A New Year for Friendships to Grow

It has been over a month now that we have had Image and Ember out with our older girls in the big pasture.

Ember

Image

It has been interesting to see how the addition of the kids would change the hierarchy within the herd.  Shy Ann continues her Alpha female status.  Touchy continues as second in command, but would really like to just be left alone.  Abi is no longer the last one in the pecking order.  Surprisingly, Image is next and Ember comes in last.  Image and Ember tend to stick together and don’t hang out with the older girls all of the time.  Abi probably has the most interest in the kids and will try to initiate conversation with Ember.

Abi wanting to make friends with Ember

Even though Ember craves that interaction, she is still a little unsure of the situation and will generally leave the area quickly.  I have also seen Shy Ann trying to herd the kids around, but with 4 to watch over now with her Alpha status, it gets a little difficult when they all go in different directions.  So, she stays somewhat content in moving Abi around.

We use an ATV to feed the horses their hay in the winter.  The older girls know that the ATV means it’s time to eat.  They love running along side of Terry, kicking up and having fun.

Abi and Shy Ann running along with Terry

So far the kids just watch this from a distance.

Abi and Shy Ann playing before mealtime

Image and Ember hang back, not sure they want to join in the big girls' play

We still bring the kids over to the corral every day for continued fun and games in the round pen.   That means crossing the creek to get to the corral area.  Image knows that there will be a treat involved so he usually likes to be first.

Image telling Ember that he is going to go first

Image crossing the creek

Embers turn to cross the creek

A few days ago the heavy rains left the creek very high and the corral and paddock area a muddy mess.

Image at the edge of the swollen creek

Ember joins Image by the creek a little drink

So we decided to work on our training in the pasture.  Terry took the big girls over the back pasture so we would be able to concentrate on the kids and them on us without any drama in the open area.  We practiced leading and making our figure 8’s.  After a job well done, rewards of feed and hay were enjoyed greatly!

We decided it was time to open up the back pasture for the kids.  We have always left this pasture open to the big girls, but thought it best to let the kids get used to the regular pasture before introducing them to more places to run.  The big girls have just been going over there on their own and it took a couple of days for Ember to join them.  Image seemed to have no interest at all in going over there, so he stayed in the main pasture.  When he looked up and couldn’t see his cousin, he cried out to her.  He ran closer to the fence that separated them.  Ember heard his cry and came running to him.

Ember on the left side of the fence, Image on the right. They are hard to see but they are there.

He was clearly confused as to how to get to her.  He ran up and down the fence line and finally settled in on a place up at the top of the pasture where there are cedar, crabapple and apple trees.

Image by a cedar tree, what I think is his comfort zone

This is one of the places that Ember and Image spend their nights, tucked in to the cedar trees.  I think it is probably the closest they have come to feeling like their mountain home, when they used to tuck in against the Douglas Fir trees.  Ember came running over to Image and they spoke to one another.

Ember telling Image to "Come on!"

I can only imagine what they were saying.  Perhaps Ember was telling Image: “Come on!  There’s more grass over here!”   Image saying back:  “yeah, but how do I get there?”

Terry and I were already halfway out there to help him get to the opening to the back pasture.  We put a lead rope on him and started walking him down to the opening.  Ember tore down to the opening and came up to help us get her cousin to the other side.

Ember coming down to help us show Image the way

Ember tore around the corner and circled around us, urging Image to then follow

It was if she was saying: “Come on!  It’s up here!”

Ember led the way to this new pasture

This actually turned out to be a good thing as we were able to help Image figure out the new boundaries of this part of the pasture.  We walked them to the far side and started up the hill.

Ember and Image checking out their new grazing and running grounds

We looked up to see Shy Ann and Abi tearing our way, wanting to run and have some fun.

Shy Ann and Abi coming our way. Touchy content to stay behind.

I was a little surprised that Ember did not join in.  Perhaps she sensed Image’s reluctance to be left alone.

Abi, feeling pretty good

Running and having some fun

Kicking up and having a good time

Abi, on the top of her world

She seemed to be content by Image’s side, grazing.

