California BLM Adopters Assistance

April 15 -16, 2011
Napa, CA
Adoption Information Seminar & Saturday
"Horse 101" Clinic
- for people interested in adoption and/or new to horses (or who have been away from horses for a long time)

Napa Mustang Days
June 17 - 19, 2011

Webpages
of interest that are
outside this website:

California HMA's

BLM Adoption Schedule

Internet Adoption

To Contact
CA-BAA,
Click HERE

NORTH BAY HORSE
 & BURRO OWNERS:
Click to Download
Wendee Walker's
Printable Resource
List
(handy to give out
to new adopters)

www.WildHorseBurro.com 
Great Mustang gear

ADOPTER STORIES

In this section adopters share their experiences with you, the reader.

Stories in this section: (click one)

• ROMEO
• RAIN'S BIG ESCAPE
• AUCTION STORY: A Day In The Life Of A BLM Compliance Officer
• Blog about my mustang experiences: www.mustangadventure.blogspot.com 
  - Joyce Brandon

Send us your stories - preferably with a photo or two. Click here to email

ROMEO

I adopted Romeo at a BLM satellite adoption site in Stockton, CA on March 3l, 2001. This was the first mustang and burro adoption that my husband and I had ever been to. We just went to look at the mustangs, and had no intention of adopting one, but Romeo caught my eye right off and I immediately fell in love with him! After a long, and very stressful day for me, I was finally able to adopt him. I was so happy I cried! 

We think Romeo may be the one on the far right.
Nancy Kerson took this photo at the Stockton adoption.

Romeo was a 3 year old when I adopted him, and had already been gelded by the BLM in November of 2000. He was captured in August of 2000 at a round up near the city of Cedarville, in northern CA. He is from the High Rock HMA which is actually in Washoe, NV., but it is managed by the BLM out of their northern California office.

Friday morning around 8 AM, Dave my hubby) tells me that Rain isn't in her pen.  I quickly dressed, and sure enough, her pen was open, and no Rain.  Some idiot didn't snap the gate closed the night before.  Such a simple task, so easy to forget.  The last thing I do every night after feeding is check the locks on the gates.  Don't ask me how I missed that one as I have no answer. 

We called our friends Will and Di.  They set off in different directions in their trucks.  I set off on foot and soon found tracks down the canyon below the house.  I hiked for several hours and no sighting, and I lost her tracks.  Dave and Will picked up fresh horse tracks along the fence at the bottom of the ranch-----they followed those tracks probably a good 15 mi.  I saddled Nachos up and met Dave and Will out at the farthest reaches of the ranch.  We lost her tracks out there.  Will and Di found more tracks which looked like she was circling back the way she came.  So I rode Nachos back home that way.  I never saw Rain.  I rode for 5 1/2 hrs.  I got back just before sundown, and blanketed, watered and fed my tired horse.  I then set off on foot again.  I met up with my friend Darla, who had also been driving around looking.  We thought that maybe Rain would go back to Darla's since Rain had lived there for the last 6 mo.  I finally called quits to the search as my teeth were uncontrollably chattering, and I was exhausted.  Dave and the other's, who were also out all day, stopped.   So after hiking for at least three hours, and a 5 1/2 hr ride---I turned in for the night.  I slept like a stone. 

Saturday morning, before the sun came up, Dave was off to Williams to shop, as we were having dinner guests that night (they later called and cancelled)!  My spirit sagged.    Rain's pen was still empty, and the alfalfa and treats left out for her, untouched. 

I called Darla.  "Oh, Rain was here---Annie Kat saw her, I see evidence that she was here."  I called Will, and we both tore over there, our trucks raising all kinds of dust.  No Rain.  Annie swore she saw her go up to the hills behind the house.  We saw some horse prints, but they looked old.  I walked probably 5 mi looking for horse prints, and following fence lines out there---nothing.  Will took off looking at other fence lines.  I began to doubt the source of our information.  Annie Kat is only 7 yrs old, and has a wild imagination.  Di joined me there later on, and  we decided to move on. 

Di and I went back to our place.  We decided to split up.  I did several large loops in the vicinity of our place.    In the mean time, Dave and Will drove all over the place, checked all roads for markings that indicated that Rain indeed went from the far end of the Ranch  towards Darla's, and ultimately us---but found no indication that she had ever been that way.  In the late afternoon, I parked the truck at the top of a hill, and started hiking down all the valleys I could find---places with lots of grazing.  I ended up much farther away than I had anticipated, but I just couldn't stop walking, searching.  I had blisters on my feet, and new squint lines from searching in the brilliant sunshine.  It was after 5 PM, and Dave called me. I told him where I was, and he came to get me, as I was miles away from my truck.  We took a last drive out to the back of the ranch.  Looked where we had real evidence that Rain had been there.  As the terrain we followed became more and more rugged, we decided to turn back, as we were in the big truck, and we didn't want to get it all scratched up in the bushes.  We would maybe return the next morning in the old truck. 

