Assateague Island

Sunday, October 18, 2015

I'm up and out the driveway by 6:30, sun just starting to peak out on my left driving along Route 91 south.  I packed the Kia Rio rental car last night and I'm feeling good.  Whatever I may have forgotten I'll do without.  It won't be like I'm in the wilderness.  Drive a few miles to Ocean City and I'll be able to get anything I need.

There's a strange comfort in knowing I'll likely be camping near RVs though when passing them in camp sites, they're the last ones I'd want to be next to.  So civilized in a rustic kind of way.  But I tell myself not to create dissonance that may not exist.  I know my route I want to take and I've got the virtual woman telling me more information than I want to know.  She must realize this because she stops talking to me in Connecticut and I'm on my own to look at the phone map as I drive.  The route is relatively familiar but I decide that I'm going to try a different way.  I tend to do that sometimes.  I remember 95 as having big potholes back in the '90s around the entry to New York.  It's not too bad and I make it over the George Washington Bridge, and call Georgia and Suzi who are in NYC with Suzi's mom for the weekend.

Kurt checks in when I'm somewhere in Jersey and when I'm in Delaware he says that he and Nate are just leaving.  They have a two and a half hour drive to meet me.  I was hoping they would camp with me but it's going to be in the thirties and their gear can't cut it.  They'll stay in a hotel and we'll play on the island.

I drive over the Verrazano Bridge that connects the Maryland mainland with Assateague.  I'm wondering how long it will be before I see any horses and when I turn onto the road to the camp sites, there are three horses grazing on the corner of grass.  Oh, cool.  I'm really here.  I drive toward the main gate and realize that I've left my national park pass in my own car.  The pass was incredibly inexpensive and I have no hesitation paying extra to assuage my sense that we should all be paying more.  As someone said, "You get a great break as a 'senior' 'cause they don't expect you'll be around long to use it." 

Kurt and Nate drive in about ten minutes after me.  I have a sweet camp site with a long stretch of sand where I can stake my tent, and there's a picnic table and a fireplace grill.  We put up my tent farthest  from the road, in the sand near the dune that separates the site from the shore.  I picked up sand parachutes from REI before I came down.  You load the parachute with wet sand and then bury it while tying the cords to the tent.  Supposed to hold your tent in a stiff wind.  Nate had fun helping to bury the stakes and once we got the tent up he tried it out.  I like my tent.  I wanted two zip doors since it's a two person, though it's really more like one person and your gear.

While we're getting out other gear from my car, a bay horse walks into camp.  He is the sorriest looking horse I've ever seen.  His hips are bony, his winter coat is patchy but mostly not there and he's got lots of scars along his side.  He walks toward the shrubs that are tall enough for him to hide his head.  He stands there awhile but is gone when we come back.  I say to Kurt, "He'll never make it a month never mind the winter.  He'll never make it two weeks.  Hell, I don't know how he'll make it through the night since it's supposed to be in the thirties."  

Friday, July 17
In the early hours I'm not sleeping.  My back bothers me which it hasn't all week.   The ecstasy of Monday and Tuesday has ebbed.  I know it's my last day and I feel the sadness and drop in energy.  How much can I do and learn and expect in one week?

I tell Mona that I don't know what her schedule is but that I'd like to reconnect with Phoenix and Destiny again.  That's fine but Sharon needs to be with me. Oh, I'm her shadow! I've been grateful for Sharon's company and teachings. Mona needs a couple hours for business but I think she's a little concerned about leaving me.

I sit outside the pen that holds Destiny and Phoenix trying to get some feel of them.  They pay me no mind that I can tell.  Sharon is in cleaning their shed and asks if I'm coming in.  I open the gate slowly and take up space quietly.  Maybe that's a sense of inhibition to them rather than respect. For me it's both.

They are both stand-offish, even with Sharon. She's trying to rub peppermint oil on their legs to keep the flies off.  Yesterday Phoenix had blood on her legs from bites.  I had hoped for more connection with either of them but it wasn't happening. Sharon was trying to connect with Destiny but she isn't in the mood and keeps moving away.


Mona, Sharon, Lydia, and I gather for our last lunch, finishing off what was contributed over the course of the last few days.  Today I brought chocolate, and lottery tickets for Mona, hoping she'd get her new barn.  And, it turns out it's her birthday!  Hopeful . . . wait for it . . . 11 lousy bucks.

Koal has his own stall now and can be all sociable!  Nice box with two windows that look out on Cheyenne and Tenaya.

