IT TAKES A VILLAGE TO RAISE A MUSTANG...

and it takes several mustangs to raise a village...Since this particular individual came without a halter, I resolved to do all the training from aboard Aragon, that's where he felt comfortable...Also I like the reversal of thought...Then..... today we all got to touch a WILD HORSE....and felt touched...

ALL THE PRETTY HORSES....

Pat (Patricia Burge) is helping me out with the whipping, while I am trying to sort out the LARIAT, Krisztina Gayler has a bad case of tilted camera and Aragon V is looking on in disbelief...where is the clicker???

Honza Bláha a Gaston

And although we might not like the circus, some of the images and scenes give us inspiration and beauty. Honza Blaha...

Lorenzo National Horse Show

ALWAYS A SPECIAL REMINDER

COLORADO WILD HORSE AND BURRO PARTY ST. PATRICK'S PARADE...

Photos by Lourie Zipf. While #900 settled into his new corral, Chisel and Rusty were up at the St. Patrick's Parade and we were marching to the tune of 87 floats... (check out: www.metal2sculpture.com and louriezipf.com and winddancer.com and our facebookpage: colorado wild horse and burro partners.)

To go along with the Makeover is the Mustang Poster from Sandwash...

Collaboration of 4 artists

2 photographers (Lourie Zipf and Nancy Roberts) and two painters (Melody Perez and Linda Martin). Together the created a platform and framework of the WildHorseHerd west of Steamboat Springs in the Sand Wash Basin. Only approx 230 horses are remaining on these 160 000 acres....

COMPANIONS ARAGON V. (Spanish Mustang) GAULTIER (BLM)

We don't  come with a lot of expectations. Maybe an EYE or and EAR or a SIGH...hope no FEAR...(Photos: Krisztina Szabo)

An Eye for an Eye....

Praise the tall but saddle the small...said Mr. Mustang, after realizing that the numbers of mustangs were dwindling...and that was the beginning of the Spanish Mustang Registry in Wyoming. Then 1971 the protection act seemed to secure their survival and today we are wondering how many are still out there..(Photo: LourieZipf.com)

WILD HORSE WILD RIDE...Great movie, good association....

This photo by Lourie Zipf is my favorite of his release into the new world. Shows the wonderful eye, I opted not to have a halter attached by the BLM and so we are working the roundpen with a whip and a lot of stillness. Saddled my mustang Aragon today and was able to accompany him ...touching his back and neck.

TAG 900 - EXTREME MUSTANG MAKEOVER CANDIDATE pickup at Canon City

Doe-eyed and mealy-mouthed...4 year old California native, captured as 2 year old and castrated, since then in Canon City. Yesterday he was my luck of the draw...computer assigned number 900 to me and he travelled from Canon City to his new life to meet Aragon and hang out in a cool place....He got some rest over night and today we had the first two lessons... Weather is holding up nicely and #900 is liking his companion and his food and his surroundings.

THE SUSTAINABLE POLO PONY(mustangs) to polo ponies. gerry gesell and a calico complex ...

There is a world out there, that would love to take nature's child with all it's endurance and good upbringing and take it out into the world of man...this is an option

2009 Long Term Holding Facilties

A mustang called baby...me being a pilot had to bring this up before too long...

Gabriele,

I'm finally getting around to sending you a picture of "Baby", and her story.

She came into the world sometime in late 1942 or early 1943, no one likely kept track of exactly when. She was in southern California, kept on a huge corporate complex not far from today's Los Angeles International Airport.

Her unofficial "mother" was my own mother, a teenager at the time. She did a lot for Baby, knew her owners well, and was friends with Baby's few, and very skilled  handlers. As expected when she first arrived, Baby was unique to this special group of people, as they worked with her nearly every day, fussed and doted and worried over her, and kept her healthy and active. She developed beautiful lines and conformation. And during these war years, even the government kept a particularly keen eye on Baby's growth and development, sometimes offering advice and making requests, and always insisting that Baby be kept away from prying eyes and public scrutiny.  Her siblings also came to these same people, and they too led a similar life. Most were larger and stronger, even faster, than Baby, and all were equally beautiful and strong performers. Although few people actually saw Baby up close, her offspring were quickly and widely recognized and appreciated, probably by millions. There were a few, of course, who probably did not like Baby, but even they respected her capabilities.

