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Wild Horses: The Cremello Colts Come Home
September 9, 2010
Wild Horses: The Destruction of the Largest Herd in Wyoming
October 27, 2010

Wild Horses: Their Last Days of Freedom in Adobe Town

Published by Carol Walker at October 10, 2010
Categories
  • Adobe Town
  • bachelor stallions
  • BLM roundups
  • Blog
  • Bureau of Land Management
  • foals
  • gather
  • helicopter
  • horses
  • mares
  • mustangs
  • Rock Springs
  • roundup
  • Salt Wells Creek
  • stallions
  • Wild Hoofbeats
  • wild horses
  • WY
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Grey Mare in Adobe Town

As I waited for the Adobe Town/Salt Wells Roundup to begin, I visited the horses of Adobe Town that I have gotten to know over the last 4 months. I headed out every morning before dawn, and found bands of stallions, mares, yearlings and foals, unknowingly enjoying their very last days of freedom before they  wil be rounded up by helicopter, separated from their families and most of them, over 1500, will be removed from their homes forever.

Band with many greys

I was captivated by the gorgeous grey stallions, some battle scarred, some proud and snorting their defiance, some unconcerned by my presence.  Grey is a dominant color in this herd, but some bands are very colorful with buckskins, blacks, sorrels, and palominos.

Battle scarred older stallion

Grey Stallion runs up to challenge

Grey stallion comes close

Grey stallion shakes his head

Grey stallion wheels away and runs to his band

This last morning before the roundup, the air is very cold, with the weather finally changing. The stud piles are almost comically coated with frost, and the horses are running for the sheer love of moving in the brisk wind.

Leaping as they run in the cold wind

The band runs

I fall in love with a colorful band which is very curious.  The grey stallion keeps grazing as his mares and foals get closer and closer. The chestnut mare is clearly the lead mare, and the bucksin mare keeps looking to her for reassurance.

The colorful band

The band circles around me

The colorful band turns

The stallion watches as his band moves closer

I follow the trucks of the rangers to the trap site where the roundup will begin tommorw, and I mourn for the life that they will lose tommorow and over the next 5 weeks.

Two grey stallions

There is right now no way to stop this cruel and unnecessary roundup. So I pray for snow, and I will be there to witness the loss of their freedom.

Lone stallion on the hill at dawn

Spread the word

33 Comments

  1. Garnet Pasquale says:
    October 10, 2010 at 3:37 am

    This is so sad!
    In my opinion, the Wild Horses of Adobe Town, WY are The Most Colorful of All the Areas. I can’t even begin to imagine how Carol must feel – knowing the terrible fate that is about to besiege them – after spending years photographing them in their natural state.
    My stomach is permanently tied into knots, and I think has been since end of Dec. 2009, beginning with Calico.
    But Adobe Town is extra special!
    THIS IS ALL SO WRONG!

    Reply
    • Susan Emory says:
      October 12, 2010 at 3:35 am

      So with you on this, Garnet. My broken heart aches for these horses … as well as Carol, Tamara and Jess. Tears prevent further words.

      Reply
    • Kathy Smith says:
      October 13, 2010 at 10:57 pm

      This is so very sad. If there is anything we can do to stop this, please post.

      Reply
      • Carol Walker says:
        October 14, 2010 at 2:56 am

        We are working to put together a letter and postcard and call and meeting campaign to get the BLM budget for roundups blocked – keep your eye out for alerts over the next week.

        Reply
        • Kathy Smith says:
          October 14, 2010 at 2:53 pm

          We will!! Thank you for doing this.

          Reply
  2. Mar Wargo says:
    October 10, 2010 at 3:37 am

    Carol, They are so beautiful and full of live. This is not meant to happen to them. They are meant to be free and live on that land. Our government has simply forgotten that some issues are urgent and require the saving of lives not the sacrificing of them. Stay warm. I will ask for snow, also. mar

    Reply
  3. Deby Zimmerman says:
    October 10, 2010 at 3:45 am

    Carol, please add my prayers for the safety of the Adobe Town mustangs. My heart breaks to think they are having to face this torture now too….I remember the small band I got to see and photograph. They were curious and wary, yet allowed my presence into their world for the time I chose to stay. They watched me leave and I felt only lucky and honored to have been given a bit of their time, when now they will only have fear for humans once this roundup begins. I can’t believe that all of the big names in Hollywood, the Senators who voiced opposition to this, and the rest of us taxpayers are not able to get this stopped…..So many against so few, yet WE are like the ant against the elephant…..What is wrong with this picture??? I pray for weather that halts the helicopter from flying and prevents this from beginning, even if only for a short time. Maybe it will be enough for ONE JUDGE to have the ability to HALT this once and for all……………..Thank you for your dedication to this heart breaking task you have set for yourself. Your photos may be all we have left to look at when describing what a wild horse looked like, Once Upon A Time…………..

