Another online adoption

The BLM is hosting another online adoption starting March 2nd. So far, there are not many horses uploaded online, but I think they'll probably add more before the adoption begins. What's special about these horses is that they are offering youngsters from the Sulphur Utah herd management area again - where Griffin and Kachina came from.

I am very unhappy with their photos of the horses this time though...they took them indoors in a small pen, so there are almost no good conformation shots and many are dark and shadowy, so the horses' coloring doesn't come through well. I think that a good picture is worth a thousand words and can make the difference between adoption and getting passed over. I wish they would have done better for these horses.

All the horses look a little rough, but I think it's exaggerated due to poor picture quality.

I LOVE this little filly's face! (wish I had more room!) She is so cute, even though I can see she's stressed (snot running down her nose).
Horse #4547


One of my favorite horses listed so far is this little 2 year old mare. Her facial expressions are wonderful and she is beautiful, although I fear that fact won't come across for most people and she may be passed up (because she is only bay and the pictures are terrible).
Horse #4543


Come on BLM, next time do better! It's worth it for you if it increases the likelihood of the horses to be adopted!

There are two wild horses in my wild horse pens!

Well, they are here! And I took a lot of photos...too many to load into blogger. So I'm giving a link to the facebook album where I also have comments attached to the photos telling the story of our day.

The basic arrangement is the adoption pens, then I show photos and talk about the mare, then photos and talking about the stud (to-be-gelding).

It looks like they must have trimmed up their feet before the adoption - I conclude this only because they are not overgrown and they've been in a holding facility since November.

Also, I'm trying to come up with names for them...I like to go with something that is unique or descriptive for the horse, or is a name that heralds from their stomping grounds (for example, Catlow's name is from the Catlow Mountains and Valley in the South Steens HMA area). These guys come from the Needle Range in western Utah. I won't tell the names that have been popping into my head because they are corny and I don't like them. I'd love to hear suggestions! Naming is hard because names are so important!

I'm ready!

The pens are assembled, rain gutter is up to slow drainage through the pens, plywood is up covering the tin, and the pens are now equipped with full water buckets and hay troughs full of fresh green hay! I think I'm ready.

All along I was planning to have the BLM put halters and long lead ropes on the two, but the last couple days, I've been wondering if maybe I shouldn't. My halters aren't break away halters, and the pens have a lot of places that a halter could accidently get snagged. These are an older style of panel that has really unsafe attachements between the panels (see this post for a closeup of the attachements). I can only imagine how awful it would be to try to untangle a wild horse hung up on a panel by a halter. Either the wild horse will be ruined, or the panel will be ruined, or both. So, today after walking through, looking for any place they could get hung up, and just mulling it over a lot (weighing the risks of them getting injured versus the ease with which we could have gentling a horse wearing a halter and lead rope), I've decided that we are not going to have the BLM put halters and leadropes on them. I feel immediately relieved and now we'll just focus on the gentling. I've heard many people say that the slower and more thoroughly you take the gentling process, the better it sticks in their heads. I hope that's the case!

Today we also removed the dividers from our three horse slant load trailer so that it will served as a "stock" trailer. We went through that too to make sure that there are no protruding edges they could get caught on and we ended up duct taping a rag around the columns that the divider pins had set in. Up near the ceiling there is a ring that slants up that the trailer ties snap to. If the horses were wearing halters I'd be really worried about them getting caught on that, but they aren't, so I think the trailer is safe! Now I hope they don't try to go through the windows...anyone had experience with this? Our windows are covered with a metal grate inside, but if a horse was super determined, he could push through that. I just wonder if they will try to go out a place where they can see outside (through the window, even though the windows will be closed). When we brought Chico and Catlow home, it wasn't a concern because they were so little, the windows were up high and they wouldn't have attempted to go through them. On this trailer, the windows on one side are down low so a horse can look out, but on the back side, they are up higher. Should we cover the low windows? I know I should have thought of all this before, but we are bringing along a whole host of supplies so that we can adjust when we get to pick them up. We have cardboard, duct tape, rags, all sorts of stuff.

