Spring Creek Basin Mustangs

Breaking with tradition (I’m sick and moping for horse contact), I’m going to pass on a recommendation for a horse-loving musician you may not have heard of: Templeton Thompson. “Girls & Horses” is the title song of her album of the same name. I first learned about Templeton from the photos of Texas photographer Candace Craw-Goldman, but I never could find any of her CDs in any store. Finally I broke down and ordered this CD from the Web last fall (call me old fashioned, but I just haven’t gotten into the downloading-music-from-the-Internet craze). Now it’s one of my favorite CDs.

Find her Web site at http://templetonthompson.com/

And yes, there’s a hint of mustang love to her as well … read down on her journal page.

Beautiful weather out there … too beautiful to be cooped up inside sick. But the snow is melting into mud again, so there may not be an update on our Spring Creek ponies until next weekend – supposed to be good weather all next week. Till then, imagine them fat and fuzzy and wild!

http://beautifulmustang.blogspot.com/

I posted this link a few days ago; now, she has a few links to YouTube videos – including the section I watched on C-span – about the Border Patrol mustangs. Watch them! Justice isn’t specifically featured in any, but they’re great to watch!

Did you see the Border Patrol group during the inaugural parade? Did you catch the mustangs? The quick shot of the first two horses – black Okanogan and grey Bullet? – was great. Boy, were they shiny and handsome! I think two buckskins were next in line, and two buckskins brought up the rear; I couldn’t tell which was Justice.

I found this blog – http://beautifulmustang.blogspot.com/ – with some photos. She also thinks the lead horses were Okanogan and Bullet. There’s a buckskin in the background of one of the photos …? No mane on the left side – Zeus? Hard to tell.

The thing that hit me in the few seconds they were featured on the channel I watched (C-SPAN; I couldn’t stand the political jabbering on the other channels) was how calm the horses were! It looked like they were taking it all in stride. Pretty darn cool.

It’s official! Justice, a now-6-year-old buckskin mustang from Spring Creek Basin, Disappointment Valley, West Slope Colorado, USA, leaves Friday with his U.S. Border Patrol unit from Washington State headed to Washington, D.C., for the parade that celebrates the inauguration of our new president, Barack Obama.

I’m stunned. I’m thrilled. I’m ecstatic!

Fran Ackley, Wild Horse and Burro Program leader for BLM in Colorado, based in Canon City, told me this morning that Justice – originally one of two alternates – will definitely be in the parade.

Justice, named there at the prison when they thought he might make a good candidate for the Border Patrol, was a star student – “pretty mellow” is how Fran described him. The inmate who trained him thought he had so much potential, in fact, that he rode Justice with a Colorado flag to get him used to that flapping, waving thing above him should he actually go to the Border Patrol. Do you think he might have had some inkling that one day the horse he trained would end up smack dab in the middle of the festivities of a country celebrating its new president? Inmate X, my hat is off to you.

Think of all the intersecting lines of fate … The inmate – a non-violent offender – goes to Canon City and gets into the program training wild horses. A wild buckskin stallion, which Fran laughingly called a “renegade” that had to escape the herd area to “get the girls,” gets aged incorrectly and because of that and his escapist tendencies, the decision is made to remove him – but BECAUSE of his perceived age, he’s not sent to the local adoption, he’s sent to Canon City. There, Colorado Correctional Industries officials see his potential and put him into their saddle training program with the inmates, where he meets Inmate X, who sees his potential (interesting, huh? I hope you realize your own potential, guy!). The Border Patrol comes calling – just 10 months after Justice was removed from the wild! – and picks him (among a few others) from the dozen horses the facility has in training at the time. Now, Justice is headed to Washington, and Inmate X has served his time and been released from prison, where, in my heart of hearts, I wish him all the best.

Wow, huh?

I have seen some pictures of Justice via e-mail not sent directly to me, so if I get permission from the original senders, I will post them here on the blog. At least one might be sensitive because it shows the inmate on Justice, carrying a Colorado flag (but what a great photo!).

What better testament to the temperament and resiliency of mustangs!? I’ve talked to and heard from a lot of people who have adopted a mustang, and the common refrain is “I wouldn’t sell my mustang for a million bucks.” As much as we hate to see them removed from the wild, many of those that have been removed and have found homes have found forever-homes, I think.

They all have stories. Some are just a little more star-studded than others. 🙂

Justice prevails!!

