Archives for June 2020

Wild horses are prey animals. As such they sleep less than other animals… say a cat who can sleep 18 hours a day or 12 hours for a dog. Horses however spend lots of time during the day just standing and resting, but they only need 3-4 hours of actual sleep and they must get 30 minutes to an hour of REM sleep. They have eyes on the side of their head so they can see a predator from both sides. Predators like mountain lions know this instinctively so they try to get above their prey and pounce from a rock, a ledge or a tree branch. One of the ways wild horses stay alive is by detecting predators before they detect them, allowing them to either freeze in place or escape quickly or very slowly, depending on how close the predator is to them. Wild horses need to be very aware of everything in their surroundings. As a result, they have highly developed senses, including powerful vision, hearing, and smell. Our wild horses are very reactive so they can escape quickly.

Now just imagine, in the old west as wild horses stood on the range with an occasional cougar, pack of coyotes or other predators to watch for… now flash forward to 2020 and the land our wild horses roam on has been invaded by humans… and all those contraptions they own, be it a car, truck, UTV, quad, motorcycle, bicycle. Oh yeah, let’s not forget drones and paragliders. Now the horses do adapt, they take turns sleeping so some are sleeping while others are watching. Each band has one horse assigned the job as sentry, and another as a sentry in training so the first sentry can get that valuable sleep. But of course, all adult horses in the band are usually watching. But if you walk up to a larger band of horses you will usually notice the same mare raising her head first… over and over. She is the sentry and her job is to notify the band stallion of any potential threats. I also have observed that the second and third heads to go up are the band stallion and the second sentry. I always wonder how this happens? How does she notify him? Is it all body language or is it more? How can he nearly always respond even though he isn’t facing her and is many yards from her?

Observing wild horses is fascinating. So needless to say our 2020 after Covid-19 quarantine month of May was beyond fascinating… is rolled over to frustrating and even at times infuriating.

On the Fish Springs range we have a team who monitor the wild horses from sunup to sunrise and at times even in the dark of night. While they rarely actually interfere with other humans unless they are putting their own or others life in danger, none the less we sure do observe a whole lot of human and wild horse behavior. Recently, we have preferred the behavior of wild horses to some humans. LOL Maybe this is just because the number of humans on the Nevada desert has increased as they looked for ways to escape from the homes they are suppose to stay in, as they avoid stores, parks, casinos, bars, restaurants, libraries, barbers and so many other places that usually fill their week. So they take their toys and head to the desert for some safe social distancing with their family. The usually quiet desert with a few dozen wild horses saw a whole lot of increased activity. The horses normal routine was seriously interrupted by the noise of playful humans. Now
on an ordinary day the horses will graze on any given area and if they see a truck or a UTV coming up the road they move to another area.

But recent activity left the horses with few areas to escape. As fast as they moved, another vehicle or motorcycle appeared in the new area, until the horses headed up high in the trees to areas where they knew there were no jeep trails…. no humans. They all quickly there were no jeep trails…. no humans. They all quickly learned that most humans go home at dinnertime so they could wander back to the center valley gradually and safely, but cautiously head to water anytime after 6 pm. I would see them on the hilltop watching and waiting until the majority of the UTV’s and motorcycles have headed home for the night. These are the two vehicles we have observed chasing the horses… oh, only a short distance. Not all, the vast majority of the off roaders were quite respectful of the wild horses but if one an hour felt the need for a little high spirited fun the horses were getting chased off and on all day.