    Reply
    • Susan Harrison says:
      October 11, 2010 at 6:27 am

      Amen to that! I am in agreement with that! Lord, please intervene supernaturally that the government BLM will not be able to proceed with the roundups for a long, long time! In Jesus’ name, Amen!

      Reply
  4. Linda H says:
    October 10, 2010 at 5:18 am

    Thank you for sharing these lasting memories–my heart aches for you as a witness tomorrow morning.

    Reply
  5. Elke Pluemer says:
    October 10, 2010 at 9:14 am

    Fantastic gorgeous pictures!! Love the Wild Horses….

    Reply
  6. Marge says:
    October 10, 2010 at 10:49 pm

    Words cannot even begin to describe my feelings.

    The only word I can think of is loathing.

    Reply
    • Susan Emory says:
      October 12, 2010 at 3:37 am

      loathing is a fitting word …

      Reply
  7. ellieroo says:
    October 11, 2010 at 12:40 am

    Not sure who has more courage Carol for documenting this execution or the beautiful horses biding good bye to their lives, familes and freedom! There is nor ever will be forgiveness for what the BLM is doing !

    Reply
  8. Susan Abner says:
    October 11, 2010 at 1:37 am

    This is all so very wrong. Why won’t the government leave them alone. They are not hurting anything. They have been there for years and we are invading their space and time. I am so sorry that you will have to witness this atrocity. Peace be with you.

    Reply
  9. sandra longley says:
    October 11, 2010 at 2:26 am

    I was able to see the wild horses at Adobe thru carols work, she has captured that essence of wildness freedom and the joy it brings to the horses, this is the gutwrenching part that stings, the hardest part is to know they will never have that light in their eyes again, they will be sterile wooden images, moved from place to place around the country, they will never smell the desert and sagebrush again.they will be pushed prodded and manhandled until the day they die.

    Reply
  10. Anne-Marie Pinter says:
    October 11, 2010 at 4:11 am

    Can you guys just sit in the middle of the road and not move or something? Create HEADLINES!!! I don’t know anything else that would work. THIS IS MORALLY WRONG AND IN THE NAME OF HUMANITY AS WELL! tHE blm AND THE gOV’T WILLPAY FOR THIS MASSACRE!!

    Reply
  11. Susan Harrison says:
    October 11, 2010 at 6:04 am

    Is there anything or any rescue group helping???? What can we do to help?

    Reply
    • Carol Walker says:
      October 14, 2010 at 3:00 am

      Dear Susan,
      the first 1000 horses rounded up will go to Canon City for processing – shots, castration, branding, then the younger ones will be eligable for adoption, some sent to Steve Mantle for training, some to be trained in the Canon City prison program, some to the Honor Farm prison program in Riverton. The rest will go the BLM Rock Springs facility. Most likely any horse over 5 will be sent to long term holding facilities. The horses will be available for adoption in December, but I would contact the BLM at Canon City any time now if you are interested in adopting any horses from this roundup.

      Reply
  12. Laura Houston says:
    October 11, 2010 at 6:41 am

    beautiful free wild horses, your last night out in the darkness.

    The shame of it all with the sunrise comes the helicoptors to run you further and harder than they have ever run before. The steel pipes of the corrals breaking their bones. The cramming right into trailers causing injury and death.
    There is only evil with the blm and their contractors. A trail of death and killing and broken spirits.
    BLM and your “thug horse killer taxpayer funded contractors”, may you rot in hell for your past and future horse abuse.

    Reply
  13. Final Days of Freedom for Adobe Town Mustangs | American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign says:
    October 11, 2010 at 2:31 pm

    […] of these magnificent animals for years, and she has captured their final moments of freedom on her blog. Carol is also there at Adobe Town to document the roundup, but the BLM is preventing her from […]

    Reply
  14. Puller Lanigan says:
    October 13, 2010 at 12:00 pm

    This is the webpage for the Committee of Natural Resources. I believe they have to approve what Department of Interior and BLM do.

