Take another look 3D - Gain perspective and trade familiarity

Let's look at other countries, maybe there are examples that can also apply to our land. Mongolia has some of the last horse based societies. Germany has a small herd of Duelmener Wildpferde in a heavily restricted and controlled environment. England has enclaves of Konik .Italy has a small area on the Coast north of Rome, the Marremma, Spain has a more diverse group of areas that still house feral horses. France has the Camargue horses in the south. Namibia has horses gone Wild, Australia has the Brombies, Canada has sections of feral horses. Mexico Argentina and Peru have probably the most original predecessors of our mustangs here. Comparisons are valid. Lessons can be applied.

Take a Moment - Have Sympathy

Assume that whatever is close to your heart, is not necessarily important to someone else. But just as you would request sympathy for your cause, you shall have the capacity to argue the OTHER SIDE....Argue the OTHER SIDE now...

Thinking outside the BOX...

Thinking outside the box requires imagination. To be part of the solution we will have to change with changing circumstances. Some are acceptable, others are not. The Horses belong into the WILD WEST, but are there any other considerations....We look at places where horses once had been and would be again.

3 strikes and you are out - HOLDING

The majority of mustangs are not out on the range but instead live their lives "IN HOLDING". That means they have been rounded up, processed, gone to 3 adoption events and then become a "3 Strikes Horse" . They get a U branded on their flank , that means Unadoptable, and get shipped to the east to short and long term holding facilities. Many foals are born and live their entire life in HOLDING.

HERD YOUR HORSES

Play a popular board game, in which the wild ones have to overcome obstacles to reach the greener pastures on the other side. They have to avoid mountain lion and bear, stormy weather and avoid being captured by the ranchers or through a roundup.. They also have to increase their family numbers and keep the other competing stallions away.

Bogs and holes in the path and lack of water and forage test their survival skills. 

A HORSE for every day of the Calendar

...There is no child left inside? Well, where are they. They are outside. Is the OUTSIDE where the healthy children are? Little Anna lived in the City, she loved horses but had only seen the ones in Central Park. Then she was able to adopt a virtual horse - a Mustang from the High Plateau of Wyoming. She carried his picture and learned about the band he belonged to. He was a 4 year old bachelor stallion, who had been raised by his sire and a group of 5 mares. He, his half brothers and sisters had learned all the things nature has to provide. Over a period of time he found himself less and less dependent on the band and then "He opened his mouth too much" and his father sent him on to fend for himself and carve out a life. That's when he joined the bachelors and that's when his picture reached little Anna . With it she received a calendar, on which she noted daily activities of the young stud as they were related to her through the internet. Then she learned that the horse was not virtual but actually existed, and that her pictures came from a person watching the herd. In the summer she decided to visit her Mustang and her family pulled the camper for a vacation to the Wild Horse Range. They set up camp and within hours she was out hiking looking for her bay stallion with the white blaze. No luck the first day. The next day she was guided to a waterhole and there she saw a small group of horses and amongst those was her...boy.

Pieces of the Puzzle - Emotion vs Science

In the eternal temporarity of the issue, who are the stake holders in the fate of the Wild Horses.

TRAVEL BY ALL MEANS -

You can do anything you want !!!!

Follow your dream. And figure out which dream belongs into the dream world - -which dream can be assimilated into a piece of art or writing and which dream you actually have to put your foot in. So if you want to be involved with wild horses and cannot train or ride or find  time to visit them on the range, maybe you can become involved by implementing them into your life through art, imagination or any other way. Some of my friends want to slow down their life and escape the city for a nature adventure or a way of life altogether. They ride the Continental Divide with 4 mustangs from Canon City, that are now already on the trail for the last 3 years. This young man rode on the predecessors of the mustangs from Patagonia to Mexico, then continued on american mustangs from New Mexico to the Border of Canada. Now, joined by his friend and partner, they will continue into Canada and to Alaska, where the might trade for Sled-dogs to continue. If you want to learn more, go to http://www.abenteuerreiter.de/

Other friends have found their passion in photographing wild horses in the designated wild horse areas around the country. It is a challenge and adventure just to find these horses, let alone, get close enough to photograph them. For more information go http://www.pamnickolesphotography.com/ or http://www.louriezipfphotography.com/ or visit the website for the bureau of Landmanagement http://www.blm.gov/ There are also friends who just love to document and visit with the horses and form groups to take care of them http://www.friendsofthemustangs.org/ and http://www.sandwashwildhorses.blogspot.com/

The Mustang LEDGERS

Late 2008 I started the Mustang Ledgers, travelling with mustangs around the country visiting Wild Horse Ranges, Sanctuaries, Individuals with mustangs, Prison facilities with Mustang training programs and also registries. I hosted the http://www.abenteuerreiter.de/ Guenter Wamser in his preparation for the ride of the Continental Divide on 4 mustangs with his partner Sonja Endlweber. The horses always evoke a sense of adventure and periphery and that is part of their attraction and capacity.