We observed the horses being forced to run by motorcycles, quads, UTV’s, a drone, a world war II airplane and the worse offender was a paraglider who intentionally found sport in coming in low to watch them run below. This caused the horses to stampede in the direction of a local photographer who was taking photos of a two week old injured foal we were monitoring. Fortunately, he was skilled in reading the horses and he was able to get behind a bush as many wild horses galloped by on both sides of him. The last horse to pass was the injured foal trying to keep up with her Momma and Mom trying to stay slow enough for her to do this. All terrified of the motorized human in the air. When I started to write this article, and another for the newspaper, I ran it by a couple members of our team… I had fears it may alienate some of the people who frequent the range the wild horses roam on… we all know them. The kind people who slow down when they see wild horses
on their UTV, those that choose a different trail so they don’t scare them. Those that drive up and watch the wild ones quietly with their binoculars. Those are not the people this article is for.
This is in hopes that we can bring awareness to everyone that wild horses, when near populated areas are constantly being pressured by humans to run in fear. This does, in fact cause great stress to the individual horses and the bands as a whole. We all noticed that the horses were “edgy” all memorial day weekend. Spats more often between stallions, mares nipping at their foals to stay close more frequently. Oh yes, this stuff happens all the time, but in the month of May all the photographers and volunteers were talking about the unusually tense mood of the horses and the lighting that was going on in bands and between bands. We strive to document the behaviors of our wild horses and this is one month for the books. We hope that by telling this story that perhaps
people will realize that just because you have a moment alone with the wild horses nearby and the temptation is there to watch them run… well someone else just left the spot you are in and those horses have been chased off and on all day long. For a young mare with a new foal this can be terrifying. For a horse that needs to sleep this can be frustrating. Perhaps we can try to amuse ourselves at their expense. Please be kinder and go fishing or find another way to amuse yourselves.

Will James as portrayed by Mike Olson and Kim Harris as Alice James.
September 5, 2020 at 2:00 pm at the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park
Tickets will be on sale July 15, 2020 at DangbergEventBrite.com
Will James, Famous Nevada Cowboy Artist and Author

1. The cowboys must be a somewhat fearless individual, a bronc rider, roper, and thrill seeking. The old cowboys were many times reckless and devil may care types, who loved horses and were  hired by ranchers to drive and care for their cattle.

2. Wild range horses, most often not broke, small tough and well built.

3. When the cowboy started in the morning, he would rope and saddle up one of the horses in the morning and it would usually buck when he got on. Then he took this horse out and did his daily work.

4. The horses they rode were wild and they only rode them after the horse had reached the age of 5 so they could ride them hard all day long. When a horse gets that old, basically running wild,  hey are not easy to train and often were broncs for their whole lives.

5. Often the cowboy needed to be a good hand with a rope as well as a bronc rider so they could keep the cattle safe, roping, branding, as well as being a pretty good vet when cattle needed medical  attention. Watching for caving while keeping predators away.

6. A cowboy would have to be someone who enjoyed a good adrenaline rush to be sitting on a horse that had just been broken the day before (ridden once) and try to chase down and rope a cow that was as wild as an elk and had horns that could spread up to nine feet, tip to tip!

7. A cowboy typically had a string of horses that were his to ride, usually issued to him by the ranch he was working for, which consisted of working or moving cattle, roping, doctoring, and  branding calves and much more. He did his job all day on a horse that may have only been ridden once before that.

8. These unbroke mounts would buck, jump and twist before the cowboy and horse went out to do a day’s work.

9. The very occupation that these old-time cowboys chose was fraught with danger and adventure. The cattle were also very dangerous in those days. Long-horn cattle were very wild and cranky animals that had horns on their heads to back up their dispositions.

10. This taking their life in their hands appealed to a small number of men who could not get enough and remained true cowboys all of their lives. Life in the west would not be the same without these brave, thrill seeking men. The cowboy and his horse became symbols of freedom, hard working brave and honest souls of the west!

Researched by Sharon DeCarlo

John Wayne, born Marion Morrison, was born in Iowa on May 26, 1907, came West with his family in 1914, and pretty soon was being called “Duke” by everyone who knew him. After some local firefighters in Glendale, California, where the family eventually settled, thought it would be fun to give the boy the same nickname as his constant companion, a proud Airedale dog named Duke.
Living with his parents, Clyde “Doc” Morrison, a pharmacist, and Mary “Molly” Brown, and alongside his brother Robert, Duke was academically and athletically quite successful at Glendale High School.

His exploits there led to a football scholarship at the University of Southern California (USC), where he attended until a bodysurfing injury ended his football dreams, and led him to look for work at local movie studios to support himself once the Great Depression was in full swing. Duke eventually found a job at the Fox Film Corporation as a member of what they called a swing gang, meaning he was a prop man, moving furniture, material, and equipment around for filmmakers. A few of them felt he was the right build to stand in a few scenes here and there as an extra,  starting naturally as a football player in “Brown of Harvard” in 1926 and again in “Drop Kick” in 1927. It wasn’t long before one of Hollywood’s great directors, John Ford, noticed Morrison and gave him a job herding geese on a 1928 film called “Mother Machree.” Eventually, the two of them hit it off and became lifelong friends.

