A few weeks ago I was invited to speak on The Rescued Horse podcast, put on by Don Harmon. Don asked me to think about a situation in which we rescued a horse, especially one who was at risk of being sent to slaughter. I wracked my brain: who do I talk about? We have so many horses we have rescued, but as we often get to them near the end of their lives, a few of them have already passed peacefully. I wanted to talk about a horse who had been rescued, but who had both a positive story, and one whose story continues to be written to this day.
I kept coming back to the story of Gypsy, a wild mustang ripped from her family by the BLM, adopted by well-meaning individuals, then advertised for free when they grew bored of her. She was running loose on a 2-acre dried-out riverbed, and the owners had not been able to catch her for six months.
It took us four hours to finally catch her, and it was not so much that we caught her as she decided she was going to come with us.
Gypsy is one of those larger-than-life horses; she is strong and independent while still being loving and sweet.
To me.
Did I mention Gypsy hates everyone but me? Unless you have cookies, muffins or other baked goods. Then you can be her friend until she finishes what you brought her. Then you may leave.
But that horse loves me for some untold reason.
And everyone else can leave their baked goods and then go to hell.
Listen to the podcast for the story of how we caught Gypsy, and how she came to be a permanent resident at Hanaeleh.
And there’s a bit in there of how Hanaeleh got started, too, just for good measure.
