I don’t do a whole lot of woo and meant to be stuff but occasionally I make an exception. This is one of them.
2 adoption events at the Cañon City facility ago, back in February, I was surprised to find an entire pen of 2yo Twin Peaks CA fillies. I had never seen a horse from there in person, but I sure like CA Mustangs.
Among all the brown we spotted a speck of yellow and went to look. It turned out to be a beautiful, stout, tall buckskin filly that would later come home with us.
On the way to getting a closer look at her I found a neck tag on the ground in their pen. I’ve never met a wild horse tag I didn’t like, so I picked it up. #5882.
Not giving it much thought, I carried my new little treasure with me in pursuit of the pretty buckskin that always seemed to be just 3 brown horses away from getting a good visual.
What caught my eye in the process was a tall, dark faced dun with not enough mane and too big a head, that looked like a caricature of a mule. Duns are my flavor and people like them so after we had finally gotten close enough to the buckskin to decide she was built really nice and would be getting on the trailer that day, a peek at that elusive dun was in order.
The filly was having none of it, marching off looking rather inconvenienced every time we got close. I don’t mean touching kind of close, just looking distance. If a horse could have an arrogant, disgruntled look on her face, this one did.
Other than the mane, the head and that attitude, she appeared to be a nice enough horse that someone would one day appreciate. Tall, with dorsal stripe, leg barring and built to last. Nobody else paid much attention to that pen, given there was another pen full of colorful 3yo mares, all begging to be taken home. Knowing I’d only be able to fit 4 horses on that load, thanks to Gus the bus, I decided to get her tag number to remember for next time. #5882.
Fair enough, I thought. With permission I took my trophy, her old tag, home with me and we scribbled her number on a piece of paper just to be safe.
A month later we picked her up, along with 3 3yo mares. She wasn’t the prettiest one in the bunch and I really did NOT need another 2yo. A 3 or 4yo maybe, so I looked through every pen searching for one I might like to keep for me to start and came up empty, so I figured it just wasn’t meant to be this year. Until I started working with her.
Meanwhile, Lorena, now Wren, the pretty buckskin I had originally considered adding to our herd as a future Ambassador, I ended up adopting out because everything I asked of her, she readily did. For most people that would have been a green flag. Instead I was bored to tears. I did happen to have an adopter looking for something just like her.
Wren is now living her best life in MI and blossoming in every way. We get regular updates and are so happy for her and her new mom.
#5882 however doesn’t have a people pleasing bone in her. The first time I asked her to move her shoulders I got a rear. Not a panicky rear, not an I’m going to kill you rear, just an “I don’t know what you want and this is stupid” rear, delivered quietly and deliberately.
Those who have been around our Wild Horse Outreach & Advocacy Ambassador Mustangs and Blanca when she was still around, know I like fierce, brave, opinionated, expressive, solid colored horses. Horses that keep their wits about them under pressure but that will tell you how they feel and when you’re messing up. No cheap shots, explosions or surprises but a big heart worn right on their sleeve.
Horses just like this one. I did offer her to the only person I’d have happily seen her go to. When that was a no, Lacy and I decided her big little sister is staying. They really like each other and Lacy doesn’t make new friends, especially mares, all that easily. I’ve even caught her creeping around outside Fiadh’s pen, just hanging out. Not usually her style.
There’s a photo in this post where Fiadh is looking at Lacy and it seems like she’s seeing herself in a mirror. It’s eerie and sweet at the same time.
This little lady has worn the pack saddle already, she loads like a champ and knows all the basic handling things, her first ponying session happened in the dark and last night I took her out of the pens for the first time, during her second ever ponying session, dogs following, daylight fading. Maybe some things really are meant to be and maybe the “double duns” #5882 and #1944 (Lacy) being friends is one of them. Those are also the only two tag numbers I’ve ever been able to memorize without effort.
That being said, we do have several amazing wildies looking for their humans. You can view them on w w w. w i l d h o r s e o u t r e a c h . o r g
The 7 new Devil’s Garden Mustangs are being added ASAP. Email or PM us with questions, I promise I’ll respond as quickly as I’m able to.
Who’s ready to finally meet the adorable newcomers in tomorrow’s post???
As always, I encourage you to watch our stories if you want to keep up to date with who is here and what is happening. You can always reach out and ask us too.
Have you ever kept a horse where it seemed meant to be? How did it turn out? I’d love to hear your experiences in the comments.
Training halters and ropes: Rowdy’s Ropes
