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Tuesday, December 29, 2015
Ghost Dancer: this mustang mare survived First they took her freedom and family. Then, they put her in the stallion penI was on the range in January 2010, not far from the home land of Wovoka, the Paiute prophet whose vision began the Ghost Dance movement, when an ivory and adobe-colored Medicine Hat mare was taken from her home by a BLM helicopter round-up.
I saw her transferred to a government facility called Broken Arrow -- an ironic symbol for peace -- where she was accidentally penned with young stallions.
At this time, the Broken Arrow facility was open to the public. I visited the mare whenever I could and  brought her sage leaves, the scent of home. On days I couldn't go, friends checked on and photographed her (photos by Cat Kindsfather)  The mare bonded so quickly with a black and white pinto, I wondered if they'd known each other when they both ran free. Maybe their reunion, in captivity, was a bittersweet surprise. 
Eventually the Medicine Hat mare was moved to BLM's Palomino Valley facility and put up for sale. She was
not eligible for adoption because she was over 10 years old. This meant
she could be sold “without limitation”. That meant she
could have gone to a kill-buyer, but I was fortunate enough to outbid
everyone in an online auction. She was mine, but a bidder in Texas won her best friend, and the mares parted again.
The Medicine Hat mare was captured not far from the lands of the
prophet Wovoka. Inspired by the Ghost Dance religion and poem “Ghost Dance” by Sara Littlecrow-Russell, I named this resilient mare Ghost
Dancer.
The history I've read -- always iffy when it documents the lives of Indians -- says a dream showed him a circle dance which would cause the disappearance of the Whites and return the land to the way it was before their invasion, Wouldn't a wild horse, captured and ripped from her home, have the same dream?
=
I freed Ghost Dancer in a 5,000 sanctuary with a young sorrel mare captured on the same day, in the same place.
 Labels: BLM, Broken Arrow, Fallon, Ghost Dance, ghost dancer, Medicine Hat, Nevada, sale authority, wild horses, Wounded Knee, Wovoka Permalink to this blog post Posted by Terri Farley @ 9:43 PM 9 comments  
Sunday, March 22, 2015 Will BLM be Cowed by Ranchers, Miners?
May 19, 2015 Fallon, Nevada
About 170 people crowded elbow-to-elbow in the Churchill County
Commission chamber. More spilled outside, eager to hear about BLM’s new Carson
City Resource Management Plan (RMP) for public lands.
Along with a few other wild horse advocates, I came to dispute a plan that would zero-out bands of mustangs but leave livestock
home on the range. BLM figures 4.8 million acres can sustain only 2,508 wild
horses but 12,600 cattle.
Right off, the crowd was disappointed. BLM staff wouldn’t
answer questions; they came to listen.
Four speakers mentioned wild horses and three represented
the Washoe, Paiute and Shoshone tribes. The
rest of the 6-8:30 pm comment period belonged to the Fallon Tea Party, mining and
livestock industries. Samples from my notes:
"Churchill County is not Sherwood Forest and BLM is not the Sheriff of Nottingham" (speaker dons green Robin Hood hat) "We have enough trees" "We have enough protected lands" "We got enough wilderness" "We’re not going through a drought; it’s just a dry period and mining’s our cash cow"
Why worry? Throughout
the West legislation is being introduced to prohibit the Federal government from managing lands within a state. That would mean an end to public lands and
the meager protection afforded to range, water, vegetation, sacred sites, wild
horses and other wildlife.
Remember Cliven Bundy, a rancher backed by an armed militia
(ladies in front, please) protecting his “right” to skip out on a million
dollars in grazing fees? On March 31 the Bundy Ranch gang, headed by
Cliven’s son Ammon, are coming to the Nevada Assembly to support a Resource
Rights Bill.
Nevadans only (sorry): Want to enter your opinion of AB408, which would turn all public lands over to the state? .Click here to vote AGAINST giving wild horse lands to ranchers & miners _______________________________________________________________________________ Please watch and listen for further developments.
