I never get any movie/TV references, so Taylor was understandably shocked when the above quote came out of my mouth after I saw that lake picture for the first time. Nobody needs to know that I had a huge crush on Captain Kirk as a kid.

Also, I’d like to be teleported back into those mountains please, thank you very much.

Tay Martin and I went leaf watching a couple of weeks ago, in the best way we know how.

We packed up A LOT of stuff, a big bag of good snacks and most importantly milk for our morning coffee, loaded up 3 Wild Horse Outreach & Advocacy Ambassador Mustangs, namely Lacy, Rock and Tiny, as well as German Shepherds Denali and Ranger, and headed into the wilderness.

It was epic.

2 mountain passes, 2 subalpine lakes, 1 bull moose in camp, lots of riding, ALL the incredible colors and gorgeous scenery. The weather was glorious after a stormy first night.

Reintegration into society has been slow and incomplete. You’re never the same after a trip like that. I think pack trips make us a little more feral each time.

For the first several days after the trip, I’d get a daily text from Taylor, something along the lines of “I think the mountains broke me. It was too pretty. And too short. I want to go back.” Same, Taylor, same. Every. Single. Time.

5 plus days out there is the goal next year, exploring some new country and enjoying familiar territory. Here’s to good goals, great horses, happy dogs and passing the backcountry horse packing bug to friends!

Wiley, 2yo buckskin White Mountain WY Mustang gelding, is making progress.

By now he’s easier to catch, he’s had his mane detangled and brushed out (after this video). I’m able to brush his whole body and fly spray him.

We’ve worked through some ideas he had about pawing and kicking when he got frustrated and he leads, backs and lunges nicely now.

Wiley is learning to move his hips and shoulders and he ties. He’s got a ways to go yet before I’d consider him even remotely ready to place, but I’m encouraged by his progress and hopeful that he can have a bright future with a suitable, capable adopter.

His next big steps will be working on picking up feet, leading in bigger spaces, as well as sending and leading over obstacles in preparation for trailer loading.

*He is not currently available for adoption. He will be if and when he’s closer to being easy and safe to handle, and we know what type of home he would do best in.*

Thank you to everyone who has donated towards his care and training. Wild Horse Outreach & Advocacy is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization and your donation may be tax exempt.

I’m including donation avenues in the comments again. Your support is much appreciated as that is how we are able to help the “long road” type horses, such as Wiley, Hawk, Topaz and even Dragonfly who have been with us for a while, either taking their time to warm up to humans or waiting for their ideal match.

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

Anytime we head into the mountains, it’s important to remember that, beautiful and often romanticized as they may be, they’re not trying to be our friends, and that the responsibility to prepare for what we might encounter lies with us.

It’s our job to do what’s in our power to make it back to the trailhead safely, with great memories and stories to share. It goes without saying that sometimes even our best isn’t enough, and accidents or worse are tragic and not always preventable.

When I’m riding in the backcountry, especially solo, I prepare to have to unexpectedly spend the night out there, encounter inclement weather, be wildlife aware and deal with injuries.

I let friends know where I’m leaving from, what route I’m taking, and when I’m expected back. I carry a GPS with two way satellite communication and an SOS button, and a solar charger to keep my phone, GPS and headlamp charged for several days. The GPS stays on and on my person at all times.

I use multiple apps on addition to the GPS to navigate with and I check weather forecast and trail conditions before the ride.

When I’m packing my saddle bags for a day ride, I sometimes get curious looks because I bring so much more than snacks and a water bottle.

Bewilderment quickly turns into appreciation when someone gets cold, hurt or needs to make an emergency tack repair on the trail. Everything I bring is for sharing too.

I’m constantly learning and fine tuning what to bring and how to handle different situations. I don’t know everything and I’m so grateful for mentors who have helped me along the way.

Yesterday’s whirlwind solo high country (half?) day ride with Wild Horse Outreach & Advocacy Ambassador Mustangs Lacy and Rock, and rescue German Shepherds Denali and Ranger:

14.6mi in 5h 15min, incl. 45min of stopped time, 3294ft ascent and 2580ft of elevation gain. I’m so very proud of them.

It was a lovely, exhilarating ride and I’m so glad I did it.

Do big solo rides make me nervous? Yep. Do I consider wimping out? Every time. Is it worth going even if nobody is available to join me? With proper preparation, appropriate gear and trustworthy horses absolutely.