Here in the photo with me is Aragon, a spanish mustang, who has been my trusted steed for many years now.

If wishes were Horses - Beggars would Ride

In a perfect world, there would be enough room for all living beings and they would live in suitable conditions. A Wild Horse is not for Profit. No harvest, no Hunt, no exploit, no slaughter. After the round-up there are 4 places to go: Adoption, Holding, Correctional Facility and Mustang Makeover Competition.
Some mares do get to go back after being treated with fertility control. If wishes were beggars, horses would ...

Aggressive Measures

We can only improve, what we can measure

You are at a market in Australia: The bill is 29.75 Australians have long done away with their pennies, they are expensive to produce, they have little value and clutter the purse. So the bill is 29.75. They ROUND UP to 30. You pay 30. Next time when the bill is 29.49, you pay 29. Fair
BEFORE YOU ROUND UP OR DOWN YOU HAVE TO HAVE A NUMBER.
There are many scheduled WILD HORSE ROUND UPS (with consequent removal)-Yet we do not know the numbers.
And when we know the numbers we have to come to an agreement for improvement.

Until then and actually to facilitate a way of census and counting,  we shall take the promise that Wild Horse Annie made to the Wild Horses in 1971 and fullfill our obligation to go out and WATCH the HERDS -  be touched by the life of these horses.

Recently I noticed, that the horse is for the birds...precisely a bird of a different color. The blackbird hangs with the Whites, the blue-jay with the Roan, the Redtail with the other roan...? no the raptors are not part of the game.THE Grullas LOVE THE DOVE...

Ride and Ride and Ride all Day...

Ride and Ride and Ride all Day, make the sorrow go away, swallow bitter-sweet maroon, lay my head to rest, then soon, awake aware alert repose - what I have is what I chose / need to face what facing needs, and what needs facing burns and bleeds. can't ignore your call to arm, harm the fear and fear the harm
ride and ride and in one sweep..

fell the heated brain and sleep............

Dangerous on both ends-Rough in the middle

There are Long-riders and Short-riders, long-legged eventers and adventure striders... we've browsed and bred horses for any imagineable desire, specifically conformed for the task.
Can a mustang jump, does he have cow-sense, are his feet right to run endurance. Can he do dressage, pull a cart and work at liberty. The answer is YES, " born with what's needed" a friend once said and Will James called his mustang "Big enough". The answer is YES, Yes yes... so,  why do we breed, if nature provides us with the genetics and free upbringing of a sustainable versatile and very trainable horse, that indeed often is a natural ambler and most comfortable..

"MY WOUND IS GEOGRAPHY"

"My wound is Geography" Marlet said, as she swung on her coyote dun to take it down to the waterhole. We've come to love this land and we claim it for mind and body and we take with it the Fauna and Flora, the Wild and Feral. The senses don't worry about periodic tables, and the waters stayed, they hated stairs...I find a little black filly, a looking glass into the inner workings of this world...I call her silhouette, she has not much to say, but when I try to hold my breath she takes my breath away. What if things come to an end, the Mustangs get thinned out so they deteriorate and slowly decay and disappear? Will the children cry virtue or virtuality...

PRAISE THE TALL but saddle the small....

Once upon a time there were millions of mustangs roaming the lands of the Great Americas.

They had come from the Geography of the Old Country by way of Explorers and also seemed to relate to the primitive horses of Mongolia and landscapes alike. Tarpan, Przewalki, Huzul and Konik...just to mention some of the many names these horses wore along the way....Sorraia, Galician, Maremmana, Camargue, Duelmener- all gold berg variations of the same theme: ........fill in the blanks.
Historic chapters ago...Human migrations with people of all color and culture moving along Inter Continental Trails Camino Reals , taking along those prized animals and goods.