Exactly how long she led this life no one knows. I like to think that this Mustang was eventually retired, and put out to pasture so to speak. I would guess this may have occurred in the mid to late 50's, her services no longer needed.

I hope this short story of Baby has piques your interest, for she was indeed very special. You already know her real identity.

Baby was a North American P-51. Her original pedigree name, "Mustang", came from the British, but "Baby" herself was named by her small design team at North American Aviation, today known as North American Rockwell, the space people. Baby lived her life mostly at the Inglewood, Calif. plant, and spent most days in her hanger surrounded by designers, often my mother, technicians and photographers. She was the single P-51 that was used exclusively as the prototype, a flying and static test bed for every change, feature or modification destined for the many squadrons of Mustangs serving during WW2. Her "owners" were the design engineers, Baby's "mother', my mom was (at age 17) the team's draftsman who drew many of P-51's original design sheets and diagrams. Baby's small group of skilled handlers were the NAA test pilots, some of whom my mom knew personally. Baby's big brother was the Mitchell B-25 twin-engine bomber; her best known younger siblings are the F-86 Sabre jet fighter, and the Lunar Command/Service Module.

The P-51 was designed in just 117 days for the British, who named this fighter the "Mustang". There were a number of "firsts": it was the first fighter by North American; it had an innovative laminar flow wing; it was one of the first long-ranged fighters capable of escorting bombers to and from their targets; it was a first to receive a better powerplant from the customer (Britain) than originally planned and provided for. The British loved the P-51's flying characteristics, but immediately replaced the factory Allison with their own Rolls Royce Merlin V-12. The original airframe and the new Merlin made the Mustang a fierce opponent and much loved by allied pilots. Much US publicity was later made of the Packard V-12 powered Mustang, but this engine was a USA made Merlin under British license. 

Baby was used throughout these days of change and trial and error, and served her country well. She was the first to receive the Merlin, the first to sport the famous bubble canopy we now all associate with those classic Mustang lines, the first piston powered aircraft to reach 509 mph (red line) straight and level, and I suppose the list goes on and on.

The Mustang originally entered service in 1942 as the P-51 Mustang for Britain, and a ground support/dive bomber variant called the A-36 Apache for the USAAF. By 1944, the Mustang we know of today was serving in both the Pacific and European theaters, then later in Korea, and in spite of being superseded by jet fighters, continued to serve other nations worldwide until 1980. In1967, some retired Mustangs became 2-place corporate civilian speedsters, the "Cavalier"; Mustangs are now famous as an air racer; price tags are often a nominal $1 Million and more.

I grew up with mom's black and white photos of the Mustang, many of Baby, and have Baby's scrapbook, pictures taken to demonstrate this or that feature or change, or for technical manuals. I have a beautiful watercolor of a P-51, flanked by 2 frames that hold my mom's drafting tools, rulers and templates, and a picture of her with Baby; she was a gifted draftsman, the reason I'm sure she was picked to work directly for the Mustang's design engineers. The picture of her is taken with Baby in front of North American, Inglewood CA; the date inscription is 1943, my mother is 17. Perhaps she too was a Mustang "baby". 

Blue Skies,
Kell

Padre' Mustang Stallion Informational Video

Palm Springs film festival

MUSTANG LEDGERS ARE IN VOGUE AGAIN...WE DRAW WE MANIFEST...

Photographs by Lourie Zipf...scetch by Gabriele Moritz

PIGNON-CAMARGUE-PIGNON-MUSTANG....MUSTANG SALLY - CHRIS NORMAN

LOVE THE WHOLE THING, BUT ESPECIALLY THE FAST GALLOPP ACROSS THE BEACH WITH THE OTHER HORSES FOLLOWING.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL WILD HORSES AND WILD HORSE LOVERS.....

