"Shawnee"
5 by 7 inches Watercolor
by LindaLMartin Artist SoldPrints of Shawnee are available on Fine Art America
Here is the story of Shawnee as presented by Lisa Wood's and was first told by Lona Patton on the Wyoming Mustang Group in Facebook.
According to her barely visible brand this sweet gentle mustang mare was born in 1991 in the Agusta Mountains in Nevada. Shawnee subsequently went through an adoption auction at the Palomino Valley BLM Facility the same year. She was sold as a nursing foal with her dam. Her dam was aged at 7 years at the time and was suspected to have been sold as meat as she was never documented to have been seen again.
Shawnee was passed from owner to owner. She was valued for her splashy pinto markings that Lisa told me in July, was called " Medicine Hat". In 1994 it seems Shawnee's life stopped and she was religated to a 12 foot by 12 foot enclosure by an inexperienced owner who regularly paid her board. " When I added my quarter horse to the boarding facility, the two became stable-mates. I got permission to work with her, but was warned that she was mean , ugly, stupid and untrainable." Lisa stated.
Lisa and Shawnee
Photo provided by Lisa Wood
and used by permission.
This didn't stop Lisa. She worked with the mare. Even though Shawnee's feet were abscessed and she had scabs over her eyes from lack of care and too many flies, as Lisa spent time and patience with the mare her feet became sound, her eyes healed, and her fear turned to willingness and her true gentle spirit emerged.
According to Lisa, Shawnee had a strong maternal gentleness that helped her formed strong bonds with humans and other horses. This mare thought to be untrainable was actually slow to anger and "seldom becomes alarmed".
Lisa convinced the previous owner to sell the mare to her for $1.
Shawnee has racked up quite a number of achievements:
In 2001 Lisa and Shawnee did 3,000 miles in cross country riding including 56 miles in 2 days across a BLM managed desert with no water. According to Lisa, Shawnee showed no signs of dehydration or weight loss at the end of the challenging crossing. The trek that started on the west coast ended in Virginia.
"Once we arrived in Virginia, a fancy riding club invited us to join a fox hunt. Wearing my trail-beaten clothing, Shawnee her loud tri-color coat, we set off. Only as the first hedge appeared did it occur to me that the sport involved jumping. I clapped my hands over my eyes and prepared to meet the ground. Shawnee calmly stayed with the herd, and jumped perfectly. At the end of the ride, the hunt club members were seeking to replace their hunter-jumpers with well-behaved mustangs."
According to Lisa this wonderful mare is not only good with other horses and people but she is great with children and inexperienced riders as well. " I dont own her." Lisa told me, "She owns me! That is Medicine Hat Tradition" she pointed out. A special thanks to Lona Patton who first shared the story of this mare. For those who don't know Lona, she is amazing Photographer in Wyoming. Lona is a dedicated mustang owner and works tirelessly to help find adoptive homes for wild horses and educate the general public in their care and training. Her daughter is also doing amazing things and is a credit to her mom. Thanks Lona! You Can see some some of Lona's work on her photography page: https://www.facebook.com/L.PattonPhotography
Reference Photography for this painting was provided by Lisa Wood.
Part 5: Figuring Out Who Would Protect the Wild Horses of the Virginia Range in Nevada
Virginia Range Wild Mares
5 by 7 inches Drawing on #110 Paper
by Linda L Martin
Original $65.00
11 by 8.5 inches Signed Prints $35.00 plus S&H
info@llmartin.com for availability
At the time the Wild Horse and Burro Act one estimate said that fewer than 17,000 wild horses lived on public federal lands across the entire west. One estimate put the number as low as 12,000. Due to lack of grazing and frequent drought conditions most range specialists and biologists agreed at the that the total number of horses that could be sustained on all Wild Horse Herd Areas was a maximum of 27,000 total for all range areas in the west.
These numbers were based on what the land could sustain in an average rain year. Had there been plans in place managing wild horses, which was a totally new science at the time, those numbers probably would not have gone over 25,000 at any given year. And under drought conditions, die offs would have lowered the numbers substantially. Instead the number of wild horses not only exploded but, the horses, due to lack of forage and water, as well as territorial issues when new bands were created, began to expand into areas that prior to 1971 had no wild horses.