So the two girls are brought down to the arena for grooming and ground work.  I groom Tenaya and I think Sharon brought Cheyenne into a pen because she was having trouble with her.  Eventually, I'm doing ground work with Tenaya which can become tedious unless you're someone who's tapped into little cues.  We're walking over the poles and under the hanging ropes and Tenaya is fine and I praise her.  She is a feather.  Judy from the weekly Women and Horses group joins us with another horse and is doing the same.  Sharon is fitting into the rotation as she can with Cheyenne who is still unpredictable.

Tenaya and I are at the end of the arena up by the gate that opens to the fields. I don't know if I heard the ruckus first or happened to turn around and see it.  Maybe she was spooked by the hanging ropes, I don't know. But I saw Cheyenne spin back along the wall and fall, splayed on her belly with front legs out and scrambling to get up.  Now she is galloping head-long and hell-bent toward Tenaya and me.  Damn.  Her lead rope gets caught in the pen and she pulls 2 or 3 of the 5' high pen panels to the ground. Cheyenne is galloping low and stretched out toward Tenaya and me.  Tenaya begins to dance, unsure of where to go. I'm trying to hold her lead rope and figure out when to let go and climb the pen I'm next to, letting her fend for herself.  Cheyenne swerves in front of us and comes to a sudden stop twenty feet away near the field gate. Tenaya is snorting in a way I've never heard - a slight and rapid, high-pitched sound.  I stroke her neck to calm her.

Meanwhile, Mona and Sharon are assessing Cheyenne from afar to see if she's been hurt. She picks up her left front hoof a few times but then I see her pick up the right forefront, too, so she's had weight on both.  They determine that, for now, she seems okay and they'll let her be still.  They turn to reassembling the pen panels. Mona asks if I'm okay and says something about dealing with the unexpected.  Later she'll ask me if I saw Cheyenne leap over the panel on the ground.  Nope.  I only saw the panels crash and a wild and frightened horse come racing my way. Yep, I'd call that a bonafied 10!  Sure wish I had a video of that. What a way to end the week.

Had there been others at the clinic this week, we all would have been assessing our individual horses and ourselves. But I was in an unusual place of being the only person in the clinic. I had worked with a few different horses so didn't necessarily see a difference in them.

But I do know that I have changed by my fantasy becoming reality.  I've had the opportunity to feel the barn, it's smells of hay and manure, learning that servings of hay are known as flakes, hearing  neighs and brays and barks, crunching of hay and feed, watching one horse (Fire Fox?) be bullied by his neighbor when he comes back to his stall, witnessing Brave Heart patrol his barn, schlepping hay bales to storage, seeing up close the difference between halters and bridles, seeing an intake to the Rescue, choosing a curry comb over a soft comb, getting a horse to let me hold and pick their feet, watching Grant the Mule aka Houdini of the barn flaunt his independence.  I've listened and learned from two knowledgeable women.

And it used to be that when I saw a horse, I'd feel cautious but at ease to go to them and pet them.  To do that with these horses just felt wrong.  Disrespectful.  These are captured wild horses in various stages of gentled after abuse in their round-up.  And these are rescued domestic horses, most abused and neglected.  Given those circumstances, I take no risk or liberties with them. Build trust, earn respect.

The day is wrapping up with watering and feeding, putting the two cats in their pens for the night. It's almost good-bye.  Feels strange to spend so much time with these women and their horses and then go back to my horseless world. There's a Mustang event in Mass in a few weeks and I can hang out with Sharon, Mona, and Judy.  They'll soon be hosting the annual Inter-tribal Pow-Wow on the Rescue land. Then there's the 50th Anniversary of the legendary Ford Mustang fundraiser for the Legendary Wild Mustangs of the West on September 26. Mona says they run at least one fundraiser a month.  That's a lot of energy to get the funding to help these horses.

After I'm home for a bit, I see this video that Sharon posted now that the new fence is finished.  It's the first time that Cheyenne and Tenaya have been out of their pen and loose, able to run on grass.  For Cheyenne, it may be the first time since she was captured in 2000. What a beautiful thing.

Thursday, July 16

Today I would have liked to spend time with Phoenix and Destiny again to follow-up on what seemed like a connection made but today Mona has me working with Captain. Nice enough horse but maybe it was the ground work that I found boring or frustrating.  I was learning to drive him with two reins as if we were with a cart.  Mona told me when I want to guide him through cones on the ground or to make a turn, that I should look where I want to end up and move my hands as though I were riding a bicycle.  Didn't seem the same as a bike and mostly I swung wide and missed the cones.

Sharon and I both longed him but again. I didn't have the concept down. You need to get their shoulder in a certain place and then twirl the end of the rope to get them moving while leaving slack in the other hand--and walk forward rather than backwards which is the direction I was moving because Captain kept coming closer to me because he is confused about what I want - so am I. If I "ask for his shoulder" what does that really mean, yet knowing that I want him to turn?