Read Bundy’s letter to the folks, here at Ralston Reports
Labels: BLM, Bundy, Fallon, Jon Ralston, public lands, wild horses Permalink to this blog post Posted by Terri Farley @ 5:19 PM 8 comments
Tuesday, August 20, 2013 THESE LITTLE PONIES WENT TO MARKET   LIVE TWEETING feels like a cross between fast-breaking journalism and haiku poetry. It allows me to cover the most disturbing stories with controlled emotions. Many of YOU were disturbed because you don't know how to Tweet and weren't following the slaughter sale of wild horses on Saturday August 17. Below you can read my liveTweet coverage from Nevada's Fallon Livestock Exchange. If you need clarification of some of my funky abbreviations, just ask. Please forgive me misspellings and non-nimble fingers. I was trying to get the info out as soon as possible. As you may know, Twitter only allows 140 characters (letters, numbers and spaces) in each entry. This is what came before and during the auction. After the auction, hundreds of horses were saved. Hundreds went to slaughter. Tomorrow, we learn the future of the unbranded horses, as decided by a Federal judge. August 17 six a.m.
Come to Fallon livestock exchange. Get a bidding # so u can help search for unbranded
Have been ordered to leave
Sorting mares and goals w hot shot
Lots of neighing Still on property Terri Farley
Guy just came out of
Lots of limping
Terri Farley
Owner
Kill buyers: rallying of the clans 2 combat diminished income. Every buyer I have ever heard about
Sheriff deputies getting sick of auction staff sicc-ing them on advocates using their cell phones...Not shooting photos. Honest
Kill buyers are getting really rude just walking by and sniping at anyone they even suspect of liking horses. @Fallonslaughter
Office still locked. Need bidder # to tour horses . None issued yet? Parents w kids here, trying to explain
Lot of these guys in a quandary: blame Indians or wimmen(no matter that me advocates are here 2)?
Huge HUGE legal fees involved in Got my # to bid Terri Farley
Recharging cell and eating almonds. Should guarantee auction starts. No way am i spending money in
Interview w BBC. Super.Still no auction but more big trucks#fallonslaughter
Finally walking thru pens. Every girls dream horses.
About to start auction.
Arlo of ft McDermitt clarified these are all native horses
Farley
Palomino. Mare and foal sold. 800 dun pony w bay colt 200
Brown mare w buck foal 325 . Appy mom w dark foal 325. Both saved
Interior of auction.looks about the same as one I was able. 2 photo in Jan. Little. Cleaner
Frantic mare and foal sold 225 to killer
Perfect Indian paint w paint baby 300. Palomino and ivory paint with golden foal 300 Terri Farley
Horses are very banged up, face an chest esp. Some so damaged that
Advocates think they should be put down out of humanity
2 orphans. Auctioneer checking w Deniz to see if they can be sold even though unbranded. She said ok but lots of pressure Terri Farley
These beautiful horses are selling for Starbucks money.z
Almost all mares w foals and young horses have been saved. Advocates are really stepping up
Terri Farley
Have a mission: a grandmother wants me to find a young buckling
2 geldings- - paint w black swatches over eyes and his honey palimino buddy- - were in one of the big lots bought by killer
Someone talked the kill buyer into selling her the b n w paint w swatches but buyer didn't take palomino. Kill buyer got a pen of mares and foals why on earth?
Auction over. Horses loading. Most for the better
Labels: Fallon, fallon livestock exchange, horse slaughter, kill buyers, slaughter sale, tribal horses, unbranded horses, wild horses Permalink to this blog post Posted by Terri Farley @ 8:12 PM 1 comments
Saturday, March 31, 2012  Dear Readers, Yesterday, I saw one good reason you must insist on viewing your captive wild horses. BLM took reservations from the public, then opened the Indian Lakes/Broken Arrow mustang holding facility in Fallon, Nevada, for four hours. Good news: corrals were cleaner and less crowded than before. Feed was within reach. Horses look less frantic and traumatized. As they should. Many were born here. To them, sagebrush is no more than a scent on the wind. Many born in the wild have been penned in soul-deadening sameness for 2 years. We sat in our truck-pulled trolley. Our tour quieter was quieter than a fun park ride, but no less choreographed. BLM staff -- John and Heather -- were friendly, responsive and shared loads of stats. Yes indeed, BLM has learned to handle the tax-paying public. First time visitors would find it hard to imagine the nightmare that was Broken Arrow. For every wild horse facility open to the public, there are a hundred where you are locked out. We must insist of access, because it wasn't a bad dream. photo by Cat Kindsfather Labels: Broken Arrow, Fallon, Indian Lakes Permalink to this blog post Posted by Terri Farley @ 11:01 AM 1 comments