The arduous task of figuring out which horses were owned by whom and what their legal status was became that action that took precedence to any hard core management plans. In fact, on some Herd Management Area plans are still evolving and changing even after 42 years of learning how to manage wild horses.
After a number of court rulings, several decisions were made to establish the ownership and control of wild horses. By 1976 property owners were requesting that wild horses be removed from their property by the BLM. These horses were considered by the BLM to be estray, or formally domestic horses, that had gone feral and were not among the original wild horses protected by the act. In fact, it was geography and time period that determined which horses were wild and which were not. If title could be proven in ownership, private citizens were responsible. If in the wrong place at the time of the Wild Horse and Burro Act they were estray.
The first group of Pine Nut Mountain HMA wild horses had migrated down to High Way 50 by 1978 and were causing problems on private land and road hazards. Due to fencing and natural obstacles the BLM took responsibility for those horses and removed any horse that became a problem in that area that bordered the Herd Area and has done so since.
Another document stated that both the BLM and The Nevada Department of Agriculture recognized the ownership of wild "feral" horses by private land owners . Private land owners had to make a determination. If they did not want the horses removed by the BLM on their property the horses, no matter what the origins, were theirs and they must control both the populations and the migration. Some property owners did round up and sell off wild horses others did not. Wild horses were being rounded up by privately hired helicopter contractors on private land well into the 1990s, until pressure was brought to bear by private groups living in the areas of the Virginia Highlands.
Yet still, wild horses were running freely throughout the state controlled region and private citizens had stopped claiming ownership. In 1982 the Nevada Department of Agriculture took responsibility for the horses and solidified their legal rights to do so.
The feeling was that the Department of Agriculture, the citizens of Nevada and the local government and land owners didn’t want to remove the horses totally. They wanted to preserve them to healthy levels so that they could be enjoyed by everyone safely. The determination that the Virginia Range could sustain from 100 to 150 wild horses in good health was actually determined sometime in 1995.
What was needed was a good plan to keep the animals healthy, control the populations and to make sure the animals were protected. The Department of Agriculture created a position: Virginia Range Astray Manager. Governor Bob Miller of Nevada from 1989 to 1999 appointed Mike Holmes, to that position.
Tomorrow: Mike Holmes and what he accomplished for the Virginia Range Horses.
Special thanks to Mikel Hettrick for the use of her photography.
Sources for some of the information in this section are from different wild horse advocacy groups, public information, The State of Nevada and interviews provided from advocates of the Virginia Range horses who wish to remain anonymous.
Part 3: Virginia Range After 1971 ( Who Owns the Horses and Where?)
When Congress unanimously declared America's wild free-roaming horses and burros to be Living Symbols of the Historic and Pioneering Spirit of the West in 1971 Everyone who loved horses and history through out the USA seemed to breath a sigh of relief.
"Woolly Bear"
Virginia Range Foal in the Snow
5.5 by 8.5 inches Graphite on #110 Paper
by Linda L Martin
Original $75.00
Signed Prints $35.00
info@llmartin.com for information on purchases
The very thing that pulled at the heart strings of the American public regarding Wild Horses was the idea and romance of these beautiful creatures running free on the range. This is a symbol of our freedom and a historic documentation of where our peoples came from. However, most American’s love their wild horses from a distance. The romance is far from the reality, as life often is.
The very first thing the New Wild Horse and Burro program had to do was figure out who owned what horses. On the Virginia Range in Nevada it was a complicated process. I think the Alliance of Wild Horse Advocates sums it up best in their Introduction to the Document on the "Virginia Range Horses and the History" of their management.
“There are two distinctly separate BLM Herd Use Area s (HUA) areas located near the large block of private lands currently holding estray horses managed by the State of Nevada. They are known as the Jumbo and Horse Springs HUAs.
