"Home of the RMR Ranch and the Horse Dome"

"For all of man's friend"

Wild Horse Foundation

This page is dedicated to Wild Horse and Burro adopters.  These comments and letters are from folks we have assisted with training and mentoring techniques.  We hope you find the comments helpful and encouraging with your Wild Horse and Burro training.

"The Wild Horse Foundation is a godsend to the bureau, said a BLM Official", It's just phenomenal what the foundation has been able to do for us as far as placing these animals".  In 20 years with the BLM, the program hasn't seen anything like this phenomenon. "The Foundation maybe pioneering what the future will hold for the adoption program".

Articles published on Ray Field and Susan Calhoun-Field Founders of the Wild Horse Foundation. 

Come in and stop by and read the articles in our Wild Horse Foundation education center:

6-25-10 KCEN Wild Horse Foundation saves horses from slaughter in Mexico  http://www.centraltexasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=12705947#

4-1-10    Examiner    http://www.examiner.com/x-37163-Equine-Advocacy-Examiner~y2010m4d1-BLM-circles-the-wagons-around-Calico-wild-horses-as-bad-news-mounts

3-23-10   KCEN ((H.A.R.T. RANCH)) http://www.centraltexasnow.com/global/story.asp?s=12192129

Virginia City News 2-5-10   http://virginiacitynews.com/default.asp?sourceid=&smenu=1&twindow=&mad=&sdetail=2457&wpage=1&skeyword=&sidate=&ccat=&ccatm=&restate=&restatus=&reoption=&retype=&repmin=&repmax=&rebed=&rebath=&subname=&pform=&sc=2740&hn=virginiacitynews&he=.com

Tucson Citizen 10-28-2009   library.http://tucsoncitizen.com/sawyer/2009/10/28/wild-horse-population-riding-off-into-the-sunset-presentation-thursday-at-ignite-tucson/

www.tusconjolt.com 10/09-- 11-30-09 radio talk shows

www.ksdzfm.com  radio talks shows 2009

www.wacotrib.com 10/09

http://www.thechadronnews.com/articles/2009/04/28/chadron/headlines/doc49f7490c809ac588594149.txt#blogcomments  4/09

http://www.9news.com/rss/article.aspx?storyid=114388 Wild Horses on Nebraska needing homes. 4/09

http://www.ktep.org/program_detail.sstg?id=103 3-08-09

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/07/29/usnews/whispers/main4304651.shtml

KCENDT.COM (CHARGES FILED) 3/6/09

KCENDT.COM (SEIZED HORSES) 3/7/09

KCENDT.COM  (Horse seizure)    3/6/09

KBTX.COM STORY http://www.kbtx.com/home/headlines/39878407.html 2009

KCENDT.COM NBC http://www.kcendt.com 2009

http://www.horsetalk.co.nz/news/2009/02/097.shtml

KRIV FOX 26 Houston - http://www.myfoxhouston.com/  8/08 http://www.myfoxhouston.com/dpp/news/Acitivist_Concerned_About_Agencys_Handling_of_Wild_Horses_Burros

USNEWS and WORLD REPORTS July 2008

KTEP, El Paso, Texas, July 2008

Grass and Grain, May 2008

San Diego, Union Tribune, www.uniontrib.com Nov, 7, 2007 http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/wildfires/20071107-9999-1mi7lajolla.html

CBS 8, San Diego, Nov. 6, 2007, http://www.cbs8.com/story.php?id=108132#

San Diego SPCA NEWS 2007

Western Horseman - August 2007, see page 2 of the press, scroll to the bottom and click on page 2.

The Monitor - April 2007

Waco Tribune-Herald Feb 2007

http://www.kcentv.com/news/c-article.php?cid=1&nid=12007

http://www.kcentv.com/news/c-article.php?cid=1&nid=12068

KBTX CBS  http://www.kbtx.com/news/headlines/2185602.html

Houston Chronicle, Sept. 2005, Star Lifestyle-Western Icons (see below

Horse Illustrated July 2005

Cowboys and Indians, 10th Anniversary Special edition with Sam Elliott, 2003

Bandera Bulletin   2006

Country World Equine Spring Edition, Waco, Texas,

Country World Equine Fall Edition, Waco, Texas

Amarillo Globe, Amarillo, Texas

Tulsa World, Tulsa, Oklahoma

Elk City Daily News, Elk City, Oklahoma

Vicksburg Post, Vicksburg, Mississippi

Baton Rogue East Side, Baton Rogue, Louisiana

Jackson Clarion Ledger, Jackson , Mississippi

Franklin News Weekly, Franklin, Texas  

Market Bulletin, Louisiana Department of Agriculture 

Buffalo Press, Texas

Friendly Farmer, Texas

Bryan Eagle, Texas  (go to story)

