Apology

Hi Guys,

I guess in my frustration I did not think of how my email could make people feel.  I certainly understand that this economy is harsh, (we don't even have floors or counter tops in our house and some of the walls aren't finished).  So I truly do understand what it means to be living "hoof to mouth".

So I truly apologize to the people who are out there on their computers WORKING IN A POSITIVE WAY TO HELP THE HORSES!  Unfortunately, we get so many people "demanding" that we save these horses and there simply is no money available after they are picked up.  I am not taking any more of them, because we are full, unless we get a critical or baby that we need to care for.  And one of the biggest and most important "donations" to the horses are PRAYERS!!!    ANYTHING POSITIVE is worth it's weight in gold, but the hate and rudeness simply cause us to lose credibility as people who truly want to find a solution.

So I humbly ask y'all to forgive me for maybe not expressing myself so well in my original post. We truly do love and appreciate every single person out there that loves the horses and burros so much and that do whatever they can to support the cause of saving and protecting them. Each of us has to do whatever we can and use whatever we have at our disposal to work for our important cause. We saw a lot of negativity and just plain rudeness and when you "fight against" someone instead of respectfully trying to come up with solutions, it closes the doors and makes our access to the horses go away! We've worked for so many years in trying to make changes and headway to get laws, policy and plans changed it is very difficult to accept that when we do make some progress, the smallest interjection of what is perceived to be "attacks" will set us back, again finding ourselves in the situation of going forward one step and falling back two. That has been the long and arduous path for many years and it's our goal to find solutions, open doors and keep them open to actually resolve the bottom line situation of OUR horses and burros ending up at long term holding or the horrid slaughter plants.

It hurts my heart so much that I made someone feel bad.  She is an awesome lady and only works in a positive manner to help the horses. Our frustration comes from the day to day of working like mad to keep them safe and out of the slaughter pipeline and just when we catch our breath for a split second, we get word that more have been rounded up and taken from their homes. It's an unrelenting situation at this point in time nationally and in states that have "free roaming" wild horses that DO NOT even have the limited protection of the federal program. As we're just getting a bit settled from last emergency rescue of 29 in Northern Nevada, we just got word last night that approximately 20 more were trapped in Reno and will now be going through the NDoA process eventually ending up at Fallon Stockyards again.  SINCE SEPTEMBER 19, WE HAVE HELPED RESCUE OVER 80  HORSES PICKED UP BY NDA AND SENT TO AUCTION.   NONE OF THESE WERE BLM HORSES, BUT THEY ALL NEEDED PERMANENT HOMES AND FOOD FOR THE REST OF THEIR LIVES.  

I also have to explain my remarks about the stallions.  If you bring a band of horses to a sanctuary and are not planning on breeding, there is no reason not to geld the stallion instead of separating him from his family and causing more stress to the family band. This is blatantly obvious when you observe the stallions that are brought in and separated from their families at roundups. Some will go to the horrible length of crashing panels fatally injuring themselves out of stress and fear from being separated.  Even if you bring a group of stallions to a sanctuary that have not had a band before (in the 11+ years that I observed them) they will often form their own bands, covering the mares even after gelding and fighting for their girls.  Of course, if there are breeding stallions the ones that are intact will usually keep the mares, although I have seen a mare go find a stallion to get bred, and then return to her mixed band of geldings and mares.  She did this every year, and after she was bred no matter how hard the stallion tried to keep her, she would go back to her band of geldings.

I know that geldings, just like stallions, will play and form "bands" if they don't have mares around.  My point was that, it is extremely frustrating for an intact wild stallion to be placed in one area and put his mares right across from him as they want to be with him and he wants to be there to protect them.  Just because a mare is sterilized or a stallion is gelded doesn't make them lose their genetic disposition of being a "wild horse." I observed two colts that had been gelded as youngsters that seemed to wake up one day and decide they were still stallions with all the gusto and behavior of a true stallion. It is important that we all share our observations, knowledge and experiences to work and find the best solutions for keeping our horses and burros safe and living the life closest to their natural environment as possible when on sanctuary lands. I feel extremely privileged for the years I've spent in being able to gain some insight and hopefully provide input that will make our horses and burros lives easier until we can find ways to stop or at the very least slow down the roundups.

It doesn't seem to work well when we write when we are overwhelmed by pain, frustrated, tired and angry that more progress doesn't come faster. These are VERY trying times for all of us and we certainly love and appreciate ANY GOOD WORK that is being done by the folks that care so much to work hard in all venues to support saving our horses and donks and treat all wildlife and critters with respect and protection.

Best to ALL,
Have a fabulous day.

hugs