Archives for July 2020

By Kim Chappell

I have been in the horse business for a good 26 years. You don’t do horses for this length of time unless it’s in your blood … your soul. The daily-ness of tending to horses whether it is one horse or a herd of horses, like I have, is hard work – plain and simple. Looking from the outside in, it looks like an idyllic lifestyle, the dream come true. And in many respects this is accurate. But the flip side is, it’s expensive, demanding, and at times a daily grind of blood, sweat, and tears. There is the front end of the day with daily morning chores, and the back end of the day with evening daily chores. Not to be missed, forgotten, or ignored. While the social aspects of your life may have to take a back seat due to your horse-schedule; while retail-therapy may have to wait until you pay for that load of hay; or repairing fences is the highlight of the day because the horses decided to take off at a full-tilt-boogie due to some unforeseen monster who was surely chasing them; we, the true
horse person, continue to participate in this lifestyle while others would call us crazy.

I recently met with a woman who came to the ranch to ride. She has been involved with horses on and off all of her life and would like to get back into it on a more regular basis. As we were talking she shared with me the very telling remarks where one realizes that they are with another member of the tribe. As a child, her days were spent at the barn, the place where the world made sense and where cleaning stalls in exchange for riding lessons was how she made her dream come true. She told me that it is not only the riding that brings her unquestionable joy but too, just being around them, cleaning stalls, fixing things, feeding, grooming, the smell of manure (yes, this is our preferred perfume), and the peace and serenity she feels when she is with them. I could see her want for more; her desire to touch those memories where horses were a normal part of a given day.

“Why is this placed so heavy on my heart, if I can’t have it,” she said. “You can, and you will, because it is a part of your soul … your essence,” I replied. Tears stung her eyes as she realized the merit in this simple truth. As we continued to talk, I said to her, “I have always had this impression that if horses were to unzip themselves angels would step forth.” She nodded her head as if the
image this presented made perfect sense. “I just get the sense that horses are like angels in the mist. They are here for us more than we are here for them. We get so much more than anyone really realizes when we are simply in their presence. They offer us an abundance of gifts that feed our physical, mental and spiritual selves. There is a oneness in their presence that fills us to the brim even when we are entirely alone.” “Long after we leave them for the day, their presence still lingers. Our clothes are ripe with smells of the barn, which we inhale like the richest of perfumes.

The creases in our hands and fingers are dirt-filled with no rush to wash off evidence of a day well spent. And as we haphazardly toss our boots on the floor, leaving them where they lay, there is a beauty in the worn out leather, the tattered laces.” Again she nodded. The knowing nod of one who understands that which is hard to capsulize – after all how do you explain the soul to someone so it is given its full due.  We continued to talk and although our tales are different, the essence of our journey to being with horses is the same. She gave me a gift that morning by sharing her story which was both inspiring and a reminder of why we do what we do. We are the fortunate ones to have them – the horses – in our lives. We are the ones that gain so much more than we could possibly give to them. This mystical inner world of horse and human, although hard to describe to an outsider, needs little explanation to those that know. Somewhere across the pasture they stand in unison. The early morning sun peaks over the mountain tops, not yet warming the earth with its heat.

Out of the mist we see them step through the veil. The distinct sound of hooves on the hard ground fills the air as they make their way towards us. A toss of the head followed by a whinny announces their arrival. A new day has begun. Hooves or wings, it’s all the same, for they are angels in the mist carrying our souls in their ethereal world. Kim Chappell, M.Ed., Instructor and Equine-Facilitated Life Coach. For further information on riding programs and  equinefacilitated life coaching, you can contact Kim at kkc827@aol.com or go to www.chappellranchllc.com

It’s hot out and the water team who trucks in water to wild horses have been hard at work this week. Normally the wild horses of the Fish Springs Range in the Pine Nut Mountains drink much more than they did last week, especially when temperatures soar into the 90’s.

The team reported that consumption of water was down with no logical explanation. I head out and follow the bands.
They always tell me the truth. They will lead me to the place they are getting water. Sure enough, once again, we have residents watering wild horses in residential areas. No matter how many signs you put up, brochures you mail, public meetings you hold, doors you knock on, articles you write, Facebook posts you write… some people think it doesn’t mean them. They have a “special  relationship” with that band or that horse. They lure wild horses into residential areas with a water source… maybe a stock tank, a kiddy pool or a five gallon bucket. Horses can smell water a mile
away. If they smell the water they will head to that source and in residential areas that source usually has a lawn with green grass nearby… lush green grass laced with herbicides and pesticides.
The person watering truly loves seeing the wild horses come to their property, grateful to get a cool drink on a hot day. It makes the human feel good.

But I wonder how good they would feel if they truly understood the whole truth. The horses leave and have intestinal pain hours later… the chemicals in the stuff they, or their neighbor, put on their lawn is not normal for a wild horse. The sweet apples, carrots, watermelon, lawn clippings don’t bother them right away… It is hours later and the pain is real. In many cases the horse dies as the young horses simply can’t process the foods foreign to their diet. Young horses choke on apple cores or watermelon rind. Lawn clippings ferment and cause colic hours later. But the humans never know it. Because the horses simply never return and they never notice. After all, they are wild.

This week I follow the horses as they wander through a new residential area. I know there has
to be water. I follow them to a cul-de-sac with a few new homes. I can see excited horses running down a hill between the homes. It is hilly so I can’t see why. Later I discover they stopped to visit a horse in a corral. That horse got excited and broke out of his corral. The running horses included this domestic gelding. It took the owner hours to find him, covered in injuries and the vet was called to attend to his injuries. I continue to drive through the neighborhood until I find the plastic bin in the front yard of a nice home at the end of the cul-de-sac with a hose attached to the hose bib. While the homeowners listened to me as I explained the dangers of luring the wild horses they did not appear to be receptive to the recommendation they remove the water. Wild horses do not belong in residential areas. They belong in the hills away from streets, fences, domestic animals and toxic plants.

The only way to keep them in the hills is not to lure them into areas they don’t
belong or fencing the property to keep them out. Fencing is our project. All efforts to get permission from BLM to fence in the perimeter of BLM for over five years have failed. Regulations, red tape, government shut downand a pandemic have slowed the request down. So we stop door to door asking for permission to put that fence on the homeowners property who share the BLM
border. So far we have so much cooperation and hope to be starting this project soon as many local residents share our concerns over the safety of the wild horses. The biggest effort is the
fundraising to pay for the fencing and the research it takes looking for easements.

The wild horses of Fish Springs have an entire community as well as people all over the world who love these horses and support our efforts to protect them. People protecting wild horses from other people and the very government who are empowered to protect them. In most cases, residents love seeing the wild horses, even the ones who can’t resist the temptation to lure them onto their property into harms way. How do we reason with residents to exercise the discipline needed not to encourage wild horses to come on to their property? Is there a way to convince people to fence in their property or at least their lawns to protect the wild horses the community loves? How do we get to people who put our wild horses in harms way to unite in our cause without turning it into a dispute? This is our challenge. We choose our words carefully, try to let them know we understand how much they love seeing them but we don’t always win in our battle to get their cooperation. It is similar to the mask – no mask dispute… you can’t always win. We hear it all. The water is for “the hawks,” :the dog,” “the grandkids,” “the coyotes,”