Nelson in his food nest.
This week when I arrived, Nelson was actually flat on his side, basking in the sun. By the time I got my camera out with the long lens, he knew something was up and stood up to see who was hanging outside of his fence. This photo was sent to me by my friend Michele, from earlier last week.
My friend Michele sent me this picture of the Mustang Nelson lounging in his hay. Happy horse.
At the end of our time together this week I stood facing him, my hands softly stroking both sides of his shoulders. Minutes passed, and I could feel his head coming to rest on my shoulder, his breathing relaxation. Those moments felt holy, like a healing. I am so blessed.
Most people that I speak to are unaware of the ongoing brutal culling of the fragile herds of wild Mustangs that still run free in Wyoming, Nevada, Colorado and other parts of the West. The ongoing program of planned extermination of wild horses is well under way in the hands of the Bureau of Land Management in service of the cattle industry. The helicopter drivers are paid per horse trapped, so there is no particular intelligence guiding the way in which the horses are chosen. Many of the horses end up being shipped to Mexico for slaughter for the European meat market. Slaughter is NEVER humane, and horse slaughter in Mexico is an unregulated, unimaginable horror.
As a ten-year old stallion, Nelson would have met that fate were it not for the generosity of Equine Advocates, a sanctuary in upstate New York.
If you have not signed the petition that I have up to the right of this post, please take the time to do so. The plight of the few remaining wild Mustangs in depends upon our voices. Not the voices of hysteria, but the steady voice of right action, of compassion and respect for all beings. As Klaus Hempfing says, the horses are always innocent. We must speak for them.
I am incredibly blessed to work with Nelson. He is the anchor for many of my posts and has taught me many lessons about connecting being with horses to the rest of my life. I do not believe that sanctuary or ownership by a human is a solution for all the wild horses, just as zoos are not solutions for all the endangered elephants. We need the wild. We need to feel ourselves in relationship not just to what is tame, but to the wildness within and around us. The horses do just that. As poet James Wright says,
Yet the earth contains
The horse as a remembrancer of wild
Arenas we avoid.
Today I visited a farm that has an active, heart-centered rescue program as well as a training program for area kids. The daughter of the director told me about a competition for training wild Mustangs: 90 days to get the horse from wild to being under saddle. The young woman is a consummate, compassionate horsewoman. Nevertheless, that made my stomach lurch.
Here is why. This month marks a year that I have been working with Nelson. When I met Nelson, he was pretty wild, but not just-off-the-plains wild. He had been living at a sanctuary for several years. He was not able to be handled, but he was not climbing the fences either. What I am most proud of during this year is not the big strides that Nelson has made in terms of being able to be handled, being calm, being groomed, able to take direction, or any of those training goals that we have accomplished.
I am most proud that at no time have I done anything that was against the horse. I never forced him, never frightened him. And I never gave up. I never got angry. It is not that I have never gotten angry at a horse. I have. I am not proud of those moments – usually when I am riding. But with Nelson, I never went there. I knew that I would lose him, and because I am not holding him with ropes or reins, losing him was always on my mind. And in not losing him, I also did not lose myself.
As a result, my most joyful time with a horse is not with my own horses but with Nelson. The difference is that here is more being with Nelson than doing. I am not readying him for riding, or competition, or any human use. I am learning his language. He is learning mine. My intention is that he feel safe, can be calm with a human, and can have an ongoing, friendly relationship. Remember that because he is a stallion, Nelson lives alone, apart from other horses, in his big field.
Being able to work this way is a luxury, I understand. Sometimes, things have to happen faster. But that is not the way that I want to work with him, or any horse for that matter. Or my children. Or myself. More being, less doing across the board.
Calico Roundup, Jan 4, 2012. Photo by Mike Lorden.
I read of two BLM “gathers” (the new name for cull) of wild mustangs to take place this month. Pursuing terrified wild Mustangs with helicopters, pushing them, even knocking them down is not a “gather.” Nor is driving them into chutes where foals are separated from their mothers, where herds are pulled apart and stallions from competing herds are forced to battle in small enclosures while “cowboys” scream and wave plastic bags at them, increasing their terror and panic. “Gather” is a poisonous euphemism for what is actually happening. It is brutality. On our watch. Your tax dollars at work.
Laura Leigh of Wild Horse Education has been a witness to many of these ugly culls, and currently has a law suit pending against the BLM for their inhumane handling of the Mustang herds. You can read more about that here. This is a longer video taken by Laura on January 5 of this year.
If you have been following my blog, you know about Nelson, the Mustang stallion that I have been working with for the past year. Prior to being rescued from slaughter, this was Nelson’s experience. It has taken me much of this year to build a relationship with him, because he was so sure that anything connected with a human was nothing he wanted to experience. Most of these horses are not as lucky as Nelson. Some are adopted. Many, especially the older stallions like Nelson, end up on a truck bound for slaughter. Others stand in holding pens knee deep in feces and mud for months on end.
To me, this is not just a horse issue. This is about who we are, our essential nature, and how that informs the way that we treat each other and our fellow creatures. Don’t just stand by. Let this touch your heart. Make a call, share this blog post. Be heard.