The Adoption Site

First, a HUGE Thank you to Rick's Saddle Shop! http://www.saddlesource.com/ What a lovely store, huge, and carried everything under the sun: equine.... The building had a long porch like overhang nearly the lenght of the building, which was a 'good thang' because it was raining on and off.

We all pulled in, parked, got out and gathered to form our strategies for unloading. The front yard of the store had a pretty white fenced area, very large, with smaller holding pens along the white fencing closest to the building. There was also a round pen set up.

Steven and I had the easy horses, just open the doors: they stood waiting patiently, snapped on the leads, escort to their horse cubicles. Easy!





Steven put the truck away and we watched as the others unloaded. They drove their rigs, one at a time thru a large gate onto the grass, closing the gate behind them. I watched as some of the horses got a bit excited coming off, trying to 'get away' not at all like you'd think, knowing that they were wild, but more like a domesticated horse not sure of their surroundings. None had to be unloaded backed up to the pens, they really were pretty compliant!




We participated in the set up of various promo items: Brochures, adoption related forms, pens, pencils, magnets etc. Then set up Tee Shirt displays and got the food table ready. Everyone just pitched right in and all went very smoothly.....Everyone associated with the group USWHBA ( www.uswhba.org )and a couple BLM representatives were all very nice and helpful.

Steven and I got to put everyone's name tags on the pens, along with a warning to not enter the pens. It was like playing a match game: a brief description of each horse: name, age, capture state, registration # were included on each page. I think there were 12 horses in all. Red, Fallon, Sage, Sharkbait, Aspen, Dun, Almond, Eclipse, Squirt, Nemo, Bean, and Hunter. You can see them here: http://uswhba.org/ricks_mustang_adoption

Most of the horses settled down very quickly. Both Kim and Robin explained that some had been with their trainer for only a week and had not attended an adoption before. An event called Expo was scheduled for the next day. The horses not yet adopted would accompany them to that as well, and by the end of the weekend, the nervousness of being touched by humans would be greatly diminished.

There was a bit of anticipation in the air. Had I been the one throwing the 'party' I would have been a bit apprehensive, more accurately: a nervous wreck. Not only was the weather not cooperating, but this was a first time adoption for the group, which is different than a typical adoption. These horses were gentled and halter trained...a HUGE step in the transition from wild horse to saddle horse and human companion. This was a test for this group, and we were all crossing our hooves for a big success.

And then the people started coming........