, wishing I'd applied for the Extreme Mustang Makeover rather than the Western States one, I am now happy to have been working in the mud, because in the heat I don't move. Not one little bit. The horses stand sweating in their pens, so I'm sure they're happy not to be working as well.

Despite not working, we had a busy weekend. Someone came to see Cricket and they've submitted an application, plus sent me photos of their facility. I'll be getting all of that in the mail for final approval and hopefully by the end of the week he'll have an owner! I liked the woman very much. Her husband was at work, but she and her two children were quite nice. She told me her husband had spotted Cricket in the Craigslist ad I ran, and he hollered at her "This is the one!" They're both very excited, and I'm quite pleased with the match.

On Friday I drove up the mountainside with the Animal Control Officer from the county south of me. She'd called to say there was a field (valley, really) with wild horses that had been breeding there and she was needing someone with wild horse experience to help gather them. Evidently, the first attempt hadn't gone so well.

Turns out my idea of wild is different than most peoples. These were very curious, social horses who hadn't been handled, but were accustomed to at least the presence of one or two people in their valley. All four adults approached me independently and sniffed my hand; the mares allowed me to rub their faces and necks. Originally there had been ten, but the first attempt had resulted in two of them being caught, leaving two stallions, two mares and their four remaining offspring.

Six year old stallion runs wild

Unfortunately, a couple of the key players bailed and we weren't able to do any gather, but in the long run I think that was best. I was able to go out and meet the horses and get a feel for their personalities and their habits. I know where I want the panels to be placed for the trap when we go up again. I think there was just too much commotion and activity for them this last time and they were spooked. We'll try to make things a bit smoother when we try again. If you'd like to read more about these horses, visit On The Shores of Carpenter Creek.