Waco Tribune-Herald, Texas, 2003

Waco Tribune- Herald, Texas 2004

Texas Horse Talk, Texas's elite horseman magazine

Country Style Magazine, Texas 2003

Iconoclast, Crawford Texas, 2004, 2005

Marlin Democrat Newspaper 2005

Robertson County Reporter 2005

Groesbeck Journal, 2003, 2004, 2005

CBS-Exclusive 2004

Fox News 2004

NBC-Exclusive 2004

Contra Costa Times 2005

Kansas City  2005

Washington Post 2005

Air America Radio, 2005, national syndicated coast to coast

Rockdale News, 2005

Cameron Daily, 2005

Newsweek, 2005

Land and Livestock 2005, 

(Be watching for our new TV training series coming soon, real soon!)

(Some images require longer loading, please be patient)

Sept. 25, 2005, 1:36AM

WESTERN ICONS

The Mustang Man

Ray Field, Texas' version of a Horse Whisperer, finds homes for wild ones

By EILEEN McCLELLAND
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle

FRANKLIN — Rubio has a wicked, toothy grin and a rakish attitude. He's a charmer. He better be — he's going to be a stud when he grows up.

The young mustang's mother was rescued by the nonprofit RMR Ranch Wild Horse Foundation in Central Texas, where he was born. He playfully carries buckets around a corral and — with his teeth — pulls the hair of his sedate equine peers, trying to interest them in a chase.

Bill Olive / For the Chronicle

Ray Field, president of the Wild Horse Foundation, with Sundance, a gentle mustang he plans to give to President Bush.

"He's just a baby," says Jolita "Jo" Tooke, a petite, 20-year-old wild horse wrangler and preveterinary-medicine college student. "He's like a 10-or11-year-old kid." Rubio interrupts with a push. "He needs to learn some manners," she said, with an indulgent smile. "We have shoving matches."

The comedian Rubio (blond in Spanish) is one of 42 permanent residents — mustangs and burros — Ray Field and his wife, Susan Calhoun, support on their 100-plus-acre ranch in Texas cattle country. Hundreds more mustangs and burros — squeezed out of Western rangelands — have stopped at the ranch before being placed for adoption elsewhere in Texas.

"He promised me a horse ranch when we got married," Calhoun said. "Be careful what you wish for!"

Field's promise has turned into a workaholic's version of a hobby that includes the adoption program, training clinics and rescue work. He lives full-time at the ranch while Calhoun spends weekdays working in Houston and makes the 300-mile round trip to Franklin most weekends.

Franklin is almost due north of Houston, in Robertson County.

After the couple adopted three mustangs from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management about eight years ago, they realized domestic-horse training methods just didn't work. But they didn't know where to turn for help.

"We found out that in the state of Texas, a lot of resources were not available to help people who had adopted wild horses," Calhoun said.

They decided to do what they could to help, drawing on many sources and devising a training method called gentle horsemanship.

Calhoun said Field is an intuitive trainer, seeming to know what the horse is thinking before the horse knows it himself.

His family calls him the Mustang Man.

American icons

For many Americans, the mustang — a descendant of 16th-century Spanish conquistador mounts — is a symbol of the West. At the turn of the 20th century more than 2 million wild horses roamed the plains.

Today, Field estimates there are 53,000 wild mustangs, including 28,000 in federal holding facilities and 25,000 on open range land in 10 Western states. The majority of horses are in Nevada, and most of the burros live in Arizona. By placing 800 to 1,000 mustangs and burros a year, he's running the largest wild-horse adoption facility, second only to the federal government, which has placed about 200,000 mustangs in homes since 1973.

The BLM charges $125 for adoptions. The Wild Horse Foundation charges an average of $50 per animal, but as much as $250 for specialty horses, such as palominos.

The adoption effort has become more critical this year. The Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act of 1971 protected the animals from slaughter. But Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., attached an amendment to a spending bill in December 2004 that President Bush signed into law. The amendment allows the sale of older and unwanted wild horses without the safeguards required for adoptions.

After 41 wild horses were killed in an Illinois slaughterhouse in April for human consumption in Europe, the Ford Motor Co. stepped in to save at least another 50 of the animals. And the Bureau of Land Management scrambled to protect the horses, as well, stopping all sales for about a month and then, when sales resumed in May, requiring purchasers to sign a contract stating the mustangs will be treated humanely and won't be resold for slaughter.

