If anyone ever tells you that you pack like a girl, just know that it’s a compliment.

When we spend time in the backcountry with the Wild Horse Outreach & Advocacy Ambassador Mustangs, we take all the time in the world to stop and enjoy the sights, sounds and smells out there.

Frost on the grass before the morning sun touches it, even in July. The sound of nothing but leaves in the wind and horses grazing. The smell of fresh coffee wafting through camp in the early morning.

Our small, simple camp has everything we need. Tents to hide and read and keep ourselves, the dogs and our clothes dry in. Solar lamps to read under at night.

A water filter station, bear bag tree (away from camp), cooking area, highlines for the horses and a tack and gear spot where a tarp covers saddles, pads, brushes, nose bags, saws, axe, camp chairs and more.

Snacks and books, hot tea and milk for coffee and hot chocolate. Fruit flavored electrolyte packets and lots of hand and toe warmers. We like to be comfortable, happy, healthy and organized out there.

Besides riding and exploring there’s lots of play time with the dogs, watching the Mustangs graze and making sure they all get their feed and supplements so they can stay strong and healthy too. Do they get spoiled a little extra out there? Probably. They deserve it.

This year was Tay Martin ‘s second packing season and my 8th I think. I caught the bug all those years back. Come to find out it’s chronic and contagious.

Before you get started, you should know that it’s addicting, not cheap and you’ll get sucked in deeper every year. At some point on each trip, Taylor proclaims “That’s it, I’m staying, just leave me here.”

Yeah, it’ll do that to you too. And then you’re homesick for the mountains 350 days a year.

Packing is dangerous, uncomfortable, cold, wet, and every little thing out there is hard work.

It’s also freedom, peace, beauty, vulnerability, growth, connection, wonder, laughter, rest, being where your feet are and feeling acutely alive.

It’s my favorite thing in the world, and I’m so grateful to get to experience and share it with good friends, good horses and good dogs.

Maverick is a bay roan yearling Mustang gelding from Bordo Atravesado NM. We recently measured him at 13.1hh. He string tests to 14.2hh.

This guy is built like a QH. He’s quicker on his feet and cattier than most Mustangs I’ve seen. We believe he’d do great working cows some day.

Maverick is sane yet sensitive and athletic. He wears a mare face (see last photo) 80% of the time. You will feel judged and likely are being judged when you’re around him.

He’s good to catch and halter, gets along well with other horses and dogs, he leads, loads, ties well, stands to be sprayed, lunges, backs, moves his hips and shoulders and will lead or send over obstacles.

Maverick is good with his feet and has his first trim coming up. He’s not spooky. Mav loves going on walks and seeing the world.

He’s located at Wild Horse Outreach & Advocacy in Guffey, CO. We can help arrange hauling anywhere in the lower 48.

His ideal home is horse savvy, able and willing to work with an athlete that’s always watching. You’ll want to put in the time to prove to Maverick that you’re worth respecting and trusting.

Letting him sit, feeding him cookies all week and going on a 2h trail ride every 3rd Sunday would not be doing him justice and I don’t think he or his adopter would be happy.

Maverick would benefit from age appropriate continued handling and training and one day a job where he can use both his mind and body, be that working cattle on the range or in a pen, or navigating challenging mountain trails with his human partner.

We have Rowdy’s Ropes to thank for the training halter and rope and Karyn Miller for the Knotty Horse detangler she keeps us stocked up with.

You can help us help him if you comment on, like and share this post. Thank you, as always, for your support!

Please PM us if you’re interested in adopting or send an email to i n f o @ w i l d h o r s e o u t r e a c h . o r g

I was smitten with Rock the first time I saw him at the BLM holding facility in Cañon City, and beyond excited for the opportunity to bring him home.

My plan was to turn him into a solid working partner, find him the best home possible, and with his adoption fee buy a semi load of hay for the other Mustangs in training at Wild Horse Outreach & Advocacy

So much for my plans.