But at the time, Morrison tried to learn about filmmaking from Ford, and Ford kept using Morrison as an extra. Eventually, Ford introduced Duke to his colleague, director Raoul Walsh, who gave
Morrison his first starring role, as the cowboy Breck Coleman in the 1930 film, “The Big Trail.” During this production, studio executives gave Morrison a new name in the hopes of making
him an easier sell to film audiences, and he readily accepted the moniker “John Wayne,” saying it was OK with him if the people paying his salary wanted to spruce up his name.

Throughout the 1930s, John Wayne diligently and strategically honed his craft while starring in a series of less well known Western features and serials, preferring to spend most of his time with stuntmen and real-life cowboys so that they could teach him the skills necessary to play a realistic cowboy on screen. He developed over this period his signature walk, a fist-fighting style,  wardrobe preferences, and performed many of his own stunts.

Then, in 1939, John Ford gave him his big break as the Ringo Kid in the classic film, “Stagecoach.” Wayne’s performance made him a star for good and earned Ford Morrison tried to learn about
filmmaking from Ford, and Ford kept using Morrison as an extra. Eventually, Ford introduced Duke to his colleague, director Raoul Walsh, who gave Morrison his first starring role, as the cowboy Breck Coleman in the 1930 film, “The Big Trail.” During this production, studio executives gave Morrison a new name in the hopes of making him an easier sell to film audiences, and he readily accepted the moniker “John Wayne,” saying it was OK with him if the people paying his salary wanted to spruce up his name.

Throughout the 1930s, John Wayne diligently and strategically honed his craft while starring in a series of less well known Western features and serials, preferring to spend most of his time with stuntmen and real-life cowboys so that they could teach him the skills necessary to play a realistic cowboy on screen. He developed over this period his signature walk, a fist-fighting style, wardrobe preferences, and performed many of his own stunts. Then, in 1939, John Ford gave him his big break as the Ringo Kid in the classic film, “Stagecoach.” Wayne’s performance made him
a star for good and earned Ford an Academy Award nomination for Best Director.

The 1940s and ’50s saw John Wayne develop into an important figure on the American landscape with a series of starring roles in major Westerns and War pictures. He also toured the world and entertained troops tirelessly for the USO, all while raising a growing family that, by this time, included son Michael, daughter Toni, son Patrick, and daughter Melinda.

As the 1960s and ’70s arrived, he added romantic comedies, police dramas, and historical dramas to his portfolio, earned three Academy Award nominations, and finally won the big award in 1969 for his performance as Rooster Cogburn in “True Grit.” His final on-screen performance, as a gunman struck with cancer in 1976’s “The Shootist” is considered among his greatest performances.
A personal memory: The Shootist was filmed mostly in Carson City, Nevada and surrounding areas. Many of us local residents remembers Wayne’s presence in our town and sought him out for a chance to see him up close and personal. As many of us also may remember, the historical Carson City mansion that was turned into Bond Rogers boarding house where Books stayed. The other memory that comes back to me is the scene where he takes Bond Rogers, played by Lauren Bacall, for a buggy ride to Washoe Lake’s south end. The buggy and Morgan horse belonged to local Morgan horse breeder Frank Dodd, a longtime good friend and fellow horseman of my family.

However, my personal favorite John Wayne movie was The Cowboys from 1972. This is one of the most unforgettable, and I believe exceptional, Wayne movies ever made. Real, gritty, and  emotional. Mr. Andersen, played by Wayne, as a challenged cattle rancher with no wranglers to drive his cattle.

John Wayne continued to market, makes this movie one of the most exciting, interesting and realistic cowboy movies John Wayne ever made. For me, the young boys that grew into men literally on their first cattle drive was one of the most fascinating tributes to cowboys ever put on film. John Wayne does die in this movie, but you are left with the knowledge that his memory and legacy are with these young boys for the rest of their lives. This, as it turns out, is what John Wayne was about when he was alive, and this is what he is still about, perhaps even more so now. John Wayne’s Movie Horses John Wayne may or may not have liked horses, but he did have a favorite in his later years. The big sorrel gelding called Dollor – no “a” – owned by Dick Webb Movie Productions was Wayne’s favorite horse of all time. Duke liked the horse so much that he signed an exclusive  movie rights contract with the company.