The Jumbo HUA is located west and south of the aforementioned private lands, and the Horse Springs HUA is located to the east. Following extensive planning and public input all horses were captured from both areas and both were declared horse free following completion of the removals. BLM received only positive responses to its capture plans with no one objecting to either the removals or the horse free designations. The rationale behind each removal was somewhat different but both were backed by not only the law and regulation but extensive case law as well. No federally protected horses occurred within the Jumbo HUA at the time the Act was passed in 1971. The law specifically restricts (BLM's) management to those areas where horses occurred in 1971 thus Jumbo was eliminated from consideration for long-term management. The horses remaining within theJumbo HUA had relocated there from the Pine Nut HMA after passage of the Act and as a result were removed in late 1984, and the area was declared horse free. The land use patterns within the Horse Springs HUA are heavily skewed toward private holdings with 15,000 acres of BLM lands as compared with 37,000 acres of private lands. Written requests from the private landowners, and several traffic accidents involving wild horses, necessitated the removal of all of the horses from the HUA. Again, extensive public input and planning were completed prior to the removal of the horses with no entity opposing BLM's proposed removal.
All horses were removed in 1983 and the area was declared horse free. At the time of the removals a Mr. Woodrow Cox ran horses on the adjoining Curtis Wright lands leased by Nick Mansfield. The horses now present are believed to be descendants of these horses. Prior to the State of Nevada assuming management of these horses, several large removals were conducted by Nick Mansfield that held their numbers in check. At that time the State of Nevada recognized Mr. Mansfield as the owner of these horses. A lack of any substantial removal effort since has resulted in the numbers now present. Over the years the BLM has worked extensively with the all divisions of the State of Nevada concerning the remaining horses located on the private lands and have on numerous occasions reaffirmed our position( the AOWHA) that all remaining horses are not under the protection of the BLM”
Keep in mind that from the time the first census of wild horses was taken in 1971-1973 no one was legally removing wild unbranded horses from the range. As the wild horses produced more and more offspring the bands began to spread out. The nature of wild horses is that each band stallion has a territory. The territories do over lap . However if all the space is taken by existing band stallions then when a young stallion gets his first mares he has to establish his own territory. As stated before wild horses go where they need to.
Add to this the fact that any wild horses who ranged on privately owned lands were not protected by the Wild Horse and Burro Act in 1971. When their herds began to re-populate out of control with nothing to keep the numbers in check they began to fill up and overlap into Nevada Department of Agriculture managed land because there was nowhere else for them to go. It wasnt long before the Virginia Range was again covered with wild horses, a lot of them from private sources This population explosion created the beginning of a crisis for both the wild horses and the ecosystems on the range. Monday Part 4: More complications for Virginia Range Horses
A special thank you to Mikel Ann Hettrick for the use of her photography.
Thousands of Wild Horse advocates were appalled and angry over the removal of wild horses from around the Deer Run Road Subdivision outside of Carson City, Nevada this past week end. They were appalled because it was so easy to remove the horses.
"Deer Run Road Mares"From Pine Nut Mountain HMA 5 by 7 inches Graphite on #110 Drawing Paper by Linda L Martin Artist Original$75.00 Prints $35.00 each For Information email: info@llmartin.com
I have been told by many wild horses advocates that in the wild, a wild horse does not even know what grain is. Generally, it takes weeks and even months to introduce it into their diets. According to the advocates some wild horses will never eat it. Wild horses do know what alfalfa is, and they do recognize some grass hays, however, for the most part, the diet of domestic horses is completely unknown to wild horses. In some instances a domestic horse diet is far too rich and will cause wild horses to founder or colic, both of which can lead to extremely painful lingering deaths.
So on the week-end of the Deer Run Road removals by the BLM, while all the locals to the area were deeply grieved at the loss of their favorite band of wild horses, the rest of us were becoming more and more outraged. Outraged because we know that this is what happens when wild horses are fed over time and become tame.
Here in the East coast we deal with it all the time with our wild herds. Horses so tame from feeding and luring to food, that foals sometimes end up in the back of the cars of tourists and are kidnapped from remote areas. Horses are so fearless of cars and trucks that they just walk out right into the road and impede traffic or surround vehicles begging for food or are hit, and sometimes killed, because they jump out in front of cars. Horses so unafraid of people that people are seriously injured when a wild horse kicks or bites at another horse while they are being petted.
This is so prominent on Assateague Island that the National Park Service has put out a brochure warning people to stay away from the horses and what can happen: http://www.nps.gov/asis/naturescience/upload/HorseSafetySiteBulletin-2.pdf It is out rageous that intelligent people ignor the warnings all the time.
Three of the Deer Run Road Mares.
