Advocates focusing on Solutions and proposals for improvement of conditions on the range.

More than ever it is time to gather statistics and charts, draw conclusions referring to research and science and come up with positive and productive solutions and proposals. There is no room for UTOPIA, only realistic and practical logistics can be incorporated into a broken and ailing system. Our input, whether it feels like compromise or exploitation is what will eventually improve the conditions of the range and with that the horses that we so care for.

HEWLETT GULCH - FIRE - May 14,15,16, 17

More pics...As we are driving back to the house, the wind has shifted and it is out of the west, giving us  visibility and good air...then it shifts and we get the smoke and the flames...

Livermore Post Office and Fire Station becomes the briefing point for media and public...community.

Aragon and Coppersmith

Horses are not participating in the action, they just wonder...

Silhouette and Veedawoo

Just turning at Livermore...(all photos by Kelsey Anne)

LIFE IS WHAT HAPPENS WHILE WE ARE MAKING OTHER PLANS>>>>

This was the view from my house on the second morning...

As the crow flies 5 miles

Western Ridge Restaurant and Resort just downhill from me

looking east from 74E Redfeather Lakes Road

In our case it meant the first big spring fire. On Monday at 1pm I was hiking with my friends Frank Auer and Jacques Rieux in the Bonner Peak area close to Seaman Reservoir to look at some land that was for sale with great horse property and conditions, except that it had burned badly 7 years ago...when we drove out we noticed a plume of smoke. That it was: a fire 100 acres. Today another story. 7800 acres and 5% contained (one does not know what that means) The fire has flip-flopped directions several times burning first east, then north, then west and then north and east again with evac notices following... With my horses in 4 different locations and pastures I opted to start bringing them down to the flatlands yesterday the day before yesterday, including my 4 year old Colt Galicio, who had cut himself quite serious on the inside of the right hock (with great concern it might have exposed the joint)

Galicio leaving CSU VET hospital

He spent the night at the hospital while I was agonizing about the general fate of my horses and the future of MUSTANG ECO TOURS, if these conditions would continue...Late in the night the surgeon called and said that we had had luck and the joint was not compromised, even though the canonbone was exposed...we made a plan and today my guardian angel Kelsey Anne and I picked him up and brought him to a safe place far away from the fire to my trusted veterinarian Deb.

She still had the Christmas lights up to instill peace and quiet to a tired vet coming home in the evening from exhausting medical calls all day long...Ruigoord the 27 year old Icelandic was with us to give the young colt the necessary security around the temporary shelter from the fire.

Kelsey greeting some of the residents

After securing the little horses and thanking everyone for their support, we headed to Tim Singewald's place to check on Silhouette, Veedawoo, Aragon and Coppersmith. They had been evacuated from a perfectly good pasture to a smoke filled and health alert coral in Wellington not understanding what the purpose was.

Kelsey taking a well deserved snooze after a sleepless night

Then we headed down the road to Mountain View Arabians, where my friend and Trainer Trisha Swift  had offered to take the injured colt for the first night and Escalante, who was not agreeable with staying with the other mustangs.

Escalante being his usual impatient...

In between our eyes back on the fire....

Headed back to Aragon and Coppersmith to feed them

And then back to Redfeather to assess the situation...after 3 days of this we were getting tired....

7900 acres and 5% contained....

Shawnee is 14 years old and did NOT understand what was going on....

Channel 9 News had updates and briefing stations at the Livermore Fire Station and the neighborhood rose to the task....The fire has burned back on itself at this time and all of the evacuations have been cancelled. We will be sleeping tonight. Thank you everyone.

The story of "HAYDEN"

Hayden is a 5 year old line back Dun from the PRYOR MOUNTAINS, He was adopted during the last Roundup and brought to Montana. He was gelded and received some training. Halter. He is not broke to ride. He is the son of Jackson and Brumby (Ginger Kathrens knew him since being a baby).
Word is that he is gaited.

As a coming 5 year old he is probably in his prime and will be both a wonderfully matured animal but also a challenge. Only serious inquiries please.

For more information and photographs, please contact me: 970 224 5035 or Ginger Kathrens.