I’ll be forever grateful to Tay Martin and Cassie Krzeczowski for insisting, sometimes aggressively so, that Rock stay here. I protested, a lot, for a long time. “We don’t need a horse that big, he takes up a spot and a half in the trailer, and it’s too hard to pack a horse this tall. Besides, it’d be stupid to keep him because of what he’s worth.”

That’s all true. And yet, there’s more to it. Rock is a friend to everyone. He’s happy to meet neighbors, clients and adopters, is good with the students when I take him to school, he’s a spectacular pack horse once you hoist the load up there, he’ll pull anything, and I couldn’t ask for a better-minded 4yo.

Riding a 4yo is like riding a 6yo one minute and a 2yo the next. Even at his wiggliest, most baby-brained, this big boy is manageable, sane and kind. He loves covering country, he’s done 3 pack trips with us this summer and he’s always game when I need him to carry a friend.

Between his impressive exterior and his puppy dog personality, Rock is an inspiration and he sticks in people’s minds. That makes him worth everything as an Ambassador Mustang, advocating for his kind wherever he goes. He’s our Rock, in more ways than one.

This past weekend he was the best boy for a sunny fall mountain ride with Eduardo Garcia who would now also like a Rock. Truth be told, who wouldn’t!?

Enjoy the pictures of Eduardo with both Rock and Spur.

Spur is, well, different, and very selectively friendly. His biggest sign of affection is hiding behind someone, and he thought Eduardo was a wonderful shield.

These guys did what our Ambassador Mustangs are for… Helping people make lasting memories, open their hearts to Mustangs, and inspiring them to get involved in helping and advocating for wild horses.

Wrapping up the weekend with good news is the best, especially when it’s about the struggle bus wildies making headway towards getting along in our world

Wiley, 2yo buckskin White Mountain WY Mustang gelding, has proven that while he’s not “easy”, he’s trainable and retains lessons well. He leads great, crosses obstacles, lunges, sends and is learning to pick up his feet without the leg rope.

He didn’t bat an eye at the surcingle, weirdly enjoys wearing a bridle (he was trying to get the cheek piece in his mouth first and needed to be redirected, then was very content to calmly pack the bit), he ties great and hobbles without issue.

Topaz, 4yo dun Stewart Creek WY Mustang gelding who’s been with us for, like, ever (over a year now, trying to make it through kindergarten while everyone else was graduating elementary school, ooof), had his first trim.

He was a champ for his first ever “big kid” trim with CK Hoof Care CBT, APF-I , even when we ran out of daylight and she trimmed his hind feet with a headlamp, and despite frequent and rather vocal interruptions when Rock repeatedly decided to try and modify the paint job on her truck. It’s never boring living with wild horses.

The home search for these two will be slow and methodical. Big and colorful gets attention. What’s more important is a good fit. That’s going to be harder to do. We may have someone for Wiley once he’s ready. Stay tuned for an “available for adoption” post on Topaz after Cassie puts the finishing touches on his feet late next week.

We couldn’t do this without your help. Wild Horse Outreach & Advocacy is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization based in Guffey, CO. We help wild horses and their humans be safe and happy, long-term, by carefully matching Mustangs with suitable adopters and by supporting owners and adopters of Mustangs on their gentling journey and beyond.

Each of these big boys eats an entire bale of hay a day. To the tune of $13+/bale. If you feel moved to skip Starbucks one morning and feed a wild horse breakfast instead, you’ll find ways to do so in the comments. Feel free to earmark your contribution for Wiley or Topaz, or both. We appreciate you!

Ground driving is a big part of riding (or, obviously, driving/pulling) prep for our young Mustangs at Wild Horse Outreach & Advocacy .

Here are Spur (4yo bay roan Stewart Creek WY Mustang gelding), Rock (4yo pangare bay Little Colorado WY Mustang gelding) and Firefly (2yo buckskin Bible Springs UT Mustang filly) during some of our ground driving adventures.

Spur and Rock are already being ridden. I still find ground driving out and about valuable to prevent buddy/barn sourness without my sometimes nervous self up there, and it lets them find their feet without a rider as their bodies continue to develop.