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 Permalink to this blog post Posted by Terri Farley @ 4:22 PM 4 comments
Thursday, June 10, 2010 Don't LOCKDOWN our wild horses June 9, 2010 Mr. John Neill Palomino Valley Wild Horse Adoption Center 17800 Pyramid Highway Reno, Nevada 89439 Dear Mr. Neill: Please keep the Indian Lakes wild horse facility on Broken Arrow Ranch open for public visitation at least two hours each week. This facility has had its share of problems, but citizen vigilance alerted BLM staff to problems which might otherwise have resulted in the deaths of more captive wild horses. The decision to lock out the public is "explained" in a BLM press release by the fact that Indian Lakes is a privately-owned and operated facility that was never intended as a public facility and isn’t staffed to serve the public. If it was never intended to be a public facility, why not? Americans have a right to view the care of horses deemed theirs by law. As for staffing, during my many visits to Indian Lakes I was never guided by more than one BLM staffer until a recently-arrived PR person was added to a late May tour. If BLM has a five year lease on this private property, two hours a weeks is a paltry bit of time, but I’ll settle for it. The press release indicates weekly facility web site updates will be published. I welcome that, but not in place of visits. There may be other gaps in business-as-usual like the one which does not keep track of foals born in the facility. The same press release claims the Calico Mountains horses have “successfully transitioned” to their new environment. BLM's own numbers say over a hundred (including premature foals) have died at Indian Lakes and dozens remain in hospital pens. Wild horses are tough. They take care of themselves in the wild, but they cannot when not in fenced they are drugged, castrated and captive. They have not regained the health they had on the range. To say they have contradicts what visitors have seen with their own eyes. Secrecy breeds suspicion and, in this case, death. Please reconsider the decision to hide America's wild horses. Sincerely, Terri Farley Labels: Broken Arrow ranch, Fallon, Indian Lakes, lockdown, wild horses Permalink to this blog post Posted by Terri Farley @ 11:18 AM 0 comments
Friday, April 09, 2010 Virtual Visit to Your Horses  Hola Readers, On March 28, mustang advocate Tara Kain took these photos at the wild horse holding pens in Fallon & she is allowing me to share with you. Above, you'll see some phantom foals, whose births and deaths are not recognized by BLM until the foals are branded.  High spirits can get you hurt in crowded conditions, but these two mustangs have found a somewhat open spot for play.  This mustang's chest shows signs of the pigeon fever which BLM first said was 1) impossible this time of year 2) showing up at Fallon, but not worth treating. What will that do to wild horses' chances of being returned to the range or transferred to other BLM facilities? And if BLM deemed these same horses healthy when they came in off the range AND say the time of year AND soil conditions aren't right to transmit the disease at the Indian Lakes facility, where did it come from? Some are suggesting horses were infected in the trucks of their captors. The Cattoor family website claims the company has "humanely" rounded up 150,000 wild horses, burros and wild cattle. Horse experts have mused that one of the main symptoms of Pigeon Fever, seeping pus, might remain behind in even a washed trailer. If it wasn't completely disinfected, they tell me, it could become a crucible of contamination. I know some of my readers are experienced with Pigeon Fever. What do you think? Adios, Terri Labels: Cattoor, Fallon, Indian Lakes, mustangs, phantom foals, pigeon fever, wild horses Permalink to this blog post Posted by Terri Farley @ 2:22 PM 5 comments
Monday, April 05, 2010 Ghost Dancer: still there Dear Readers, The Medicine Hat mare with the magnetic mood is still at the Indian Lakes BLM holding facility in Fallon. She's shown here, photographed by Mark Terrell, just a few weeks after capture.  In these two photos -- one by Craig Downer and the other by Tara Kain -- she's been put in a pneumatic cage,vaccinated, hung with a red rope and numbered tag, then neck branded. You can see the freeze brand on her neck if you look closely. It will be there forever. She looks thinner, even though food is delivered at the fence.  I'm calling this mustang Ghost Dancer because she once roamed Native American lands and the Ghost Dance ceremony was one of rebirth. That's what I wish for these horses, a return to the range where their spirits can run free again.  Best to you all, Terri Labels: Craig Downer, Fallon, Indian Lakes, Medicine Hat, mustang, terri farley, wild horses Permalink to this blog post Posted by Terri Farley @ 2:52 AM 4 comments