The entire band often made trips
right into the city park at Carson City
in search of food, according to one
local news source.
Thankfully we have private non-profits here in the East that work with managing entities to remove the most troublesome horses and put them into sanctuaries or if they are young enough, have them trained and adopted out. What is just as appalling is that many of the people who were complaining about the removal of the Deer Run Horses were claiming to be activists, yet had no knowledge of the history of their community, its wild horses or the laws regarding the protection of the horses. Some, by their own admission, said they had really done nothing proactive to help protect those very horses and keep them running free.
There are laws put in place to assure the freedom of those horses. Unfortunately, many in the housing development ignored the law regarding horses on federal land.
Did you know that it is a federal crime to feed and pet wild horses that are managed by the Bureau of Land Management and the National Park Service? This is what the law says:
“It is illegal to feed, pet, or other-wise harass a wild horse or burro, individuals will be cited for those activities and the citations carry a minimum fine of $500.00 per incident.”
This is the band stallion. The
horses are from the Pine Nut HMA
that boarders a development where
residents regularly fed the horses.
So if you have 10 or 15 federally managed horses migrating through your property to water or grazing and you start feeding them because they look skinny, You ccould be fined up to $7,500 every time you put out food for them. And if you are doing that every day twice a day for a year and so is everyone in your subdivision of 30 or 40 houses you could fund the entire Wild Horse and burro program for nearly 4 years. And that includes building permanent sanctuaries all over the country and getting them out of long term holding.
Ok, is that not enough for you financially? Every time you feed or pet a wild horse, according to wild horse behaviorists, you actually are acclimatizing it to humans. Wild Horses over time lose their fear and they grow dependent on humans for their food, shelter, and protection. However, because they are still wild they really don’t have any boundries of behavior, because they have no training or handling. They are going to look at their human providers and a source of security but they will do it from a horse to horse perspective. And they will keep coming back every time they are looking for food. Not only that they will cease the demanding activity of seeking food and water on the range and simply stay in the location because they feel secure and have an unlimited food source.
When they lose their fear of humans they also lose their fear of cars and trucks. That is when they start causing accidents. Wild horses will not stay near a road, highway or subdivision unless they are acclimatized to humans and feel safe and secure. A little fact check for you.. once those horses cross over the boundary from the HMA to private development land they technically are not protected by the Wild Horse and Burro Act.
The horses were so friendly and curious that it was
hard to believe they were wild.
Because they are being fed they also will not run away when someone tries to capture them.
All of the local activists and advocates surrounding the capture of the Deer Run band were very sad that the animals were being removed. But Thousands of Advocates across the US and other countries were Appalled because 1) it only took one guy to capture the entire band of wild horses and 2) all he had to do was shake a bucket and they all walked into the trap. And everyone of us who saw that news video had our hearts in our throats because we knew that if the BLM had not removed those horses ANY ONE with a truck and panels could have lured those animals into a capture pen and shipped them off to a slaughter plant and no one would have known!
Today, because it was the BLM that did the capturing, those horses are safe and secure in Temporary holding at the Carson City Prison and they are going to be put up for adoption on the 23rd of March 2013.
This not the best scenario but unfortunately it is the only option for wild horses that have been deliberatly tamed by feeding them against the law.
Anyone who wants to and cares enough about these horses to follow the BLM guidelines to keep them safe and healthy as domestics can qualify to adopt them. Keep this in mind , these horses had their freedom stolen from them, not by the BLM ,but by people who were well meaning and had no knowledge of the nature of wild horses.
There are things you can do to prevent this from ever happening again! Things you can do to help Protect Wild Horses in Developing Areas of North America.
Please Please Please do not feed wild horses! Please do form a non-profit around your local herd to help place troublesome or injured wild horses And to help educate local people on the history of the herd and ethical wild horse etiquette. In those times when horses might need to be adopted, help with that as well. It would be of great help to form some sort of sanctuary to put horses who like the Deer Run Band could be kept safely and stay together.