Sales cooled

Tom Pogacnik, California wild horse and burro program manager for the Bureau of Land Management, said these new measures have had a chilling effect on sales while the bureau continues to place horses for adoption.

But Nancy Perry, vice president of government affairs for the Humane Society of the United States, said those motivated by money are able to work around such restrictions. The Humane Society's position is that slaughtering any horse in the United States should be outlawed by the federal government.

"Any horse sold to anyone at any time becomes vulnerable to being sold to killer-buyers, people hired by the slaughterhouses," Perry said. "And most people who sell their horses for slaughter don't even know what they're doing. They assume they are going to a nice home, and instead they experience a painful and terrifying death all so they can be on a European dinner plate. This is not what Americans want."

Advocates hope for new legislative protection while Field has gone into adoption overdrive, embroiled in a struggle that has attracted a range of critics, from groups he calls "tree huggers" to skeptical bureaucrats.

"Tree huggers want them turned loose," he said. "But we're actually keeping them from being put to death. We can't just let them go. Texas doesn't have public land for them."

A "character"

Pogacnik first worked with the foundation to find new homes for wild burros living in California state parks. The state didn't want them there, but there was no provision for their adoption. Field placed them in Texas.

In 20 years with the BLM program, Pogacnik hasn't seen anything like the phenomenon that is Ray Field, a "character" who is both fierce and kind.

He has unlimited patience for horses but can't abide fools. Field said he once told someone to get off his property because the visitor could not be convinced that Field — wearing his usual shorts, T-shirt, tennis shoes and cap combo — was really the magical horse whisperer he had read about on the Internet and not some ranch hand.

"He's creating a process that offers a new approach to our adoption program, where he can get the private sector involved," Pogacnik said. "He may be even pioneering what the future will hold for the adoption program. The hope I have is that he's going to be able to export that around the country, that it's not unique to Texas."

The operation has held up to exacting inspections by the Humane Society and the state of Nevada, Pogacnik said.

Even so, a couple of years ago Field was accused of mistreating horses by a group that posted photos on the Internet. If the mustangs are thin, they arrived that way, he said. As soon as they walk off the trailer, they are fed, given water and plenty of space. In many cases, they are taken to new homes immediately. A veterinarian, who donates her time, is on call.

"He's got the right personality for it," Pogacnik said. "He's been getting whupped on, but he's proven he can do the job and do it quite well."

Pogacnik said Field's no-holds-barred attitude combined with the sensitivity of the wild-horse issue made him some enemies early on.

"Ray has brought discomfort to a lot of people," Pogacnik said. "He's made some brash statements that he could do a whole lot more than the BLM. But he's done it and he's done it humanely, which is what the public demands. There's zero tolerance for the animals being injured — or dying. He's under a lot of scrutiny."

To Field, the whole thing is just plain common sense. Why not find good Texas homes for mustangs who would otherwise either exist precariously in the wild or in a no-man's land of governmental bureaucracy and holding facilities? Particularly with the specter of the slaughterhouse looming.

Since mustang advocate Velma Johnson of Nevada, known as Wild Horse Annie, died in 1977, mustang protectors have lost some of their lobbying focus.

"There's been no united front to protect wild horses," Field said. "There are a lot of groups out there, but they can't get their act together. I wanted to get away from the politics of it and put horses first."

The BLM routinely ships horses and burros to the ranch. They also come from the U.S. Forestry Service, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, the U.S. Navy, the National Park Service and the state of Nevada.

Although Field believes the mustangs' migration off Western rangeland is in direct response to cattle ranchers' complaints, Pogacnik said it's more a question of a scramble for limited resources.

"The perception among the horse organizations is that all the ranchers are anti-horse, but I haven't seen that," Pognacnik said. "The vast majority of ranchers just want to keep their populations at a set level." Years of drought and fire have contributed to the shortage of grazing land as well.

"There is conflict between wild horses and livestock, but there's also less room for elk, mule deer, big-horned sheep," Pogacnik said. "All the interests are competing for the same thing. And when you have a very limited resource that doesn't have much of an opportunity to expand, then you're going to get conflict."

Differing opinions

Janet Neal, based in Reno, Nev., is national volunteer and public outreach coordinator for the Bureau of Land Management's Washington, D.C., office. She said critics are inflamed by the wild-horse issue for myriad reasons.

Bill Olive / For the Chronicle

A group of mustangs arrives on RMR Ranch on Sept. 9 after a journey from Kansas. The 35 wild horses have all since been placed in adoptive homes. Field expects 33 more to arrive on Wednesday.Sept. 28. ``We're just looking to get them on green pasture,'' Field said. ``I want a horse to be a horse.''

