Warm Springs Gather

Two posts today, as I just spotted my friend Maggie's recount of the Warm Springs gather. Two lies being told include the roping and dragging of a foal, and the death of the 'blue roan stallion'.

Commentary below photos are by Maggie, who was present during Saturday's event.

The foal that got separated on the hill, coming in pretty much by himself. No whips, absolutely not one moment of dragging. It took 41 minutes to get him from the top of the hill in to the catch area and he is now with his herd.

The foal did come in quietly and not appearing to be stressed and never dragged.

The helicopter holding the herd in while the guys close the gate. The bay roan mare (called blue roan stallion by media) remains fairly calm, no flags no whips. The helicopter leaves the second the gate is closed. When she needed to move over so they could bring in more horses is when she tried to make her escape. Very sad and very unexpected.

Bay roan mare, no panic, no sweat...watching them close the gate. Never did we see whips, abusive flagging....the loss of the mare devastated even the wranglers. You could see in their body language, they were affected just as we were.

She seemed calm until she needed to move over for the next horses to enter. The crowd of guys on the right are trying to close the gait. No flags, no whips, no panic at this time.

Because most of what you see on 'Advocate' sites is a lot of negativity and sensationalism (if not downright lies), I felt it important for those of you who read my blog and are concerned for the welfare of these animals to witness the passive, quiet and tranquil moments as well. A foal quietly walking down a hill (not roped and drug as has been said), and a mare who appeared to be just as settled as the rest of the horses until her moment of panic.

There is a video that claims the pilot hit a horse as well, but it was a horse jumping up in front of the helicopter, not a pilot running into a horse. Other video footage always shows a well trained pilot who moves livestock for a living and knows how to minimalism the dangers by keeping a safe distance, while also putting pressure on when needed. Nothing else I've seen has shown contact...I believe it was simply a matter of the camera angle in the one video by the Animal Rescue Unit.

I was asked in a comment last week about the BLM's plan to zero out all HMAs except for a select few. I've done some asking around, and there is an element of truth to this story. There had been a suggestion earlier this year to keep only 'treasured' herds, such as Pryor and Kiger, but that didn't appear to have a whole lot of support and the idea has been dropped.

Took Awhile

Couldn't watch it for awhile. Darling scolded me.
"I had to edit it...the least you could do is watch it."

Meanwhile...

Darling edited this video I shot over the last couple of visits to Oregon

I've been hauling Tika to the riding club to work with her while Darling rides. She's been a frantic mess, and I have no clue as to why. On top of that, while working her in the round pen I noticed something that I'd nearly forgotten...a funny mis-step in her hind end as she trotted around. I'm not exactly sure what the deal is, but wonder if it's scar tissue from her entanglement in barbed wire? It was odd...she'd be trotting then suddenly her hind end would drop out from under her. It happened both directions...

I mentioned it to Darling, who wasn't happy to hear. She's been pestering me to just get busy and get up on that horse already. Well, I've been on her, haven't I? Plenty of times. I was thinking that after a week of consistent work I'd grab my good friend Roz and have her pony me. But now...what was this nervous bit about? And what is the whole back end issue thing about?

The following day, Darling was sitting on Steve Holt! as I was working Tika. "What!?" She exclaimed. "You saw that?" I asked. She nodded. So it wasn't my imagination...Tika has an issue. Well...one more issue than the others she's already packing along.

Tika's scars are on both hind legs, as well as one foreleg.

While I'm trying to figure a plan of action for the red headed fury, I'm also needing to get busy with Lefty. With the trips to Oregon here of late, I've not spent a good amount of time with anyone here, and the big boy really needs to get going. So that's what we did. We went. I loaded him up today and hauled out to the riding club. I was met with 4 other horse trailers there, however, and a severe lack of time to attempt to fight that much distraction. I opened the trailer door, though, and allowed the backward facing boy to stand and munch on hay while I stood in the parking lot talking to Roz for a bit. Good for him to learn to stand patiently and not worry about doors opening to unfamiliar scenes.

Upon arriving back home, the winter daylight was fading and we unloaded into a fairly dark driveway. Lefty did fine, stepping out carefully and slowly, then leading nicely to the barn. Certainly not a difficult work out, but it's good for him to travel without added stress of workouts now and then.