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Thursday, January 20, 2011
HoneyBandit: school boy  HoneyBandit & Auntie Terri/photo by P. ArmstrongDear Readers, Most of us have never thought about teaching manners to a rescue foal who's been treated (out of necessity!) more like a baby bird than a baby horse. That's what Palomino is working on right now and she's going to tell you about it Enjoy! Terri Softly, almost shyly, Honey Bandit walks up and lays his head against my chest. He is such a love bug. All he knows right now (once I stopped poking him all the time and sticking things into him, is that I love him and I am his "safe" place. He is slowly learning that he can no longer lean on me, and that he cannot play "rough horse play" with his human family. It can be a very hard lesson for them. One of the hard or dangerous things about raising a baby that starts out so critically ill or traumatized, is that although staying close, loving on them, cuddling them, being "one" with them is necessary to help them survive, it can cause nightmares later. When your two day old, (or in Honey Bandit's case I think he was 3 months old before he could voluntarily "come to me") comes running up to see you and crashes into you it is just "way cute". But picture 1000 or more pounds of that same loving horse flying up to see you and bumping into you. That can be deadly. But in critical cases, it is not an option whether you share your space with them when they're small; it can be the difference between losing your baby or "pulling them back to life". When Honey Bandit was lying on the blue mat at the veterinary hospital, he was in a coma so deep that the Dr. thought we would lose him before she could get the iv in. I kept reaching in his mouth and messing with his tongue. I simply wanted to reach through that fog and let him know someone was there. But now it's time to teach Honey Bandit about the "space" issue. He doesn't get to come into my space unless he is invited. Chilly Pepper DID NOT like her "Lessons in appropriate space etiquette 101". But she did survive. HoneyBandit is simply "growing up" and needs to become a well behaved "toddler". He does very well, but he has a tendency to forget that I am not Patches or DaBubbles and that he has to "play" with mommy in a more respectful manner. I have a feeling he is going to be huge someday and I need him to have exemplary manners. With my leg it doesn't take much to knock me down, and America's Poster Boy to Stop the Round Ups need to represent our beloved mustangs in a manner befitting of their level of intelligence! Honey Bandit sends his love to all. X o Labels: Honey Bandit, Palomino Permalink to this blog post Posted by Terri Farley @ 5:57 PM 3 comments  
Tuesday, January 18, 2011 Why Are We Paying to Kill Our Wild Horses?  photo by Cat Kindsfather Dear Readers, Here's a list of 18 wild horses that BLM admits have died at the Indian Lakes wild horse corrals in Fallon, Nevada in just two weeks. Press and public are locked out of Indian Lakes, which is located on a private ranch. • 9 month old colt was euthanized for a broken leg • 10 yr died due to spinal/neck injury • 2 yr died due to spinal/neck injury • died due to spinal/neck injury • 10 month old colt was euthanized (down and unable to stand on its own) • 10 month old colt was euthanized (down and unable to stand on its own) • 15 yr died reason unknown • 20 yr died due to spinal/neck injury • 25 yr was euthanized (down on truck upon arrival body condition 2) • 2 yr old died due to colic • Unbranded foal born at facility was euthanized due to club foot • 2886 1 yr old euthanized due to club foot • 2876 1 yr old euthanized due to club foot • 2849 1 yr old euthanized due to club foot • 2 yr old found dead death cause unknown • 2 yr old euthanized due to double cryptorchid • weaned foal died due to upper respiratory infection • 2457 weaned foal died due to upper respiratory infection Euthanized is the term used here, but most horses are shot. To met, these look like round-up and transportation injuries and the odds of 3 mustangs surviving for one year in the wild with "club feet" so debilitating that BLM destroyed them, is hard to believe. We are paying for this. Best, Terri Labels: BLM, Broken Arrow, Indian Lakes, wild horse deaths Permalink to this blog post Posted by Terri Farley @ 4:52 PM 3 comments
Friday, January 14, 2011 Honeybandit Update  Look at those eyelashes!Dear Readers, Here's an update from Palomino & the Shingletown Miracle crew :) Enjoy, Terri It's Thursday night, and I am sitting here thinking about how far Honey Bandit has come. From that tiny little guy who could not stand up or lift his head for the first three weeks, to the amazing eating machine that he is today. We have been through so much, and sometimes it seemed hard to see anything better in the future. It is amazing how you can just put your mind in limbo when the outcome is too scary. I know probably most everyone out there knows what I am talking about. When the future looks too scary to acknowledge, you just focus on the now, the right now, and nothing else. When I look back at the pictures, and especially those wonderful videos that Sue made, I am truly amazed at the amount of heart this little guy has. I guess I have been especially lucky to have