P.S./This just in: According to information from Ann Bond, the horse Kootenai (“kooten-ee”) shown in the December 2007 issue of Western Horseman about “Project Noble Mustang” (Page 78 ) might be the horse from Sand Wash Basin – the one that’s also going to Washington, D.C.! On her list is a horse named Kootenai, from Sand Wash. Double dose of “wow” for our Colorado mustangs!

Thanks to Ann Bond of the San Juan National Forest (adopter of burros, lover of mustangs) for this most exciting news (to yours truly, anyway) of the new year: A Spring Creek Basin mustang will be part of the U.S. Border Patrol contingent in Washington, D.C. for the inauguration of soon-to-be President Barack Obama.

WOWOWOWOWOW!?!?!

A Sand Wash Basin mustang also will be part of the 10-mustang group, which are part of the unit based in Spokane, Wash., I think. I’m going to try to do a story for my paper, so I’ll have more information soon, but here’s a little bit of what I know (which, admittedly, isn’t much) about Justice, of Spring Creek Basin.

Buckskin Justice was spotted outside the herd area on private property at least as early as May 2007 with some domestic horses. He was gathered on that property by the contractor and aged at 10. Because of his estimated age and the fact that he had gotten out of the fenced herd area (and might do it again), the decision was made to remove him, and he was sent to Canon City.

As it turned out, the contractor had missed the mark by five years, and at Canon City, it was determined that he was actually 5 years old. The U.S. Border Patrol has started using mustangs in its program along both the Mexican and Canadian borders (did you see the great article last year in Western Horseman?). Horses have to meet certain criteria to be accepted by the Border Patrol, which I imagine have to do with conformation and attitude (I’ll find out). Our stocky little guy met those standards, and a star was in the making. Bob Ball, our BLM herd area manager, sent me a copy of a newspaper “photo page” last year that came from the Canon City newspaper.

Before the holidays, word got out that the Spokane unit was sending eight to 12 mustangs to D.C. We were all atwitter (well, I was, anyway), wondering if Justice would be one of those horses. Today, word from Ann: A horse from Spring Creek Basin and a horse from Sand Wash Basin are going to Washington.

Disclaimer: I didn’t know anything about Justice before the gather, so I can’t give much information about his background. But even though I didn’t know anything about him, it makes me incredibly emotional that one of “our” horses has been so recognized. What a story!

Here are a couple of the photos I have of him from Aug. 20, 2007, immediately after he was gathered.

Justice and Shorty

Justice is the buckskin, and the sorrel in the trailer with him is Shorty, the Judas horse used by the contractor. Even partially obscured by the trailer, you can see his great conformation.

Justice

Pretty good looking horse, isn’t he?

To end this post, I have to say how hopeful I am for the potential of the new administration to have a positive impact on the management of our country’s natural resources, including, of course, our wild horses. How appropriate to have mustangs – symbols of our history, of our freedom, of our resiliency – be present at the beginning of a new presidential term.

Watch for Justice! I have no idea what the television schedule is for the inauguration parade, but I’ll post more information as I get it. And Bob, Ann, Claude – anyone – please send me information, if you have it, about Justice, and I’ll post it here!

Howdy from sunny, warm Texas!

I hope you all took time this holiday to spend with your horses – if you have them – and your family and friends. My holiday has been filled with all things horse and family, and I am incredibly grateful for the fact that even though I don’t have my own horses in Colorado, my folks have them here in Texas – and they’re happy to have me visit every once in a while!

From Texas, I’ve been watching the weather reports for Colorado, where it looks very cold and snowy. I can’t help but think of Traveler and the others, but I’m certain they are all well and happy.

I got an email today from the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign asking people to comment to the Obama Transition Team about topics for consideration for our new president. Please consider adding your comments for a solid future for our wild horses. (I just added my comment, but I got an error the first time, so consider copying and pasting your words to a separate document to save them in case that happens and you don’t want to have to remember what you previously typed!)

Text of the email: The Obama Transition Team is currently taking suggestions and votes on America’s “top ideas.” With only two days left, a call for a Congressional investigation of BLM’s administration of the Wild Horse and Burro Program has been submitted, but it needs to get at least 1,000 votes if it is to move up to the “next round”! The deadline is December 31st for this critical opportunity to demand accountability on behalf of our wild horses and burros.

It is imperative this idea make it to the next round. If this idea moves on, a new round will begin and the Top 10 Ideas will be presented to the President on his inauguration day.

Please don’t let this unique opportunity slip by!

