The Ride...and June Bug needs Sponsors

I'd like to introduce you to June Bug. She's a four year old mustang mare who was bred in the wild, born in captivity. Like many mustangs, she's very curious and just a wee bit of a pocket pony. Or pest, as the case happens to be. It's unfortunate that June Bug hasn't been taught to respect the space of her human companions, something that has made her just a bit dangerous for those who are not horse savvy. I've been asked by Second Chance Ranch if I could help them out and give June Bug some manners as well as attempt to find her a home.

She's so cute!

If you'd be interested in sponsoring June Bug, you can paypal your tax deductible donation to mustangdiaries@gmail.com.

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Darling grabbed this shot of Sandy munching on this lovely spring day in May

It was a lovely trail ride that Sandy and I went on the other morning. We were gone for two hours with our new friend, Liz. Although my back felt a bit fatigued by the end of the day, it was counter balanced by wading through a shallow river (to be honest, no different than our full creek) and traversing wooden bridges. Sandy's been full of energy, what with Darling doing all this trotting about in her little English saddle, that he barely turned a wet hair. And then, it was only beneath the saddle. Liz and I are planning on getting out again next week. There's to be a competitive trail ride down there next month, or so I've heard, and I'd like to get both Sandy and Steve Holt! legged up and in shape.

Speaking of Steve Holt!, he had himself a bit of a workout yesterday. I hauled down to Curt's where we began our ride in the round pen just to be sure he wasn't going to have a mental lapse. After it was apparent that he was on the right track, it was off to the arena where we had a bit of a refresher as to where we carried our head under saddle. But aside from some lookie loo moments, he worked very well and even dropped his head and kept a slow, steady gait at the lope for me. Truly amazing considering he was lucky to have had 70 rides on him prior to his 7 week vacation!

Humane Society Seeks Adopters for Mustangs

EXPERIENCED ADOPTERS NEEDED FOR 220 RESCUED MUSTANGS

The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) is assisting with the care and placement of 220 Mustangs that were seized from a neglectful situation in Alliance, Nebraska. HSUS is seeking qualified adopters and horse sanctuaries to provide permanent homes for these animals.

The horses have been under qualified care for approximately two weeks and are current on their vaccinations and Coggins. Many of the mares are pregnant or have foals at their side. The majority of these horses are unhandled mustangs. The horses are currently being temporarily housed at the rodeo grounds in Bridgeport, NE, therefore HSUS would like to place them in permanent homes as soon as possible.

Adoptions are being handled by Front Range Equine Rescue on behalf of Habitat for Horses. Interested adopters should contact HILLARY WOOD of Front Range at 719-481-1490.



Contact Information
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Hillary Wood
Front Range Equine Rescue
phone: 719-481-1490
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It was June When I Met These Horses

I first wrote this story in early June and posted it at Carpenter Creek with a "To Be Continued" promise...and until last week there was no continuation...

A herd of domestic~turned~feral horses.

An idyllic scene greets your eyes. Tranquil. Peaceful. Picturesque. The long, narrow valley filled with daisies in early June, the foothills of Mt. Baker creating the perfect backdrop. A small herd a horses grazes peacefully. The mares are fat with the spring grass, their foals napping in the mid morning sun. Nothing at all to make you think things were out of place.

So why has Animal Control been called in?

This little herd, which looks so harmonious, has spent the winter fending for themselves. Before the spring grass, it was the harsh, cold winter with nothing but snow and tree bark. Rather than fat and shiny, they were starved, ribs and hips poking out from shaggy winter coats. Two stallions, two mares, and their offspring were given freedom to roam not only the valley, but the hillside across the dangerously narrow, winding road without any regard for motorists or logging trucks that may be making their way up or down the mountain.

A palomino mare approaches cautiously, protecting her colt.

Typically in the wild, there will be one herd stallion who will chase away his offspring by their second year. This keeps herds from inbreeding. Young stallions band together in what are known as bachelor bands until they are able to steal a mare from an established herd and begin their own. But in this situation, both stallions, ages six and seven, were born on the property and live a daily existence with the two mares. They get along, so long as there’s not a mare in heat. Once one of the mares is in season, the battles begin. Rearing, striking, biting and kicking. Battle scars mar both bodies. Wounds have festered and sport proud flesh due to being left without treatment.