Know the history of where you live near the herd. Know the laws protecting the horsesand why they are set up that way. Help pass state and county laws that will fine those who feed wild horses.Make residences who feed the horses illegally liable for damages caused because they have caused the horses to “take up residence” Unify your Homeowner’s association to help keep Wild Horses in your Area Freeby working to Create pass through zones for wild horses in your development and place signs and fences where needed. In a place like Nevada it is a fence out state. That means you have the right and the obligation to fence your development to protect local wild life from human intervention. Work with Zoning entities to place mandatory Wild Horse and Wildlife zone areas into development plans to limit contact between people and wild life. Work with the DOT and other agencies to create special wild life pass-through’s zones under or over major highways and high traffic roads. If major highways divide horses from water sources work with local governments, state and federal governments, to help them to create special wild horse oasis so the animals will not need to cross populated, industrial or high traffic roads.
Remember if you own the property you can put most of these things into place by right of ownership with out breaking the law or harassing the horses.
You Can Help Wild Horses Remain Free and Protected.
"Nevada"
4 by 6 inches Watercolor
by Linda L Martin Artist
$35.00
Megan sent me some amazing photos documenting the training of her Mustang Nevada. I suppose I could have done a traditional head portrait of him. But I was thinking back to my younger years with my own black horse and sitting in the pasture while he grazed just being together.
Its more amazing when you think that this beauty of a black horse with his white blaze was wild and has had less than 18 months of training when he arrived at Megan's home.
Megan adopted Nevada at the CSU Mustang makeover in 2010. He had been aged at 4 years by the BLM but seemed younger to her. From Megan's Facebook Page: " I can't say enough
Good things about Steve, the trainer that took him on for the EMM(Extreme Mustang Makeover). He
is like no other horse I've ever worked with . He (Nevada) stepped up on this
obstacle the very first time I asked him to . He's just incredible ."
When I was a child they were still force breaking wild horses. Gosh, they were force breaking almost every horse. And some of them were so scared that they were never safe to ride. Others were so severely injured that there was nothing left for them but to be put down. Some grew to hate people and would literally fight to the death rather than submit. It was a rough time for horses and for the people that tried to "break" them. Breaking is pretty much what they did, too. Bones and spirit of both the men and the horses is some sort of conquering war that enslaved the animals until they were useless, in some cases, and the men so crippled they were useless too.
In the 1970s the University of Maryland began an experiment that would eventually revolutionize training for those who accepted it. It was, at that time, called trackless training or gentling behavior modification. Those of us who adapted the method to use in training were not generally accepted for using it.. But the horses learned quickly to trust and to follow. Those horses that the method were applied to were very safe mounts, in my experience. Trainers that used it also were ridiculed and harassed for using the methods.. as "it was for circus horses and trick ponies" the critics said. When I experimented with it I discovered that you could start the babies young. It was unheard of for a whole farm of young horses in training to never learn to buck. No horse I worked with at the time did after being handled gently and constantly using the method.
Now this new breed of young trainers is amazing. The first day off the trailer and less than an hour on the ground these new gentle trainers reach out their hands to wild horses, not to dominate them but to gain their trust. Trainers that are leaders to the horses, in both movement and language that the wild ones understand from being on the range and running with a herd. This new breed of Mustang trainers capitalize on the wild horses' experience from the beginning life when they heard their dam's first wicker and nuzzled their side for nourishment, to follow a leader..
Nevada in full tack on the
obsitical Course. Photo
Courtesy Megan Jones
There are many philosophies for the new more effective training methods, even many variations. Most of these accomplished Modern Mustang trainers make a relationship to the horse that does amazing things in a very short time. Sometimes its as short as 60 to 90 days to start a green horse. And the really successful trainers know that they do not limit themselves to one training method or philosophy, but use what ever the horse they are working with needs to accomplish willingly what needs to be done, because of that trust. It all comes down to this:That amazing first touch, where the completely wild horse realizes that he wants you to be that close and craves it when you scratch that special spot on him.
Looking through all the photos that Megan sent me and the ones she has in her album on Facebook its not hard to tell that the relationship is not only there but its solid and steady. When I was growing up, and later teaching and training with horses of my own I often told my clients this: "If a horse trusts you he will do anything you ask to the best of his ability." From what I have observed through Megan's steady documentation, Nevada and Megan have that kind of relationship. Its a beautiful thing.
Mustang Adoptions are coming up again on the Internet. If you are interested and
have never adopted I suggest two things: 1) read the requirements and
then 2) locate a Tip Trainer near you to guide your through the process
and the training.
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."
