Li'll Lone Ranger Con't

I was truly amazed and excited to meet this incredible little fellow, who managed to "Survive" against all odds! It's been a long two weeks to wait for the weather to clear, so I could safely go over Donner Pass to fetch Range. The day has come finally, April the 1st.....April's Fools Day. What does this mean? I was pondering as I was driving over to Palomino Valley.....was I a fool to adopt an under developed, ratty little colt with a "bashed in little face"?? When I saw him, I did not see his disfigured scarred face, but saw two brilliant dark eyes, full of intelligence gazing at me with interest and full of confidence. he was vary but not scared. In fact he appeared real calm defying his age. he was supposed to be 6-7mos old, yet he was the size of a 3-4mos weanling. Well I was not suprised, at the fact that he has not grown at all......only that he has survived a tough winter incarcerated, out in the elements in subzero temperatures, mud and being picked on consistently by the stronger colts......he was the tiniest and probably had no time to learn herd behavior from his Mom. he never had the pick of the feed, but the scraps from the mud and manure, after the big colts had their fill. Yet he was none worse for the wear. The matted fur balls made him look more like a sheep then a horse colt, his belly was potruding and made his little legs skinny and gangly. His little face had a huge scab and his right eye was weeping crud. but those beautiful huge shinny eyes of his were mesmerizing! He went in the chute like a pro, no fuss....with the attitude; I've been here done this, what now? When I pulled the sliding door to the trailer he just squeezed through the half opened trailer door, with an urgency, as if to say; "...let's get out of here"! he travelled like a champ, even munched on some hay. when we arrived 3 hrs later to Wind walker Ranch in California, all the other Mustangs whinnied their "Welcome" to the new kid in the block. He unloaded carefully, after inspecting the surrounding, and seeing old Cetan, as he nickered encouragements. After he walked around, he hung his little head over to Cetan's paddock, and was trying to figure out how to climb over to him. I figured he needed some company in the new surroundings, and I lead old Cetan over to him. Cetan is a wise one, a herd Stallion in  Hell's Canyon, Oregon for 14 yrs, he was great with his colts, patiently playing with them protecting them from harm. Range became Cetan's "mini me", sticking to the old boy like glue. I left them together for the night. The next morning I saw that Cetan was really taking his job seriously and herding the little guy diligently all over the place. So I took him back to his place next to Range's paddock. Range took it in stride, and immediately went to eat and after that lay down in the sun to take a nap. The following few days were just spent with eating drinking and napping....lot of catching up on just being a colt with not a care in the world!....Stay tuned for the next part.....

Little Lone Ranger

On Thanksgiving day there was a BLM roundup at the Pine Nut HMA. This was scheduled for the on-site application of the birth controll PZP, and no horses taken off the range. It appears like the Contractor took matters into his hands, and rounded up all Mares and foals, separated them and trucked them to the Palomino Valley STH. Needless to say there was a huge public outrage, and the phones were ringing off the hook at the BLM field office. Mark Strubble, was in charge, and must say he tried his best to "put out the fire".....he immediately ordered the Moms and babies to be matched up and scheduled their release the following day. There was one tiny colt, that just would not match up....he lost his Mom, and the following day he lost his whole family, the only family he has ever known in his short little life. To make things worse, he suffered a real nasty open fracture of his nose, he was in pain, bewildered and alone. When I heard of this, I knew there was no way in earth that the tiny colt would survive without special care and shelter. I called John Neill, the head of Palomino Valley STH, and volunteered to adopt Li'll Lone Ranger, as he was aptly named. John would not release him, I guess for fear of bad PR. I pleaded with him to at least place the colt with one of the local foal rescues the BLM worked with. he said he would in 10 days. Ten days later they still would not release the colt. Then after that no one saw him. I was upset, because I thought he was dead. Towards the end of March, I got an unexpected call from John, asking if I still wanted Li'll Ranger? I was truly surprised. I asked a friend, who was heading up to PV for a positive ID. I just could not imagine he was alive! Sure enough, it was him I was amazed, it sure appeared like a "Miracle"!