On the last evening before the Winter Solstice, near sunset, I was filming the zen of Garnet munching hay. Dearest Moonstone came over to greet me - a real complement from a once wild mustang 🩵
“If winter comes, can spring be far behind?” Percy Bysshe Shelley
🎶 “Getting to know you, getting to know all about you.
Getting to like you, getting to hope you like me.” 🎶
This song from “ The King and I” was playing in my head as I supervised the integration of Forrest (the littler guy) into Wren (the red chocolate mare) and Gypsy’s herd of two.
The oldsters (all right around 30) acted pretty spunky and youthful in their early time together.
Good morning mustang herd! We got them thinking by feeding in a different area today 💡
Cinnabar, Wyatt, Garnet, Feldspar, and Moonstone (usually she’s the quickest to figure puzzles out 🤷♀️).
Notice who does & doesn’t hesitate where the soft gate is usually up…
We’ve had very little rain this fall, so they’re kicking up dust like Tombstone, Arizona 🏜️
Yesterday we had a bittersweet full-circle experience.
Many years ago, Jeannie Welsh and I took our appaloosa gelding, Cowboy, west. (That’s a terrific story all on it’s own - and we’ll share it soon.)
Cowboy had a fabulous life in Utah - participating in the Chief Joseph ride (https://horseandrider.com/western-horse-life/chief-joseph-trail-ride/) multiple times and even helped in the round up of buffalo on Antelope Island!
Recently, life changed for adopter Janet and her husband.
They were no longer able to live their ranch life and care for Cowboy and his buckskin buddy, Dustem.
As is our policy, we welcomed Cowboy back to sanctuary - and, of course, his best friend.
Yesterday, after a slow and easy trip from the west, Janet & John brought the boys to Jeannie’s farm near Brooklyn, WI.
Here they are arriving back to the place Cowboy was fostered all those years ago.
Committing to a horse FOR LIFE is one of the policies that make us pretty unique in today’s rescue world 🩵
BIG thankyou to Jeannie and Dave for opening their hearts and farm once again 🐴🐴🩵🩵
Ginger is feeling well enough to be curious! But phones don’t taste as good as she’d thought they might ☺️
Hello friends!
I made it safely home from DC 🚙
So very pleased to see the tremendous improvement in our recent save, which YOU made possible 🩵🐴
The turn she makes at the beginning of the video is nearly miraculous! She’s not short-striding anywhere near as much as before, and the speed at which she’s able to walk is dazzling in comparison to her arrival less than a month ago!
We’ve settled on calling her Ginger for a few reasons - obviously, her color. Our farrier referred to her as Ginger Snap ☺️ Also, Ginger is the name of Black Beauty’s best friend 🩵 And finally, Ginger Kathrens is the woman who famously documented the life of Cloud - a mustang in the Pryor Mountains. Ginger still fights tirelessly for our wild horses.
Please feel proud that together, we saved this lovely mare’s life!
She has a ways to go, but we’re on the right track!
It never gets old! Seeing horses make progress is priceless.
The buckskin colored horse is Wren. A few years ago, we received an urgent call from Wren’s owner. She’d bailed the mare from a killpen (please don’t do that - this is yet another cautionary tale about that), paid a small fortune to have her quarantined and transported to Wisconsin. The horse was advertised as “kid broke” and video showed her being ridden bareback.
When the mare arrived at the boarding facility the owner had chosen, she was frightened and hard to catch. The owner began to work with her, but had a health crisis and needed surgery and a long recovery period. The owners of the boarding facility just pushed through the horse’s thresholds and she became dangerous - trying to kick them and pulled back when they tried to lead her.
They contacted her owner and gave them an ultimatum - remove her from their place or have her euthanized.
The owner called us. When I went to pick Wren up, she was frightened, but quickly responded to my approach and retreat methods. She was soon haltered and loaded into the trailer.
Shortly after arriving at The Home Farm, Wren somehow injured a hind leg - there were no marks of any kind on her, but she was dragging the leg and clearly uncomfortable.
Enter our friend Greg Gage of Equine Therasage. After a few treatments, Wren was comfortable again, but it was apparent she would only ever be “pasture sound”. We placed her in sanctuary.
Just yesterday, while I was dragging her pasture at the farm where she lives with her BFF, Gypsy, Wren burst into a playful run! I was able to get my phone out quickly and catch the end of her frivolity! She was getting tired, so you can detect the “hitch in her giddy-up”, but it was surely heart-warming.
Thanks to all of you for helping horses who are in peril to live their best lives🩵🐴
Finding the very best place to roll takes time!
Side benefits of getting their paddock cleaned - Molly gets a good scratch and the donks get to rub on and smell the equipment 🩵
She’s here 🩵🐴
It was lovely to see her curiosity overcoming her concern about being in a new place.
Now for a name… the old one just doesn’t work. As you can see, she’s a real foodie - but we’ve already had a Cookie Monster.
Any suggestions?
When you are interesting, but the hay delivery guy is MORE appealing…
Mustang life 🩵🐴🐴🐴🐴🐴
In order: Cinnabar, Wyatt, Garnet and Feldspar …in the distance - herd leader Moonstone ☺️