Tonight I've been studying for my physics final...I plan to take it at 1pm tomorrow after we unload the horses at home. This means that we'll be getting up early to head out to pick them up at 9am. If we don't get back in time for me to take my exam at 1pm, I have a back up date scheduled for next week Tuesday, but I'd really just like to get that class over with.

Wish me luck! The next post that you see from me will hopefully be of those same two pens, but with horses in them!

Only 2 more days!

Today, my dad and I hung a gutter under the overhang of the barn. We won't be able to get the load of sand in time, so the gutter will keep a lot of water out of the pens. They'll only be a little muddy right after it rains. Maybe we'll be able to get some sand later.

The pens are now ready and waiting for their new occupants. I'm really excited, but also a bit apprehensive. I've been anticipating this for a long time (and also just anticipating being able to get back out and spend more time with the other horses too). The end of physics coinciding with the arrival of the wild ones is a really firm transition to summer for me. I worry that I won't be able to gentle them and I worry that I won't have enough time to spend on everyone. I also worry that maybe they won't settle down as fast as I'm hoping they will and I'm also not looking forward to having to be very careful around new horses...I've gotten pretty relaxed with mine. I know them so well and I know how they react to things, so I really don't have to be on guard with them (although I guess we do always need to be a little on guard or someone will get hurt, and accidents happen all the time). But I'm also looking forward to the challenges of working with them too. I think I need to get this physics over with because right now, I have so much to do that I can't really focus on any one thing. The day I get to wake up and only think about what I want to get accomplished with the horses today will be wonderful! I can't wait!

I think one of the things I'm most excited about is the actual trip to go pick up the new mustangs. I've always liked taking trips and especially to go do something with horses. I like the casual conversations that happen when riding in cars and watching the scenery go by. The horses are being delivered to Marshfield, WI, just over an hour from our house. There are around 60 horses being offered up for adoption in Marshfield. Our neighbor is coming along and I think that he'd really really like to bring one home too. Unfortunately, the actual adoption is not until the day after we pick up our two. I think that day is a viewing day. It's required that we pick the online adopted horses up that day because if for some reason we didn't show or decided we didn't want them, the horses would be offered up along with the others in the regular adoption. But no worries about us leaving one behind...we are bringing them both home! I'm also excited to wander and look at the others that they'll have there. I'm not sure what management areas these horses will be coming from, but I'm guessing Nevada. Perhaps my neighbor will be making a second trip up there??? I'll see if I can't talk him into it. :)

Speaking of adoptions, the internet adoption just recently ended. Most of the Oregon horses were adopted...I must say that Oregon horses are my favorite, but I guess I'm a little biased :) My favorite big bay was bid on almost right away. A handsome bay yearling with lots of chrome went for $720. I was surprised to see a sorrel yearling go for $670! I couldn't tell what was so special about him over the others...he had decent conformation looking past the awkward fuzzy baby look, but no special marking or anything, but I guess someone just really wanted him! Or rather, two people must have really wanted him. He even went for way more that the fancy silver dapple colored filly.

The chicks are growing quickly and are not nearly so cuddly as they used to be. They are quite flighty now and do not want to be held anymore. Time to move them to a pen! Right now they are in a huge box in the garage.

New BLM incentive - New Mexico region

I was searching the BLM website for info about vaccinations that adopted horses have received (I know they get West Nile, but I'm not sure about anything else - and I didn't find it either - guess I'll have to call them), when I came across this incentive program that the BLM is offering for horses in the New Mexico region - on a trial basis apparently.