Friday, April 02, 2010 Pigeon Fever Plagues Calico Horses  photo by Cat Kindsfather Dear Readers, The misery visited on the wild horses of the Calico mountains goes on. Pigeon Fever was diagnosed by visitors to the feedlot style holding pens in Fallon, a place called Indian Lakes. Sounds nice, doesn't it? Sadly, the photo I showed you a few days ago -- -shown again above -- could be a horse suffering from this condition. Treatment for Pigeon Fever includes warm compresses, ISOLATION and hygenic conditions. Wild horses at Indian Lakes are getting none of this treatment. Why? "The incidence of Pigeon Fever at the Indian Lake Facility is at the same percentages that exist on the Calico Complex," BLM's contract vet, Dr. Sanford says, so "no treatments have been administered to date." Even if this condition crops up on the range, too, horses running free do NOT stand around with two thousand other mustangs in crowded conditions where they can't avoid contact with each others' streaming pus. Gross? Yes, and maybe that's why BLM is not only closing Indian Lakes to visitors on Easter Sunday, but director Don Glenn has refused to schedule a make-up day. Secrecy leads to suspicion, and since day 1 of the Calico round up, it's been justified. If BLM won't take even basic precautions -- like putting infected horses in hospital pens -- could it be because they want an excuse NOT to free them back to their home range? Or is it just too much trouble? Best, Terri More info on Pigeon Fever from Colorado State veterinarians: Clinical signs: Early signs can include lameness, fever, lethargy, depression and weight loss. Infections can range from mild, small, localized abscesses to a severe disease with multiple massive abscesses containing liters of liquid, tan-colored pus. External, deep abscesses, swelling and multiple sores develop along the chest, midline and groin area, and, occasionally, on the back. Incubation period: Horses may become infected but not develop abscesses for weeks. Animals affected:The disease usually manifests in younger horses, but can occur in any age, sex, and breed. A different biotype of the organism is responsible for a chronic contagious disease of sheet and goats, Caseous lymphadenitis, or CL. Either biotype can occur in cattle. Disease forms: Generally 3 types: external abscesses, internal abscesses or limb infection (ulcerative lymphangitis). The ulcerative lymphangitis is the most common form worldwide and rarely involves more than one leg at a time. Usually, multiple small, draining sores develop above the fetlock. The most common form of the disease in the United States is external abscessation, which often form deep in the muscles and can be very large. Usually they appear in the pectoral region, the ventral abdomen and the groin area. After spontaneous rupture, or lancing, the wound will exude liquid, light tan-colored, malodorous pus. Internal abscesses can occur and are very difficult to treat . Treatment: Hot packs or poultices should be applied to abscesses to encourage opening. Open abscesses should be drained and regularly flushed with saline. Surgical or deep lancing may be required, depending on the depth of the abscess or the thickness of the capsule, and should be done by your veterinarian. Ultrasound can aid in locating deep abscesses so that drainage can be accomplished. External abscesses can be cleaned with a 0.1 percent povidone-iodine solution Antiseptic soaked gauze may be packed into the open wound A nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug such as phenylbutazone can be used to control swelling and pain Care required: Buckets or other containers should be used to collect pus from draining abscesses and this infectious material should be disposed of properly. Consistent and careful disposal of infected bedding, hay, straw or other material used in the stall is vitally important. Thoroughly clean and disinfect stalls, paddocks, all utensils and tack. Pest control for insects is also very important. Recovery time: Usually anywhere from two weeks to 77 days. Labels: BLM, Craig Downer, Don Glenn, Fallon, Fallon facility, Indian Lakes, Pgeon Fever, terri farley Permalink to this blog post Posted by Terri Farley @ 3:01 PM 5 comments
Wednesday, March 31, 2010 Let 'em Run Dear Readers, The captive wild horse above is the reason that I've barely talked with you since biologist Craig Downer and I returned from BLM's Fallon corrals, Sunday, then searched out remnants of the wild herds of the Calico range on Monday. Every spare hour since then, we've worked toward this: FEDERAL LAWSUIT AGAINST WILD HORSE ROUNDUP SEEKS RETURN OF 1800 HORSES TO NEVADA RANGE When photographer Cat Kindsfather enlarged this photo, she realized that the seepage from this mustang's awful wound had pulsed all the way down to his hoof. This callous cruelty cannot be allowed to continue. Terri Labels: BLM, Craig Downer, Fallon, lawsuit, mustangs, terri farley, wild horse deaths, wild horse injuries, wild horses Permalink to this blog post Posted by Terri Farley @ 10:26 AM 3 comments