Wounds left to fester on the side of this stallion have created scar tissue.

The hooves of these horses are long. The ground is not the hard desert rock that most wild horses travel across, so there is no natural wearing. When they get too long, they chip and break off, sometimes leaving the hoof so short that the horse ends up lame. Thankfully, these horses haven’t the need to travel 20 miles to find water, or they’d never make it. In fact, aside from the summer grass, the only blessing to these horses is that there is a creek running through the property which gives them fresh, clean water to drink.

Stallions, aged seven and six, run free with the mares.

Neighbors have complained for years. They’ve seen the horses in winter. They’ve slowed down for them as they’ve crossed the road. But because there are stallions in the mix, finding suitable homes or rescues is difficult. When a warrant is issued, the animal control officer (ACO) has just 24 hours to move the horses. Because this particular band hasn’t been handled, capturing can be rather tricky. On the first attempt, only two of the ten were caught and relocated. Now the ACO is struggling to get her crew back together on a single day that works for everyone. The crew being a band of volunteers with enough trailer space to haul two intact stallions, two yearlings, and two mare and foal pairs.

And so the little herd waits in the sun, unaware of their future, content in a field of daisies.

A curious stallion stands watch.

Last week I spoke with ACO. Skagit County has had their plates full with abandoned and neglected horses, not to mention the recent puppy mill bust of nearly 600 dogs. Snow up on the mountain road has made it impossible to get trailers up there, but feed has been brought in. The 'owner' has skipped town. A rescue effort is back in the works. With any luck I'll be able to attend and get more photos for you of this little herd.

A Fresh Start

Just over a month ago I went down to check out a mustang a few hours to the south of us. He'd been making the rounds and at the age of 4 had had a pretty rough life. Part of a 30 horse seizure, he'd been placed in the care of a family who's teen aged daughter was going to work with him.

For whatever reason, she wasn't able to do anything with him. His story was that he'd been ridden before Animal Control had taken him from his neglectful former home, but this gal couldn't catch him, let alone saddle him up. So, she passed him off to another friend who wanted to give it a try.

To get a halter on him, he needed to be roped. Once they had him haltered, he led nicely enough, but it took two hours to get him into the trailer. At him new home, he had the halter rubbed off within a week and was once again feeling free as a bird and about as easy to catch. His new owner was tiny, and he was tall. He took advantage of that fact and while she had him as friendly as could be, once the halter was spotted he was off and running. As she was headed to college, his young owner realized that if she hadn't been able to move forward in the few months of summer, she wouldn't be able to get anywhere during the winter when she was busy with school, work, and lousy weather, so she decided to give him up.

We had no clue how he'd be to lead across the yard and load up yesterday. But he was a gentleman. A real gentleman. In November, Steve and I had been down to help her get a halter on him, but he'd managed to rub it halfway off, so it was only over one ear when we got there. He wouldn't allow us to touch his face, and we didn't feel a fight was in something we wanted out there in the mud just before trying to load, so we led him out into the yard as he was, holding our breath and saying silent prayers that he'd not be upset about leaving his herdmates.

We needn't have worried. He followed Steve right out to the trailer, took a look inside and decided a ride may be a nice thing. He loaded right up without so much as a blip on the radar.

He's thin, his feet are over due, and he's got a mild case of rain rot, but he seems like a nice, laid back boy. The dogs didn't bother him when he got here, and the lamb jumped right into the trailer with him without him being upset or spooked. So he's getting a fresh start. Some much needed groceries will go a long way, I'm sure. I'll keep you updated on his progress. Hopefully we can find him a good home soon!

Got a Little Wild Yesterday

Alladin, a Spanish Mustang

Yesterday I grabbed my friend, Steve, and we headed down to check on a mustang. Alladin was part of a 30 horse seizure earlier this year, unfortunately just one of many such cases that Animal Control has been called in on. He was placed with a young lady south of Seattle. Unable to do much with him, she handed him over to a friend, who decided that perhaps she, too, was in over her head.