SAND WASH BASIN - MUSTANG ECO TOURS - ON LOCATION

Range Watch - Herd Watch - Reserve Design... Gabriele and Aragon

On May 4th I hauled Aragon to the Sand Wash Basin to combine a ride on the WIILD HORSE RANGE with the event of the Sombrero Roundup and a dream, that Nancy Roberts and I had formulated some time ago. She wanted to take her now 4 year old Sand Wash Mustang Odakota back to HIS range and hoped for Aragon and me to accompany her. So it goes, we met at the Maybell Fairgrounds to set up and familiarize the horses with each other. We were joined by Craig Downer and Karen McLain.

We went for a ride that evening overlooking the Yampa valley in wonderful sunshine. In the night Odakota remembered his wild beings and hollered all along to see whether he could raise them in the West. The next morning a bit croggy, we saddled up and got to the range to ride 7 mile ridge, whinning and looking at mustangs in the basin greeting the crisp morning.

Odakota, (roundup 2009) now 4 with Nancy Roberts, riding his home range.

We took all day and rode to the river and then back to the Sand Wash Entry where we met Melody Perez and the Mustang Trailer and several other wild horse lovers who had come "Bird-Watching" on the range

We rode till the late afternoon....What an epic experience!!!! The next day we went to join the painters, speakers and advocates at the MALL (not my favorite place) and speak to the Jerome Fox (BLM)

The Public during this event was both local and tourists, since the Sombrero roundup was occuring in Maybell. Still we took advantage of receiving and gaining more public exposure for the WILD HORSE Range.

Day 4 was get up at 5:30. Several other advocates camped on the range and we met and took one vehicle to search out the individual bands and locations. The weather was wonderful and as our eyes searched the horizons cameras clicked and binoculars identified Picasso and his newborn foal "Schatzi". There is always a good amount of walking and hiking involved which makes for so much fresh air and good lungs. And the melancholia gets her chance too.

Nancy Roberts, Karen McLain, Rachel Ann Reeves

We walked in silence hoping that the roundup of the Sand Wash Basin Wild Horses will be cancelled. Bait trapping is considered and fertility studies are in the works. We plan on work days in August for clean up and hope for some funds from the BLM Director's challenge to afford advocates to come out and help. For now it felt like the range was alive and even though the sheep had completely depleted the forage the horses looked healthy and safe.

There is a shadow on the range collecting Barbed WIRE....

MUSTANG AWARENESS DAY at the Medicine Horse in Boulder

Photo courtesy: Tony Johnson (Gabriele Moritz and Aragon)

This was a day filled with presentations and orators, riders and demos, art, photography and just plain good colorado weather. The Northern Colorado Mustang Riders performed and several inspiring speakers  gave their best to spellbind the crowd. 

Craig Downer (photo:Tony Johnson)

Craig Downer presented his book "THE WILD HORSE CONSPIRACY" and explained his concept of "RESERVE DESIGN" in self stabilizing WILD horse herds. He also put to an end the ever so tiresome dispute about the "Nativity" of the WILD HORSE in the North American Continent. Having ORIGINATED here thousands of years ago, there is not another place in the world, that can claim the origin of the horse other than NORTH AMERICA. He spoke about the importance of the post gastric digestive system of the horse and its other related species in regard to reseeding and revitalizing the lands (as opposed to the ruminant digestive system that acts as mere fertilizer) and also commented on the jaw and tooth structure of the horse having incisors and therefore being more selective in its grazing....plausible examples to make us more familiar and comfortable with the constant battle of the arguments.

NORTHERN COLORADO MUSTANG RIDERS (photo Tony Johnson)

Here is a link for the complete album of photographs from the day
http-::www.medicinehorse.org:gallery:2012_mustang:index 2.html.
Thank you Medicine Horse

"RESERVE DESIGN" and "THE WILD HORSE CONSPIRACY" by Craig DOWNER

craig and escalante

craig and gabriele

craig and escalante

Craig Downer is traveling the Rocky Mountain States to promote his book: THE WILD HORSE CONSPIRACY. He has stopped by the USGS FORT, the FOREST SERVICE, CSU Equine Behavioral Sciences and CU library to promote his model template of compassionate and self sustaining wild horse design which he calls RESERVE DESIGN. It focuses on establishing large (million acres) multi-geographical reserves with geographical barriers for mustangs with strong buffer zones that will allow the waking and waning of auto regulating and self stabilizing herd structures within designated WILD HORSE manangement areas. It will encourage the horses to stay within their safe areas by utilizing adverse conditioning. - He has stopped by the Strawbale house in Red Feather Lakes and Mustang Eco Tours for a couple of days (events at the Medicine Horse Mustang Awareness Day in Boulder, and several library presentations, incl. a meeting with the Colorado Wild Horse and Burro Partners. On May 4th he will continue to the SAND WASH BASIN WILD HORSE AREA west of Maybell Colorado to join local and out of state advocates on the RANGE (Herd watch/range watch). The DOI/BLM Director's challenge (2012) has awarded the Snake River Field Office 25 000 dollars for cooperation with advocates to improve the range, conduct census and review fertility control, etc.  In view of the planned 2013 bait trapping of some of the 250 Sand Wash horses (on 160 000 acres) this is an important opportunity to meet. It coincides with the traditional Sombrero round-up and there will be several riders, photographers and artists camping on the range.

