SPIDERSWEB: October 2008

Friday after work I made the four hour drive down to Sioux Falls to stay the night at my Grandma's house. Saturday morning we left to make the hour and a half drive to Windom, MN to go to the BLM Adoption.

What a blast!!!

I have never been to a blm adoption and now I think I'm hooked. I met a lot of great people and fell in love with a lot of amazing horses.

Grandma and I got to the arena in Windom around 10:00 Saturday morning and we stayed the entire time until 5:00 or a little after. There were roughly 40 horses available and about half of them got adopted. There were burros also though I'm not sure how many they started out with or the exact number that were adopted. I picked out two horses that I really wanted to bring home (although to be honest I wish I could have had them all- burros included!). I was informed of a neat foster program that the Blm offers which is where you pick out horses that you want to work with and YOU find them new homes and decide which person can adopt them. I would love to do something like that to help the horses and the Blm but I know that I would get so attached to the horses and I would have a hard time letting them go. Maybe one of these days I will win the lottery and be able to take on a few more horses and change my full time job to a part time job instead!!! : ) Well, a girl can dream anyways!

Ok so back to the horses and the adoption. The horses and burros were all located inside an arena and we were able to walk around to visit without having to worry about any weather (although it was beautiful outside). First we saw the burros and the younger horses then the 2 year old geldings and mares. On the way back around we spoke with a BLM employee who told us about a 2 yr old gelding who was purchased on the BLM internet adoption from mantle ranch last month and was delivered to Windom for his new owner to pick up. This person took one look at this horse and she only saw his tangled mane, his club foot (hind right) and the ring worm on his face (all superficial) and decided to go with another horse instead. She did not take any time to sit down with this horse to see what kind of a personality he had. Her loss in my opinion and here is why: this gelding was captured at the end of August 2008 (yes it was just a couple of months ago) and a BLM employee was able to walk into his pen and brush him. This horse ate up all of the attention and was such a ham. If I had my way this handsome gentleman would have come home with me and been named Prince.

Above: 2 yr old internet adoption gelding from Lost Creek, WY- not adopted.

(Above/Below-2) Both bay mares were adopted; both sorrels were not (2 yr olds)

There was an end pen with four mares (2 year olds) that had two sorrels and two bays. They were all wary of course but you could see a softness in their eyes and their curiosity. At times when people would walk past the pens they would line up and turn their butts to you or they would start grooming each other. If you squatted down and picked up a wad of hay they would perk their ears up and turn to look at you. Eventually if you stayed like that for a few moments one or more would get curious enough about you to take a few steps your way and gawk at you. Or a couple would get close enough to stretch their necks out and sniff the hay that you were holding out.

The second pen of mares (below) had a total of 5 two year olds. All of course were stunning. One of the mares (a dark brown/bay) was very standoffish and aggressive towards the other mares. She would chase them around and the four would huddle on one side of the pen while the alpha mare was on the other side. My guess is that she was a lead mare of her herd or the foal of a lead mare. Her bad attitude/aggressiveness and the four staying crunched in a tight group didn't help these mares at all. Unfortunately none them were adopted.

Then came the "baby" pens. I always think the babies are fun to sit with. They either don't know any better or their curiosity gets the better of them but they are usually a little braver and will come over to you alone or as a group (safer in numbers?) and eat the hay that you hold out to them. My second pic that I would have brought home was in the baby pen.

The colt above is the other horse that I would have brought home. He would have been a breeze to train. He is very curious and friendly. I was able to scratch on him (and so were other people). I even had a name picked out for him! :P "Little Joe" lol I just loved his disposition and he is a beautiful horse. Oh if only money grew on trees and I had a tree farm!!!

Don't think that I would forget to include photos of the burros! There was one pen that had about four or five Jacks in it and another pen with two pregnant Jenny's (last burro pic is a Jenny). One of the Jenny's got adopted to the same family as a mare and one of the weanlings. I haven't had much experience with burros and I don't know what all you can train them for- I know they can drive and are good herd protectors but they seem too small to ride. It sure would be fun to adopt one though! I just love their big long ears and their adorable faces!!!

Next year or the one after I am hoping the BLM will have an adoption in Fargo or some other place that would be a little closer for me to attend then maybe I can bring the babies and meet some other horsey mustang people.

Before I left the adoption in Windom Saturday I managed to snag a great lookin' BLM hoodie and an American Mustang halter. I'm planning to contact the company again to purchase another halter and a hoodie and possibly have them custom made.

Grandma and I drove back to the adoption on Sunday and got there around 9. There weren't many (if any) new people there looking and the BLM decided to pack up early. Around 11/11:30 they started loading the horses into the semi. That was pretty exciting to watch I felt bad for the horses though because you can't explain to them what's going on. After 'my' two boys were loaded I teased the guys about "now your bringing all of them to my house, right?" they kind of chuckled and kept loading the animals. Once all of the equine were loaded and the doors were in place one of the wranglers turned to me and said, "Now they're going to your house."