Mustang Saga

Wow, what a fun weekend! We packed up on Thursday and headed to Odessa for the mustang adoption. It was Tonka's first ambassadorial journey, and I had no idea how it would turn out. It was also his longest trailer ride, about 3 1/2 hours, his first time away from home for a camping trip, his first time sleeping all night tied to the trailer... Lots of firsts.

Going for a walk after we arrived:

Checking out the camp site the next morning:

Lea and I went for a really enjoyable trail ride. Here she is on Pepper, ponying Dixie:
We found some really neat little lakes. Bob calls them ponds, but I think they're little lakes.
Toward the end of our ride:

These here wild rock cages were super scary. What if the rocks got out and attacked?

We went on another trail ride with some super nice ladies in the evening. It was the little buckskin pinto's first real ride. She'd been ridden about 15 minutes in an arena twice last year. Lea and Pepper (can't see Lea in the picture) ponied them on the way out, through some thick sagebrush and rough terrain. Then she handed over the leadrope and they rode back with no help. What an excellent first ride! The two pintos in the picture are from South Steens, Pepper (the black) is a kiger, and the sorrel is from Coyote Lakes like Tonka. She was rounded up a long time ago so there's no way they know each other.The Mustang String at dawn:

The Border Patrol Mustangs are absolutely gorgeous. They just got back from a parade in Chicago. What versatile horses. They go from tough daily work to parades, to adoptions and other PR events. Very well behaved, happy, healthy horses. I'd take any one of them home, and one of those nice saddles too! Here they are taking a little grazing break. One of them hopped really funny in his hobbles to get around, it was cute.

Here we are talking to one of the Mustang Mentors and her daughter. Look how Tonka has himself parked all funny...

This sorrel two year old gelding was a favorite of a lot of people there. It's not the greatest picture, but he's really well put-together.

Check out this yearling filly. She's going to be BUILT.

Everyone liked this "dun" filly. She looks like a buckskin to me, I couldn't find a dorsal stripe. Pretty color though, whichever it is.

Tonka and I playing on the platform again.

Pepper and Dixie on a lunch break:

Foxy Lady in the lead, and I never did catch the pack horse's name. They were both steady and sweet horses.

What cool costumes, and what a sweet face on that mare.

The mares. My favorite was a little tiny Murderer's Creek horse, hiding behind the others here:

I didn't get any good pictures of any of my favorites. They were all plain, either black or bay, but had great eyes and were very inquisitive.

I wish I could have stayed for the bidding, I want to know which ones got homes. (We had to come home to medicate Scout because John left for a Mariner's game.) There wasn't much of a turnout by the time we left yesterday. Most of the people I talked to were just there out of curiosity, but I know some of them were going to adopt. Hopefully they had a lot more people come out today.

It was a really neat facility there. You can come in and use the corrals and barn and camp out and trail ride to your heart's content. There are all kinds of happy little birds around, coyotes in the night, and yes, rattlesnakes... I was glad it's not rattlesnake season. I love the little mesas and the sagebrush. I'm going back there sometime! Tonka really enjoyed it and went through the thick brush and rocky hillsides like he's done it all his life. Which I'm sure he did, before he was rounded up.

What a wonderful group of people too! The BLM people were all super friendly, as were the volunteers. Rick even gave me the hat off his own head when I asked if I could buy one to keep the sun off. So now I have a really nice Wild Horse and Burro baseball cap to wear to the adoptions!

I better get back to unpacking and hanging with the kids. I can't wait to do this again though!