Write your friends, your family and tell everyone you know; this is their chance to make a difference for America’s wild horses! Let them know they need to VOTE NOW using this link: http://www.change.org:80/ideas/view/investigate_the_blms_admin_of_wild_horse_and_burro_program

In order to vote, you have to create an account or sign in to the Transition Team’s website.

On behalf of America’s wild horses and burros, thank you for your support,

The AWHPC Team
American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign
www.wildhorsepreservation.org

Pam Nickoles is a photographer from Golden, Colo., who has been traveling the country photographing our wild horses to bring more attention to these beautiful animals. As someone who is working to use her talents to show off our mustangs, I am giving her a shameless plug! I can’t say enough about this beautiful tribute, her new DVD called “Our Wild Horses II.”

She produced an original DVD called “Our Wild Horses” set to incredible music that was complemented by her beautiful photos of horses in the wild (you may have seen it advertised in the “Back in the Saddle” catalog.) Now, the sequel is out: “Our Wild Horses II.” With music by Bruce Rowland (if you don’t know his name, surely you know this name: “The Man From Snowy River”!)

Her new DVD is a stunning tribute to our country’s wild horses. From well-known herds like Pryor Mountain in Montana and Wyoming, and the Little Book Cliffs in Colorado, to less well-known herds like Carrott Island, North Carolina, and even our beloved Spring Creek Basin (!), Pam shows horses being themselves in the wild. (Pam and her husband, Tom, visited our horses in May.) The music itself is phenomenal, and she pairs it with several “collections” of glowing photos. Seriously. Wow.

Also contributing to the musical complement are Jimmy Gelhaar, Donovan Johnson and Kevin Martinez of “Prairie Desert Music.”

Visit her Web site at http://www.nickolesphotography.com/ for more information about Pam, herds she has photographed and to see a clip of the DVD. (What a great Christmas present!)

This news article has a little more information about Madeline Pickens’ plan: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2008408798_pickens19.html

Last sentence of the article: “You have to look at the entire pipeline of the process,” he (Jeff Malcolm, assistant director at the GAO who studied the wild-horse program at the request of Congress) said. “You need a strategy of population control.”

A little pencil work in the beginning could save money and space (more money) in the end …

I got an email this morning from the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign (www.wildhorsepreservation.org) about some things that came out of Monday’s National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board meeting. I’m not sure it’s appropriate to post the email here, so I’m just going to refer you to their Web site and hopefully the information will be posted soon under their “News & Alerts” link (I didn’t see it yet). You can also sign up to get those email alerts.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/17/AR2008111703680.html?hpid=artslot

🙂

(Thanks to photographer Pam Nickoles for sending out an email about this article this morning.)

Horses, wild

What a spectacular, glorious, fabulous, brilliant, phenomenal weekend!

Communication was the name of the game this weekend, and whether it came as feelings or emotions or deeds or actual words, the air was crystal clear for conversation. The ponies had some guests again this weekend (and only a few hunter folk on these last days of the last hunting season): Debbie and Kathleen from the Boulder area. The BLM office put me in touch with Debbie at least a few months ago, and we’ve been trying to connect for a meeting in Spring Creek Basin ever since. When the time is right, the time is right, eh? We could not have asked for a more beautiful combination of horses and weather. They got to see almost all the horses, and Debbie thought Seven might be getting ready to make an appearance in the near future.

Debbie is an animal communicator, and while I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect – didn’t even know for sure if I believed in such a thing – the amazing response she had from my beautiful Grey boy – who most of you know as Traveler – was nothing short of incredible. His grace and strength and ecompassing wisdom never cease to amaze me. I watched while she sat with him, and though his band wandered away, and he continued to graze nonchalantly, he stayed close to Debbie, and I could tell he was “listening” to her.

Traveler

He is a healer and a diplomat and a leader – did we not know that? – in his most recent of many lifetimes on this Earth. He and I possibly have a connection that reaches back centuries. (Did I not know that?) His experience leaving the basin, his time away, being returned, is an experience he’s actually proud of because it brought an opportunity to educate the other horses.

The horses are happy. Did my heart not sing to hear that?!

A lot of photos to go through, but these next reports won’t be as much a documentation of my travels and which horses were where as previous posts but simply who we saw and what we saw them doing. I camped in the basin, while Debbie and Kathleen stayed in Dove Creek, and I had two early mornings alone with the horses that were nothing short of stunning.

We are so blessed by our wild ones, and in light of the recent crisis surrounding wild horses in the West, I hope we can remember that and do everything we can to protect them and their happiness. They give so much, ask so little. Healers … in every sense of the word.