Later in the afternoon I groom Tenaya and then work her some but couldn't do any better with the longing.  Mona is adamant that Tenaya can do lots of things, unlike the write up by the previous owner about her abilities and personality. She's sweet and wants so much to please you and feels like a failure when she doesn't get it or understand.  Kindred spirits she and I!

I told Mona that I was feeling teary today.  It first happened when Chris Lombard the trainer was working with Koal. Chris had trained him pre-adoption over two years go and today found him to have matured and that "his ground work is impeccable." Koal seemed happy with Chris who really got him.  After the ground work, Chris put his weight on his back in increments to see how he would respond before he slid up and rode him bareback. Chris said he could tell that Koal felt a little weird with that, maybe because he's used to a saddle. Chris was paying attention to eyes, ears, muscle tensing, head, neck - the whole body language.  Chris said he'll make a great horse for someone.  Since I had teared up watching them together, Sharon may have, too, I asked Chris, "Why don't you take him?" There's a few reasons why it won't work for Chris right now.

Then Chris worked with Brave Heart 'cause Lydia was having trouble with him.  Chris says that Brave Heart is a very confident horse.  "If the horse doesn't want to work with you in the way you want, work him in a different way so that being with you is easier." He said, "Submissive is the classic word but I don't like that word."  I think acceptance is a good substitute.  Chris is both a horse and a people trainer.

Chris moves on to Cheyenne who I was told he loves.  He'd adopt her if he could.  He was really pleased with her and said Sharon has done great work with her. They've been working on clipping the lead line to her halter and sometimes it goes well and sometimes not.  Mona says she still holds onto her independence and Mona loves that about her.  She still spooks through gates although this week Sharon was able to lead her through at a walk into the ring in her pen.  Other times she gallops out the open gate all in a frenzy.  

Chris spends a lot of time moving and shaking her halter as though he's putting it on over and over so she learns that he won't hurt her face.  He also does a little trimming of her hoof to get her used to having her feet handled so the farrier can properly trim them.  Horses need their hooves trimmed or they can run into big trouble.  I think in the wild, the terrain naturally trims them.  Chris showed Sharon other ideas about working with her but said, "Don't copy me 'cause you need to find what works for you."

So much of what he said is transferable to other aspects of life.  Things I know but it feels good to be reminded again.  Good to see how things that apply to horses applies to babies, children, peers, work place. Relationships.  Trust and respect.

Chris finishes up with Mona at the picnic table.  As he's leaving, he and I shake hands and I thank him for the opportunity to watch him work. I join Mona and Sharon who are leaning on Brave Heart's fence. Mona hands me a signed copy of Chris' book Land of the Horses. I'm touched and grateful for the gift and feel teary. I think I'm also aware that tomorrow is my last day at the Rescue.  Live in the moment, Eileen!

Mona tells me that they all have read it and most read it through once just for the story and then read it again to get the lessons.  I'm shocked to read that Chris did not grow up with horses as I had assumed.  He came to horses after a break-up and has learned from the horses to be a whole and better human.  There is no hidden agenda with horses.  What they feel is what you see.  People need to be transparent with them as well to build the trust.  Vulnerability.  Trust and respect.

Chalupa and sidekick join us for lunch and beg
from Lydia and Sharon. 

On my own for dinner, I grab takeout at Goldthwaite's, drive back to the public beach, pull off my boots, and slide my toes in the sand as the waves roll in.

Wednesday, July 15
Started out today with Phoenix and Destiny.  I've only seen them in their pen outside the barn and paid little attention to them, along with most of the horses here.  Mona said in the video that they have over 30 horses and are set up to have 20 something. So many and so little time.

So the plan is that Sharon and I will try to groom and massage them with oils.  Sharon is already in with them and asks if I'm coming in.  "Um, sure" I say, feeling tentative.  I know nothing about these two but have a bigger sense of wild.  Sharon tells me to stand behind her and near the pen fence.  Phoenix can tend to turn fast and prefers to kick while Destiny can be nippy . . . oh, and Destiny thinks it's all about Destiny.   Okay, will do.

I'm watching as Sharon approaches them.  Destiny side-steps, whirls away and keeps away despite repeated attempts to connect.  This is, after all, about gentling them so that they can interact better with the human world that has invaded and violated their horse world.

Of the two, Phoenix is more amenable.  I let them smell my hands.  Sharon has Frankincense and Peppermint oils.  Frankincense is good for soothing and calming, kind of an aromatherapy treat.  "Rub a few drops on your palms and see if they like it.  They'll move away when they've had enough."  Sharon suggests I get out the peppermint and let them smell that on my hands. They smell the peppermint and like it enough that they're ready to eat the bottle out of my hands. I make a fast exit from the pen when these two animals are crowding me wanting what I'm holding. Sharon tells me the basics in opening the gates -- always inward, toward the horses.  Yep, got it.  Too easy for them to run out and over me.