A perfect time for a PORTRAIT of a WILD PONY WAY LOVER: PATRICIA BURGE

        

Photo and Text by John Stephen Hockensmith

FIERCE GRACE (Tony Stromberg photo of SUNDOWNER, ancient stallion at the Cayuse Ranch, Spanish Mustang Registry, Oshoto, Wyoming - taken probably in 2003)

Sundowner and Patricia Burge (photo by JOHN STEPHEN HOCKENSMITH author of SPANISH MUSTANG, the history of the Spanish Mustang)

 At the Fundraiser for ISPMB in Estes Park. It was snowing on April 14th....Coppersmith and Shawnee with us .

Last year (2011) before the Extreme Mustang Makeover - practicing with Coppersmith to stand on a pedestal at the Spirit Dancer Ranch, where the Mustang Riders practice each Sunday.

With the Mustang Riders (here on Marvin, reserve champion of the 2010 Extreme Mustang Makeover)

2011  Ft. Collins: During a protest at the 40th anniversary of the ACT of CONGRESS for the protection of the mustangs and burros and the life and work of WILD HORSE ANNIE.

Today my friend and photographer/author John Stephen Hockensmith posted a paragraph about a very special lady, that I have known for over 15 years now. Her name is PATRICIA BURGE: We started out being Mounted patrol Poudre Wilderness Volunteers and since we live one Canyon apart here in Northern Colorado exchanged on a regular basis in regard to horse-upkeep and we took every opportunity to ride together. At the time I rode a Thoroughbred and she rode a Shagya Arabian. We both loved Icelandic Horses and Frisians and like everyone tried to experience them all. All said and done today she has one (famous) Fell Pony, two spanish mustangs, one POA, one miniture and one otherpony...- And somewhere in time I took her up to OSHOTO to visit the Spanish Mustang Registry and that changed the course of life and activity a bit....I can't recall the exact chronology, but we have been through a lot together: Witness of the 2009 Little Bookcliffs Roundup, Trip to Pryor, the town and then to the Wild Horse Herd, combined with stopover in Lovell, countless rides in our function as Forest Service volunteers, in parades, in our membership with the Northern Colorado Wild Horse and Burro Partners and now the Northern Colorado Mustang Riders and the involvement with the Extreme Mustang Makeover. We have encouraged each other and ennerved each other over mustang issues and suffering and through all I realize that there is not one other individual that I have spent quite that much time always addressing the same question: WHEN CAN WE RIDE and HOW ARE THE MUSTANGS..So today I wanted to join John Stephen and express my gratitude to PATRICIA BURGE, the concert pianist, who donated the music for the little video about the mustangs, whose EARTHSONG sounds through the Roosevelt National Forest. Patricia Burge, the teacher, who still today (fridays) drives to town to teach some promising future virtuoso, Patricia Burge, who is still saving animals (horses, wolves, and any other critter in need). Patricia Burge who lives with her beloved husband Dick Vessel in the WILD PONY WAY ....

FUNDRAISER for ISPMB (Intern. Soc. for the protection of mustang and burro)

On April 14th we were invited to haul COPPERSMITH TAG #900 to Estes Park, Colorado to participate in a Fundraiser for the OLDEST Wild Horse sanctuary in the country. Founded by WIILD HORSE ANNIE and now in the hands of KAREN SUSSMAN, ISPMB' 400 horses on 700 acres are located in the middle of the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation in Lantry,SD. This event was organized by renouned Wildlife Photographer WELDON LEE and his wife LORI. 50some participants gathered and listened to compassionate stories of WILD HORSE encounters, communication, history and rescue.  A substantial amount of money was raised to support the extensive and ever-growing Hay costs.
Karen Sussman detailed her heritage Herds, but also eluded to the fact that numbers in the sanctuary needed to be controlled and that some of the horses were for sale.

