Day One

Those expecting to see the whites of wild eyes between the slats of the trailer on which “Junior” (as he will be known until I pick a proper name) arrived would have been disappointed. Thankfully, there was no such audience--just me, really, as Sean, Maddie and Dani pulled up with the white trailer in tow. The trip down to Erie, Colorado from Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary is about seven hours for one pulling a trailer; yet, despite this bumpy and windy ride, the young gelding seemed more curious than anything else as Sean walked into the trailer, slipped a halter on, and led him out. There was a bit of a trip on his step down, but after that he simply circled around, a little nervous, perhaps, but trusting.

First order of business was a walk around the ranch as we wanted him to get a sense of the place and also to see how he reacted to all the new sights and sounds there. As far as we know, he has never been near a trailer or been in a context anything like Spirit Heart Ranch. He has seen chickens, turkeys and dogs, as there are plenty of those at the sanctuary, but not in this density and certainly not alongside a well-traveled road. He was born on the wild side of property and likely spent at least a year in what for all intents and purposes wild country. More recently, though, he has lived with his herd in a pasture near to the sanctuary's main buildings, so he now associates people and trucks with hay (yum!). And, he has no reason to be fearful people, structures, and equipment except for that fact that all these things are new.

As we walked around the property, Sean described the work he had done with the horse the day before, first haltering him and then putting a little pressure on to get him moving forward. He explained that the first thing he noticed about the horse was his lack of awareness of boundaries and I saw this first-hand as we led him around. He behaved as a six-year-old child might walking around a strange new place, walking almost into Sean at times. If he was getting a tour of your bedroom, he might push past you as you told the story of the painting on your wall to go through your dresser drawers. No bubble. 

At the far end of the ranch, we spooked one of the resident coyotes--I should say the coyote and horse spooked each other as “Junior” crow-hopped about six feet left, settling down relatively quickly once he realized Sean wasn’t letting go of the lead. Another success on day one.