$500 Wild Horse Adoption Incentive Program

Get paid to adopt a wild horse? Yes! Receive $500 when you adopt an adult wild horse from BLM. The offer is designed to help defray the initial cost of keeping a horse. Payment is made after one year when you receive title to the animal.
This adoption incentive is being offered on a trial basis in the BLM-New Mexico region only (which also includes Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas). The idea behind the incentive is to increase the number of mature horses (4-10 years old) placed into private ownership through adoption. This, in turn, can reduce the number of older horses that BLM must care for -- at considerable taxpayer expense! -- in contracted pasture facilities. If successful, this program could reduce the pressure on BLM to sell or euthanize excess horses, and it could free up critical resources needed for on-the-range management.

Under this program, all standard adoption rules and fees apply (click here for details). At the end of one year, simply return your title application (which you'll receive in the mail) along with your incentive voucher (which you'll receive when you adopt), and in a few weeks you'll receive title and a check for $500! It's that simple! The only additional requirement to receive payment is that a licensed veterinarian must attest to the animal's fitness on your completed title application.
If for some reason you must relinquish the animal within one year (that is, return it to BLM), the allowance cannot be paid. The same is true if the animal dies before title is issued.

A limited number of horses eligible for this incentive will be presented at each BLM adoption in the New Mexico region (click here for a complete adoption schedule). You can adopt up to four adult horses under this incentive program. Younger horses (under 4 years old), burros, and trained animals are not eligible for this incentive.

Help BLM preserve these "Living Legends"...Adopt!

Call 866-4-MUSTANGS (866-468-7826) for more details.

Farm work and bareback bridleless fun

Well, I'm finished with the first physics course and I got an A!!!! Yay! I've already started the second course and I take my first test on Monday. I plan to take my fourth and last test the day before we pick up the mustangs (May 22nd). I have to take it that soon anyway so that they have time to send it to my instructor for grading and recording the grades before the end of May. If I don't get them in on time, then I can't go to vet school this fall...although I would sure hope that if I was just a few days late, they would cut me some leeway...but maybe not. They were pretty strict that I had to have all my coursework done by the end of spring semester and could not do any required prerequisites over the summer.

So we are hurriedly trying to get the farm set up for the new horses in between times when I'm working on physics (it's taking up most of my time). Today, we set up the second mustang pen. I got to do all the heavy work, since my dad is still one-armed. The mustang pens are not quite completed yet. For both of them, we want to dump a load of sand in the middle so they won't get muddy when it rains, and we need to bolt a board along the bottom of the raised panels so that there is no gap larger than 1 ft between the ground and the top of the panels at 6ft. We also need to put a gate on the back side of the barn. We'll use a panel in the middle of the barn to separate the two horses. I will post a good picture after they are all finished.

The 2 year old is still a stud, so he definitely needs to be separated and gentled as soon as possible so we can get him gelded. I've never actually had one of my horses gelded before (they were always done before I got them). I've seen it done though and I know that they leave the wound open so it can drain and then it heals up from the inside. How bad is it to geld a horse during fly season? And do you have to rinse them at all? I suspect it might not be very easy to treat a recently gentled mustang. I'll be reading up on all this before it gets done...I was just wondering. I would like to have it done as soon as possible rather than wait until after the flies leave in the fall because he'll have to be separated the from rest all summer long if that's the case.

During a break while we were working on the pen, we had some nosy visitors from the pasture. They were quite curious about what we were doing, and they wanted some treats. Chico and Cody are shameless beggers. My dad shared his apple with them.

Chico has a tick bite on his chest and he developed a large itchy welt around it. He kept following me and asking me to scratch it for him. He REALLY enjoyed it.

Then I hopped on Cody. I had to show this picture of me hopping on because it was so funny looking! By the way, I only made it most of the way on, and had to clamber the rest of the way...Cody was a saint - she patiently waited while I scrambled on.

Then we went for a little bareback bridleless ride around the pasture. Cody responds to voice and legs cues pretty well, so I could get her to go where I wanted...for the most part. Sometimes instead of turning with one leg cue, she sped up to a trot, but a firm "Walk" brought her back down. I've never done this with my horses before, so I was glad that she was well behaved. I've ridden bareback before, but usually with a bridle, sometimes with a halter, but only around the yard then.