"Everyone has a different opinion. Some people want them to stay where they are and let Mother Nature take its course, let the animals die of starvation and dehydration. Some people want all the cattle taken off the land."

The Wild Horse Foundation is a godsend to the bureau, she said, because maintaining long-term holding facilities are draining the bureau's already lean budget. It needs help from the private sector. In fiscal 2005, the BLM expects to spend $39.5 million on the wild horse and burro program, including $20.1 million on those in holding facilities.

Family reunion

"It's just phenomenal what the foundation has been able to do for us as far as placing some of these animals and that the foundation has found good homes for them," Neal said. "That is the key to all of us. That good homes are found for our animals."

People who want to help, but can't take a horse home, can make a monthly donation to name and maintain a horse on the ranch.

Sometimes mustangs are brought to the foundation from private owners, along with a donation to fund their retirement.

Mary Putnam stopped by to visit Dakota, a mustang she adopted in Lake Charles, La., through the BLM and later relinquished to the foundation when she could no longer care for him.

"I drove by and whistled and I saw a head go up," she told Field when she arrived at the office.

Field drove her to the pasture on a golf cart, where they were quickly surrounded by a small herd looking for edible treats. Dakota was among them.

"I still have your baby pictures," she told him. She hugged his neck and posed for pictures smiling like a proud mom visiting a college kid.

Putnam said she adopted Dakota almost on a whim. She had the space for him, but no experience with horses.

"It was like bringing home a submarine," she said. But Dakota somehow became a good friend. "He really was very gentle. He taught me a lot of self-confidence."

When Putnam left, she wrote a check for $150, at least $100 more than the value of the mugs and T-shirts she bought. Field was grateful. It all adds up.

A Houston business owner, Field relies on adoption fees, donations and the sale of logo souvenirs to keep the operation going.

Each group of horses costs $6,000 to transport. Sometimes the government pays, but sometimes it's not in the budget and the nonprofit foundation must absorb the cost.

Success stories

The average placement is six horses per adopter, although some ranchers have taken in as many as 30. Others choose one special pet.

Calhoun said the horses are carefully matched with their new owners, who are screened. "We ask a lot of questions," she said. The average wait for a horse is 30 to 45 days, but some applicants who want certain colors — paints and palominos are popular — are willing to wait longer.

Jim Phillips was mourning a mare when he found the mustang he describes as the love of his life.

"That hurt so bad for a long time," he said. "I couldn't pull out of the slump." Then he saw Lupe, a 6-month-old filly at the Wild Horse Foundation.

"I noticed this one little filly, she had her head down in the hay all the time," he recalled. "After a while she raised her head and looked right at me, and she had two of the most beautiful eyes you've ever seen, and a beautiful head and a short muzzle. And I said, 'Well, that's her.' To make a long story short, she has been the apple of our eye."

Within a few days, he was able to lead her in a halter. He hopes to saddle-train her when she's older so his grandchildren and great-grandchildren can ride her.

Now Phillips volunteers to train other young horses for the foundation, although 16-month-old Lupe gets terribly jealous.

"Mustangs seem to have a quick wit to them," he said. "The mustang will put 110 percent of himself into what he does. They are really alive. Being part Indian myself, I probably understand a little about this thing called freedom. Mustangs are really my kind of horse. I can relate to their feeling of freedom and a little bit of wildness, too."

Lynn Holleran of College Station said she's had "various and sundry creatures," but she always wanted a mustang since she was a little girl. "Don't ask me why," she said, "but it's always been a passion of mine." On her first scouting expedition, she found Brumby, a golden-hued palomino with three white socks. "He is the gentlest soul," she said. "How quickly they're willing to bond with you. It's magical. If you're fair with them, they're willing to work their darndest."

Medical rescue

While most horses arrive in relatively good shape, Field still is incredulous that he was once shipped a filly that could barely walk. He asked Dr. Ilka Wagner of Hearne to examine the youngster, who arrived during the Christmas season.

Christmas, as she came to be called, had contracted tendons of both front legs.

"My heart went out to that filly," Wagner said. "If she could tough out a trailer ride from Nevada in that condition, we owed it to her to give it a shot and try surgery. Sometimes it doesn't work, but I hated to put her down without trying."

Wagner not only operated but she also took the filly home. "I was going to adopt one of the mustangs, anyway," she said. "So I adopted one that needs some after-care. She'll never make a riding horse, but she runs around out in the pasture."