Outside the pen, Destiny really wants nothing to do with me unless I pick grass for them.  At some point I dare to come back in. Sharon does a little light grooming on Destiny and suggests I stand next to her and just deftly take the brush and slide in like I belong there.  Destiny notices the hand-off and moves away.  So much for deftly. We try it again with the same result so I decide not to push her.

I try brushing Phoenix while massaging her spine.  She seems to tolerate me and my touch so I begin to soften my body, trying not to be tense, knowing she could suddenly not like something I'm doing.  I'd guess she's close to 16 hands, chestnut, with bony hips still needing some weight.  I brush her gently, happy that I now know the difference between a curry comb and the other accoutrements.  Mona has a clear preference for the soft rubbery, non-metal combs.  I'm going to skip the brush for mane and tail because they can be rougher and I'm told the sound of it brushing through their hair can bother them.  I just use the softer brush and hold each section like I would my own curly hair so it won't pull.  I stop and massage her spine from between her ears, the poll, and along her neck and back to her rump.  I don't find out until I'm writing this post that, in fact, her spine doesn't run along the top of her neck but actually runs down the side of her neck. Go figure.

 

We were both relaxing a bit when Destiny dares to come close and shoves her nose between me and Phoenix.  I'll have whatever she's having.  I played the game of ignoring her enough that I'm suddenly feeling like the cool kid on the block -- but not too cool.  She could still bite, kick, run me over, push me into the fence, etc.  But I talk to her like I had talked to Phoenix and am allowed to rub her neck.  Before I know it, I'm brushing her.   Destiny stays.  So, I keep brushing, talking softly and brushing lightly.  I try a massage on her and she seems okay with what I'm doing.  I don't do an extensive grooming because I have no desire to try to pick up her feet or to mess with her mane.  Just keep doing what she seems to like.  She gets to the point where she lets her neck hang low and puts weight on three legs, a sure sign of relaxation and ease.  Once in a while she'll stamp her hoof to shake the flies.

Sharon is videoing me grooming Destiny and shows Mona later.  They are impressed and later I ask Sharon why, curious for any morsel of "good job."  According to Sharon, Destiny is possibly one of the wildest horses they have.  Few volunteers work with her.  And the fact that she didn't react to me flipping a piece of her mane was impressive, too. . . so glad I didn't try to comb it.  So, I come away from that experience feeling that I've connected well with Destiny.

We hear Mona call us asking if we're ready to start working with the therapy horses and reminding us to drink water.  The therapy horses are old or lame and, after grooming, need to be walked in the ring and led through obstacles so they'll lift their legs and keep the muscles and ligaments moving.  We're working with DJ and Drifter.  Thirty year old DJ is a registered Quarter Horse who used to be in shows and did kids lessons, one of the few non-mustangs.  "Now he's old and sometimes grumpy and people let him get away with things and you shouldn't."  Oh, and he may kick.  Then there's Drifter who tends to both bite and kick.   Sharon asks who I want to work with.  "Neither," I say.   "Let's let them choose" she says.  The communicator throws the question out there and in a few seconds, DJ walks over to me.

Hmm, so how do I do keep DJ from being grumpy?  And he's one of the bigger horses. Mona tells me if he starts backing up or moving around when I'm trying to groom him that I should walk him out a few steps and back to the approximate X where he should be standing.  DJ and I dance for quite a bit but eventually he decides to stay put while I groom him.  Cleaning his hooves is a different story.  He keeps making the start of a kicking action so Mona helps me with him. If grooming feels good to them, why is it a challenge to get them to stand still for it?

Then it's time for his actual therapy, walking and easy obstacles.  He's "heavy" to lead unlike the feather we look for so Mona changes his halter to a thinner rope halter that he can feel better and mostly it makes a difference in his response to me.  I walk him on the higher side of the raised bar so he'll have to pick up his feet a little higher -- more bang for his therapy buck.

And me, I'm supposed to be learning to walk with my head up and looking ahead to where I want us to go.  Walk like you have every expectation that you know where you're going and your horse is coming with you.  Don't get ahead of your horse.  Walk next to their head and hold the lead about 6 or so inches from the halter.  Sometimes it feels right. Often I'm ahead in my effort to feel confident.    Mona is off to some other chores . . . and she may just be giving me space so I might find my own confidence. 

Meanwhile, Sharon has her hands full with Drifter.  He's trying to turn and bite her when she does his hooves and he's going for broke with kicks as well.  Emotion is not supposed to enter our interactions.  That's hard.  How can you keep fear and frustration at bay?  Eventually, Lydia comes out to help and between the two of them they get his hooves cleaned.