Alladin is about 4 years old. It turns out he was a rather a friendly sort. According to his owner, he'd supposedly even been ridden at some point before he'd been removed from his former home. But given half the opportunity (and stealing away with the rest) he'd managed to convince everyone around him that he couldn't be handled. He'd let you stand next to him, he'd check to see if you'd brought any treats, and he'd sometimes allow you to touch him. But that was it.

Steve brought his handy lariat along and we set out to catch us a wild horse. Steve is also a volunteer with the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program and is the person who'd kept Sunny earlier this year while we were waiting to process paperwork. Sunny had rubbed her halter off as well...twice...and Steve had roped her in order to get it back on. I figured he'd be useful to have around.

Steve got out his rope and made an attempt at throwing it over the horse's head. Missed. Another toss. Another miss. Alladin's pasture was just too big for someone on foot to get a good shot, especially when that someone doesn't throw ropes for a living. A smaller pen and he'd have had the horse in no time. But with enough room to outrun the lasso, we had a lot of close landings but nothing more. Alladin had been roped before and knew to duck his head just enough to send the rope skimming across the top of his head.

Oh...so close!

After playing cowboys and wild horses for a good 20 minutes, Alladin decided he needed a break. He ran to his favorite corner to hide; except I was there. That's when the game switched to good cowgirl, bad cowboy. I was the lesser of two evils, so with one eye warily on Steve, the gelding stood and let me scratch his neck for a minute before taking off again. Another 20 minutes of this game and Alladin began to wear out. It didn't matter where he went, he was either dodging ropes from Steve or finding himself standing next to me and my halter. The halter was beginning to look like the easy way out. A couple minutes later and he was allowing me to slip the halter over his nose. We left the halter on him hoping that he wouldn't rub it off and that his owner would now be able to catch him and work on handling him a bit more.

Almost Too Much...

I wanted to talk about Sunny and our walk yesterday. But really, it was uneventful. Which is good, and I could elaborate, but something else has popped into my little brain here, and it's filling it up with thoughts that I simply must put somewhere.

You may recall my posting about a rescue that was advertising a couple of mustangs at a feedlot in Washington. They've gotten a pretty bad reputation, especially when people began finding out that these same folks had run another rescue which was shut down due to neglect.

Compared to the rescue I read about the other day, they look like saints.

A message popped up at the mustang forum, it was titled "Mustangs Needing Help." Of course, that got my interest up and I read the message:

"Mustangs must go.
It comes down to the sad truth of the matter. Due to the drought and the
lack of concern for horses by most people (you all are excluded) the
mustangs must go and go now I can’t feed them anymore. There are being fed
but hay is just too much to buy and have shipped here. For us to have enough
have it would cost $15,000 (hay and shipping) and we are tired of footing
the expense from our personal funds. These unwanted horses need a home ASAP.
Please don’t donate any funds it is over and we are tired of fighting the
rescue will be shut down as soon as the paperwork can be done. Thank you for
your support I am sorry to be such a failure. Tom"

His website was attached, so I went for a visit to see what was going on. The home page was a plea for feed. They had 18 horses to feed and nothing to offer them. As I read, I was appalled. These horses had been rescued from SlickGardner originally; he'd had over 500 horses, half of which were BLM mustangs, and was charged with 9 felony counts. Several rescues stepped in, one of those being the Laughing Horse rescue run by Tom.

Slick Gardner's mustangs in a holding corral

The fact that Laughing Horse stepped in to help should have been a good thing. But as Tom said on his website, they'd thought they were getting six horses, but instead there were ten delivered. Nearly double what he expected. Tom didn't bother to separate these horses, and unfortunately he had both stallions and mares. The result? Those mustangs of his bred more successfully at his supposed rescue than they would have if they'd been left in the wild. Three years later he had 18 horses; they'd nearly doubled in herd size!