Ember and Image taking in all of the new sights

Shy Ann moving Ember and Abi

Image thought he'd better listen to the 'boss lady' and move too

Shy Ann went over to the kids to start moving them around.

Image and Ember moving up the hill

The kids checking out their new boundaries

Another good thing for them to know where it is in the light of day.  We watched them all settle down and start to graze again.

Shy Ann, our 'dragon lady'

2010 will be a great year for cultivating new friendships and strengthening older ones.

Making Friends

A well-meaning friend asked me the other day if we “got those mustangs broke yet?” I was quick to tell him that we are gentling them, not breaking them.  He didn’t quite understand so I went on to explain that we want to be their friends and you don’t try to break your friends down.  You start by letting them know they can trust you and a friendship starts to build from there.  He still looked a little uncertain of this, so I then asked him how he treats his friends and how his friends treat him.  I think I finally got through to him, but I am not so sure…

It is very unusual for two people to become friends without knowing anything about the other.  Friendships are built by spending a lot time getting to know each other.  You communicate with each other and sometimes you have to learn a new language to do this.  If you are totally committed to this friendship you will do all that you can to learn as much as you can about the other.  You find common bonds and build on that.  Soon you learn to trust each other, knowing that the other will not betray that trust.

Ember and Image

We set out to do just that with Image and Ember.  We knew we had our challenges ahead of us having 2 wild horses to work with.  We knew that they would have a tendency to look to each other for comfort before coming to us.  So we had to get a little creative in our ways of working with them.

Ember's Beautiful Mane

Horses have a very beautiful language in that every body position means something different to them.  Where we are standing in relation to their body.  The squareness of our body to theirs.  What it means if we stand behind them.  It is ALL a part of their language.  And if we had any hope of our friendship with Image and Ember to grow, we needed to realize how important this language is.  Just something as simple as standing in the wrong place could give them mixed signals on what we are asking them to do.  My husband loves to use hand signals, especially when we are out in the field baling hay.  Sometimes I have no idea what he is asking of me with the motions of his hands so I have no idea what he wants me to.  So it is very important for me to learn his language of hand signals.  By thinking in these terms, I can completely understand how important all forms of communication are: whether baling hay or building friendships with a wild horse.

Image and Ember in their paddock area

We needed to keep working with Image in overcoming his fear of the corral.  We knew that he had to have some good experiences in a corral to start overcoming that fear.  We knew the terrors he had faced in the corrals of his not-so-distance past and we did not want him to relive any of those experiences any longer than he had to.  We gently coaxed him in and out of the corral several times and then left the gate open to their paddock area so that he could freely go in and out of the corral on his own.  My heart is happy that he no longer shudders at the thought of going through that gate.  He just walks right on it without any hesitation now.

Me with Image and Ember

Next we started working with a lead rope.  They both got used to having the rope anywhere and everywhere on their body.  Then it was time to learn how to lead.  Image did really well.  With pressure – release techniques, he was soon leading very well.  We were careful to always reward for doing well, even in the smallest of victories.  Sometimes he would get a little stubborn, but by gently coaxing him from the back, similar to what his mom may have done in the wild, he would almost always do as we asked.  If not, we backed up to what he knew he could do and started over.

Me with Image after leading him around the corral

After leading Ember around the corral

Ember was a little trickier and we found that lunging her worked best.  She has a tremendous amount of energy and gets bored very fast if not doing something fun and exciting.  She has been doing very well with leading now.  Every now and then she becomes “Queen Ember” and will not do a thing we ask of her.  I have learned that Ember is a thinker.  She has to think every thing through before she does anything.  She is so different from Image in how she approaches different situations.  I know I have said this before, but it still remains true.  She will come around in her own time.  And we will be here, waiting.  Sometimes friendships are built very quickly and sometimes they take some time to build that trust.  We have the time.

We let both Touchy and our 8 year old mustang, Abi, out with the kids to let them get to know each other.  Touchy, having been out with the kids before, did very well with them.