The thinking, as I understand it, is that Sharon needs to work with this horse again tomorrow and says "I don't want to be afraid of him."  She needs to be successful in getting this task done.  Same thing with the horses when they are asked to accomplish the obstacle course or other ground work.  They need to feel that they have succeeded in what they've been asked to do.  If there have been numerous tries, it may not be perfection but the closest they next come to success is a win for the day and they are praised heartily and the session ends.  Everyone needs to come out of the deal feeling safe and well.  Trust and respect.

Early on, Sharon told me that she used to be afraid of horses though now I can't recall what brought her to the Rescue. I'm reminded of the fear she has overcome whenever I see her working with various horses in their moments of resistance or fear, handling them with confidence, determination, knowing, care and love for them, especially for Cheyenne.

We break for lunch in the crammed little shed that once was the office but over the years of expansion, now serves many functions.  With the new barn, there will be a proper office with all things in their places, a proper intake area to assess new horses and administer to all the horses, and classrooms for vet students, a new partnership to begin this fall.  Mona says they hope to have the barn ready by November because the oldest existing section likely won't make it through the winter. Donate if you can!

After lunch we decide to play with Cheyenne and Tenaya again.  I hold open the arena gate while Sharon leads Cheyenne who walks easily through the gate and into the arena - totally unexpected.  Sharon unclips Cheyenne and she and Tenaya are loose for a while.  Mona thought it a smart idea to get Tenaya penned before trying to catch Cheyenne again.  Sharon had to chase Cheyenne down and eventually she allowed herself to be caught.

It was time to groom and massage them, continually keeping them accustomed to being handled gently.  Apparently it's customary to groom a horse before riding.  Tenaya was trained for riding by her previous owner who gave her up to the Rescue.


I was feeling at ease with Tenaya because she relaxed visibly as I talked to her and massaged her.  I picked her front hooves but waited for Mona to show up rather than try her hind hooves and tail by myself.  I think Mona was hoping I would have.

Then Mona says it's time to clean their "private parts."  Really?  Apparently their udders and teats can have some of the same problems as the male sheaths. Mona felt around on Tenaya first and then asked Sharon if she thought Cheyenne would let her try.  Only one way to find out.  Then Mona asked me to feel up there on Tenaya.  With or without a glove?  Well, no glove 'cause we aren't
really going inside anywhere.  So, there I was feeling around on her very soft udder and two teats and yep, there were clumps of dirt and whatever stuck there.  "Don't try to dislodge anything until we put this solution on to help dissolve it." Okie Dokie.  They both took our administrations with nary a shudder!

Oh, and here is a picture of Cheyenne's very cool striped tail!

Now it's time to walk them around the arena and through obstacles.  Tenaya responds really well including the half halt,  something Mona explains but I forget now.  She says several times that you need to be able to do ground work well before getting on a horse.  You wouldn't drive a car without knowing where the pedals are and what they do. I'm supposed to get her to walk over a wooden bridge and there's an art to making that happen that I never manage.  Any horse that I take over it might put one or even two feet on it but mostly side step it.  It's about exuding confidence and them trusting that you won't ask them to go anywhere harmful . . .  I fail miserably.

But, Tenaya walks the pipes well and I lead her through the hanging ropes that brush their faces to get them used to being out on a trail with hanging branches or leaves. She's a trooper. But I confuse her when I'm trying to get her to turn her hindquarters or ask for her shoulder so she'll move in a particular direction. I'm not real clear on the front part and feel like I'm confusing her.  Poor thing.  I don't have a clear understanding of the concept and leave that experience feeling deflated.

Time to take off their halters, open the gate and they charge through to their home pen.  It's still a thrill to watch them move.

In the few free moments I find, I check out things hanging in the barn including the poster that depicts the Freeze branding code.  Freeze branding is the alternative to branding with a red hot iron.  While there may be some discomfort, I assume there is no comparison to burning hair and skin with a hot iron.  Freeze branding has angle codes used by the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) to decypher the information about where and when a horse was captured, their age, and lots of descriptive details of a horse.

Time for a few chores before Mona cuts out for a meeting.  Sharon and I try talking over essential oils again that they need to order while waiting for Lydia to arrive to close up the barn.  We water and feed and she throws down hay bales from above that we schlep to the hay room.  Tomorrow Chris the trainer is scheduled.

Tuesday, July 14
This is an incredible experience.  As Mona says, "You're getting to see the inner workings of a rescue."  The plan is that after the morning session, Sharon and I are going to read up on essential oils that they use on the horses so they can place an order.  Among other things, they find that Frankincense calms them and heals certain ailments.  Peppermint helps to keep flies away but does need repeated applications . . . and some of them would love to drink the stuff.  It is way too expensive for that!