I often turn ground driving into double lungeing on the fly, asking them to trot and lope large circles out in the open (we practice that somewhere enclosed first, otherwise they can get pretty confused), also a great balance and confidence building exercise.

We get 6 months of winter, plus mud season, plus monsoon season (2nd mud season). Ground driving is a great way to work horses while keeping warm when it’s extra chilly out. The fact that it’s a big step towards sledding for fun and skidding logs for firewood is a nice bonus.

I can navigate questionable footing more safely from the ground when I’d be hesitant to ride, especially a green horse.

As for Firefly, she’s learning voice commands and getting used to leaving her buddies, accepting the bit, steering, stopping, backing and standing quietly and having ropes all around her.

She ponies well and has worn several kinds of saddles, including the pack saddle. Once she gets some miles of packing even just tires under her belt, starting her under saddle is going to be a non-issue. That’s how I like it.

I’m not going to lie, I can be a wimp when it comes to starting colts. I only do it because I want to know what I’ve got and what the horse knows, not what someone else tells me. When I take them all the way from unhandled to under saddle, I get a pretty good idea of what they’re going to be like.

That being said, there are days where I don’t feel like riding a colt. Or not that colt. Or not the second colt on a long day of gentling wild horses on a hot/cold/windy day. Sometimes I ground drive in the morning and ride at night, or vice versa.

Either way, and at any stage of training, ground driving can be a fun and useful way to change things up and spend quality time with our horses. It makes for neat photo opportunities too.

*These 3 are not available. We have gentled Mustangs looking for their person at all times.*

This weekend many people celebrated spooky things.

Hence our highlighting Topaz, an enormous 4yo dun Stewart Creek WY Mustang gelding and the kindest wimp we’ve met yet.

This horse – we last measured him at 16hh, it’s time to measure again to see if he’s approaching the 16.1hh he string tested to – has been with us for a little over a year.

A year. This big boy eats a small bale of hay A DAY. He’s basically worth his weight in gold by now. If only horse math worked like that.

Why would we hang onto a Mustang for that long? Because he’s trying SO HARD to be friendly and brave.

Tay Martin calls him my “passion project”. Anytime she’d give me a heads up on how many months Topaz has been at Wild Horse Outreach & Advocacy , eating two normal horses’ worth of hay, I’d respond with “give it some more time, I really think he’ll come around”.

It’s beginning to look as though that’s true. Catching is easy now. Leading, lungeing and sending look like I’m working a horse rather than flying a kite. He loads and most importantly, he’s getting confident about feet handling.

Everything was hard for Topaz at first, but his fear of having his feet held, likely due to him struggling to balance on 3 legs was the biggest hurdle we needed to overcome.

Really big and very flighty was a hard combination. I managed ok with reactive, accident prone Spur. This guy was on another level. Mark Lyon spent 3 days with us earlier this year and helped me help Topaz finally connect the dots.

At this point he’s cautious but willing with most things, loves to be groomed and is quicker to calm down when he does get nervous. He respects rope pressure and 5ft panels.

Topaz is scheduled for his first real, full trim this month. Assuming he does well for our farrier, we’re going to start the search for his person.

Being as big and reluctant as he is, it’s going to take much more than just love and the desire to own a tall Mustang “with color” to do right by him.

Topaz is trainable and has the ability to be a very good boy in the right hands. We’ll be careful and patient in finding him a suitable, long-term home.

In the meantime, if you would like to support our Colorado-based 501c3 nonprofit organization and contribute to Topaz’ outrageous feed bill, you’ll find don@tion information in comments.

Thank you for helping us help wild horses, even when it takes them a little (or a lot) longer to learn their way around people.

An unusually wet early fall and busy schedules made putting pack trips together tricky this year.

I’m just a tiny bit stubborn and kept insisting that I wanted to show Tay Martin my favorite packing spot, despite it being a considerably longer drive and Taylor insisting that our go-to area is her “favorite place ever”.

I’d respond with “You’ll see…” each time, occasionally paired with an eye roll or a sigh.

