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   4 comments

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Sunday, July 11, 2010

SLAUGHTER AUCTION final score ---


Fallon Livestock Exchange horse pens

HORSE ADVOCATES: 174
KILLER BUYERS: 0

Dear Readers,
Saturday 174 "privately owned" (ungentled, un-halter broken,looking a whole lot like mustangs) ranch horses were put up for sale at the Fallon Livestock Exchange where horses are often sold by the pound. You know what that means.
HOWEVER -- wild horses advocates wasted no time stirring up the media and contacting rescuers like Jill Starr's LIFESAVERS, WILD HORSE MENTORS, LET 'EM RUN FOUNDATION, WILD HORSE SPIRITS, the CLOUD FOUNDATION, and many others.
With fingers crossed, funds raised, lots of hope, prayers and backbone -- horse advocates faced off with slaughter middle men and WON!
If you'd like to read a report by Willis Lamm (he organized the convoy of horse trailers to get the horses AWAY from the auction groups asap) & see photos of the horses saved, please check this out Pilot Valley Horses Rescued


INVESTIGATIONS INTO WHETHER THESE ARE WILD HORSES will continue.

Keep the faith, all!
Terri

Labels: Cloud Foundation, equine slaughter, fallon livestock exchange, Jill Starr, wild horse mentors

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Posted by Terri Farley @ 3:05 PM   2 comments

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