Saturday, February 05, 2011

100 Paiute Mustangs Mend Broken Hearts


Running for the fun of it -photos by Cat Kindsfather
A herd of wild horses galloping, eyes bright, manes and tails streaming, may not know they swept away human hopelessness on Friday morning, but I want to thank them anyway!
Before BLM rounded up the Calico Mountain mustangs that inspired my fictional PHANTOM STALLION herds, my time with mustangs was spent on the range. Since last January, I've seen rarely seen wild ones free. Instead, they were harassed by helicopters, falling down mountainsides, slamming into metal trailers, crying or standing with heads in small corrals.
Friday, wild horses ran for the joy of it. Kind voices urged them down a wooden chute --"Take it easy, darlin'," "Baby, do you think you're a mountain goat?","Come on down, I need a volunteer." Yellow or green paint was daubed on tail tops, numbers were painted on their furry rumps and then they were loosed to gallop through Gate 1 or Gate #2.



For a couple hours, I opened the gates, based on a yell from Mike Holmes (sound familiar? he helped save the real Phantom Stallion!).

Foreman Mike Holmes



PURE JOY is the closest description of what I felt helping wild and happy horses.


I LOVED sprinting to a gate& flinging it wide for a galloping young horse. I LOVED reading equine ears and expressions and body language (sometimes even accurately!) to determine how or if I should move to show them the way out.

Come out, baby!: a few colts tried shortcuts behind the gate instead of in front

How did this happen?
A local tribe thinning its herds agreed to give these horses to Jill Starr's LifeSavers Horse Rescue instead of sending them to slaughter. Volunteers and donors did the rest. And I hope blessings are showered on them with the same selflessness.


Hearts for Horses: Rod Rondeaux, Cat Kindsfather, Jill Starr, and Suzy

Hugs to all,
Terri

Labels: Cat Kindsfather, Fallon, Jill Starr, Lifesavers Horse Rescue

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Posted by Terri Farley @ 4:22 PM

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Comments: Thank you so much, Terri, for sharing some of this experience with us. Such a wonderful, heartwarming example of selfless humanity in the midst of these times of barbarous greed. This shows what people CAN do ... when they work together!

MAD MAD props to you, Jill, Mike, Cat, Rod, Rachael, Dorothy, and everyone who helped in any way. THIS is the stuff that makes a difference for our precious horses. May God bless you real good!!!! May He also supply you with everything you need to keep doing what you are doing.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU,
from the and me.
  PS: Terri, having written your stories about these horses and then witnessed this horror of their current history personally, this must be SO traumatic for you, I cannot even imagine! I grew up reading stories of our wild horses and it is SO traumatic for me ... yet, I have only seen them when young and then at a distance. I have not even met them in person, yet ... I know your heart is hurting more than most. I am so sorry, but I give you much credit for taking that passion and that pain and using them to help our innocent ones. You have touched many young hearts and old ones too. Thank you so much. From my heart, Susan
  Terri, the only thing wrong with this day, is that we couldn't stay longer. It was an honor to donate some time to this day, and to work with the foals and the angels gathered together this day, under the experienced wings of one the the arch angels of wild horses rescues, Jill Starr of Lifesavers!

What beautiful little horses we got to work with, people too! I will never forget this day, and hope to do more volunteering for Lifesavers WIld Horse rescue, and other meaningful hands on work for our horses. Terri, you really rocked your cowgirl socks on the gate duty!! Thanks my friend. Another great memory for our wild horse treasure chest. : )
  My hat is off to Jill Starr's Lifesavers Rescue...gosh Jill has rescued alot of Mustangs ! ! !

I wish I could do more to help! AW
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