The Wild Horse Sanctuary

By Claire Clark

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     I could see them just up ahead  through the bushes.  My heart beat faster with excitement.  There right in front of me, just a few yards away stood a band  of wild mustangs!  Some of the mares were grazing; others were just relaxing and basking in the early morning sun.  Several  young foals were exploring their new world and playing with each other underneath their mothers watchful eye.  I inched closer moving as slowly and as quietly as possible.  I didn’t want to interrupt  this picture perfect moment.

     Then I saw him!  The stallion of this band.  He was absolutely magnificent!  With a snort and a toss of his long black mane, he stepped out of the bushes.  I couldn’t take my eyes off of him.  I thought that I must be dreaming.  It was like a scene from a movie!  There he was a beautiful black and white pinto stallion.  His coat was predominantly black and it glistened in the sunlight.  He moved through the band of mares, snorting, nickering, and touching each of his mares in greeting, checking to see if all the mares were there.  Satisfied, he turned to walk up the hill.  Blocking his path were two small foals each only a few weeks old.  Both were too involved in their game of tug of war with the low hanging branch of a tree to see him coming.  He stopped and snorted at them telling them to move out of the way.  However, they were oblivious of him.  He pinned his ears back and shook his head at them in warning.  Still they seemed unaware of his presence.  Finally, although he seemed annoyed with the lack of respect they showed him.  He gently and patiently nipped and nudged the little scoundrels out of his way.  They scampered off  back to their mothers.  He continued up the hill a little way and started to graze.  I followed, wanting to get just a little closer.  I saw him watching me as I cautiously moved up the hill.  All of a sudden he lifted his head up and gave a loud snort.  He was looking right at me, I had come too close.  I backed up a few feet, and sat down on a rock .  He dropped his head down and once again started grazing.  However, he never took his eyes off of me.

     A few minutes went by, and the band was still relaxing in the sun.  When suddenly the stallions head shot up, his nostrils flared as he sniffed the wind.  With a shake of his head, a stomp of his hoof, he sounded off a warning to the mares.  Quickly he rounded up the mares, snaking his head at them and driving them with bared teeth, into the bushes.  There the mares huddled in a tight circle with the babies in the center for protection.  As I watched, I heard a low rumbling sound off in the distance.  The sound got louder and louder.  I got up and ran behind a nearby tree, and then suddenly with a sound like that of thunder, another band of mustangs came crashing through the underbrush.  They galloped past the very rock where just moments before I had been sitting.  My heart pounded as they raced by, manes and tails flying .  They slowed to a trot as they crossed into the clearing where the pinto stallion and his band were standing.

     In 1978, a contractor for the U.S. Forest Service was involved in rounding up wild horses from Forest Service land.  When 80 horses were all that remained of a 300 horse herd that had been rounded up and the remaining 80 were scheduled to be destroyed at a government holding facility near Tule Lake, California, a major life decision was made to rescue the horses.  Individuals committed to saving the 80 horses personally adopted them.  Attempts to rent pastures to serve as a home for the animals failed, so land was purchased near Alturas, California.  That location provided a home for unadoptable wild horses and burros.  Then, a new permanent home with better accessibility for the public, a milder winter climate with more natural cover, and other benefits for the horses was found near Shingletown, California.

     The Sanctuary is beautiful; there is a serene, almost  magical quality about it.  Nestled in the hills just east of Mt. Lassen, it’s picturesque setting serves as a reminder of the wild spirit of the “Old West” at it’s best

     The horses share the four thousand acres of rocky range pasture with black bears, mountain lions, deer, bobcats, foxes, and many other small game animals as well as eagles, hawks, and 150 varieties of song birds.  The land ecosystem varies from open meadows strewn with lava rock and shaded by oak trees, to areas thick with brush and pine trees.  Two seasonal creeks run through the property, and year-round water is available to the horses through natural springs.  The elevation varies from 1300 to 3000 feet.  It is truly a heaven on earth for the wild horses.

       I was very pleasantly surprised by the overall condition of the wild horses.  I was expecting to see somewhat scraggly looking horses like the ones I have seen that come out the BLM auctions.  The horses that call the sanctuary their home are anything but scraggly looking.

     The horses are well fed with the telltale shiny coat that is indicative of good health.  The horses are allowed to run wild on the 4000 acres in their own bands, with limited human interference.  The sanctuary makes possible public viewing opportunities and provides a natural learning environment for the general public.  They also offer two-day and three-day pack trips for observation and photography of the wild horses.  At the end of each day spent riding the wild horse trails, guests relax at the sanctuaries base camp with frontier-style sleeping cabins, a cookhouse that provides hearty meals, educational lectures, and of course, a campfire.  There is also the annual yearling auction in October, the yearlings are rounded up and vaccinated.  Then they are adopted through a silent auction to pre-approved “adoptive families”, who provide loving homes for the wild-born foals.  All proceeds go towards the non-profit sanctuary.  It all sounds wonderful doesn’t it?  However, there is more to this story.  Through youth programs, the sanctuary also gives troubled teens, school groups, and disadvantaged children the opportunity to learn about the animals and another way of life through hands on experience. As well as since the mid-1980’s he Sanctuary has served as a unique natural environment for on-going studies, such as infertility studies in partnership with U.C. Davis which have led to the development of safe and reliable population control solutions now used worldwide.  Over all the Sanctuary has served as a working, replicable model for proper management of wild horses in their natural habitat.

 

     But, there is a problem.  The 4,000 acres is leased land.   It is unknown at this time if the Sanctuary will be able to renew their lease or if the land will be put up for sale and possibly bought by someone else.  If the land is sold to someone else, the Sanctuary’s wild horses and burros will face relocation and an end to their free-living, natural lifestyle.  The stallions would be gelded and the bands would be dispersed.  Their future would be uncertain.  Gone would be the proud mustang that symbolizes the freedom and the spirit of the West.

     As I stood alone in the clearing, the sound of the wild horses hooves growing more and more distant,  It hit me.  The fate of these horses must be secured.  To allow their home to be taken from them is nothing short of criminal.  Especially when ordinary people like you or I can easily prevent it from happening.  Their future is in our hands.  It is the dream of Dianne Nelson and all of the volunteers who work so hard at the Wild Horse Sanctuary to see that the wild horses will always have a place to run free.  I am grateful and proud that I am allowed to share in that dream.  Any one who loves horses is invited to also share in this dream and if we as horses lovers work together, the dream will become a reality!

     The goal of the Wild Horse Sanctuary’s Capital Campaign is to raise enough money through private donations to purchase this land and establish permanent deed restrictions and conservation easements.  The cost of purchasing the land is not even a drop in the bucket in the grand scheme of things, Isn’t it worth just a few bucks out of all of our pockets  to insure that the wild horses will always have a safe place to live wild and free for generations to come?

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     For more information on the Wild Horse Sanctuary, or to make a donation contact:

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Wild Horse Sanctuary

P.O. Box 30

Shingletown, CA 96088

Telephone & Fax (530) 335-2241

Web Site – http://www.wildhorsesanctuary.org<o:p></o:p>

e-mail –  info@wildhorsesanctuary.org