OUR SOULS ARE CONNECTED
Family is everything to these wild horses.
It is our mission to keep family bands together,
bonded pairs when possible, or create new bonds for those who lost their families in the roundup due to unforeseen circumstances.
It is our mission to keep family bands together,
bonded pairs when possible, or create new bonds for those who lost their families in the roundup due to unforeseen circumstances.
Choosing Our Herd
First let us say, making a "list" was nothing less than gut wrenching. We knew from the beginning we could only take so many wild horses to our properties. As Banditas, we always want to be as responsible as possible, not taking more horses than our capabilities or our land plots would allow. A difficult task, knowing many may not be chosen or worse fall into the wrong hands. Regardless, we quickly learned, we can not save them all.
Our list started with many. Then narrowed down, narrowed down as other organizations also had the same horses on their lists, so we crossed them off ours. Narrowed down by personal interest or overly high bids, so we moved on to the horse with none. Young horses, old horses, thin horses, horses that were not claimed after TIP trained, horses we thought would fit better with certain herds after viewing them for years on range, horses that other people wanted, pleading for us to bring them home due to their connection. Families: mother and son, mother and daughter, father and daughter, mother and daughters and granddaughters, trying our best to preserve family bands where we could. Horses that carried a special moment, memory, or an undeniable connection to their soul while spending countless times with them in the wild.
Needless to say our list changed constantly, daily. While there were certain horses we wanted to bring home for many different reasons, we understood they brought a higher interest from other organizations and adopters; we figured they would go to great homes. Mission accomplished for those horses, which then left us with resources to bring home horses not so well known, or popular, or maybe a few that were rejected. While we have many from the list we set out to save, there are many horses now in our herd that were not expected. We are grateful for how everything happened. For we feel it happened exactly the way it was supposed to, for the horses in our herd, could not be more perfect.
First let us say, making a "list" was nothing less than gut wrenching. We knew from the beginning we could only take so many wild horses to our properties. As Banditas, we always want to be as responsible as possible, not taking more horses than our capabilities or our land plots would allow. A difficult task, knowing many may not be chosen or worse fall into the wrong hands. Regardless, we quickly learned, we can not save them all.
Our list started with many. Then narrowed down, narrowed down as other organizations also had the same horses on their lists, so we crossed them off ours. Narrowed down by personal interest or overly high bids, so we moved on to the horse with none. Young horses, old horses, thin horses, horses that were not claimed after TIP trained, horses we thought would fit better with certain herds after viewing them for years on range, horses that other people wanted, pleading for us to bring them home due to their connection. Families: mother and son, mother and daughter, father and daughter, mother and daughters and granddaughters, trying our best to preserve family bands where we could. Horses that carried a special moment, memory, or an undeniable connection to their soul while spending countless times with them in the wild.
Needless to say our list changed constantly, daily. While there were certain horses we wanted to bring home for many different reasons, we understood they brought a higher interest from other organizations and adopters; we figured they would go to great homes. Mission accomplished for those horses, which then left us with resources to bring home horses not so well known, or popular, or maybe a few that were rejected. While we have many from the list we set out to save, there are many horses now in our herd that were not expected. We are grateful for how everything happened. For we feel it happened exactly the way it was supposed to, for the horses in our herd, could not be more perfect.
"I wish you were wild; I wish you were free, but since you are not, I am glad you chose me."
We used to be wild and free ~ Now we're just wild.