#BLMmustang#wildhorses#horses#horseriding#horsebackriding#wildtowilling#mountains#mountainview#adventure#safety#learning#staysafe#makingmountainmustangmemories

The big, goofy now 4yo bay roan Stewart Creek WY Mustang gelding we brought home last summer has grown up quite a bit.

Spur has gone on a number of mountain and water adventures this spring and summer and he fits into the herd just fine. He’s gentle with younger and smaller horses and stays out of the way of the older and bigger ones.

Where Rock is 4 going on 6 in his maturity level, Spur is 4 going on 3. When he’s working, he’s great. When he’s not working and his mind is idle, I swear his brain does cartwheels in his head.

I love this big weirdo. He’s taught me so much about being thorough, patient, setting him up for success, and setting new tasks up in a way that’ll build his confidence in himself and me.

Spur loves to work, to have his person, and he loves to be a priority, to play 1st or 2nd 2nd fiddle. Turns out he also really enjoys being around children.

He’s been a mascot of sorts for Wild Horse Outreach & Advocacy over the past year. We affectionately nicknamed him “Ed”, short for “Special Ed”, because boy was he different. Smart and quirky, sometimes dramatic and other times just plain strange. He certainly needed a little extra time to find his place in the human world, and it paid off.

Spur is a super cool horse and I wouldn’t trade the time with him for anything. It’s been fun to watch him grow into himself and find joy in the challenges presented to him, and to learn to look to the human for guidance, to be willing to try, fall short and try again until he got it.

I may have found the perfect human for him. If not, he’ll be available and looking for someone who’s at least as cool and smart as he is, and every bit as quirky, athletic and persistent.

Anyway, here’s Spur packing tires for the first time. That’s one step before panniers and real packing. Or riding for the people who don’t pack. I turn him loose and he’s like “Hey, wait for meeee!!!”

It’s a great, cheap, safe and easy step in their training. It gets them used to carrying weight, seeing something bulkier than a saddle on their back, something bouncing, and being wider than normal, all without sacrificing expensive panniers or precious human cargo should something go not exactly as planned.

#BLMmustang#wildhorses#horses#wildtowilling#learning#fun#progress#horsetraining

#makingmountainmustangmemories

Remember the video I posted of us unloading the NM yearlings where Tay Martin only opened the back compartment of the trailer?

Here’s why: There were more in the front. They were too big to travel as one group with the yearlings.

Our 501(c)3 nonprofit organization Wild Horse Outreach & Advocacy became a @Forever Branded Partner earlier this year and these two are our first two horses we brought home for gentling and placement through that program.

Taylor was still mad at me for doing some chicken math at pick up. I was supposed to bring back 4 and reasoned that each yearling counted as half and therefore 6 were really only 4… Well, apparently some people don’t agree with that logic

By the time we unloaded these 2, she was slightly less cranky. It may have worked in my favor that she was able to take the sorrel mare’s tag off while she was still in the trailer. Taylor loves thick red horses with blazes and had major hearts in her eyes

Taylor announced that these 2 needed “beefy names” because of their looks, and something different from the military-ish ones the babies got, because they were going to be available through a different program.

I wasn’t going to argue since I’d already rocked the boat enough that day. A “Beauty and the Beast” theme idea went as quickly as it appeared when I refused to call the bay Prince Adam.

Instead we started googling Viking names. That stuck. World, meet Ragnar and Helga!

Ragnar (5yo bay gelding from Stewart Creek WY) is the cutest boy. I saw him in the pens and fell for his butt brand (he has the left neck freezebrand too) and big, soulful eyes. He’s proud and looks like a horse you’d expect to see at a Renaissance fair. He’s short, maybe 14hh but in his mind he’s 16hh at least. He’s stocky, has alllll the hair and the prettiest matching hind socks.

Helga (4yo sorrel mare from Little Colorado WY) is the first horse to have been adopted through the Forever Branded program in Colorado. Woohoo !!! Taylor fell in love with her that day, it ended up being a great fit and now she’s hers. We’re so excited for them!

Please comment, like and share to help Ragnar find his person when he’s ready. We’re located in Guffey, CO. We can help arrange hauling. He’s SA eligible.

He’s smart, curious and, in true 5yo fashion, asks his handler questions. He absolutely will work for food (he’s not a spoiled pest, he will however respectfully let you know when he did something brave and believes he should get paid for it) and is very, very soft and responsive to pressure.