Image and Touchy

Not knowing exactly what Abi would do when introduced to the kids, we put a halter on her.  Abi was so excited and nervous to meet the new kids, she ran in circles.  In her excitement she kicked and bucked and put on quite a show.  Never once did she aim at the kids.  All of this was nervous energy and excitement.  As soon as she calmed down, she came over to where Terry and I were to get some comfort.  We coaxed her over to the kids so she could start building a friendship.  She was little too keyed up to completely enjoy the situation.

Abi meeting the kids

With both Image and Ember now leading fairly well, both in the corral and out in their paddock, we knew it was time to let them out into the big pasture with the big girls.  We put halters on both Shy Ann and Abi.  And then we put all three older girls in the back pasture so the kids could completely focus on us and what we were asking them to do.  We led them over to the creek to cross it to get to the pasture.  We had thought that this may be a challenge for them.  Even though they were both used to getting in the water holes up on the mountain, running water was a completely different thing.  With a lot of coaxing, one step at a time, I was able to walk Image across the creek.  True to her fashion, Ember had to think about it.  While thinking about it, she stuck her nuzzle in the water and seemed to be blowing bubbles.  She knew what she had to do.  She wasn’t crazy about the idea though.   She chose to jump across rather than walk through the water.

Image saw the green grass and immediately wanted to graze, so I let him.  Ember saw the other horses in the back pasture and thought that getting to them was a higher priority.   After Image got a few good mouthfuls of grass, I led him closer to Ember in the center of our big pasture.

Image and Ember in the big pasture for the first time

We took their lead ropes off and let them graze for a couple of hours before letting the big girls back in the pasture with them.  Ember ran close to the fence that separated her from her new friends.  Everyone got excited by this and were soon prancing around.  Everyone but Image, that is.  He was clearly more interested in enjoying this green heaven he had just been led into.

We were unsure what would happen when our alpha, Shy Ann, met the kids for the first time.  We knew that the area had to be big for them to run in so we waited until this moment to let them meet without fences or corral panels.  Terry stood close to the kids as I opened the gate for the big girls to come back in to the main pasture.

Shy Ann about to meet Image and Ember

Shy Ann trotted down to the kids and sniffed around.  She immediately postured her Queen status, as if the kids didn’t already know the power she holds in this new world.  But just to make sure all was understood, she told them the way it was going to be.

Shy Ann greeting the kids

Image showed no signs of questioning Shy Ann’s authority.  Ember, on the other hand, decided to sass Shy Ann a bit.  She led Shy Ann on a merry chase.   She knows that Shy Ann is the queen of this green castle, but she can still have fun, right?Abi decided to join in the fun. And soon they were all tearing across the pasture.Image brought up the rear.  He is clearly not in to running as his cousin Ember is.Ember was born to run and run she did!  It did my heart good to see her so happy running all over the place. Image stuck to Ember like glue when Shy Ann decided to exude her authority once again and chase them around a bit.Ember soon outran Image and left him behind as Shy Ann continued her chase of Ember.  I was surprised to see Shy Ann snaking Ember.  I have only seen stallions do this in the wild to bring members of their band back into the fold.  They all soon settled down and went back to grazing.  It took a few more hours for them all to get close to each other and graze without any drama.  I was very pleased that no one got kicked or hurt.  These friendships are not being built overnight, but in time we will all learn to trust and depend on each other.

Facing Fears

“Look, the Lord your God has set the land before you;

go up and possess it, as the Lord God of your fathers has spoken to you;

do not fear or be discouraged.”

Deuteronomy 1:21

As the Israelites had uncertainty about their future in a land they did not know, Moses encouraged them to have faith that God would take care of their needs. We all have fears in our life that we must face. Sometimes we try to run away from them or try to hide from them or ignore them. But sooner or later that bitter taste of fear comes rushing back. I think of all of the different experiences I would have missed if I had given in to the fear that tries to discourage me from being the person God wants me to be. Having faith in God and trusting in Him to see me through the scary parts in life as well as the joyous times, has allowed me to grow. Not only spiritually, but in all aspects of my life.