Koal's assessment comes first.  Mona puts him on a lead rope and he quickly proves "naughty but not bad.  The horse is challenging you for leadership of the herd," says Mona.  "It's something horses look for."  In fact, he broke away taking Mona for a run down the arena and she had to let him go.  Then I got to see "hooking up" firsthand.  As I understand it, you put pressure on the horse, keeping him moving which is what both Mona and Sharon did approaching from either end of the ring.  Then stop.  Take off the pressure.  Drop the energy of your body language, drop your arms, breathe out, maybe step to the side without making eye contact, step back the other way.  Wait.  And you may need to do it again.  Wait.  And then it happens.  The horse who ran away from you and maybe with you, takes a few steps toward you.  And maybe a couple more.  And then he's in front of you with head lowered, maybe a nuzzle, and he let's you touch him.  He lets you clip the line on his halter.  He's made a choice.  It's a melding of personalities and acceptance.  Trust and respect.

The first time I watched Mona do this I was concerned and, unfortunately, stopped recording right when she was entering the "hook-up" phase.  I wondered if she was okay.  Was she out of breath?  She tapped her chest with her hand and lowered her head a bit.  But it was her role in their partnership.  She said with a twinkle in those blue eyes that "It felt like if Koal had a white flag that he'd wave it, not much, down low, but enough for me to see."  Then Koal stepped close and gave her a gift of trust and respect.  For now.  It's so often for now.

Mona measures him as 15.1 hands and 1010 pounds. . . weight is measured with a special tape around the girth.  My role is to write down the information onto the sheet. Given his antics, Mona is not about to take his temperature and he isn't standing too well to listen to his heart though she does hear a strong beat.  She has Sharon and I listen but I don't hear much.  Later she tells her granddaughter Lydia that Koal has "bad manners.  He's rude."  He stiffened his neck and pulled away from Mona several times.  She just couldn't hold him.  After all that, she could understand why the former owner had trouble with him.

Barn Buddies
Cheyenne & Tenaya (the Buckskin)

Once Koal was penned with hay, Mona figured she'd work with him again in the afternoon.  Now she, Sharon and I crowded into the "office" to be in shade and look at essential oil catalogs.  Cheyenne and Tenaya were next to us in their pen so we pulled grass for them that was just out of their reach.  Mona was called away and Sharon and I took it easy since she had a tough headache, likely from dehydration.  Neither of us were drinking enough water.  I massaged her head until we heard Mona yelling for us.

Three "boys" had got out where their fence was in tough shape.  The chase was on!  A volunteer has been building a fence on Sunday mornings but it's time consuming and a lot for one guy.  Lydia went out in the field and had one boy in tow and the other two were walking behind . . . not far from the barn but close to the mares' corral.  The "girls" charged their fence, maybe because some of them are in heat, and the boys spooked and bolted out to another open field.  While Mona was worried about their escape, I'm not sure I hid my joy watching three buddies gallop loose in the field.

Lydia, Sharon, and another volunteer walked out to round them up but the boys weren't having it.  They cantered back and forth and finally one horse stopped and allowed Lydia to catch him.  I offered to go out if they needed another body waving their hands but even though I've signed every legal release they have, Mona is keeping a tight rein on me.  I walked far enough down the path so I could see what was going on but mostly trying to stay out of the way and not give Mona more concern.  "Looks like they're heading in the right direction" I said as the other two were running in the general direction of the barns. "No, no," said Mona. "They're going to run into more fence."  She walked down to the field gate, calling and clapping her hands.  She says she saw them relax and come her way.  I wouldn't have called it relaxed but coming they were and still at a fast clip.  Mona yelled to me to "open the gate and be very, very careful to stay out of the way."  I ran up to the gate, unlocked it and swung it in in time to hear them neighing, hooves pounding the ground.  There's one.  There's two.  Swing that gate fast and make sure I'm on the outside.

Uh oh.  It looks like one is at Koal's pen and they're posturing.  Koal's the new kid on the block since coming back yesterday after two years away.  I was imagining a fight breaking out and shouted to Mona but number three was still out with Lydia so a few bites and kicks were not the priority as Mona told me later.  The question seems always, as with much in life, which fire is smoldering VS flaming.  The third prodigal returned home to the arena, and then the barn gate was opened for them to head to their stalls.  Mona and a couple of young volunteers went out to repair the fencing and Lydia got "the boys" settled.  So cool.  The greenhorn helped in a round-up!

The only other time I've seen horses running "freely" is in California when I was stopped along a roadside.  I saw no fence to hold them so they must have had large land to roam.  That's what I chose to believe.