Topics, like adoption, Bait-trapping etc were raised and the question session brought some interesting details. Mostly though the public gathered to adore and touch and relate to the glorious life mustang outside the gathering. COPPERSMITH TAG #900...my 2011 Extreme Mustang from the Ft. COLLINS MUSTANG MAKEOVER. The weather was harsh and wintery and the drive home a little questionable. Patricia Burge and my little dog Shawnee made it home safe.

Remember 2007: www.abenteuerreiter.de

In the beginning of 2007 I received a call from Germany. On the other end was a man who was looking for mustangs. He was an adventure rider and had already ridden from Patagonia (South America) to Mexico on 4 Criollo horses. He had not been able to bring the horses across the border because they had been exposed to a disease that prohibited import into the US.
During the conversation we discussed a plan to pick up 4 mustangs from the Canon City program and train and condition them at my Strawbale House in Red Feather Lakes, CO. from where he and his then new Partner would set out for the US segment of the Continental Divide Trail Ride (continuation).

This is their diary in German on their website 

In April I picked up Guenter Wamser and Sonja Endlweber from the Denver Airport and took them to my home in the Rockies. 3 interesting months followed. As it says, we picked up the 4 mustangs on June 22nd. At the time the two adventurers still lived in my house preparing equipment, mapping the schedule, weighing each individual item and practicing GPS navigation...The location of the house proved perfect, since the extra altitude would guarantee good condition for both horses and riders and the adjacent Forest Service Land was a great practice ground (So the cappucino was served in the morning and then they headed out pretending to be on the Continental Divide until the good smells of lunch drifted across the meadow and the horses were hobbled high-lined or staked for the night.) Gradually I urged them a bit more into the landscape, the tent was pitched next to the paddock, the nights started to be glorious and the bears stayed away for the time being. For Sonja and Guenter this was also a new adventure. They had just met during a christmas presentation of Guenters previous ride through South America and they were on their first love and live adventure (with Sonja being new to training and trail riding). The 4 year old MUSTANGS were amazing: DINO; LIGHTFOOT,ASAPACHE, RUSTY took to the new life with vigor, even though rounded up in different parts of the country, from different HMA's they had spend some time living together in Canon City. They settled in among my mustangs and the  beautiful spring grass was a wonderful reward for their sacrifices since being captured.

Guenter Wamser, Leni the dog and Asapache the mustang

I enjoyed their thorough and compassionate approach to both the animals and the land and felt this to be a "LEAVE NO TRACE", very worthwhile "RENEWABLE RESOURCE" adventure. It felt just right to support a dream that did not cost much in the way of monetary funds but took a WHOLE LOT OF COURAGE and determination...Now, 5 years later, this illustrious group of travelers, Horses dog and man and woman are still spending a good couple of months each year strutting north, currently getting ready for Alaska ...In the winter months they retreat to Germany and Austria and enjoy great cuisine and the Vienna Philharmonic and give slide show and power point presentations to all the dreamers who did not find the moment to jump off the train....(this will provide the necessary funds to continue, all in all 18 years now for Guenter Wamser). The horses take their earned rest, overwintering in Canada ( now between 9 and 10 years old) Each time I see Fran Ackley from Canon City (during the Mustang Makeover or some other mustang event, we chuckle and admire these animals who have proven to be the perfect mounts for this expedition into the UNKNOWN...

Guenter bringing the horses up to the house from the Forest Service Land.

 I would like to point your attention to all the other wonderful ride opportunities coming up. And consider participating with your favorite mustang. This is our opportunity to show the full potential of these horses and allow them to perform in what they feel most comfortable in: WILDERNESS

I love to see mustangs in my corrals...add these to my own 7 (I now have one for each day of the week)

Please go to these links to find a ride that suits you:....sorry there are no links...but luckily so, there are 188 Horse Management areas in the US, PUBLIC LANDS where wild horses live. We will be riding one of these during the Maybell Colorado: SOMBRERO ROUNDUP (rounding up dude horses from winter pasture) on May 3,4,5 and 6.
There is also a beautiful ride planned along part of the Santa Fe Trail in the fall at the Cimarron Sky Dog Wild horse sanctuary in Watrous NM.
FIND YOUR OWN closest wild horse area and take time out. INVOKING THE PAUSE, battle NATURE DEFICIT DISORDER and claim your spot in the sun amongst our wild horses.

Sonja and Guenter just before the outset...

More to follow: