Wiley is a tall 2yo buckskin White Mountain WY Mustang gelding. How tall you ask? Very. That’s all I’ve got for now. He’s not to a point where we can measure him yet, let alone string test.

We were asked by capable wild horse people we respect to take him on after he’d proven promising but less than eager to learn. His previous, experienced Mustang trainer was no longer able to continue working with him for medical reasons, not Wiley-induced.

Wiley is not titled yet. He’s being reassigned to us with the goal of gentling him and finding him a suitable home when he’s ready. We don’t normally do this but sometimes you’ve got to go with your gut and hope for the best.

With that said, this isn’t a 2 or 4 or 6 week commitment. This guy is going to take a little – or a long – while to really come around.

If you feel like helping us help him, your support would be so much appreciated. Wild Horse Outreach & Advocacy is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. We have donation buttons on FB and IG as well as on our website. I’ll post other donation avenues in comments.

We can only help these long road kiddos with your support and we’re so grateful for you. If you’re not currently able to help financially, helping us spread the word via comments, likes and shares is so needed and beneficial too!

Wiley has so much potential and fairly little try. He’s flighty, snorty and high headed, always on alert.

On the bright side, he’s not at all “crashy” and has shown no inclination to hurt himself or others even when he’s bothered.

Ever since I started on this Mustang journey, I’ve been diligent about setting time and resources aside each year to invest in continuing education beyond books and videos or just working horses because if we’re not intentionally growing where it matters, we’re shriveling up and dying.

This year so far that’s been a clinic with Bryan Neubert and Steve Mantle , and recently having Mark Lyon here for 3 days, working with just us and some of our tougher wild ones.

The tools I learned there have helped me make good progress quickly with this big, spirited and currently very muddy (we’re just coming out of a late monsoon) boy.

It really does take a village, including Tay Martin saying yes to another mouth to feed, and it takes time and perseverance too. There’s a huge difference between gentled and gentle, manageable and “user-friendly”.

The photos are from Wiley’s first two sessions, in order. I love how calm and relaxed (just hanging out near a person with his head down is HUGE for him) he was at the end of session two.

We went from working on directional control to touch with objects from a distance to touch with the hand on head and neck, neck rope, temporary halter, Rowdy’s Ropes halter and lead, leading, lungeing, stopping and backing to touching him everywhere with the flag and even tying.

Onward Wiley, we’re rooting for you!

#BLMmustang#horses#wildhorses#progress#wildtowilling#nonprofit#bettertogether

#makingmountainmustangmemories

Our most recent pack trip was a rainy one and required navigating around afternoon rains to maximize ride time.

Here we’d made it a point to get out early(ish) and get back before the storm hit. We had enough time to untack our saddle horses, let them graze and have an early dinner before the floodgates opened.

With Wild Horse Outreach & Advocacy Ambassador Musgangs Lacy, Rock and Tiny back on the highlines, we sought shelter (and reading time) in our tents. It’s a different level of cozy for sure. To stay warm and get comfortable easily, it’s advisable to get inside the tent before everything and everyone is soaking wet.

Especially when sharing a tent with not one but two German Shepherds. They hold an impressive amount of dirt and water. And they’re sure to make my tent smell like a swamp.

The best part about Colorado summer rains is that they’re fleeting. Within an hour the storm had passed and we were putting books down, unzipping sleeping bags, and poking our noses out of our respective tents.

What happened next had me thinking I was hallucinating. “Do you want to do a bareback sunset ride?” asked Tay Martin . I don’t remember if I looked at her in shock and asked her to repeat herself or if the weight of that question actually sank in the first time around.

Never in what’s now years of riding together has she asked to ride bareback. While he’s built like a couch, Tiny isn’t a small horse and he’s the most opinionated couch I know.

I figured it’s best to make hay while the sun shines, and eagerly agreed. We each found a mounting rock and off we went, literally bareback into the setting sun.

We glassed for wildlife and spotted several elk, trotted and loped our saddle-less mounts down the trail, up hills and through the mountain meadow.

We turned around in time to watch a thick cloud move into the valley we call home on those trips, beneath golden mountain tops and just above camp. It was a dramatic, magical sight.

Sunset (and sunrise) bareback rides are the best. Enjoying them with good friends, good horses and good dogs in what looked like a Lord of the Rings scene is something I’ll never cease to be grateful for. That’s how memories are made and lives are changed, for the better.

#BLMmustang#horses#mountains#sunset#goldenhour#friends#friendship#memories

#makingmountainmustangmemories

Another rainy summer day, another trip to the Cañon City BLM holding facility.

I’d been itching to gentle some of the New Mexico Mustang yearlings ever since I first saw them as tiny foals at the facility last summer, and then again as bright eyed weanlings with wild mohawk manes this spring.