On top of Pryor Mountain

I can honestly say that I was afraid to drive across the country, up a horribly rugged mountain-side road, camp primitively up on a mountain with wild animals prowling around and that scary drive back down that rugged road.

Black bear on Pryor Mountain

So many things could have gone wrong in so many ways. Dwelling on those scary things is what keeps us from facing our fears and confidently moving past them. By asking God to help me face these fears head on, He becomes the One navigating the way and I get to enjoy the ride and the rewards at the end of the road.

Chino on Clouds Island, on top of Pryor Mountain

Just as we all have fears, especially of the unknown, Image and Ember have some fears of their own. They are facing a new home that they do not know. New sights and sounds that they have never experienced before.

A small portion of Image and Embers new home

All of a sudden these 2 legged creatures are right there in their space, all of the time! Because we, as humans, have eyes on the front of our faces and not on the sides of our faces, tells them immediately that we are predators. And we actually smell like meat because we eat meat, just as horses smell like the grasses they eat. Horses’ eyes are on the sides of their faces so they can see all around them on both sides at the same time. They are prey animals: willing and quite able to flee at a moments notice if the threat of danger is there. Understanding that their fears are quite real, we have set out to help them face these fears in a way that is non-threatening to them. We have been gently letting them know that we are not going to hurt them or ask them to do anything that will put them in danger. We are asking them to trust us. The way to trust something or someone that you are unsure of is to communicate with them. By telling Image and Ember constantly that we are not a threat to them, has helped them come to realize that they do not have to be afraid of us. We have been communicating to them by starting to touch them ever so slightly on their mouth area while they are eating, and slowly working our way up their necks with touches that might mimic their mothers. Slowly moving along their spine to their hind quarters in movement meant to sooth not scare. Slowly working our way around their backs, never breaking contact, to their other side and working our way back up to their faces.  Because it has been so wet and rainy here in Ohio, the corral had become a muddy mess.  So we fenced off a section of the upper pasture that connects to the corral so the kids could graze and have more room to roam before their ground work in the round pen.

Ember grazing

We have left the corral gate open to them and kept their water inside so they would get used to going in and coming out of the corral on their own.  Ember has no trouble doing this at all.  Image continues to need encouragement to go in and come out of the corral.

Image grazing

He is still facing some fears he has of corrals.  I can only imagine what he must have gone through in the corrals at Britton Springs between the round up and the adoption.  Acting as his mother might, we have been coaxing him in and out of the corral.  A couple of days ago, we let our 28 year old Touchy in with the kids so they could all  get to know each other better.  Touchy had a rough start in life with abusive owners who never let her out of her stall in her first 4 years.  Terry rescued her from that horrible situation and they have been best buds for the past 24 years.  She has had some other trials in her life.  If you notice in the photos, she is missing her left eye.  Several years ago she had a fungus that was growing behind her eye and within 3 days she lost her site in that eye completely.  The vet gave us the choice of either taking her eye out or putting her down.  There really was no choice…….

Touchy and Ember getting to know each other

Terry watching to make sure everyone was getting along

We watched close by as Touchy started to check out the new kids.  At first Image and Ember were a little afraid, but Touchy showed no signs of dominance or aggression, just curiosity.  Ember, being the socialite that she is, made the first move to Touchy to make friends.  They spoke in a language that was beautiful to watch.  As soon as Touchy was satisfied with this new friend she had made, she turned her attention to Image.  She ambled over to him and sniffed him all around.  Image, in his typical fashion, lifted his head, looked at her and promptly went back to eating!  He was clearly not caring too much about making friends with anyone who was NOT giving him food!  I had to chuckle while watching them.  Image and Ember are completely different in how they each approach new situations.  I am hopeful that once we start the ground work in the round pen, that Image and Ember will consider us good leaders worth following and that their fears will be put to rest.

