Fundraising dollars go to care for wild horses in the outreach program

Thanks to donations for the Outreach Mustangs, Tibet was able to get his feet trimmed.

Good foot care is essential to keep a horse healthy and for youngsters to grow properly. In the wild, mustangs wear their feet down but once they are living in captivity quality foot care is one of the best things you can do for them. Sadly the Bureau of Land Management neglects captive wild horses feet in the pens. We are grateful to be able to give excellent corrective foot care to the wild horses in our Outreach Program.

Every trim is always another learning experience. Today Tibet (Divide Basin, Wyoming) was trimmed for the first time in the big barn at the boarding facility with other horses around in stalls, horses walking in and out and being saddled up and hosed off. His back was facing a lot of the activity so he learned to be OK with that.

Terry Johnson, one of our the farriers, is so patient with young horses and has no prejudice against wild horses. Sadly some farriers think wild horses will be difficult and refuse to work with them. Wild horses are just like green horses once they are gentled.

Tibet is only 2. We saved him a year ago from facing his 3rd Strike and possibly being sold to a kill buyer for $10 in a truckload of wild horses ending up at slaughter.

One hoof trimmed and 3 more to go.

Then he got squirmy so I hand fed him some hay. A lot dropped on the floor. We had to keep his head up so the farrier could work on him without Tibet moving about.

Tibet heard the tractor going to get the hay for dinner and he became more squirmy.

The farrier suggested we give him some alfalfa pellets and boy was Tibet a happy camper! So that’s how we finished the job.

Blondie got a trim also thanks to her sponsor

Blondie was distracted by so much activity in the big barn but the grain worked wonders for her also. Such a great learning experience for Blondie too!

Val and Sol need their feet trimmed next please donate to help the Outreach Mustangs

Val and Sol need sponsors

Contact us if you would like to sponsor Val, Sol or Tibet to be a very special part of their lives and an essential force in our Outreach Program. These Ambassadors are educating many people about the plight of America’s wild horses.

You may also make a one time or monthly donation for the Outreach Mustang Fund that pays for hay, board and trims. We are 100% volunteer non-profit organization with all the money going directly to the wild horses. We donate our time to care, train and engage in outreach with the wild horses in our program.

Right now on Facebook we have a fundraiser for the Fund. You can donate $150 and receive a one of a kind handmade turquoise bracelet as a thank you.

Here is a slide show of Blondie & Tibet during their first turnout after we gentled them.

Lisa Friday followup report exposes more mustang neglect

Inhumane wild horse management plagues BLM Utah facilities

The Cloud Foundation (TCF) received a report from wild horse advocate, Lisa Friday, regarding the conditions of two Bureau of Land Management (BLM) wild horse holding facilities in Utah. Friday was following up on the wild horses she found living in squalor at the Herriman holding facility outside Salt Lake, who were relocated to other facilities in the state. Despite finding the horses living in clean pens with plenty of hay, Friday’s report contains stills and video which reveal more inhumane treatment of wild horses.

Photo © Lisa Friday and The Cloud Foundation

“I saw captive wild horses in Utah with severely long, curled hooves,” explains Friday. “Dozens of mustangs were very lame with shocking sled-runner feet. When I asked why their feet were not trimmed I was told they did not have the funding to hire a professional farrier and were just beginning to ‘train’ a fellow to trim hooves. I would like to see the two facilities (Delta & Gunnison) allocate funding to have the mustangs’ feet cared for by a professional. The facilities have a paid public relations specialist on staff but no professional farrier to care for the horses. Their priorities are mixed up.”

In March of this year, Friday revealed wild horses living in knee-deep mud, manure and urine with no dry place to lie down at the Herriman facility. As a result of her video, released by TCF, and subsequent BLM reviews, the facility is closed for the winter with plans to close  permanently within the next two years.

Friday was not permitted to take pictures or video when she visited the Gunnison Correctional Facility on October 27th, however she reports seeing the same long, uncared for hooves and lameness. She even saw an inmate riding a lame mustang with severely long toes.

“This is definitely gross neglect,” states Dr. Lisa Jacobson, an equine veterinarian in Clyde Park, Montana who examined Friday’s photographs. “There is no excuse for allowing hooves to be in this crippling state.”

Friday took pictures of 20 or more captive wild horses in the Delta Facility with severely curled hooves and reported that the Gunnison facility had the same problems. Horses in the care of private citizens are often trimmed every 6-8 weeks. Hoof health is essential for horse health.

“I have never seen wild horses in the BLM Canon City, Colorado holding and training facility with hoof problems like those in Lisa’s pictures,” explains Ginger Kathrens, Executive Director of The Cloud Foundation, who has been visiting the Colorado facility for the past 13 years. “BLM schedules all horses for regular hoof care every two months or so in Canon City. If Utah cannot do the same, they should not have horses warehoused there.”

Friday also discovered a bay mare (Neck tag #7081) in the Delta facility with a very severe-looking eye condition. The veterinarian for the facility did not know what had caused the problem. Eye problems in horses can cause blindness. Two weeks later, the condition has yet to be diagnosed or treated.

“I visited a holding facility and adoption center this year in Mississippi,” says Friday.  “All the horses seemed very well taken care of—quite a contrast with the Utah facilities.”

Friday attended the Winter Ridge roundup near Vernal, Utah two months ago. She wanted to check in on those horses now in holding who were shipped to the Delta facility. She was shocked to see a lot of the wild horses were not freeze branded and did not have ID tags.

“Why weren’t the Winter Ridge horses branded and wearing their ID tags? asks Lisa Friday. “Without indentification, captured wild horses are at risk of slipping into the slaughter pipeline. What’s going on here?”

In August, a trailer was busted at a port of entry outside of Helper, Utah under suspicious circumstances and 64 BLM mustangs bound for slaughter in Mexico were impounded.

Links of Interest:
Lisa Friday’s Fall Report: http://bit.ly/spHCeh
Video followup report from Utah (Fall 2011): http://bit.ly/vXRxzv
Video report from Herriman Facility (April 2011): http://bit.ly/tevV3H
Slaughter Bust–Mustang Killer Buyer Indictment: http://bit.ly/px8pvg