Then it was Catlow's turn. She was also very patient because my graceful leap onto her back was really not very graceful at all - more of a grunting struggle as I pulled myself the rest of the way after the initial leg over.


Catlow is very sensitive to leg cues and voice cues. I had her spinning in each direction with body and leg cues and then backing with voice and gentle leg pressure.


It's fun when my mom comes out because she always mans the camera. I often forget to get it out when I'm playing with my horses.

Here is the picture of the Turkey Shack with the attached Kitty Kennel, as promised.

The kitties will be able to go in and out. I need to vaccinate them for distemper and rabies, then they'll be moved to their new kitty haven. I do think they'll like sitting outside and watching the goings on, but they won't so much like that they don't get to follow me around everywhere and hang out with me like they do in the house.

And here is how the door side looks from the inside with Ms Turkey in the background.

Setting up wild horse pens

Well, I keep saving this post for when I feel like I have more time to devote to it, but that's just not happening. So, during the internet adoption last month, my dad and I adopted 2 mustangs from the Sulphur HMA in Utah. They are being delivered to Marshfield, WI on May 22nd at an in person adoption that is being held there. There is a possibility that we might only be bringing 1 of the 2 home after we go pick them up (if they aren't what we expected, although I will feel awful if we don't bring both of them home together). If we don't take one of them, then that horse will be offered up at the adoption the next day. But, we adopted both and we are planning to take both, so I'll not discuss that anymore. Here are a few pictures of the 2 that we adopted. One is a 2 year old dun stud (soon to be gelding) that is 14hh tall.




The other is a 3 year old 14hh red dun mare who looks a lot like Andrea's Tonka...she has the sweetest face and I was so drawn to her.



Most likely, the 2 year old dun will become my dad's riding horse, but we'll see. I also have a friend (my friend who owns the buckskin quarter horse mare), who would like to get a mustang (I sold her on the mustangs for trail riding when I had her ride Catlow once :) We've talked about how this might work out for her because she doesn't have anyplace to set up a pen for a wild one. And in a year, her and her husband should be settled in their new place (they just moved to WY) and she'll be ready to add a third horse (she had 2 right now, but her half draft gelding cannot be ridden off her place because he is very fearful and super strong...he's hurt her pretty seriously before, and her new buckskin mare is doing well, but she has "mare-days". She'd really like to have a second trail horse that she can have friends ride along with her, and she also likes the way that I train mine...so this might be a good thing for all of us...I get to work with 2 new horses and gain some experience, but I don't have to commit to keeping them forever, and the horse would go to a friend...the only way I could imagine "getting rid of" a horse I've trained...I think I'd get so attached that I'd want to know all about where they went. So if they went to a friend, it's like not really letting go of them! I do think that our herd would be perfect with 4 horses...poor Catlow needs a horse to bond with. Cody and Chico have a super strong pair bond and they exclude Catlow all the time. I'm sure part of it is Catlow's personality (she's a loner...an outsider...a watch mare), but it'd be nice to give her the opportunity to be able to bond with another horse.

Our plan for these 2 this summer is to gentle them, then turn them out with the herd for the winter. If possible, I might get to saddling the mare, but I doubt I'll be riding her this year. We'll wait on doing saddle work with the gelding (since he's only 2 right now) until next summer. By then, my dad's shoulder will be healed up from the surgery he's having in 2 days, and then he can do work with he gelding.

So, in preparation for the arrival of the mustangs, we are getting 2 pens set up around our old tin barn. My mom and I started by removing tin from the backside of the shed to create a second opening. Cody is always looking for an escape route.

This is the sort of "before" picture although I didn't think to take this picture until after we'd removed the tin. This is "before" my dad leveled out the ground with the tractor.