The Laughing Horse website claims there's no such thing as unwanted horses...or at least it did until Tom put up his new home page. I'd link to it, but it was totally off color. Tom's not happy with what people are saying about him, it seems. But it doesn't appear to be the fact that he's been irresponsibly breeding horses that are unwanted, rather that someone found out he was using these same horses for a little bestiality side business.

I know...not what you wanted to read this morning. Me either. Maybe I should have just stuck to Sunny...

Got Kigers?

Going to Kiger Fest? Looks like Darling and I will be! We'll hit the road as soon as she's out of school on Thursday of next week. Being as it's a very long drive, and we're getting a late start, we'll have to spend the night somewhere along the way. I'm considering the Portland area, but not sure yet. May try traveling to the east a bit.

I've been working on getting products ready, such as the image above. That's Riddler, a Kiger Mustang that lives at the Wild Horse Corrals. I'm putting him on some T-shirts. I've got his image on bumper stickers, mugs and more on my Cafe Press website as well as a few other Kiger images. They'll only be up for the month of November, so if you're thinking you'd like something Kiger keep that in mind.

My goal while there is to "Fill the Barn" by selling enough products to purchase a couple hundred bales of hay. I'm setting up a raffle and will be raffling off six felted horses, all modeled after one of the Kigers that will be there for adoption. Karen Noland, who's husband Ted was in the Extreme Mustang Makeover, will be donating a copy of her book, Providence, as well.

Naturally, I plan on having my camera and laptop along with me so as not to deprive you of photos of the event while it's happening!

I'm also taking a few more orders for felted horses. If you want one by Christmas let me know. $25 each, s/h $5 for up to five ornaments. Do I sound like a major blogging infomercial these days, or what? Here...buy this, buy that, visit this site and that...LOL! Well, so be it, at least for today.

For anyone wondering how they can help the horses in San Diego, Kate from High Sierra Wild Horse Sanctuary has provided a link. Just click on the donations page. They're trying to get hay delivered for anyone with horses in need.

Cut Back Built Up Saddle Pads

So here it is. The saddle. I wasn't happy with the way it sat on her as it was too close to the withers. I knew that as soon as I sat down on it I'd be crushing her. Not a good thing for any horse, but especially not a youngster that you're just starting. It'd do no good to have her sore and crabby before getting out of the driveway.

I'd wanted to return it, but the seller didn't return my phone call. Lack of common equine courtesy; most folks would be willing to refund your money within 24 hours for something like poor fit. The fit is just too important. They'd had a second saddle for sale, so even if they didn't want to refund money, a call saying I could try the other saddle would have been nice. But since they didn't want to play by fair horsemanship rules, I began shopping again. I didn't feel bitter, just as disappointed.

City Boy saw an Aussie listed in Marysville, so on Monday evening I started the trek back down in that direction for the second time in three days. On the way I stopped at some friends and told them about my saddle dilemma. Curt suggested I hang on to the saddle as it was well made and I'd gotten a good price. Since Jet is a two year old, he said, her withers and shoulders were going to fill out and that saddle would likely fit quite well, not to mention I'd be hard pressed to find a narrower one. In the meantime he suggested I pick up a saddle pad with cut back withers and built up support in the shoulder area to lift the swell of the saddle up.

I had no idea they were making built up saddle pads. I'd considered a cut back wither but didn't think it would be enough. But with the extra lift? Yes, that should do it. So I've got one on order. You can see how closely the saddle fits over her withers in this photo. And get a load of that orange paint! I've no clue what they were doing...perhaps they'd planned on painting the entire saddle for hunting season???

The weather was pretty good all last week, giving me an opportunity to saddle up and ride Jet nearly every day. What a wonderful feeling! It's been years since I've had my own horse, and even longer since I've started one of my own. Jet is the perfect step back into the horsey world; she's taking everything in stride.

I've been keeping the horses off the pasture for fear of them totally tearing it up, not to mention it needs some time off in order to grow back for spring. But after a week of work for Jet, and since it was a nice afternoon (and since they wouldn't leave me alone inside the paddock while I was cleaning), I decided a couple hours of play time wouldn't hurt. Jet and Sunny raced back and forth and had a grand time!
Quiet Storm got tired of their hijinx. She's not one to get involved with the silly games of other horses. She's a mosey-er, preferring to take life one slow step at a time. She's also jealous of camera time! There was no way she was going to allow me to photograph those horses playing all silly like when her stunning beauty was right there for the world to see. So she stepped in front of the camera to remind me just who the star of the show really is.