such fighters in my barn. Starting with Chilly Pepper, then Honey Bandit and then DaBubbles. I guess God sent them to me to remind me not to give up the fight, and to remind me that you should never give up, no matter how much pain you are in. (If I was a good horse, I would have been put out down a long time ago)  slumber partyAs most of you know, Honey Bandit still has some neurological issues. Tonight I came home from town, and the boys were inside getting dinner ready. Matt had been outside about 45 minutes earlier and everything was fine. I came into our "barn", (carport) and said hi to the cat. As soon as he heard my voice, Honey Bandit let out a cry for help. He kept calling me in a manner I have never heard from him. He was so stuck. He was actually in a position where it was physically impossible for him to flip over or get up. It is weird though, because I am here night after night when he gets cast, and he always stays quiet. It was so weird for him to be calling me like that. I went into his stall and he lifted his head and looked at me, kind of like, "mom - get me out of here". I called Matt and the boys came out to help. He was in a weird position, and I was afraid that when we flipped him he would be stuck again on the back door. But all is well. We got him "unstuck", helped him over and when he got up, had a good shake, and walked over and started to eat. On a good note though, we have been giving him lots of time to "figure things out on his own". Two out of the last 7 or 8 times, he has managed to "git ER done" and get himself out of his little pickle. So that in itself is a good thing. A little bit of progress at a time will eventually be a lot of progress, as he has show so well. We keep as much straw as we can around the edges of his stall, but can't put too much due to the size of the stall. Hugs and God Bless P & the gang Labels: Honeybandit, Palomino Permalink to this blog post Posted by Terri Farley @ 10:24 PM 3 comments
Monday, January 10, 2011 TWIN PEAKS Roundup on Trial tomorrow  from another of HoneyBandit's aunties -- Twin Peaks Roundup Lawsuit Hearing! January 11, 2011, San Francisco I won't be late. Tuesday, 9:00 am., I will be there at the United States Courthouse, 95 Seventh Street (Corner of 7th and Mission) Courtroom No. 1. When the gavel hammers down and the official announcement rings out, “Hear ye, Hear ye. This court hearing is now in session..., “ in my own heart I shall say, “I hear and I am here. I am here for a foal named Honey Bandit, the miracle survivor of those fateful Twin Peaks roundups. I am here for the additional 1,600+ wild horses and burros permanently swept away from their own land of freedom. I am a taxpayer, and I am here.” I am one person. I am one person, a first-timer to visit a BLM facility, who decided to go see for myself. The invitation came from Palomino Armstrong of Shingletown, California, a knowledgeable horsewoman already successful in the rescue of a tiny foal named Chilly Pepper. September 2, 2010, I took my camera and we walked into the Litchfield office of BLM and learned of a foal deemed in such bad shape that he would not live another day. Thankfully, Palomino was permitted to take the foal into her equine rescue where he could receive intense 24/7 care. Honey Bandit is the embodiment of the dysfunction of BLM roundups. He lives to tell that the system is broken and needs to be fixed. The Twin Peaks litigation hearing set for Tuesday [tomorrow]can start fixing the problem of the broken system. Consider the impact of a courtroom filled with 1600 people: each person representing one exiled or dead Twin Peaks horse or burro. One person can make a difference. I will be present for the hearing. Who will be seated next to me? Jennifer Gillespie, Redding, California Permalink to this blog post Posted by Terri Farley @ 3:51 PM 1 comments
Tuesday, January 04, 2011 ELKO, Nevada, here we come!  Vintage poster -- Terri & Suzy weren't there! Dear Readers, Big excitement for city girls Suzanne Morgan William and Terri Farley! We are headed out to the middle of Nevada to: > Teach kids how to write cowboy poetry! > Sign books! > Do a writing workshop for adults who'd like to write kids' books (picture books-YA)! Come visit us at THE BOOKSTORE 4-6 p.m this Friday, January 7th.You can find it at 1372 Idaho St or call (775) 738-5342 for directions. Good news: STORE STAFF ALSO MAKES GREAT COFFEE. I can taste that cappuccino right now :) Happy Tuesday, Terri  Labels: coffee, Elko, Suzanne Morgan Williams, The Bookstore Permalink to this blog post Posted by Terri Farley @ 3:07 AM 0 comments