#BLMmustang#horses#wildhorses#nonprofit#adopt

#BetterTogether#makingmountainmustangmemoriess

Firefly is a 2yo buckskin Mustang filly from Bible Springs UT. She string tests to 15hh and already towers over my 14.1hh riding horse (Lacy). Her mane and tail got chewed off in holding and are slowly growing back.

She’s been out to summer pasture with one of the big Wild Horse Outreach & Advocacy Ambassador Mustang boys until recently. Her assignments there were mowing and growing. She’s done both.

She remained friendly even with infrequent handling, enjoyed walks with the dogs in the neighborhood when I visited, never batted an eye at “people stuff” (houses, cars, and other strange objects) and respects regular wire fences.

She leads, loads, ties and trailers well, has since had her second trim and has never met a stranger. She ground drives and wears a saddle.

Starting her under saddle when she’s old enough should be a non-issue.

Firefly learns most things the first time around and with zero drama. She ponies well at all gaits, including a gallop, crosses water and is trustworthy in wide open spaces as well as in the dark.

We trailered out for a ride on public land this past week and I ponied her. She fell right in line with the grown ups, didn’t mind the dogs one bit, and was happy to be out and about.

Firefly is confident, loves people, attention and adventures. She’s laid back and not interested in running away with or from you. She’d enjoy being a mountain/trail horse or have fun in the show ring, assuming your main goal isn’t to win at speed events.

Her ideal human will set boundaries and enforce them. While a less confident horse may need their hand held, a more confident horse (like this one) tends to need to be reminded of what the rules are. Once they understand that those are immovable, they’ll go anywhere for you.

I love a confident horse and she’s going to make her human an amazing partner. She’s absolutely suitable for a first time Mustang home.

Firefly is good with dogs and gets along well in a herd.

We’re located in Guffey, CO. We’re happy to help arrange hauling. She is SA and can travel.

Let us know if you’re interested in adopting her. Contact info is in the video or message us here.

Please as always comment, like and share to help spread the word. It takes a village to find wonderful homes for these horses and we’re so grateful for ours, thank you!

#BLMmustang#horses#joy#adoptme#wildtowilling#bettertogether#makingmountainmustangmemories

We’re so grateful for all the engagement – comments, likes and shares – our previous post about Wiley received.

We’re grateful for everyone who helps us help Mustangs, in all different ways. A big thank you to those of you who have donated on his behalf, it means so much!

If you’ve missed the previous post, I’ll be including donation info again under this one. If you feel like contributing to Wiley’s care and training, we’d be so grateful. We are a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, your donation may be tax-deductible.

Pat Doak contacted us and sent along photos of Wiley on the range that we have permission to share with you all. Wiley as a tiny foal, a scruffy weanling and a handsome young stallion. That was a rare and unexpected treat, thank you so much Pat!

A quick caveat: We’re no online warehouse. Just because it’s “in stock”, that doesn’t mean it’s available. Just because it’s available, that doesn’t mean the first person with the money and a trailer gets it. “It” is a life. “It” has a personality. “It” has needs, just like we do.

“It”, him, Wiley deserves time – time to get to know us, to figure out if he wants to do this people thing at all, and if he wants to then whether he can, safely, reliably, even under pressure and with different people.

He is not available for adoption at this time. And he won’t be until we know him and whether he’ll be successful with people. We owe him that much.

And we owe you that too, because a pretty yellow horse in your pasture that you can’t touch, can’t catch, can’t trim, can’t have treated for simple injuries or illnesses, or that gets scared and hops over your fence, that’s not really all that wonderful either, or is it?

Just because he looks like an endurance horse, that doesn’t mean he wants to be one. Just because he’s built nicely, that doesn’t make him nice to handle. Time will tell. Time, training, consistency, exposure, and more time.

He’s with Wild Horse Outreach & Advocacy for gentling and to hopefully when he’s ready move on to a suitable home. You’re of course welcome to submit an adoption application, to inquire about him and to send him lots of happy, brave and friendly thoughts.

Ultimately Wiley will go wherever is best for him, and for that we have to put our feelings aside sometimes, as hard as that can be. This needs to be a lot more about him than about us.

It’s also a lot harder for him than for us, so he ultimately needs to buy in and want to be gentled and to like people for this to work. I can set him up for success, but I can’t “make” him succeed. I’d like to be working for the ministry of magic, but, alas, I’m not.

I shall climb off of my soap box now and let you enjoy wild baby Wiley pictures.

#horses#wild#wildhorses#grateful#progress#hope#nonprofit#makingmountainmustangmemories

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