To draw attention to the cause, Field has made a gift of the mustang Sundance to President Bush. Formerly abused, Sundance is a medium-size horse who likes men and hides from women. Field hopes Bush will claim Sundance when he leaves office.

"I thought they'd look well together," Field said. "Sundance has an elegant glow about him."

Contact the foundation 979-828-3927 or on the web for more information, www.wildhorsefoundation.org

eileen.mcclelland@chron.com

 

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  Tuesday, April 18, 2006 Bandera, Texas 
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The wild mustang - free no more


A mustang foal basks in the sunlight at the Wild Horse Foundation in Franklin while his mother, a former wild mustang, grazes nearby. Photo by Jessica Hawley

Once federally protected animal may again be harvested

By Jessica Hawley - Staff Writer

"Congress finds and declares that wild free-roaming horses and burros are living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West," states a congressional declaration dated Dec. 15, 1971.

Yet, in a surprising and highly protested move, Congress recently passed a bill that allows for the slaughter of the American wild mustang reportedly effective Wednesday, Jan. 5.

Republican Senator Conrad Burns of Montana introduced the one-page Rider #142 into the 3,000-page Federal Appropriations Bill HR 4848.

The rider changes the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act of 1971, splitting the once federally protected wild horses and burros into two categories, those over 10 years old and those that have been to a minimum of three unsuccessful adoptions. In accordance with the rider's language, the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is authorized to sell these animals to the highest bidder without regard for the buyer's intentions.

The rider was reportedly passed without opportunity for public hearing or debate. President George W. Bush signed it Dec. 8.

Organizations such as the American Horse Defense Fund, the American Humane Association, the Humane Society of the United States and the International Society for the Protection of Mustangs and Burros that represent over 12 million members have labeled this legislation a tragic error.

According to Ray Field, director of the Wild Horse Foundation of Texas, the BLM has already approved a lump sale of over 8,300 wild horses and burros to a single buyer. Field said that the best price given at a sale barn or slaughter sale would be 10-12 cents per pound, which averages less than $100 per horse. The sold horses could then be transported to one of three U.S. slaughterhouses, two of which are in Texas, for processing and shipment to countries in Europe and Japan, where horsemeat is considered a delicacy.

"Selling off our American heritage has now been given a price," said Field.

Prior to these actions, the wild mustang and burro were federally protected thanks to the efforts of Velma Johnston, otherwise known as Wild Horse Annie.

Johnston pioneered a one-woman crusade against ranchers and licensed commercial hunters who harvested and slaughtered the wild horses. The Wild Horse Annie Act was passed in 1959, banning the use of airplanes to hunt wild horses.

In 1971, with Johnston at the helm, the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act was passed, stating, "It is the policy of Congress that the wild free-roaming horses and burros shall be protected from capture, branding, harassment or death."

In 1987, a Federal Court of Appeals ruled that the BLM could not give title to a person whom they knew intended to sell the horse for slaughter. Instead, in an effort to prevent the overpopulation of the wild horses and preserve the public lands on which they grazed, the horses were gathered and held at facilities for training and adoption placement.

The mustang was featured in last year's critically acclaimed film "Hidalgo," the story of Frank Hopkins and his favored pinto stallion as they raced across the Arabian Desert in a 3,000-mile endurance ride.

Hopkins and Hidalgo completed the ride in 68 days; the second rider to touch the finish stone came in 33 hours later.

In an interview with Western Horseman Magazine in 1969, Hopkins said, "You can't beat mustang intelligence in the entire equine race. These animals have had to shift themselves for generations. They had to work out their own destiny or be destroyed."

Now that politics has become a major player in the plight of the mustang, it appears as though its fate will no longer depend on its survival and evolutionary instincts, but rather the policy makers in Washington.

An ongoing debate over grazing land has encircled horse, environmental, animal activists and cattle ranchers for years. In 2003, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association reportedly proposed legislation to authorize the immediate sale of unadopted mustangs and to make federal agencies pay for land damaged by feral horses.

In a letter to Sen. Burns pleading for the removal of Rider #142, Executive Director of the Wild Mustang Foundation Mary L. Dobbs said, "Senator Conrad Burns proposed Rider #142 allowing the BLM to sell wild horses to slaughter, providing more grazing for cattle though federal law mandates protection for wild horses. Currently, there are 150 steers to every one wild horse on federal land. Only two percent of the beef eaten in the U.S. comes from public lands ranching. According to the [U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO)] report in 1990, wild horses were not the cause of declining rangelands, it was attributed to overgrazing by cattle."