Time for lunch break and Mona shows me the horse paintings that are one type of fundraiser.  Blobs of paint are placed on a canvas and then plastic laid over it and grain or some treat on top.  The horse nuzzles the treat thus moving the paint around.  A picture of the horse artist with some bio information about her is included.  Prices are on the back of the art.  We should all buy one!

Okay, lunch is over and then it's back to work.

Just another day, it's time to clean Brave Heart's sheath.  Yep, his penile sheath.  Seriously?  Again, as I understand it, if male horses were still in the wild, they'd be doing their stallion thing in a way they don't get to if they're gelded although, according to the linked article, stallions may still need attention.  I realize that kids in 4H and Pony Club learn how to do these things, so as lunch winds down I say, "So, time to clean a sheath?"  Lydia, a former Pony Clubber, grins at me.

Brave Heart is a big "blue roan" with two long black stripes on his face and two shorter ones above those.  Physically big and big in manner.  You know he's around.  If he isn't led back to his stall, he may do a fast trot down the barn aisle, passing his stall, checking things out, "Hey, I'm here," and trot back up the aisle into his stall.

Since cleaning his sheath  can be an uncomfortable process, Brave Heart is sedated.  Mona and Lydia clearly care about him and stand quietly near his head, talking to him, petting him, watching him closely as the meds take effect.  I can see the changes and once time has passed and he's in a good place, they put on clear gloves the length of their arms and start feeling for "beans" and anything that feels like it doesn't belong in the sheath.  That process takes about twenty minutes or so and judging from the repeated shakes of the glove into the pail, there was clearly stuff up there that didn't belong.  Brave Heart starts to come back to his usual self and is walked safely into his stall.

There's still work to be done with Koal and this afternoon he is so much calmer.  Lydia longes him first (that link shows a seven year old able to longe a horse and I try not to judge myself).  Besides being a knowledgeable horsewoman, Lydia is young and strong and can match Koal.  I sense Mona's pride of her granddaughter.  Mona also puts him through his groundwork and then Sharon and I each take a turn walking him through a series of obstacles so we can assess how light or heavy he feels in response.   "Like a feather," says Mona.  That means how easily he responds to our body language and I am always in tune for his body language.  I can't help feeling incredibly small with this thousand pound creature at the other end of a floppy rope and hoping that he'll put up with my ineptness in how I ask him to do some skill.  Ideally, I would feel and act confidently so that the horse is not confused by me.  Ideally.  Mostly, I'm trying to act "as if" I'm not intimidated by his size and trust that he already knows enough to deal with my clumsiness.   Mostly he bears with me and is the feather, tugging only a few times.

After the horses are cared for and the barn is closed up, Mona and I head for Shain's of Maine in Sanford and grab a yummy lobster roll and great ice cream.  We both get the "Turtle" flavor with hot fudge and caramel sauce.  We sit outside and talk some more and Mona gets telling me about her horse history which she lets me record. Then she gives me the tour, driving through Kennebunk to Kennebunkport, showing me the Bush compound on a rocky chunk of land called Walker's Point that juts out into the ocean.  Jeb recently built (crammed) yet another house on that land.  The security gate looks surprisingly low key but I imagine all kinds of action should one try to breach it.  Mona's husband used to work for the Secret Service in the first Bush era so spent a lot of time in Kennebunkport.  Mona and I have more getting-to-know-you conversation and then it's time to call it a night.

Monday, July 13
I drive onto the gravel lot and park, pull out my water bottle and snacks (yep, just like in OLP), and see Mona.  "Is that you, Eileen?" shouts Mona.  I know it's Mona because I've watched their site video and seen her white hair that stands out now in the dimness of the barn.  Up close, her sky-blue eyes remind me of the sky in Ireland behind my photo of wild fuchsia.  I decide not to mess                                               
with the locked gate and duck through the fence itself.  Mona notices and chuckles, "Couldn't figure out our lock, huh?"  I will not be the cause of any escapes.  I introduce myself to a couple of volunteers on my way in.  Mona introduces me to Sharon, a long time volunteer and an animal communicator who will be with us for the week.  Oh, this should be interesting!  I'm impressed at the openness to using alternatives which fits with the "gentling" philosophy rather than the "breaking" of a horse.  Sharon doesn't look at me so I assume she's shy or unsure of how I'll hear her described.  She tells me later that she's still learning and doesn't consider herself a professional animal communicator.  A burro or two is roaming the barn freely.  Chalupa introduces himself by trying to chew my boot and I'll come to hear a cacophony of braying from one or both of them in the next few days.