On the 3rd attempt, we made it happen. Getting ready was a monumental effort between feeding the training hoeses, packing to go packing, and bringing Wild Horse Outreach & Advocacy Ambassador Mustangs Lacy, Rock and Tiny (not pictured) in from summer pasture. Then the long drive.

No sooner did we turn off the highway, still working on our supermarket sushi dinner, that “Are we there yet?” turned into “Ooooooo!!!!”. “Mhmm” I grunted. “Do I look like I drive all the way out here just for ‘meh’?”

Taylor also knows I have a favorite mountain where we were headed. I’m pretty weird but having favorite mountains isn’t a common occurrence for me. I have exactly one.

Time and weather had us camping out in the truck at the trailhead. After we got rained on but thankfully didn’t get hit by lightning or freeze our tails off that first night, we made our way into the backcountry the following morning.

“Is it that one?” Taylor would ask about every 7 1/2 minutes on a nearly 3h long ride, looking around for the mysterious mountain that’s also in our logo.

“Nope, can’t see it yet.” I’d reply for well past the 2h mark. Until we could. “Oooooo I get it now, I get it now, I get it now!!!” is what I heard from behind Lacy and Rock.

Some places are truly special. This is one of them.

Taylor took this picture after we got Rock the trusty pack horse unloaded, camp set up and went exploring, through my favorite meadow and up the side of my favorite mountain. I hadn’t been there in several years and it still felt like coming home.

*Pink flagging tape because of hunting season*

Ragnar is a 5yo bay Mustang gelding from Stewart Creek, WY. While this proud, stout guy thinks of himself as 17hh tall, 14hh is more realistic. He string tests to 14.2hh. One can hope, right!?

He is butt branded in addition to the typical BLM freezemark. Why? Not sure but(t) it makes him stand out. It was that and his soft, soulful eyes that spoke to me when I first saw him at the holding facility.

Ragnar is curious and has never met a stranger. He’s currently a wonderful babysitter to a yearling filly, and he’s good with dogs.

He has the most expressive eyes and allll the luscious hair. For the right treat he’d even try to fix your truck. He obviously loves food, yet is polite about letting us know that something he did is worthy of payment.

Ragnar leads, loads, ties, stands for grooming and fly spray, leads and sends over obstacles with ease. While he can get worried, he is not reactive and has a lot of try. He is trustworthy on walks out in the open and respectful of regular (5ft) panels.

He would do great with an adventurous, reasonably confident handler. A handy youth with adult guidance would be fine too. He’d really like a job and lots of people time.

Ragnar is available for adoption at Wild Horse Outreach & Advocacy , through the Forever Branded partnership program. He is located in Guffey, CO. Hauling can be arranged. He is SA and can travel. Please PM us if interested in adopting!

If you agree with us that he’s super cool and handsome and deserves the best home, but he’s not a good fit for you or the timing is off, please share and give others a chance to see and adopt this cool dude.

Thank you for your support, for following along and for engaging with this post to help Ragnar find his person, we appreciate you and we couldn’t do this without you!

Thank you also to Rowdy’s Ropes for the prettiest, Mustang-tested halters and lead ropes, and to Karyn Miller for keeping us stocked up with Knotty Horse detangler, or I’d still be out there brushing that mane!

Over the past week and a half, 15.3ish hh 4yo bay roan Stewart Creek WY Mustang gelding Spur has started his journey towards becoming a riding horse.

“Let me make sure he’s ready to start before he goes anywhere” turned into “I wonder if I can start him”. “I’m sitting up here and I didn’t die” became the first few steps.

Those led to wandering around the walking pen, trotting in the round pen and, with basic body control established, and both of us getting bored of having nowhere to go, venturing out into the real world

He has maybe 17 rides on him now, most of those out and about. He’s gone out alone a bit and with others, carried me in the high country and through the mountains close to home, leads or follows and ponies Lacy. He’s unconcerned about the dogs.