The plan had been to get 4 to 6 buckskin colts and give them all military names, because those sassy little guys would have made the funniest Sergeant, Colonel, Lieutenant, Captain, etc. ever.

As plans go, sometimes things change and when I brought these 4 goobers home, 3 of them fillies, we knew we needed to adjust course.

Tay Martin and I brainstormed while watching the youngsters settle, and came up with new ideas.

Valkyrie and Remington were quickly decided and agreed upon. I really liked Maverick for the colt. Taylor insisted that if we had a Maverick we needed a Goose.

I don’t watch TV and I see maybe 3 movies a year (until I fall asleep that is), so I was clueless as to why those needed to go together. When I looked at Taylor with bewilderment, she told me “You’re just going to have to Google that.”

I Googled, we chose our Goose, which left Remington for the tall buckskin since Valkyrie had already been assigned to the bay (or dun?) filly.

There’s a lot of mystery coloring going on in this little group of Bordo Atravesado, NM Mustang kiddos, more on that in the video.

Valkyrie (string tests to 14.3hh mature height), Maverick (string tests to 14.2hh mature height) and Remington (Remi, string tests to 14.3hh mature height) are available for adoption through Wild Horse Outreach & Advocacy in Guffey, CO.

We’re in the process of gentling them in preparation for their transition into wonderful homes.

It means the world to us and the Mustangs in our care when you comment, like and share these posts to help them find their very own humans.

Message us if you’re interested in adopting a gentled yearling or older wildie.

We’re happy to help arrange hauling if desired.

#Mustangs#horses#adopt#hope#NewBeginnings

I went solo on the first one, Tay Martin joined me on the second.

Rock packed camp in and out and got in some more saddle time. Or saddle-less riding time as it may be.

It’s been work, ride, pack, hike, learn, spend time with people I care about, eat, sleep, repeat these past few weeks (months?). While there needs to be more time for dancing, I’m rather happy with that.

I lost 3 people in my greater circle these past 2 months. 2 acquaintances and one family member. All people who made the world brighter, all gone unexpectedly and much too soon.

For a while I didn’t quite know what to do with that.

What I decided on is to do more of what matters, and less of what doesn’t. More doing meaningful things, making time for people who mean a lot to me, and less paying attention to noise.

More being fully present and enjoying being where my feet are.

Less screentime because I can either live my life and put a dent in what I want to accomplish, or I can stare at a screen, talking about life or living vicariously through others.

Today is a gift and we’re not getting that time back.

I don’t sit still well when I’m sad because if I do, then I’m just sad, not doing anything else. So I keep busy, mostly outside.

We’re fortunate to have some amazing client Mustangs in for gentling/training at Wild Horse Outreach & Advocacy , all owned by equally amazing people.

We have new wild ones that will be looking for great homes and a few not so new ones that are starting to turn the corner. And Dragonfly who’s lovely and might have found her person too, fingers crossed.

The Ambassador Mustangs are fat – some more than others – and happy, enjoying pasture life when we’re not out adventuring.

Thank you for being here. If you’re reading this/watching this little video, that must mean you’re alive and I hope you make the most of today and all the days.

#horses#dog#friends#mountains#adventure#joy

I went solo on the first one, Tay Martin joined me on the second.

Rock packed camp in and out and got in some more saddle time. Or saddle-less riding time as it may be.

It’s been work, ride, pack, hike, learn, spend time with people I care about, eat, sleep, repeat these past few weeks (months?). While there needs to be more time for dancing, I’m rather happy with that.

I lost 3 people in my greater circle these past 2 months. 2 acquaintances and one family member. All people who made the world brighter, all gone unexpectedly and much too soon.

For a while I didn’t quite know what to do with that.

What I decided on is to do more of what matters, and less of what doesn’t. More doing meaningful things, making time for people who mean a lot to me, and less paying attention to noise.

More being fully present and enjoying being where my feet are.

Less screentime because I can either live my life and put a dent in what I want to accomplish, or I can stare at a screen, talking about life or living vicariously through others.

Today is a gift and we’re not getting that time back.

I don’t sit still well when I’m sad because if I do, then I’m just sad, not doing anything else. So I keep busy, mostly outside.

We’re fortunate to have some amazing client Mustangs in for gentling/training at Wild Horse Outreach & Advocacy , all owned by equally amazing people.

We have new wild ones that will be looking for great homes and a few not so new ones that are starting to turn the corner. And Dragonfly who’s lovely and might have found her person too, fingers crossed.

The Ambassador Mustangs are fat – some more than others – and happy, enjoying pasture life when we’re not out adventuring.

Thank you for being here. If you’re reading this/watching this little video, that must mean you’re alive and I hope you make the most of today and all the days.