Before we get into the day, a large trailer pulls up and Mona lets us know that Charkoal has arrived.  His Massachusetts owner adopted him two years ago but has decided she can't keep him.  Contractually, adopters need to return a horse to the Rescue no matter the reason they can't keep their horse.  And what a beauty.  Charkoal, or Koal as he is known and it is spelled with a K, unloads without incident and is led easily through the gate, the barn, and into a pen in the ring.  He's my dream horse except that mine is a mare.  He stands about 15 hands high, dapple gray with black still on his rump and legs, a black mane, and a flaxen tail.

Charkoal

His owner is distraught but knows it's best for Koal.  She loves him but ran into some trouble with him and has two other horses.  A trainer she hired pronounced him fine but then he reverted back to old habits.  She thinks he was gelded too late and that stallion tendencies still hold.  Mona doesn't hold with that thinking . . .  she's seen stallions gelded much later and still be manageable.  Koal gets assessed tomorrow morning and Chris, the trainer, will check him out this week.

While the intake is going on for Koal, an SUV pulls up and a man and woman get out and talk with Mona briefly.  She let's them know that she's in the middle of the intake so puts them off for a time.  Eventually they leave because it's taking a while.  Mona feels badly on reflection that she didn't have time to talk and worries that she was abrupt.  "He was looking for a horse for his daughter and you never know who's going to walk in and be your million dollar donor."  She encourages appointments because it's a working stable run completely on volunteer care and love.  While Sharon was telling me who some of the horses are, the couple had come near us.  I thought about talking to him but felt new and out of place and what could I say to a guy about horses.  Maybe "Hi" would have been enough. 

After lunch, Mona, Sharon and I take a look at Cheyenne and Tenaya in the pen behind the barn.  Cheyenne, I'll come to learn, is a favorite of many and of the trainer Chris.  She's a special project of Sharon who has worked with her consistently.  She has a lot of fears and while we watch her, she spooks and spins in her pen.  Mona, who I know is assessing me and my capacity asks, "Based on what you just saw, on a scale of one to ten, how afraid would you say she was?"  Oh, I hate tests.   I'm thinking ten but don't want to be alarmist so say, "Well, an eight?"  She asks Sharon who also says an eight.  Mona says a ten.  Damn!  Why didn't I just come out with it and sound brilliantly in tune?  We'll be back with them later.

After lunch we work with Cheyenne and Tanaya.  Sharon opens the barn arena gate and their pen gate and I'm instructed to stand clear.  I know why when Cheyenne and Tenaya tear out of their pen and into the arena.  Cheyenne has a fear of gates likely from her original capture and being run into pens with gates slammed behind her.  If Tenaya had the same fear she's over it but follows her buddy.

It's late afternoon and I hear that it's time to "Open the gates!"  I stand out of the way near Koal's pen and watch as a small herd comes trotting ghostlike from out of the daylight, into the darker inside arena, into the barn and down the aisle, each turning into its own stall.  Creatures of habit.  Koal neighs horse to them.  Maybe he recognizes someone, maybe he's feeling territorial.  I am in awe and thrilled that I am here.

We drove to Mulligan's for lunch and again for dinner.  Decent and inexpensive.  At a red light in town, I see Mona ahead of me talking and laughing with couples on motorcycles next to her.  Clearly they know each other and laughing, they turn my way.  I wave.  Turns out they're her son and his wife and her daughter and her husband.  Mona and I get to know each other a bit more over meals and plan to meet at the barn tomorrow at 9:30.  Mona has already put in at least a twelve hour day at the barn and then spent time schmoozing with me. 

I'm so happy here.  I'm doing horse stuff.  I'm finally at horse camp and learning so much.   Thrilling!  Horses and ocean.

Ever After Mustang Rescue - 2015

I guess I need to be in the throws of adventure to write --  it's been a dry stretch. 

Sunday, July 12
Spending the night in an AirBnB "antique camper" until tomorrow when the room I've rented for the week is available.  I'll be attending a Women and Horses clinic, an extension of the Ever After Mustang Rescue's weekly workshop.  The purpose is to "see the inner workings of a rescue, and participate and follow the progress of a rescue horse through the steps of assessment, healing, handling and start the training process. Each day would build on the previous day."  There is no riding involved because many of these horses have only some handling and no riding.   And, I know there's always risk.  Having this kind of time with horses has been a fantasy for me and it's about to become real.

Area WiFi is sketchy but I come to think that it's really AT&T that's wonky so sending pictures and making calls is not reliable.  My bags thrown into the camper and my bike locked to the hitch,  I drive seven minutes to get a look at the Rescue on my way to the nearby beach.  Not a horse in sight!  Really?  Since they're "wild" mustangs,  I imagined that they'd be out in the field.  Will have to wait for morning.  On to the beach, a mere five minutes away and the first of only three sightings I'll have this week.  Normally the pull for me, this time horses will be my focus.