Friday, March 26, 2010 Fallon Foal Death  Mare stands guard over new foal, photo by Tara Kain There's a new set of hooves in Heaven. BLM's death tally for the week doesn't show what happened. However, visitors are allowed to tour the tax payer funded Indian Lakes wild horse facility. It's land-locked inside a private ranch in Fallon, Nevada, but opened once each week by reservation only for two hours. Three observers from the CalNeva Cloud Foundation and photographer Cat, visited Sunday, March 21 and took photos, video and notes. Saturday, March 20 a pale dun foal is born to a buckskin mare Sunday, March 21 11:00 Members of the public arrive to tour the Fallon facility. Director John Neill is their guide and he waits for a late arrival 11:37 tour begins 11:45 visitors observe buckskin mare and newborn foal in a pen with other adult horses. Foal looks like "he had melted into the contours of the ground" according to one observer and Mr. Neill said the foal was a weak newborn from the night before. 12:30? Sometime during the tour, members of the public notice a nursery pen with just six mare and foal pairs inside and wonder why the buckskin and her foal aren't with them*  (RIGHT: As adult horses move, mare makes a protective barricade of her body, photo by Tara Kain) 1:45 Tour ends, passing by the buckskin mare and her foal. Mr. Neill agreed with visitors that foal might be sick and indicated he would check on it. If necessary, a vet would be called. He added that volunteers from WHOA might be asked to bottle feed the foal if it couldn't rise to nurse. 2:00 as observers depart, foal is still down. Monday, March 22 no deaths are listed on the BLM's facility update, so CalNeva Cloud observers hope for the best Tuesday, March 23 9:55 am Still no deaths listed for the weekend**, but one observer calls and talks to John Neill who says "the colt was euthanized." She understands Neill to say the vet had determined the colt had a broken femur and must have been kicked. The caller commented, "Oh, that's why he never got up." Neill replied, "No, he was up that morning nursing." Sometime after that, he speculated, the colt must've been kicked." Neill said the foal was destroyed via chemical injection.  (with freedom tantalizingly close, mare urges foal to rise and nurse, photo by Tara Kain) Friday, March 26 I reached John Neill at Palomino Valley wild horse corrals and he answered my questions about the Medicine Hat stallion I've told you about before and this foal. He clarified two points from the timeline above: * "Once we know the colt's strong, we put them in the nursery pen" along with their mothers ** Live births are not entered into BLM's system until horses have been freeze-branded, which takes place after four or more months. Since foals delivered "in facility" are not listed as born, they are not listed as dead. So, they are not posted on BLM's online Calico Round-up updates. John Neill described the last hour of the little dun's life. "He was down during the tour. Afterward I went out to check on him and he was packing a right hind leg and he had to be put down." "When did the vet come?" I asked. "He didn't." "Was it a compound fracture so that you could see it was broken?" John answered, "I could just tell, so I took care of it." After our call ended, my English teacher brain flashed to "I am cruel only to be kind." Hamlet, I remembered, and knew that if I were watching over a newborn foal with a fatally fractured femur, I would not want it to suffer. But "Hamlet" ends with a stage strewn with corpses. I tried to get confirmation that such a leg injury is easily diagnosed, but the two vets I consulted disagreed on both diagnosis and prognosis. John Neill told me "We have births daily and if something happens like this or there's a bad mother, we can't track them all accurately." Is it fair to the public that our mustang foals are born and die without notice? This is not Neill's decision; it is BLM policy. As with so many other BLM policies, the numbering of lives and deaths are rough estimates. That's wrong. There are no disposable mustangs. Taxpayers have no disposable income, especially for a system they hate. There must be a moratorium on the capture of our wild horses, before a ruined system erases an entire species. Labels: BLM, Fallon, helicopter roundups, Indian Lakes, mustang, wild horse deaths, wild horses Permalink to this blog post Posted by Terri Farley @ 1:17 PM 5 comments
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