According to Tom Pogacnik, Director of the BLM in California, somewhere between 6,000 - 8,000 wild horses and burros sanctuaried in northern Oklahoma and southern Kansas will be affected by the new law. It remains undetermined how many more may be subject to the mass sales from gathers in Nevada, Utah and Wyoming.

"We have yet to develop implementing policy," said Celia Boddington, public affairs person for the BLM in Washington. "[The rider] is subject to internal review. The public both expects and deserves such analysis."

Still open to exploring other alternatives, Pogacnik said, "We're waiting to hear how Washington is going to interpret the law. We're trying to find homes for these animals."

In a seemingly hypocritical and cruel twist of fate, Dec. 13 was recently designated as the National Day of the Horse.

The resolution, which passed the U.S. Senate on Nov. 18, states, "Whereas the horse is a living link to the history of the United States...whereas horses are a vital part of the collective experience of the United States and deserve protection and compassion...the Senate encourages all people of the United States to be mindful of the contribution of horses to the economy, history and character of the United States."

Mustangs JAH

 


Web posted Sunday, May 19, 2002
7:04 a.m. CT

photo: news

  Up For Adoption: Burro looks for a home, also, at the sale.
David Bowser/Globe-News Correspondent
Trainer: Mustangs need easy hand, lots of time
By David Bowser
Globe-News Correspondent

"Patience," said Ray Field.

That's the most important thing to remember in training wild horses, said Field, founder of the nonprofit Wild Horse Foundation.

Field gave several demonstrations of his training techniques Thursday, Friday and Saturday at the Bureau of Land Management's Wild Horse and Burro Adoption sale at the Golden Horse Training Center north of Canyon.

"I've had horses all my life," said Field, a Mississippi native. "My wife and I adopted a horse three years ago at Pasadena, Texas."

 


photo: news

  Horse Whisperer: Ray Fields, who established the Wild Horse Foundation, trains wild horses fresh from the range.
David Bowser/Globe-News Correspondent
That's when he found out that the Bureau of Land Management had no support groups in Texas for their mustang adoption program.

"You were basically on your own," Field said. "You'd take him to a domestic trainer, and he'd tell you that horse was stupid, ignorant, crazy, retarded, inbred and everything else."

Field said that he and his wife, Susan Calhoun, decided to open an avenue where people could get help with the wild horses they had adopted.

They established Ray's Mustang Ranch at Franklin and developed a wild horse program.

 
photo: news

  Penned Up: Buckskin stud becomes part of the action at the auction.
David Bowser/Globe-News Correspondent
Working with the BLM, Field often travels to adoption events and, using one of the horses to be adopted, demonstrates his methods to train wild horses.

The desensitizing process that he uses is a way of training a wild horse without stripping it of its pride, he said.

"You want him calm," Field said. "You want him to be able to work with you. You want him, when he sees people, to be able to relax."

One of the first things Field does is to get the horse used to being touched and handled.

He uses a method called poling. He shows the horse a long pole and eventually gets to the point where the pole is run across the horse's back in a soothing motion to alleviate any fear that the animal might have. The pole enables Field to stay at a non-threatening distance from the horse.

It is a method, Field said, that he learned from an 87-year-old horse trainer in Idaho.

Field works with the owners also. One of the missions of the foundation, his wife said, is to help teach wild horse owners methods of training that will benefit horse and rider.

 July 20, 2002

 

Some can't say `neigh' to the call of the wild
JONATHAN WANCE World Staff Writer
07/20/2002
Tulsa World (Final Home Edition), Page a13 of News

Haley Busby, 6, of Catoosa holds out a treat for a wild horse up for auction Friday by the Bureau of Land Management.

Below: Two burros wait to be loaded onto a trailer Friday after being sold at the CLAREMORE EXPO Center. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management auction continues Saturday.
Photos by JOE IVERSON / Tulsa World



Animal lovers flock to horse, burro auction

CLAREMORE -- It's the call of the wild, the romance of the unknown that has brought people from as far away as Texas and Arkansas to bid on their very own piece of the Wild West -- the wild mustang.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management is hosting a burro and wild horse adoption auction at the CLAREMORE EXPO Center that began Friday and runs through Saturday.

The program allows people to bid on and adopt wild animals that have been rescued by the government in order to control their populations and give them proper medical care.

The large, brown, begging eyes that shone out from lot No. 3194 caught Deb McGowan's interest, and she soon made the winning bid of $125 for the mare.

Not long afterward, McGowan went back to make friends with her new horse, who would later be named "Sister" for the many brothers in Collinsville, Texas, that she would be going home to.