That's it; watch me do my runway walk.
I am beautiful!

If you've not visited the Wild Horse Rehab site yet, or if it's been a while, please pop in and let me know what you think. I'm also working on getting a sister site done which will be the Store...definitely still a work in progress, but pop in and let me know what you think!

Desperate Horsewife

Wild Horse Calendars now available!

Saddles, Riding and Rescues

I've only been whining all over the internet these past couple of days about not having a saddle that fits. The one I've got I purchased at a yard sale years ago. Nothing fancy, it held me on and that's about it. Perfect for training with, but with my weight in it, it doesn't fit Jet in the least.

So saddle shopping I've been.

Last night City Boy hollered from the other room to come and look at something. An ad had just been placed on CL for a Billy Cook. A wee bit more than I'd wanted to spend, but it was a brand that I liked, so I called and today I get to go look at it. Cross your fingers and say a prayer for me!

I rode Jet around the pasture the other night for about ten minutes. Sure wish there was someone nearby that I could to riding with; I'd take her out to the tree farm right now for a ride. The pasture is slick, so I don't really want to do much in it. Maybe I should call Cheryle and see if she'll let me use her arena for a month (never heard back from the about using theirs.) It won't take much to get her beautiful mind ready for short rides.

Darling helped me out a bit last night with some fun stuff on Photoshop. What do you think? I've been trying to come up with a logo or something for T-shirts for the rescue.

Desperate Horsewife
Wild Horse Calendars now available!

Internet Issues...

I don't know what's going on, but I haven't been able to log into either blog for the past two days. Right now I'm on City Boy's laptop before the battery goes dead. And no pictures...sniff!

Thanks for the encouragement regarding the rescue. The felted horses have begun to sell...scroll down/back a couple of days, I think I posted a pic here. Customized to look (almost) like your horse, $25 each. Folks are getting them as Christmas gifts for their kids.

I've also signed up for Country Care, where they send me 5% back with any sale that types in our care code, which is wildrehab. The link in on the rescue website if you're interested in taking a peek.

Okay...I've got soap to make and some more ponies to felt. Looks like there may even be a break in the rainfall...I may have to go outside and spend some time with Sunny! Thanks for stopping in and again for your kind words of encouragement!

Desperate Horsewife
Wild Horse Calendars now available!
http://www.cafepress.com/mustangfever/3572746

Muck Update

Scraping out the muck...

Muck, muck, muck. It's everywhere! Sheets upon sheets of rain coming down. Virtual waterfalls from the heavens. And my horses stuck out under a tree.

The neighbor finally made it down. The muck was scraped up. Fence posts were snapped in half. New gates were put up. Gravel was moved. More gravel delivered...and another trip over today for the neighbor and his tractor.

Tractor? This thing is HUGE! Heavy equipment, not just your run of the mill tractor. But let me tell you, that muck was scooped up in record time. Trouble was, my gates were too narrow and the paddock barely large enough to contain it. As he tried turning around, he bumped the new post in my barn addition! Easily could have snapped it in half if it hadn't been for City Boy hollering for him to stop. We had no idea his tractor was so big. We thought in terms of little farm tractors...silly us!

Anyway, today the remainder of the gravel will be in place, the panels set up to divide the paddock into runs, and the horses will have their own bedrooms. Which will mean no more hooves churning up the pasture during the soggy months to come. I sure hope the gravel holds up in the barn and paddock!

I think I have tractor envy!

Thanks for the feedback on the rescue. Yes, MiKaela, a website is certainly among the list things needed. I registered a name the other day and have been working on putting a few pages together. Y'all wanna see it? Remember, very baby stage at the moment. Lots of blank pages, but hopefully it gives you an idea. Please let me know what you think...and be honest!