Monday, January 03, 2011 Taking the WILD out of the WEST  Calico Mountain stallion captive at Indian Lakes, BLM : photo by CAT KINDSFATHER Dear Readers, This news footage CNN Wild Horses Round-upsTEXT was shot on the real Phantom's home range. The film of a BLM helicopter buzzing a burro, then knocking the little guy off his hooves will make you catch your breath and think of the worst bullies, ever. Watch the video, then read the transcript to see what you missed. Best, Terri Fate of Wild Horses AZUZ: When you think about an old-fashioned round-up, you might picture a cowboy on a horse, trying to corral some group of animals. But a modern-day round-up out in the American west is causing some controversy because horses -- thousands of them -- are the ones being rounded up! John Zarrella rides into the middle of this debate between the U.S. government and animal activists. (BEGIN VIDEO) JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN MIAMI BUREAU CHIEF AND CORRESPONDENT: There is no Secretariat, no Seabiscuit, no Black Beauty. Here, they have no names, none needed. In their eyes, you see who they are, rugged, powerful, independent. They are the wild mustangs of the American West. Woven generations ago into the fabric of this land, they've become the focus of lawsuits, even protests as far away as New York. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Help save America's wild horses. ZARRELLA: The horses are at the center of a tug-of-war between the U.S. government, chasing them down with helicopters, and animal rights groups who want it stopped. RICHARD COUTO, ANIMAL RECOVERY MISSION: The roundups of the wild horses and burros of the United States is a true holocaust of the animal world. ALAN SHEPARD, NEVADA BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT: We can't let one, say, the horse, impact everybody else by taking all the feed, all the water, all the, do damage to that habitat. ZARRELLA: The disagreement is clear cut. The Bureau of Land Management, BLM, is charged with caring for and managing nearly 40,000 horses and burros roaming on 26 million acres of the West. While this federal land, your land, was set aside for the horses, they don't have free rein. The land is considered multi-use. SHEPARD: Wildlife, livestock, recreationists, mining interests, whatever. ZARRELLA: The BLM insists it must reduce herd sizes because the land can't support the numbers. MARK STRUBLE, SPOKESPERSON BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT: This ain't Kentucky bluegrass. ZARRELLA: So, it holds roundups. Last year, the goal: remove 12,000 horses. That's right, 12,000, and take them to holding pens. BONNIE MATTON, WILD HORSE PRESERVATION LEAGUE: This is our land. We want the horses on here, most of us. ZARRELLA: Armed with cameras and recorders, the activists document what they see as brutal roundups. Here, a helicopter chases one single burro, eventually knocking it over. It staggers off. Here, you're looking at steam rising from the backs of chased-down, exhausted horses. The BLM says less than 1 percent of the animals die in these round-ups. Activists say that's 1 percent too many. Labels: BLM round ups, burros, cnn, mustangs, Pine Nut Range Permalink to this blog post Posted by Terri Farley @ 4:15 PM 3 comments
Saturday, January 01, 2011 MUSTANG MEAT IS NOT ON THE TABLE  Palomino Armstrong and HoneyBandit, BLM survivor Dear Readers, It's time to GROW A BACKBONE and let the people who've declared war on horses -- wild and tame -- know that dollar $igns aren't a good enough reason to bring back American horse slaughter factories. The Summit of the Horse will be held in Las Vegas, two days from now. It's sponsored by United Horseman, a pro-horse slaughter group. "We are experienced horse people who have the best interest of the horse at heart and seek unification of our country's horsemen and horsewomen in promoting horse welfare,” said Dave Duquette, group president. “We're speaking with a unified voice for horses and horse people.” The thing is ...no. No, this isn't about horse welfare; it's about Greed, one of the Seven Deadly Sins. No, you do not have the best interests of horses at heart. Betcha a lie detector test would show interest in your bank account, not horses, at heart. (AT HEART? Seriously?) And finally, no, you are not speaking for horses and horse people. In fact, I'm issuing a Victorian "how dare you?" and I bet I have some company in asking HOW DARE YOU say you are speaking for me? Most horse people would do back-flips to avoid a union with you. The ick factor there is nearly as nauseating as UH vice-president Sue Wallis's suggestion. Wallis, a state senator under investigation for fraud & ethics violations, wants U.S. horse flesh (so full of drugs that horse-eating nations won't accept it)fed to school children and the poor. I know thousands of students who'd have something to say about that. If UH wants to kill the school lunch program nationwide, let them fire up a press release celebrating the info that Wyoming kids are being served filet of Flicka. More chilling than UH's boasts is this: BLM DIRECTOR BOB ABBEY is a featured speaker at the pro-slaughter convention. Director Abbey told me face-to-face that slaughter is not a viable option for healthy horses. Does that mean the option is on the table for mistreated foals like HoneyBandit (shown above?) or that Director Abbey's had a change of heart? You pay Director Abbey's salary. Please express you opinion here: Director: Bob Abbey E-mail: Director@BLM.gov (cut & paste or type this into your email form) Chief of Staff: Janet Lin E-mail: janet_lin@blm.gov (cut & paste or type this into your email form) Or use: Director Bob Abbey BLM Washington Office 1849 C Street NW, Rm. 5665 Washington DC 20240 Start the year off as you mean to go on! Terri Labels: Bob Abbey, Ken Salazar, Summit of the Horse Permalink to this blog post Posted by Terri Farley @ 2:00 PM 2 comments
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