Will and Di came over to eat.  We all sat there rather glumly.  I was beginning to think that maybe we wouldn't be able to find Rain.  I couldn't sleep that night.  I woke up at 2:30.  I tossed and turned.  I even put on boots and a jacket and walked outside.  I said HI to the horses, and looked at Rain's empty pen. It was so black and cold and clear.  I couldn't remember when the stars were so bright and so crowded in the sky. It was about 28 degrees out.  When my teeth started to chatter, I returned to bed. 

Very early Sunday morning---before it was even light, Dave got up and got dressed.  He told me that he was going to take a drive out past the water tank, and up the back way to the backside of the ranch where we had been last night. 

After I dressed and fed the horses about an hour after Dave left, I decided to take a drive out to Darla's just in case Rain had decided to go there.  I put alfalfa in the back of the truck, and treats in my pocket, just in case. On the way, Dave called me.  "I have her!" he said.  "She's standing right in front of me.  Right near where we were last night.  She almost let me touch her nose."  Dave didn't have a halter, or any means to catch her.  I was just passing Will and Di's place, so I turned up there---I wasn't so sure I could find Dave, as that part of the ranch still confuses me.  I knew that Will  knew the exact spot.  He was still in his PJ"S.  Will and Di quickly got ready, and we took two trucks. 

Rain had moved a bit, and Dave had followed in the truck.  We had to call him on the phone to pin point where he was.  We stopped when we saw his truck.  There, in the middle of a beautiful meowed valley, stood Rain in the sun.  I got out and took my flake of alfalfa.  I walked right up to her. Her whiskers were icicles, and she had ice clinging to some of her neck hair.  I put the hay down and she started to eat.  She looked fine, and her coat was shining in the sun.  She would let me touch her nose and face, and upper neck, but nothing else.  Rain wouldn't let me near with a halter or rope.  Finally, when she was quite certain that we were there to catch her, she decided to leave.  Most of this area is heavily wooded with juniper and pinion pine.  Rain took off up the hill, and into the forest.  Will, Di and I followed.  Dave drove around the other side to try and head her off.  Will lost her after awhile.  Then Di spotted her, and pointed her out to me.  I followed her, and she doubled back.  I called Dave on his cell phone to tell him she was headed back the other way.  After abbot 45 minutes or so of wandering around that hill, I spotted her back in her meadow, eating alfalfa.  Rain was sure having fun with us.  I called everyone on their phones to tell them where she was. 

Earlier that morning, Dave had called an acquaintance of ours who is a rodeo cowboy.  (Scott, my cowboy friend who had trained Rain was out of state). Danny agreed to come out and assess the situation.  Danny showed up with another cowboy friend who works at the OO ranch, which boarders on this ranch----a cattle ranch which is hundreds of thousands of acres.  Will, Dave, Di, and I, and Kelly, who arrived with the cowboys, made a human chain to funnel Rain in the safer direction. 

When Rain spotted the rope in the guy's hands, she took off.  All I could hear were thundering hooves in the trees, heading down.  I ran to the left, we kept her in the correct direction.  I soon lost everyone.  Dave called me on the phone.  Everyone was headed back to the trucks, and Di and I were to continue to track Rain. Di called me a short time after to tell me that she had me spotted.  About 10 min later, I saw Rain standing under a tree.  I crept up near her.  I stayed about 50 yards away.  I sat down in the grass, in the warm sun.  Di sat down under a tree about 100 yards up from me.  I called Dave on the phone to tell him that we had her spotted.  He and Will eventually found us---they each took up a spot along the way to deter Rain from going West. I felt like crying when I saw the cowboys driving away in their truck.  They were already giving up!! 

Dave then called  me and said that Danny was heading back to town to pick up some "real horses".  We were about some 20 odd mi out from town all on dirt roads, and then some off road---so we knew that we were in for a wait.  And wait we did, while Rain stood in the shade of a tree resting.  She was waiting for us to make the next move.  I called to her and talked to her, but she ignored me. 

We sat there for an hour or so.  Just sitting and watching.  Every once in awhile one of us would call each other on our cell phones to ask a question. Darla showed up with Annie Kat---they took a post about 50 yards from Will. I heard a rumbling in the background----a truck.  Then nothing.  About 5 min later, two cowboys on horses came loping over the crest of a hill.  They looked like a pair of the Cartwright brothers loping over the hill in Bonanza.  They came to a screeching halt, jumped off of their horses in unison, and tightened their girths.

I stood up, Di stood,  Rain shifted her feet and looked.  The Cowboys remounted.  One guy (Troy) came right past me and up to Rain.  She turned and actually approached his horse.  "Hello Meat head"  He said to her.  As he lifted his rope, Rain whirled and took off to the east, towards the left.  They jumped a ravine and ran after Rain.  Danny on his horse took off at a dead run a little farther up the hill.  We soon lost sight of them in the trees.