John Wayne Movie Horse Trivia Q & A
1. What was the name of John Wayne’s Horse in the movie El Dorado?
Answer: The Appaloosa JW rode in El Dorado belonged to Howard Hawks and this beautiful mount, wasn’t it! It is said that JW didn’t much care for Cochise, at one point he said Hawks had no sense for horse flesh. Personally, he liked the horse he rode during the late forties and early fifties, “Banner” Who was in a lot of westerns with him.
2. Was John Wayne scared of horses?
The Duke was a good rider, he didn’t love horses, but he didn’t hate them either nor was he scared of them. He was at one time a stunt man and rode stunt horses in daring and dangerous stunt scenes.
3. Did John Wayne own his horse?
Answer: Duke only admitted to owning one horse in his name. A little registered Quarter Horse that’s papers were in the name of John Wayne.
4. What is the name of John Wayne’s Horse in True Grit?
Answer: John Wayne’s horse in True Grit was his favorite in the later years. The big sorrel gelding Dollor – no “a” – Duke liked the horse so much that he signed a contract that any future westerns
or movie that included riding a horse that he would have exclusive rights to Dollor. Wayne thought he was a comfortable ride and had a good mind.
5. What was the name of John Wayne’s last movie and who was the horse he rode in that movie?
Answer: The Shootist, 1972 was John Wayne’s last film. Once again he rode his favorite horse Dollor. J.B. Books, played by John Wayne in the movie, gives Gillom, played by Ron Howard, (Ol’ Dollar). This horse had been John Wayne’s favorite horse for 10 years.

Since 1981 the John Wayne name has been committed by the Wayne family to cutting edge research and education, in memory of their father who died of stomach cancer in 1979. The institute, previously know as the John Wayne Cancer Clinic at UCLA, was formed by the John Wayne Cancer Foundation and headed by eldest son, Michael. In 1991 the John Wayne Cancer Institute lauched a successful affiliation with St. John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, California. Donations may be made anonymously or in memory to honor a loved one. The John Wayne Cancer Foundation is a 501(c)(3) public charity. All donations are tax deductible as allowed by law. John Wayne Cancer Foundation 210 62nd Street Newport Beach, CA 92663 Donor support information at JohnWayne.org.
“My hope and prayer is that
everyone knows and loves our
country for what she really is
and what she stands for. May we
nuture her strengths and
strengthens her weaknesses so
that she will always be a land of
the free and home of the brave”.
Sincerely,
John Wayne

Strictly speaking specifically about specifics is called “specificity.”

James Naismith, a Canadian-American physical educator, invented the game of basketball at age 30 in 1891.

Which letter is silent in the word “Scent”… the S or the C?

The Marianas Trench is the deepest known submarine trench. It is located in the floor of the western North Pacific Ocean, to the east of the Mariana Islands, near Guam. The trench is further below sea level (at 35,798 feet) than Mount Everest is above sea level.

USB was developed by a large team, with Ajay Bhatt often credited as the inventor. The USB 1.0 specification was actually introduced in 1994. IBM began selling the first USB flash drives commercially in 2000.

Peanuts were known as early as 950 B.C. and originated in South America. The ancient Incas ground the peanuts into a pastelike substance. Perhaps this is where “Peanut Butter” first originated.

10,000 years ago everyone had brown eyes. But, 6,000 – 10,000 years ago a genetic mutation which took place is the cause of the eye color of all blue-eyed humans alive on the planet today…all blue-eyed individuals are linked to the same ancestor.

The Duge Bridge is a cablestayed bridge located near Liupanshui in China. As of 2016, the bridge tops all previous records for height with the road deck sitting over 1,854 feet above the Beipan River. This also makes it the highest cablestayed bridge.

Arachibutyrophobia is The fear of  having peanut butter stuck to the roof of your mouth.

Really Bad Puns: I stayed up all night to see where the sun went. Then it dawned on me.

If you replace ‘W” with “T” in “What, Where and When,” you get the answer to each of them.