    There is a button at the bottom left that says, ‘Contact Us’. Please do on the subject of Stopping the Wild Horse Round ups and releasing those horses unsold back into their respective territories. Ban sale of the Wild Horses and Burros for slaughter.

    If you have the time, please contact as many of the members and PARTICULARLY the WILDLIFE COMMITTEE/SUBCOMMITTEE to state your feelings on the Wild Horse Roundups!!!

    http://resourcescommittee.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=96&Itemid=27

    Please share this information with EVERYONE you know – U.S. and Abroad.

    Reply
  15. Puller Lanigan says:
    October 13, 2010 at 5:22 pm

    Carol, could you tell if the bay? stallion missing part of his ear was one of the horses collected? Or was it just too mishmashed with herds shoved together? Any horses you thought you recognized from you book?

    Reply
    • Carol Walker says:
      October 14, 2010 at 2:54 am

      Sorry – it was too hard to tell ears in the huge volume of horses in the pens together. There were some gorgeous bay stallions though!
      No horses I recognized from the book, but many I recognized from the last 2 months. They are going to go to the area the horses in the book were in later.

      Reply
  16. TRACY says:
    October 14, 2010 at 4:58 pm

    What will happen to them?

    Reply
    • Carol Walker says:
      October 14, 2010 at 5:25 pm

      Dear Tracy,
      Look down at my reply to Susan for details – they will most of them end up in long term holding corrals in Nebraska, Oklahoma, and other places.

      Reply
      • Carol Walker says:
        October 14, 2010 at 5:27 pm

        Also about 374 will be returned to the range, with 100 mares, all injected with a 2 year drug for birth control, and 274 stallions. They are skewing the sex ration of the herd which can be very destructive to the social structure of wild horses.

        Reply
    • Carol Walker says:
      October 27, 2010 at 11:57 pm

      They are all at the BLM holding facility at Canon City, CO right now. The first adoption will be Friday December 3.

      Reply
  17. Gina says:
    October 27, 2010 at 9:34 pm

    You can make a stand! They are the criminals not us. BLOCK THOSE TRAP PENS DO WHAT EVER IT TAKES TO KEEP THE HORSES FREE. The BLM is in violation of the Free Roaming Wild Horse/Burro Act, NEPA regulations, The Constitution of the United States of America, Lacey Wildlife Act, and probably state cruelty laws also. Public lands and wild horses belong to us not the BLM or DOI. As Americans we have the right to protect what is ours.

    Reply
  18. Fran says:
    October 28, 2010 at 7:43 pm

    Words can not say what I feel at this moment. I think BLM needs to be rounded up and put in pens. These hores were here before they/us were and they should stay free. They are apart of our history.

    Reply
  19. jane alston says:
    October 30, 2010 at 10:31 am

    This saddens me so deeply. How can we keep doing these awful injustices to our cousins in nature? when will it stop, when there are no wild aninmals left? My heart grieves and wishes i could do something from here in LOndon to help these majestic creatures…..xxx Jane (one time horse whisperer)

    Reply
  20. Summer says:
    August 14, 2011 at 3:06 am

    Not knowing how to express my sadness and so I wrote this poem. If only words could heal the broken and open the eyes of the confused and wrong.

    Thunder strikes and hearts are breaking
    As dawn aproaches they are waking
    Beautiful, colorful, defiant
    They took to this land with ease and grace
    And should not be take from this place
    Thunder strikes and hearts are breaking
    Time will tell if the healing takes place

    Reply
  21. ReyNichols says:
    January 7, 2014 at 3:59 am

    If I had one wish to come true, it would be for you ruthless, horrible , murders taking our history with no respect. and killing them, terrifying them, what kind of people can do this to a horse??? How can you sleep at night, what do you tell your kids what you do for a living??? Get a real job.. This is barbaric in this day and age. So inhumane. I hope each and every one of you , live a miserable life.

    Reply
  22. Corbin says:
    July 2, 2015 at 1:26 pm

    I hope you see this. I would love to send you pictures. I have a mare rounded up from this herd in the round up you were not looking forward to at the time you took these pics. I received my mare as a 6 year old even though she was rounded up as a yearling. She has been in holding that long, and it breaks my heart. “Sawyer” is a strawberry roan with a strip. She is very dominant and curious. She amazes me. Although I love her and we will likely do great at the Extreme Mustang Makeover, I do apologize for her loss of freedom to her often.

    Reply

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