After the base was leveled out more (but banked so that water will drain), we dug holes for the wooden posts. Our panels are only 5 ft high, so we had to do a little modification. We set in posts and bolted the panels to the posts a foot higher than they'd normally sit.

We used an auger to set the holes. It was really interesting watching the soil layers come up with the auger blades. Two of the corners had yellow sand underneath the black topsoil layer, another 3 holes were clay, and the last 2 holes were actually frozen ground yet.


This is the sort of finished product on the back side of the barn. We still have to install gates at the barn door, inside the barn (to separate the 2 horses), put 4ft of plywood along the botton of the barn so they can't get cut on it, and also put a wooden plank along the bottom edge of the panels (they now sit 2 ft off the ground and we worry they might try to go under). Then this pen will be finished. It might look a little cobbled, but it is pretty sturdy. Our panels are not the super heavy duty kind, so they will bend if a horse run's into them, but they won't break.

I really like having the backside of the barn open because it lets in so much more light. I think we may eventually put a door on it so that it can be closed up against the bitter winter winds.

And we still need to set the pen in front, but the ground is still frozen because it was insulated by so much hay and manure. In a few weeks, my dad will be recovered from surgery enough to drive his tractor, and I can do all the rest (setting posts, attaching panels...maybe I'll get my sister over to help or something).

And yes, this means that my horses won't have access to the barn while the new mustangs are here, but they weren't using it anyway. My dad said that this winter, they stood out in the driving snow and never once came to the barn to get out of it. In reality, they've never really had access to a barn before. In ID, their "shelter" was the side of a large pole barn that did a pretty good job of blocking the wind and providing shade in the late afternoon. Here, they have several hills and lots of trees for shelter. There are plenty of places to get out of the weather. And by the end of summer, they will all have access to the barn, so all is well.

Almost ready

We are planning to head out tomorrow at 1pm, which is a day sooner than I had originally planned. I'm almost finished. Pretty much everything is packed, except the stuff I still need (suitcase, coffee pot..etc). Wow, it's been a whirlwind and without the support of my friends, I'd never have made it! Todd has of course been a huge help with packing the uhaul and he'll be driving with me on my trip. Today, 4 of my friends came over to help me clean for a couple hours. I would never be ready if they hadn't come over! I am so grateful to them!

Last night, we went out to the Alehouse for my going-away get together. It was a lot of fun. Also emotional, but fun. I'm going to really miss them all, but I know that I'm going to stay in touch and close with most of them.

And now, I must share some pictures...but I'm not saying anything else... :)

First post ever - the beginning

So, I've thought that I'd like to write about and share with others my experiences with the two mustangs we adopted back in 2005. I'm not much of a technology freak, so I'm just now learning about blogging. I've really enjoyed reading other's posts and wish that I had known about this resource back when I was first starting to work with the two 'stangs. I especially wish that I had known there were so many other people so near to where I live that are into mustangs! In the situation that I'm in, my two mustangs live on a quarter horse ranch surrounded by breed snobs (except for my man, he loves mustangs too). I've done just fine on my own, but would have really enjoyed sharing my enthusiasm about them with others.

Anyway, I already have made a lot of progress with my two, but I thought that I should start at the beginning. So the format of my posts for now, is going to be flashbacks to when we first adopted them, interspersed with what has been happening recently. Since it's getting colder and darker earlier, I probably will mostly be catching up from the past to the present (just won't have much present to report).

April 2005:

My man and I went to the "Ride the West" Horse Fair in Spokane, WA because we heard the mustangs were there. He's always been interested in them because of everything that they stand for; untamed, untouched, under natural selection therefore hardy and disease-free, and just plain real horses. I've always been interested in them for the same reasons. Additionally, when I was young, my great aunt and uncle had adopted a couple mustangs, and they really loved them, so I've had positive mustang influences in the past. We went to Spokane with the intent to "just look". Both of us were in graduate school, neither had worked with mustangs before, and we really weren't supposed to have time for this. But once we were there, we couldn't get them out of our minds. Todd loved a yearling sorrel filly with a big blaze and flaxen mane and tail that kind of hung out by herself, and I had found a nondescript yearling solid bay gelding who packed his small self into the middle of the little bunch of other yearling geldings. Both were really nicely put together; we could tell even though they were just yearlings. There were many others we liked but thought that they might go for more than our budget allowed. One that especially stole my heart was a cute gray and white pinto filly with a big gash on her head (probably ran into a panel).