"It's a part of our heritage -- a part of the American wild," McGowan said.

She and her husband, Dennis, pur chased another horse and a mother and pair of baby burros Friday.

When told of the possibility that the female horse might be pregnant -- Deb McGowan's eyes lit up.

"What a blessing that would be," she said.

"A two-fer," Dennis chimed in.

"Better than being a new grandma," Deb said.

The couple plan on gentling the horses and using a nonintrusive style of training.

Ray Fields, a trainer with the Wild Horse Foundation, said gentling was the form of training he preferred.

He said wild horses were the easiest to train.

"They don't have any bad habits or bad habits from people trying to train them in the past," Fields said.

He said that for someone trying to train the horses on their own it would take 60-90 days to get the horse trained enough for riding.

Many of those attending Friday's auction did so more out of curiosity than out of any desire to adopt a wild horse.

Lisa Hammonds of Chelsea came to scope out the prospects for her husband.

Hammonds said she had raised thoroughbreds in the past but that her husband wanted something different.

"He wanted a horse he can cowboy," she said.

 

 

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Wild horses find a caring partner thru WHF

By MANDY JOHN | Central Texas Edition


Susan Calhoun and Ray Field of the Wild Horse Foundation were on hand in Glen Rose where they showed their love for wild horses by helping with BLM adoptions and general wild horse training.
-Staff photo by John

November 21, 2002 -- Horse lovers from the United States and abroad were able to pick out and adopt various wild and saddled horses and burros gathered from mainly Nevada but including ten different states across the mid-west at the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) National Wild Horse and Burro Expo, held in Glen Rose, Texas Nov. 14-17. The Wild Horse Foundation, located in Franklin, Texas was also at the event to promote the adoption of these wild horses and burros.

Susan Calhoun, president of the foundation, said that the Wild Horse Foundation is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to prevent the American Mustang from suffering abuse, neglect, and slaughter.

"Our goal is to support the Wild Horse and Burro Program through the BLM's Horse Adoption Foundation ," explained Calhoun. "We are a resource for gentle horsemanship assistance training as well as providing education programs to the public."

Some of the assistance that the Wild Horse Foundation offers includes:

• rescuing abandoned, abused or neglected wild horses, rehabilitating, gentling and placing by adoption into new loving homes.

• providing technical knowledge and assistance with training, as well as gentling and desensitizing using gentle horsemanship techniques.

• educating the general public on wild horse issues through the implementation of programs, which reinforce the need for preservation, protection and management, while promoting a more positive image of the wild horse.

• being a referral and consultation service that assists with placement of gentled horses to other nonprofit organizations.

• organizing events where horse owners/enthusiasts can learn how the wild horse compares to domestic horses, in events such as trail rides, team penning, working cattle, pleasure riding, barrel racing, and endurance races.

Ray Field, co-founder and trainer, stated, "We have 13 horses on our ranch, nine of them are mustangs."

Field, also known as the "Mustang Man", said that he likes to care for and protect the mustang. "I have a deep love for these wonderful and majestic horses.

"One of the great things that we do is we hold various classes and clinics every month for people who have just adopted a wild horse. In addition, we offer a free clinic every other month. The free clinics are on a first come, first serve basis.

"The problem we see is that many new adopters try to train a wild horse like they would a domestic horse. Coming to our class will help you learn simple and safe techniques that can encourage the new horse with kindness and gentling. I think you will find yourself filled with a wonderful feeling of satisfaction knowing you and your new wild horse will have a great life and lots of fun together."

"The Wild Horse Foundation takes the stand that America's wild horses have played an important role in American history," said Calhoun. "In the 1800's the number of these horses in America were estimated to be two million. Now, I am sad to say that there are only about 40,000 of them remaining. They deserve to be here.

"This can be done if people continue to support the BLM's Wild Horse and Burro Adoption Program. This will only be achieved through education. We aim to be an integral part in that education.

"We are based solely on donations and need the public's support to keep it running. There is always a need for a foundation that cares for horses."

For more information on future National Wild Horse and Burro Expos, call 1-866-4-MUSTANG. For more information on the Wild Horse Foundation, call 979-828-3927 or visit their website at: www.wildhorsefoundation.org.

 
 
 
  News
  December 14, 2003

Central Texas ranch welcoming, trying to adopt out 20 burros

By DORAZI Tribune-Herald staff writer

On the Wild Horse Foundation ranch, about 11 miles east of Kosse in Robertson County, 20 wild burros — 10 jennies (females) and 10 jacks (males) — are getting used to their new surroundings.