Yesterday during our ride a hopeful Denali jumped up on my leg, wanting to see if I could spare an alfalfa pellet, while I was on Spur. Nothing. My vest got hung up on a branch (sometimes I forget that I’m not on much shorter Lacy) and I had to hit the brakes so I wouldn’t get pulled off of him. Also nothing.

Out of the colts I’ve started over the years, he’s by far the one I was the most nervous about. Spur started out being a … complicated horse. Quirky. Sensitive. Athletic. Affectionate yet unforgiving. You get one chance to show him right. If that goes well, he’s great. If it doesn’t, you spend months undoing your mess-up.

He likes everything to be just so (I relate) and he knows his person. He merely tolerates most other adults but he loves kids.

When something isn’t the way he was taught, he lets me know or he fixes it himself. He knows that the ponied horse usually goes on the right. When I’m riding him, he puts Lacy on his right. When I’m switching and he’s standing on her left, he walks around her on his own and puts himself in the “right” spot.

When he’s nervous, touch helps him calm down, always has. So we joke that he’s happiest being ridden because he can wear his emotional support human as a blankie. He often lurks around the house looking for a bit more riding time while everyone else is content to be out grazing.

Taylor was mad at him (again) a couple of weeks ago. She went to catch him in the pasture. He gave her a scathing look and took off in a cloud of dust glistening in the early morning sun. Only to march up to me, stick his head in the halter and sigh a “Can you believe I just almost got horsenapped?!” into my coat. He’s special, that one.

I’m glad I took the time and 195 small steps to prepare this big delicate guy for where we’re at now. And to have faced the fear and started him anyway. He’s so content under a rider, eagerly walking out with a relaxed head set and on a loose rein. I’m proud of him and I feel encouraged for his future, wherever that will be.

Dragonfly and Phoenix (previously Tiny Elvis or TE) traveled from Colorado to Mississippi earlier this week.

Dragonfly, a gorgeous buckskin Stewart Creek WY Mustang mare, had been with us for a long while. She has a club foot that – understandably – caused some potential adopters not to choose her. Otherwise she is lovely in every way, so we waited patiently for the right home to come along.

Phoenix, a stunning seal bay wild conceived and captive born Devil’s Garden Mustang gelding, was transferred to Wild Horse Outreach & Advocacy by friends of ours who raised him but for health reasons were not able to keep him. The goal was to give him a training refresher and help him find his person.

These two 4 year olds won the wild horse lottery with previous adopters at The Champion Farm , joining red roan Devil’s Garden Mustang gelding Joey (formerly Pippin, he was an orphan foal bottle raised by staff at Double Devil Wild Horse Corrals and gentled and adopted out by us).

Dragonfly, facility born, had never had a pasture to graze in a day in her life. Until this past weekend. She is so happy!

Phoenix was infamous for going to great lengths in order to climb into, splash in and tip over water troughs. He’s very much enjoying having an actual pond to play in at his new home.

Dragonfly and Phoenix will get plenty of time to graze and play, attention, love, and continued training that will make them amazing partners both on the trail and in the show ring.

Education and manners are what keeps horses safe before anything else, so we’re always thrilled to place horses into homes where they can continue to learn and grow into having a job they’re well suited for.

We’ve received so many happy updates, pictures and videos already. Lanya Clinard ‘s husband Dave hauled them and kept us posted on their long yet uneventful journey to Mississippi.

It takes a village to make these happy beginnings happen. Thank you to all of you for following along, sharing, caring, supporting us and adopting, to the best, most reliable, communicative, punctual and wild horse savvy haulers (we have a list, feel free to ask us for it!) anyone could ask for, to Tay Martin for feeding everyone (including me because adulting is hard), your unwaivering support and much needed reality checks, Rocky Top Veterinary Service for your patience with our wildies and their humans, our brand inspector who always fits us into his schedule somehow, our favorite feral farrier CK Hoof Care CBT, APF-I for making early trims a good experience for the Mustangs, and Rowdy’s Ropes for halters and lead ropes that are beautiful and hold up to wild horses putting them to the test, being out in the elements and me using them in mud and snow much of the year.