This is Breyer's JAILBIRD ANDREW under the WING of the lute-playing ANGEL

Merry Merry Merry MERRY FROHE WEIHNACHTEN STILLE MACHT HEILIGE SACHT,OH TANNENNBAUUM GLUECKLICH SIND DEINE BLAETTER WIE GRUEN UND DOCH ...RIDE AND RIDE AND RIDE ALL DAY, MAKE THE SORROW GO AWAY...

Mustang Stallion Padre' Dressage at Devon 2010 Stallion Championship

Wild Horse Paintings by Melody Perez at Loveland Cherry Blossom Gallery

Five Mustangs got their bio and bodies on display today at the opening of the show of Oils by Melody Perez. Painting with a Purpose had led her to choosing individuals from the Sandwash Basin Herd and Nancy Roberts and John Wagner provided her with photos, stories and video of her models.

Picasso band stallion, his son P.J., Ranger and Cheyenne and Destiny....are already on display and in calendar format. A bachelor gathering and and other paintings will follow to complete a series with an all mustang calendar next year. Prints and calendars and originals are available.

Running Free - Animated Stereogram 3d crosseyed virtuality

For those of us who indulge in food for the eye, this will be a poor replacement for the 3 dimension of wild horses on the range....and food for thought ....

and always back to the source...

 Whenever the amount of input gets to be too much, we have to turn out and either ride, walk or get in touch some other way. To live close to a wild horse area allows for daily visits, photo safaris, or other outings to search for and witness the wild horses. Ecotourism will be invigorated as individuals venture out and seek out the tracks and traces of wild horses...on foot or on horseback. For now the BLM still allows horsecamping in wildhorse areas, but that might be coming to an end, as the public is less appreciated on wild horse land....

some of the individuals of the sandwash Basin

ADOPT A HERD - SANDWASH BASIN WILD HORSES

The Girl And the Horse

The Cayuse Ranch in Oshoto is an example of an early Wild Horse Preserve.

In 1957 Bob Brislawn land surveyer for the Geologcial Survey, recognized the radical extermination of the Mustang.  He wanted to preserve the Horse and collected a founding stock for the Spanish Mustang Registry, that till today live on the Cayuse Ranch in Oshoto. As we consider Alternatives to BLM managed mustangs on Public Lands, this is one example that weathered many decades.

For more information, www.cayuseranch.com and www.neilblathreula1.com (Starflower Ranch)

An exercise in patience and balance and hand/eye coordination....

This was a little item, I found in a store, took apart and revamped into a drawing of my beloved mustang Aragon V. I think it turned out nice and is a constant reminder of the importance of patience, balance and hand/eye coordination....

Redfeather Library Mustang photograph exhibition

NEXT STOP: JB-ANDREW the black Frisian, that was a BLM mustang...

Give him a big hand, he has carried the torch for more than a decade and he is also a LOVABLE LOCAL.

He was born on the public lands and rounded up as a youngster, brought to Canon City and eventually his training began. He then was adopted by Ginger and started a career as dressage horse. He proved to have talent and aptitude and is till today the only MUSTANG that has reached FEI dressage levels.. There is a breyer model horse, that calls him a Frisian and indeed that is what he looks like but only to those, who have preconceived ideas about what a mustang should or could represent.

 For more info visit: www.classicalequestrian.com

  

There is nothing like digging deep into a horses' mane and neck....

Ginger Kathrens visiting with Escalante, photo by Krisztina Gaylor

Rusty, Chisel, Veedawoo and Escalante ...where is the grass

Veedawoo, the little black one, comes from the Chocktaw horses in the Kiamichi mountains SE Oklahoma, 6 years old. Escalante, the grulla white on the right, comes from Oshoto Wyoming (www.cayuseranch.com , his father is Grey Eagle) 8 years old. Silver Chisel is 4 months old and comes from Redfeather Lakes and so does 1 1/2 year old Rusty. The IRON MUSTANGS will be travelling on the Flatbed, the other ones have to stand in the trailer.