Wild Horse Rehabilitation and Rescue

Desperate Horsewife
Wild Horse Calendars now available!
http://www.cafepress.com/mustangfever/3572746

Which would you choose?

I woke up at about 4:30 this morning. let the dogs out. It was dark...still...quiet. The past two or three days the wind and rain have been downright deafening. But nothing this morning...all was still. And I hope it remains until the neighbor gets his tractor down to play in my muck.

I'm hoping y'all didn't misunderstand my question as a request for funds. That wasn't what it was at all; I know you've got your own horses and your hands are full. Nope, I'm looking for what would make a person comfortable with any charity, really. How best to go about building trust. And, of course, whether or not someone would still consider giving if the rescue wasn't a federal non-profit (meaning donations were tax deductible.) I suppose that ought to be the final goal or folks may wonder why you're not going for it?

In any case, I've got my short list. Take a look and let me know if you think there should be things added:

Being able to visit facility
Enough room for horses; no over crowding
Follow up visits after adoption takes place
Clean, safe environment
Lack of mud (well, within reason, I suppose, depending on weather conditions?)
Financial statement
Quarterly newsletter
Public message board or some other way of open communication

Aside from this occupying my mind nearly full time these past 48 hours, I've done nothing. At least not horse-wise. The rain is just too hard. Jet is getting along with her flock, Sunny and Quiet Storm are doing well and no one is getting beat up on either side of the fence. Sure wish it were nicer out as Sunny could benefit from some consistency when it comes to being saddled up and worked. Such is life, though, eh?

Desperate Horsewife
Wild Horse Calendars now available!
http://www.cafepress.com/mustangfever/3572746

Of Rain and Rescues

Jet and the sheep dine together.

Rain. More of it. Again.

It's monsoon season...even though I don't know if technically that's what they'd call it here in the northwest. But it's wet and it's windy. And wet. The addition to the barn has flooded and the horses are standing under trees until the neighbor can get down here with his tractor to remedy the situation. He was supposed to be here earlier this month but ran into a few priorities that came first. I've kept the paddock free of horse hooves for the better part of the month, knowing they'd just churn it up to the point I'd not be able to do anything with it. Still, it's churned enough on it's own. The portions that aren't deep in clay and muck are too slick to walk on (hard, wet clay is like ice...)

Thankfully, despite the heavy bouts, it's not been 100% rain 24 hours a day. Jet is in with the sheep while Quiet Storm and Sunny share the other side of the pasture. They're all contentedly munching on their breakfast right now. By Wednesday night (cross your fingers) the neighbor will have come and gone, the paddock stripped down and the gravel added for drainage. Hopefully we won't have horrendous weather between now and then.

The two mustangs have disappeared from the CBER website. I'd called the feed lot to see if they were there last week and he said no, they weren't. I'd asked if they had their titles, and he said that there was no paperwork with them. Hopefully they'll get into good homes. I notified the BLM that they were out there, at least, so if there's any foul play at hand hopefully something can be done.

I've been giving the whole rescue thing a lot of thought. Dealing with Sunny has left me wondering just how many people give up their mustangs, and how many of them end up back at the BLM corrals? I saw a couple of them head back down to Burns in June that'd been previously adopted. It's sad to see horses go back into the system, both because they lose whatever training/socialization they've received and because they become the responsibility of the tax payer once again, not to mention a statistic that reflects negatively on the program and the horses themselves.

So let me ask you a question or two. Do you feel comfortable giving money to rescues? Do you think that a non-profit status is necessary before you'd give? What would it take to create a level of trust between the rescue and the donor?

I'd love to be able to take on one or two mustangs, spend the time getting them started, then place them in new homes. I can't, however, afford to feed that many horses out of my own pocket without some form of support. The best way to approach this is what I'm wondering. Last night I felted up this little version of Sunny (no falling on the floor with laughter, please!) and wondered about selling them with a little hang tag that gave a horse's name and a bit of it's story. Think anyone would buy?

Felted version of Sunny still needs her eyes and nostrils.

Desperate Horsewife
Wild Horse Calendars now available!
http://www.cafepress.com/mustangfever/3572746