So we headed home that evening, excitedly talking about the auction the next day. Todd got his mother to drive her trailer back up on Sunday. Todd filled out all the registration information and got his bid ticket, then we wandered around and waited for the auction to start. Our plan was to adopt the bay and the sorrel. Several horses came through first, then the yearling filly pen was run through in groups of a couple horses at a time. Todd was determined to get the yearling sorrel filly, so put in his bid right away. She was a nice filly, so the bidding went up and up, but we got her!!! By that time my adrenaline was going, I was so nervous and excited. We owned a mustang! We got the one we wanted! Now we just needed to wait for the yearling gelding pen. They also ran the yearling geldings through in groups of a couple at a time. Then the little bay came through. We waited to see if anyone would bid on him before we did because there is a program where if you adopt one, you can adopt a second "buddy" horse for only $25. We were hoping that's what we could do with the bay...he was one of the smaller built horses even though he was well-balanced, and a "plain" bay with no white. So we waited, and no one bid on him!!! So then we were anxious for the rest of the auction to finish so we could try to get our "buddy" horse. Todd went into the tent to fill out the paperwork on the filly that he'd won, and his mom and I watched the rest of the auction. Suddenly we noticed that the gray and white filly was going through. Bidding began on her, and we waited, expecting her price to go up and up, but surprisingly it didn't! We were then caught with trying to decide if we should try for her (Todd's mom was holding the ticket), but ultimately decided we shouldn't and the bidding ended while we were still in a moment of indecision (I still wonder today who adopted her, how she turned out and what she's doing now...she was almost our horse!). Then the auction finished and I hurried over to see how Todd was doing with trying to get the bay "buddy" horse. In my mind he was already ours, but not officially yet. He was waiting for the busy, busy BLM staff to assist him, so I wandered out to look at the board where they had posted all the available horses. I was so worried someone was going to get him first! As I was looking at the board, a BLM person came and crossed off his number. My heart just sank! Someone had gotten to him before we could! I ran back to the tent where Todd was still finishing up paperwork and told him the bad news. "I know", Todd said. My heart sank further, then Todd said "Geb, he's ours! We got him!" Wow, I could not have been happier, and Todd laughed at me for getting so upset that someone else had gotten "our" mustang. In retrospect, I should not have been so worried that he would have been one in high demand...he was passed over in the auction, and he was a smaller horse. Most people were going to the larger flashier horses. But honestly, I love that little bay horse and I will never think of solid bay as plain.

Then we watched as they herded our two into the alleyway, into the chutes, and put on the halter and leadropes we had brought. They ran together into the trailer and we shut the doors. On the way home, we stopped at the casino for dinner, and looked in at the two. They stood with heads up, eyeing us as we peered through the windows, but they didn't panic. They were just alert.

At home we ran them into their panel-surrounded pen, and let them settle in. For about a week, we didn't do anything with them other than feed them, stand near their pen and talk to them. There was a lot to get used to! They lived in a huge barn (originally meant to be an indoor arena, but was converted to a broodmare barn with panel stalls lining the barn). There was a lot of activity, loud noises, loud people and horses moving in and out constantly. The two (shaggy in their shedding April winter coats) looked just tiny and pathetic compared to the well-fed (if not overweight), well-bred quarter horses. But right away they were special.

I wish I had pictures from their first couple weeks at home, but I only have video. That video is priceless to me now that they are all grown up. It's hard to remember them as skinny rough-coated babies.

Anyway, that is the beginning of my story. More next time.