They've spent the last 30 hours huddled together in a tractor-trailer and are still a little wobbly as they explore the corral.

Less than two months ago, they were freely roaming the Mojave National Park in California. There they were rounded up by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and the National Park Service as part of the bureau's rangeland management duties and shipped to the ranch.

"I think they're perfectly fine, in excellent condition," said Susan Calhoun-Field, co-founder of the Wild Horse Foundation along with her husband Ray. She watches the burros and smiles as one by one they drop to the ground and roll in the dirt. "That's normal. The dirt helps insulate their bodies against the cold."

Several bray loudly when Buddy, the family dog, comes over to check out the newcomers. The burros just aren't used to seeing many dogs, or for that matter, many humans.

The animals are a little large for stocking stuffers, but that's what the couple hope the burros will become. Their nonprofit foundation is overseeing, by agreement with the Bureau of Land Management and the National Park Service, the adoption of the animals by the public.

According to statistics kept by the bureau, as of 2002, 32,078 wild burros had been adopted nationwide since the National Wild Horse and Burro Program started in 1972.

"Texas is the number one wild horse and burro adoption state," Ray Field said. "Wild burros make excellent pets. They're one of the most agreeable animals you'll find. Ranchers like them because they help protect livestock from coyotes."

The burros grazing in the corral don't know how lucky they are. Field said the burros would be "disposed of if they were not rescued" by organizations like his.

Wild burros have no natural predators and can live as long as 25 years if they have a consistent food and water source. They also reproduce at a rate of about 18 percent a year. Overgrazing, which could lead to starvation and damage to the ecological balance of the rangelands, is one reason the government occasionally thins out the population.

This is the first of what could be several shipments of wild burros to the Fields' ranch in the coming year.

The Fields began taking in wild horses, or mustangs, in 1998. The burros are a recent addition. The Fields also hold seminars on gentle horsemanship training for wild horses and burros.

Dana Prince of Wortham adopted a mustang from the foundation last month that is undergoing gentle training at the ranch.

"The wild horse is a living legend," she said, "part of the west the way it used to be. And owning a part of the Wild West is something special."

The same could be said about wild burros.

The burro was brought to the southwestern United States by the Spaniards in the 1500s. Its hardiness in the desert made it a favorite of prospectors and popular during the settlement of the West.

The cost to adopt a burro or horse is $150 each, or a pair for $250. The training is free if the horses or burros are adopted between now and Christmas; otherwise, it costs $125. The adoptee must meet certain requirements, however.

"We inspect the site the burro or horse is going to three times in a year," Field said. "We inspect for health, maintenance and overall care. We will not adopt animals to anyone convicted of an animal abuse charge."

The burros may not be used for commercial purposes or sold for slaughter.

All the animals have had their shots, and have current coggins and health records.

Anyone interested in adopting a wild burro or mustang can call the Wild Horse Foundation at (979) 828-3927.

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  ฉ 2003 Cox Newspapers, Inc. - The Waco Tribune-Herald
Local Headlines
 
Slaughter house could be next stop for some wild horses

December 16, 2004
Thousands of wild horses could be headed to the slaughter house because a law that once protected them is changing. One horse adoption ranch is hoping the public will get involved to keep these horses from meeting that fate.

At the Wild Horse Foundation Ranch in Franklin, wild mustangs from Nevada are among the lucky ones waiting to be adopted to new homes.

 

"We do 800 to 1,000 horses a year," says, Ray Field, director of the ranch. For the last 8 years, he has found new homes for hundreds of wild mustangs. But now, his ranch is facing it's biggest battle ever, protecting wild horses from being slaughtered.

 

"The Wild Horse and Burro Act passed in 1971 protected all wild horses from being slaughtered, private or government,” he says. “With the new amendment, the change is that they've turned around and stripped that from the law."

 

Starting January 5th, the government can sell wild horses to slaughter houses – a fate, ray says should not be an option.

 

"They're not looking at the overall picture,” Field says. “They're looking at what they think will make money."

 

So what can you do to help? You can start by writing a letter to your congressman or senator and by spreading the word about adopting the horses.

 

Ray says he doesn't know how many more shipments of wild horses he will get to find new homes for, but he hopes with the public’s help, the fate of wild horses will be changed for the better.

 

"These horses have done nothing to anybody else and if we don't stand up and speak for them, this is one of our last living legacies,” he says. “We have to protect them."

 

For more information on adoption or to make a donation, you can contact the Wild Horse Foundation at 979-828-3927 or visit the ranch online at http://www.wildhorsefoundation.org.

 

STORY BY ANDI BACA

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