A new home for Image and Ember

Every time I go to the Pryor Mountains it is an experience unique unto itself, filled with new challenges, inspiration and much joy. My trek up to the top of the Pryor Mountains the summer of 2008 was no different. The only way to the top was on the rugged bone jarring road called Burnt Timber. Climbing rock after rock in 4WD low, we slowly made our way to the top of the mountain. As we reached the point where Burnt Timber meets Sykes Ridge Road, we could see some horses over on Cloud’s Island. As excitement filled us, we started hiking out to the horses. We soon came upon Cloud and his beautiful band. The closer we got we could see a miniature version of Cloud! A little white fluff-ball with legs, he couldn’t have been more than a month old! Image soon stole my heart as I watched him snoozing in the wildflowers.

Image enjoying a mid morning snooze

Dancer and Image

Another little one in Cloud’s band was Firestorm’s daughter Ember. As I got a closer look at her, I could see she had a horribly long wound on her right shoulder. The only thing I could think that would make a wound like that was a mountain lion. Oh, poor baby, my heart melted for her. The wound was big and she was such a little thing. Was there any way her wound would heal? Would she make it through the coming winter months? Would she even survive the coming night? Thoughts of the mountain lion coming back for more gave me chills. I had little hope that she would make it through the harsh winter to come.

Ember with her mom Firestorm and Image with his mom Dancer

Firestorm and Ember

As we spent that week up on the Pryor Mountains, we faced many challenges. The raging storms kept the roads very slick and virtually impossible to drive on. The hail storms kept us tucked inside of Penn’s Cabin and very thankful for the shelter it provided.

Two Boots and his band greet us at Penn's Cabin

The following summer I once again made that long drive out to the Pryor Mountains to spend time with the wild horses that had captured my heart. The horses were not hard to find. They were right on the road! We soon found Cloud and his band. Image looked a little small for his age and little thin, but seemed to be doing very well.

Image and Cloud

Image among the lupines

A little later we found Ember’s mom Firestorm with Jackson’s band. To my amazement Ember was with them! She had survived the winter and she looked fabulous. I was amazed at how well she had healed from her mountain lion attack. There wasn’t a scar on her! She is a true survivor.

Ember

When Image and Ember were to be permanently removed from the only home they ever knew, my husband Terry and I decided to give them a place to live with us and our other 3 horses on our farm in Ohio. I would have preferred they stay in the wild with their families on their mountain top home, but since that was not an option, we will try to give them the next best thing. I was a little surprised at how much weight Image had lost between the round up and the time of the adoption. I am hopeful that with a lot of TLC, we can bring him back up to good health.

A huge thank you to Cheryl for taking such great care of these 2 youngsters until my schedule cleared so we could head out west to pick them up. When we arrived at Cheryl’s ranch, I could already see a huge difference in Image. In Cheryl’s care, he had gained a good bit of weight. Even though it was only mid October, Image and Ember had a good start on their winter coats. Our horses had only just begun to grow their thicker hair for winter. As soon as we got back home, Terry put our girls, Touchy, Abi and Shy Ann, in the back pasture so we could get Image and Ember into the corral without too much drama. Our girls could see the new kids and called out to them. Ember gave a return high pitched greeting. We let the kids get acclimated a bit before letting our girls back over to the barnyard where the corral is.

Ember and Image at their new home

Image immediately allowed us to touch him all over and seems to crave our affection and attention. Ember is a little more wary and would only allow me the barest of touches when she ate hay out of my hand. She is definitely more interested in socializing with our older girls than with us. Image took one look at our older girls when they came back over and was clearly unimpressed as he went back to eating his hay.

Image on his first day on our farm in Ohio.

Ember allowing only the barest of touches on her first day with us

Ember socializing with Shy Ann and Touchy

We are hopeful that Image and Ember will come to love our little piece of heaven here on earth as much as we do. It has been a wonderful start to this new chapter in all of our lives.

Massive Removal from Clouds Herd

When I found out that the BLM (Bureau of Land Management, government agency that is supposed to ‘manage’ wild horses in the US) was planning a massive removal of the beloved wild horse herd that I follow and photograph, my heart cried out that it must not happen! And following my heart, I got busy writing letter after letter to try to stop this round up. Along with thousands of other people whose hearts were just as shattered as mine, the BLM turned a deaf ear to the outcry. They moved forward with the destructive round up, citing that the land could not sustain the number of wild horses that it held. This had me shaking my head in disbelief. Having been on the Pryor Mountain wild horse range in Montana many times over the past several years, I started to wonder if the BLM had taken the wrong road to the mountain to make these determinations. The Pryor Mountain wild horses enjoy lush summer grazing atop their beautiful home.

