Post by desperatehorsewife on Sept 1, 2009 9:33:40 GMT -5
It's coming up! Sept. 26 has been proclaimed National Wild Horse Adoption Day, with the goal of 1000 animals adopted nationwide.
I just returned from Oregon where I picked up my two new incentive horses. There were very few left to choose from, and I'd been told all the geldings were gone, unless I wanted one slated for Long Term Holding. Many of the mares were still nursing foals, so again, LTH was what was readily available. That meant over the age of six...
So Katie and I went out with the long lens on the camera and started looking. I was at the fence staring at the geldings when I noticed a face in the distance staring back. A pinto gelding was watching intently. Because there are color restrictions on all but LTH horses, I wondered if he'd been hip branded or not. I couldn't see anything, so shifted my attention to the darker colors that were allowed in TIP.
But the gelding didn't shift his attention, and before long his curiosity got the best of him and he sauntered up to my camera and began sniffing around. Katie jumped out of the truck with a treat, which he promptly took. No tag on his neck, so we couldn't check to see his age on the sheet that had been given to us. We looked at the others, but most were either already claimed for someone else, or they were much older (over 10.) We went back to the office and asked about the pinto, who we found was 8 and very much available. No question in our minds...this horse needed to come home with us.
We have no clue to his life in the past 6 years. He was captured as a 2 year old in Idaho, then shipped to Burns this past winter where he was gelding in February. They said he was full of attitude until the gelding. No clue if he'd been adopted and returned, or simply was overlooked for whatever reason all these years. Certainly gelding him earlier in ID would have helped his chances.
No matter...he's here with us now and has a shot at finding a home on Sept 26!
Our second horse is also a bit older; a seven year old mare who was recently weaned. Again, all the pretty bay mares we liked were unavailable (as in still nursing foals), so Wendy brought in those who we could choose from. The pretty black mare that Katie and I had admired from May had been adopted just before we'd arrived, and nothing else really jumped out as us, so we again looked for hip numbers.
A leggy sorrel looking mare stayed a bit apart from the others, but upon closer look, she had a dun stripe and no hip brand. Checked her number on our list just the same to see how old she was, and as luck would have it, she was 7! So another LTH horse found it's way into our trailer. She's a bit shy, but readily ate hay out of our hands once we were home, and she's letting me touch and rub her nose a bit.
I've got a new blog for those who are hosting events on NAD in Oregon and WA: adoptalivinglegend.blogspot.com Hopefully we can start getting photos up and begin promoting our events and horses in this region.
I just returned from Oregon where I picked up my two new incentive horses. There were very few left to choose from, and I'd been told all the geldings were gone, unless I wanted one slated for Long Term Holding. Many of the mares were still nursing foals, so again, LTH was what was readily available. That meant over the age of six...
So Katie and I went out with the long lens on the camera and started looking. I was at the fence staring at the geldings when I noticed a face in the distance staring back. A pinto gelding was watching intently. Because there are color restrictions on all but LTH horses, I wondered if he'd been hip branded or not. I couldn't see anything, so shifted my attention to the darker colors that were allowed in TIP.
But the gelding didn't shift his attention, and before long his curiosity got the best of him and he sauntered up to my camera and began sniffing around. Katie jumped out of the truck with a treat, which he promptly took. No tag on his neck, so we couldn't check to see his age on the sheet that had been given to us. We looked at the others, but most were either already claimed for someone else, or they were much older (over 10.) We went back to the office and asked about the pinto, who we found was 8 and very much available. No question in our minds...this horse needed to come home with us.
We have no clue to his life in the past 6 years. He was captured as a 2 year old in Idaho, then shipped to Burns this past winter where he was gelding in February. They said he was full of attitude until the gelding. No clue if he'd been adopted and returned, or simply was overlooked for whatever reason all these years. Certainly gelding him earlier in ID would have helped his chances.
No matter...he's here with us now and has a shot at finding a home on Sept 26!
Our second horse is also a bit older; a seven year old mare who was recently weaned. Again, all the pretty bay mares we liked were unavailable (as in still nursing foals), so Wendy brought in those who we could choose from. The pretty black mare that Katie and I had admired from May had been adopted just before we'd arrived, and nothing else really jumped out as us, so we again looked for hip numbers.
A leggy sorrel looking mare stayed a bit apart from the others, but upon closer look, she had a dun stripe and no hip brand. Checked her number on our list just the same to see how old she was, and as luck would have it, she was 7! So another LTH horse found it's way into our trailer. She's a bit shy, but readily ate hay out of our hands once we were home, and she's letting me touch and rub her nose a bit.
I've got a new blog for those who are hosting events on NAD in Oregon and WA: adoptalivinglegend.blogspot.com Hopefully we can start getting photos up and begin promoting our events and horses in this region.