All I could hear was thundering hooves, and I could see a cloud of dust as they disappeared.  We all started running back the way we had come to again try and keep Rain going the right way. 

When Rain hit the fence line, she turned.  This mountain looked so rugged and steep, that we thought Rain would treat it like a wall and go around it. Well, Rain followed the fence line straight up a cliff---up and up. Dave was watching with his binoculars.  He said that he couldn't believe it when he

saw Danny take off up that cliff right after Rain.   Dave called me on the phone and said "Get in the truck and drive around to the other side of the hill."  We all ran for our trucks, and drove the several mi around to the other side of this little mountain.  We came to the fence line and parked. Di and I started to hike up.  We should have seen them by now.  My heart was in my throat.  Nothing.  Then, I heard galloping, hooves through rocks.  It was Danny by himself.  "She found a hole in the fence and ducked under. She's on the OO."  We were parked right at a gate into the OO.  There was a corral there, and that was where they had intended to try and funnel Rain. Danny rode through the gate, and was off at a fast trot.  He disappeared up and over a hill.  Then, a cowboy we hadn't seen before, rumbled by in  a stock trailer with a saddled horse in it.  He went through the gate, and headed around the hill in an opposite direction. 

About 45 min later, that same  trailer came by with two horses in it.  Will asked him what was going on.  "We lost her in the hills, and now she is headed down into the flatlands.  That is a good thing."  Off  he went, and we followed him.  We drove around to the main ranch road and drove for miles it seemed like. Eventually, we came to a parked truck and trailer.  Kelly was in it, and she had apparently hauled it there earlier when they lost Rain the first time. The other trailer parked, and Troy got out.  Apparently the new cowboy we had seen went out and spelled Troy----Troy hauled his horse around and got back on at the bottom of the flatlands hoping to head Rain off.  Troy disappeared over a hill. 

 About 30 min later, Pat, the third cowboy rode up. He looked upset.  "I don't know where the hell she is.  I lost Danny and the Mustang awhile back.  If we don't catch her soon, we're going to have to leave her for now.  I have over 100 head of yearlings out here, and I don't want people out messing with them.  I'll just have to get her when I can." He loaded his horse, and took off down the hill to the main ranch compound which I could see a few miles down in the distance.  In the mean time, Kelly had taken off down there.

I was feeling pretty down, but then I saw Troy pop up over the hill, and haul down toward the compound at a run.  I started to move my truck slowly, as it looked like something was happening.  I called Will and Di,  everyone else had driven around to try and see from a view point.  I told them that something was happening at the compound.  Then I saw Danny, and a lone horse way out heading towards the compound.   Then, all the sudden, I saw a bunch of horses all running around.  Troy and Dan disappeared with all of the horses into the ranch compound.  All of the trailers sat parked at the end of the drive---I caught up with them, and followed them in.  I still didn't know if they had Rain or not---I had been confused by all the loose horses.  I drove up and parked.  Kelly sat on  a fence.  "They have her over there in the far corral." 

The cowboys had decided to turn a bunch of the ranch horses loose to attract Rain.  When Rain joined the loose horses, the cowboys herded all of them in together.  Then, once Rain was in a corral, they roped her. I brought them her halter, and Troy easily slipped it on her.  The they backed the stock trailer up to the corral.  They loaded two of the horses, who belonged at the ranch headquarters, back in town.  Then Troy looked at Rain and said, "GIT IN!!!!".  She obeyed immediately.

Danny, Kelly, and Troy were nice enough to haul Rain all the way home for us seeing how it was almost on the way.  I asked Troy how his horse held up after that long run.  "Hell, he was just getting warmed up!  I tell you that is one fast horse.  No one can out run this guy, and she lost me right away."  Then Danny and Troy remarked how damn smart Rain is.  That she would hide behind a tree, or in a ravine, and then turn the opposite direction after they had passed by.  They said that it is obvious that Rain has experience being chased by horseback, that some of those BLM horses are really smart.

Rain was a little damp, but no worse for the wear.  No swelling, scratches---a little thinner.  She is acting a little wilder, but seemed very happy to see Nachos and Avonna (my other filly) again.  I guess she is still truly feral at heart.  Troy said,  "You can have a mustang for 20 yrs, and if given the chance, they'll go back to the wild." 

I felt such a relief.  That evening, as I was sitting, I heard the TV on. Dave put a DVD on.  "Spirit, Stallion of the Cimarron."

- Renee

PS those of you who inquired where I live in No CA---I live in El Sobrante which is 8 mi north of Berkeley.  I can't imagine  what might have happened if she had escaped in the city.  I shudder with the thought.  I have learned an important lesson.  Rain seems so tractable, but she truly is still wild.

(Renee and her husband, Dave, live in Northern California, but have a ranch in Arizona.  This happened in AZ.)

AUCTION STORY
By Edona Miller