Shaman on his mountain top home

The amount of precipitation the mountain range has received in the past 3 years is incredibly high. This gives the snow-fed water holes an abundance of water, not only for the wild horses, but also for the other wildlife that call the Pryors their home. The BLM is stating that the horses will starve to death if they are not removed from their mountain home. I have yet to see a starving horse in all of the years I have visited the Pryors. These horses are incredibly healthy. Another interesting tale the BLM has told is that many of the young foals have died over the summer months due to lack of nutrition in their mother’s milk. If they ever bothered to actually go up on the mountain to watch and observe these wild horses, they would have seen that predation by mountain lions has played the major part in the deaths of these young ones.

Chance's band

Despite the thousands of letters, emails and phone calls from around the world protesting this round up, the BLM went ahead and conducted their ‘gather’. Out of 182 horses, they ripped 57 wild horses from their families and the only home they have ever known. Many of Cloud’s family were permanently removed from the only home they have ever known: Image, Ember, Rain, Arrow and Sage. Sadly, an entire subpopulation of Pryor wild horses were removed as well. They had been using the Custer National Forest as their home long before Wild Horse and Burro Act was put into motion in 1971.

Wild Horse and Burro Act of 1971:

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress
assembled, That Congress finds and declares that wild free-roaming horses and burros are living symbols
of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West; that they contribute to the diversity of life forms within the
Nation and enrich the lives of the American people; and that these horses and burros are fast disappearing
fromthe American scene. It is the policy of Congress that wild free-roaming horses and burros shall be
protected from capture, branding, harassment, or death; and to accomplish this they are to be considered
in the area where presently found, as an integral part of the natural system of the public lands.

Even though wild horses were documented as being on Forest Service land the day the Wild Horse and Burro Act was put into motion in 1971, the Forest Service does not want anything to do with the beautiful horses that call that land their home. Even though the BLM had stated they would only remove a few of these horses, they ended up removing ALL of them from the Custer Forest Service land.

Cloud and his daughter Firestorm mutual grooming

Thanks to the Cloud Foundation and supporters from all over the world, the entire group of Forest Service horses were adopted as a group and are on a ranch very close to their mountain home. It is my hope that someday they will be let back onto their mountain top home – to freedom.

Pryor Mountain Wild Horses

If someone were to ask me what my most favorite place on this earth is, I would have to say the Pryor Mountains of Montana. There is a beauty there that no other place can match. A solace that soothes my soul. In the quiet of the mountain top, I can hear the wind whispering in the pines, the chatter of the mountain bluebirds as they flit about. The crisp mountain air is filled with the fragrance of pines as they dance in the breeze. Wildflowers in every color imaginable dazzle and beckon a closer look.

Shooting Stars on top of Pryor Mountain

A coyote is yipping to his mate. Wild horses that move with a grace that just takes my breath away. I find myself holding my breath, mesmerized by every detail. In the stillness of the moment, all of my senses are filled. Suddenly the sound of thunder fills the air! Soon I can feel the earth tremble beneath my feet. Then over the distant hill, I see a band of wild horses coming my way.

Bachelors at they race across the mountain top

Oh the beauty, the sheer freedom as they race across the meadow! For a moment I am lost in the moment and feel as though I am running with them across their mountain top home…

Bachelor band of wild horses

Over the past several years I have come to know and love these horses. I am honored that they have allowed me into their beautiful world. I can’t help but come back to the mountain time and again. I love every little thing about these beautiful creatures, from the little one dancing in the sunset to a band stallion taking a snooze in the morning sun. With a camera, I have set out to capture the very essence of their being. In the coming entries I will share a little more of my adventures with these amazing wild horses and how they are playing a key role in my life.

Cloud and his band on Clouds Island