#horses#dog#friends#mountains#adventure#joy

Who remembers Buddy, the tiny, fuzzy yearling Mustang gelding we gentled early in 2024 for his adopter who had won him in the internet auction?

He’s back, now a tall, striking 2yo.

His adopter has done a great job maintaining what he learned in kindergarten last year.

Life gets busy and sometimes all the adult responsibilities pile up, that’s exactly what happened for his adopter. There’s been little time to continue Buddy’s education towards being lightly started under saddle next year.

We’re grateful to have him back at Wild Horse Outreach & Advocacy for a few weeks to help fill that gap.

We’re showing him the world, polishing some manners to the expectations for a now 2yo horse, teaching him new skills and preparing him for life as a reliable trail horse and adventure “Buddy”.

Maintaining skills is easier than teaching new ones when one’s plate is already full.

We appreciate when adopters are realistic about their time commitments and act in their Mustangs’ best interest in the ways they are able to, making sure they set their once wild horses up for success in this strange world we want them to thrive in.

Halter & lead rope: Rowdy’s Ropes

The other night I went out searching

Searching for Columbines, my favorite wildflowers.

Searching for peace of mind.

Searching for joy.

Searching for learning opportunities for the horses.

For a chance to let them stretch their legs.

For color in the sky and cooler air.

I found all of the above.

Wild Horse Outreach & Advocacy Ambassador Mustangs Lacy (dun, Divide Basin WY, 10yo) and Spur (bay roan, Stewart Creek WY, 4yo), and our best rescue German Shepherd boys, Denali and Ranger.

#BLMmustang#horses#mountains#sunset#flowers#adventure#joy#makingmountainmustangmemories

Zin, short for Zinnia, a 7 or 8yo NV Mustang mare, came to us several months ago for an assessment.

She hadn’t taken to gentling and when her title eligibility form came in her adopter wanted to be sure that if she kept and titled the mare she’d at least be able to provide basic care.

She asked Wild Horse Outreach & Advocacy if we’d work with Zin, who wasn’t touchable at the time, to see if we could help her get over the hump

Well, we’re over the hump. Zin has turned into a lovely, smart, quiet, soft, trainable, curious and friendly mare.

Her first trim brought impressive enough results that our favorite farrier and friend CK Hoof Care CBT, APF-I made the before and after her Facebook cover photo.

We’re now talking about sending her off for saddle starting, something that seemed further out of reach than the moon not long ago.

While she’s not available for adoption, Tay Martin and I decided that this beautiful mare deserved a photoshoot to celebrate her progress.

Here’s to Zin, her adopter and family, and the Bureau of Land Management – ColoradoBLM Wild Horse & Burro Program who worked with the adopter while we determined together whether Zin needed to be returned for her own well-being.

A lot of people coming together for her made this work and I’m so grateful for everyone who showed up to do what’s best for this lovely little bay Mustang mare.

#BLMmustang#wildhorses#mustanggentling#training#bettertogether#makingmountainmustangmemories

For the longest time Spur (4yo bay roan Mustang gelding, facility born to a Stewart Creek WY Mustang mare) was accepted, albeit not fully included.

He’s been the oddball of the herd, the one who stands nearby or wanders off when the others are engaged in mutual grooming.

He’d follow Lacy who never really cared whether he was there or not.

That changed when we turned Firefly (2yo buckskin Bible Springs UT Mustang filly) out, initially just with Spur. Firefly is another loner, initially less than enthused with his clumsy attempts to befriend her.

Integrating her into the herd has helped Spur too. He’s still weird, but he’s family now.

Grateful for this colorful, quirky little band of Wild Horse Outreach & Advocacy Ambassador Mustangs.

Once in a while we get to work what feels like magic for our clients and adopters.

Here Annie Oakley’s adopter was able to touch her Mustang for the very first time.

AO as we call her is a 6yo tri colored pinto mare from Cedar Mountain, UT. Her adopter sent her to Wild Horse Outreach & Advocacy for gentling.

She’s a sensitive, watchy mare that’s making us earn her trust and work for progress.

While she’s slower to come around, AO is attentive and retains what she learns.

When her adopter came to see AO for the first time since dropping her off, we worked up to the first touch together, wanting to make it a good experience for both.

AO remained engaged and willing during the entire session.

Her adopter had a big smile on her face when AO not only stood quietly, happy to have her forehead rubbed, but took a deep breath and leaned in, seeking more interaction.

If you or someone you know is looking for help with the gentling process or wants to adopt an already gentled Mustang, tell them about us.

Our 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization is based out of Guffey, CO. We operate nationwide and beyond.

#BLMmustang#horses#wildhorses#learning#trust#joy#progress#makingmountainmustangmemories