Happy Adoptions Challenge Painting #105 "Sancho"

 Welcome to the Happy Adoptions  Week for May.



Sancho
9 by 6 inch Watercolor
by LindaLMartin



Our first painting in this series is actually chosen by Cecilia Steel, the winner of our 100 Mustangs Celebration. We reached the 100 Mustang Challenge Paintings mark on Monday May 2 and then had a drawing to give away a free 9 by6 inch watercolor. Cecilia choose for her painting a special horse named Sancho trained through the Mustang Heritage Foundation's Trainer Incentive Program by Gerry Gesell

Sancho at his current home in Texas

The following are Cecelia's own words about Sancho and the challenges he had to over come and how one remarkable trainer saw his potential.

"Sancho is  a 7 year old black gelding from Callaghan HMA , North of the Town of Austin in Nevada.  Sancho was from the first year of our program in 2009. He was five and recently gelded just before Gerry started him.

Sancho's Scar from being bitten by a
Mountain Lion. The scars while not pretty do
not affect his gates, nor his ability
to be a good riding and work horse.

Sancho has huge scars on both his hips from being attacked by a mountain lion.  The scar on the off side of his hip is from the mouth of the cat and on his near side the scar is from its claws.


Despite all this he is a gentle giant; at 15.2hh, he is one of the taller horses to go through the program. He was the first mustang I ever rode, I climbed up on him bareback on only his second ride and he safely carted me around the round pen.

Where the Mountain Lion clawed Sancho.

Gerry took these photos last week. Gerry went to visit and ride Sancho at his home in Texas. He is a pleasure horse for a beginner rider in his late 60's, he's a "husband horse." Nearly two years after he was adopted, Sancho is sleek and shiny, fat and happy (maybe even a little too fat..). He has always had that twinkle in his eye. His best friend is a donkey. He is trustworthy and reliable and anyone can ride him. He is a sweetheart and he is much loved.


As far as we have gathered, he has two freeze brands because he was first state owned and then federally owned.

Sancho under Saddle as he was baing trained
by Gerry Gesell

A cowboy and horse trainer, Gerry Gesell, has for the last two years been developing a wild horse training program. Gerry hand selects horses from a BLM facility in Nevada, trains them and finds adopters. He has successfully started and adopted out a total of 18 mares and geldings ranging in age from 2 to 9. The horses have found homes across the country and in a wide variety of disciplines including ranching, polo, showjumping, trail riding, foxhunting, dressage, and eventing.


Gerry is currently looking for a permanent base of operation on a ranch or facility in Texas or out west."

Gerry added a little more to the story for us on Facebook; in his words: "We had an expert look at his scars and he determined that the scars were roughly 3 years old. He looked at the scars 2 years ago, so Sancho would have been 2 when he was attacked. He receieved NO treatment for his wounds because he was still living in the wild when attacked. He is so unique that everyone remembered when he was gathered."


To Read more about Gerry and his program. here is his website: http://www.88wildhorses.com/about.html

All Photography and reference photogrography was provided by Cecilia Steel and used by permission.

She owns the copyrights to her work.