For this event they all came out together to greet the audience and give a bit of HANDS ON THICK MANE....

http-::collegian.com:index.php:article:2010:11:111110_horsetalk 2

Here is the link to the full article, that drew over 150 people at the Behavioral Sciences at CSU for a presentation by Ginger Kathrens (www.thecloudfoundation.org) about the
"REAL NATURE OF WILD HORSES" on November 10th.
Present were also several local mustang-Advocacy groups:
The Winddancer Foundation (Michael Golembeski) :www.wind-dancer.org
Mustang Eco Tours (Gabriele Moritz) :www.mustangecotours.blogspot.com
Mustang Meet-up Group of Ft.Collins: www.meet-up.com (mustang-meet-up ft.collins)
Sandwash Basin Wild Horses (Nancy Roberts): www.sandwashwildhorses.blogspot.com
Lourie Zipf Photography: www.louriezipfphotography.com
Iron Mustang Artist Dwayne Cranford: metal2sculpture.com
Mustang Adventure Rider Guenter Wamser: www.abenteuerreiter.de

Escalante greets the audience at Behavioral Sciences...Iron Mustang in the background

Escalante and Veedawoo at the CSU Behavioral Sciences event

Two of MustangEcoTours members got to go to the event at the Behavioral Sciences of CSU on Nov 10. Here depicte Escalante, as he greets the audience with the beautiful sculptures of Rusty and Chisel by Dwayne Cranford in the background. For more info, go to www.collegian.com and search: Ginger Kathrens (Nov 10th)

Rusty and Chisel will join Ginger Kathrens at Behavioral Sciences Ft. Collins

Rusty and Chisel, two over life-size sculptures by local Redfeather Lakes Artist Wayne Cranford will be joining the life mustangs during the presentation of Ginger Kathrens at the University of Colorado on Nov.10th. Cranford, who has been travelling the country with the two animated mustangs, will have them on display before they return to their winter pasture along the rock outcroppings of the artists home. You will be able to see them from the road (74E) travelling towards Redfeather Lakes on the left side past gate 6 on Glacier View Meadows or go to : www.metal2sculpture.com

ANNIVERSARY OF CITIZEN INITIATIVE "Ft.Collins Mustang Meet-up"

About a year ago, 5 of us joined forces to start "Ft.Collins Mustang-Meetup" a citizen initiative for the preservation of the American Mustang. Most of us had been involved with one aspect or another of the mustang issue and felt it was time to organize, update and illuminate the current controversy.

We studied the issue, interviewed the US Geologcial Survey, participated in a letter writing campaign, organized protests and travelled for a summit to Washington. We witnessed several round-ups, joined other mustang volunteer organizsation that monitor and improve the WildHorseRange, we visited the Canon City Correctional Facility WHIP (wildhorseinmateprogram).

We participated in the MustangHeritageFoundation Extreme Mustang Makeover, launched a MustangEcoTourism project and several associated educational websites and blogs. (Winddancer Foundation).
In the spring we followed a call for help in the Blackjack Mountain (Kiamichi) SE Oklahoma, and then wittnessed the atrocities of the Nebraska 3 Strikes Ranch Mustang Killing.

With the focus on our Local Colorado Herds, the Little Bookcliffs, the Sandwash Basin, we established Standing by visiting, wittnessing and claiming these horses for our individual lives and recreation. Under the Title "HERDWATCH" the public gained  insight and access to its natural resource. Radio interviews  and artistic events increased awareness and shed light on the educational and emotional potential of a "No child left inside" curriculum.

Nonetheless the aggressive Round-ups continued and thousands and thousands of Mustangs were added to the 35 000 already in permanent feed-lots. Senseless death and injury to the animals. The demand for disclosure and transparency continues.

The voices grow louder and with todays event we reach out and hope to increase interest and awareness in our work.

...to get carried away...

...the story goes, that women love to get carried away and therefore they worship horses....to be carried away to a far away place, where there is no away, yet a way to delay might be the reason. Now this would apply to girls too, and if so, where does this yearning stem from. Mythology and history tend to support the theory and yet it does not explain why the path leads to the horse...